The Holy Spirit brought to my mind today the picture of Jesus holding a little lamb in His arms.
I kept that image in my mind all day.
So many times, in my life I have felt like that little lamb when the LORD has had to carry me through the difficult times in my life.
I remember well the suffering. I remember the pain and emptiness of the darkest hours.
I was often ashamed of being the broken and weak one, when others seemed so strong.
I questioned God at times asking if He was punishing me for something. I could not understand why He did not treat me more gently, and why I seemed to be given pain instead of peace when I needed it most.
As I thought on this, God began to speak to my heart:
“The little lamb is you Todd! You were wounded, hurting and suffering. I took you up into My arms and bound up your wounds.
I soothed you with My Healing Hands. I held you so close to me while you were crying out in pain.
You didn’t always know I was there, but I held you with such tender care.
I gave you strength and love through it all. And so many times, I just loved holding you tightly because I wanted you near me.
It is only my injured lambs that I strengthen like this. For the sleek and strong I will destroy.
The weak ones, I have laid down my life for. Do not ever be ashamed to be the weak one, for my strength is made perfect in your weakness.
I have held you right next to my heart as we walked through all the trials. So close you could hear my heartbeat and know my voice when you stilled yourself to listen.
So close that you would always know my voice, and I will always know you. Nothing can separate you from me now.
I have always been your good shepherd.
I sit at the center of the throne where I will be your shepherd throughout all eternity.
———– Lord I thank you tonight! ———–
“Thank you for allowing me to see that being the broken one, made me Your treasure. I am so thankful that I needed you Lord more than others needed you.
Your strength has truly been made perfect in my weakness, and you kept me through it all. You are the Holy Lamb of God! You are worthy of all praise my good shepherd, and I give you all the glory!”

There are a lot of people that will never consider darkening the door of Today’s churches.

Why because they have been hurt by So called Christians who look down their nose and judge them for their appearance or their actions.

We must not judge them. We cannot look at them with the “Christian” lens” They do not have a relationship with the savior.

We need to love them where they are at and welcome them with open arms.

We are called to be salt and light. what is salt used for? Salt is a flavor enhancer among other things.

As a flavor-er, Salt increases the flavor of whatever other flavors that are already there. That’s why some recipes call for salt even though the result is sweet. We are to be full of flavor enticing nonbelievers with the sweetness of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.

Light is unique because it doesn’t matter how little of it there is if you have a dark room and light a candle, it will no longer be in complete darkness. In effect, light cancels darkness Light also represents truth. We are called to go out into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. That is to carry the light that is Jesus into all the dark places.

We can best learn what to do from Jesus’s own example. He did not hang out with the holier than thou Pharisees. Instead he hung out with Tax collectors, and fishermen, and prostitutes. He often broke bread with them. That’s what we must do to represent Christ to the best of our ability.

Note that I am not saying that we are to partake in their sin. But When They are at Rock bottom, they will remember you and reach out to you for help.

let me tell you the story of my father in Law Bryan. He is a great guy, but he was not a Christian in any sense of the word. I remember he told me on one occasion, that he believed there was a God, but he did not know who he was. I did my best to not push my beliefs on him. About 5 years ago, my mother in law passed away suddenly. He had a really hard time dealing with it. He hid it well, but I will never forget the night that he called me and asked me, “Mike how are you dealing with this?” and I was able to tell him about my relationship with the creator of the universe, my lord and savior Jesus Christ. When I asked him if he wanted to accept Jesus as his savior, there was no argument. no justification, no back peddling, he just said yes, and I got the awesome privilege of introducing my father in law to his savior.

if I had preached at him and told him what a bad person he was, I never would have had that opportunity.

So, what does all this mean? Take a moment and consider who you are. Are you a Christian who is filled with the love and sweetness of Jesus and yearns to share the light with the world? Or are you a putrid rancid Religious Christian who looks down their nose at people. One will lead people into his kingdom and the other will send them running for the hills. You Decide. Please feel free to comment below even if you disagree with me.

From Anger to Freedom – Let it go.

In the next few writings, I am going to use the lyrics to songs that reflect our struggles and our solution to some unresolved issues in our lives. The first song is called “Let it Go” (not the one from the Disney movie “Frozen”!)

“Sometimes, Lord, I get angry at things that happen to me. I don’t think its fair, I feel others don’t care, and my mind is filled with self pity. But anger does not help me get close to You. In fact, it drives us apart. So, now I must ask you, Lord what must I do, with this anger that rests in my heart?”

“May I have it”, says Jesus, with love in His voice. “May I have it?” says Jesus, He gives us that choice. “Let me carry that burden that pulls on your soul. Let me take it so you can be whole.”

The song goes on to say “Lord, what will I do? I will call on Your name. You can have it, dear Jesus, for whatever its worth. Somehow I’ll let go of the past and its hurts. … Here it is. Hear it is. It is Yours!”, and the person in need surrenders that need to Jesus.

