WHAT HAVE WE GIVEN

“For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

Mark 10:45

King James Version

Frances R. Havergal wrote the beautiful heart touching hymn “I Gave My Life for Thee”.  “I gave My life for thee, My precious blood I shed, That thou might ransomed be, And raised up from the dead; I gave, I gave My life for thee, What hast thou giv’n for Me? I gave, I gave My life for thee, What hast thou giv’n for Me?”  Every one of us needs to answer this question.  What have we given for Jesus? 

The most important thing we can give Him is our heart.  If there has never been a time when you humbled yourself, admitted you were a sinner, asked God to forgive you and invited Jesus into your heart to be your personal Saviour, I urge you, I plead with you to invite Him into your heart today.  Please don’t put it off.  You may not have another day or even another hour.

We read in the Bible “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20).  For some people, Jesus has been knocking at the door of their heart for years.  Please don’t keep Him standing at the door of your heart any longer.  Open the door of your heart and invite Him into your heart.  Jesus is a Gentleman.  He won’t come in unless you invite Him to come in to your heart.

Your family and friends can’t do it for you.  Salvation is personal between you and Jesus.  He loves you so much He allowed them to beat Him beyond recognition, spit of Him, curse Him, mock Him and reject Him.  Nobody loves you like Jesus loves you and nobody ever will.  Will you make room for Jesus in your heart?

Daniel W. Whittle wrote the hymn “Have You Any Room for Jesus?”  “Room for pleasure, room for business, But for Christ the Crucified, Not a place that He can enter, In the heart for which He died?”  Why is it we can make time to do the things we want to do but neglect to give Jesus first place in our heart, in our life, in our time and in everything we do?  How we must hurt Him and break His heart when we put things ahead of Him.

Joanne Lowe

November 7, 2019

STOP HURTING JESUS

"And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

Matthew 25:40
King James Version

It is time that we stop hurting Jesus.  Every time we say something that hurts someone or do something that hurts someone, we are hurting Jesus.  All of us are guilty of hurting Jesus at times and that includes me.  None of us are perfect.  There was only one perfect person who ever lived and His Name is Jesus.

There are times that people hurt us but there are also times when we hurt people.  Hopefully, we don't hurt people on purpose.  I have to be honest and admit when someone says something cruel to me or does something to hurt me, I get upset and I have to ask Jesus to help me keep my big mouth shut.  Jesus is the only One Who has a right to stay angry when someone hurts Him but He doesn't stay angry, He forgives us.

Jesus set the example of forgiveness for us while He was still hanging on the cross with the blood flowing down His body.  We read in the Bible "And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left" (Luke 23:33, 34).  If ever someone had a right to stay angry and never forgive, it is Jesus.

Jesus had been beaten beyond recognition, spat on, cursed, mocked and left alone to die on the cross for our sins.  Jesus was alone when He died because His Father had to turn away from Him while He was hanging on the cross for our sins.  God is a Holy God and He can't look on sin so He had to turn away from His beloved Son.

May God have mercy on us because we allow unforgiveness, bitterness and resentment to remain in our heart.  All of these things hurt Jesus and break His heart.  It is time we stop hurting Jesus and love one another unconditionally as He has commanded us to love each other.

Joanne Lowe

November 6, 2019  

ONE HAPPY DAY

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:”

1 Thessalonians 4:16

King James Version

Jim Hill wrote the beautiful hymn “WHAT A DAY THAT WILL BE”.  I love the words in this hymn.  “There is coming a day When no heartache shall come No more clouds in the sky No more tears to dim the eye All is peace forever more  On that happy golden shore What a day, glorious day that will be. What a day that will be When my Jesus I shall see And I look upon His face The One who saved my by His grace When He takes me by the hand And leads me through the Promised Land What a day, glorious day that will be.”

One happy day, Jesus is coming back for us and there will be no more violence, no more abuse of children, no more of anything that will hurt Jesus.  How I long for Jesus to come back and I will have the privilege of seeing Him face to face.  Carrie E. Breck wrote one of my favorite hymns “Face to Face with Christ, My Savior”.     I am so glad that the words in this hymn are true.  “What rejoicing in His presence, When are banished grief and pain; When the crooked ways are straightened, And the dark things shall be plain.”

Are you ready to meet Jesus if He comes back for us today?  You may be saved but will you be able to look Jesus in the eye or will you have to look away?  People only know what we say and what they see but God sees in our heart and He knows if we have allowed bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness, sarcasm and jealousy to remain in our heart.  All these things hurt our Heavenly Father and break His heart.  If your heart is not right with God, repent and ask Him to forgive you so you will be able to look Jesus in the eye when He comes back for us.

