When I think of Lent...I think..."Oh man, I gotta' do the "beat my hands against my chest thing" and cry out to God to forgive me for the sinner I am.......
Yet, Lent is not just a time for us to realize sin separates us from Him( and no...whether you "go drama" and beat your hands against your chest or not...isn't the criteria...the criteria is the opening of our hearts)...and recognize our lives don't take on a real meaning....until we allow the Lord Jesus to make entrance into our own hearts.
Lent also declares His love for us...and the comfort He wants...yes wants...us to have. Did you ever notice how the Lord uses the "Red Sea" story and writes of it numerous times in the Old Testament? I often wondered about that...in fact at one point I even brought it up in my daily prayers...kind of almost in a complaint kind of way that God repeats Himself..a little too much.(yea...and you think you have issues...lol)...until one day...the "light was turned on".
The reason why I think God reminds us of "The Red Sea Story" and other related to that....is not because they were not written for God to 'brag" about how great He is. He is great...no doubt!...yet, He reminds us of these great happenings because...they are not meant to be one time occurrences.
Each one of us have a "Red Sea Story" in our lives...there really are times when God rescues us too...and we can declare to others...our own personal "Red Sea Stories" as well.
The Lenten Season...this very week in 2013 A.D....encourages us to trust and expect this great God of ours...to "part the waters" in our own daily lives....and verify how this great God of ours....saved us from harm and even death...and brings safety and a freedom...that only happened....because of Him...intervening in our lives....in situations that were otherwise deemed hopeless, just like the Israelites who had the Pharaoh and his army "breathing down the neck" of God's people...until Moses lifted his staff...and the Sea parted....
A Gleaning from Isaiah 43:16-21
" This is what God is trying to get through to us..."I AM the One who created a dry path...right through the Red Sea...carving this path amidst all the pounding waves.
There were chariots...horses...mighty warriors...an entire army...all coming...after you! Yet, Look Again! They are all gone!...swept away by those very same pounding waves that I held back...for you!
Yet...listen up....that was then...and this is now. What I did at the Red Sea...is nothing compared what am going to do...for you!
I Am about to do something new...for you. In fact, look around you...it has already begun. Take a little time with this and look closely...you will see it...there it is! It's the path...a path where all you thought were forests and trees...a path where all you could see was a dry and empty desert.
Even the wild animals are "excited" about this path. It provides food, shelter and drink for them. But, make no mistake...I created this path...for you! I have created the direction in your life you have been looking and waiting for.
You must understand this! You are my pride and joy! I have done all this for...you! You will begin to praise and give thanks for Me in your life...for I Am ever faithful to you! I Am always faithful...to those who put their trust...in Me."
NOTE: The parting of the water was not a one time occurrence...even in the Sacred Scriptures. Others too experienced it: Noah...and the Arc coming upon dry land....Joshua...entering the Promised Land....Elijah...Elisha....God really does "make a way where is no way"!
And you gotta' love how Jesus did it...He didn't part the water....He walked on it!
Yet, Lent is not just a time for us to realize sin separates us from Him( and no...whether you "go drama" and beat your hands against your chest or not...isn't the criteria...the criteria is the opening of our hearts)...and recognize our lives don't take on a real meaning....until we allow the Lord Jesus to make entrance into our own hearts.
Lent also declares His love for us...and the comfort He wants...yes wants...us to have. Did you ever notice how the Lord uses the "Red Sea" story and writes of it numerous times in the Old Testament? I often wondered about that...in fact at one point I even brought it up in my daily prayers...kind of almost in a complaint kind of way that God repeats Himself..a little too much.(yea...and you think you have issues...lol)...until one day...the "light was turned on".
The reason why I think God reminds us of "The Red Sea Story" and other related to that....is not because they were not written for God to 'brag" about how great He is. He is great...no doubt!...yet, He reminds us of these great happenings because...they are not meant to be one time occurrences.
Each one of us have a "Red Sea Story" in our lives...there really are times when God rescues us too...and we can declare to others...our own personal "Red Sea Stories" as well.
The Lenten Season...this very week in 2013 A.D....encourages us to trust and expect this great God of ours...to "part the waters" in our own daily lives....and verify how this great God of ours....saved us from harm and even death...and brings safety and a freedom...that only happened....because of Him...intervening in our lives....in situations that were otherwise deemed hopeless, just like the Israelites who had the Pharaoh and his army "breathing down the neck" of God's people...until Moses lifted his staff...and the Sea parted....
A Gleaning from Isaiah 43:16-21
There were chariots...horses...mighty warriors...an entire army...all coming...after you! Yet, Look Again! They are all gone!...swept away by those very same pounding waves that I held back...for you!
Yet...listen up....that was then...and this is now. What I did at the Red Sea...is nothing compared what am going to do...for you!
I Am about to do something new...for you. In fact, look around you...it has already begun. Take a little time with this and look closely...you will see it...there it is! It's the path...a path where all you thought were forests and trees...a path where all you could see was a dry and empty desert.
Even the wild animals are "excited" about this path. It provides food, shelter and drink for them. But, make no mistake...I created this path...for you! I have created the direction in your life you have been looking and waiting for.
You must understand this! You are my pride and joy! I have done all this for...you! You will begin to praise and give thanks for Me in your life...for I Am ever faithful to you! I Am always faithful...to those who put their trust...in Me."
And you gotta' love how Jesus did it...He didn't part the water....He walked on it!
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