Author Archives: Bailey Kuert

Lostness (Part 2 of 3)

The Lostness Within Us

Monday night I decided that I needed to unwind and watch a movie. My husband graciously suggested I watch “Love Comes Softly” while he cooked dinner for me. We had purchased this movie some months ago on sale at Mardel’s. It seemed right up my alley just from the title. I quickly scanned the description on the back and read how many minutes the movie was, 88, perfect! I popped in the DVD and sat down. 5 minutes into it, not the ending, but 5 minutes in I’m crying. This young couple is pioneering new land in “the West” and came upon their new settlement together. Mixed emotions fill them as they argue and celebrate. Then my husband, Stephen enters the room and asks me a question about our food, so I pause the movie and regain my composure. Then I say ,”If the husband dies, I’m turning this off!” Well within two minutes “tragedy” hits and I lose it! I’m not ruining the story for you because what I had overlooked on the cover was the explanation that “tragedy” hits this young couple and she meets someone else! So much for a relaxing family movie!
Why am I sharing this silly story? Because I’ve been praying and preparing my heart this week to speak on lostness and while this was a movie, my heart was in far too sensitive of a place to handle that storyline (especially as a newlywed who is to embark on new territory myself as a missionary). Loss that we feel in our individual lives can leave us with a lot of pain. Pain that is not dealt with properly can become toxic emotions that hurt us and those around us. When we suffer loss, we are grieving and reeling and it effects all that surrounds us. Ever loss we incur creates new emotions and belief systems that form how we act and react.
There is a precious family I know who lost two of their three daughters in tragic events. The oldest daughter, who was married, died in the same car accident their youngest daughter survived. When the policeman came to their house and informed them of the news, the father yelled, “JESUS IS STILL LORD!”!!! His immediate reaction in a moment of trauma was to proclaim the Lordship of Jesus over the situation. He didn’t think that through, but it was a result of years of a solid dependency in Christ through the far smaller “losses”. This response and testimony shook me. This family later on lost their middle daughter because she had a seizure in her sleep while away at school. I met this family a couple of years after both of these incidents and was so loved and accepted by them. I couldn’t believe how steadfast they were and how graciously they opened their home and discipled young adults. This was a family who learned to allow Jesus to heal them, fill them, and flow through their lives even when pain occurred.
There are real psychological and physicolgocial things that occur in a moment when you lose something. Even if it is as simple as misplacing an item like your phone or your wallet. The “fight or flight” mode that our bodies rush into immediately cause us to deplete certain hormones in our bodies. Amplify the response by losing sight of your child in a crowd or losing a large research paper as it suddenly disappears into the oblivion of your computer, and your body reacts strongly. When we experience loss, our bodies need to refuel and recharge. This is why it is so important to turn to the Lord in our suffering. Loss in our lives will always create a need to be filled and God desires that we be filled with the right things.
Heaven’s perspective on lostness starts in creation when God, the Father lost continual fellowship with man. Then He gave His son so that we wouldn’t be lost. The Son sacrificed His blameless life so that we wouldn’t be lost. The Holy Spirit was then poured out so that we could be filled and continually filled while on this earth. This “infilling” of the Spirit is to bring us to revelation of who the Father and the Son are and empower us to be victorious in this life. This does not mean that death and destruction won’t effect our lives, but it does mean in the face of loss, we can overcome and be filled. When we have hurt over a loss, that gives us an opportunity to know how great His love really is. Jesus said in John 4:23-24 says, “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” This was affirmation that one day, we as lost people would know truth to worship God fully by. This is why worshipping Him can be so powerful! We can get lost in worshipping Him and receiving His love and restoration of all things lost.
 
Lostness strips away the superficiality of life so that you can truly find fulfillment in the fullness of God. I do not mean that God causes these losses in our lives, but we live in a fallen and broken world in which we are all really lost without Him. Until one recognizes their lostness, they can’t properly depend on His Lordship and embrace His fullness.
My prayer for you today would be that you would see the lostness in your life as an opportunity to turn to Jesus. That if you know you aren’t right with Him, you’d see a hope to the separation you feel from the love of God. If you are living for Him, I pray that through the hurt of the loss in your life that you could experience the fullness of how great His love really is.
If you didn’t read Part 1 of “Lostness” and my testimony, please scroll down. Friday will be on the Lostness around us.

