Month: February 2025

“When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.”

Mark 6:34 (NAB)

A vast crowd was waiting for Jesus, and scripture tells us that He was moved emotionally as He saw them all as sheep without a shepherd. 

Jesus sees every individual as a potential addition to His flock. He feels pity for them, and sees the value of each soul in the crowd. 

There is a crowd in everyone’s life as well. Our own crowd is filled with people that we know and encounter each day. Every person that we rub shoulders with, whether an acquaintance, a neighbor, coworker, friend or relative, are in our lives for a reason, and not by chance. 

My take away message from this story, is that Jesus left us His example to follow, regarding the crowd that He brought into our lives. He might be asking us to take notice of someone in particular. 

That person might be someone who naturally stirs our sense of pity, as we feel instant compassion for them. Others may rub us the wrong way, making it difficult to be around them, whether it’s a coworker, a neighbor, friend, or a relative. Jesus looked at the crowd and felt pity, seeing them as sheep without a shepherd. He “saw” them as misguided sheep, and He pitied them. There is only one way to see the people in our crowd, and that is through the eyes of Jesus, which can only happen by the power of the Holy Spirit.

One of the biggest challenges to having a peaceful walk of faith, involves our relationships with other people. 

I remember many years ago, a young woman was hired in the hospital department that I worked in. She had the same responsibilities of taking call as the rest of us. When we were on call, we usually stayed close to the workplace, avoided drinking alcohol and were attentive to any pages that came in through our pagers, during those call hours.

This young new coworker, who was on call one evening, called me to say that she just got paged, but was on a River boat Casino, and already had a few drinks. She asked me if I could take her call for her and go into the hospital. I asked if she knew that she was on call, when she headed to that river boat, and she said she did. After getting past the initial shock of her brazen irresponsibility of partying on a River boat Casino, I did go in to the hospital for her that evening.

I never told the supervisor on her, but for months, I allowed myself to become very irritated by the many ignorant things she did. Feeling guilty for my negative attitude towards her, and in my frustration, I decided to regularly pray and ask God to let me see her through His eyes. Something amazing started to happen.

My whole attitude changed and instead of being filled with critical thoughts or annoyed by her immaturity, I began to develop a strange new maternal compassion and patience for her. Instead of avoiding her, I found myself taking her under my wing and mentoring her. She still had a lot of immaturity to grow out of, but my attitude toward her had changed so drastically, that I knew it was God, who was answering my prayer, by changing me.

We can always pray for people to change for the better, but it’s amazing to see how God changes us when we ask Him to help us see people through His eyes. Something supernatural takes place, when we see people from His perspective. She did eventually mature and do her job more responsibly, but my greatest lesson was in how God changed me. 

The scripture today tells us how Jesus saw the crowd and felt pity for them, as sheep who needed a shepherd. I guess my coworker needed a little extra shepherding. Maybe that’s why we need to pray that we see people through His eyes. I often forget to pray this way, but by recalling this particular experience, this message is a reminder to myself. 

Praying and asking God to help us see others as He sees them, changes us, which in turn, changes everything.

Lord, thank you for the crowd you providentially brought into our lives. We ask that you help us to see others through your eyes, so that we can become more like you. Amen

“Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”

1 Corinthians 3:16 (NAB)

On Pentecost, the Spirit of God filled every temple of the believers in the upper room, for a perfect purpose and mission. Afterward, they left that room and began a new journey of renovation, empowered and transformed by the Holy Spirit. 

It didn’t end on the day of Pentecost, but rather became an ongoing renovation project within every baptized believer in the generations to follow. Renovation requires tearing down the old and “making all things new,” as expressed by Jesus from His throne.  (Revelation 21:5)

It’s all for the purpose of pleasing Him, who dwells within our temples. Each of us are temples of His Holy Spirit, under constant renovation.

