Christ has been defined in many ways: wonderful counselor, price of peace, savior, mighty and the list goes on and on but have you ever thought of Christ as an intercessor. An intercessor is defined as someone who prays on your behalf or in others words, intercedes on your behalf to God the Father. Scriptures tells us two very important things about Christ today. First, He is seated at the right hand of God the Father (Luke 22:69) and secondly, He is literally interceding our our behalf (Hebrews 7:25). Will you just close your eyes for a moment and picture what this looks like......
Christ is sitting right next to God whispering in His ear a prayer for you. I do not know about you but this literally blows me away. Can you imagine a better intercessor? What is even more amazing to me is Christ knows our hearts better than we know them. What a perfect prayer this must be to God. What an amazing savior we have.
So when this life gets really hard and we feel like everything is crashing down around us just remember that we have a Savior who is praying for us. His prayer is perfect and personal. It is about you and your needs. And how can we not help but fall more madly in love with Him knowing that He loves us that much.
Thank you Christ. Thank you for being our savior and our intercessor. Thank you for always loving us and meeting us right where we are. Thank you for never giving up on us. You are the one, the only, who is and who is to come.
I hope that you will just spend sometime today reflecting on this and praising Him for what He has done and will do. We have an amazing Savior!
Kara
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Wasting time.....
Discouragement. What an ugly word? But I can tell you from my own personal experience that this is the devils biggest weapon. He wants us to be discouraged because he knows once we allow ourselves to become discourage we will not carry out what Christ has called us to do.
Saul hated all followers of Christ. He went to the chief priest and requested that arrest warrants be granted for all those who were preaching the word of Christ Jesus. On his way to issue the warrants, the Lord stepped in.
Acts 9: 3-22-
3As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"
5"Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked.
"I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he replied. 6"Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."
7The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
10In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, "Ananias!"
"Yes, Lord," he answered.
11The Lord told him, "Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight."
13"Lord," Ananias answered, "I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. 14And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name."
15But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. 16I will show him how much he must suffer for my name."
17Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit." 18Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. 21All those who heard him were astonished and asked, "Isn't he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn't he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?" 22Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.
You see Saul was not afraid. He did not hesitate to tell others about Christ. He did not feel he needed a degree in order to preach the word. In fact, when he came against opposition he grew even stronger in Christ! Please do not get me wrong I think it is very important for us to be knowledgeable about what we tells other about Christ. But I think sometimes we get so concerned with knowledge and not concerned with we are all called to do: spread His word. He will give us the knowledge we need through His word and through a personal relationship with Him. We just need to simply follow Him and seek His knowledge. You are His ambassador. He has called you to be a light for the world. Do not be discouraged for Christ does not call the equipped, He equips the called. Always let your light shine for Christ.Be Blessed,
Kara
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Taking the Cross personally....
John 3:17 tells us that God sent His son to save the world. Some of you just read that verse and thought.....yes I know that. And so many of us are so familiar with Christ's story. And even if you have never read Matthew, Mark, Luke or John you know that Jesus died on the cross. Crosses are displayed all over the place. They are worn as necklaces, placed on top of churches, and hung on the walls of many homes but have we really thought about what the cross means. I think we recognize that the cross symbolizes our forgiveness. And many of us come before Christ and ask for that forgiveness. But one thing I think we fail to recognize is that Christ's death on the cross was personal.
I have often heard people say that right before someone dies they have a flashback, a glimpse of all the things that have taken place in their life. While I do not know if this is true for us, I do believe that this was true for Christ. But instead of reflecting on His life, He reflected on ours. I believe that every single one of our faces flashed through his mind in those last moments. HE DID THIS FOR YOU! Please read that again! HE DID THIS FOR YOU! You went through His mind. Your face, your life He saw in the last moments before He died. While I truly believe that Christ came to save the world, if He had only saved you that would have been enough.
I can not tell you how freeing it has been to come to this revelation. I have heard Christ's story countless times but it was not until I started to take it personally did I really understand what Christ did it for me. There is nothing He would not do for me. I just have to lay it before Him recognizing that He always knows what is best for me. I need to seek Him only. Laying it all before Him. Letting Him move in me. Always reflecting on His cross and always taking it personally.
