Daily Bread

Pulling out Those Pesky Thorns!

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Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.             Matthew 13:7 ESV

Thorns come with a wide variety of nasty consequences to their recipients. From the big ones that roses hide beneath their blossoms to the tiniest that coat the stems of stinging nettles, they are designed to cause pain. Why would any farmer choose to plant in such a place? Oh that is because without his knowing the thorn’s seeds are carried by the wind and rain and bed themselves down in the same nicely plowed field as the wheat or corn.

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The message for us is that we not only need for things to be taken out of our field, like rocks and roots, but we need to watch out for what comes in. It is not only about having good soil; it is also about guarding against bad seeds. Living for Jesus isn’t complicated. Wrong motivations, temptations and sin are constantly working to try and make our lives seem more complex than they really need to be. So how do we pull out those thorns from our lives? Paul’s message to his friend Timothy makes it simple. Focus on the things that matter to God and He will take care of the harvest!

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.  1 Timothy 1:5 ESV

Preparing a Home for Jesus

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Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him; and he with Me. Revelation 3:20 ESV

When we Christians think of heaven we generally focus on how Jesus has a place prepared for us there. But heaven is not just some geographical place we go to live; it is God coming to live with us. So how can we prepare a place for Him? The good news is that we can’t; but Jesus can!

Now it isn’t exactly like what happened when we had some remodeling done in our kitchen but it does share some certain points. First; we needed to realize that the repairs needed were more than we could handle. That is what Jesus meant when He said, “If any man hears my voice and opens the door.”

KIMG1580Our job was to open the door when our contractors showed up. Imagine if instead of letting the kitchen installers in, we just started hammering away ourselves. That is what we do when we leave Jesus outside our door. He has everything necessary to remodel our hearts but first we have to let Him in.

 

On the other hand; unlike our project; Jesus doesn’t just plan on showing up, doing his work and going home. Jesus said that He wanted to come in, sit down and stay. His plan begins by demolishing our old life along with our sins on the cross. Then He follows up with all the changes and new materials needed being installed through His resurrection. When He has finished His job we will discover that Heaven is simply where He sits down at our kitchen table and enjoys a meal with us forever in that place inside of us which only He can prepare!

 

 

Just as Day is Breaking

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

Every morning Jesus is standing at the shore in our life. He is waiting for us to recognize Him and come running. He has watched us all night as we worked hard without him to fish.

Jesus is waiting at our shore eagerly anticipating our arrival with fresh bread and fish on the fire. He is willing to share all He has with us when we pull in our nets once more at His command.

Jesus is standing on our shore waiting for us to see Him, waiting to share and waiting with a question. “Do you love Me?”.

Let us answer as Peter did, “Lord you know all things. You know that I love you.”

Then Jesus reminds us all once again. “Feed my sheep!”