Jesus Is With Us

On November 12, 2024 By vickleaIn Scripture, YouVersion App1 Comment

There Was Jesus: When I Couldn’t See It

“Hindsight is 20/20!”

How many times have I said that to myself after something happens or after a lesson I’ve learned? Many times. When things feel chaotic, uncertain or scary, we often act on impulse in the hope of controlling a situation; we can lash out, run away or do any number of things in the midst of a crisis. That’s very normal but it can result in some sad things. We live in a skeptical world and it feels like lately, it’s harder and harder to feel Jesus’ presence. Jesus is with us at all times, even in the moments where we can’t blatantly see His work. Oftentimes, when we come out on the other side of a crisis, we look back and see that Jesus was with us the whole time, and that He used the situation for His good — that’s a ‘Hindsight is 20/20” moment. We need to start trusting and believing that Jesus is with us while experiencing something chaotic, uncertain or scary. We can remind ourselves that Jesus is with us by looking at His Word. Joshua 1:9 tells us to be “strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Another way to feel His presence is to give thanks. When everything is crashing around us, that is really, really hard. With every inhale and exhale we take, we have something to give thanks for ⁠— breath in our lungs ⁠— so cling to that when you can’t see Jesus working in a moment to be reminded He’s with you.

My Thoughts

I don’t know about you, but my tendency when the going gets rough is to hide away, cry, read and sometimes argue with God about the circumstances. I am learning to sit still, read my Bible, recall Scriptures that I have memorized and use those verses to remind myself that Jesus is right there with me. We aren’t Thomas the disciple who doubted until He actually saw Jesus. If we look, we can see Him working in our lives every day. It’s just that we get so busy that we don’t take time to look. And then when a crisis comes, we try to handle things ourselves first and then, in utter desperation, we turn to God. I am trying to train myself to turn to God first. Medical issues? Talk to God. Scary things I have to do? Talk to God. Lonely and missing my children? Talk to God.

My memory verse for this week is helping me to remember that Jesus gave us a Helper, one who reminds us of His teachings and His presence with us.

I was challenged by our Sunday school teacher to start memorizing a verse a week. I am on week 5, and so far, so good. My first reaction was that I am too old to put anything else into my brain. I mean, I go into the kitchen and have to look around to try to remember why I’m there. But, the Caleb, our teacher, encouraged us, and the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart and told me He would help me. And He has! I found that I can put my verses on a notecard and take them with me as we travel to our various appointments. I say them first thing in the morning and last thing before bed at night. And since I am a visual learner, writing the verses out several times helps, as well as having the verse with an image as portrayed here.

I say all of that about memory verses to let you know that these verses are helping me to remember to stay calm and focused on God. I don’t like change, of any kind, at all, ever! So, yesterday, when appointments had to be shuffled, my physical response was to have a soaring blood pressure. Then, I paused, did some nice deep breathing and focused on God. I told myself that God was with me and recited some of my verses. My heart stopped pounding and slowly my head stopped hurting, too. All good news for a stroke survivor! And a reason to be thankful, which I agree is a way to stay focused on God and His power in your life.

If you need help with staying focused on the Lord, I strongly recommend memorizing Scriptures. God’s Word is a constant source of strength, even when the world seems to be spinning the wrong way.

Encourage Each Other

On May 7, 2023 By vickleaIn Quotation and Citations, Scripture2 Comments

The Holy Bible exhorts us to encourage each other in multiple verses. Here are a couple of them.

We can encourage each other that Christ has preceded us in death and is waiting for us in Heaven. So, we should be encouraging each other to keep on working for Him and His kingdom, to continue to stand for what is right in the face of rampant evil and to defend our faith when others mock or scoff at our beliefs.

No one except God Himself knows when Jesus is returning. But we do have the promise that He is, so we need to meet with other believers and encourage each other that Jesus’s return is a fact, not a myth as some would have us believe. It will happen! We may or may not live to see His return, but His return will occur in God’s time and that truth should encourage each of us and lead us to encourage others.

We aren’t just on this earth to form a little clique of believers, encouraging each other and separating ourselves from the ungodly until Jesus comes. We are in the world to serve others, just as Jesus did. Being kind and encouraging others should be a way of life, especially for the Christian. You may be the only “Jesus” that that other person ever sees, so show someone you care by taking the time to be present with them and be the one that they can talk to, hold on to and depend on. Encourage the unbelievers, too.

Getting Everything Ready

On February 20, 2023 By vickleaIn Scripture3 Comments

Many of us Christians want to know when and how Jesus will return. He didn’t tell us the time or the date. In fact, He said that only the Father knows it. But He did tell us that he is getting everything ready for us.