Jesus, thank you, thank you, thank you. There are not even words to describe what you have done for me. I am truly in awe of your sacrifice. Sometimes I wonder why you did but than I remember your love. Help me, Jesus, to be the sacrifice for you that you are for me. Move in me, Jesus. Help me to always reflect on your cross and take it personally. Help me to show others how to take it personally. Jesus pour out over your people! We need you! Amen.
Blessing to all of you,
Kara
I have often heard people say that right before someone dies they have a flashback, a glimpse of all the things that have taken place in their life. While I do not know if this is true for us, I do believe that this was true for Christ. But instead of reflecting on His life, He reflected on ours. I believe that every single one of our faces flashed through his mind in those last moments. HE DID THIS FOR YOU! Please read that again! HE DID THIS FOR YOU! You went through His mind. Your face, your life He saw in the last moments before He died. While I truly believe that Christ came to save the world, if He had only saved you that would have been enough.
I can not tell you how freeing it has been to come to this revelation. I have heard Christ's story countless times but it was not until I started to take it personally did I really understand what Christ did it for me. There is nothing He would not do for me. I just have to lay it before Him recognizing that He always knows what is best for me. I need to seek Him only. Laying it all before Him. Letting Him move in me. Always reflecting on His cross and always taking it personally.
Jesus, thank you, thank you, thank you. There are not even words to describe what you have done for me. I am truly in awe of your sacrifice. Sometimes I wonder why you did but than I remember your love. Help me, Jesus, to be the sacrifice for you that you are for me. Move in me, Jesus. Help me to always reflect on your cross and take it personally. Help me to show others how to take it personally. Jesus pour out over your people! We need you! Amen.
Blessing to all of you,
Kara
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Popularity: Who is defining you?
Luke 6:26 - "There's trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others, saying what flatters them, doing what indulges them. Popularity contests are not truth contests-look how many scoundrel preachers were approved by your ancestors! Your task is to be true, not popular." (The Message)
After I read that this morning something stung a little bit. Actually it more like getting hit by a truck. So many times in my life, I have gotten popularity all wrong. When I was a little kid I was somewhat of an outcast. To be honest, I do not really remember the reason kids did not like me. I actually do not even really remember being teased, I was just more of a loner. If you can relate to me it is you know it is not a fun place to be. I longed to be a part of the cool crowd. I so wanted their approval. As I got older this became more and more important and I became less and less interested in being myself. I just wanted the "cool kids" to like me. What I failed to recognize was that I was compromising who I was for who people wanted me to be. I grew up knowing who Christ was and who He called me to be. I just simply did not understand that sometimes that does not always make you popular. So instead of standing strong in my faith, I abandoned Christ and went with in crowd.
I spent many years going through heart ache because I did not follow Christ. I made a lot of bad decisions, let people define me and ultimately lost who I was in the process. While I still know I have a ways to go in completely discovering who I am, God has revealed something to me that is so precious that I have to share it with all of you. No matter what you have done, where you have been, who you let define you He was always there. There is nothing in this world that can change that. And even more so, while you were out trying to be someone else, HE knew you! No matter how many masks you tried to put on or costumes you wore you could never hide your true self from Him. Don't you just love that even if you have spent your whole lifetime trying to be someone else, He always knew you. And only through Him can you be restored back to that person.
If we were all looking at a map of my life there would be a bright red arrow pointing to a place in the road where Restoration Avenue and Christ Street meet with a sign above it that said "YOU ARE HERE". The road ahead is probably long, bumpy at times, there are bound to be curves along the way and best of all I have no idea where I am going but I don't care because Christ is the driver. You see, it was not until I decided to stop worrying about popularity and worry about what Christ thinks of me that I will truly find myself. I hope many of you will join me in letting God restore you into who He always meant you to be.
Blessings to all you,
Kara
After I read that this morning something stung a little bit. Actually it more like getting hit by a truck. So many times in my life, I have gotten popularity all wrong. When I was a little kid I was somewhat of an outcast. To be honest, I do not really remember the reason kids did not like me. I actually do not even really remember being teased, I was just more of a loner. If you can relate to me it is you know it is not a fun place to be. I longed to be a part of the cool crowd. I so wanted their approval. As I got older this became more and more important and I became less and less interested in being myself. I just wanted the "cool kids" to like me. What I failed to recognize was that I was compromising who I was for who people wanted me to be. I grew up knowing who Christ was and who He called me to be. I just simply did not understand that sometimes that does not always make you popular. So instead of standing strong in my faith, I abandoned Christ and went with in crowd.
