It's time to catch-up

SteveO is feeling a bit better and has done some more unassisted walking....Yeah!

With everything SteveO has been through he has not failed to call me EVERY SINGLE DAY to give me his thoughts and share his quiet time moments with Jesus for this, supposedly, daily blog. Now I could use every excuse possible for not sharing these with you each day but I won't BUT I will tell you how the Lord has used SteveO's obedience and perseverance to keep me close to the Lord. You see we all can find excuses to put off hangin' out with the Lord or to minimize that time because of our hectic schedule...., what about His schedule? He created us, knit us together in our mother's womb, knows each hair on our head and loves us enough to send His Son to die a tortuous way and defeat death in order to wash us clean of our sins as if they never happened.

That being said, REJOICE, because we have total victory if we have a relationship with Jesus! He is The Way, The Truth and The Life so let's hang out with Him and I am sure we will fall deeper in love with Him! So, to catch up with the days that have slipped, here are 5 days worth of SteveO's DAILY blogs.

Mark 1:10-11 - "As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: 'You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.'"

Jesus models everything for us and here He is getting baptized. Not because He needed the affirmation of who He is but because we need that affirmation of who we are in Him. We are God's sons and daughters and through Jesus the Lord is well pleased with us. The words "torn open" remind us of when the temple curtain is "torn" at the crucifixion of Jesus symbolizing our direct access to the Lord because of the sacrifice of Jesus. The other thing to notice is that the "trinity" is united in one place for all to see and experience - The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three parts, one God for us!

Luke 3:16 - "John answered them all, 'I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.'"

SteveO was led to another baptism Scripture. What blows us away is that Jesus tells us that John the Baptist was the greatest among men yet John makes it clear that he is unworthy to even untie the thongs of the sandals of Jesus. Jesus, if we really know Him, humbles us all because why should He love us the way He does? Why would He be crucified for me and my sins? Why is death defeated for me? Love never fails! We get baptized to publicly show that Jesus washes us clean of our sin, He forgives us when we go under the water then we come up and take that first breath we are a new creation, born-again, given a new heart to love Jesus first and foremost and our neighbor as ourself. It is all possible because of the Holy Spirit of Jesus that resides in us when we accept Jesus as our Savior...., that is total victory!

John 5:24 - "'I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.'"

These words spoken by Jesus is a promise He will not break. There is no condemnation in Christ and our old life is dead and The Life we have is Jesus. He is our hope, He is our foundation, He is with us to the very end of the age. If evil is trying to convince you otherwise, stop, take control over evil by claiming victory in Jesus...try it the evil will flee!

Psalm 16:1-6 - "Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge. I said to the Lord, 'You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.' As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight. The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods. I will not pour out their libations of blood or take up their names on my lips. Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance."

SteveO has told us that when he is feeling down he turns to the psalms. The psalms are full of King David's pouring out of his heart to the Lord. Sometimes they start off sounding a bit like complaining but by their end they are full of praise for the Lord who is bigger than all of our touble and He will see us through trouble if we really lean on Him! SteveO knows that his lot is secure in Jesus, he knows that though his physical weakness makes things difficult God loves him and that means he has a delightful inheritance....guaranteed!

Psalm 140:6-8 - "O Lord, I say to you, 'You are my God.' Hear, O Lord, my cry for mercy. O Sovereign Lord, my strong deliverer, who shields my head in the day of battle - do not let their plans succeed, or they will become proud."

This world is full of people who are focused directly on themselves. We all get that way from time to time. We see the news or hear about things that are wrong and injust and it seems that so much of this evil is planned. We can cry out to the Lord as David does in this psalm. Cry out for the evil plans not to succeed, cry out for mercy BUT KNOWING we have total victory because the Lord is our strong deliverer and He does shield our heads in the battle. Sometimes appearances to our human eyes are not at all what God sees, that's why He is God and we are not....we need to have faith and trust in Him!!

Yeah, we are officially caught up with SteveO's daily blog. Please keep him in your prayers and stay tuned as we have a God who makes all things possible!