For God
in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God
reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and
on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. This includes you who were once far away from
God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and
actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ
in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence,
and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. But you must continue to believe this truth
and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when
you heard the Good News. Colossians
1:19-23
We need
to remember that the people who re around us, could be living in fear. If they
are living in fear, they may be projecting that fear as tough, as rough, as
mean. Look at the disciple who followed Jesus around for all His ministry years
and then when the soldiers and crowd came to take Jesus he drew his sword and
cut of a guys ear? Or at least part of it.
Jesus
said, “My friend, go ahead and do what you have come for.”
Then the
others grabbed Jesus and arrested him. But one of the men with Jesus pulled out his
sword and struck the high priest’s slave, slashing off his ear. “Put away your sword,” Jesus told him. “Those
who use the sword will die by the sword. Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father
for thousands[g] of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly? But if I did, how would the Scriptures be
fulfilled that describe what must happen now?”
Then
Jesus said to the crowd, “Am I some dangerous revolutionary, that you come with
swords and clubs to arrest me? Why didn’t you arrest me in the Temple? I was
there teaching every day. But this is
all happening to fulfill the words of the prophets as recorded in the
Scriptures.” At that point, all the disciples deserted him and fled. Matthew
26:50-56
Before
all the violence broke out you were feeling peace, and hope, and finally could
see the end of the shut in your home zone time… but then fear threatened to
pull you back out into the world of anxiety. Does that sound like you? God
wants you to remember that Jesus went through all He did to give you that
assurance to believe for Him to take care of you! Stay humble, stay strong in His power not
your own, trust God to direct your path personally not just as a group! Make
the right choices to follow Him regardless of what your friends do.
And the
man said to me, “Daniel, you are very precious to God, so listen carefully to
what I have to say to you. Stand up, for I have been sent to you.” When he said
this to me, I stood up, still trembling. Then he said, “Don’t be afraid,
Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble
yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in
answer to your prayer. But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom
of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me,
and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia.
Daniel 10:11-13
God has not stopped, return to Him for peace,
respect His direction in your life and accept the way that He puts before you.
Follow after Him, and be humble in your prayers and He will pick you back up,
your countenance will shine again, your hope will renew and there will be joy
in your step!
I tell you this because I know our God
will do so! I know He is waiting for us to be humble and accept that we cannot
do this alone, we are not capable of healing ourselves, only God via the Holy
Spirit can and we need to humbly accept that! Accept that we need Him!
We cannot, and will not beat the enemy
without Him. Whatever it is that you are battling today, racism, anxiety,
depression, despair, illness, lack of direction, financial discord; humbly lift
it up to Him and follow His directions. He will show you where to go! He will
tell you what to do, it may be through someone you least expect to follow to a
new job, or it may mean humbling and asking forgiveness of something you said
or did. Just follow Him, step into His Holy Spirit and allow Him to heal you
and our land, in Jesus name!
Heavenly Father, we lift up our hurts,
our sorrows, our fears to You and we ask that You fill us with Your Holy Spirit
that will comfort, guide and direct our paths clearly that we would know what
to do next. Provide, direct, and guide us in Jesus’ name, amen.
Suggested reading Daniel 10:1-21, Mark 14:1-72
and Matthew 26:1-75