Joy

A Great Big Empty

March 31, 2018 By Eva Conner Leave a Comment

Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance.
John 20:1

This one verse holds the key to finding the freedom that Jesus proclaimed.

He said, “the truth will set you free.” (See John 8:32). What does that freedom look like? Let’s look at another verse in Luke.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free,
and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”
Luke 4:18-19

Jesus is reading in the synagogue from the scroll of Isaiah the prophet. If we hop down a couple verses, we’ll see that Jesus goes on to tell all who were listening that,

“The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”
Luke 4:21

Jesus came to set us free from all captivity, including depression & oppression.

He came to set us free from depression and oppression, condemnation and guilt, shame and regret. The things that weigh us down and keep us down. The things that keep us from living the life that Jesus died to give us.

Why do we continue to live pushed down, oppressed lives?

Let’s look at the very first Scripture above. On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb. Why do you think she went to the tomb? I don’t think she thought of Jesus coming back to life. She went to the tomb like so many of us do when we lose a loved one – to stay linked and connected to that person. She went to the tomb to grieve and mourn her loss. She went to the tomb to cry and be sad.

Please don’t misinterpret what I’m about to say. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t mourn. But let’s suppose that Jesus did not defeat death that day and that He stayed in the tomb forever.

Would Mary have continued to go to the tomb day after day to mourn and grieve?

Isn’t this what we do in our own lives? When something or someone dies, we cling to that death and make it part of who we are. It could be the death of a loved one. It could be the death of a marriage or business or the loss of the ability to do something you once could do.

When we hang onto something that we’ve lost, we’re unable to grab hold of what God wants us to find.

Mary found the tomb empty and she was able to move on with her life and not get stuck in that one moment when Jesus died.

Are you stuck in one moment in time when you experienced a loss?

Friends, the stone was rolled away!! The tomb is now empty. The tomb represents our past losses and failures. We need to put them in the tomb with Jesus and close it up. But . . . we need to roll the stone away and peer inside the tomb very closely. Be sure to look at every crack and crevice. Check it out carefully. What do you see?

A great big EMPTY!

The tomb is empty of all the things of our past that have held us tied down to one time in the past. All the depression and oppression were lifted away when Jesus was lifted away. Why? Because Jesus purchased our past when He died on the cross. He not only defeated death but He also defeated the haunted memories of our past!!!

Train your mind to think about the stone being rolled away and the great big empty.

When you get weighed down with a thought from the past, turn your thoughts to Jesus and His glorious resurrection.

There is so much joy to be found in Christ but we have to stop looking at the past and start looking at Him. It’s a process that will take some time but if you are intentional about it, you can overcome darkness. Regret, shame, unforgiveness, and all the other things that swirl around in our head is defeated.

Share this good news with everyone. It’s what we are called to do.

Stay in the Light and Love always,

Eva

31 Days of Joy ~ Day 31 Do You Even Jesus?

December 31, 2017 By Eva Conner 3 Comments

Do you even Jesus?

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade ~ kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

1 Peter 1:3-5

Dear Father,

Thank You for being the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank You for Your great mercy in giving us new birth and living hope in the resurrection of Jesus.

We are new creations in Christ because of Your great mercy.

Help us let this knowledge and truth sink into the deepest part of our being. Thank You for the inheritance You’ve so freely given to us as well. An inheritance that is eternal! Your ways are so much higher than our ways. Please never stop showing us Your ways and taking us deeper into who You created us to be.

Never stop growing that shield of faith that protects us from the evil one. Teach us true praise and worship.

Father, please help us to abandon all religiousity in our lives.

It is this religiousity that creates barriers that hold us back from accepting every single gift You wish to give us. You desire for all of us to be a power house in this dark world. If we truly worked in unity and in love, NOTHING would be impossible for us.

Empower us through boldness and courage to speak out against those walls and those barriers. Help us to through love and peace take them down!

We praise You, Father. We praise Jesus and we praise Holy Spirit. Grow us, keep us, use us and protect us!

In Christ Jesus’ name we pray.

