A NEW HEART

“Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.  A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.  And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.”

Ezekiel 36:25-27 KJV

For over forty years, I was in the darkness of a devastating crippling depression.  I hated everyone and didn’t trust anybody and had no desire to live.  I even tried to commit suicide and when that failed, I thought that I couldn’t do anything right and didn’t deserve to live.

One day as I was lying under a bed in a mental hospital, Jesus put His arms of love around me and lifted me up from under that bed.  He said “I love you, Joanne.  It’s safe for you to come out from under this bed.  I won’t let anyone hurt you again”.  That was the first time anyone had said to me “I love you, Joanne.”

I can’t put into words the happiness and joy I felt when Jesus told me He loves me.  Jesus took the stony heart out of my flesh and gave me an heart of flesh.  He took away the hatred, the bitterness and the resentment that I had in my heart and gave me a new heart, a heart of love and compassion for others. 

This verse describes how I feel now.  “Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased” (Psalm 4:8).  O how I love Jesus!!  He is the breath I take, the reason I get out of bed and the joy of my heart.  How I long for the day when I will see Him face to face.

Joanne Lowe

June 14, 2015

HIS PRECIOUS FACE

“But he held his peace, and answered nothing.  Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?  And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”

Mark 14:61-62 KJV

Carrie Elizabeth Ellis Breck wrote one of the most beautiful and inspiring hymns I have ever heard “Face to Face with Christ, my Savior”.  Every time I sing this or hear a choir sing it, I feel like shouting with joy to know that one day I will see His precious face.  What rejoicing there is going to be on that day.

These words bring happiness and joy to my heart and I am filled with awe to know that one day I will see my precious Saviour face to face.  “Face to face I shall behold Him, Far beyond the starry sky; Face to face in all His glory, I shall see Him by and by!”  Are you ready to meet Him when He comes back for us?

I was born July 7^th, 1943 but I invited Jesus into my heart to be my personal Saviour on August 14, 1980 so August 14^th is my spiritual birthday.  We used to sing this chorus when I was in Sunday school.  “Happy birthday to you.  Happy birthday to you.  Born again means salvation.  How many have you?”

Are you going to see His precious face when He comes back for us?  If you have never invited Jesus into your heart to be your personal Saviour, I urge you to give your heart to Jesus before it is too late.  Open the door of your heart and invite Jesus into your heart right now.  It will be the happiest day of your life.

Joanne Lowe

June 13, 2015

NO MATTER WHAT WE DO

“The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.”

Jeremiah 31:3 KJV

Have you ever heard someone say “I wash my hands of you”?  No matter what we do Jesus loves us and He will always love us.  He tells us that He loves us with an everlasting love.  Knowing that He will always love us unconditionally should make us want to serve Him with all of our heart and with all of our time.

The love that Jesus has for you and for me is an unconditional love.  Our love for one another is sometimes conditional.  A wife said to her husband “If you really love me, you would do what I ask you to do”.  I’m so glad that Jesus loves us unconditionally and will always love us unconditionally.

Just as Jesus loves us unconditionally no matter what we do, we should also love our children unconditionally.  There are many children who don’t live in a home.  A home is where there is love.  In many families, there is no love.  There is just fighting, cussing and hatred which makes it a house, not a home.

May God help us to spread the love of Jesus by loving our children and one another unconditionally just as Jesus has commanded us to love one another.  We need to remember that nobody is perfect and that includes us.  If we want people to love us unconditionally, we should love others unconditionally.

Heavenly Father, we need Your help.  Please help us to love one another unconditionally.  Thank You for adopting me into Your family.  Thank You for the many times You have comforted me and encouraged me.  I love You.  In Jesus’ Name, I pray.  Amen.

Joanne Lowe

June 12, 2015

NO MORE CRYING

“And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”

Revelation 21:3,4 KJV

One day God Himself is going to wipe the tears from our eyes and there will be no more death, sorrow, crying or pain.  I believe God is going to wipe away our tears with tender compassionate kisses of love.  Just think about it, there will be no more pain or death.  O how He loves us!

If you are sad and brokenhearted and feel like you can’t give another smile or go another mile, know that one day your Heavenly Father will not only comfort and encourage you, He will also dry your tears with tender and loving kisses.  Allow Him to rock you in His arms of unconditional love.