Every uncomfortable event in our life is a part of the tearing down phase of our temple renovation. The chief designer of the project is Jesus. By allowing Him to remove old attitudes or habits, we become new creations in Christ, with a temple that is pleasing for His Spirit to dwell in. 

We wouldn’t argue that our old deteriorating kitchen cabinets with broken drawers or loose hinges are not so bad. No one paints over deteriorated wood or lays worn out carpeting inside of a newly built home. Renovation means a clean, new beginning for the purpose of creating something better, and Jesus never stops making us better.

As our interior designer, we may not see or understand all of His plans in the moment, but we can trust in His expertise. He is coordinating and implementing the changes, as we give Him control. He gives us free will, never forcing His plans upon us. His Spirit, dwelling in our temples, works within every circumstance that occurs in our lives, helping us to adapt, by renewing and reshaping us in love. 

We want Jesus to feel comfortable dwelling in our temples, so we give Him the seat of honor and talk with Him every day. Being the chief designer of our renovation project, He would love to keep meeting with us daily, to discuss the next design plan. If we think back to a painful period in our lives and compare it to who we are today, we will find that there was a subtle spiritual growth that took place over time. 

Sometimes, the greatest battle is within our minds when faced with tragic or frightening circumstances. The Holy Spirit dwells in us to help us choose what we allow to take root in our thought life. We are reminded to take every thought captive, testing it to see if it measures up to God’s truth or not. (2 Corinthians 10:5)

The Spirit helps us take every lying thought captive, including thoughts of hopelessness, or the lie that we are being punished by God. He redirects our thought life to the truth that God loves us and is working all things together for our good. 

During the most difficult periods, we cannot see what good is coming to us or to our loved ones in the moment, but we can still take the negative thoughts captive by saying, “Jesus, I trust that you are in control.”

We may not always understand what the design plan is, but we can trust that He loves us and promises to keep us in perfect peace, during our transformation. The final reveal will be beautiful from the inside out, as Jesus is the honored guest during the entire renovation. He doesn’t wait until it’s finished and perfect, but promises to be with us during every stage of renovation throughout our lives. 

Lord, while you dwell in our temple, you are the chief designer of our  spiritual renovation. Give us the grace and faith to accept that your design plans are best for us. Amen

“But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

2 Corinthians 3:16-17 (NIV)

We all tend to move closer or drift farther from God, depending on what we are experiencing in our lives, but whether in good or bad times, God still desires our intimacy with Him. 

A close relationship with Jesus was not supposed to be based upon our circumstances. It’s more like a marriage vow, for better or for worse. Intimacy with the Lord is something we choose by cooperating with His grace. God opens our hearts, but we always have the choice of how open we want our heart to be. 

Faith in God begins with head knowledge, but through time and experiences, it makes its way to that strong, solid place within our hearts.  I may know in my mind that God can do what I ask of Him, but sometimes it’s difficult to transfer that to my heart. Someone once said that the longest journey is from our head to our heart. 

Once faith reaches our heart, there is a personal element that comes alive, which the Old Testament prophets often wrote about. Ezekiel told us that God wants to remove our heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh.  (Ezekiel 36:26) 

Some days are more difficult than others, and I find myself saying, “Lord, take away my stoney heart.”

Jeremiah also spoke about circumcising the heart, instead of the flesh. (Jeremiah 4:4)

Let’s face it-God is always after our heart, and He’s not going to stop until He can renew our hearts into the image of His son’s. He is always circumcising or cutting away the nonproductive attitudes within us, and He will be purifying us, for as long as we live. It’s a good reason not to cast judgement on others, since God isn’t finished with any of us yet. 

The first commandment is the driving force for everything, since Jesus told us, “to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.”(Matthew 12:30)

God loves us more than we could ever comprehend. He loves us even when we don’t return that love to Him. Even when we drift away from Him, His mercy is showered upon us, in new ways every morning, not because we deserve it, but because His love surpasses what we deserve. 

It makes one wonder why then, is it so easy for people to drift away from the One who loves them the most. 

