June 1, 2012
Jesus took Peter, James, and John up on a high mountain by themselves. While they watched, Jesus' appearance changed. His face became bright like the sun and His clothing appeared white as light. Then Moses and Elijah appeared and were talking with Jesus. Just imagine! Talking with Jesus!
Peter, James, and John were with Jesus in the present. Moses and Elijah were talking with Jesus from their future. Someday we will meet Him face to face from the past. Whether past, future, or present—just imagine—meeting and speaking with Jesus face to face. You just have to love Peter's reaction. His first response was to break into action, to "do." He wanted to build them all a tent. Isn't that what we often want to do? Sometimes God doesn't want us to be busily "doing." He just wants us to "be." Be still... and KNOW that I am God. A cloud covered them, and out of the cloud spoke a voice. Matthew 17:5 - "This is my Son, whom I love, and I am very pleased with him. Listen to him!" Before we "do" we should listen and "be." When they heard the voice they were afraid. Jesus went to them, touched them, and told them, "Stand up. Don't be afraid." Then Jesus begins to tell them about His death.
When they came back down the mountain, a man brought his sick boy to Jesus. The disciples had tried to heal him but they were unsuccessful. Jesus spoke the words and the boy was healed. His disciples asked, "Why couldn't we do this?" Jesus answered that their faith was too small. "I tell you the truth, if your faith is as big as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'move from here to there,' and it will move. All things will be possible for you." (Matthew 17:20) It isn't about demanding things we want. It is about searching for and understanding God's heart. It's about taking His truth, believing it, and putting it into action. It's all about God and what HE wants. It is NOT about us and what we want unless what we want lines up with and mirrors what God wants.
God
relationship. God IS God—and I am not. We "make" our self humble by giving up our self and humbling and surrendering ALL to God. Jesus goes on and tells about the importance about not doing anything that would cause an innocent child who has not been tainted by the world to sin. Sin will happen. Matthew 18:7 - "But how terrible for the one who causes them to happen!" How terrible! Get rid of whatever is causing you to sin. Get rid of it! Put safeguards in place. Make yourself accountable to someone else. Do whatever it takes! Humble yourself like a child. DO IT!!
Jesus took Peter, James, and John up on a high mountain by themselves. While they watched, Jesus' appearance changed. His face became bright like the sun and His clothing appeared white as light. Then Moses and Elijah appeared and were talking with Jesus. Just imagine! Talking with Jesus!
Peter, James, and John were with Jesus in the present. Moses and Elijah were talking with Jesus from their future. Someday we will meet Him face to face from the past. Whether past, future, or present—just imagine—meeting and speaking with Jesus face to face. You just have to love Peter's reaction. His first response was to break into action, to "do." He wanted to build them all a tent. Isn't that what we often want to do? Sometimes God doesn't want us to be busily "doing." He just wants us to "be." Be still... and KNOW that I am God. A cloud covered them, and out of the cloud spoke a voice. Matthew 17:5 - "This is my Son, whom I love, and I am very pleased with him. Listen to him!" Before we "do" we should listen and "be." When they heard the voice they were afraid. Jesus went to them, touched them, and told them, "Stand up. Don't be afraid." Then Jesus begins to tell them about His death.
When they came back down the mountain, a man brought his sick boy to Jesus. The disciples had tried to heal him but they were unsuccessful. Jesus spoke the words and the boy was healed. His disciples asked, "Why couldn't we do this?" Jesus answered that their faith was too small. "I tell you the truth, if your faith is as big as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'move from here to there,' and it will move. All things will be possible for you." (Matthew 17:20) It isn't about demanding things we want. It is about searching for and understanding God's heart. It's about taking His truth, believing it, and putting it into action. It's all about God and what HE wants. It is NOT about us and what we want unless what we want lines up with and mirrors what God wants.
