Luke 7:37-47

"When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them....."Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven-for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little, loves little."


These are very moving scriptures. I love how "Dr. Luke", being the physician that he was, pointed out "a woman who had lived a sinful life.." Doesn't that bring great joy to your heart right there? The Holy Spirit prompted Luke to write this to give the reader the CLEAR message of the "type" of woman that was approaching our Jesus. She was not a clean cut chick...nope, she was a sinful woman that had lived a sinful life.

I love how scripture points out she stood behind Jesus..wow. This shows her reverence for the Master..and this should show where we want to be..with Jesus in front, and us following closely behind...letting Him lead us. And then the weeping. Oh my goodness. Sisters, this is where I wanna stop and finish up writing. Weeping. Weeping is what I call the window-wipers of the heart. And the closer we get to our Lord, the more weeping should pour forth from our spirit to His.

I cannot be in Jesus' presence without some form of tears coming out. Either tears of joy, anger, frustration, concern, or sheer passion for who He is. Either way, deep emotions come flooding out when I sit waiting on Him. He brings it up out of my heart. And my heart is not always happy and in a good mood! BUT nevertheless, the Lord is right there..allowing me to weep, and wipe his feet with my tears.

And whomever we weep with or weep for, in the Name of Jesus, He receives those tears for them as well. In the Beatitudes, we are called to show our emotions for the hurting. In doing so, we stand with them in their pain and suffering before our Lord. He receives our alabaster box of tears whether for ourselves or someone else. It's our approach to the Lord that He loves..we choose to commune our brokenness with Him. Something He is very familiar with.

When was the last time you broke your precious anointment of tears upon our Jesus? Perhaps it's time to cry out to Him in the pain of our souls, letting Him know how we feel from the inside out. He already knows. And He welcomes our presence.

Let Him dry our tears and then He will pour out His own heart upon us. Our Jesus is close to the brokenhearted. He knows every request before we ever mention it. And the best part of all of this is He has all the answers. Sometimes He doesn't answer the way we wish, but His answer is always for our best. And there are times when He simply calls us to stand and wait. But while we wait, let's not let our hearts harden. Keep the tears flowing, if not outwardly, then inwardly. Tears speak from many emotions..and they keep the heart from hardening. Our alabaster box is within us...our heart.


Here are a few verses from a song I once heard:

"Like oil upon your feet
Like wine for you to drink
Like water from my heart
I pour my love on you

If praise is like perfume
I'd lavish mine on you
Til every drop is gone
I pour my love on you.."


God bless.


XtremeFaith

"The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives..."
Jeremiah 17:9-10




I like to call this verse the "clean heart principle." Let me explain what I mean...


We often throw around, "Well, my heart was clean," or "Well, I know your heart and you would not do that," or "She has a great heart." I have often been rebuked by the Holy Spirit the minute those words have left my mouth. He has said to me, "No one knows the heart, only the Father."





And many times, when I thought my "heart was clean", I found out it was dirtier than a scouring pad after a meatloaf dinner. Man. That's dirty. Let me go deeper..




One time, I thought I was "testifying" about the way the Lord has brought me and my husband out of financial distress. As I was talking, I felt like a big "poof" of air. I felt no anointing, particularly, but chalked it up to the fact that I was not talking so spiritually. Wrong. I later would find out that I spent too much time "listing" the things we lost. In other words, the Lord told me I used a backdoor method to boast. I was so broken. When I later repented to the person, she said, "Girl, I know your heart! You would not do that." OH yes I would, I did, and no, she does NOT know my heart.






I think we have thrown around the terminology so much that it has become commonplace. But if we reflect on God's Word we will see that there is only ONE that knows this dirty scouring pad completely. His Name is Jehovah. So what do we do that next time we are tempted to let those words fall out of our mouths? Here may be an example, I am not so sure, but just maybe.




"Sis, I have known you for a while. And what I know of you in character tells me that this-or that-was probably not your intentions. IF you are clean before the Lord, then all is well. But clear it up with Him!" You see, this removes the pressure from us having to say that we know something we absolutely do not know.



And FORGET ABOUT SAYING that OUR OWN HEARTS are clean before we allow God the chance to examine them. OH boy. Paul speaks about comparing ourselves with ourselves and how foolish it is. Same idea about the heart. We are wicked people, with wicked thoughts and motives whether we like to believe it or not. If that statement just made you mad, check your pride level. We all FALL SHORT of God's glory.





Often times, I thought my heart was clean. Because I was hurt, I was wronged, I was mad, sad, glad, whatever. But only in that quiet place, after deep meditation in the Lord, I have often found His hand of correction upon my life. And boy, is it humbling to be humbled.





So try this out...leave the "clean heart" business up to our Father. Stay safe. Simply ask Him, "God, search me. If there be anything wrong, weed it out of me. But teach me Lord, only to come to you to measure my motives and actions. You, Lord, will not hold back telling me the truth..it is for my own good, so I may become more like Jesus."




XtremeFaith

The Bible tells us to not let our hearts grow cold in these last days. How can we measure that? I think that when we have sensitivity in our hearts, we will know that our walk has not grown cold. You have the ability to weep when others weep and mourn when others mourn.

I saw the news yesterday about the miners that have died and others that are missing. And I wept. I wept because I saw mothers, sisters, wives, and even parishoners of a pastor that all may have died while mining. They were all on the news crying uncontrollably. My tears came down because death has its uncanny way of finding anyone at anytime. If you have ever experienced death of a loved one or someone you knew, you realize that it is no "respecter of persons." Money or no money, status or no status, death will find its way to all of us, at some time or another. I wish it wouldn't but it will, and it has to most of us.

I also saw the sad news of a newly engaged couple, gunned down not even 15 minutes from the safety of where I live. They had just returned from their engagement party and were approached for their brand new Honda. I cannot imagine why this would warrant both of them getting shot to death. Just take the car and leave them to live! Makes no sense to me that people would have to die for a material object...that from what I understand was not even taken! The thugs left the SUV right where it was, along with two dead bodies.




Many senseless acts of violence cause me to weep deeply from my spirit. For a moment, I get into a place too painful to describe. It is not hormones, nor is it a bad day for me....no, no, no. It is called the heart of the Lord needing a human body to cry through. Ever felt like God did that to you, through you? It is called travail.

Jesus wept when He found out about Lazarus..even though He knew that He would restore life back unto him. Jesus knew everything yet He still wept. He felt, deeply, the pain of Martha and Mary and it touched His heart. He knows all about our pain and He is not cold nor is He indifferent. He is right there with us. His tears fall when ours fall. Not because He is powerless but because He is our Great High Priest, touched with what touches us. He travailed with them..and then He did what He does best, He brought life back into the picture. This does not always mean we will get our loved ones back. But it does mean that Jesus is near to all who suffer in heart.

Are you in what I call a "weird" place today? Is life and all that is taking place taking its toll on you? Or are you on a mountaintop...enjoying the best time ever?? Whether in a good place, or a bad place, Jesus is right there with us. He is there to be a comfort at a moments notice when life gives us a sucker-punch without warning.

And when all is well, we should take note that He is the only reason why. We live in a fallen world, subjected to its fallen ways..but the Lord has overcome this world. We take great joy in this solace.

XtremeFaith