Hanging On His Word

"Every day He was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill Him. (48) Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on His words." Luke 19: 47-48 I can picture the verses above in my mind. I can see the see the chief priests dressed in robes of the finest linen. The robes would have been vibrant in color, such as deep blue, violet, and scarlet. In between these colors were woven specks of gold. These colors represented the sanctuary. Upon the chief priests' head were plates of crowns of pure gold with the inscription, "Holy to Yahweh!" The well dressed men were important figures in the crowd... but not that day. The attention was on another man. The man that held their attention; the man who was simply dressed and no doubt looked tired and dusty from travel. This man called Jesus. I can see the crowd pressing into Jesus trying to be as close to him as they could. The men and women and children longed to hear what He was saying. The chief priests and the 'teachers of the law' perhaps stood from afar with their arms crossed and their temples empty. They plotted to kill Him. But as they came close to Jesus, the crowd pushed them away because they wanted to hear every word that Jesus said. Haven't we, as a nation, tried to 'kill' this man called Jesus? Hasn't he been removed from our schools? Hasn't He been excluded Him from many American homes? He has been told that He is not welcome in many marriages. We have even pushed Him away from His own house-the church. Many churches are facing spiritual death because they refuse to believe that His word is real and true. Why have we (as a nation) done this? I believe the answer is that we refuse to 'hang on His word.' We have become a self-help nation. We are running to find the latest self-help book or will tune into the daily talk show to seek advice to find healing for our broken hearts and broken homes. At times, I am guilty of calling a friend before I will tell my Lord that I am sad or anxious. We read a verses like Luke 19:47-48 in the Bible and think how 'hypocritical' it was for the Chief Priests to want to rid the world of Jesus because they simply did not believe He was who He said He was. I cry tonight because it's 2008 and we still are a nation who doesn't fully accept this man for who He is. I can't bear the thought that His very own people, me, doubt Him daily. Perhaps you are having difficulty in your life and your heart is breaking. Perhaps you long for peace, hope, and a promise that in the end, you will be loved. I write this post tonight to let you know that if you begin to believe in the word of God, He will make your burden light. My Bible is so very special to me. I know that what ever happens in my life, God will speak through His word. The question is, "Do I hang on every word?" Hang, used in this sentence, means 'to give complete attention'. How often do I fail to give God and His word my complete attention. Will God's people rise up to give Him our complete attention? Will we be radiant beams of light reflecting who He is to others? I pray we do... Love, Corrie My prayer for today: Lord, I am so sorry that I have taken you for granted. Forgive me for not totally giving you complete control over every area of my life. Help me to look to your holy word and be so captivated by it that I can't begin or end my day without it. Help me to live it out loud...

Prayer Fest--Saragossa Baptist

I would like to thank the ladies of Saragossa Baptist Church for inviting me to participate in the wonderful Prayer Fest this past Saturday! The theme was "The Marriage of the Lamb" which came from Revelation 19:7--"Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready." The whole day was devoted to celebrating the fact that we are indeed his awaiting bride and we must prepare ourselves. The day was wonderful and the Holy Spirit truly came and filled our hearts. Love, Corrie