I know from my own experience, it could be that we just get so busy doing “things”.  Even when we are doing all the right things, working, helping, giving, serving, or attending church, we can still drift away from intimacy with Jesus. Despite that, He pursues each of us through any means possible, until we return to Him and remove our veil. 

No lover wants to feel unnoticed or ignored by the one they love, and neither does God. He is on a quest to capture our whole heart, our whole soul, our whole mind and all of our strength. God is in a passionate pursuit to see us, beyond our veil. Once we realize how much He loves us, it leads us into total surrender. 

A favorite simple prayer of mine is “Lord, fill me with more of you,” because more of Him means less of me, and that’s the best formula for removing any veils.

Someone once said that the word intimacy means “into me, see”. It’s a clever play on the word, which also defines the word. It means letting Him see into our hidden pain, doubt, anger and fear. Intimacy with God is allowing Him to “see into us”, beyond our veil.

Scripture shows us that we may  unknowingly allow a veil to come between us, but the One who loves us the most, will go to any lengths, until we remove that veil and let Him in, which is why He sent Jesus, as the bridegroom of the church.

The reference to a veil reminds us of a traditional wedding ceremony, where the veil remains over the bride until the couple is pronounced husband and wife. Her veil is removed only when they officially become one. Jesus calls His church, His bride. It’s a church spread across the entire world, made up of believers from many denominations, and yet we are all His bride. We were meant to remove our veils and become one with our bridegroom, Jesus.

We may wonder why God is allowing some difficult things to happen in our lives, but His aim is never to cause us pain or to shame us, but to keep us from drifting away, and to revive and purify our love for Him. He searches our innermost being, not to judge or punish us, but to draw us closer and preserve a sacred intimacy with His bride.

Lord, thank you for loving us so passionately. As you “see into us,”

fill us with more of you and less of ourselves. Remove our veils and draw us closer to you. Amen

“The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live. The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.”

Exodus 1:15-17 (NIV)

This story tells us the actual names of the two midwives who followed their conscience and refused to kill the male babies born to those living under the oppression of slavery. 

The Hebrew slaves at the time were multiplying rapidly and Pharaoh wanted to keep their numbers under control, by killing the male infants. Shiphrah and Puah pretended to obey Pharaoh’s orders, but secretly defied his ruling and let all the male babies live. Pharaoh would have had the midwives killed if he knew they intentionally protected those babies. 

The two midwives revered God more than the King and in saving the baby boys, they saved their own future deliverer-Moses, who was not killed, but later placed in a basket on the Nile River, by his mother, trusting God to protect him. 

The rest of that story is history, or to Jews better known as the Passover story. Even though most people know the Passover story from the movie, The Ten Commandments, not much emphasis is ever made on what Shiphrah and Puah did for that generation. If it were not for the courage of two midwives, and the mother of Moses, the Israelites would not have been delivered from slavery.

There were many other courageous women in history after them, one being Joan of Arc, a seventeen year old girl, who earnestly prayed for her country, when it was under England’s dominance. In her prayers, she asked God to send “a Moses” to deliver France. God told Joan that He was sending her. She boosted the morale of the French army and they eventually won their independence.

Rosa Parks was a civil rights icon, who refused to sit in the “colored”section of a bus in 1955. One year later, the courts deemed bus segregation unconstitutional. Her courage and boldness, set a civil rights movement into action. 

God doesn’t hesitate in raising up courageous women to accomplish feats that change lives and history. 

I just learned a true story about a woman who was used by God during one of the darkest times in history. 

Irena Sendler was a polish gentile who worked as a nurse and social worker, employed by the Warsaw department of public health during  Nazi occupation. She and some of her female coworkers secretly worked with an underground group to help save Jewish children living in the Warsaw ghetto.

Irena was bold enough to go into the Warsaw ghetto, pretending to be there on official business of her profession, and then leave, carrying a Jewish baby either inside her suitcase, in a casket or inside of a potato sack. She had a dog in her car who was trained to bark nonstop, each time she drove away, so that no one could hear a baby crying. 