And that is where we are when our heart is unresolved, incomplete, hurting, and confused. We are in crisis, in survival mode, and when we are, we need to pour out our hearts to the Lord. Then the tough part, but liberating. When we express the hurt, we need to leave the hurt there at the Lord’s feet and let it all go.

Life is hard. God is good. And we are free to express our hearts and find the peace and freedom that only Jesus can give.

Let it go.

Blessings,

Pastor John

Copyright 2016, John Day

Memories
What purpose?
Some painful
Some pleasant
Even a few instructive
Some just a flash in the night
Still they shape you
Mold you into something
Sometimes not pleasant
Gray hairs the evidence
Of painful lessons long completed
So Easy to look behind
Regretful heart the remnants
Looking forward to heavenly bliss

Blocked

There are a lot of ways we can feel blocked from making progress in life. We want to move forward with any number of things – projects, career, relationships, finances, health. We want to grow in knowledge, understanding, and wisdom, and in many other areas. All of these are unresolved issues and needs.

These things can get to us, but they don’t have to. In my case, I did let them get to me. I was not able to finish projects that I had started. I would get so far, and then something stopped me from completing the task. There would be so many times when I would get right to the end of the project, and then realize that I left off a part or got the wrong one, or even that I missed a step. Maybe the next day, or next week I would be able to get the job done. So frustrating. It seemed that I had several irons in the fire. It seemed that all those irons were “up in the air” and they just kept landing on my head! I was letting that frustration, those barriers, get the best of me. I needed to learn to perservere and stay with a task.

But worse than the physical or practical barriers that come up are spiritual barriers – being separated from God, and not realizing His grace. This is one barrier that the cross has kicked all the way into eternity, when Jesus died for our sins. This hurdle has been overcome by the blood of Jesus, and the victory is ours to receive and enjoy, to walk in.

Because of the cross, we have access to the Father, and we can tell him where we are blocked and what we need. We can go straight to God because of the blood of Jesus, and that is what Jesus invites us to do.

Jesus said that “in this life you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.” Jesus can bring us through to a better place.

When we submit to His power and authority, we can trust the Lord to help us overcome.

If you do not know Jesus, now is the opportunity to ask Him to remove your sin, forgive you, and to block the devil instead of the devil blocking you from knowing Jesus. That is one block that’s got to go.

Let’s start walking in the freedom, power, and grace that Jesus’ offers. Let’s all rest a little deeper and walk a little calmer and stronger with Jesus by our side.

Has anyone ever tried to read the Bible more specifically the Gospels and seen what Jesus said and did and came away with this feeling, this guy speaks in riddles, he’s just plain odd or weird. I know I have, I mean lets consider his actions and sayings for a moment shall we? “if anyone wants to come after me, they must deny themselves, take up their own cross and follow me.” Ok, so your saying, we have to die in order to follow you? Many have taken this to believe die to our own wants and desires in order to seek after his. Still, he’s asking something that on its face is just a bit strange if you consider it.

“I did not come to bring peace but a sword.” Really? That’s not a good calling card, not the best way to build a following, saying that families will be divided

Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.” OK, this is something we can get ahold of, that one makes sense. Want to see God? Be pure in heart. I’m not saying it’s easy, but its something that we can start with.

“in the kingdom the last will be first, and the first will be last.” What? OK, does Jesus make a rabbit of making contradictory statements?

However, his statements were not the only thing that were weird, his actions were as well. Consider in the upper room, and he gets up from the table, and goes to wash his disciple’s feet. Peter who was one of his friends, speaks up, “Lord  are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus being his rather odd self-answers “if I do not wash you you have no part of me.”

Peter realizing that what Jesus is doing is something that a lowly servant would be tasked with. He doesn’t want that, not by the one he believes to be the Son of God, so he speaks up, “Lord, not just my feet, but my hands and head also.” In other words, hey, don’t do a servant’s job, if your going to do that, give me a bath.

Now Jesus did eventually explain his actions by saying “just as I have done for you so you should do for each other.” However this was such an odd thing for him to do, but it was not as odd as how Jesus ended his time on Earth.

If you look at Jesus and how he died, and why he died, this I believe is the most odd, the most weird, because Jesus died as the bible says died for us, while we were yet sinners. And further that we love him, because he first loved us. Lets face it, He didn’t die for us because we were chasing after God, or even interested in him, he didn’t die for us because we had things figured out, and just needed an extra push to get in to Heaven, he died for us, when we were hateful, sinful, in some cases angry at God he died for us when we were as far away, as anyone could be, and yet he chose to die for us.

And this death, this choice was accepted by God the Father, by Jesus’s resurrection from the dead on the third day.

Does this all sound weird to you? I get it. Jesus when first looked at can be a bit odd, but I challenge you to get to know him. He is a bit different, but he did something for you that no one else could do, he loved you so much that he made a way for you to get in to Heaven, and gave you a way to overcome the curse and power of Sin.

