My Tea Time With Jesus

Proverbs 24:5-6 " 5  Being wise is better than being strong; yes, knowledge is more important than strength.  6  After all, you must make careful plans before you fight a battle, and the more good advice you get, the more likely you are to win. Well, who would have thought that everyday life is a "battle"?!?! But, in reality, it is! These verses couldn't have come at a better time for me!! I MUST (we MUST) make careful plans before we go into the daily fight of our life. For me, first, it is prayer and some time with Jesus ;-) Then for my day, it is planning what foods and meals I will be having. I pack my lunch bag for the day, and then throw in a couple of extras just in case I work late, or something else comes up after work that is unexpected.  I believe strength is measured in several ways. Of course physically, but mentally, emotionally, socially, and even knowledge wise - these areas can all be strengthened each and every day. One way I am working on ...

Psalm 116:1-2 NLT   “ 1  I love the  Lord because He hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. 2  Because He bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath! ” I really like the visual of God bending down to listen to us! Like a true good Father does, He does! My heart also had a strange impression – from the view of someone that does NOT feel like this towards God. They cry out and cry out, pray and pray – yet, it seems like He is NOT listening or answering their prayers. Oh my – their heart!! I can see how they would cringe at every single one of these statements. Being truly angry at God verses seeing He mercies. I have been in places in my life, where I have felt like the ugly step-child of God’s – it is not a fun place to be! However, looking back, I felt like that the strongest when I was OUT of God’s word. When I stopped going to church. I stopped hanging out with other believers that would hold me accountable and be truthful with me. Wh...

Psalm 34:5 (NIV) “ Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. ” Wow! When I think of how many times I think I need to “fix myself” before looking to God, I am surprised at my lack of… Faith? Trust? Heart? Whatever it is – it surprises me just how often I try to “fix” things on my own, in my own way, in my own understanding! This verse jumped a big MEF (mind’s eye flash): I’m sitting in the middle of a room. All around are my troubles and worries, concerns, failures, things I’m not proud of… they seem to not only be on the walls, the floor, and the ceiling, but they are floating all around me like little gnats. As I “try” to look for Jesus, I keep getting hit by the gnats of descriptions all around me. Mostly all negative and degrading. Then there is a light coming in through a teeny-tiny whole above me, it looks like a little beam of a flash light or one of those pointer light things. It shines on a gnat that is ever so close to my face. Poo...

1 Corinthians 9:3-5 “ 3  When people criticize me, this is how I defend myself:  4  Don't I have the right to be given food and drink for my work?  5  Don't I have the right to follow the example of the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Peter, by taking a Christian wife with me on my trips?” Well now, how many times have I read these verses, and have not seen the part about wives?!?! I totally have seen and reasoned why we pay those who do services for us, in so many ways – but to have someone go/be with them/us on the way… well, this just hit me differently today I guess. Then verse 7 got me thinking as well, really – when someone is a soldier, do they sign up or are they drafted into service and have to pay their own way for everything? NO! I see God’s plan is for man to not be alone, nor to do “it/life” alone. Then why on earth would we expect anyone that is serving the Lord to go it alone?!?! Two are better than one… iron sharpens iron...

Mark 3:5 “ Jesus was angry as He looked around at them, but at the same time He felt sorry for them, because they were so stubborn and wrong. ” The Pharisees were “looking” for Jesus to do something they could use as fuel to get rid of Him. The Sabbath is a day of rest that the Pharisees took to the extreme. Jesus was asking if the law permits to do good deeds or evil ones? If that day is to save a life or to destroy it? They were so set on finding a reason to get rid of Jesus, that they didn’t say a word to answer Him. Verse 5 struck me in that something I think for MANY years, thought was a sin, and therefore avoided it at all costs. Anger. Anger itself is not sin – but how or what we do with that anger, yes, can become sin. That Jesus looked at them angrily and yet was deeply saddened by their hearts, drove Him to do good and save a man – on the Sabbath. Being angry is not a sin. Using that anger to fuel sinful actions and behaviors – THAT IS a sin. Example of it here and ...

Mark 6:32-32, 46 (NLT)   31  Then Jesus said,  “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and His apostles didn’t even have time to eat. 32  So they left by boat for a quiet place, where they could be alone. 46  After telling everyone good-bye, He went up into the hills by Himself to pray. Have you ever felt like there was so much going on, or had so many people coming and going that you felt as though you couldn’t catch a breath? We are NOT supposed to live in that feeling non-stop, continually, day after day. Long periods of time doing this, will wear us down. We WILL need rest. A better word for a busy person might be needing an “escape”. I guess I ‘knew’ that Jesus got away and went to solitary places to pray… I just didn’t realize that He did it a LOT! Even when He was in high demand! He realized that time with the Father being rejuvenated and ref...

Proverb 27:7 (GNT) When you are full, you will refuse honey, but when you are hungry, even bitter food tastes sweet. (MSG) When you’ve stuffed yourself, you refuse dessert; when you’re starved, you could eat a horse. Boy have I been there! I’ve been full from a meal, and nothing tastes good, and I can actually push stuff away. I have also been hungry, and even something normally yucky, tasted good! LOL Yes, it has felt like I could eat a horse at times too! What jumped out at me in this verse is our hunger for Jesus. Our craving and desire to get to know Him more and more. How BEFORE knowing Him, we kept pushing Him away. When we would hear someone “preaching” we would behave like we would at a meal where we were full – we would push them away. Close off our ears, and not listen. Maybe even get up and walk away. I remember feeling ‘full’ of hearing people talk about Jesus and such. I remember feeling like I had had enough, that I was ‘good’ and my parents believed in G...

