Distracciones

John 2:13-19 es una historia familiar para algunos de nosotros cuando Jesús entraron al templo y se convirtió en enojo.

Era el momento de la Pascua judía y personas viajaban desde todas partes a venir a Jerusalén para la fiesta de Pascua, un festival de la semana. Era un tiempo cuando recordaron lo que Dios había hecho por ellos, liberado de la esclavitud y les sacó de Egipto. Cuando deja reposar todo y pasan tiempo con Dios, un tiempo donde podían adorar a Dios, pasar tiempo en oración, acercarse a Dios, confesar y traer sus pecados a Dios para perdón, donde se necesitaba un sacrificio animal.

Desde personas viajaban desde todas partes, una distancia lejana, traer un animal que era conveniente para un sacrificio a Dios que fue intachable no siempre fue posible. Así que algunos comerciantes aprovecharon esta necesidad y venden animales para el sacrificio en el área del templo y muchos eruditos creen que fue por un mayor precio que pagarías en otros lugares. Todos los que vinieron tuvieron que pagar un impuesto del templo así que había una necesidad de cambistas y muchos eruditos creen que cobraban una tasa de cambio durante este tiempo de necesidad.

Así que estos mercaderes fueron convenientemente situados para la gente que había venido para la Pascua y les ofrecía lo que necesitaban para su conveniencia por supuesto. Y parte de la ira de Jesús era evidente. La codicia de los comerciantes, y que había convertido la casa de su padre en un lugar de mercado.

Pero cuando nosotros hurgar un poco más vemos algo más, estas personas habían recorrido un largo camino para hacer lo que, para adorar a Dios. El templo fue donde conocieron a Dios, es donde la gente vendría a adorar, a conectar con Dios y acercarse a él y recordar todo lo que Dios habían hecho por ellos, trayendo de la esclavitud. Estos mercaderes y acciones de los cambiadores de dinero estaban provocando una distracción que les impide poder hacerlo.

Jesús estaba enojado porque la gente se les impidió poder adorar a su padre.

Así que Jesús es no sólo limpiar el templo, él está haciendo una forma de adoración.

Hoy durante la Cuaresma hacemos lo mismo, pasamos tiempo recordando lo que Jesús hizo en la Cruz, para quitar los pecados del mundo, mío y tuyo, por lo que podemos ser libres y vivir. Es un tiempo cuando hacemos sacrificios para eliminar distracciones de nuestra vida para que verdaderamente podamos adorar a Dios.

Hacemos compromisos durante estos 40 días de Cuaresma para leer un diario devocional o asistir a un estudio de la Biblia, tal vez para pasar más tiempo en la oración o asistir a los servicios de culto. Para algunos de nosotros, nos resulta difícil mantener estos compromisos, porque las cosas se ponen en el camino.

¿Cuáles son hoy nuestras distracciones?

Tal vez el ritual común de salir a comer a un restaurante de mariscos en la noche del viernes en Nueva Orleans durante prestado, de pie en línea, comer en medio del ruido, donde usted no puede escuchar a alguien hablando en la mesa, esto es un sacrificio durante prestado para que podamos enfocar en th e sacrificio de Jesús muriendo en la Cruz o lo ha convertido en una distracción?

Max Lucado escribe en su libro “La oración de bolsillo” que es un enclenque recuperación de oración. Escribe… “dormitar apagado cuando rezo. Mis pensamientos zig zag luego zig otra vez. Las distracciones del enjambre como mosquitos en una noche de verano.” Si el trastorno por déficit de atención se aplica a la oración, estoy afligido”cuando oro, creo que de 1 mil cosas que tengo que hacer. Me olvide una cosa me puse a hacer: orar. ” Materia de medio ambiente – consigue en un lugar donde usted puede despejar su mente y centrarse en Dios.

Tal vez cuando nos sentamos a leer las escrituras o la lección de la Biblia que ser distraídos por el teléfono que está siempre con nosotros, hace un ruido y no podemos evitar pero… a ver si alguien texted, enviado por correo electrónico o ha gustado nuestro post en Facebook o Instagram.

Tal vez nuestras distracciones son las emociones como cómo no estar enojado con alguien, guardando rencor, está molesto porque tenes una factura inesperada en el correo, muchas cosas pueden distraernos.

Tal vez muchas distracciones han acumulado con el tiempo y lo reconocemos pero no estamos seguros de qué hacer al respecto nos deja sentir culpable y avergonzada. En lugar de acercarse a Dios corres a esconderte? Pero Jesús dice: “Venid a mí todos los que están cansados y pesados cargados y daré usted descanso.” Le mostrará el camino de vuelta a mí.