Death

"... for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart." Ecclesiastes 7:2 "He is not here; He has risen, just as He said. Come see the place where He lay." Matthew 28:6 1 Corinthians 16:54-55 "...Death has been swallowed up in victory. (v55) Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" I would like to thank you for your prayers, cards, calls, and emails. This week has been a trying time for me and my family due to the loss of my grandfather, Guy Williford. As I prayed about what to write for a new post, God began to open my eyes and helped me look at death with a whole new perspective. I couldn't wait to share it with you... I truly believe that there is one thing that we, universally, can relate to and that one thing is death. We have all experienced, or will experience, the loss of someone very dear to our hearts at some time in our life. For me, each time I experience a death of a loved one, I feel as though my heart is breaking into. One reason I believe death to be so painful is that, for our earthly bodies, it is final. 1 Thess. 4:16 tells us that death is for every man and that the living should take it to heart. We should pay attention to that and count our time with our loved ones as valuable. But I think that 'valuable time' is time spent telling them about our Lord and Savior. Caring for their soul is taking it to heart because that is true love...God's love. As I stood beside my grandfather's casket, I found myself wishing for a brief moment that this could all be a mistake. I suppose I had realized the earthly finality of death. But then, my mind began to move to Jesus. I suddenly realized why God chose death for Jesus to overcome! Jesus conquered death! He knew that everyone would experience the sadness of death and He knew the impact of rising again. 1 Corinthians 15:55 makes reference to the 'sting of death' being no more because of the great victory of Christ! Standing there, I began to praise God for allowing His son to die for me and then to raise Him up for me as well. I can't help but wonder if those who were at the cross looked upon the lifeless body of Christ and thought about the finality. But when they went to the tomb and found it empty! How they must have rejoiced when they figured out what had happened! Matt. 28:6 tells that Christ had risen...JUST AS HE SAID! That tells me that God does what He says He will do. If you and I are facing problems in our life and are afraid or concerned about how it will turn out, we can know that God will do what He says He will do! We must read His word to find out what that will be. Why can't we believe that God would surly help us when we are in need when He raised Jesus from the dead? I've got to tell you that none of my problems are bigger than that! I have come to believe that in order to survive in this place called "earth", I must trust God to do what He says He will do. This is faith. The power that Christ had to conquer death is the same power that is given to us when we invite Him into our lives. I must tell you that I seldom walk around with this in mind. How easy it is for me to think that I am defeated by my sickness or defeated by my circumstances. This past week has helped me to better understand the true meaning of James 1:2: "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance." Through the death of my PaPaw Guy, I have learned that Jesus was victorious over physical death so that I can have victory over spiritual death! By trusting Him as my Lord and Savior, I am dead to sin and have a new life with Him! Do you know that victory? If you are His child, do you know that the power of the Holy Spirit flows within you? For whatever you are facing, I hope you will remember that His power was enough for Him to conquer death, so it will be enough for you and me. Love, Corrie My prayer for today: Lord, I praise your Holy name for being victorious over death! Because of you, I will be with you in eternity. Because of you, I will be reunited with those I love. Help me to remember that your power over death out weighs any obstacle I have before me. I will bring my burdens to you and watch you be victorious over and over again!

Enoch

Genesis 5:23-"And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. (24) Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away." (NIV) "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that had pleased God." Hebrews 11:5 (KJV) I was reading in my Bible the other day and stumbled across the above scripture in Genesis. I thought the fact that a man actually walked with God was incredible and stayed on my mind. I now know that God allowed this to stay on my mind and peeked my curiosity. I wanted to share with you what God revealed to me about this man; this man, who seems to have so very little recorded about him... a man called Enoch. If you noticed, I used two different translations in the above verses to help explain the content for this post. Enoch was a descendant of Adam and yes, Cain. At first glance, it looks at though very little is said about Enoch. But if you look closely, you find two incredible things about him-1.) He walked with God and 2.) He did not die but was 'raptured up' by God. While escaping death is enough for me to say, "hummmmm", knowing Enoch walked with God prompted me to look deeper as to how he was able to walk with God and was this something I could do? When I think about walking with someone, side by side, I usually have a very good reason for doing so. The reason is usually to engage in a conversation. If I am walking behind someone, their voice is often muffled or distant and I find myself constantly asking them to repeat themselves. If someone is behind me, I find that I have to stop or slow down with my walk to talk to them. This to, interferes with my destination. I thought about the relationship between God and me. I am often running ahead of Him with thoughts or actions that I think He should already be doing! Or, I find myself dragging slowly behind as He calls me to step out on my faith, creating resistance to His plan for me. I have decided the best place to be is walking with Him, side by side. After all, isn't this the best scenario for two people who are communicating or who have a relationship? So, how do we do this? How do we 'walk with God' just as Enoch did? This brings me to the second above scripture, Hebrews 11:5. The King James version refers to Enoch as having this 'testimony' that pleased God. By definition, testimony refers to "an outward sign" or "evidence" of something. I believe Enoch lived out what he believe about the God he served. I believe he was able to do this because of the faith he had in God. The whole chapter of Hebrews 11 is dedicated to the great men and women of faith. Enoch is one of those mentioned. Immediately following the mention of Enoch, the Bible says, "And without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him" (Hebrews 11:6). I don't believe this was just 'randomly' inserted. I believe God associates the type of faith that is pleasing to him with a man who possessed such faith--Enoch. We cannot get around believing God. We talk about how difficult it is, yet we have no reason to doubt. I have come to a powerful conclusion: I want to live a testimony that is pleasing to God so that I can walk with God. I don't want to try to lead God or drag behind. I want God to want to walk with me because I believe in everything He says He is and is to come. I want to be close to His shoulder if I need to cry and close to His hand in case I stumble... Love, Corrie My prayer for today: Lord, how I fail you with my doubt and lack of faith. I have nothing that tells me you will not be faithful to me, but have your whole word that tells me just how faithful you are. Help me to live an outward testimony to who you are...