Real talk – what I’ve been learning.

For 2 hours yesterday I attempted to sum up what God had been teaching me and put a pretty little bow on it so it would be nice to read and applicable for others. Today I just decided to be real. What you are about to read are the many things God has been teaching me over the last month. Warning: If stories with no conclusion bother you, you should probably stop reading now 😉 This will be messy and contain incomplete thoughts and sentences. I have not worked through all of these things theologically. This is just the dumping ground for what has been going on in my head and my heart in the last month.  If that’s okay with you, read on. Sidenote – I do not claim any of these thoughts/revelations as my own. They have come from a variety of sources – Jesus Calling, daily email devotionals, books, blogs, and of course, the Bible.

1. Jesus was a man. He was also God. BUT he chose to live within the same limitations as a human. Which means he was basically the same as me and you, minus all of the sin.

Pastor Bill Johnson makes this observation in When Heaven Invades Earth: “He could not heal the sick. Neither could He deliver the tormented from demons or raise the dead. To believe otherwise is to ignore what he said about Himself, and more importantly, to miss the purpose of His self-imposed restriction to live as a man.”

Talk about MIND BLOWN.

Never in the past 2.5 years, or the past 13 years have I ever realized this.

And the Bible backs it up.

Jesus said – “The Son can do nothing by himself; he can only do what he sees the Father doing” (John 5:19)

Here is an excerpt from TGIF: Jesus Could Not Heal the Sick – Os Hillman sums it up much better than I can.

He chose to live with the same limitations that man would face once He was redeemed. He made that point over and over again. Jesus became the model for all who would embrace the invitation to invade the impossible in His name. He performed miracles, wonders, and signs, as a man in right relationship to God – not as God. If He performed miracles because He was God, then they would be unattainable for us. But if he did them as a man, I am responsible to pursue His lifestyle. Recapturing this simple truth changes everything – and makes possible a full restoration of the ministry of Jesus in His Church.

What were the distinctions of His humanity?

1. He had no sin to separate Him from the Father.
2. He was completely dependent on the power of the Holy Spirit working through Him.

What are the distinctions of our humanity?

We are sinners cleansed by the blood of Jesus. Through his sacrifice he has successfully dealt with the power and effect of sin for all who believe. Now nothing separates us from the Father. There remains only one unsettled issue – how dependent on the Holy Spirit are we willing to live?

Yeah, so I think I need to revisit that last question and learn to depend on Him a little more, because last time I checked my life is not very reflective of this next verse.

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. – Jesus’ words in John 14:12

2. God wants me to learn something, or maybe a lot of things, about Moses. Or about him, through Moses. 

Since Jan 1, 2015, Moses has been mentioned 7 times, in my email devotion. In a period of about 4 days, the preacher at a church here preached on Moses, I came home to find my roommate listening to her home church about MOSES, and I discovered my best friend’s church at home is doing a series titled – Moses: God Still Parts Red Seas 

So far I’ve learned:

– Moses had an epic failure and gave God a million excuses, but God still used Him anyways!

– Hebrews 11:23-29 describes Moses’ faith in action words. BY FAITH (Pela Fe) Moses refused, chose, considered, left, kept, sprinkled and crossed. Click here to read the passage in English or Portuguese to see what I mean.

– You can also see in Hebrews 11:23-29 that Moses’ life contained at least 3 generations of FAITH. It started with Moses’s parents (v. 23), continued with his personal faith (v. 24-28), and was carried on by the people he was leading (v. 29).

– God doesn’t expect me to give what I don’t have, He just wants me to use what He’s already given me. (Exodus 4:2, Matthew 14:17-18)

– God is faithful and He will make a way. In Exodus 4, he did exactly what he promised Moses would happen. Read the story of how God delivered the people of Israel from the King of Egypt. (English – Portuguese)

– God is in charge of hardening and softening people’s hearts towards Himself and His people, NOT me, or you, or anyone else. (Exodus 4:21).

3. Sometimes there are lessons that God wants me to learn. This means I don’t always have to share. And I don’t always have to teach someone else.

4. Sometimes life will be hard, but I don’t have to be afraid. I can walk in freedom because I know that I won’t have to walk through anything Jesus didn’t already go through. I can have hope because I know one day I know that I will be with my heavenly Father FOREVER. 

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.- Romans 8:15-17

5. IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT ME.

I think this is a lesson I will be learning until the day that I die. 22 years and I still haven’t gotten it yet.

6. God Knows. 

Just like God knew what was going on with the Israelites, his chosen people, He knows what’s going on in my life today.

During those days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his convenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel – and God knew. – Exodus 2:23-25

7. JESUS IS SO GOOD. 

Imagine me saying that in my “I just discovered this for the first time” voice, because I feel like I rediscover it most days. No matter what I face each day, I know that Jesus is still good and He is making all things work together for my good, even when it makes no sense to me.

Thanks for listening. I hope if nothing else, you feel a little more aware of what God has been teaching me. Love y’all ❤ Beijinhos.

***PS. All of the blue links go to the Portuguese Bible, but if you want to read them in English you can still go to the website and select which version you want to read it in (: