Jesus, Jesus — there’s something about that name

To those of you who know Him: Can you still remember the day you called out his Name? Can you remember that very first love? How excited you were to tell everyone you knew that you met Jesus?

Oh, friend, I remember! I remember meeting Him and having such a burning desire to tell everyone. Surely, everyone would want to know about this Jesus who took me from darkness to light in the blink of eye? I was wrong. Oh, how wrong I was. I lost some friends. They thought my coming to Jesus meant I would turn into an instant snitch or something and want to see them arrested for smoking pot and dropping acid. I could not make them understand that was the last thing on my mind. I just wanted to share the best thing I had ever found: Unconditional love, forgiveness and the truth I had been searching for.

I did have one friend. She had become born-again two weeks before me and had been praying for me. I hadn’t known about it. I reluctantly (thinking she would reject me) called her to tell her I was born-again. She got so excited and said, “I got saved two weeks ago and I’ve been praying for you!”

My very first sister in the Lord! Oh the family of God is a remarkable and awesome thing.

At some point, we planned on going to our first Christian concert at the church we attended at the time. I came down with the flu and could not go. I was heart sick. I wanted so badly to go. So I laid in bed with a fever feeling sorry for myself.

She went and then dropped by after the concert. She had bought me an album of the group who had been there. The following song was on the album. It takes me back to a good time. A time where my heart remembers the time of my first love. Can you remember your first love? Are you still with your first love or have you let the cares of the world take you away? I know what it is like to have gone astray from your first love. More than likely you don’t mean to do it, may not even have known it was happening. But one day you think to yourself, where did He go? Friend, He didn’t go anywhere. We get side tracked so easily, don’t we? We let things of the world sweep us away. We become involved in so many things, staying busy, and sometimes trying to do the “right” thing, that we soon look around and may ask ourselves, “Ok, where is Jesus?”

I know He never leaves us or forsakes us, so He has to be around somewhere. I can tell you where He is this very minute. He is lifting you up to the Father in prayer. He is interceeding for you to come back. He is not waiting with some bull whip in his hands to punish you. No, he is waiting patiently for you to come back and have that first love relationship again. It is not meant to be a one-time event. No. It is meant to last forever!

Oh how Jesus loves us!

mytreasure777:

Have you let God set eternity in your heart yet?

Have you ever read Ecclesiastes? I’ve read it many times over the years and always walked away with the same thing: Boy, this guy was a real cynic. I could be wrong, but it appears to me he complained a lot. He talked about working and toiling all of his life and for what? Only to find that what he ended up working for ended up in the hands of those who did not do anything to earn it.

He even knew about courrupt government in his day: If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent perversion of justice and righteousness in a province, do not marvel at the matter; for high official watches over high official, and higher officials are over them.            — Ecclesiastes 5:8 –

He saw the hypocrisy of those who sit in high places: Moreover I saw under the sun: In the place of judgment, Wickedness was there; And in the place of righteousness, Iniquity was there. I said in my heart,“ God shall judge the righteous and the wicked, For there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.” — Ecclesiastes 3:16,17 –

Yes, this man of old had a lot to say. His words also warn us of pride, of being a fool, not to be rash with our mouths, to let our words be few, etc. All true, even in the midst of any cynicism.

The book of Ecclesiastes is a fine book. Sometimes when I start feeling like I want to tell the whole world to go suck an egg, I open up this book. It helps me put things in perspective in knowing there truly is nothing new under the sun. The same thing that went on back then, go on today.

I’ve been thinking about this particular passge the past few days:   

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. — Ecclesiastes3:11 –

Did you see that? God puts eternity in our heart! What does that mean? Well, I used to think it was nothing more than a simple little gospel ditty I used to sing. “This world ain’t my home, I’m just passing through.”  Just something we Christians sat around and chatted about every now and then. Can’t wait to go to heaven. Can’t wait to leave this world. I’m heaven bound. Can’t wait to see Jesus. Yes, those of us who love Jesus have said those things at one time or the other. But some of us, (I’m thinking of myself here) have always said those words with such a heaviness.

BUT GOD>>>> He really can set eternity in our hearts in such a way that we no longer feel like we are just limping along with the cares of the world weighing us down! Please excuse me if I get a little over excited. This is a brand new thing for me. You see, I know there are a lot of you out there who already have eternity in your hearts. Some of you are the ones who live in places where you know if you just mention the name Jesus you will be thrown into a horrible prison, be tortured and/or killed. You have lost everything. You are looking forward to seeing your Savior. Eternity is in your heart and it awaits you. The God you look forward to seeing will sustain you in the days to come, my brother, my sister.

Then there are those who still have the cares of the world weighing them down. These are the ones I speak to. If you are anything like me, you have let every little thing weigh heavily on you. From family matters, relationships, world events, politics (that was a biggie for me), fear of future events. Some things I sought after in hopes of finding the truth led me to some bizarre things! All these things weighed me down and I was not even aware of how heavy until they were gone!

Let me assure you, this world is NOT our home. If we set our eyes upon Jesus and do not look to the right or to the left, HE IS faithful. Do not misunderstand: This is NOT something we do. I believe we have to reach a place where everything we have been filling our minds, our time, our lives with in hopes of some kind of fullfillment become dung to us. At some point, there has to be something in us that just gets sick and tired enough to say, “Enough! Lord, I don’t want no more. Ok, I have seen this and that. I’ve given such-n-such my best shot. I see where things are going but I can’t do a thing about it. HELP!” I believe that is when His grace steps in and makes it aware to us that He has set eternity in our hearts. By His Spirit and by His word He assures us that this world is not our home. 

So I say to you who have not yet known what it is to have eternity set in your heart…are you sick and tired yet? Have you done all you know to do and find yourself limping along with the cares of the world on your shoulders? Then call out to Him. Tell Him you have had enough. You do not have to continue carrying that awfil load. He wants you to see and know this world is not your home. You already feel in your heart this world is not your home. That you are just a stranger in a foreign land. Your home is eternity, precious one. Jesus wants you to know that. Even if you do not have the strength to call out to Him, just make a little wimper. He will hear you.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.
— 1 Corinthains 16:23,24 –

carleenraesabin: