Resurrection People - Part 2

Do something right now. Gently press two fingers against the inside of your wrist.

Feel that?

That rhythm is your pulse. Blood moves through your body, keeping you alive without you having to think about it, manage it, or earn it. It just pumps.

The early disciples believed something about that pulse that most of us have never seriously considered. Paul writes it in Romans 8:11 CSB: “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through his Spirit who lives in you.”

The power that rolled the stone away from the tomb — the same power that reversed death itself — is the same power that is in you right now. Not a smaller version of it. Not a distant echo of it. The same power, alive in you, beating in you, and working through you.

Most of us move past that too quickly on our way to the practical application. We know the verse. We've heard it. But we don't live like it's true.

I've spent seasons of my life running on fumes. I've experienced burnout, disconnected and going through the motions of ministry while privately wondering if any of it was real. I was preaching about resurrection while quietly wondering if anything would actually change in my own life. I knew the theology. I had read the verses. But somewhere between my head and my daily experience, the power got lost.

What I've learned slowly and through some painful detours is that the problem wasn't the power. The problem was that I had stopped expecting it to show up! I had exchanged a living faith for a professional one. I was reading the Bible for other people, not for myself. I was praying because that's what pastors do, not because I actually believed anyone was listening.

The power didn't go anywhere. My expectations had just closed the door on it.

Paul describes this power in Ephesians 1 as "the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead." (Ephesians 1:19-20 NIV) Resurrection power is not reserved for spiritually impressive people. Nor does the right level of faith or the right track record unlock it. It lives in you because of what Jesus did, not because of what you've done.

The question isn't whether the power is there. The question is whether you've stopped expecting it to work.

Identity Statement:

“The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead lives in me. I am running on Resurrection Power!”

Reflect:

Be honest: are you living like resurrection power is available to you, or like you're mostly on your own? What would change today if you took Romans 8:11 at face value?

Prayer:

Jesus, I confess that I often live like the power left when things get hard. Remind me what lives in me. I don't want to go through the motions of faith while the real thing is available. Amen.

One final quote: 

“And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭11‬ ‭NIV‬‬ 

https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.8.11.NIV

JoJo The Mystical Monk - JJtMM

Resurrection People - Part 1

Have you ever bought a new car, or seriously thought about buying one, and then suddenly noticed that same car everywhere you drove?

The parking lot is full of them. On the highway, every third vehicle matched. You started to wonder if there was some kind of sale you didn't know about. But those cars were there the whole time. You just weren't looking for them.

Scientists call it this “frequency illusion.” Your brain processes an enormous amount of information every day, and to manage that load, it creates patterns and writes stories. When something becomes important to you, your brain starts noticing it in places it always existed but previously ignored. The cars didn't multiply; your expectations did!

I want to tell you about something Jesus said that most of us don't actually believe, even if we'd never say that out loud. At his last meal with his disciples, he told them: “Truly I tell you, the one who believes in mewill also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:12 CSB)

You may be thinking, "I will do greater works than Jesus?!" Think about what that claim means. The man who healed the blind and raised the dead is saying that you, through the power of his Spirit, are capable of more.

I told you that you probably don't believe it!

But the early disciples did. When they ran into persecution, when doors closed, and when people mocked them or threw them in prison, their response wasn't despair. It was: “Jesus was killed in the most violent way possible and came back from the dead. So anything is possible.” Their expectations had been permanently reset by what they had witnessed. Like the person who just bought a new car, they started noticing resurrection everywhere.

Your expectations are not neutral. They shape what you see and what you're willing to do. If you've decided a person will never change, you won't give them room to change relationally. If you've decided a situation is beyond hope, you'll stop praying and stop acting.

For the early followers of Jesus, resurrection wasn't a distant event they commemorated once a year. It was the pattern they expected daily. When they walked into a hard situation, their instinct was to ask: What would resurrection look like here? This seems impossible, but so did the sealed tomb.

Where have you stopped expecting the power of the Resurrection to change things? A relationship you've written off? A habit you've tried to break so many times you don't try anymore? A dream you buried because hoping felt worse than giving up?

Identity Statement:

“Because Jesus rose and sent His Spirit, I am not powerless. I will live today expecting resurrection.”

Reflect:

Where have your expectations become fixed at 'this will never change'? What would it mean to ask, 'What would resurrection look like here?'

Prayer:

Jesus, reset my expectations. Where I have accepted hopelessness as realism, show me the difference. I want to see the world the way You see it. Amen.

This is all copied from Bible.com, created by Scott Savage. 

JoJo The Mystical Monk - JJtMM

When Grace Becomes Real: Receiving What You Keep Resisting

Each of my kids went through a phase when they said, “I got it, Dad.” They were seeking more independence, convinced of their competency without me. This is a natural part of childhood development, even as I knew they couldn’t yet do it on their own.