Lostness (Part 1 of 3)

“We know what it is to lose health and wealth and reputation, but what is the loss of all things compared with the loss of the soul?” D. L. Moody
 
The other morning as I was being, you know super spiritual and curling my hair ;-), I was pondering a sad reality of a loss I suffered this past year. The pain of this loss has hit me in waves at times, but on this particular morning there was a full realization that the way things were will never be the same ever again. It was different than other relational losses I’ve encountered and somewhere in my mind I hadn’t realized the finality of the situation. As my thoughts settled in that morning, I began thinking about lostness. 
 
You see, I lost my cousin, Tess who was also my best friend to cancer when we were both 14 years old. I have felt the loss of a close friend before. I remember being in the first couple of months of my Freshman year of High School walking through the halls with a gaping wounded heart. I felt numb and the ability to cope let alone thrive was beyond me. I would sit in Algebra class and try to retain at least one principle of it’s foreign language ( X=Y+?!!!!!). This gap in my heart, this loss of close love drew me to the Cross in one way or another. It wasn’t immediate, but the wounds in my heart called out to be filled. As I went through this time, I began to value life differently. I wanted to live my life in such a way that people would be changed positively my life. I watched how my cousin had suffered for 7 years in her body, but she did so with joy and made a positive impact in many lives. I knew I could either satisfy myself in the desires of a typical teenager, or maybe, just maybe God had the fulfillment that I was needing. I had already prayed a “prayer of salvation” as a 6th grader and faithfully attending FCA. This may or may not have been because of the good looking older male athletes that were there each Wednesday morning ;-) but nonetheless, I came and desired the realness of God, but knew something still was missing. I ended up having beautiful encounter with the Spirit of God about two years later at 16 years old and made Jesus Christ the Lord of my life. I became a daughter of the Most High God and was exposed to His marvelous light and felt not just “saved” but a relationship! For me, this was the greatest restoration of the lostness in my heart from losing Tess.
 
When I was pondering lostness and my own scenario, I thought about how much it really hurts to suffer loss. No matter the situation, loss hurts. My thoughts were stopped as I felt Holy Spirit whisper to my heart that morning, “Imagine how broken I am over those who are still lost and don’t know me.” I broke. Not that my loss of relationships, health and other occurrences aren’t valid or aren’t losses. They are and they matter deeply to the heart of God. I just believe in this particular moment, God wanted to bring healing to my heart from this particular incident by showing me a higher perspective. In speaking this to my heart, I was able to connect the sorrow of lostness I was feeling to a glimpse of His heart for those lost in darkness and separated from Him.
 
Luke 19:10 says,”the Son of Man (Jesus) has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” The word lost here means perishing, destroyed fully or cut off entirely. When Jesus was sent to this earth, He came to bring those who were lost, without hope and completely living in darkness to the Father. He was to restore what had been stolen from God’s original intent for us and redeem us from death, Hell and destruction. You can’t “sort of” be found or “saved”. You are either a child of God with a surrendered life to Jesus, or you are lost and perishing outside of the intent of God for your life. The whole purpose of why Jesus came was lostness. If as Christians we are His followers, we should walk in the steps of Jesus and bring salvation to those who are lost.
In a recent missionary training, the topic of lostness came up from our Director of Africa Missions. He mentioned that the worst possible condition that anyone could die in was lostness. There will be those who die hungry. Those who will die naked or in disease. Yet there is no worse way to die than by being separated eternally from the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. 
This week, I want to challenge you to ponder lostness. Today’s entry is just an introduction to this topic, but I pray that as the week unfolds you’ll receive healing in your lives and impact those around you.
Wednesday’s topic will be on lostness in us and Friday’s will be on the lostness around us.

*Magic Wand*

I’m sitting in Whole Foods in the midst of a Sunday afternoon insanity, yet I am thriving in this tranquility. A little girl just walked past me and was dressed up head to toe as Belle from “Beauty and the Beast”. ADORABLE! I watched her walk around in “la la land” while her mom dashed to and fro across the store. She walked past me on her way out the door and waved her magic wand over a box of sweets. She paused. Waved it again. Then, as only one in make believe world can do, she “bopped” the box with the magic wand. At this moment, the girl’s mother, several feet ahead of her had reached the exit door and called for her. Her perplexed face didn’t stop her from obeying her mom, so slowly she deserted the box of gummy stars and left the store.

