About the Levites and the Jews...

So lately I've been thinking a lot about what the Jews' original role was supposed to be in the world. And that was to be our gateway to God. The example to us of how we should live, and so we could look on the nation of Israel and say "Wow, I want their God." But they failed in their mission, and now we as Christian's also take up that mantel, that command - and show the world a loving God. And the Levites were to take their position as the leaders and examples for the nation of Israel, they were supposed to be the beacon.
Today, as I was reading the book I'm reading for the month, "The Pursuit of God", Tozer mentioned in passing that while the rest of Israel was given territory and land, the Levites were told "I am your portion and your inheritance." They were told to live on the sustenance that the Lord provided, even when the rest of the land lived the cushy life in their own settled territory.
But isn't this what we are called to do? The Levites to the world, the salt of the earth, we were told to not live the cushy life. We were told not to put our feet up. We were told that we are travelers, sojourners on this earth - awaiting our heavenly home. We're not supposed to fill the drawers in this hotel room. Our belongings, our life, the way we live this life - we need to remember this more often.
Lord, please show me how to remember that your plan, your ways, your path, and everything you want for me is the best thing, and show me how to not start settling in here. I love you, Lord. Be my portion. Be my inheritance.

He puts us the highest and lowest we've ever been...

                Last night was one crazy night. The Lord drew me in closer than he has ever before, making me think methodically and logically through the questions I had. As I went through the facts I knew in my head, I let them trickle down into my heart and they broke me down. I started with the easy; that God is real, and he sent his Son… then on to how he loves us and has proved it.

                I then asked if he really cares what we do, and of course that was a yes – and then asked why I should listen to the things he’s commanded me? I found Deuteronomy 30 in a book nearby (completely by accident) and saw again a passage that broke me. “See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; In that command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply; and the Lord they God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.”

                And I saw that the Lord didn’t make it gray. I mean, oh my goodness, I knew this before. But God really made it clear to me that he has NO GRAY SPOTS. He doesn’t care what my struggles are, he doesn’t like the things I do! And the reason why I should listen? Because he loves me and wants to bless me with an abundant life! I mean, it’s odd that if anyone had come up and asked that question to me, I would’ve answered that anyways. But for some reason it made that trip down to my heart today.

                Then my question was “What made me think that that kind of life was attractive in the first place? A life living in the gray area, assuming that the things I did were okay? Did I really want those things? If I look at my life, what do I really want to see?”

                So I flipped more through the pages of the book I had found and saw these different passages that say “Who can stop us? Who can I be afraid of? Who can be against us? Whom shall I fear?” And I begged the question; “Why can’t I let this sink in?!”

                I mean, I thought about it methodically first. This is the God of the entire universe here.  He made the heavens and the earth and all the wonders and treasures and amazing things and people and everything in it. He had knowledge before time of all of time and lived in all of it at once and lives it now. Outside of time and space, he can see all and know all and yet still love me!

                So why was it that I couldn’t stop thinking about the fears I had? My own reservations, the parts of my heart that I wouldn’t let him have? Even when singing “All I am is yours,” my heart had its reservations and limits saying, “Well other than that, I’m scared you’ll change something.” I really did want to trust his plans! I was just afraid of his changing something in my life that I didn’t want him to, or doing something that in the end, I don’t like and I’m left alone in this world. I couldn’t throw my whole heart in the pot.

                But then again, what kind of logic is that? Take a look at my plans, and their shattered remains. Every plan I ever make, every step I take on my own – they never work out. I never gain the benefits, and I never find the ending, so why do I bother making them and then even have the audacity to tell God not to mess with them because somehow “I got this,”

                I struggled and struggled with the question of “Why can’t I just trust my God? I know all of this head knowledge and if anyone came to me with questions the answers would come so easy, with such well-crafted guidance and knowledge! Why can’t it just sink in to me that my God loves me and wants the best for me, if I would only give him the fake alternative??”

                I reached a place where I realized that I couldn’t leave that moment without saying that I want exactly what God has for me, and that is all. I needed this. I had to have this.

                I repented tonight, finally after long last, a full-on throw my heart in the pot repentance – a re-dedication of my life. My life is no longer my own. God is my leader, my daddy, my creator – and he wants the very very best for me, and that is all.

                Lord, help me to keep this beautiful revival. Help me to hold on and strive after you. Help whoever reads this to be diligent to pray for me. Help me to not walk away from this experience and forget again. Help me to keep in your way and always ask for your guidance.