Every child she saved was placed into a foster home, until they were eventually adopted, since most of their parents were later killed by the Nazis. I wonder how many times, Irena found it unsafe to remove a child, yet she returned to try again another day, driven by courage and compassion to save the young and innocent among the Warsaw ghetto.

Irena kept a list of all the names and destinations of each child she rescued. She placed the list in a jar and buried it in her yard. In 1943 the Gestapo started to discover what Irena was up to, and though she was beaten, she never disclosed a single name or the whereabouts of any children that she saved. Her list remained safely buried in the ground until after the war. She saved the lives of 2,500 children who were adopted into caring families.

She was sentenced to death until Zegota, the underground polish resistance organization, bribed the Nazi officials to set her free. Irena was freed and after recovering from broken bones and many beatings, she lived to the ripe age of 98. She was nominated in 2008 for a Nobel peace prize, and though she was denied, she is honored to this day in Israel, at Yad Vashem, a memorial dedicated to gentiles who saved lives during the Holocaust.

Most people probably never heard of Irena Sendler, or of those biblical midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, but all were women who put themselves at risk, while standing against the mainstream, to save innocent lives. 

They were all women with faith, compassion and courage, who defied the cruel and unjust laws of their day. Their names may not be well known, but their compassionate deeds were known by every life they saved. They may not have received the rewards that this world offers, but their rewards are plentiful in heaven.

Lord, help us to always know first and foremost that our identity is in Christ, and give us the courage and compassion to stand up for the innocent ones in this world, who cannot protect themselves. Amen

“And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony….”

Revelation 12:11 (RSV)

I wrote last year about a post I found  on a Facebook site, written by a farmer, explaining how a rattlesnake bit one of his sheep on the face. Its face swelled and hurt, but the sheep kept up its usual activities, eating, drinking, and climbing. The farmer explained that a sheep’s blood naturally contains an antivenin which destroys the venom of a serpent bite.

I never heard of this, so I fact checked it, and learned that sheep’s blood is used to produce an antivenin that treats snake bites in humans. The immune system of sheep, naturally produces the antibodies that neutralize the venom of rattlesnakes, copperheads, cottonmouths, and water moccasins.

Since this was new to me, I searched further and found a US Healthcare professionals website that also confirmed it. There is a product called CroFab® which is a sheep-derived antivenin, indicated for the management of venomous snake bites in adult and pediatric patients in North America. 

I cannot believe that I lived this long and never heard this fact before. It’s no coincidence that in biblical history, Jesus is known as the “Lamb” of God (John 1:29) while the devil has always been known as the “serpent” from the beginning to the end of scripture.

(Genesis 3:14) (Revelation 12:9)

In God’s infinite wisdom, everything He created has a perfect purpose in design, including sheep and snakes. He created sheep’s blood, to contain a natural immunity to the venom of snakes. This is not only a medical fact, but a spiritual truth.

In other words, the blood of the Lamb says to serpent’s venom, 

“Not here, devil !”

I thought it was interesting that the sheep who was bitten by the snake, never stopped eating, drinking or climbing, even though it suffered pain and swelling from the bite. Sheep have a built in confidence, and stamina to keep going, allowing their antivenin blood to do its thing, until they get well.

Maybe Jesus calls us sheep for this reason. We all have that same innate confidence and stamina. People show such resilience in times of trouble, as they keep climbing confidently, in spite of the painful bite of the serpent. We can trust that the blood of Jesus gives us resistance to the venom of our spiritual enemy. While we may suffer temporary afflictions, we keep moving forward, climbing upward, and following our Shepherd, because the antigen in the blood of the Lamb, is also flowing in us.

We can do all things through Christ, because His blood flows in us. His blood brings healing, forgiveness, deliverance and eternal life. The last book in the Bible, the book of Revelation, tells us how this world’s story will end. The serpent will be defeated once and for all, by the blood of the Lamb, which also flows in each one of us, since we are His flock.