As I sat here giggling to myself, I remembered how fun it was to dress up like a Princess and make believe when I was little. When I was three years old I had one request for a Christmas gift, a magic wand. At this point in life, I’d seen my fair share of fairy godmothers, pixie dust and Princesses who could have their way. When presented with my beautiful well thought out and diligently sought for wand on Christmas morning, I GLOWED! I knew that everything in the world would be alright! I began immediately trying to change who knows what into whatever my little mind imagined (and it was a wild imagination!). At this point in my life, my constant talking had turned into hundreds of imaginary friends. I pretended there was a whole kingdom (yes I’ve had counseling regarding this-kidding!). Needless to say, I had all the imagination needed to believe for this magic wand to work wonders! 
Imagine with me; this curly red-haired 3 year old filled with excitement quickly turn to disbelief and disappointment as the wand did nothing more than what plastic is capable of. Both of my parent’s hearts sank. They thought since I “Imagined” other things that I would also imagine things changing with this wand. As I argued that the wand must be broken, they instructed me to just pretend that it worked. ::Insert little Belle’s perplexed look here:: Why would I want a broken magic wand? I still have this wand today at my parent’s home (picture above) and it’s a sweet reminder of my childhood.
When I saw little Belle with her wand and remembered this story of my own life, I began thinking along the lines of child like faith and wonder. I thought of how Jesus encouraged us to believe the Father with faith like a child. Matthew 18:3 says, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”  Jesus has given us His life in exchange for our sin. When we make Him Lord, we become new creations and have the opportunity to submit our lives to His Spirit. 
 
In Ephesians 6:17 as Paul instructs us to put on the armor of God, he ends the list with, “and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”. Our armor includes a “Magic wand”!!!! :-) I don’t mean the  “magic” of a child’s imagination to have a horse or dinosaur appear, but we can have the power of the Spirit of God move through our lives. How silly would one looked dressed in FULL armor with a shield to defend oneself, but no offensive weapon. Thankfully God did not equip us to be ill fit in battle. He sent His word, His Son and His Spirit to equip us for every good work. When we use the word of God and the power behind it employed by the Holy Spirit, we can have personal victory and bring victory to other people’s lives!
 
Little Belle and I might have dreamed of fairy Princess lands with tons of candy and Prince Charming and beautiful horses, but the reality is we’ve been given access to a far greater kingdom. We have been given a wand that works, a wand that transforms and a wand that sets captives free.
 
My encouragement to you today, is to hold fast to your faith, build yourself up in the word of God, and allow Holy Spirit to have His way in and through your life. After all, when we are sons and daughters of God, we really are Princes and Princesses. 

What Are You Waiting For?

Everything these days is seemingly fast paced! Matter of fact, I am now in my second location of the day trying to acquire wi-fi so that I can write this while we have our air vents cleaned at our house. Frustration instantly set in whenever the internet server at my original place of choice didn’t work. So, here I am writing in a hurry due to time crunch for my next appointment. Hence, my topic of choice today—PATIENCE.
I know, I know, you got SO excited when I mentioned that word right?! :-) I’ve heard numerous people say that if you pray for more patience, don’t be surprised when you are given opportunities to be patient. Have you ever lost your cool in traffic because of course you end up behind the car doing 15 under the speed limit and you’re now going to be late?Regardless of if it was your fault that you’re running behind to begin with or not, this slower than molasses car is now the source of blame and *BOOM* impatience shows it’s ugly face.
People often say, “Patience is a virtue”. I can agree with that! I’ve seen those moms with multiple children who are all calm, collected and can carry on normal conversations with other adults while kindly discipling their children. My jaw drops and my hat salutes these type of women (and the patience ANY mom has on a given day). I aspire to be as calm as them one day which may or may not be induced by sedatives ;-) Joking aside, patience is something that is noticed in our lives when we are diligent to reveal it. 
I think of how patient people were during the great depression to stand in line for food hand outs. In a most devastating time of their lives, they were willing to pay the price of waiting to get what was necessary, their food. Sadly, I doubt that our society would stand in lines quite as patiently now. We’re used to our quick fix problems (like my husband fixing my computer in 4 minutes just now) and we often don’t like to wait for things that we really need. If we do, often our attitudes are very impatient. We’re all guilty of then ” But WHEN God?!” question. 
This is where James 1:4 articulates so wonderfully, “But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.” The work of patience is a fruit of the Holy Spirit according to Galatians 5 and is interchangeable for the word “long-suffering”. The actual Greek word, makrothymia, means, “properly, long-passion, i.e. waiting sufficient time before expressing anger”.  This type of patience is divine and can only come from God which is why patience is a fruit of the Spirit. The reason we need patience is not merely to make appointments on time, deal with difficult people and respond in kindness, but so we can receive the will of God for our lives. Only by the grace and empowerment of His Spirit will we be able to endure with true patience and have purpose in our waiting.
I was thinking of some friends this morning who went to Denver a few years ago to audition for American Idol. I lived in Colorado at the time and went to meet up with them. They shared their stories of waiting in lines for hours and hours only to not even make it past the first round of judges. They are both extremely talented singers and their hearts were devastated. They had been willing to travel and wait in ridiculously long lines just for a chance to audition for the show. This type of example to me shows that when it really comes down to it, we will wait for what really matters to us. BUT are we willing to wait for what matters to God?
Going back to the scripture in James, when patience (an empowerment of the character of God) has its perfect work, it matures us, completes us and leaves us lacking nothing. Nothing. What do you feel like you are lacking right now? What immaturities are glaring at you? What are you waiting for that you’ve yet to receive? Patience is the answer and its fruit will leave you lacking no good thing.
God has the perfect plan for your future in all ways. He will not leave you abandoned in a place where you don’t have what you need. You may not always have what you want, but that’s a check to keep your desires in Him. Keep diligently seeking Him, aligning your heart to His ways, and waiting on Him. I pray as you do, you’d be satisfied with the sweet taste of the fruit of patience.

