April 3, 2010
Greetings My Friend,
Sunday is Easter, my heart is thinking of Jesus. The more I open my heart to Him, the more I find Him to be amazing. As a young person, I felt following Jesus was too much work. It was too hard to do. As I went through my divorce, I wanted to be loved, accepted and wanted. Jesus met me where I was at.
The first thing I learned was that I needed to trust in Jesus and then when I did the Holy Spirit would help me to walk with Jesus. The thing about walking with Jesus is that He “helps” you turn your life around and start to live the way God the Father wants us to. God knows we are sinful and fallen and understands that. For me that has been the most wonderful lesson.
The cross is for me where I began to “get it.” Until I looked deeply at the cross, I tended to trivialize the gift of salvation and redemption. In my prayer time and I try very hard to make prayer time each day. For me I pray as I go to sleep, wake up in the night and finish before getting out of bed. It works for me. Some people pray as they drive. We each have to find that right time. Anyway in my prayer time I follow a format, say different words each day, use the same format. I have found A.C.T.S.S. works for me.
Right off with A.C.T.S.S. is “Accolades,” I start off praising God. As I have learned to praise God, I tend to want to please Him and make Him the center of my heart. Part of the praises is thanking Jesus and the Holy Spirit. God has had me look at the cross and what our Lord went through. The more I go through Jesus’ final hours, the more I see the need for a Savior, that sin is ugly to God and that Jesus is truly my Redeemer.
The more I go through the cross, the more I realize there is a “hell.” Hell is a scary, scary place and I don’t want ANYONE to go there. There will be a point that we ALL have to choose and that part is more and more the mission I have in life. I am desperately trying to open eyes and hearts to Jesus.
Many people find Christians to be offensive. They also are offended that Jesus is the only way to heaven. The other day I “googled” the Bible, to find out if it is indeed the oldest religious book AND it is. I’ve also learned through the years that the Bible translation is about 98% accurate from the original texts. That is better than Shakespeare, Aristotle and many other writers. These facts tend to make me want to believe even more so. I believe for that high rate of accuracy then that God has been the one to see it through thousands of years AND still make it relevant to us today.
I walked a good portion of my life as I chose to. I always believed that God existed; even that Jesus lived on earth. The Holy Spirit, I’ve only recently begun to understand. Anyway, I did not “get” being born again, giving my heart to Jesus. As I have learned to pray, read my Bible etc., I have learned that it is important to make a confession of faith. I needed to say to myself and out loud that Jesus is my Savior. As I do that I find myself growing in my faith. My faith cannot be “a, to myself” act. It needs to be confessed publically. I also needed to face the fact….I am a sinner, no matter how good I tried to be…I am still a sinner.
One of the most freeing moments came when I started to confess my sins. As I confessed them…I found myself for the first time in my life a freedom. This freedom is astounding. I started to let go of a lifetime of pain, bitterness etc. As I asked God to forgive me, I pray a general list, “Lord forgive me and help me to walk away from, pride, arrogance, impatience, intolerance, greed, envy, bitterness, jealousy, un-forgiveness, anger, fear and anxiety. I will also lift up situations as they arise where I need help. Along with this I have started asking God to teach me to love those I find difficult to love. I even list the people by name…this helps me so very much.
Another wonderful gift with A.C.T.S.S. is being thankful. When I begin to see what I do have….Wow…life isn’t so awful. Do I have moments yes I do. Somehow when I go to God though, He helps me face life. I begin to see even my toothbrush is a gift from God. My gift of writing is a gift from God.
As we felt led to move to VA, I often wondered….”Why Lord.” God doesn’t always reveal the “why” right away and sometimes you many never know. As we have settled here in VA though, my spirit has calmed down. I am where I need to be and I know it. God knows what we need and what we need to do. So again I learn to trust.
Each day I also lift up people for God to be with. I pray for our children, grandchildren, siblings, their children, grandchildren, friends, our neighbors, my old co-workers and I have a list of sick people I pray for as well. I also pray as we travel, if I see an accident, then I pray for the people involved in it and the emergency workers as well.
At this point you may wonder….what is A.C.T.S.S. It is accolades, confession, thanksgiving, service and supplication. This prayer format has had such a healing affect in my life. I have let go of a lot of junk and I am moving forward in my life now. I have had a couple of times where I needed an assist, a talk with a Minister for a few sessions. I no longer need month in and month out, in counseling like I did at one point in my life.
The questions comes to me again…..Do you know Jesus? Is He your Savior? Is it time?
May God bless you and keep you, make His face to shine upon you.
Love
Janet