At the last supper, Jesus said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for many. Do this in remembrance of me.”

Jesus didn’t just ask us to remember His blood, or to believe in His blood, but to drink it, and we drink it in memory of Him. His blood flows in us, so we can pray with confidence, since He is in us and we live in the power of that precious blood.

Lord, help us to live in the reality of being your sheep, with your blood flowing through us, which spiritually heals and neutralizes the venom of every evil, and leads all people to eternal life. Amen

“Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”

2 Kings 6:16-17 (NIV)

Elisha, the prophet, gave advice and led the armies of Israel to victory. The enemy finally sought to capture and kill Elisha, and an ambush was set in place. 

Elisha’s servant saw all the horses and chariots of the enemy King of Aram, (modern day Syria) surrounding them. He became overwhelmed with fear, turning to Elisha, saying “what shall we do?” Elisha simply looked up to heaven and prayed “Open his eyes, Lord.” Immediately the servant’s eyes were opened and he saw a multitude of angels in fiery chariots, encircling Elisha and himself, shielding both of them. Heaven’s chariots of fire far outnumbered those of the Aramean army. 

The enemy of our soul tries to ambush us with fear and uncertainty by what we see with our eyes. When the eyes of our heart are opened to see who really surround us, we can know as Elisha did, that our support from heaven, outnumbers anything that comes against us on earth. Whatever fear or discouragement we encounter, God is with us, as are His heavenly forces who shield us with fiery chariots.

God’s weapons contain the element of fire, and fire in scripture has always been a symbol of the Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost, God poured out His Spirit, which was evidenced by small flames of fire appearing over each disciple in the upper room. 

Inextinguishable fire represents God’s constant presence, passion, and purity, as when He called and spoke to Moses from the burning fiery bush.

We all ask questions that Elisha’s servant asked, “What shall we do now?”, which becomes our daily prayer when faced with difficult situations. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit is still our “eye opener” today. 

He can open our spiritual eyes to see beyond the problem that appears before us. We may not see physically the chariots of fire that surround us, but we have Elisha’s words in scripture to remind us, 

“Don’t be afraid,” Those who are with you are more than those who are against you.”

The Holy Spirit is our Elisha today, giving us an inner calm, and an assurance that God is right here, and will take care of us. He wasn’t finished with Elisha and his young trainee, and He had more for them to do in leading the Israelites into a deeper faith. The Lord isn’t finished with us either, so we can trust that those unseen chariots of fire will bring us through to our victory as well.

Elisha prayed that his servant’s eyes would be opened, and we can pray for our friends and loved ones who may also need their eyes opened. There is a powerful realm of heaven that we can tap into, which is the fire of the Holy Spirit. 

For Elisha and his servant, the victory was not in what they did, but in what they saw. At times, we feel the enemy’s attempt to attack our hope or our trust in God, but if we open the eyes of our heart, we will be assured that there is a spiritual hedge of protection around us. We are all surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses in heavenly places. (Hebrews 12:1)

We don’t need a game plan, or a strategy, we just need to know who is encircling us. Enemies are merely created beings, whether human or spirit, but our help comes from God, the Creator of all beings.

Paul’s words in the 8th chapter of Romans, can open our eyes to the chariots of fire, still surrounding us:

If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him?

Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who acquits us. Who will condemn? It is Jesus who died, rather, was raised, who also is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(Romans 8:38-39)

Lord, open the eyes of our heart to know that chariots of fire encircle us each day. Fill us with your Spirit to live by faith in what our eyes cannot see, and thank you for the victory and the hedge of protection we have through Jesus’ name. Amen

“For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.”

Matthew 6:32-34 (RSV)

While at a church function a few years ago, I was able to finally get my anxious mind off my own issues, and focus on spiritual things. At the  time, I was seriously considering retirement, although I still had a mortgage. I had been wrestling with the options of whether to sell my home and downsize, or to remain in it and trust God to make ends meet, on a retirement income. I went to a church event that evening, hoping to take my mind off of all material things and focus on the spiritual. 