The bible says in romans 8:1 “if we confess with our mouth and believe in our heart that Jesus is Lord, and that God raised him from the dead we will be saved.” This is the gospel in a nut shell, the fact that we are Sinners, in need of a savior, we could not please God on our own, and so Jesus ied for our sin, paying a price we deserved to pay.

If you have read this far, and know this to be true, that you are a Sinner, and you want to come to get to know Jesus as savior, you can do so at any time, by praying something like this.

God, I am a sinner, I have done a lot of things wrong in my life, and I can not do things on my own to get right with you. I need a savior, and I believe Jesus died on the cross for my Sin, paying my price and was raised from the dead, and that he will return one day. I accept his sacrifice on the cross for my sin, and ask him in to my heart. Thank you Lord for what you did on the cross, I love you, and want to follow you.”

If you have prayed that prayer then the bible says that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old things have passed away, and everything is made new. The bible also says that God no longer sees your Sin, but you now are right with him, because of Jesus paying your price.

I hope this has ben helpful to you, and if so, please leave a comment below

God bless, Teresa Blaes

I don’t like change. I like things to be stable and secure, especially as I get older. Sometimes the changes come way too fast, or at a time you least expect it. This is the dilemma that I have had the past couple of months going back and forth between two towns about 12 miles apart. We were looking for a home while staying with my mother-in-law for a year and a half, after moving from still another location. Needless to say, this caused great confusion, especially when it came to the roads, with different exits, shortcuts, and turn lanes. You get the picture – and I couldn’t get that picture in my head. I couldn’t see it, and I couldn’t remember it. This was definitely an unresolved issue.

Change over time is okay, since there is more time to adjust to it. Sudden change is scary, whether on the road we drive on, or the road of life. Change is inevitable, exciting, scary, and unstable – all at the same time. Maybe you can relate.

Sometimes we have changes in life, and we have to process them. We have to make decisions on what we need to do next, or how we will respond to all these changes. When we have things change, we need help. We either need to continue on the path we are on, change lanes and go a completely different direction or plan, or maybe we just need to make a slight adjustment. We need to find a source to help us.

We can look to ourselves, others, or God and His word to find our help in time of need. Christian, you have a source inside of you to help you. That is obviously Jesus. He is an eternal source, with full power and authority. We also have the scriptures as an excellent source of knowledge and wisdom. Others can help us deal with the lane changes of life, but Jesus is the biggest help. He is a strong place of safety to run to, our rock, and our fortress. Our strong deliverer. You and I need to release the pain and the control over completely to Jesus.

If you do not know Jesus, you have the disadvantage; you’re still on your own – but you don’t have to stay that way. All it takes is your willingness to admit your need, and to turn your life and your issues over to Jesus completely. If you haven’t already, start today by giving your life to Him. If you need help on this, contact me or your local pastor.

Here with you on the journey.

From This Writer’s Heart

In this writing, I want to start to introduce you to why I need the unresolved podcast and blog, and why I am doing these weekly writings. I want you to know where I am coming from, and the direction I feel I need to make as I move forward in this adventure.

I am going to get real with you about some of my struggles. I am willing to be vulnerable and let you peek into my heart, not to say “look at me”, but “maybe you can relate.” I want to minister to you and point the way through these types of struggels. Right now, my issues lie with mental focus, caused by stress in my mind, in my heart, and some struggles in body as well. These struggles seem amplified when I think about when they come all at once. The issues are unresolved, and need to be worked through. It is a process.

My goal for 2018 in these writings is twofold. I want to admit, name, and work through blockages from the past and present that are holding me back from knowing and sharing God’s love. The other goal is to help others move beyond their struggles and move into victory, assurance, and peace.

If you are a Christian, I hope these writings minister to you and help you grow closer to Jesus and to all He wants to do in your life. Whatever is holding us back needs to be brought out into the open. Jesus is not a crutch. He is a strong, capable, caring friend. He will help you deal with it all.

If are not a Christian, I pray that you would be challenged to consider a life of commitment to know and grow in Jesus, and consider His claims on your life. I want us all of us to know more of God’s love.

Let’s take this journey together and ultimately gain the victory, joy, and peace on the other side of the struggle. I am here for you if I can help. I know many would say the same thing.

                                                                                                                    Pastor John

Take your time, just what’s the hurry?

Why do we always seem to just jump, fret, and worry.

The muscles are keyed up, adrenaline flowing.

We’ll get there quick, but just where are we going?

We rush through relationships, and ignore one another,

not knowing there’s a Friend that sticks closer than a brother.

He wants to come close, but sometimes we don’t let Him.

“We have our own plans, Lord”, and we just don’t get Him.

In sickness and sorrow, in joy and in grief,

He opens His arms and says “Come unto me.”