"To the One who sets on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever." Revelation 5:13The disciples didn't get that. They started asking who would be the greatest in heaven. What does that matter? ALL honor, and ALL praise, and ALL glory, and ALL power belongs to God. Jesus answered them by saying, "I tell you the truth, you must change and become like little children... the greatest person in the kingdom of heaven is the one who make himself humble like this child." (Matthew 18:2–4) You have to make yourself humble like a child. It does not come naturally. We need to understand the
God
↓
Man
relationship. God IS God—and I am not. We "make" our self humble by giving up our self and humbling and surrendering ALL to God. Jesus goes on and tells about the importance about not doing anything that would cause an innocent child who has not been tainted by the world to sin. Sin will happen. Matthew 18:7 - "But how terrible for the one who causes them to happen!" How terrible! Get rid of whatever is causing you to sin. Get rid of it! Put safeguards in place. Make yourself accountable to someone else. Do whatever it takes! Humble yourself like a child. DO IT!!
Addendum: Today is the Settlement Conference. There is so much I want to say this morning but I don't have the time to write it right now. When I get back I will write about the call we received last night and where God sent us to read in one of my old journals.
My notes about the Settlement Conference are in my next entry. But now, to finish what I didn't have time to write this morning. If you have read other parts of my journal you know that we have always felt that we were to memorialize in a tangible way the faithfulness of God during this now nine year faith journey we have been on. In the Old Testament God told the Israelites to take stones from the Red Sea and the Jordan River and to set up a memorial for the themselves and the generations to come. From those references we knew we wanted to do something with stones. We've talked about how our whole family, from the oldest to the youngest will come together to gather stones. We've talked about engraving the promises God gave us through Jane (Her Name Was Jane) on the stones. And then, almost exactly one year ago while I was reading about the Feast of Shelters, we KNEW what we were to do to memorialize what God has done!! (See Nehemiah 8:1–18 – Feast of Shelters)
So, we started to plan. How would we build it? What would it look like? We wanted something simple for both the cost factor and the purpose but most importantly for the purpose. We wanted something that pointed to what God has done and not something that distracted from what HE has done. I found one design that I loved, but then decided that wasn't it. I then came up with an idea for a much simpler design with very simple construction. We found a local Amish man who cuts wood using timber peg construction like they used in the construction of barns years ago. We took him my drawing and he used ash trees that had died because of the destructive ash borer and cut the beams and posts for timber peg construction.
This gentleman's brother was experienced in constructing buildings using timber pegs so we contacted him. The wood was ready. All we needed was to have it put up, but we had no idea when the builder would be able to begin the construction of our shelter. And then, the night before the Settlement Conference, at about 9:00 at night (unusually late for the Amish to be making phone calls) we received the call. "Would it be okay for us to come and start constructing your shelter tomorrow?"
We of course said, YES!! And then my husband and I looked at each other and just smiled. Are you kidding me? Thank you, God. We are heading to a Settlement Conference and the night before God reminds us that—I'VE GOT THIS! Don't worry about anything. The shelter is going up. There WILL come a day when this portion of your journey WILL be over and this shelter of simple timber peg construction with a floor made of cobblestone engraved with my words WILL memorialize that day.
Thank you, Jesus. We went to the Settlement Conference with peace, contentment, and joy in our hearts.
After that phone call, I decided to look up a journal entry my sister referenced in their Settlement Offer Letter. (The courts had ordered the two parties to try and negotiate a settlement for the three months prior to the Settlement Conference. We asked them to respond to our last offer which we had never gotten a response from. The three months passed without them responding to anything we sent. And then the day after the deadline set by the courts for negotiating, we received their offer. Pay them about three quarters of a million dollars.) In the Settlement letter my sister referenced one of my journal entries and was implying that I was somehow crazy and listening to voices from God in my head and who knows what I would do. I thought the date she referenced was 5/10/10. So I got out the journal and began to read it aloud to my Mom. (I should explain here that my 86 year old widowed Mother was staying with us because she was fearful my sister and brother-in-law would show up and want to stay at her house while they were here for the Settlement Conference. My sister is notorious for showing up unannounced and it would have been very upsetting to my Mother.)
I began to read the 5/10/10 journal entry to my Mom. Oh my goodness. Crossing the Jordan... and gathering stones. You can read my journal entry here. After I finished reading, I realized the entry I just read didn't have the account of what my sister referred to so I went to get the letter and discovered the actual journal date she referenced.