3 Things that the Cross is Not (Part 3/3)

3. The Cross of Jesus Christ is Not Convenient.

Jesus walked down a narrow way with His cross and led a life of a narrow way. When I was walking in the desert in the country of Jordan a few years ago, I was coming up from the wilderness where John the Baptist had baptized Jesus. All of a sudden the road narrowed and I heard The Lord speak to me that as I identified with Jesus’ death and resurrection (symbolic by baptism) that I would have to also walk the narrow way. The way of the cross is not convenient and it tells us to love and bless those who curse us and spitefully use us…OUCH! The way of the cross tells us to forgive those who have hurt or sinned against us…double OUCH!! The way of the cross has us keep our mouths shut when we would like to tell someone what we really think. The way of the cross can cause much hurt, judgement and misunderstanding, but it’s the only way to find true life.

A narrow road doesn’t call for much excess baggage. When we embrace our cross, there is no room for Jesus, us AND all of our offenses and issues. As we embrace our cross, it strips off the excess areas of our lives. As we yield to their deaths, we proceed down the path Jesus walked. This way calls us to be aware of His leadership in every step, to rely on Christ and leave our sinful patterns and behaviors behind to become like Him. It’s not as convenient as a Keurig coffee machine or a microwaved snack ;-) which we all enjoy, but it’s worth the journey. As you embrace the this way, be aware that you will be “cross-examined” in every area of your life.

On another route, a wide convenient road allows for many travelers to go wherever, whenever and however they want. It allows for however much excess baggage you want. Everyone can access it easily and there are no restraints. Because it’s wide and accessible, you don’t have to be as cautious. You can be whoever you want to be irregardless of the effects it may have on someone else.This makes for it being very appealing. The way of the cross, or the narrow way, is one in the shadow of Christ. This way may even acknowledge that Jesus was a “good man” or a “prophet”. However, to acknowledge the cross would ultimately place an accountability to the Lordship of Christ and that’s where the way of convenience has no tolerance. Jesus was either a liar or He was the Son of God. He was either a mad man or God’s perfect Messiah. There is no in between in this matter.

Before Jesus came and died on the cross, there were those who longed for and cried out for the Messiah, the Son of God, the Savior to come to them. With urgency and dedication in their hearts, they prayed that God would send His son to fulfill the prophesies they believed in so that they could be reconciled unto the Father. There were hundreds of prophesies that foretold Jesus’ life and death and He is the only man who ever fulfilled them all! What a faithful promise, the Beloved Son came and took up a cross for us! It’s not convenient to follow the ways of Jesus, but just as He fulfilled promises by way of the cross, He’ll continue to be faithful in our lives as we embrace our cross.

Once the weights of sin and distractions of this world, our baggage, come off, we can find ourselves following the way of the cross, not because it’s cute, relevant or convenient, but because it brings everlasting life. It’s a daily act and one we are all sure to come up short in, but as we take up our cross, we are carrying perfect love. I pray you’d find love at that cross beam and that you’d hear the narrow way and may you never see the cross as something to take for granted.