Dios nos encuentra donde estamos no donde pensamos que deberíamos ser.

Cada uno de nosotros tiene un conjunto de cosas que tratamos de abordar en nuestro caminar cristiano. Muchos de nosotros tenemos problemas para afrontar estas distracciones y hemos fracasados u o quizás no porque incluso no reconoce que el cambio es necesario.

Por esta razón es importante estar en una comunidad cristiana, que en un grupo pequeño donde nos podemos ayudar mutuamente en nuestro cristiano caminar no sólo durante la temporada de Cuaresma pero todo el tiempo. Así que si no estás en un grupo pequeño, ahora es el momento para orar y pensar en unirse a uno.

Durante este tiempo bíblico personas tuvieron que venir al templo a adorar a Dios, para estar en su presencia.

Hoy venimos a adorar a Dios en nuestras iglesias en nuestro Santuario, pero la iglesia es sólo un edificio y estará vacía después de que dejamos. La presencia de Dios está en la iglesia porque estamos allí.

Jesús hizo un camino para la adoración para los judíos y él hace una manera para nosotros para adorar hoy al darnos el Espíritu Santo. Dios nos dejó el Espíritu Santo que vive dentro de nosotros y nos convertimos en el templo. I Corintios 6:19 19 ¿no sabéis que vuestros cuerpos son templos del Espíritu Santo, que está en vosotros, el cual ha recibido de Dios?

El espíritu de Dios vive dentro de nuestro cuerpo frágil, imperfecto, temporal. Cuando una persona trata de una fe personal en Dios el padre, el hijo y el Espíritu Santo, Dios capacita a su espíritu para vivir con nosotros y para influir en nosotros.

Dios no vive en un edificio aquí en la tierra; Él tiene su hogar en nuestros corazones.

Es ese espíritu que nos ayudará a identificar y superar nuestras distracciones. Dentro de nosotros es la capacidad de crecer y acercarse a Dios para que podamos adorarlo. Pero si nos quedamos distraídos por el mundo, a veces no podemos reconocer cuando el espíritu habla. Es como un ángel en un hombro y el diablo en el otro, que uno conseguirá nuestra atención…, la enfocamos.

Los cambistas y los mercaderes habían cambiado su enfoque sobre cómo hacer dinero y se convirtió en codiciosos en lugar de centrarse en Dios y hacer un camino para el culto para otros. Hay acciones causaron otros no sean capaces de adorar a Dios.

Cuando distraídos, cuando permitimos que las distracciones en nuestras vidas cuando nuestra atención se convierte en cosas del mundo y no de Dios muchas veces nuestras acciones reflejan la avaricia, pecado, causando distracciones como los comerciantes y los cambios de dinero en el templo. También hacemos las distracciones de la otra gente adorar a Dios.

Donde otros encuentran Dios, en ti y para mí! Somos templo de Dios, somos sus manos y pies y no sólo hacer buenas obras, sino para mostrar que él es a través de nuestras acciones. Podemos ser la única Biblia otros leen. No somos perfectos y nunca va a ser, es por eso que siempre tenemos que mantener nuestro enfoque en Dios y la fuerza de otros cristianos que nos ayude en este viaje.

La Cuaresma es un tiempo de proceso de renovación que nos permita que Dios nos transforme para que podemos seguir ser sus manos y pies en el mundo, revelarlo en nuestras acciones y poner a otros en una relación con él.

La Cuaresma es un tiempo de reflexión para identificar y buscar cambios en nuestras vidas. Todos necesitamos ayuda para despejar las distracciones.

Yo desafío a todos nosotros, para pasar unos días de esta semana y mira duro las distracciones en su vida que puede guardarle de adorar a Dios, lo que le está impidiendo pasar tiempo en la escritura, de pasar tiempo en oración, de cantar canciones de alabanza en casa , de reflexionar sobre todo lo que ha hecho para usted, de reflexionar sobre nuestras propias caídas por lo que podemos llegar a él con un corazón arrepentido. Esto es lo que fortalece nuestra relación con Dios. Y esta es la razón que Jesús murió en la Cruz, no sólo para quitar nuestros pecados, pero al hacerlo él nos restauró a esa relación íntima con nuestro padre.

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John 2:13-19 is a familiar story for some of us when Jesus entered the temple and became angry.

 

 

 

 

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Distractions

John 2:13-19 is a familiar story for some of us when Jesus entered the temple and became angry.

It was time for the Jewish Passover and people were traveling from all over to come to Jerusalem for the Passover festival, a week long festival.  It was a time when they remembered what God had done for them, freed them from slavery and brought them out of Egypt.  When they set aside everything else and they spend time with God, a time where they could worship God, spend time in prayer, draw closer to God, confess and bring their sins to God for forgiveness, where a sacrificial animal was needed.

