God Is Faithful

Moments after receiving the phone call, telling me my sister had gone to be with the Lord, I played this song off her CD. There are no words to describe the wrenching, tearing pain in my heart, nor the comfort. As I listened to her sing, it was as if she was singing it to me from her new home... Heaven. She was singing it with new understanding, new absolute certainty, as she stood before the Lord... God is faithful. God is faithful to see you through this, trust Him. God is faithful to see you through everything He's allowed in your life, trust Him. He's right beside you... even now... trust Him.

Sometimes I am overwhelmed, but He isn't. Sometimes I'm taken by surprise. God is never surprised or taken off guard. Sometimes I 'feel' abandoned, yet He is faithful and never, no never leaves me or forsakes me. I often don't understand why He allows some things, but He knows exactly why. My beautiful sister is with Him now and all is made right. She loudly and beautifully proclaims that He is Faithful and trustworthy.

Debbie and I always encouraged one another, laughed with each other, loved each other. And I'm finding that the legacy still lives. Even though she's moved, she's only on the other side of Jesus... and He is very near.

What legacy will we leave when it's our time to move? Will we still encourage and cheer the hearts of those that are walking out their earthly journey? Will they look at our lives and know that we still proclaim that He is faithful?

Manure?

Manure

It takes many elements to produce the most beautiful flowers and fruits. Among them is manure, generously applied at the end of winter. It can be dug into new flower beds, scratched into the surface around plants that haven't come up yet, placed carefully around plants that are up or made into a tea to water with. Care must be given with each method. Manure can burn roots and leaves. Yet the results make the risks necessary.

When your life is full of manure and everything just plain stinks - trust the Master Gardener. The creator of heaven and earth knows exactly the right amount and which method will produce the most beautiful Christlike heart in you. It's not enjoyable. Actually quite disagreeable. But, it is necessary.

Maybe God did promise us that life would be rosy after all. If you consider the dirt, the thorns and the manure.

Take heart. If you're being fertilized now - spring is near.

'We must go through tribulations to enter the kingdom of God. 'Acts 14:22b

Bloom Where You Are Planted

Little Book of Gardening Tips

God reveals so much about Himself to us through His creation. No one else can compare in their imagination and creativity. There is no color or form or fragrance that God did not create. No one thought of something first . God was first.

Most people enjoy a garden. They are soothing and peaceful. Our eyes and noses delight.

The garden is also a wonderful place to discover the mysteries of God. So when you stop and smell the roses, breathe deeply, look closer. God is with you and has many, many lessons to teach you and secrets to reveal.

Come and enjoy.
Welcome to my garden.

Bloom Where You Are Planted

A gardener will occasionally dig up a plant and move it to a new location in the garden or give it as a gift to a friend. This is the gardener's job. A plant never grabs itself by the ankles, yanks its roots out of the ground and runs across the yard to a spot it deems as better for itself.

Do you desire to run when things get hot? Or see others spots as more favorable than your own?

If you would be pleasing to God you must remember - you are not the Gardener.

Be content where God has you. Be still and know that He is God. He knows your needs, far better than you do. He knows just how much sun, shade, rain, drought - everything you need to thrive and bloom in Him. He also knows what other plants you need around you to pull out and complement your particular beauty.

Leave yourself to His care and bloom where you are planted.

 

In Strong Arms

 

I did this drawing of my grandson, Caleb, being held in my husbands arms shortly after he was born. It always reminds me of being held in the Father's arms, safe and secure. Caleb is so relaxed and trusting, oblivious to the dangers of the world because he feels the safety and strength that holds him.

When the Lord calls us His children and says that of such is the kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 19:14) this is what I see. A child sure of his/her Father. A child free from the cares of the world. A child that trusts daddy to take care of them, love them and always do the best for them, even if it doesn't always feel like 'the best'. Especially when it doesn't feel that way! Hebrews12:11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Chastening isn't punishment... it is loving guidance through life. It is the stuff that peace and righteousness are made of.

How often have I heard someone say they're being punished with much sorrow and self condemnation. Yet the Lord demonstrates the opposite. If we are being chastened, we have much reason to rejoice! It means we are His and He loves us and is growing us up, making us useful for His Kingdom. 