Amen♥

Today’s Transformation Tip

Do you even Jesus?

This was a question my youngest asked me several years ago. He was probably 13 or 14 years old at the time. I can’t recall the entire conversation but I must have said something that caused him to doubt my knowledge of Jesus because he looked at me and said, “Do you even Jesus?”

He used Jesus’s name as a verb in the question and it always stuck with me.

What does it look like to “Jesus”?

If I had to guess, I’d say something like this.

Every single person in my life would know of my great love for Jesus not by my words but by my actions.

Every single person in my life would know that I love them dearly and deeply. I would show the love of Jesus to everyone I encounter ~ even when I’m crabby and cranky, especially when I’m crabby and cranky.

There would not be one minute when I wasn’t aware of what the Father in Heaven was saying and doing and I would be repeating His words and actions.

Just as Jesus does. I would be aware of all need around me, all those hearts who are broken and pleading to be loved and I would be that love. Just as Jesus is.

I would never condemn or judge another person ~ never.

No matter what, I would reflect the love of the Father and Jesus to everyone. No matter what.

Those who are hungry around me would be fed. The people without shelter would have shelter. And those without Jesus would find Him!

This is what it would look like to Jesus. So let me ask all of us this one very important question.

Do you even Jesus?

Stay in the Light and Love always,

Eva

31 Days of Joy ~ Day 30 Power in Unity

December 30, 2017 By Eva Conner Leave a Comment

God desires for His Body to work together in unity.

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all teach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Ephesians 4:11-16

Dear Father,

Thank You for Jesus. Jesus who gave us such special gifts. Reveal to each of us the gifts that Jesus gave us to build up and form His Body. Father, we ask for a deeper discernment of those gifts that we already possess. Teach us how to use them to edify the church.

Your Word tells us that as we speak truth in love, we will grow in all things into Christ who is the Head.

Create in us clean hearts. Remove all impurities of the world that hinder our ability to love others. Renew a steadfast spirit within us so that we are able to stand under Your refiner’s fire as You perform our deep heart cleansing.

Thank You for Your ways being so much higher than our ways. We thank You and praise You for being our Lord Almighty, our El Shaddai.

It is in the mighty name of Jesus that we pray.

Amen♥

Today’s Transformation Tip

Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.

3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. 6 The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

Genesis 11:1-7

God knows the power of unity.

In the Scripture above, we see that the people were working in unison, albeit for their own glory and not for the glory of God. God gives us a great key in verse 6 when He said that nothing would be impossible for these people when they worked in unison.

These are God’s own words!

Nothing would be impossible for them when they worked in unison.

Think about this in relation to today. When those in the Body of Christ work together in unison, nothing would be impossible!

If we did not have denominations in the Body, what could we do?
If we did not have walls and division in the Body, what could we do?
If we didn’t come against one another over petty matters, what could we do?

God knows the power we have in unity in the Body. Why don’t we?

And we have what these people building the tower did not have. We have the Holy Spirit within us giving us the very power of God! It’s up to us to knock down the barriers we’ve erected.

Let’s focus on unity, love and togetherness.

When divisive, unloving thoughts pop in our minds, we need to quickly replace them with thoughts of unity, love and togethernesss in the Body of Christ. As Paul tells us in the verses from Ephesians above, as we grow in unity with others in the Body, we will also grow and mature in Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.

Let’s get united today.

Stay in the Light and Love always,

Eva

31 Days of Joy ~ Day 29 Lift Up Your Heads

December 29, 2017 By Eva Conner Leave a Comment

Lift up your heads!

But You, O Lord, are a shield for me,
My glory and the One who lifts up my head.

Psalm 3:3

Dear Father,

Thank You for lifting up our heads so that all we see is You. When our heads are lifted high, we do not see the world and darkness around us, we see the light and brightness of Jesus. Your ways are so holy and perfect. Thank You for Jesus, our King of Glory.

We praise You, even amidst the trials and difficulties of our circumstances. Help us to keep our heads lifted high above hate, disease, lack and sin. Show us the beautiful things of Your Kingdom. And bring restoration to all those broken things in our lives.