Wow! A thousand times—Wow! Never in a million years would I have went back to read both of those entries the night before Settlement Conference. God used the words my sister wrote (in a negative way) to get me to go back and to read about HIS faithfulness. Thank you, Lord. Your faithfulness is beyond measure. I stand in awe of your Amazing Love.
Next Entry: Matthew 18:15 – 19:30
My notes about the Settlement Conference are in my next entry. But now, to finish what I didn't have time to write this morning. If you have read other parts of my journal you know that we have always felt that we were to memorialize in a tangible way the faithfulness of God during this now nine year faith journey we have been on. In the Old Testament God told the Israelites to take stones from the Red Sea and the Jordan River and to set up a memorial for the themselves and the generations to come. From those references we knew we wanted to do something with stones. We've talked about how our whole family, from the oldest to the youngest will come together to gather stones. We've talked about engraving the promises God gave us through Jane (Her Name Was Jane) on the stones. And then, almost exactly one year ago while I was reading about the Feast of Shelters, we KNEW what we were to do to memorialize what God has done!! (See Nehemiah 8:1–18 – Feast of Shelters)
So, we started to plan. How would we build it? What would it look like? We wanted something simple for both the cost factor and the purpose but most importantly for the purpose. We wanted something that pointed to what God has done and not something that distracted from what HE has done. I found one design that I loved, but then decided that wasn't it. I then came up with an idea for a much simpler design with very simple construction. We found a local Amish man who cuts wood using timber peg construction like they used in the construction of barns years ago. We took him my drawing and he used ash trees that had died because of the destructive ash borer and cut the beams and posts for timber peg construction.
This gentleman's brother was experienced in constructing buildings using timber pegs so we contacted him. The wood was ready. All we needed was to have it put up, but we had no idea when the builder would be able to begin the construction of our shelter. And then, the night before the Settlement Conference, at about 9:00 at night (unusually late for the Amish to be making phone calls) we received the call. "Would it be okay for us to come and start constructing your shelter tomorrow?"
We of course said, YES!! And then my husband and I looked at each other and just smiled. Are you kidding me? Thank you, God. We are heading to a Settlement Conference and the night before God reminds us that—I'VE GOT THIS! Don't worry about anything. The shelter is going up. There WILL come a day when this portion of your journey WILL be over and this shelter of simple timber peg construction with a floor made of cobblestone engraved with my words WILL memorialize that day.
Thank you, Jesus. We went to the Settlement Conference with peace, contentment, and joy in our hearts.
After that phone call, I decided to look up a journal entry my sister referenced in their Settlement Offer Letter. (The courts had ordered the two parties to try and negotiate a settlement for the three months prior to the Settlement Conference. We asked them to respond to our last offer which we had never gotten a response from. The three months passed without them responding to anything we sent. And then the day after the deadline set by the courts for negotiating, we received their offer. Pay them about three quarters of a million dollars.) In the Settlement letter my sister referenced one of my journal entries and was implying that I was somehow crazy and listening to voices from God in my head and who knows what I would do. I thought the date she referenced was 5/10/10. So I got out the journal and began to read it aloud to my Mom. (I should explain here that my 86 year old widowed Mother was staying with us because she was fearful my sister and brother-in-law would show up and want to stay at her house while they were here for the Settlement Conference. My sister is notorious for showing up unannounced and it would have been very upsetting to my Mother.)
I began to read the 5/10/10 journal entry to my Mom. Oh my goodness. Crossing the Jordan... and gathering stones. You can read my journal entry here. After I finished reading, I realized the entry I just read didn't have the account of what my sister referred to so I went to get the letter and discovered the actual journal date she referenced.
Wow! A thousand times—Wow! Never in a million years would I have went back to read both of those entries the night before Settlement Conference. God used the words my sister wrote (in a negative way) to get me to go back and to read about HIS faithfulness. Thank you, Lord. Your faithfulness is beyond measure. I stand in awe of your Amazing Love.
Next Entry: Matthew 18:15 – 19:30
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