(Scroll down for parts 1&2)

Scriptures to Review:

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. “Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” (Matthew 16:24-28 NKJV)

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Matthew 7:13, 14 NKJV)

3 Things that the Cross is Not (2/3)

2. The Cross of Jesus Christ is Not Culturally Relevant

While this portion may be obvious to some, I feel as though it can’t be overstated. While the cross is relevant to all people in all cultures, the cross confronts culture, it does not conform to culture. It is a culture of it’s own that points to a freedom of living rightly before God. A place of joy, peace, and forgiveness that is unattainable by any other source. The culture says there are many ways to life, the cross says there is only one way to life.The culture says do whatever brings you pleasure, the cross says live your life for the pleasures of Heaven.

The cross stands and reminds us of our sin and our short comings. It forces a dependency on Christ and His redemption to make us right with the Father. As I write these words, I feel the weight of how harsh they may come across to some, but I write these words knowing that the heartbeat of the cross IS love. At the center of the crossbeams was the HEART of Christ. He loves all and died for everyone. In my life I’ve never regretted leaving the way of the culture by laying aside my sin or selfish ambitions. As I’ve allowed room for the cross in my life, I’ve crucified the ugliness in my heart that makes me hurt myself and others and live only for me. I’m not perfect, but I welcome the confrontation of His perfect love to my soulish desires to make me more like Him.

It isn’t “cool” to take up your cross. It’s not a fad that can come and go or a popularity status. It is also not a weapon to wield around to inflict pain on others because you believe you carry a cross. The true cross, the cross of Christ does not wound others because He was wounded for us. It will however call you to lose your life and find it in Him and conform to the culture of Heaven.

The vertical and horizontal beams of the cross are heaven’s + (plus sign) to us. It shows that there is only life that can be added from death on the cross. Just as Jesus willingly gave His life and won victory over sin and death, so can we. I may lose something like a lying tongue at the cross, but I receive freedom to produce a reputation of integrity. God’s intention in losing your life in His son was that you’d gain far more than this world could ever offer.

(If you didn’t read part 1, scroll down)

3 Things that the Cross is Not (1/3)

Today as I’m writing this, it is Sunday. The day when more people frequent churches all over the world to lift up the name of Jesus Christ, the Father and His Holy Spirit. The main symbol that one may think of when thinking of church is the cross. While we might most familiarize a cross as more of a decorative item in the halls of our churches or etched on our bibles, I’d like to suggest to view it in a different light.

3 Things the Cross Is Not

1. The cross of Jesus Christ is not cute.

Yes, the sterling silver necklace of a cross and the T-shirt with a colorful cross displayed on it might be termed, “cute”, but the cross of Christ is anything but that. Our savior, bruised and beaten with about 39 lashes carried a real piece of wood for the cross beam of His cross weighing anywhere from 75-125 pounds. Before this, He had agonized to the point of sweating blood, withstood a blow from the High Priest, been beaten with fists, scourged, bled from a crown of thorns that was pierced into his skull and his beard missed spots where in mockery hair had been plucked. This gruesome scene of carrying His cross dragged on for some 650 yards or so.

The physical trauma being too much to bare, He collapsed and a man was asked to help him finish carrying the beam. The rest of the details of the crucifixion were nails entereing his hands and feet and the pain from hanging on the cross display unbelievable agony. The blameless sinless Son of God hung there with the world’s sin and shame upon Him. This is such a violent picture, but nonetheless a picture of an unthinkable love. This wasn’t meant to just be a symbol of some “nice teachings”, or of “self-help”, or an entitlement to be better than others. This was real love poured out.

When Jesus called His disciples to come to Him, deny themselves and take up their crosses, He wasn’t asking them for a real physical death like He would eventually suffer. He was asking them if they would be willing to lay down their agendas, their desires, their sin and self dependency to embrace His love. He was challenging them to walk the road of what others may call suffering to embrace the kingdom of God. Let me clarify that suffering doesn’t mean that you have to be in poor health, live in poverty or in continual distress. However, suffering in Christ does mean dying to the desires and passions that war against the holiness of God. Jesus spoke these words with a heart of love and deep conviction as he urged His disciples to embrace their “death” to the love of the world so that they could follow Him. Seems like a cult, except that this man was fully God and fully man and took on our sin, death, hell and the grave to give us victory! What a mighty love!!

The cross is not something cute or to be taken lightly. The challenge Jesus gave to His then living disciples is the continual beckoning with which He reaches out to us today. We should not make light of this call, but with all seriousness and repentance of heart, embrace the cross of Christ. As we wear it around our necks, see it hung in our churches or place it as decor in our homes, may we be reminded that it’s calling us to die to what we think love and pleasure is and accept Jesus’ passionate love for us.