Many of us tell God, “I got it.” We embody the third response to grace - we excuse ourselves from needing it. We say, "All this stuff about sin and brokenness, I think you're overstating it. I'm a pretty good person. I don't need that much grace. I don't need grace at all."

The Pharisees embodied this attitude. They were the religious leaders who had mastered the Old Testament law and prided themselves on always doing the right thing. Jesus told a powerful parable about this mindset he encountered in them.

"He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else: Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector" (Luke 18:9-10, CSB).

Now, tax collectors were the least popular people in society. They cooperated with the Roman oppressors, levied heavy taxes on the Hebrews, and kept some for themselves. They were despised!

"The Pharisee was standing and praying like this about himself: 'God, I thank you that I'm not like other people—greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get'" (Luke 18:11-12, CSB).

This is more self-promotion than prayer. It's less about God and more about himself.

"But the tax collector, standing far off, wouldn't even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner!' God, have mercy on me, a sinner! God, have mercy on me, a sinner!" (Luke 18:13, CSB).

Jesus concluded: "I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other; because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted" (Luke 18:14, CSB).

I make fun of the prayer of the Pharisee because I acted like one! I used to live like I was better than other people because I didn't sin the way they did. The temptation for all of us is to look down on people who struggle with things we don't.

But here's what I've learned: we excuse our own sin when we look down on someone else for theirs. The only way for that Pharisee to get above the tax collector is to think he's better because he doesn't sin the same way. Judgmentalism requires a level of height above others to look down on them and judge them. It begins with excusing our own sin.

When we recognize that our sin is just as great as anybody else's and our need for grace is just as great as anybody else's, we don't have space to look down on anybody. We stop excusing our sin. We stop judging their sin. We're merely grateful for the grace God has given us.

Some of us have never experienced grace because we’ve never acknowledged our own sin long enough to recognize our need for grace. You can either walk the road of excusing your sin, or you can walk the road of admitting your need for grace. But you can't do both.

By Scott Savage on Bible.com.

JoJo The Mystical Monk

Fear Has No Power Here

Reflection: There is a spirit of fear that does not come from God. A spirit of fear is more than just feeling afraid; it can become debilitating and oppressive if it is not defeated by faith. But you are not left without help. The Holy Spirit is your Advocate, Comforter, Strengthener, Intercessor, Counselor, and Helper. He empowers you with might, love, and self-control.

Let the work of the Holy Spirit sink deep into your heart. Whatever you feel you are lacking today, God has already made it available through His Spirit. Ask Him to open your eyes to the fullness of what He has provided for you.

Prayer: Father God, thank You for opening my heart to the gift of the Holy Spirit. Thank You for giving me Your mighty power, love, and self-control. I receive all You have for me today, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Declaration: My mind is sound, steady, and stable.

Copied from Bible.com.

JoJo The Mystical Monk - JJtMM

Answering Anxiety Part 2

The Answer for Anxiety

Is there a biblical answer for my struggle – an answer in Jesus Christ for the anxious heart? The answer is yes, and it is simple and straightforward. The answer comes to us from Scripture with the authority of God. 

It can be captured with one word found in 1 Peter 5, and that word is humility. Peter speaks of casting all your anxieties as the expression of his call to “humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God.”

How do I humble myself under God’s mighty hand? Casting all my cares upon God is a decision, an action that demonstrates obedience to God’s call for my humility. 

So that means that the answer for the anxious heart is humility. 

Or, we could turn it around and ask, “Why do we have anxious hearts?” 

The painful answer is Pride.

If I were to ask you: Do you struggle with anxiety? With worry? With discouragement? 

You may very well admit that you do. 

But if I were to ask you whether you think the root of your problem is pride, would that have been the first thing that came to your mind?

Probably not. 

People who are dealing with discouragement, depression, or despair seldom feel proud. In fact, they feel that they think of themselves in a lowly way. Psychologists would probably say that they struggle with a poor sense of self-worth. So, the human diagnosis of such a problem is not pride, but rather that the person doesn’t think more highly of himself.

But the One we meet with in chapter five of 1 Peter is the great physician of the soul, and He is the only One who accurately knows the heart of man.

The almighty God who has breathed the Bible tells us that the answer for the anxious heart is to humble one’s self, and that you humble yourself by casting your cares upon Him. So, as much as it may surprise us, the One who knows our hearts tells us that the problem of the anxious soul is pride. How can that be? We’ll consider that in the days ahead.

When the anxious heart cries out to God and begs for an answer, its pain is often intense and its energy exhausted. It is painful to hope and to be disappointed, but when the hope is found in God’s Word, then it can be sure – even if at first it seems unlikely.

Blog Author: The rest of these 'plans' can be found on Bible.com. I just wanted to post the first two because they had the biggest impact on me. The author of these posts is Scott Savage, and a link to his website can be found on 'fav sites' on my page.

JoJo The Mystical Monk