That evening, I was chatting with a lady in my church, who I had not seen in many weeks. She is a widow, much older than me, and battling cancer. She told me the cancer pills she needs, cost $2,000 a week, but that she was able to accrue a plentiful supply through free samples from pharmaceutical companies. So far she has not had to buy any of her costly medicine out of pocket. I was amazed, but glad to see how God took care of her.

She went on to share with me what her total monthly income was, and I was even more amazed that she manages to make ends meet, living alone in her own home and caring for herself with all the demands of a cancer diagnosis. I was impressed with her total trust in the Lord, in spite of the financial facts. She had a special grace of total reliance on God, which I wanted and needed as well.

She explained her situation not as someone seeking pity, but as one who is simply walking by faith, one day at a time. As she shared the details of her health and finances, it suddenly occurred to me that God was speaking to me through her. Before parting that evening, we discussed meeting for lunch one day, as she calmly walked back to her car, limping with her cane.  

After that conversation, I knew God was telling me to walk with her kind of faith and trust. In my heart, I could hear Him say, 

“Stop worrying, I will take care of you.” 

To bring the story up to date, she is still living independently in her own home, three years later, and still battling cancer. She still has much to be anxious about, but she has perfect peace. Through her example, three years ago, I decided to stay in my current home, and He is helping me to live in the grace of total reliance on Him.

Jesus told us to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all the other things would be added as well. By realigning my priorities to keep Him first, He helps me to live in peace, one day at a time. Jesus never intended for us to be anxious about tomorrow.

Whether it’s a financial, health or any other need, we can ask God for the grace of total reliance on Him and He will take care of us.

Lord, thank you for your Holy Spirit, who gives us wisdom, direction and peace of mind. Help us to overcome worry with the special grace of total reliance in you. Amen

“I will be standing there in front of you on the rock in Horeb. Strike the rock, and the water will flow from it for the people to drink. Moses did this, in the sight of the elders of Israel.”

Exodus 17:4-6 (NAB)

When I first read this story I thought the point of the story was to teach us not to complain, after all that Moses endured by the constant whining of the Israelites. On this day, they blamed Moses, saying, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt to have us die of thirst?”

Moses interceded for the people and simply did what God told him to do. When they were hungry, God sent them manna, which was bread from heaven. When they got bored after eating manna every day, God sent them a flock of quail, so that they had meat to eat.

The Israelites consumed spiritual food and drink, and yet they found something new to complain about each day. This story shows that as self absorbed and impatient as mankind can be, God is steadfast in His patience, love and faithfulness to all of us. 

In today’s scripture, the people complained of thirst, since there was no water in the desert, where they were camping. God responded to their cries, by telling Moses to strike a certain rock at Horeb, saying, 

“I will be standing there in front of you and water will flow from it.”

There’s a familiar compassion in those words that God spoke to Moses. They’re words of assurance and comfort, that He will be standing in front of him, as He sends them water from a rock. It sounds a lot like something Jesus once said, “Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink.”   (John 7:37)

Maybe, that’s because the divine person who stood with Moses at the rock of Horeb, was Jesus. 

Paul told the Corinthians that the rock at Horeb was Christ, so He was their spiritual rock, out of which streamed, an abundance of pure drinking water, once Moses struck it with his staff. (1 Corinthians 10:4) 

Archeologists found a rock in the same geographical area where the Israelites set up camp. There is evidence at the bottom of this rock which shows a smoothing process, caused by a significant volume of water that once flowed from the base of it. The spiritual rock of Horeb is real, and a picture is attached. 

The pre-incarnate Jesus stood in front of the rock at Horeb and He not only poured out water for His people, but brought comfort to Moses by His holy Presence. 