Once everything is ready, whatever that may look like but I am sure that it will be glorious beyond our imagination, Jesus will return and bring us to be with Him.

Meanwhile, what are we to do. Jesus told us to “go and preach” and Paul repeated this admonition to his student Timothy.

We are to always be prepared to preach, to correct those in error and to encourage people with GOOD teaching. That good teaching comes directly from the Word of God. Thus, we have a job to do to get everyone ready here on earth while Jesus gets everything ready for us in Heaven. We are all playing a part in bringing God’s kingdom on earth to pass. No matter how small our role may be, God calls us to fulfill that purpose, to work until we are called home to be with Him for eternity.

May your day be blessed with fruitful encouragement and teaching of others!

One Another

On December 19, 2022 By vickleaIn Scripture11 Comments

The Bible is filled with Scriptures about how we should treat one another. The question is how do we treat each other at all if we don’t ever spend time with others, in fellowship with other believers to start with and then reaching out to the world? I have found myself wanted to insulate and isolate during my two weeks at home. I love going to church and seeing friends there, communicating with them and hearing what their lives are like. But the last two weeks, I have had to get my body moving forcibly to get up early and make the effort to attend. It’s a good thing that my husband doesn’t put up with slackers!

It’s hard to love one another if you never see one another, isn’t it? A phone call or a card just doesn’t make up for the personal touch that you and others need. That listening ear that you offer so freely also goes along with an expressive face and others need to see it to know that you truly care.

Just as loving is almost impossible without contact, so is serving one another. In fact, how do you know what the needs are if you don’t see them and hear about them from the person in need? Furthermore, you have needs too that can only be met by others in the Body of Christ who reach out to you with the love of the Lord.

Christ forgave each person in a personal and real way. Can we do any less? And how do others know that we have forgiven them if we never go around them? Forgiveness is a foundation of our faith; we offer it to others because it was first given as a free gift to us. I think we need to be in the community of believers to practice this skill called forgiveness. It is not something that is easy to do, but it is easier if you are among others who believe that it is necessary to move forward in your walk with the Lord.

Devotion and honor starts with giving yourself to God and spreads to giving of yourself to others.

Confession to one another holds us accountable and makes us want to be better and to do better the next time that same temptation comes around. We pray for each other and face temptation fully girded and ready, but also knowing that our fellow believers are fighting the good fight with us.

Finally, we must encourage each other. The world is a dark and lonely place, filled with sin and all kinds of horrible things. But we are not alone in the world and God never meant for us to be alone. In fact, when He created woman, he said that it was not good for man to be alone. It still is not good to be alone. We need each other for encouragement and for building each other up. Together, we build the house of the Lord which resides inside us.

I have heard many say that it is not good to go to churches because they are so hypocritical and filled with sin. Actually, what they are is a building in which we worship God and the building is filled with imperfect people who are there to encourage, forgive, confess, honor serve and love. One another! Because that is how God planned it. We are stronger together.

May the Lord bless you and keep you as you minister to one another, first in the Body of Christ, and then to the world to which He has called you to serve.

Words Matter

On June 10, 2020 By vickleaIn Uncategorized4 Comments

I was always told as a child to be careful what I said because it might come back to bite me. Then, when I was an adult and became a Christian, I was told to be careful what I say because the tongue is the most unruly member of the body and hard to tame. Today, once again, I read about words, in both of my devotionals. In one, the author condensed the Bible to 50 words, as follows:

God made, Adam bit, Noah arked, Abraham split. Joseph ruled, Jacob fooled. Bush talked, Moses balked. Pharaoh plagued, people walked, sea divided, tablets guided. Promise landed, Saul freaked, David peeked, prophets warned, Jesus born. God walked, love talked, anger crucified, hope died. Love rose, spirit flamed, Word spread, God remained.”

Excerpt From: Guideposts. “Daily Guideposts 2020.” HarperCollinsChristianPublishing, 2019-08-26. Apple Books

Then, I read my other devotional from and my Bible and these are the verses that spoke to my heart:

I noted that the purpose of my tongue is to help out those who are weary. God wakes me up so that I can listen to Him and then tell others what I have learned so that they may also be encouraged to serve Him.

It is through the wisdom that God gives us that we know how to speak to others. Some may need a strong rebuke, others a gentle word of love. Whatever they need will be on the tips of our tongues if we remember to start the day learning from God. We have to also remember to speak wisely, with God’s grace and not our own judgment.