I just think it's amazing how I can be holding onto pain for years and years and then in one instant God says one word that just smashes that lie to pieces. He speaks one word of truth and it immediately smashes the chains into pieces.
Like, right now, I'm sitting here doing reading for class but I'm a little distracted kuz I'm not feeling well and I think of something that someone once said to me and all of a sudden God showed me that unbeknownst to her or to me, what that person said was not actually accurate and all the guilt and pain and unforgiveness instantly disappeared.
It reminds me:
- God said "let there be light" and there instantly was light, "let there be birds and trees" and there were birds and trees....etc etc etc...in an instant God created.
- God is with me, at all times, wherever I go. At any moment He can reveal and He can heal and He can perform miracles...etc etc etc... All I have to do is be sensitive to Him and be ready and be open :,)
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Have You Ever Been To Emmaus?
So I'm on my way to Emmaus
You know I just don't understand
Lord - if that is Your real name,
if I can call You that,
Where'd You go.
I thought You were the One.
Thought You would've saved us.
Thought You could've saved Yourself.
Why did You let them crucify You?
And, weren't You going to rise?
But it seems they dragged You away.
So I drag my feet to Emmaus,
Lamenting with a friend,
And now to make matters worse -
Some rude stranger shows up
Interrupts are conversation
And makes light of Your death.
I feel this burning in my heart.
Friend, do you feel it too?
Am I that angry?
Anyway...we keep walking
We keep walking to Emmaus
And this person keeps talking to us
We listen to be polite but really don't want to hear it.
We're too sad,
Too busy missing Jesus.
We get to Emmaus
And offer this visitor inside
He breaks bread, gives thanks and opens up our eyes.
Suddenly we realize it was You the whole time!
But then we try to talk to You -
For now we have so much to say
So many more questions, we want to hear Your wisdom
But now again You go away.
But this time we know that it was You
So we run back home and share the news
And while we're talking about You, You appear again.
There You are, the Spirit of the Father, the Son, in the flesh.
Now this time around it's the others that don't believe
But You let them touch You themselves and now they can see
So now we all know Lord it was You all along
Now you bless us and leave us but this time it's okay
You're sending us Your Holy Spirit to stay
And even just this little glimpse of You was enough
Once we understood who it was
A few things are notable about Luke 24:
- the disciples knew that Jesus would rise but then when He disappeared they didn't make the connection - understandable though....we've all been there. We're looking for Jesus and stop short after the crucifixion. We don't dare go past that to the resurrection - and this after we have the Word of God, we know for a fact that He's resurrected. We don't have it as hard as the disciples who had to rely completely on faith. We have to have faith - in the Word. They had to have faith in the Living Word. And if it were me, if I just watched someone I loved get killed so brutally I just might forget that He said He'd be back.
- while Jesus was speaking the men on the road knew something funny was goin' on but they didn't pay attention. How many times is Jesus right there and I'm too busy being depressed or complaining to notice the familiar pings in my heart. It took Him breaking the bread, it took something that they'd done/seen/heard before to remind them. That's how it is with me. Sometimes I need to, say, hear an old song or scripture that I had heard years or months ago when I was at a different season, where I knew that Jesus was with me, where God showed up, to make realize that He hasn't left or forsaken me. They may have had like a deja vu moment even. And if you want to take it a step further, it was in the BREAKING that He opened their eyes. We need to remember the crucifixion and all that that meant in order to grasp the resurrection.
- a similar thing happened with the other disciples. While they were too busy questioning and being scared and stunned Jesus asked for fish. This reminds me of when He multiplied the bread and fish (twice!). Maybe that is what reminded them. Maybe they had to remember His provision and His miracles. They saw the scars but still were too shocked. They needed that extra little something.
- and, the clincher for both groups of people was the fact that Jesus knew and quoted the Word of God. Imagine? The Living Word of God Himself talking about the scriptures that talked about Him. Jesus didn't need to prove Himself but He did and the way He did that was by using the source. One way that God reveals Himself to me is through the scriptures - just as He did when He was in their presence after He resurrected.
Amazing God!
You know I just don't understand
Lord - if that is Your real name,
if I can call You that,
Where'd You go.
I thought You were the One.
Thought You would've saved us.
Thought You could've saved Yourself.
Why did You let them crucify You?
And, weren't You going to rise?
But it seems they dragged You away.
So I drag my feet to Emmaus,
Lamenting with a friend,
And now to make matters worse -
Some rude stranger shows up
Interrupts are conversation
And makes light of Your death.
I feel this burning in my heart.
Friend, do you feel it too?
Am I that angry?
Anyway...we keep walking
We keep walking to Emmaus
And this person keeps talking to us
We listen to be polite but really don't want to hear it.
We're too sad,
Too busy missing Jesus.
We get to Emmaus
And offer this visitor inside
He breaks bread, gives thanks and opens up our eyes.
Suddenly we realize it was You the whole time!
But then we try to talk to You -
For now we have so much to say
So many more questions, we want to hear Your wisdom
But now again You go away.
But this time we know that it was You
So we run back home and share the news
And while we're talking about You, You appear again.
There You are, the Spirit of the Father, the Son, in the flesh.
Now this time around it's the others that don't believe
But You let them touch You themselves and now they can see
So now we all know Lord it was You all along
Now you bless us and leave us but this time it's okay
You're sending us Your Holy Spirit to stay
And even just this little glimpse of You was enough
Once we understood who it was
A few things are notable about Luke 24:
- the disciples knew that Jesus would rise but then when He disappeared they didn't make the connection - understandable though....we've all been there. We're looking for Jesus and stop short after the crucifixion. We don't dare go past that to the resurrection - and this after we have the Word of God, we know for a fact that He's resurrected. We don't have it as hard as the disciples who had to rely completely on faith. We have to have faith - in the Word. They had to have faith in the Living Word. And if it were me, if I just watched someone I loved get killed so brutally I just might forget that He said He'd be back.
- while Jesus was speaking the men on the road knew something funny was goin' on but they didn't pay attention. How many times is Jesus right there and I'm too busy being depressed or complaining to notice the familiar pings in my heart. It took Him breaking the bread, it took something that they'd done/seen/heard before to remind them. That's how it is with me. Sometimes I need to, say, hear an old song or scripture that I had heard years or months ago when I was at a different season, where I knew that Jesus was with me, where God showed up, to make realize that He hasn't left or forsaken me. They may have had like a deja vu moment even. And if you want to take it a step further, it was in the BREAKING that He opened their eyes. We need to remember the crucifixion and all that that meant in order to grasp the resurrection.
- a similar thing happened with the other disciples. While they were too busy questioning and being scared and stunned Jesus asked for fish. This reminds me of when He multiplied the bread and fish (twice!). Maybe that is what reminded them. Maybe they had to remember His provision and His miracles. They saw the scars but still were too shocked. They needed that extra little something.
- and, the clincher for both groups of people was the fact that Jesus knew and quoted the Word of God. Imagine? The Living Word of God Himself talking about the scriptures that talked about Him. Jesus didn't need to prove Himself but He did and the way He did that was by using the source. One way that God reveals Himself to me is through the scriptures - just as He did when He was in their presence after He resurrected.
Amazing God!
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