BIG Life Devotional | Daily Devotional for Women

We interrupt our current series on the Disciples of Jesus for a very time sensitive, urgent matter. A topic I have been prompted by the Holy Spirit to discuss with you today. Here it is – Are you ready for Jesus to come back in less than 2 weeks? I fully understand that question makes me sound kookey. I’m okay with that – I’m willing to sound kookey for the sake of eternal things because let’s face it – we’re willing to go out on a limb for far less important things. So here I am today with a serious question for you to sit with for a moment – Are you ready for Jesus to come back in less than 2 weeks? Where do your thoughts go immediately? Track your thoughts with this because something important is happening – YOUR PRIORITIES ARE BEING REVEALED. Yesterday morning I woke up to a text from a very close friend of mine. A friend who has become a spiritual accountability partner for me. We talk about those deep, spiritual things that you can’t talk about with everyone. The Spirit in her stirs up the Spirit in me. We are the iron that sharpens iron for each other. She’s not a kook. Her relationship with the Lord is real and her promptings from the Holy Spirit are legit. When she texts me, I lean in. Her text yesterday morning was about a dream her daughter had – a dream where Jesus met her in the backyard and told her that he was coming back in 2 weeks. Now, what do you do with that? Like literally, what do you do with that? I’ll tell you what I did – I immediately counted forward to 2 weeks on my calendar, considering all I had going on and where I would be. Unfortunately that was very inconvenient timing for me. You see, these next 2 weeks I will be traveling, I’ll be hosting 2 retreats plus stops on the ROAM Tour. Jesus, I won’t even be with my family – can we discuss the timing of this? Did you do the same? When you hear 2 weeks, are you thinking about your schedule? Your house? Your plans? Are you inconvenienced? I spent the majority of yesterday wrestling this out. My priorities were being revealed in my immediate response to the thought of Jesus returning on such short notice, and I was so ashamed by how I truly felt. How about you? I packed up my Bible and my journal and I headed to a coffee shop to sit with God and journal out my prayers and his responses. I was out of alignment and needed a rebalance. Think about that – you know how your car starts driving funky if you’re out of alignment? You start veering off to one side and driving in a straight line becomes a struggle. Because of the wear in your tires, it only gets worse until you take your car in for a rotation of those tires and rebalancing. Yeah, my tires were a little worn with my worldly pursuits and concerns and I was out of balance. I was veering to the side and didn’t even realize it. On my walk to the coffee shop, I came across a woman I often see. She’s likely in her 30’s, always pulling a wagon of random gatherings, and without fail, she is always looking directly at her cell phone. Like her eyes never leave her phone. She walks the streets, never looking up. Never aware of my passing, or anyone else’s. With eyes on her phone, she just walks along, pulling her wagon. WHAT COULD POSSIBLY BE SO IMPORTANT THAT YOU CAN’T LOOK UP? Yeah – that question was for me, not for her. Pamela, what could possibly be so important that you can’t look up? What is in this world that you’re so focused on that you don’t want to look up into the sky for my return? God whispered to my soul yesterday, “Pamela, I AM COMING – This is urgent. There’s work for you to be doing and short time for you to do it.” Are we too the women pulling our wagon of everything we’ve been gathering, mesmerized by the things we’ve been looking at, refusing to look up? Are we oblivious to the fact that there’s so much more than here and now and this is all leading to eternity? I haven’t been living with a sense of urgency. I’m pulling my wagon, piling up my things, making my plans and forgetting to look up. 1 Thessalonians 4:16, “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout …” Will I be looking up for him? Matthew 24:30, “And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with great power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with the mighty blast of a trumpet, and they will gather his chosen ones from all over the world – from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven.” Will I be looking up for him? This world has become far too important to me. I love my life. I love waking up every day to my life. I’ve waited a long time for this sweet season I’m living in now, a season of answered prayers and miracles are now my reality and quite honestly, I don’t want that to end. I want more of this. And that’s the problem. I’m not wiling to look up because I’ve grown so in love with down here. This world cannot have our hearts. If it does, there’s a problem. The problem becomes our priorities are down here instead of looking