notes from lisa...

There is so much going on in our world, today. It's easy to get distracted and caught up in the business of "living" and all of its entrapments. Humans in the 21st century are constantly bombarded by things that seduce our five (natural) senses. There are enticements everywhere. This leads to people who are driven to gain more, people who want out, and people who simply fall between the cracks. Most people, fall into two or even all three categories at some point in their lives. In any of these conditions, we can become disillusioned. Many, who we tend to think of as "having it made" are unhappy, and without peace. Many of us--even in the Church, struggle to find constancy in the peace of God--and find ourselves unsettled, and unable to pinpoint why. It is hard to address a problem when you can't find the reason. Sometimes, we examine our lives, and we have done all of the things we set out to do, acquired the things that we wanted, and still have the fe...

Lately, I've noticed a trend. I have seen many of us referring to Jesus as "Yahweh", G-d, El, or His Jehovistic names from the Old Testament, which speak to certain qualities or attributes. I think as students of His Word--and we ALL should be, we need to know these names and titles. They are important, and we should not reject them. However, we should not replace the Name of JESUS with them, either. The Old Testament Names and Titles given to Israel, were given because the Messiah had not yet come. They didn't have the privilege of knowing His Name, as we do . They didn't have the option of calling on Jesus!!! in the midst of trials or danger. They didn't have His Name for salvation, and so they offered sacrifices and focused on outward circumcision, rather than circumcision of the heart. When the prophet Isaiah foretold the coming of Jesus, ("For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: an...

Sometimes, I wonder why we serve God. I mean, is it for spiritual things or natural, temporal ones??? Are we guilty of following God for the tangible blessings, or is it really because our soul longs for more of Him? I just have to ask, because too often, I hear the scriptures that relate to the blessings of God's children in an earthly sense, rather than a spiritual one. The verses that promise great spiritual blessings are reduced to simple get rich quick schemes when we are done with them (and so are many of our church offerings--they sound more like auctions, than a time to give in God's House). God is not focused on giving us every thing that our hearts desire --that promise was never made, without a disclaimer. God is concerned with providing all of our natural needs --food, water and clothing. We don't have to worry about our daily bread, He provides it. Clearly, if God wanted every child of His to have every earthly thing that they desired, then every child of...

“But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!" (Luke 11:37-54) I can imagine the moment when Jesus uttered these shocking words. Silence, then gasps as those who heard them tried to regain their composure. I promise,  no one was laughing; a few probably were distancing themselves from the Master waiting for the stones to be hurled, since whatever the Pharisees declared was sin, was indeed sin. The Mosaic Law had become so corrupted by the Pharisees that, by this time it favored no one, except the Pharisees (and the scribes, they had to be taken care of, because they were writing everything down, can't have them at odds!). It had become a hard taskmaster for God's people--I guess they really did feel like they might as well go back to Egypt! The Pharisees turned hand washing before eating into a legal matter. It became a religious ritual,...

Often, we talk about the "dead weight" in our lives--the excess baggage, those things that "hinder" our destiny. Sometimes, we determine that the dead weight are the difficult people in our lives. The ones who rub us the wrong way, or question us, keep us praying, and test our patience and attitude--because they always have one (an attitude, that is), or a multitude of other issues. They just seem to drain us, and drag us down, as though we had a ball and chain around our neck. We are ready to conclude that these people are the "weights that easily beset us" along with our failures and sins, when in all actuality, those weights are within us . If we don't see them, the best place to start looking is the heart. I was thinking, what if Jesus thought like we did--what would have become of our destiny??? Jesus had some "dead weight" too, a disciple named Judas Iscariot. Jesus kept Judas close, eating with him, walking with him, probably la...