Since people were traveling from all over, many a far distance, to bring an animal that was suitable for a sacrifice to God that was unblemished was not always possible.  So some merchants took advantage of this need, and sold sacrificial animals in the temple area and many scholars believe it was for a higher price than you would pay elsewhere.  Everyone that came had to pay a temple tax so there was a need for money changers and many scholars believe they charged a higher exchange rate during this time of need.

So these merchants were conveniently located for the people that had come for the Passover, and offered them the things they needed for their convenience of course.  And part of Jesus anger was obvious.  The greed of the merchants, and that they had turned His father’s house into a market place.

But when we dig a little deeper we see something else, these people had come a long way to do what – to worship God.  The temple was where they met God, it is where the people would come to worship, to connect with God and draw closer to Him and remember all that God had done for them, bringing them out of slavery.  These merchants’ and money changers actions were causing a distraction, preventing them from being able to do so.

Jesus was angry because the people were prevented from being able to worship his father.

So Jesus is not just clearing out the temple, He is making a way for worship.

Today during Lent we do the same thing, we spend time remembering what Jesus did on the cross, to remove the sins of the world, mine and yours so that we could be free and live.  It is a time when we make sacrifices to remove distractions from our lives so that we can truly worship God.

We make commitments during this 40 days of Lent to read a daily devotional or attend a Bible study, perhaps to spend more time in prayer or attend special worship services.  For some of us, we find it difficult to keep these commitments, because things get in the way.

What are our distractions today?

Perhaps the common ritual of going out to eat at a seafood restaurant on Friday night in New Orleans during lent, standing in line, eating in the midst of the noise where you can’t hear anyone speaking at your table, is this a sacrifice during lent so that we can focus on the sacrifice of Jesus dying on the cross or has it become a distraction?

Max Lucado writes in his book “The Pocket Prayer” that he is a recovering prayer wimp.  He writes…“I doze off when I pray.  My thoughts zig then zag then zig again.  Distractions swarm like gnats on a summer night.”  If attention deficit disorder applies to prayer, I am afflicted” When I pray, I think of a thousand things I need to do.  I forget the one thing I set out to do: pray.”  Environment matters – get in a place where you can clear your mind and focus on God.

Perhaps when we sit to read scripture or our Bible lesson we become distracted by our phone that is always with us, it makes a noise and we can’t help but look…to see if someone texted, emailed or liked our post on Facebook or Instagram.

Perhaps our distractions are emotions like not getting over being angry at someone, holding a grudge, being upset because you got an unexpected bill in the mail – so many things can distract us.

Perhaps many distractions have built up over time and we recognize it but we are not sure what to do about it leaving us to feel guilty and ashamed.  Instead of drawing closer to God we run and hide?  But Jesus says, “Come to me all who are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest.”  I will show you the way back to me.

God meets us where we are not where we think we should be. 

Every one of us has a set of things that we try to deal with in our Christian walk.  Many of us have trouble dealing with these distractions and we have been unsuccessful or unable or perhaps unwilling because we don’t even recognize that change is needed.

This is why it is important to be in a Christian community, to be in a small group where we can help each other in our Christian walk not just during the season of Lent but all the time.  So if you are not in a small group, now is the time to pray and think about joining one.

During this Biblical time people had to come to the temple to worship God, to be in his presence.

Today we come to worship God in our churches in our sanctuary, but the church  is only a building and will be empty after we leave.  The presence of God is in the church because we are there.

Jesus made a way for worship for the Jews and He makes a way for us to worship today by giving us the Holy Spirit.  God left us with the Holy Spirit that lives inside of us and we become the temple.  I Corinthians 6: 19 19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?

God’s spirit lives within our fragile, imperfect, temporary bodies.  When a person comes to a personal belief in God the Father, the son and the Holy Spirit, God empowers His very spirit to live with us and to influence us.

God doesn’t live in a building here on earth; He makes his home in our hearts.

It is that spirit that will help us identify and overcome our distractions.   Within us is the ability to grow and draw closer to God so that we can worship Him.  But if we get distracted by the world, sometimes we can’t recognize when the Spirit speaks.  It is like an angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other, which one will get our attention…., the one we focus on.

The money changers and the merchants had switched their focus on how to make money and became greedy rather than focusing on God and making a way for worship for others.  There actions caused others to not be able to worship God.

When we get distracted, when we allow distractions in our lives when our focus becomes on things of the world and not of God many times our actions reflect greed, sin, causing distractions just like the merchants and money changes in the temple.  We too become distractions from other people worshiping God.