Whether in pre-incarnate form or as the incarnate son of God, in the gospels, Jesus is still our spiritual rock, who stands before us today, ready to pour out His living water.

I find it touching that God didn’t just tell Moses to go to that rock on his own, but assured him, saying, 

“I will be standing there in front of you…” The Lord offers His Presence to stand with us, promising to never leave us alone. God revealed His love for humanity at the rock of Horeb. He is a patient, long suffering and merciful God, revealing His love to us, in our most trying moments.

We are all hungry and thirsty for more than food and drink. Whether people realize it or not, every human being hungers and thirsts for the Presence of God. The Lord finds His own way of showing up in our lives, and becoming our rock.

Jesus showed up in the life of the woman at the well, who after five marriages, had a history of looking for love in all the wrong places. Jesus offered her everlasting love, through His living water. Whether through the words He spoke, or by healing lepers, or casting out demons, Jesus stood before every person He met, ready to pour His streams of living water into their lives.

I heard a true story of a woman who worked as a prostitute, and she noticed a bumper sticker on the car driving in front of her, advertising a Christian radio station. She flipped her radio station to that channel, out of curiosity and listened. Her life changed dramatically, as she heard something which led to an encounter with Jesus, who poured His living water upon her and gave her a new life. Jesus showed up in front of her that day, through a bumper sticker. 

When we lose our way, and get tangled up in our own troubles, Jesus finds a way to stand before us, ready to forgive, heal and set us free, even in the midst of our complaining. Jesus, the spiritual rock of Horeb, offers us unconditional love and friendship, continually reminding us, 

“I’m right here, standing in front of you. Receive my living water.”

Lord, Thank you for your steadfast love and patience toward us, and help us to make every decision, knowing your presence stands before us, pouring out living water upon us. Amen

“Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.”

Mark 2:21-22 (NAB)

Since antiquity, wine was stored in the carefully prepared skins of animals. A wineskin is made of leather, the most common of which is goatskin. Goatskin was better suited for craftsmen to handle because of its flexibility. It was also harder wearing, increasing the life of the wineskin. 

Jesus said not to put new wine into old wineskins, but I never really understood what that meant, until now. New wine is still fermenting in the wineskin, and fermentation creates the need for the wineskin to expand. Only a new wineskin could be stretchable enough to handle the fermentation process. If an old wineskin was used, it was already stretched to its maximum. To pour new wine into the old wineskin would cause it to burst or tear under the pressure of expansion. That is the mystery that I never understood before.

Jesus has new wine to pour into us, and we need to be flexible wineskins during the fermentation process. We were meant to stretch, not burst under pressure. Something may be happening in our lives that feels like a fermentation process, stretching us in some new or unpleasant ways. It seems like Jesus is saying to us,

“I am about to do a new thing in your life that will require some stretching, so please abide in Me.”

To abide in Christ is to accept the changes before us, and to remain open to learning something new, while we are expanding our spiritual boundaries. As we stay close to Jesus, He helps us to stretch flexibly, but not burst. 

When I received the inspiration for this meditation, it was seven months before my son’s motorcycle accident, in 2023. I had no idea that the Lord was preparing me through this message, to keep my wineskin flexible, for the changes that were coming in my life. In writing this, He was preparing me for new wine, soon to be poured into me. 

In going regularly to a Nursing Facility to visit my son, after his brain injury, my eyes were opened to the other residents who lived there. Previously, I never thought about visiting a Nursing Home as a volunteer. One day, the Holy Spirit drew my attention to a few residents sitting alone, and the scripture verse came alive to me, where Jesus said, “Whatever you do for the least of these, you do for Me.” 

(Matthew 25:40)

The Lord took my focus off of my own personal tragedy and showed me other people who were lonely and had no one to visit them. Jesus revealed that by visiting those residents, I am bringing a little of His light into their darkness. Since I have been visiting there, over time, I have developed many friendships with the residents and I discovered that God had a beautiful plan, by pouring that new wine into my wineskin. 

