Posts Categorized: devotional

Observing Healing Among the Tombs

Posted January 15, 2019 | Karisa Moore

“Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” 8For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!” (Mark 5:5-8)


“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

I have sat among the tombs with the demoniac man for a week. His arms scarred with cuts, Shackles around his ankles, bones breathing in and out in desperate hunger. I watched him day and night cry out for release. “Death, death,” he screamed. And it appeared the demons were trying to kill him.

So many questions form in my mind.

  • Why did he not die? 
  • Why did this man get picked out for torture? Why so many demons?
  • Were they trying to destroy the man? Kill him like they killed the pigs?
  • Why did the demons want to stay in the region? Was it a stronghold? Did they hold dominion over the land?
  • Why did the demons not come out immediately when Jesus commanded them to?
  • Does Jesus torture demons?
  • Why was Jesus in the “unclean” cemetery? Did he purposely have the boat docked here to meet this demoniac man?

Jesus does not ask for the man’s background, he doesn’t make an assessment of his sanity, or his worthiness, he just heals the man.

The demons acknowledge that he is the son of God, plead for mercy and Jesus gives it. That seems odd. Jesus showed mercy to demons. They drown themselves.

What courage the weary man had if “Legions” goal was to kill him before this encounter with Jesus. He continued to live in such agony for the moment of ultimate release. Freedom inside and out.

Can you wait? When despair rips you to shreds . . . can you wait for Jesus to free you from your suffering, and trust, though you may be chained in this life, God will relieve all your suffering? Even in despair, God fits us into his story. I watched the transformation of this earthbound, abandoned soul, and I wait expectantly. I wait for my son Jonathan’s story, and for my story to be fully revealed in Christ.

Poetry is posted every Thursday at 7 pm

Podcast is posted every Monday at 10 am

Devotional is posted every Tuesday at 7 pm

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Choosing Life is the Best Christmas Present

Posted December 24, 2018 | Karisa Moore

Turning the Page on Suicide-The Best Gift this Christmas is Choosing Life

Read Romans 8 https://www.chirpapp.com/audiopost/WYKQekOKBy

You may feel surrounded by darkness. Turn the Page and discover what God is capable of doing through you.

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Fruitful Ministry is Grafted into the Vine of Christ

Posted December 11, 2018 | Karisa Moore

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5 ESV).

The needs of others press into my soul and I want to help. Almost weekly, family, friends, and strangers reveal to me the toll suicide is taking on them. My heart breaks for so many who struggle with despair, and  I desire to be present for anyone in need of comfort, a listening ear, and God’s love. But I cannot maintain, was never meant to sustain, ministry alone. I cannot be your vine.

God is a good gardener and within his care, we bear much fruit. Apart from him, we cannot do anything. Believers fall away because we attempt to MAKE fruit grow in our own skills, time frame, and energy. We count heads in the pews, facebook likes, ministries we are involved in. This is not where the fruit happens.

Fruit grows in the vine of Christ. So right now I stop trying to produce and submit to God’s pruning and cultivation. He uses scripture (currently reading Job), prayer, worship, pastors, nature, wise counsel, and music to nourish me. He is slowing me down and causing me to be more intentional in action and follow through.

Supporting, encouraging, and loving those who cross my path in their time of grief consistent connection with Jesus. He is the vine, and I am a branch. Notice Jesus doesn’t say the only branch; because many others will bear the fruit of sharing God’s love. Christ points at you in the middle of a vineyard of luscious ripe grapes and says. Abide in me, and out of that abiding comes fruitfulness.  We are nourished by his will, love, strength, and compassion. But, too often we attempt to sustain ourselves and others in our own abilities and we wither.

Our model to this vine and branch relationship is Jesus and God the Father.  He said his purpose was to do the will of the father (John 6:38). The son of man remained firmly planted where God placed him, even on the cross. As a believer, I am grafted into Christ and I will bear the most fruit by remaining in his will even in hard things.