Where can others find God, in you and me!  We are God’s temple – We are His hands and feet and not just to do good works, but to show who He is through our actions.  We may be the only Bible others read.  We are not perfect and never will be, that is why we always need to keep our focus on God, and the strength of other Christians to help us on this journey.

Lent is a time of renewal process where we allow God to transform us so that we can continue to be His hands and feet in the world, to reveal him in our actions and bring others into a relationship with Him.

Lent is a season of reflection for us to identify and seek changes in our lives.  All of us need help with clearing out distractions.

I challenge all of us, to spend some time this week, and take a hard look at the distractions in your life that may keep you from worshiping God, what is preventing you from spending time in scripture, from spending time in prayer, from singing songs of praise at home, from reflecting on all He has done for you, from reflecting on our own downfalls so that we can come to him with a repentant heart.  This is what strengthens our relationship with God.  And this is the reason that Jesus died on the cross, not only to take away our sins but by doing so he restored us to that intimate relationship with our Father.

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Iced Cold Tea

In prayer I was complaining that my plan was not going the way I wanted, in others words I wanted my own way!  God reminded me that He has a good plan for me.  I had just promised to be still and trust His plan, and then a couple of days later complaining again.

I then remembered that when I was a little girl, if I did not get my way I would hold my breath until I passed out.  Can you believe it?  My mom got enough of that and began to pour a cold pitcher of iced tea on my face. Well I stopped that mess.  My mom knew what was best for me and sometimes that meant iced cold tea.

Dear God, pour some iced cold tea on me when I pitch a fit trying to get my own way.  Help me to trust your plan, believing and knowing that your  plan is always better than my plan.  In Jesus Name – Amen!

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Bah humbug

One of the sermons during Advent was about being bah humbug.  Wondering, what happened to Ebenezer Scrooge to make him  bah humbug.  Perhaps when he was a child he had wanted something for Christmas such as a red truck and  oh how he wanted it.  He told his parents, his teachers, everyone at church, he prayed about it, and even wrote a letter to Santa to make sure there was no doubt what he wanted.  Certain that he would get this red truck he was full of anticipation.  Perhaps on Christmas morning with great anticipation he opened his presents one by one, but there was no red truck.  He did not get what he was sure he would get, so for the rest of his life he began to have a bah humbug attitude.

Perhaps we are that way in our spirit.  When we go to God in prayer about certain things we want, a new job, a promotion, a relationship that never happened.  Sometimes when we don’t get those answered prayers could it be that we become bah humbug in our spirit?  Perhaps thinking why did that other person get that promotion and not me, I am faithful why did I not get what I asked for becoming bah humbug in our spirit.

But the gift of Christmas is Jesus, the greatest gift we will ever receive, much better than any red truck, or promotion at work.  At Christmas time we are reminded of this gift because it is socially acceptable to talk about it during this time.  But what about after Christmas, when the tree is taken down, the decorations are put away, do we also put away Jesus in the attic, because we didn’t get what we wanted?  Have we forgotten about the greatest gift of all and leave it behind after Christmas.

Sometimes we just can’t understand why things happen the way that they do and it leaves us with a bah humbug spirit preventing us from having an intimate relationship with God. But God has a good plan for us (Jeremiah 29:11).

You see He loved us so much that He emptied himself and came to us in human form, in the form a baby, baby Jesus.  He walked with us and talked with us and showed us how to live our lives.  He grew up to die on the cross to take away the sins of the world, for me and for you.  He did this because sin stood in the way of an intimate relationship with God, the one that was lost in the Garden of Eden when sin entered the world.  Jesus took away the sins and defeated death by rising again and promises to go and prepare a place for us in heaven.  It is the relationship that is the gift.  Let us not be bah humbug in our spirits and miss the relationship gift that Jesus died on the cross for.  Let us be in that relationship all year long, every day.  John 16:33 “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.”  Let us have peace all year long by being in relationship with God.  

Challenge:  What will you do with this gift in 2018?  How will you stay in relationship with the one that died for you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Jesus has the power to break every chain

I saw God today as I reviewed my SALT lessons.  As I go through these lessons to become a Biblical Counselor  I realized that the power to break the chains that keep us from the freedom that God wants for us is not in the counselor but in Jesus, however there is an army rising up to bring others to that power so that the chains can be broken.  I hope you enjoy.

If you want to know more about SALT visit VCLI.org

Power in the Name of Jesus

 

 

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I saw God today …..11/4/15

I saw God today through an answered prayer and blessings.  I had been praying that somehow I would be able to pay off a debt to free up some monthly funds so that I would not worry about needing to work while I attended school.