I spent many years going through heart ache because I did not follow Christ. I made a lot of bad decisions, let people define me and ultimately lost who I was in the process. While I still know I have a ways to go in completely discovering who I am, God has revealed something to me that is so precious that I have to share it with all of you. No matter what you have done, where you have been, who you let define you He was always there. There is nothing in this world that can change that. And even more so, while you were out trying to be someone else, HE knew you! No matter how many masks you tried to put on or costumes you wore you could never hide your true self from Him. Don't you just love that even if you have spent your whole lifetime trying to be someone else, He always knew you. And only through Him can you be restored back to that person.
If we were all looking at a map of my life there would be a bright red arrow pointing to a place in the road where Restoration Avenue and Christ Street meet with a sign above it that said "YOU ARE HERE". The road ahead is probably long, bumpy at times, there are bound to be curves along the way and best of all I have no idea where I am going but I don't care because Christ is the driver. You see, it was not until I decided to stop worrying about popularity and worry about what Christ thinks of me that I will truly find myself. I hope many of you will join me in letting God restore you into who He always meant you to be.
Blessings to all you,
Kara
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Guard your heart against the media.....
I have to tell you that one of my favorite speakers is Joyce Meyer. I just absolutely love her. She is so full of God's wisdom! Last night as I watching her program on T.V. she touched on something that I brought up in my last blog.....guarding your heart. I can not stress enough how important that is. One of the things that God has been revealing to me about my heart is that I need to guard it against the media.
Romans 2:1-2 tells us...... So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. (The Message)
And there it is in BIG BOLD letters, don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Oh how I have struggled with this especially when it comes to the media. The other night as I was sitting there all by myself (Cade was asleep and Trev was at a fantasy football draft) I found myself having a conversation with God about what I was about to watch. I wanted to watch the Real Housewives of New Jersey. For those of you who do not know this show is about rich women. Some of them stay home and some of them work but mostly they just bicker with one another! And bickering they do. They can really be just awful to one another. As I was about to turn it on I heard God say to me "Why do you want to watch that?" Talk about stopping me dead in my tracks. Then I did something rather funny, I began to rationalize with God about how I was just simply watching T.V. and there was no harm in that. I obviously was not thinking. I even rationalized it further with God by saying that lots of people watch it. I was clearly not thinking about Romans. God so graciously whispered to me but Kara you are not a lot of people. You are my chosen daughter and I have called you into a life that has a higher standard then that of this world. Obviously there was no getting around it was just not something I needed to be watching and I turned it off.
I think sometimes has Christians we forget that we are held to a higher standard. For me, sometimes I wish we were not! That higher standard can be so hard to live by. We have to fix our eyes on God constantly to live by that standard. I think over time this has gotten increasing harder with introduction of the media. Our televisions, radios, cd players, ipods, and computers can all be filled with things that distract from this higher standard. I urge all of you to be watchful of the media. Be careful what you listen to or watch. Do not let the devil convince you that watching a show just one time is not going to hurt anything! We need to filling our eyes and ears with Jesus. We need to be placing our WHOLE lives as an offering to God and that includes the media we allow into our lives.
For me, I will seeking God on what is acceptable to watch or listen to. I can not continue to allow wordly standards define that. While I know this is not an easy task and I may stumble and fall at times, the more I practice this the easier it will become. So my practice starts today! :) I hope you will join me in that.
Blessings to all you!