We may not understand the new wine or the new thing He is doing, but God uses every trial in our lives, to begin a fermentation process in us. New wine bears new fruit, as He opens the eyes of our hearts to see things from His perspective. He develops new gifts of the Spirit in us and leads us into new areas of service. As we abide in Him, keeping our wineskin flexible, He helps us stretch with the plan. Jesus gave all of Himself for us, and He is worthy to have flexible wineskins to work with. 

Lord, thank you helping us to be flexible while the new wine is fermenting within us. Give us the grace to be led by you, as your new wine brings light to the darkness and glorifies you. Amen

“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”  1 John 4:8-10 (NIV)

God is love. He doesn’t just give love, have love, or know all about love. 

He is love. Jesus is the physical image and the human incarnation of the invisible God. All of God’s love was incarnated into Jesus, sending Him into the world as a living valentine. 

God loved us long before we knew anything about Him, and all through our lives, He continually draws us nearer to Him, through His son. There are no limits to the methods God will use to reveal His love to us. 

I once experienced a revelation of His love when I was in my late twenties, through a brief, powerful and unforgettable dream. There were no words or actions in this dream, just an overwhelming aura of love emanating from one smiling face.

I dreamed I saw the face of someone looking at me, from across a vast expanse, which separated me from him. His face was blurry and the facial features were indistinct, because of the distance of that expanse, but as my gaze locked onto his, I somehow knew it was Jesus. 

His smile permeated me with His loving Presence. It was all expressed explicitly, but without using any words. I had an overwhelming desire to be nearer to Him who was smiling at me, and to remain with Him forever. I was never so sad to wake up from a dream. 

The power of God’s presence is really summed up in one word, LOVE, and Jesus is the face and the embodiment of God’s love. 

We can learn of God’s love through the words in scripture, like, “God so loved the world, that He gave His son”… (John 3:16), or read how God described Himself to Moses, “gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness “ (Exodus 34:6) 

Scripture can give glimpses of God’s abounding love but once we realize that Jesus is smiling at us, it all becomes very personal. 

We tend to think of God as the Supreme being who is holy, almighty and watching us from a distance, but Jesus constantly referred to God as both His Father, and ours. When Jesus talked about God, He never calls Him God. He refers to Him as “Father.”

God is holy, but He is also a good father, and good fathers smile at their sons and daughters. Jesus is the face of God sent to reveal everything we need to know about our Heavenly Father. 

There’s a beautiful song called “Truth”, sung by Megan Woods, which I attached below. One line of the lyrics, is “The truth is I am my Father’s child, I make Him proud and I make Him smile.” When I first heard this song, it reminded me of my dream. If only everyone took a moment to pause from the worries or distractions that fill our minds, and visualize Jesus smiling at us. 

I know a lot of people who are hurting right now, going through some really tough trials, and at times they probably wonder if God is still with them. Life situations change, people change, our trust fluctuates and the entire earth is currently suffering birth pangs, but one thing is constant and never changes-the truth that we are truly loved by our Father in heaven, and Jesus is smiling at us. 

God has already sent us a living, breathing, valentine, who embodied all of His love. He left a throne in heaven, to live among His sons and daughters, and to be one of them. He knows everything we feel, since He also felt it.  For three years our living valentine dwelt among His sons and daughters. He touched them, healed them, hugged them, laughed with them, cried with them, and just like a valentine, as we open it and look inside, His words are,

“Will you be all mine?” 

“Will you trust Me?”

“I love you always”

We need to pause and stop judging our self worth based on what we have done or not done, instead of what Jesus has already done for us. He considered us worthy of His love, long before we did anything good or bad, because He loved us first. We made Jesus smile before we knew who He was, and He loves each of us as if there were only one of us. 

Lord, thank you for being our living Valentine and we respond to you saying, “I’m all yours, I trust you, and I love you. Amen”

❤️ Happy Valentine’s Day!

Megan Woods – The Truth (Official Lyric Video) – YouTube