Indeed...The Cross of Jesus The Christ is Enough

While situations seem disheartening, I am reminded that the cross of Christ is enough and truly ,Jesus is all I need. No, it doesn't mean we become complacent because Christ is our King. It surely doesn't mean when "life" happens we sit around and wait for God to work on our behalf for faith without works is dead! It means that though you strive to make the best out of your circumstances the power and love of Christ keeps you when sometimes, your efforts produce little to no results. It reminds you of the hope you have in Him. It keeps you sustained with grace and His compassion. It keeps you from going crazy!!!! If it wasn't for His grace, where would you hope, what would you hope, why would you hope!?? sayings heard someone say "The cross came to change us and not our situation." Christ changed me so when "life" happens I can act in a Christ like manner! When circumstances seem to weigh heavy day after day I can endure because Christ endured. With eyes fixed on the author and finisher of our faith we can press on because We hold fast to His promises.

I originally wrote this blog in 2010,only to leave it unpublished! But here I am again at another "life" situation :) what can I say...it happens...often! I'm comforted by hope, because when feelings set in, hope remains....one thing I pray that I'll always have my friends is hope, I smile as I think about my scripture memory this week! Jesus said to his disciples "Have faith in God!"

I love Jesus! He's incredibly profound..and undoubtedly true!

Listen to Him....
"truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain,'be taken up & cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he SAYS is going to happen, it shall be granted to him. Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be granted you." mark 11:22-26

Can I be brutally honest.....sometimes faith is scary...maybe Jesus knew that! He knows every thing about our flesh, because He too was flesh(word became flesh John 1:1-14) He knows that faith itself could be a challenge...but before He states mark 11:23-26 he says "have faith in God" v.22, it's God who answers, God who makes the spoken word in faith come to pass. Faith without works is dead, and I believe faith without God is no faith at all! Jesus continues to tell the disciples about forgiveness.

Forgiveness is easy in light of the cross, because I see myself and my sin in light of a humble Christ now risen in glory! Just as I'm forgiven, I also should forgive!

His humility To death on the cross says I love you more than I loved being God in heaven! Philipians 2:6-8.

A friendly analogy would be as if Queen Elizabeth came to live with me, taught me everything she knew about living successfully in England! leaving her throne to live a humble life, experiencing all my struggles..but would never count it a loss but gain.....and never blamed me for coming to help me! Forgiveness requires faith and without the cross faith is null and void!
How beautiful is the cross to you?
How lovely is Christ's resurrection?
How comforting to know He HAS overcome the world!

As Jesus told his disciples of departing from them, He comforted them:
Jesus replied. “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave Me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for My Father is with Me. “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:31-33


Take heart friends, Jesus has overcome that which seeks to discourage you!
Love
-Renee Jael

Life does not have an easy button

I always heard my Jamaican friend say, "Life's not easy, its full of rocks!" Well i've been walking on my share of rocks lately! The bottom of my feet hurts! It's a season where I know that God is listening but it's like He is saying, Renee, I cant give it to you now, you just wont get it yet! or Is He saying, Renee, I want to teach you how to wait on My perfect timing, I want to teach you how to submit, I want to teach you how to not break under pressure, I want to teach you how to praise me in your brokenness. It's like He's constantly whispering my name, saying daughter I GOT YOU! I am reminded of His unrelenting purpose, that all things were created through Him and for Him, Colossians 1:16 and that I was created in Christ Jesus for good works which He already prepared for me beforehand, Ephesians 2:10 . Each day I strive to be better than I was the day before. Today, I asked "Did I make you smile today Jesus?", as I maneuvered my life throughout the day serving! (Selah) And though the thoughts of I have to look for a job, I have to get a job, I have to work hard taunts my membrane every waking moment of every day, the times where I can hear someone say "thank you because I didn't know what I would have done without you", or the look on someone's face that lets them know they are important to you when you showed up, that my friend makes me know it was worth it. It was worth it to think of someone in the midst of personal trial. The time I gave, the Love I gave, it wasn't in vain. The rocky places reminds me that it's not about me, but about the sacrifice of love that speaks for Christ that lives in me. Well tomorrow is a new day, a day that I may not live to see, but today I lived, not for myself but for my Father in heaven! Today I lived and walked on rocks that built my strength for the future! Tomorrow...O don't worry about that! There will be food on the table, there will be wind to blow on your face to ease the heat of the bright burning sun, there will be bright colored birds to fly across your car to remind you, God is watching over you and thinking of you so much that His thoughts out number the sand, psalms 139:18. Rocky places, Yes they come and Yes you have to walk on them because if you just stand there waiting for it to smooth out, you wont endure, you wont produce, you wont progress, you wont learn! My friend the road of life is a journey that doesn't give you the expected but the unexpected! I just can't wait to see what God has in store. Until we meet again! Peace, Love, Grace and Mercy from the Father of Love!

P.S take time to behold the beauty along the way....

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let Him ask of God who gives to all generously, and without reproach, and it will be given to him~James 1:2-5