Time Has Not Come

By Janet Morris Grimes –

Jesus knew what would happen, once he left the solace of the wood shop behind. As the world found out about him, some would love him while others hated him. Some would use him, trying to twist his words and actions to manipulate others. While others, those who were hurting, would chase him from town to town, ready to sacrifice anything just for the chance to touch the hem of his garment.

He knew big, life-changing plans were in the works, but he kept it a secret, content to follow God’s plan on God’s timetable.

His first recorded miracle took place at a wedding during his 30th year. There as a guest with his family, his mother came to him to present a problem that could cause embarrassment to their hosts.

“They have run out of wine.” Mary explains, saying nothing further.

But Jesus understands. “Why do you involve me? My hour has not yet come?”

He knows a miracle is needed, even if it is a small one;  a surface-level miracle rather than an eternal one. He knows it’s just the kind of miracle we would try to perform, if we could do such a thing. We could fill a need and wow an audience at the same time.

After a few moments of thought, Jesus stepped out onto the public stage, aware that all of his preparations in advance were about to pay off. He would later rely that deep relationship with God that he had fed through the years.  He would call on those scriptures filed away in both his memory and his heart. Jesus spent 30 years figuring out who he was and what he was all about before ever revealing it to the world.

If you ever feel as if nothing is happening in your life, consider the fact that God may be using this time He has alone with you to get you ready for whatever is next. Maybe it is a public stage and perhaps it is not. Take advantage of the time without distractions. He appreciates the opportunity to reveal himself to you, in the most personal of ways.

It’s your heart He is after. And once He has that completely, He can’t wait to share it with the world. Because your story is His story, and when people get to know you, they might also get to know Him as well.

And that is what I call a miracle, only when the time is right. Truly worth the wait; God’s plan on God’s timeline.

On the third day, a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus mother was there and Jesus and his disciples had been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine” (John 2:1 -5).

“Why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”

His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Help My Unbelief

By Janet Morris Grimes-

I know myself well. So much so that it bothers me at times. I am well aware of my weaknesses. I spend more time with my flaws than I’d like to. And some days, I’d give anything to just snap my fingers and be rid of them forever.

Maybe you have felt this way.

But I have learned this much. My imperfections are magnified with each day I spend focusing on them. Anxieties, insecurities, guilt, regrets. The more power I hand over to these things, they more they take over my life.

I wonder what would happen if I got over my shortcomings and embraced the more abundant life God intended for me. I wonder if the reason I feel so alone is because God created me to be unique, and I will never be fulfilled until I am fully following His, and only His, plan for my life. I wonder what would happen if I took such massive leaps of faith that I have no choice but to let God carry me the rest of the way. I wonder if all along, He was just waiting for me to leap. I wonder if the only weapon Satan has left to use against me is myself.

Yes, I wonder.

What if I did the opposite of what comes naturally to me, each and every day? What if I got out of the way, recognizing that the less there is of me, the more of Him others can see? What if God is able to use these weaknesses to touch the lives of others? What if my weaknesses only serve as a spotlight to God’s strengths?

What if, by not believing in myself, I am actually saying to God that I don’t think He can do it? Can He really use me, in spite of myself?

There is a story in Mark Chapter 9 about a man who brought his demon-possessed son to see Jesus. He begs Jesus, in verse 22, “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

If he can? Jesus challenges in verse 23, “If…? Everything is possible for those who believe.”

The heartbroken father answers in a painfully honest way, a way in which most of us can relate.

“I do believe. Help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).

That is my prayer for each of us, that God will recognize our unbelief and strengthen us. We do believe. We want to. We hate the doubts, the regrets, the times we forgot to leap. Help our unbelief, and use us to touch a broken world.

Getting Rid of Spiritual Clutter

By Janet Morris Grimes –

Clutter is defined in several ways. Garbage. Unnecessary mess. Disorder. Confusion. It is the stuff no one knows what to do with, so it just piles up, expanding to fill whatever space it is allowed.

Entire television shows are based on how clutter steals the joy of a home. When left to its own accord, clutter takes over, to the point that it hides all that is beautiful; to the point that the mess is the only thing that can be seen.