Thank You for fighting for us as we praise You.

You simply ask for our praise and our devotion and You will take care of all things for us. Thank You for this and for so much more.

In the holy name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior, we pray.

Amen♥

Today’s Transformation Tip

The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness,
The world and those who dwell therein.
2 For He has founded it upon the seas,
And established it upon the waters.

3 Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?
Or who may stand in His holy place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,
Nor sworn deceitfully.
5 He shall receive blessing from the Lord,
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6 This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him,
Who seek Your face. Selah

7 Lift up your heads, O you gates!
And be lifted up, you everlasting doors!
And the King of glory shall come in.
8 Who is this King of glory?
The Lord strong and mighty,
The Lord mighty in battle.
9 Lift up your heads, O you gates!
Lift up, you everlasting doors!
And the King of glory shall come in.
10 Who is this King of glory?
The Lord of hosts,
He is the King of glory. Selah

Psalm 24

Jesus is our King of Glory.

This is a beautiful Psalm to remind us that our King is a King of Glory. A King of Victory and a King who goes to battle and is always mighty and strong. He has already conquered death and won! The earth and everything in it belongs to Him.

Why do we worry about things?

He is in charge of ALL things, even those little things that weigh so heavily on our hearts.

Let’s lift up our heads to Him and give Him the praise and worship that He deserves. As we praise Him, He cannot help but fight for us. It’s His nature to defend and protect. He loves us so much and when we return that love to Him undiluted by the world and without reservation, it pleases Him very much. And that praise will move Him to action and battle for us.

As we praise, He goes to war. We emerge from praise and worship the victor.

When God gave Noah instructions for the ark, He told him to only put one window in the entire ark and that was to be on top – like a skylight. No windows on the side of the ark (See Genesis 6:16). The inhabitants of the ark only had one choice when looking outside – to look up!

Friends, this is what He wants us to do as well. He wants us to look up at Jesus.

This doesn’t mean that we don’t see the need around us or that we ignore suffering. It means that we look to Him to guide and direct us to meet those needs and to help those who are suffering.

When we allow Him to be our Guide, we will always have the right words to say and the right actions to do. When we allow Him to be our Guide, we will be transformed from glory to glory with Him.

Lift your heads up!

Stay in the Light and Love always,

Eva

31 Days of Joy ~ Day 28 Stop and Reset

December 28, 2017 By Eva Conner Leave a Comment

The batttle is all in our head. We must stop and reset.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:2

Dear Father,

Thank You for Your Word. We praise You and love You. Help us to grab hold of our thoughts and take them captive. When those things that are not conducive to bearing fruit pop in our heads, help us to replace them with thoughts of You.

To do this, we know that we need Your Word tucked away deep within.

Give us the ability to read Your Word and retain what we read. As we read it, make it come alive for us so it’s easier to remember. As we lean into You, help us to become more and more conscience of our thoughts and mindsets.

Break strongholds that cause us to think incorrectly. Conform us into the very image of Your Son Jesus.

It is in His name we pray.

Amen♥

Today’s Transformation Tip

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

2 Corinthians 10:5

The battle is real. And the real battle is in our head!

We must learn to take our thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ. This is how we will be transformed into His image. Paul’s words tell us when we take our thoughts captive, we demolish arguments that speak against the knowledge of God. This is a powerful truth.

We have to begin getting the world’s voice out of our head and replace it with God’s voice.

It’s not something that happens overnight. It is a long process that we must be intentional about in order to be transformed.

Intentionality and persistence win the prize!

When those thoughts pop up about that person who hurt you and you start rehashing it in your head, stop.
When you think about that situation at work with the co-worker who rubs you wrong, stop.
When you rehash that fight you had with your spouse, stop.
When you begin to think about how much is due and how little you have, stop.

Stop, stop, stop and stop!!

Stop and reset. This is how we take our thoughts captive and retrain our minds. It’s worth the time investment. Not only will you be transformed into Christ’s image, you’ll be less stressed and anxious.