Kara
Romans 2:1-2 tells us...... So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. (The Message)
And there it is in BIG BOLD letters, don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Oh how I have struggled with this especially when it comes to the media. The other night as I was sitting there all by myself (Cade was asleep and Trev was at a fantasy football draft) I found myself having a conversation with God about what I was about to watch. I wanted to watch the Real Housewives of New Jersey. For those of you who do not know this show is about rich women. Some of them stay home and some of them work but mostly they just bicker with one another! And bickering they do. They can really be just awful to one another. As I was about to turn it on I heard God say to me "Why do you want to watch that?" Talk about stopping me dead in my tracks. Then I did something rather funny, I began to rationalize with God about how I was just simply watching T.V. and there was no harm in that. I obviously was not thinking. I even rationalized it further with God by saying that lots of people watch it. I was clearly not thinking about Romans. God so graciously whispered to me but Kara you are not a lot of people. You are my chosen daughter and I have called you into a life that has a higher standard then that of this world. Obviously there was no getting around it was just not something I needed to be watching and I turned it off.
I think sometimes has Christians we forget that we are held to a higher standard. For me, sometimes I wish we were not! That higher standard can be so hard to live by. We have to fix our eyes on God constantly to live by that standard. I think over time this has gotten increasing harder with introduction of the media. Our televisions, radios, cd players, ipods, and computers can all be filled with things that distract from this higher standard. I urge all of you to be watchful of the media. Be careful what you listen to or watch. Do not let the devil convince you that watching a show just one time is not going to hurt anything! We need to filling our eyes and ears with Jesus. We need to be placing our WHOLE lives as an offering to God and that includes the media we allow into our lives.
For me, I will seeking God on what is acceptable to watch or listen to. I can not continue to allow wordly standards define that. While I know this is not an easy task and I may stumble and fall at times, the more I practice this the easier it will become. So my practice starts today! :) I hope you will join me in that.
Blessings to all you!
Kara
Friday, August 13, 2010
Day 1 - My heart......
Proverbs 4:23 - "Guard your heart above all else for it determines the course of your life." So this is where my journey begins with all of you, my heart.
Struggle one - learning to guard my heart.
Out of the things God has commanded me to do, this has been my biggest challenge and frankly it may always be. I am almost certain that I may live the rest of my life learning this lesson; learning new ways to guard my heart, learning to recognize when wordly things are effecting it, and learning to trust and believe that apart from Christ this is not possible. I recognize why this is so hard for: I have spent 25 years NOT guarding it. I have let people effect it, tear it down, trample over and most of all I have not let Christ heal it or even trust that He can.
To be honest, one year ago I thought I was a lost cause. I had lived my life in opposition of Christ's calling me for that I was not sure He would ever accept me back, but guess what HE did. In fact, He accepted me back with open arms as if He had been waiting His whole existence for me to return to Him (and by the way He does, He wants all of us to accept Him). This has left me in astonishment of His love and His continued acceptance of me and trust me when I say I do not deserve it. So when this journey began with Christ I was completely broken and humiliated of how I had lived. So much so that I thought sharing my story would only bring disgrace. But here I am about to start sharing with you my story and it starts with my heart.
Some of you may know this but I had been engaged once prior to be married to my husband now. Who by the way, is the best husband I could ask for. God has truly blessed me. I love how He always knows what is best for us. Anyways, I truly believed that this man I was going to marry was the one and I can honestly say I had given my whole heart to this person. We had a lot of good times and I shared some great high school years with him. So logically after high school it seems to make sense that we should be married. I spend the better part of a year convincing him that we should get married. Then he finally asked me. Something happened the minute after I said yes though, I got this aching feeling that it was just not right. God had an incredible way of protecting me even when I was not trusting in Him. He used my gut to do it. I do not know if any of you have experienced that gut retching feeling like something was just not right but if you have you know exactly what I am talking about. I ignored this feeling for as long as I could until one day I had to just walk away from it. I called off the wedding and let me just tell you that was the easy part. The hard part was that I had not guarded my heart from a man God did not intend to have me spend the rest of my life with. And then I became destructive, doing anything and everything that would temporarily ease my pain (I may elaborate on that more later, depends on where God leads me in this blog). And I hung on because part of my heart was taken with him when he was gone.
It was not until about 2 months ago when I attended a healing prayer session that I got that back (I realize that sounds like a LONG time). Although I was married to another man, I still had not let go of the hurt that was in my heart from that situation. Honestly I had not even realized that part of my was not whole. God revealed to me that night that I could just take back what I had given but it was not until I came before Him that I could. As the two women were praying over me I felt my heart being made whole again. Just laying it before Him was all I need. It was as if it all the pain and hurt had vanished into thin. In Matthew 11:28 Christ says "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." It is funny because I had read that verse so many times but until this moment I did not really get what Christ was telling us.
