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| << May10, 2007 - The Woman Left Behind! |
July07, 2007 - Mary and Martha - Someone Gets Mad >> |
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Anna, A Faithful Woman Who Saw Jesus Did you know Anna means grace? She is one of my favorite women in the Bible, a faithful woman; one I can learn a few things from, especially in her faithfulness. As a prophetess, she held a rare role in history, as a woman who is actually identified by name, she served God and she saw actually saw the baby Jesus. She spent her days praying at the Temple, and she was doing what she did everyday, on the very day when Joseph and Mary presented their baby boy Jesus to the Lord. In Jerusalem Simeon, who was a righteous was about to see Jesus too. The Holy Spirit was upon him, and he would not die before he saw Christ. Simeon identified Jesus as the promised Messiah, the Savior for humanity. Scripture tells me that when the time came for purification according the Law of Moses, his parents brought Jesus to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. Joseph and Mary brought Jesus to the Temple, and Simeon took him up into his arms, blessed God, and said, "Lord, my eyes have seen thy salvation..." Can you imagine the look in the eyes of Joseph and Mary? Here is their son in the Temple, the hope for all of us. We get to the good part, the part about Anna and her role in the picture that is unfolding in the Temple. She was of great age, or in words I understand, she was a senior citizen. No spring chicken. She had been married a mere seven years, before becoming a widow. Here she is at the age of eighty-four years old, and she has spent almost all of her time at the Temple, year after year -- worshiping, fasting and praying; night and day, she did this in humble service to God. What faithfulness. She prayed. She fasted. She worshiped God and eventually she saw the Savior, her Savior – my Savior and she marveled at him. After that, Jesus and his parents returned to Nazareth, and he grew and became strong, and was filled with wisdom and favor from God. How many times are your actions marked with the attitude of serving or the desire to serve? If you are serving the Lord, are you motivated by the desire to get honor or receive praise? Is your motive pure? The Bible calls on us to be servants, to empty ourselves in order to be a child of God. In Matthew 18: 3-4 it says, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." To humble yourself, you put the good of others before yourself. To lose your life in service for God, that is the opposite of wanting to promote yourself. The attitude of a servant like that we see in Anna is one of service, without consideration of repayment and you put others first. She lived out the words in Romans 12:10 which says to be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, and she lived in accordance by submitting to God. We are to let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, and Anna had this compassion and desire to live her life in service for God. She lived a long time, and spent almost every waking minute in the Temple. How many of us are would be this devoted? Do you serve in some capacity in your own church? Do you see yourself doing this for years on end, with a humble attitude one focused on God? There is a conversation between a slave woman and Abraham Lincoln, it went like this: "I am going to set you free," said Lincoln. "Free?" she asked, "Free for what?" "Just free. Completely free." "Free to do whatever I want?" "Yes," Lincoln said, "Free to do whatever you want." "Free to go wherever I want?" asked the woman. "Yes, free to go wherever you want." "Well," said the woman with a smile, "I’m going with you." Isn’t that the way it should be, we should be free to serve Christ in love? Jesus frees us from the things that get in the way of our service, because he becomes the center of our life. I want to be free, free like Anna who served the Lord for years. I want to come to the end of my life and see Jesus face to face, and hear well done thy faithful servant. I want others to age with Jesus in the hearts, and spend time in the Temple fasting, worshiping and praising him. Maybe he is calling you now, to serve him and he is saying, "Come follow me." Do not turn him down, run to Christ and grow in the knowledge of serving him and you will see Jesus, like Anna. ---------------------------- Blessing from you East Texas friend, Pam Kumpe www.pamkumpe.blogspot.com www.shoutlife.com/pamkumpe |
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| << May10, 2007 - The Woman Left Behind! |
July07, 2007 - Mary and Martha - Someone Gets Mad >> |
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