We weren’t the Pharisees or Roman soldiers who brought Jesus to the place of crucifixion that day, but our sin surely did. Instead of running away from the cross, may we look upon the One we’ve pierced and allow the reality of Christ’s finished work on the cross have it’s way in our lives.

Dozen or more elk on the side of the road

Who’s on Your Road?

Yesterday I had an opportunity to go with some of my husband’s family on a drive through the Rocky Mountain National Park. It was a suburban full of women and we were all giddy making our requests to see wildlife. Since we had my mother in law on board who is an “expert African safari tour guide”, and her sister driving us who is a local to the area, we were sure we’d see something. Off we go sharing stories as ladies do when suddenly I scream over my sweet mother in law—“MOOSE!” Aunt Pat hits her brakes and turns into the nearest stop area so we can get a glimpse of this creature. A few brave souls climb out (including yours truly)and get fairly close to the moose, who was thankfully too preoccupied with eating to bother with a few of us snapping it’s picture. On we went to discover a few more wildlife creatures including about a dozen elk and a mother and baby moose. Of course these had all been uttered prayers by our excited hearts.

On a couple of occasions, a few of us would be out of the car sneaking pictures of wildlife as cars would zoom by. One time we were pointing right at a deer and the car passing us looked to the completely opposite side of the road missing the beautiful animal. The most astonishing moment was when the elk family emerged from the trees only yards from the entrance to the park. Even though we were crouched down taking pictures, most cars drove right past probably assuming that surely nothing exciting could be that obvious and easy to spot.

Moments before I sat down to write, I’m sitting outside on a beautiful deck overlooking the mountains and a creek below me, when I suddenly see and hear several family members shout through the window. Startled, I tried to translate their lips and thought they were saying ,”heater!” It’s chilly and I have a heater above me that I did eventually turn on. However I realized they were saying,”DEER!” I turned to spot 4 deer right before my eyes walking through the yard. What’s even more entertaining is that a car load of family (mainly men) who had not gone to the park the day before were leaving the driveway in search of such wildlife as the deers crossed the road in front of them.

These thoughts brought me back to what I was reading this morning in Luke chapter 24. Jesus has just died and rose again. There are women who come to find His body at the tomb to properly prepare Him for burial, but instead find an empty tomb and two angels. Not what they were expecting. Then you have Peter in utter confusion at what has taken place. Following that story are two disciples who take a walk where Jesus shows up and they say to Him unknowing who He is, ” we were hoping that it was He…” Hope deferred had set into all of these hearts.

The disciples had every right in their own experience to be sad, disillusioned, and fearful. Yet, they were looking the wrong direction. Often, the ways of rejoicing in The Lord come from places of identifying with the suffering of Christ and allowing the difficult questions to lead us to the depths of the word of God. When we walk alongside Jesus and hear the word of God, our hearts should “burn within us” as did the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. The truth is in fact that He is drawing near to us daily, pointing us to His word and pulling on our heart strings to respond to Him.

I might have been able to spot a moose easily, but am I as quick to notice Jesus speaking to me? How many of us are like the two disciples walking along our own road of “sorrow” and not even knowing what is being said to us by the Spirit of God? Sometimes I know I am just as blinded as they must have been that day. Things haven’t gone the way I’d hoped, I feel alone, discouraged or despaired. Yet on my walks of shame, guilt,anger, confusion and hope deferred, Jesus reveals Himself. I have a choice in those walks to either lean into my own heart, or recognize His glorious presence. I desire that my eyes would be enlightened to the truth of God’s word in those moments. What is encouraging is that the disciples’ eyes in Luke 24 WERE opened and they were able to go and share the good news with others about their encounter. Jesus later addresses His disciples and validates the entire word of God and shares that even a greater promise of the power of the Holy Spirit is still yet to come. The next instruction was again, to trust and wait.

As I conclude this, a little squirrel is running in circles around me and made me smile. My prayer for you today is that as you would be conscious of the beauty, joy and faithfulness of our Lord Jesus today. Christ knows what road you’re walking down and wants to encounter you. He is near and there are incredible things that you’ll miss if you look to what the world, your own heartache or the enemy tells you. Renounce the lies you’re believing today, and let your heart burn within and I believe your eyes will be open to His goodness and truth of God’s word.

Scripture to read: Luke 24
Song to listen to: Draw Near by Bethel (Jeremy Riddle)