Renee Andrews's Blog - Posts Tagged "jesus"

“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.” 1 Corinthians 12:12-14 (NIV)

My family has a Labor Day tradition. The entire gang gathers at my parents’ home on the river for jet skiing, swimming, good food…and homemade ice cream. My mother makes the BEST homemade ice cream. This Labor Day we were waiting for the ice cream, but the ice cream maker just kept spinning. It went on for what seemed like forever, while we all waited, bowls and spoons in hand, to have our favorite treat. Then my dad remembered that the last time he’d cleaned and rinsed the ice cream container, he accidentally tossed the tiny part in the bottom out (and into the river, no less). That one little part ended up being important and without it, the ice cream took much longer to get firm.

Like that tiny part in the ice cream maker, each part of Christ’s body is important to the livelihood of Christ’s church. We may not feel like our tiny part matters, but in the entire scheme of things, we could be the reason the church doesn’t stand firm. He needs our part.

For me, I sometimes feel I don’t offer anything overly impressive to the growth of the Kingdom. I can speak, but I’m sure not great at it. I can sing, but it’s nothing to write home about. And it took me YEARS before I gathered the courage to pray aloud. But I do have a few things I can do and enjoy doing. I can write and share God’s message with my readers. I can be willing to attribute my good mood to my Good Lord whenever asked why I seem particularly happy. I can also let others know that God will see me through when I’m having hard times.

No, the things I bring to the table do not seem like a whole lot when you look at what Christ has given for me. But that tiny part of the ice cream maker was important to the final product, and my tiny part is important to Christ’s final product too.

Faith Step: Eat a bowl of ice cream today and think about all of the parts that were necessary for that delicious taste, and then thank God that you can be a tiny part in His Kingdom.


~Renee Andrews

Pre-order autographed copies of Mondays with Jesus 2015 for $9.99 (same price the book will sell in stores) with free U.S. shipping and free personalization at http://www.mondayswithjesus.com/

Mondays with Jesus 2015

“The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” James 5:16 (NLT)

The local football team has a former attorney for a coach. Not your typical criteria for a high school coach’s resume. He was also a collegiate player at the University of Alabama, so he has the athletic merits as well, but when I learned that he’d given up practicing law to coach high school football, I had to ask why. It turns out that this man wanted to touch the lives of teens, to be a Godly example and help them be successful, and he chose to do that with the best way he knew to relate to them, football.

I’ve seen a change in this team since they’ve gained Coach Ozmint. He is their supporter both on and off the field, but he is also their guide, steering them in the right direction and admonishing accordingly when they head down the wrong path, both on and off the field. Coach Ozmint also allowed and encouraged a group of parents and local citizens who also wanted to have a spiritual impact in the athletes’ lives to start a “Praying Moms” group. This group gathers each Thursday morning at 7:00 a.m. at the football field to pray over the team and the opposing team, to ask God to grant good sportsmanship and to keep the athletes safe. They put Bible verses on each athlete’s locker. They remind the boys on the team that the “game” most important in life is the one that involves living for their Lord.

Has the spiritual coach and the praying moms caused the team to automatically win every game on the field? No, though they have won every game this season. But we aren’t promised that we will always receive a “yes” to our requests. We are promised, however, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us (1 John 5:14).

Those athletes step on the field each night knowing that their coach has prayed for them, knowing that the community is praying for them and ready to face whatever obstacle is ahead, both on that field and off. How awesome is that power of prayer!

Faith Step: Form a “Praying Moms”, “Praying Dads” or “Praying Fans” group in your local community. Watch the bond form in athletes and community with the awesome power of prayer.

Author Renee Andrews

This devotion is from Mornings with Jesus 2014. Next year's devotional, Mondays with Jesus 2015, is available now online wherever books are sold (Amazon, BN, Kobo, iTunes, etc.), and autographed copies are available at www.MondayswithJesus.com ($3.99 ebook, $9.99 print)

Mondays with Jesus 2017: Devotions to Begin Each Week of the Year
Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Matthew 26:39

My husband likes old cars, particularly old Mustangs. He has a ’67 Mustang (that’s about all I know about it, but he could give you a ton of car lingo that would mean something to car enthusiasts). Recently, he bought a ’92 Mustang convertible that had seen better days. It didn’t run. In fact, we could hardly find anything on the car that worked. However, it was priced at $300, so my sweet Cajun decided it was worth the investment. He tinkered with it for months, rebuilding an engine to get it running again and replacing almost every part that formed the car.

Eventually, I needed to run errands, and that Mustang was my car of choice. I was impressed at how well it ran, given we’d had it towed to the house. But I quickly learned that the vehicle was still a work in progress.