                I want to move mountains with my faith, Lord. I love you, and thank you so much for this beautiful night. Amen.

Mark 1:4

“John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.”

                Now, as we know – John wasn’t baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit here – signifying the death, burial and resurrection. He was baptizing in order for the people to outwardly show that they had changed and were done with their old sins. The people were outwardly stating that they were moving on with that life.

                There are many things that I hold on to, that I need to move on with – and stop. But for some reason, this flesh is unable to do it on it’s own.

                Lord, please give me the strength to always do what I must, instead of falling time and time again.

Mark 1:3

“’Someone is shouting in the desert, Get the road ready for the Lord: make a straight path for him to travel!’”

                As I mentioned in my last IBS, the messenger would go before the king and tell them he was coming. The people, in response, would clean the road and repair it to make it an easier path for him to travel.

                What John was doing was much the same thing. He was to prepare the hearts of the people to receive the Lord. He was telling them to repent and be baptized for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. In doing the Lord’s work, he was readying the people to listen to Jesus when he came, and accept him when he departed.

                More than likely, you weren’t saved all at once the very first time you heard the name of Jesus. You likely heard it again and again, and were persuaded. Or little things in your life prepared you to accept him when you did.

                God prepares our hearts for the tasks ahead, and for the things in our life that are coming. It reminds me of one of the girls who was critically wounded at the Aurora shooting in Colorado. The bullet went through her nose, into her head. When the doctors did a cat-scan, they realized that she had a birth mutation; a canal that traveled through her brain with nothing but fluid in it. The bullet happened to pass directly through that canal, and stop safely on the other side.

                God knows what’s going to happen, so we need to lean on him. Today, I pray for the kids hearts to be readied, and for my own to be readied. That I would be prepared for Spanish class today, and continue to work with all my might, and not get lazy.

Mark 1:2

“As it is written in the Prophets: ’Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.’”

                This is the only time Mark quotes the Old Testament on his own (without the words of Jesus). Obviously, since his audience was to the Gentile Christians, it would be silly to be constantly spouting off Jewish references, but he does do this one.

                In ancient times, when kings were riding into a city, they would send messengers before themselves to announce their arrival and their intent on coming. In response, the community would often repair the roads the king would be traveling on before he came.

                Isn’t that exactly what happened with John the Baptist? He came and announced that the King of all Kings was coming, and that they needed to repair their hearts (repent), and acknowledge him when he came… because he would take those sins away if they believed.

                Think now about John’s past. The son of a priest, a few months older than Jesus, his cousin. His entire life, he has had time to know what Jesus is. But God had been working on his heart from the very beginning… until he finally led him to the spot he was in right in this moment. Telling the people that Jesus was going to begin his ministry.

                God works on our hearts for a long time before things come to fruition. Thinking about even where I am now, in Costa Rica as an intern for Potter’s Field Ignite, I remember that it all was from a bunch of little steps. God did a bunch of little things in my life that led me to where I am. It wasn’t always the giant moments. It reminds me of a saying, “Every single day of your life has led you to where you are now. How will you use it?”

                Today, I will do my best to do what I can for his kingdom. God give me the strength, courage and boldness I need today to teach English to kids that speak close to nothing of it, while I only speak a little Spanish. Give me the words to say and the things to do. I will study my Spanish today before going in front of those kids.

Mark 1:1

“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

                Mark wrote his gospel from the retelling of Peter. So in a way, you could call this “The Book of Peter”. Mark’s gospel was written primarily in the interest of the Gentile Christians, seeing as Peter was also sent to the Gentiles.

                The very first thing he does is tell the readers exactly what this book is about. He’s not wishy-washy about it – he’s not kidding – he’s not pretending to write about something else to interest them more. He’s flat out. He tells him “This is about Jesus, who was the very Son of God himself – and this is the good news about him.”

                He wanted his believers to immediately understand that Jesus was the Son of God. He came down as a representative of God to the earth. He doesn’t even give them a chance to question it. Mark/Peter oozes a confidence about who Jesus is.

                Peter showed this confidence in Jesus before, when Jesus asked who they say that he is. Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” But Peter also lost his confidence when his flesh feared for his own life. Peter’s amazing testimony continues though, when he listened to the voice of God when it came to the gentiles, and then (as church history tells us) going to the point of death to be a martyr for Christ’s sake.

                Oh, that I would have this confidence. Lord, today, please grant me the confidence in you to speak your word, even when I don’t understand the language. Help me to know your words, and that you would put them in my mouth.