Joanne Lowe

November 5, 2019

WHY

“If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.  These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.  This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.”

John 15:10-12

King James Version

Jesus has commanded all of us to love one another unconditionally as He loves us and when we don’t, we hurt Him and break His heart.  We read in the Bible  “Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.” (Matthew 25:45)

I found this definition in Webster’s Dictionary for unconditional “with no limits in any way : without restriction by conditions or qualifications”.  Can you honestly say you always love others unconditionally?  I can’t and I have to ask God to forgive me and help me. 

If we would allow it to go from head knowledge to heart knowledge when we hurt others, we also hurt Jesus, I believe we would start loving others unconditionally no matter how many times they hurt us just as Jesus loves us unconditionally no matter how many times we hurt Him.  May God have mercy on us and forgive us for hurting His beloved Son.

Joanne Lowe

November 4, 2019

 

HAPPINESS AND JOY

“Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”

Psalms 16:11

King James Version

Joy comes by being in the presence of Jesus but we make our own happiness.  Pastor Ira F. Stanphill wrote one of my favorite hymns “Happiness is the Lord”.  The words in this hymn are so true.  “Happiness is to know the Saviour Living a life within His favour Having a change in my behaviour, Happiness in the Lord.”

For many years I was very unhappy because I didn’t forgive people when they hurt me.  I allowed resentment, unforgiveness, bitterness and hatred to remain in my heart, all the things that hurt Jesus and break His heart.  Again, being in the presence of Jesus gives us fulness of joy that we can’t get from the world but we make our own happiness.

What about you?  Are you hurting Jesus and breaking His heart because you refuse to forgive the ones who have hurt you?  Think where we would be if Jesus hadn’t forgiven us when we crucified Him and beat Him beyond recognition.  We would be on our way to hell for all eternity.  If Jesus could forgive us for what we did to Him, we need to forgive the ones who hurt us.

Remember, none of us are perfect.  There was only one perfect person who ever lived or ever will live and His Name is Jesus.  May God have mercy on us if we are hurting His beloved Son and breaking His heart because we refuse to forgive the ones who hurt us.  How dare you and I ask our Heavenly Father to forgive us if we aren’t willing to forgive those who hurt us.  One day every one of us will stand before a Holy God and give an account of the things in our heart.

Joanne Lowe

November 3, 2019

A DAY OF HAPPINESS

“And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”

Luke 2:10, 11

King James Version

What a day of happiness and joy it was when our precious Saviour was born.  There is going to be another day of happiness and joy when He comes back for us.  We read in the Bible “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:” (1 Thessalonians 4:16)

We’re going to be happy when Jesus comes back for us but our precious Saviour is going to be a lot happier than we are when He comes back for us because He loves us so much He died for us.  Think about it!  We’re going to have the privilege of seeing Jesus face to face and it is a privilege to see Jesus.  Carrie E. Breck wrote the beautiful and inspiring hymn “Face to Face with Christ, My Savior”.

What a healing balm the words in this hymn are to our weary and battle scarred heart.  “What rejoicing in His presence, When are banished grief and pain; When the crooked ways are straightened, And the dark things shall be plain.”  Are you shouting with happiness yet?  You are going to see Jesus face to face!  O how Jesus loves you.  If you are hurting today and feel like giving up, tell Jesus.  He loves you and He will help you.  What a Saviour!  What a Friend, this Jesus of Nazareth!  All hail, King Jesus!  Worthy is the Lamb of God!  He is the “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS”.  Please join me in the praising the One Who loves you so much He died for you.

Joanne Lowe

November 2, 2019

ANOTHER NAIL

“The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

John 20:25

King James Version

Jesus will never have nails pounded into His precious hands again but every time we say something unkind or do something unkind on purpose that hurts someone, it breaks the heart of our precious Saviour and we have pounded another nail in His heart.  I believe with all my heart when Jesus was crucified on the cross, He felt the pain of every nail in His heart just as He feels the pain in His heart when we say and do things to hurt someone.

Jesus has told us that when we are unkind to someone, we are being unkind to Him and we are hurting Him and breaking His heart.  “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:40).  How sad it will be if we can’t look Jesus in the eye when He comes back for us because we have pounded nails into His heart by hurting others.

Christmas will be here next month and one of the gifts we can give our precious Saviour is to be kind and loving to one another.  Jesus didn’t die just for your sins and my sins, He died for every person in the world and He loves all of us equally.  Let’s give Jesus an early birthday present and be kind and loving to each other.  It’s great to give gifts to one another at Christmas and be kind and loving but we should be kind and loving to each other every day of the year.  May God help us to be kind and loving to each other and make Jesus happy.

Joanne Lowe

November 1, 2019