After completing my errands, I started home. That’s when the skies turned dark, and rain poured down. Not an ordinary rain, but the kind that comes with a severe thunderstorm of tornadic proportions. Unfortunately, this was when I realized my husband had yet to put the wipers back on the car. The air, heat and defroster also hadn’t been fixed yet, and the windows started fogging with the changing temperature. Luckily, I was able to roll the windows down, but that only caused the rain to dump all over me as I squinted through the storm and attempted to find a shoulder on the side of the road where I could park the car until the storm passed.

The biggest problem? I had just started across a bridge with no shoulder when the rain began. I couldn’t see the lines on the road. I couldn’t tell when the bridge ended. My hazard lights didn’t work. I slowed the car to a near crawl as I tried to see, which only caused other cars to zoom past and send more water through the window.

Years ago, I would have yelled. Or cried. And I did cry, but my cries were to my Father. “Lord, don’t let it happen this way. This isn’t how I want to die.” An eighteen wheeler passed me, and I honestly could no longer see. The windshield was completely fogged over. And I continued praying. I put one arm out of the window and began waving it up and down, as if this might let the other cars know my dilemma. And maybe it did, because they all slowed and stayed behind me, allowing me to marginally see the path ahead well enough to tell when the bridge ended, and when I could safely ease over to the shoulder.

But even then, as I came to a standstill, I prayed. I thanked God for being there through the storm, and I thanked Him for answering my prayer. I did think there was a chance I’d be hit, that my car would be pushed over the side of that bridge or that an eighteen wheeler would crash into me at any moment. But my Lord granted my request. I didn’t want to die that way, and I didn’t.

And then I thought about Christ’s request, when He prayed to His Father at Gethsemane. He asked for the cup to be taken from Him. He asked God not to die that way. But unlike me, when I prayed through my journey across that bridge, Christ didn’t merely ask not to die that way. He also prayed that God’s will be done. And unlike me, He wasn’t facing a mere death that would lead me into a blissful eternity. The cup He asked God to take away was my sin. And all sin. The sin of the world. Placed upon Christ, the Perfect One, the only man who had never sinned.

The pain of what He bore that day is unimaginable. And He knew it would be. Unlike me, in my pitiful trek with the Mustang, Christ knew what would surely happen. He knew what would come and the agony He would face at the cross. But He still prayed…Thy will, not Mine.

And He still went to the cross.

This Week: Reflect on the cross, on the pain that came with the weight of our sin, and on the prayer where Christ asked for that cup to pass…but also asked that His Father’s will be done. End each of your prayers this week with, “Thy will be done.”

Renee Andrews

Mondays with Jesus 2017: Devotions to Begin Each Week of the Year“Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” Hebrews 7:25

Last week, Ariel, my daughter-in-law, had several items to put in her car as she was preparing to leave her house for the day. While Naomi, our nine-month-old granddaughter played just inside the door, Ariel took her purse, the diaper bag and some other items to the car. Then she returned to the house to get her little girl…and realized she’d accidentally locked the door.

She ran to the side door, which has a window, and peered in to see Naomi, crawling around, happy as she could be. Ariel tapped on the window, got her little girl’s attention, and Naomi smiled, clueless mommy couldn’t come in.

With no spare key and her phone still inside the house, Ariel began to panic. She thought about going to a neighbor’s home to use the phone, but she was fairly certain that her neighbors were all at work. Then she thought about attempting to break through the window to get to her little girl. But she wasn’t certain how that would fare either. What if Naomi crawled toward the glass, or if Ariel cut herself badly in the process?

Deciding her best option was to find a neighbor at home, she prayed for help, ran to her car, sat in the driver’s seat and glanced down to see the key that our son, Rene, had left in the cup holder. She began thanking God immediately as she grabbed the key and ran to the door to get to her baby girl.

When Ariel told me the story, I could feel her anxiety. She knew she had to get to Naomi, but she didn’t know how…until she found that key.

Aren’t we like Ariel, when we know what we want, what we need to get to more than anything else, and yet we need the key?

What do we want to get to most?

God.

What is the key to getting to God?

Christ.

He is our interceder, our path to the Father. He is our means to getting what we need most, what we want most, what will give us more joy than we can ever imagine.

To get to her daughter, Ariel needed the key.

To get to our Heavenly Father, we need Christ.

Thankfully, He is there, waiting to intercede, wanting us to gain access to what we need most. To give us even more joy than Ariel found when she opened that door and found her baby, safe on the other side.

This Week: Make a spare key for your home. Put it somewhere safe, but a place that you would remember if you’re ever locked out. Whenever you look at the key, remember the Key we have to access the door to our Father. Thank God for Christ’s ability to intercede.

Renee Andrews