My Journey 8/7 - 8/9/2010

God's insight to me:

As I was reading devotionals I found these three by Max Lucado that brought back some memories of an older poem and also prompted a new one for today. His first devotional speaks of the Coming of Jesus. I like how he mentioned the whole realm of people from all perspectives. All, now that is the key word,all will come before the Lord. Can you just imagine every heart that ever beat will be there? Hard for the human mind to vision, but not God. How could the creator of everything not have "all" in one place. This is a poem that the Lord blessed me with earlier this year.

Are You Ready

I heard a knock on my heart,
it was Jesus calling me.
He said, “Child of Mine, are you ready to come home
or do you want Me to let you be?

Do you still want to stay
in this world filled with sin?
Are you ready to come home My child,
Heaven is ready for you to enter in!”

I said, “Lord my bags are all packed
and with You I want to be,
but there is still so much to do here,
and so many longing to be free.

I have many friends and family,
that don’t know You like I do.
I want them to be in Heaven with me,
before their life on earth is through.

So whatever time You give me,
it will always be devoted to You.
Sharing Your love with others,
so they can be in Heaven too!

E. P. Shagott
2/11/10

Max Lucado's next devotional speaks about the heart of Christianity. Faith. 2Corinthians 5:7 for we walk by faith, not by sight; Luke 17:6 And the Lord said, If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you might say to this sycamine tree, Be rooted up and be planted in the sea! And it would obey you. Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to every one who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. But set your mind to be right-minded, even as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith. All of these are great scriptures to be embedded in your heart. Though your eyes do not see a way out of your problems, have faith for God does. So you think your problem is too big? Have faith, the size of a mustard seed, that faith is bigger than your problem. Each one of us has faith, the same measure was dealt to us, use it. Praise God for it.

Now this last devotional by Max Lucado prompted this poem. All this month the God's Love Outreach Ministry is presenting Seeds of Grace from the Seeds for Christ series. One of the songs that is presented is "Sinner Saved By Grace". Once Jesus becomes your Lord and Savior we are no longer sinners but saints. We are forever cleansed of our sins. We are joint heirs in Christ. Praise God!

When You Look At Me

When you look at my face,
what do you see?
Because I love Jesus,
it is Him really not me.

When I reach out to touch someone,
it is His hands that does.
They are reaching out to His lost
to be claimed for the Father above.

When my feet are carrying me,
to places to give Him praise,
these are really the feet of Christ,
that carried me all my days.

When my mouth opens with song,
praising His Holy Name,
it is His Holy Spirit flowing from me,
touching lives that will never be the same.

So when you look at me,
take a good look at what you see,
my old being is gone,
it’s now Jesus, not me!

8/9/2010
E. P. Shagott

From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott
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8/7

Jesus is Coming
By Max Lucado

“Jesus is coming with the clouds, and everyone will see him.” Revelation 1:7

Every person who has ever lived will be present at the final gathering. Every heart that has ever beat. Every mouth that has ever spoken. On that day you will be surrounded by sea of people. Rich, poor. Famous, unknown. Kings, bums. Brilliant, demented. All will be present. And all will be looking in one direction. All will be looking at Him—the Son of Man. Wrapped in splendor. Shot through with radiance.
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8/8

Through Faith
By Max Lucado

“A person is made right with God through faith.” Romans 3:28

Dare you stand before God and ask him to save you because of your suffering or your sacrifice or your tears or your study? . . .

Nor did Paul. It took him decades to discover what he wrote in only one sentence.

“A person is made right with God through faith.” Not through good works, suffering, or study. All those may be the result of salvation but they are not the cause of it.

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8/9

Washed Away
By Max Lucado

“The blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses us from every sin.” I John 1:7

The cleansing is not a promise for the future but a reality in the present. Let a speck of dust fall on the soul of a saint, and it is washed away. Let a spot of filth land on the heart of God’s child, and it is wiped away . . .

Our Savior kneels down and gazes upon the darkest acts of our lives. But rather than recoil in horror, he reaches out in kindness and says, “I can clean that if you want.”