Who is the Jesus, the leader of the resurrection parade?

Are you looking for your life purpose? Are there things broken in your life, family or your work? Turn to Jesus...

Who is this Jesus?

He is the Son

The Son of the God we cannot see

He has God’s original purpose in Him

He has been here from the first

He started everything

Everything finds its purpose in Him

He holds all things together

He organizes the church

He was supreme in the beginning

He lead the resurrection parade

He will be supreme in the end

He towers over everything

Everything of God finds its proper place in Him without crowding

Through Him

All the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe -

all of the people and things, animals and atoms -

will get properly fixed together in vibrant harmonies

This is all possible because of his death

when his blood poured down from the Cross.

(Colossians 1:15-20, The Message)

Loving and praying for others

Being able to claim, ‘I was prayed for before I was born’ is one of my great spiritual privileges. I am confident of this by not only knowing my family, but seeing the results of these prayers in my life.

Any parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle can and should tell a child they are loved. As believers we can go to the next level of assurance for our loved ones and pray for them.

What confidence and assurance it gives me to know the prayer that surrounds me. It is important to tell people we are praying for them.

Colossians 1:9-14 gives 10 steps on how to pray for others. (Taken from The Message)

1. Pray non-stop from the first word of the person
2. Ask for a wise mind for them
3. Ask for their spirit to be attuned to God’s will
4. Ask for them to understand on how God works in the world
5. Pray they will live well for God
6. Pray they will learn to work well in God’s orchard
7. Ask for strength for them to stick it out for the long haul, not just teeth-gritting strength, but God’s glory-strength so they may endure the unendurable and be filled with God’s joy
8. Thank God for them to have His strength to take part in every bright and beautiful thing He has for the person
9. Ask and thank Jesus for rescuing them from their dead-end alleys and darkest dungeons
10. Ask and thank Jesus for giving them the opportunity to be a part of His Kingdom, bringing them out of the pit and taking away the sins they are doomed to keep repeating.

Puzzling Day

Have you ever had a day when life circumstances made you feel you had missed your true life purpose? This was one of those days for me. None of the events truly related to this missed purpose, but the feeling of dread certainly came over me today.

Was it the deceiver making me doubt my life?

Was it the Spirit preparing my heart for a new direction?

I can resist the doubt and look forward to new directions.

What about you?

Are you satisfied with your life?

Are you satisfied with your life?

Maybe, you’ve tried many different avenues to fulfill your deepest desires. From theses efforts, you probably have filled your life with wonderful people, wonderful things.

Yet, when everyone is in bed and the lights are out, you find yourself thinking of the old Peggy Lee song, ‘is that all there is?’

Instead of having a party, turn to Jesus.

Jesus spoke of himself in John 10:10b

“I have come so they might have life and have it in abundance.”

Review of Out of the Overflow

Out of the Overflow, Stories of God’s Love from His Heart to Yours, is a collection of over 100 contributed stories from the attendees at the 2010 CLASS Seminar Christian Writer’s Conference showing how God’s love has overflowed from their into the hearts of others. This book is categorized as Religion/Inspirational. The ISBN-13 is 978-1-60615-104-4 and is listed at $15.99 onChristian books.com or $18.99 at Winepress.

Disclosure: My first published poem, When I Sing to Jesus, page 127, is included in this collection.

This book was compiled at the annual CLASSeminars Christian Writers Conference At the Ghost Ranch in Northern New Mexico. Attendees met daily in small critique groups to edit and polish their submissions.

The stories are as unique in style, format and circumstances as their authors. Yet, through out them is a consistent message of how God’s love meets needs causing living water to flow out of their lives into the lives of others.

These heart level written words touched and often inspired me. I found delight in how often the stories resonated with me even when the life circumstances were so different from mine.

This book would be a welcomed encourager for anyone looking for hope. A portion of the proceeds for this book will be contributed to the Dan Penwell Scholarship Fund of CLASSeminars.

The link to the book at Winepress.

Do you want resurrection power?

March was a whirlwind of activity for me. A variety of weekend writing and church ministry conferences. I was spiritually challenged and inspired. This Sunday’s lesson was in Philippians 3. Paul describes what he is willing to give up to share in the resurrection power of Jesus and his Father. Nor can Paul understand why anyone wouldn’t want that same power for their lives. What about you? Why wouldn’t you want A God on your side who has the power to raise the dead?

From The Message

Phil. 3:10 ¶ I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself.

Phil. 3:11 If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.

A great Sunday Afternoon

I spent a great “Pathways” afternoon being a part of P3 training. For me, I see my training every day I really live. I catch myself running my numbers or worse the specter of my special name comes over me. I hate that more than anything.

Even a couple of hours of being back ‘in the room’, hearing strangers share their hearts revives means reminds me of the work that happens every month.

To my class, 226, what we did 6 years ago was significant. It was significant for each of us as individuals and for us as group. Hearing the old songs took me back to those moments we shared. I could close my eyes and see the moments we spent together.

This afternoon also reminded me that every person is significant to me. Maybe you are reading this at a coffee shop or at home. Look around you, every person you see is important to you and no doubt needs you in their life.

Some of my favorite phrases from the afternoon an some I heard at a new heart level, ‘chip away at what doesn’t belong’, ‘I want to be real’, and ‘faith of the heart’.

The real question I have to ask myself from today is, “while I’ve always known I have wings, why am I still not ready to fly?”