^{Psalm 139:23} Search me, O God, and know my heart;
         Try me, and know my anxieties;
 ²⁴ And see if there is any wicked way in me,
         And lead me in the way everlasting.

Come as a child, trusting in strong arms.

Beauty From Pain

Rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings. 1 Peter 4:13

The sufferings of Jesus were not the 'ordinary' kind of suffering that mankind faces. He suffered according to the will of God. It is only when we are related to and abiding in Jesus that we may become partakers of Christ's suffering. Only then can our suffering come under the hand of God and be transformed. Only then can beauty come from pain and ashes. Only then can our Lord make use of us in our suffering. Usefulness that stretches into eternity.

I have railed against the grief and suffering that was brought to my life. I have cried about how unfair it is. And I'm right. It is unfair. Yet, if I remain in that attitude, my suffering remains mine alone and can't be transformed. Jesus went to the cross without once uttering how unfair it was to die at the hands of man.. those He created!, for their very sin - when He alone was sinless. Talk about 'unfair'.

How can God have said to 'count it all joy' when trials and tribulations come at us? We cannot know exactly why God is taking us this way, but He knows. And as we become partakers in the sufferings of Christ, new life comes forth. Jesus' suffering is still affecting lives 2,000 years later.

I don't want my suffering to be an ordinary thing. I want to be able to look back and see His light and love poured out over it, sanctifying me and using me. I want to hear 'well done My good and faithful servant.' I want to bear my cross with grace and honor Him who asked me to bear it. Let not my heart faint within me.

The Cleansing of the Leper

The holidays are rushing at us and in my home, it's a time of joyful reflection of the things that really matter. Thanksgiving for all the gifts of God... salvation, family, friends, His beautiful creation and His provision.

One of my favorite reminders is my Christmas tree. Not only is it beautiful, but there is meaning threaded through it. At the top rests a single red bird. Below that are multitudes of white birds and transparent birds. White pearl garland graces it's branches, along with red glass balls, red ribbons and occasional splashes of gold.

Jesus is the red bird, hung upon a tree, His blood flowing for our sins. We, the believers, are the white birds, washed clean. The transparent birds reminding me that we are to live our lives in transparency before God and others. The pearls because Jesus said that He left Heaven in order to purchase a pearl of great worth. That's us! The red glass balls, because His sacrifice was great... and He sweat great drops of blood. Gold, because He is the King.

My tree is an illustration of Leviticus 14. I wrote the following Bible study a few years ago. I hope you enjoy!

The Cleansing of the Leper - Leviticus 14

Matthew 8:1-4 When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him.
And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”
Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
And Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

This is the first specific miracle recorded in the book of Matthew and when we look at the symbolism that God has threaded throughout His word, it’s thrilling to search and discover just how intricate, how detailed, how planned His word is.

There is no book on earth so fascinating, so alive, and yet we so easily neglect it, believing ourselves sufficiently acquainted with it that we have no need for intensive study of it.

Yet when we dig, when we seek the Lord with all our heart, mind and strength, He faithfully reveals Himself and we find His word to be layer upon layer, upon layer of the marvelous mystery of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We find that no mere man or group of men could so precisely and intricately have woven the 66 books of the Bible into the masterpiece that it is.
And no mere cursory glance will unveil its riches.

So I have to ask myself why. Why did God place this particular miracle first in this particular book? And is there something more to this story than the obvious… that Jesus revealed His compassion and His Deity in His power to heal the leper?

The command that Jesus gave this man is unusual. It isn’t the instruction He gave to those He healed with other diseases. “See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

Leviticus 14:1-4 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
This shall be the law of the leper for the day of his cleansing:
He shall be brought to the priest. And the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall look; and indeed, if the leprosy is healed in the leper, then the priest shall command to take for him who is cleansed two living and clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop.

If we look at the typology, the priest representing the Lord, the leper representing the sinner, so much begins to come clear.

The priest shall go out to meet the leper… Jesus the High Priest left heaven and came to earth to meet the need of the sinner.

