Ponder and Treasure

Today is Christmas eve. I am thinking about what that means for me today. 

I will see a client first thing this morning. Yes, I am working on Christmas Eve, but, for my client, it is what meets his needs. 

I get to go shopping! I love the stores on Christmas Eve. I will find the grumpiest person I can in each place I am in, and my goal? To make them smile. It is my Christmas Eve  tradition. 

I will worship tonight with the Body of Christ at a Christmas Eve service. 
My children and grandchildren will gather tonight at my home to spend the night and fellowship for the night and all day tomorrow. 
 As I think on these things, I really ponder what Christmas means to me. I treasure my Lord and my family. 

And I think of Mary. I think of her heart. The heart that chose to love a baby, born of supernatural circumstances. A baby born to save the world.

How can I possibly be loved so much that God sent His Son from heaven to earth?


Everyone has a Father who loves them enough to save them from a hopeless life.


Always with me, never forsaking me, Jesus is protecting and guiding me.


Real love means forgiveness and grace.


Today I must choose to believe and live in Jesus, and choose to share the greatest gift ever, salvation!

Luke 2;19

¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.

I will treasure the greatest gift ever given, forgiveness. 

I will treasure grace that is bestowed on me lavishly by God daily. 

I will treasure the relationships within the Body of Christ I have been blessed with.

I will treasure my family (yes, those are all of our stockings) and make sure I point them to the greatest, Jesus! 

These are the things I will ponder and treasure in my heart today. 

Chasing After Their Hearts,

Glenda Johnson

Daily Devo- Luke 20: 27-40 "Who Will I Be Married To In Heaven?"

Luke 20:27-40

27 There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, 28 and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. 30 And the second 31 and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. 32 Afterward the woman also died. 33 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife.”

34 And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, 35 but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, 36 for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. 37 But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. 38 Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him.” 39 Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” 40 For they no longer dared to ask him any question. (ESV)

Lord it is good to be reminded today that You are the God of the living. Death has been done away with by the resurrection!

It is also good and comforting to see that the things of this life, the things that consume so much of our time, will pass away when we step into eternity with You.

Marriage is ordained by You. It began in the Garden with the very first man and woman. Marriage is holy. Marriage is a blessing from You. What I see today is that while marriage is awesome and wonderful, there is even something that is better. Something that is so all consuming that we do not take marriage into eternity.
That something is You. I will be all consumed with the praise and worship that is given You.
While I wait for that day to come, I am thankful for my husband.

I am thankful as well that I am the bride of Christ and someday I will spend eternity with a different groom with no worries that are tied to this life on earth!
Thank you for being the God of the living!

Today:
I will know that death has been conquered and I will be resurrected to live with God for all eternity.
I will be thankful for the husband God has blessed me with that I get to spend my earthly life with.
I will remember that I am the bride of Christ and my groom is coming soon.

 

 

Chasing After Their Hearts,

Glenda Johnson

Daily Devo- Luke 20: 9-18 "Remember Who the Owner Is"

Luke 20:9-18

9 And he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. 10 When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. 12 And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out. 13 Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ 14 But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’ 15 And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!” 17 But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written:

“‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone’?

18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” (ESV)

I see Jesus warning the people of that day about what they had done and what what they were about to do. Like the servants of the parable, the people had rejected the prophets of God over and over again. The prophets were killed, treated badly and their words from God not heeded.
 

Jesus knew His death was coming at the hands of the very same ones who had rejected the servants before Him. He let all know who were listening, killing the Son would not give you power. As the cornerstone, it would crush those who rejected Him.

I stand amazed, that Jesus could so calmly stand there and tell a story about His own impending death. Knowing that there were some standing right there in the crowd who would be the very ones shouting to crucify him shortly.

What kind of person does it take to be like that? What kind of God does it take to send His Son to be abused and killed by the very ones He created?

A loving, caring, all knowing God. One who knew how powerful sin was, how sin had so destroyed His creation, that He is willing to do whatever it takes to redeem the fruit of His vineyard.

However, there is a strong warning here.
Some today are under the mind set that if they reject Jesus, they can be the King of their own world. They become the owner of the vineyard. The Owner of ALL is coming back, and He has already sent His Son, and like the verse says, destruction will come to those who rejected the Son.
It is HIS vineyard. His world. He is the owner. If we choose to reject the Son, it will crush us, and there is nothing that can help us then.

Lord, I do not want to reject Your Son. I want to be found to be a good tenant of all You have entrusted me with in Your vineyard. May You find me a faithful servant when You return.

Today:
I will remember that I am just the tenant of all I have. God is the owner of my possessions, my family and my very life.
I will live with the thought that God is sending Jesus back, and it could be today, and I will be required to give an account of what I have done with what God has given me.

Chasing After Their Hearts,

Glenda Johnson

Daily Devo- Luke 20:1-8 "You Can't Lie To God"

Luke 20:1-8

 20:1 One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up 2 and said to him, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.” 3 He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell me, 4 was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?” 5 And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ 6 But if we say, ‘From man,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” 7 So they answered that they did not know where it came from. 8 And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.” (ESV)

Lord, I believe who you are. I trust what You say. I look at these chief priests, scribes and elders, and I think, they are ridiculous because they are trying to trap Jesus. Jesus knows their hearts and their motives. He knows what they are up to. He also knows just what to do. They cannot answer the simple question He asked them. To do so would either get them in trouble with God, or the people. They really did not want to please God, but themselves, and they did not want the people riled up against them. So they lied. They lied to the the Son of God. To God himself. To the King of Kings. As I read this, I think, 'That's crazy!".

But Lord, are there times I think I can lie to You and get away with it? By doing things with a wrong motive, thinking You can only see the act , not my heart? By thinking evil of someone and sharing that thought with others, all in the name of God, with a selfish motive? Lord you know every thought of my heart. You alone know me from the inside out. There is no telling You a lie and getting away with it.

In this passage today, there are only two sets of people to emulate.
Either I am like the men who had an ulterior motive of greed and power when they approached Jesus, or I am becoming like Jesus, and I submit myself to Him fully and honestly.

One group will lead to death, the other, right to the heart of God, and to life.

Today:

I will remember that each decision I make, my Lord knows my reason for doing it.

I will choose to acknowledge that Jesus alone holds the answers of life and He alone is to be submitted to for life.

I will not try to please man with the words I speak today, but God alone, in humility, praise and love.

I will point people to the giver of life, with the motive being that they are reconciled to God.

I will Chase After the Heart of God!

Chasing After Their Hearts,

Glenda Johnson