I began to get prompted from God to review my financial retirement plan.  So I scheduled an appointment to review where we were on the plan.  During our discussions, I mentioned that I received some paperwork about a pension for a company that I had worked for in the past.  The suggestion, call.

So I called only to discover that another company had purchased the company I worked for and had done away with pensions.  The company had been trying to get in touch with me about my pension and the deadline to claim it was two days away.  Not only that, the requirement to be vested in the pension was that you should have worked at least 10 years. When we looked at my time worked at this company I was 6 months shy of 10 years and the company waived the time and gave me the money anyway.

When God wants to show me that He is taking care of me, He always does it in a bold way!

Praise be to God!

How is God taking care of You?  Share your story

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I saw God today through a movie

My son B.J. insisted that he wanted to go and see the movie War Room.  I played the trailer of the movie and he still insisted that he wanted to go see this movie.  I told my husband that I thought he was going to be disappointed because it is not the typical movie he would want to watch.  I now realize that God was working through him to take his parents to see this awesome movie and remind us to pray together.

I won’t give the movie away for those that have not seen it, but I will encourage you to see the movie.  If you watch the trailer you will see that it is about prayer and the war room is a prayer room.

As me and my husband watched the movie we were reminded that long ago our pastor asked us “when was the last time you prayed for each other?”  Well if we were honest the only thing we told God about each other at the time was complaints.  But as we began to prayer for one another in a positive way our relationship began to change.  We began to pray together in the mornings and let me just tell you that there is nothing like hearing your husband pray about your day and be specific about something going on in your life.

But the busyness of life happened, and we began to do this together less and less.  Oh I know that we prayed for each other and spent time with God in prayer, but we stopped two very important things.  (1) putting God first, and (2) praying together.  This movie reminded us how important these things are and we made a new commitment to God to do these things.

So I will ask you, when was the last time you prayed for your spouse?

Couples that pray together – stay together.

1 Corinthians 13:13 (ESV) So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love.

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I saw God today through a song

God speaks to us in many different ways.  One of the ways is through song.

This morning a lady came to our mechanic shop and she was really frazzled about her car tire.  As my husband brought her car in to look at her tire she was listening to the K-Love radio station that we play.  I saw that she was listening to the song that was playing and I just kept quite and let God speak to her. By the time she left she was smiling.  God surely turned her day around through song.

Psalm 40:3 “He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God.  Many will see what He has done and be amazed.  They will put their trust in the Lord.”

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Broken Beyond Repair

Well this week was not my week for holding onto old things.  My brother broke a picture vase that was my grandmothers from the 50’s.  A day later my husband broke a lady bug coffee cup that was very special to me and was my mothers.

You would think that I would get really mad at them for breaking such precious things.  But I have decided that I am going to have my precious things out and used rather than wrapped in newspaper and in the attic.  This way my grandmother and my mom are still alive and with me today.

My husband has tried to glue back together these precious items, but only the vase could be saved, the cup was broken beyond repair.  I have to say that it was sad to have to accept the cup could not be repaired and throw it away.

In doing so it made me think about how God treats our brokenness.  God always meets us in the midst of our brokenness and meets us right where we are loving and accepting us.  He always is there to help put the pieces back together.  The good news is that we are never broken beyond repair.

Psalm 147:3 (NIV) He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

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Broken Más allá de la reparación

Bueno esta semana no fue mi semana.  Mi hermano se rompió un jarrón que perteneció a mi abuela.  Y mi marido se rompió una taza de café especial que perteneció a mi madre.

Se podría pensar que iba a llegar muy enojado con ellos por romper esas cosas preciosas . Pero he decidido que voy a tener mis cosas preciosas y utilizado en lugar de envuelta en periódico y en el ático. De esta manera mi abuela y mi mamá todavía están vivos y conmigo hoy .

Mi marido ha intentado pegar de nuevo juntos estos objetos preciosos , pero sólo el jarrón podía ser salvo , la copa se rompió sin posibilidad de reparación . Tengo que decir que fue triste tener que aceptar la copa no podía ser reparado y tirarlo a la basura.

Al hacer esto me hizo pensar acerca de cómo Dios trata a nuestro quebrantamiento. Dios siempre nos encuentra en medio de nuestro quebrantamiento y nos encuentra justo donde estamos amando y nos acepta . Él siempre está ahí para ayudar a poner las piezas juntas . La buena noticia es que nunca se rompen sin posibilidad de reparación.

Salmo 147: 3 ( NVI ) El sana a los quebrantados de corazón y venda sus heridas .

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