STOP carrying our burden. Give it to me. You do not need to do that anymore. He is bagging us to just turn it over. And there the connection begins. In proverbs God is telling us to guard our hearts and in Matthew Christ is showing us how to. Give him your burdens so that your heart can be guarded. I love that. Most of all I love how God uses His book to reveal and teach us new things. All the praise be to Him!
I will continue to share with all of you how God is teaching and revealing things to me. I would love to hear from all of you how is He is doing the same. We all have so much to learn from another. I encourage you to share. I hope you what I have written today will touch you in some way. All my blessings to each and every one of you.
Please feel free to send me your prayer requests.
Kara Jess
Struggle one - learning to guard my heart.
Out of the things God has commanded me to do, this has been my biggest challenge and frankly it may always be. I am almost certain that I may live the rest of my life learning this lesson; learning new ways to guard my heart, learning to recognize when wordly things are effecting it, and learning to trust and believe that apart from Christ this is not possible. I recognize why this is so hard for: I have spent 25 years NOT guarding it. I have let people effect it, tear it down, trample over and most of all I have not let Christ heal it or even trust that He can.
To be honest, one year ago I thought I was a lost cause. I had lived my life in opposition of Christ's calling me for that I was not sure He would ever accept me back, but guess what HE did. In fact, He accepted me back with open arms as if He had been waiting His whole existence for me to return to Him (and by the way He does, He wants all of us to accept Him). This has left me in astonishment of His love and His continued acceptance of me and trust me when I say I do not deserve it. So when this journey began with Christ I was completely broken and humiliated of how I had lived. So much so that I thought sharing my story would only bring disgrace. But here I am about to start sharing with you my story and it starts with my heart.
Some of you may know this but I had been engaged once prior to be married to my husband now. Who by the way, is the best husband I could ask for. God has truly blessed me. I love how He always knows what is best for us. Anyways, I truly believed that this man I was going to marry was the one and I can honestly say I had given my whole heart to this person. We had a lot of good times and I shared some great high school years with him. So logically after high school it seems to make sense that we should be married. I spend the better part of a year convincing him that we should get married. Then he finally asked me. Something happened the minute after I said yes though, I got this aching feeling that it was just not right. God had an incredible way of protecting me even when I was not trusting in Him. He used my gut to do it. I do not know if any of you have experienced that gut retching feeling like something was just not right but if you have you know exactly what I am talking about. I ignored this feeling for as long as I could until one day I had to just walk away from it. I called off the wedding and let me just tell you that was the easy part. The hard part was that I had not guarded my heart from a man God did not intend to have me spend the rest of my life with. And then I became destructive, doing anything and everything that would temporarily ease my pain (I may elaborate on that more later, depends on where God leads me in this blog). And I hung on because part of my heart was taken with him when he was gone.
It was not until about 2 months ago when I attended a healing prayer session that I got that back (I realize that sounds like a LONG time). Although I was married to another man, I still had not let go of the hurt that was in my heart from that situation. Honestly I had not even realized that part of my was not whole. God revealed to me that night that I could just take back what I had given but it was not until I came before Him that I could. As the two women were praying over me I felt my heart being made whole again. Just laying it before Him was all I need. It was as if it all the pain and hurt had vanished into thin. In Matthew 11:28 Christ says "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." It is funny because I had read that verse so many times but until this moment I did not really get what Christ was telling us.
STOP carrying our burden. Give it to me. You do not need to do that anymore. He is bagging us to just turn it over. And there the connection begins. In proverbs God is telling us to guard our hearts and in Matthew Christ is showing us how to. Give him your burdens so that your heart can be guarded. I love that. Most of all I love how God uses His book to reveal and teach us new things. All the praise be to Him!
I will continue to share with all of you how God is teaching and revealing things to me. I would love to hear from all of you how is He is doing the same. We all have so much to learn from another. I encourage you to share. I hope you what I have written today will touch you in some way. All my blessings to each and every one of you.
Please feel free to send me your prayer requests.
Kara Jess
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