Luke 2:7 NLT “She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.” Today, the word ‘firstborn’ hit me. So, I looked it up. A few ways/places. There are several verses that name 4 different brothers and other verses that say unnamed brothers and sisters. Matthew 13:55–56 state that James, Joses (or Joseph), Jude and Simon were the brothers of Jesus, the son of Mary. The same verses also mention unnamed sisters of Jesus. Janes, Jude and Simon are not to be confused with those who were disciples of Jesus by the same name. Here are some passages where the other sons of Mary by Joseph are mentioned (Matt. 12:46; 13:55; Mark 6:3; John 2:12; 7:3, 5, 10; Acts 1:14; 1 Cor. 9:5; Gal. 1:19). THEN it struck me, how Jesus died for us, in place of us. The church (as a body) now represents Him. And how we are ALL called brothers and sisters of Christ. Then I remembered John 1:12 “But to all who...

Proverbs 22:7 " Poor people are slaves of the rich. Borrow money and you are the lender's slave." This hits home for me today, due to some work we are having done on our driveway. The word ‘poor/rich’ doesn’t necessarily fit – but the concept does. The ‘borrow money’ part is what hit me. For this job to be done, he asked for a deposit for the work and cement. Of course, that seems reasonable, right?! Especially when it is a person or family trying to work to make life better for themselves. Well, what strikes me, is that that means they are in a way “borrowing” from us for the job. They should be on a timeline, and have different parts of the job done at certain times. Well, when they run behind, we as the “lender” can start to become frustrated, and seem like we are trying to boss them around or be a slave-master of sorts. I think anyone that has a home-based business, that requires money up front, is at risk of becoming a slave to that person. You never know...

Psalm 120:1 (NLT) I took my troubles to the Lord ; I cried out to Him, and He answered my prayer. Here is another verse for our War Book / Scripture Log. Some simple yet needed truth that we need to be reminded of from time to time. The thing is, God is open 24/7 – He NEVER sleeps or takes time off, or leaves us. He is looking over and watching over us all the time. So, He actually already knows our troubles before we even bring them to Him. So, why do we need to bring them to Him? Well, not for His sake, but for ours. It is to build up our relationship with Jesus and to build up our faith in Him and His power in us. The Holy Spirit, like God, and as an example through Jesus – is a gentleman. Jesus is never pushy, rude, or overbearing. He will never barge in uninvited. The thing about prayer, is that He always answers us – just not always the way we want, desire, or expect even. A long time ago, I was told that God answers prayer three ways: 1) yes, now! 2) yes, but w...

Psalm 119:108-109  " Accept,  Lord , the willing praise of my mouth, and teach me Your laws. Though I constantly take my life in my hands, I will not forget Your law." Psalm 119 repeats over and over the same meaning: I will praise You Lord; teach me Your ways; God provides. Each little stanza says it a little differently, but it is the same thing over and over (to me). Well, this one jumped out at me, because I am constantly doing this! And that the Lord used the words “constantly” made it hit even more LOL I am reminded as I read through this chapter, that King David was considered a man after God’s own heart. He messed up BIG time SOOOO many times, and yet is still considered a man after God’s own heart. That struck me, as I read through this chapter. Over and over King David repeats small bits of truth. I think he does it for himself, but it is truth of God as well as him/us as a human. This is me too. I praise God every chance I get. Thanking Him for small...

Psalm 113:9 “He settles the childless woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the  Lord . ” All of Psalm 113 is pretty much praising God and how we are to praise Him. Then there are a few verses that share how some people will be blessed: the poor, the needy, and the childless. Now I don’t know how He will do verse 9, but I believe with all of my heart that He will do this! I believe that our “home” is our eternal home in heaven. The place we are all seeking to go to one day. I believe that ALL of the women that are childless here on earth, when they get ‘home’ they will be a ‘mother to many’! I also believe, that a woman here on earth can be blessed like this too. Kind of like our pastor honored ALL women on Mother’s Day this year. Because every woman has the opportunity to be a “someone” to someone. Either as an aunt, sister, cousin, friend, mentor and in so many other ways to influence those around us. The word ‘step-mom’ just came to mind. WE AL...

Isaiah 49:15-16a “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! 16  See, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands; ” Well now, I have heard this many times, but today, it hit just a bit different. Due to the MEF (mind’s eye flash) that happened as I got to the last part. You see, I DO know of a few people, whose mother DID ‘forget’ about them. Or it at least appears that way to them. As a Mom, even if I had given into my selfishness and had abandoned my children, I am pretty sure, I would still “think” of them a LOT! Perhaps covered in guilt and shame, but every time I would see a child, I’m pretty sure my heart would be nudged. As I believe the mothers of people whose moms left the family for one reason or another think of them as well. Anyway – that is where my heart was as Jesus and I were reading this. Then as I got to the last part “I will not forget ...

Psalm 11:4 ”The  Lord  is in His holy temple; H e has His throne in heaven. He watches people everywhere and knows what they are doing. ” Have you ever “felt” like someone is watching you? In a crowded room, or even in an empty space – you get this ‘feeling’ that you are being watched, by someone. So you start to look around. Having to scan the people and the place with alertness. You may even have to turn your head, or your body even… Ever have that happen to you? One of my favorite jobs was working at the Anaheim Convention Center. I did ushering and security. When I worked ‘the rafters’ I would have to wear a brown jumpsuit that matched the color of all of the metal beams and ceiling inside. Reason being, so I would ‘blend in’ and not be seen. I worked up there for big electronic shows as well as different expos for sports and such. When I would “watch” someone, it was really interesting which people were ‘in-tune’ to being watched. They would look around. ...