Although he already had my full attention, I could hear in my spirit Yeshua call to me by name. My name, Christi, means “like Christ, the anointed one” in Greek. I’ve come to realize that when Yeshua says my name, he’s getting ready to tell me something transformative, to continue transforming me into his image, more like him.
That morning it was servanthood. He has called me his servant, and this is one more tool he wanted me to have. He showed me five servants and asked me what they had in common. Then he asked what each one was known for. The whole lesson took 30 minutes to write, but will serve me for a lifetime in my transformation into his image.
Submission. It’s not a very popular word in our society. Normally we think of someone giving up their will in deference to one with more power. More recently it seems it’s come to mean someone giving in against their will. Webster’s defines it as “humbly obedient, ceasing to offer resistance, to defer to another’s wishes.” Even those definitions don’t sound as bad as the word itself – “submission.” At least that’s how I felt. Then I began to learn a simple saying, but a difficult lesson: “The way we submit to our leaders on earth is the way we submit to God.” (Rabbi Kirt Schneider) Hmm, how am I at submission? (more…)
Have you ever felt God asking you to do something for which you know you’re not talented or maybe not qualified? No doubt Esther felt this way when Mordecai instructed her to speak to the king about saving her kinsman. Esther’s obvious gift was in her beauty, her speaking of political matters with the king was never a thought. In fact she hadn’t even had an audience with him in a month, and then only at his request. A person could be sentenced to death for approaching the king without his summons.
Esther’s asking the king to save the Jewish people must have seemed ludicrous. There must have been a mistake in translating Mordecai’s message or in Mordecai’s understanding of God’s will. (more…)