The priest shall command to take for him who is to be cleansed two living and clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop.
(We’ll get to the birds in a minute.)

Cedar wood… Jesus was nailed to a wooden cross. Scarlet… a symbol of the blood of redemption. Hyssop, a purgative… Jesus has by Himself purged (cleansed) our sins. (Hebrews 1:3) How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through eternal Spirit offer Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:14)

Leviticus 14:5 And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water.

Jesus was killed in an earthen vessel… the body of a man.
Running water can stand for, 1) Purity, 2) the Holy Spirit, 3) living water.

It is also interesting to note that on the night Jesus was arrested in John 18:1 we’re told: “When Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples over the Brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which He and His disciples entered.”

The Brook Kidron ran at the base of the temple and this being the week of Passover, the brook would have run red with the blood of the sacrifices.

And Jesus passed over the running water… and was killed.

Leviticus 14:6 As for the living bird, he shall take it, the cedar wood and the scarlet and the hyssop, and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water.

His death on the tree, redemption, purging of our sins… these are ours as we have come to be dipped in His blood.

Leviticus 14:7 And he shall sprinkle it seven times on him who is to be cleansed from leprosy, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose in the open field.

The number seven is often associated in the scripture with completion. The Son of God died — the sacrifice was absolutely complete, so that we could be cleansed and set free from the power of sin. By His death, by His blood, we can rise up in new life, redeemed forever.

Leviticus 14:8 He who is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he may be clean.
After that he shall come into the camp, and shall stay outside his tent seven days.

Those who are forgiven, who have been cleansed by the Sacrifice shall change. They will put off the old man and walk as one cleansed. They will keep nothing hidden, but will be transparent before the Lord and men.

They shall be in the camp… in the body of Christ, the church, as a fellow believer… but shall remain on earth the ‘complete’ number of days before entering heaven.

The Lord knows the number of our days. He has work for us to do here while we joyfully await the day we will be with Him in heaven.

Leviticus 14:14 the priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering and the priest shall put it on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.

There is only one other time in scripture that this ceremony is performed. In Leviticus 8, this is what was to be done to consecrate the priests to the Lord, that they could serve before the Lord in the temple.

The leper, the sinner has been cleansed, set free from sin and is now sanctified (set apart to God) and made a priest.

Revelation 1:5-6 …Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first born from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,
And has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

In verses 16 and 17 of Leviticus the same act is performed with oil. So first blood and then oil are placed on the tip of the right ear… that we may listen obediently to God.

On the thumb of his right hand… that we may do the work of the Lord with our hands.

On the big toe of the right foot… that we may walk in His ways.

Cleansed by His blood, sanctified to His service, yielded to and led by His Spirit.

Back to Matthew....

The book of Matthew is written by a Jew to Jews about a Jew. Matthew is the writer of this gospel, the nation of Israel is the reader, and the message is that Jesus Christ is the long awaited Messiah. He is The High Priest. Christ the King.

When Jesus heals the leper and tells him to go and show himself to the priest, He is making a radical statement of Who He is.

Since there are only two recorded times when leprosy has been cured before (Mariam in Numbers 12 and Naaman in 2Kings 5), it’s safe to say that the priests wouldn’t be entirely up to date with what needed to be done for the lepers that began to arrive at the temple. They would need to pull out the scrolls and study up.

Did they ‘see’ Him? Did they understand the significance of what Jesus was telling them?

More importantly… do we?

Was this portion of Leviticus written years and years and years before for this very day? For this very reason? To announce the Messiah to the Priesthood of Israel?
Was there even one that sought Him out, that asked in the still of a night, “What must I do to be saved?”

Have you?

Father in heaven, how awed we are by the love You’ve poured out on us. By the vastness of Your plan. By the ways You reveal Yourself to us.
What are we that You should think of us?
Yet from the beginning to the end, Your plan is laid and remains the same.
Salvation is a free gift, but oh Lord… the cost so high.
Thank You Jesus for what you’ve done.
Sanctify us to Your service and enable us by Your Holy Spirit to live as children of the Living God.
Amen

Copyright  T.K.C.