Month: June 2020

TeacherStudent

In Times of Temptation and Weakness: Hearing His Word in My Heart

 

The weakest moments. The voice whispering,

“Go ahead. It’s okay. Just this once won’t hurt. Try it.”

How will we respond to the prompting, the teasing, the tempting, the urging and still hold true to faith—unless we have the Word readily before us as our reaction, our response, and our action.

The Savior understands our weakest moments.

14Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet He did not sin.  (Hebrews 4:14-15)

When tested,

Be ready

To answer

With the Word.   

” For the word of God is alive and active.” (Hebrews 4:12)

“May I hide Your Word in my heart so that I might not sin against You. Amen.”

(Sharon G. Tate blog 06/28/2020) teacherforjesus.com  Meditations on God’s Word

TeacherStudent

GOD’S INTIMACY WITH HIS CREATION– Are we personal and intimate with Him?

All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. (John 1:3)

God’s creation fully exemplifies a diversity of personal color, size, shape, detail, function, purpose. Even identical twins are noted to have different fingerprints. 1 Each creation unique and individual. The Artist God, the Designer God, the Creator God– intimate with His creation.

13 For Thou didst form my inward parts,
Thou didst knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise Thee, for Thou art fearful and wonderful.[a]
Wonderful are Thy works!
Thou knowest me right well;
15     my frame was not hidden from Thee,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately wrought in the depths of the earth.
16 Thy eyes beheld my unformed substance;
in Thy book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.

(Psalm 139:13-16)

29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.  (Matthew 10: 29-31)

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God knows us intimately and personally. The question we must ask ourselves, “Are we personal and intimate with Him?” Is He the One we turn to first when we are confronting day-to-day problems, facing major crises, seeking answers, fighting fear and anxiety, wanting comfort, hoping for hope?

The change in the world now and in the future, if God allows it, occurs first within me and you through intimacy with Him. The ripple outward to others happens when we become more like Him.

In an impersonal world of more online contact and less one-on-one interaction in person, such distancing has allowed us to create a masked version of ourselves. Through email, text, Facebook clicks/comments, we do not have eye contact, and tone of voice with inflections of meaning heard in speech are missing. We can use filters to enhance our selfie pictures. Even on a visual chat, there is a distance and the opportunity to mask. This impersonal medium allows us to present just what we want others to see.

With God, there is no mask. He is I AM from the beginning through eternity.

What about us? We may present ourselves masked before the world, at church services, to our neighbors, in the workplace, even with friends and at home—but we cannot wear the mask before God. He knows us, the real you and me.

The change in the world must start by each one of us removing the mask before others and engaging more one-on-one, in-person, allowing Christ to be seen. Jesus, in one-on-one connections with individuals, unmasked the woman at the well and the rich, young ruler—to help them really see themselves and change. The Samaritan woman seemed to believe He was the Messiah and went back to her village to share this revelation, thus impacting others to seek Him; there was a change in her. The rich, young ruler, however, was saddened when he heard what Jesus asked of him. There is no indication of a change in him that would lead to sharing the Lord with others.

Are we, like that young man, saddened by what Jesus asks of us to the point that we do not make changes within that will show outwardly to others the nature of Christ? Intimacy with the Lord our God is crucial to change within and visibility without. We must be intimate and personal, one-on-one, with Jesus every day.

Seek the Lord and His strength, seek His presence continually! (I Chronicles 16:11)

¹sciencefocus.com

(Sharon G. Tate blog 06/14/2020) teacherforjesus.com  Meditations on God’s Word

TeacherStudent

What can I do when I am only one? I can be the ONE.

 4 And Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I perceive that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation any one who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him.” 

(Acts 10:34-35)

 And Peter shared the Word, the Living Word of Jesus to the Gentiles.  God wants every ONE to know and be saved.

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way. 3 This is good, and it is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 Who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony to which was borne at the proper time. (I Timothy 2:1-6)

“ONE” is a key word throughout scripture: ONE God. ONE Mediator. ONE Savior. The ONE lost sheep. The ONE prodigal son coming home. “Any ONE who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable.”

For each ONE, there is only ONE way, ONE truth, ONE light, ONE hope, ONE salvation.

Have we, like God and Jesus, focused on the ONE–or the many? Is it not the ONE with whom we can make the most difference? Is it not the ONE act of kindness that can start the change rippling outward?

We each have the ability to affect those around us, within our sphere of influence, ONE at a time. This effect can extend beyond us to others’ areas of influence and beyond them to where God’s direction leads.

What can I do when I am only one? I can be the ONE.

       Unlike God, mankind, in general, tends to be partial. We look differently–                                                                at difference.

While working for 25 years with at-risk and special education students, I was in the special ed. “sped hall.” Some students, and even a few staff, would tend to avoid this hall. Other students who entered the hall did so with the intent to show disrespect, condescension, and maybe ridicule. Different can mean unacceptable, not the same worth, less than, maybe even something to fear. It is a perspective applied to skin color, race, sex, age, ability, body shape, and on and on.

God looks the same at difference because He sees the ONE. And that ONE is His–

a precious lost sheep, a son coming home,

a daughter-though a Samaritan,

a soul to be saved-though a thief on the cross,

you and me-yet sinners.

Can we see the ONE and not the many others we could associate with that ONE over time, history, events, perspective, opinion, inference?

ONE can effect change and bring souls to God.

CAN WE BE THE ONE to see the ONE.

(Sharon G. Tate 06/07/2020 blog)  teacherforjesus.com  Meditations on God’s Word