During the last week of the life of Jesus, he was disturbed by the clutter he found in the temple. He hoped to find a quiet place of worship and prayer, but instead, he found a ‘den of robbers,’ shady characters who twisted the truth in an attempt to make a profit. He cleansed the temple, overturning the tables in a controlled fit of rage.

He had a right to be angry. Clutter cannot be ignored, and in order for the temple to serve its true purpose, which was to bring his followers closer to him and give them a place to worship once he was gone, he had to get rid of all that did not belong there.

The same is true for our spiritual lives. We hold on to bits of pieces of our past, the parts we aren’t sure what to do with, and we try to ignore them. But they accumulate and expand, soon overtaking our lives and keeping us from serving our true purpose. We end up carrying trash bags full of garbage with us wherever we go, wondering why we don’t feel free to worship and why we can’t sense the presence of God.

Here are a few ways to cleanse your own temple:
§     Forgive yourself and others – True forgiveness is the only act that frees you to move forward. Holding on to past hurts will damage you much more than the person who hurt you in the beginning. The only way your future can be better is by leaving your past in the past and getting it out of your temple. And as hard as it is to forgive others, it is much more difficult to forgive ourselves. Let go. Let go of the garbage, and make sure you are not your own worst enemy.
§     Free yourself from bad habits – Your body sometimes is a great reflection of how you feel spiritually as well. Treat your body with respect, and it will do the same for you. Strengthen you muscles and push yourself hard enough to grow.
§     Focus on Heaven – Most of what the world stays in an uproar about matters little in the end. Life is short and thankfully, it is not up to us to make sure the world is running properly. Paul said it best in I Corinthians 9:24, when he encourages us to “run in such a way as to obtain the prize.” The true prize is Heaven, and all that we experience between here and eternity are just preparing us for the reward of living with God, with Jesus by our side. Anything that doesn’t bring you closer to Heaven is simply not worth worrying about.

Our lives are meant for worship, and beauty, and growth, and anything that gets in  the way of this is clutter, and needs to be removed as quickly as possible. Only then can we find true peace.

I Corinthians 14:33 – For God is not a God of disorder but of peace…. (NIV)

Calling Out to God When No One Else is Listening

By Janet Morris Grimes –

There are few times in life when you may find yourself alone, all family and peer groups stripped away for a season. Life has a way of bringing us to this chasm that isolates us from the rest of the world. It may be a circumstance, such as the loss of a job or a negative diagnosis or test result you were hoping not to hear. It might be the death of a loved one, or a tough situation a child of yours may be suffering that leaves you certain that no one else in this would could possibly know how you feel at that precise moment.

But what I’ve found is that these are the moments we see and hear God most clearly. When He is all we’ve got left, with no one else to turn to, He reveals himself in the most beautiful of ways.

Think about it. The Bible is filled with such stories. Jonah-I’m quite certain there was no one else in the belly of that fish with him to point him in the right direction. Saul, who became Paul, but only after being blinded by the light. Blindness must have an immediate effect of making one feel alone. Joseph, who was beaten by his brothers, dropped in a pit, and then sold into slavery rather than being left to die. These stories demonstrate abandonment at its best. Or worst.

Jesus faced it as well, many times, but the difference was that He knew what was coming. In the Garden of Gethsemane, just before being turned over to the enemy to be led to his own crucifixion, Jesus asked his apostles to “watch and pray” but they were  too sleepy to even notice his anguish, even though He predicted his upcoming death numerous times.

Jesus shows us just how to handle those situations that knock us to our knees, leaving us in fields of abandonment. It was there, alone in the garden, that Jesus cried out to his Father like never before, referring to God as Abba, which means simply Daddy. And his simple prayer says it all.

“Abba Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me, yet not my will, but your will” (Mark 14:36) .

Jesus prayed for deliverance from his circumstances, and recognized that God had the power to change them. But He also accepted God’s will, knowing whatever He was about to face, He would never be alone.

The truth is that people let you down. Daily. And abandonment of any kind hurts us to the core. But it may be those moments when the world turns its back on us, that drive us toward God. He is always ready to meet us on the path, in the belly of the whale, or even in a pit, just as soon as we call His name. He is Abba, Daddy, the one who hears our cries no one else is listening.

“The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged” (Deuteronomy 31:6).