Devotionals are Posted at 7 pm every Tuesday 

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Crossing the Dead-Line: Our Diligent Work in Grief

Posted December 4, 2018 | Karisa Moore

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Matthew 24:35)

Deadlines are awesome…when they have to do with writing, but the word’s origins are steeped in death. Prisoners could not cross a “dead-line ” without being shot. By choosing hope, I have crossed the dead-line Satan attempted to draw into my life. “You can do your christian thing, but stay in your religious box and do not touch the other side.”

But on the other side, I see a neighbor who just got fired from his job, the teenager who can’t look you in the eye because they are so tangled in sex, drugs, or doubt they feel no one can forgive them. I am aware of the preacher, who feels stuck in the muck of depleted finances, a wife and two kids, and righteous sinners critical of his work, contemplating a way out. The businessman who has scrapped the way to the top and is lonely and finding success hollow and shallow, now holding onto the amber bottle of escape. And that child not given a chance from birth, whose only known pain. They are all on suicide’s doorstep.

So I cross that line. At nineteen years old God crossed the dead-line for me. He plucked me from suicide’s grave and even now when Satan thought he’d have the last laugh with my son’s death to suicide, I find abundant life in grief.

I was given a new dead-line. Cross over into despair and possibly be swallowed whole by Satan while pulling others to safety is worth the risk. Finding the words to express God’s love became my diligent work in grief. My deadline is Heaven with Jesus, and I want you there with me.

 

Devotionals are posted every Tuesday at 7pm

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Life and Death aren’t Kept Secret

Posted November 27, 2018 | Karisa Moore

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23 ESV).

(Originally Shared October 2014)

Fall is my favorite season, and as I hiked through the woods, I was reminded of why. It isn’t just the fall colors or the cool nip in the air that revive and remind me of the divine. It is that even in death, life is given.

Take this log for example. It is brimming with life! Fall reminds me that death is not the end of God’s story. There are millions of possibilities that lay hidden beneath the surface ready to burst forth and display his provision and splendor.

Some of us feel like an empty shell, dead inside, nothing could possibly grow from us.  I declare to you with complete confidence that there are a million seeds of life planted inside you ready to spring forth! I once thought that I was without purpose, but I see clearly that life is in every cell of my being! I want to give that life to you.

This season is one of hidden possibility. But God’s promises are true. They are observable, and repeat I’m nature and the testimony of many the world tossed out as dead. Trust God’s provision for your life and let him reveal the life growing inside of you.

Love you dearly!

Karisa

Devotionals are posted at 7pm every Tuesday.

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God Creates Something New Through Mistakes

Posted November 20, 2018 | Karisa Moore

“Jesus straightened up and asked her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?'” (John 8:10 NIV)

My son Daniel brought home “mistake” artwork. His teacher drew on each of their pages, and they had to transform the mistake into a new picture. Daniel had the two humps you see in the middle and what emerged were gravestones. “I didn’t see what they were until I turned the page a different direction,” he explained. Life is full of mistakes, and they are usable, even our worst sinful failures, in the hands of a creative God.

The nameless adultress woman could be any of us. Your sin is exposed. Standing in front of Jesus, and the high and mighty who don’t care what happens to you. They just want to trap Jesus. After all, “thou shall not commit adultery” was written in stone by the hand of God.  Yet, Jesus offers grace to both the accusers and accused. “You who are without sin, cast the first stone.” He kneels down, begins drawing in the sand. Maybe he is sketching a new, beautiful, healed picture of you.

God has every right to judge us for breaking his law. But instead, he takes our mistakes, the sin that so easily entangles, and transforms us with his love. Jesus isn’t glossing over sin. He tells the woman to go and sin no more. He expects us to live a transformed life. Justice and grace unite on the cross to form a new picture for humanity. He is not distant from our struggle, he is intimately aware of what we have already drawn on our page. Christ drew resurrection over death, transforming our sin warped picture of his original design.

What new picture is God drawing of you?

 

Devotionals are posted every Tuesday at 7pm.

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If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call the National Suicide Lifeline at 988 or go to the website at https://988lifeline.org/