All of us need to be encouraged and comforted.  If our precious Saviour needed to be encouraged and comforted when He was in the Garden of Gethsemane praying, then you and I also need to be comforted and encouraged.  May God help us to be a comfort to one another just as God comforts us.

Heavenly Father, we praise You and thank You for being loving, compassionate and forgiving.  When I think about You wiping my tears away, my heart overflows with love for You.  You have been so faithful to comfort and encourage me and I love You with all my heart.  In Jesus’ Name, I pray.  Amen.

Joanne Lowe

June 11, 2015

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME

“O GIVE thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.  Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy; And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south.”

Psalm 107:1-3 KJV

Years ago when the pastor would ask for testimonies, I did not give my testimony.  How I must have hurt Jesus and broke His heart.  However, before you judge me when was the last time you gave your testimony?  Someone asked me why I didn’t give my testimony.  It is because I hadn’t fallen in love with Jesus.

A person can have their sins forgiven and be assured of a home in Heaven and not love Jesus.  The more I studied my Bible and realized how much Jesus has done for me and how much He does for me every day and that He loves me unconditionally, I fell deeply in love with my precious Saviour.

When I think of Jesus suffering and dying on the cross because of my sins, I wonder why He loves me so much that He would allow them to crucify Him.  It is because not only does Jesus give us love, He is love.  If anyone ever asks you who Jesus is, tell them He is love and that He loves them unconditionally.

For many years, I was in a crippling and devastating depression and one wonderful day Jesus put His arms of love around me and said four words I had never heard from anyone.  Jesus said “I love you, Joanne”.  Have you allowed it to go from head knowledge to heart knowledge how much Jesus loves you?

Joanne Lowe

June 10, 2015

ARE WE WAITING

“Hast thou not known?  hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary?  there is no searching of his understanding.  He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.  Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:  But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

Isaiah 40:28-31 KJV

I think there are times when we create our own problems because we don’t wait for the LORD.  It was very hard for me to learn to wait for Him because I was the kind of person when I decided I wanted something, I wanted it then.  God has helped me and I’m learning to wait for Him.

Jesus has already told us that without Him we can’t do anything so we already know that we need Jesus.  Not only do we need Jesus every minute of the day, I believe that it hurts Him when we ignore Him and try to do things on our own.  What we’re saying to Him is we don’t trust You to help us.

Are we waiting for Him or do we still try to do things without Him?  It hasn’t worked and it never will work.  We need Jesus every day and every hour.  Without Jesus, I can’t even get out of bed.  I need His strength, His comfort and His encouragement.  O how He loves us and one day He’s coming back for us.

Heavenly Father, please forgive us for trying to do things on our own.  Teach us to wait.  You have encouraged me and comforted me as You tenderly dried my tears with compassionate kisses.  Thank You for loving me.  In Jesus’ Name, I pray.  Amen.

Joanne Lowe

June 9, 2015

IS IT OKAY WITH YOU

“Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.”

Proverbs 22:24,25 KJV

We should get our Heavenly Father’s permission for everything we do.  It is especially important to get His permission when choosing close friends because it only takes one person to lead us astray.  I am very selective when I choose close friends.  A person can be saved and not love Jesus.

I am friendly to everyone but unless God tells me it is okay to be a close friend to someone, I pray for the person but I don’t spend much time with that person.  I asked God how I will know it is okay to be a close friend to someone and He gave me the answer in the Bible.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,” (Galatians 5:22).  If a person loves Jesus, we will know it by their actions and their kind and loving words.  What about us?  Do people know how much we love Jesus by our actions and our words?

Friendship is like a marriage as it must be worked at by both people.  One of the things I have never understood is people who give gifts to their loved ones at Christmas or on their birthdays but never contact them the rest of the year.  How that must hurt Jesus and break His heart.

If Jesus didn’t tell me every day that He loves me, it would break my heart but He does tell us every day.  We can listen with our heart day or night and we will hear Jesus say to us “I love you”.  What a privilege is ours to be loved by the Saviour of the world.

Joanne Lowe

June 8, 2015