up toward Heaven. Four simple verses in our Bible really sum it up: Colossians 3: 1-4, “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.” THINK ABOUT THE THINGS OF HEAVEN – YOU DIED TO THIS LIFE – YOUR REAL LIFE IS WITH JESUS. This life here in this world isn’t even our real life. Just as the woman pulling the wagon never looks up from her phone to see the world around her, we’re not looking up from our schedules, our plans, and our problems to see our real life. We just continue to drag our wagon around and fill it up – but are we missing the point of it all. THIS ISN’T OUR REAL LIFE. I’ve fallen in love with this world. I’m surrounded by all this beauty. I love what I do. I love the people I get to share this life with. And the thought of it all being over in less than 2 weeks now is “inconvenient”???? Wake up sleeper – wake up. Set your mind on the things of Heaven again. Your real life is beyond this. Don’t be satisfied with this. Have you heard the recording of the 20 year old co-pilot in her final seconds of life before the private jet crashed in Florida last week? The time between everything being manageable on the flight to the jet crashing was about 60 seconds. One minute they are on their way to the Bahamas, and the next they have imploded and all 9 lives have tragically ended. The co-pilots panicked final words on the recording are “We’re out of time ….” In 60 seconds they went from being perfectly fine to being out of time. My friends, what if we’re quickly running out of time? This isn’t said out of fear, but out of a response to the Holy Spirit who says, “WAKE UP and LOOK UP.” So yesterday morning begins with the text from a friend about this dream where Jesus says there’s only 2 weeks left in this world. Then, I encounter the woman pulling her wagon never looking up from her phone. Next, I’m sitting at the coffee shop and God is revealing to my priorities about my life in this world versus my real life with Jesus. And finally, I’m standing in Church and we sing these words … Give me Jesus – You can have all this world. I don’t want anything else. I don’t need anyone else. You are my one thing. Give me Jesus. I’m here wrestling that out today. Am I willing to give up this world? Do I really want anything else? So my friend, are you ready? What does God want to speak to you? Has your focus become on this world? How is your soul? Do you have a relationship with Jesus, or have you been putting that off? How about your loved ones? Are there urgent conversations that have been left unsaid? We’re out of time …. Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamela Or Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pamela.crim Find out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com

We see Jesus go up on a mountain to pray to God all night – like literally – Jesus did that. Not just a prayer before he went to sleep, not just for a few restless hours, Jesus prayed ALLLLLL night. Have you ever done that? I haven’t. 15 minutes in prayer is a stretch for me. How much more can I say? If Jesus, God in flesh, the one with a more direct connection to God than any of us – if he sometimes needed to spend the entire night praying to seek God’s will and guidance, how much more do we? What was Jesus up there praying about all night long? He was seeking who God had chosen as the 12 disciples to walk this journey with him. Jesus knew his inner circle was of critical importance. He knew who he brought to the table, who he invited “backstage” to the miracles he was about to perform, who he revealed him true self to the most – that truly mattered. He himself was God, and his circle mattered. You know what this tells me – this tells me my circle matters far more than I’ve ever realized. We’ve all heard that we are the average of the 5 people we spend the most time with – and it’s actually true. Whatever is normal for your circle eventually becomes normal for you too. You’re continually being molded and shaped by your environment by the habits, attitudes and beliefs of those around you. You were given this one lifetime with an assignment from God – his good purposes for your life were aligned before your first breath. But your ability to fulfill the mission of your life is continually being affected by the people you bring in close to you. And how Jesus handled the choosing of his inner circle was with an entire night of prayer on a mountain with God. Now why is it we only pray about our relationships when there’s a problem in them? Why are we so quick to jump in then wonder why those relationships are stressed? Girls, why aren’t we genuinely praying about who we allow in close to us? Why aren’t we seeking God’s hand in the selection of our people like it’s going to affect everything we do – because actually, it is. I have an inner circle and that’s not always easy – you know why? Because that means some people get more of me than others. That means there’s space for offense. That means there’s opportunity for jealousy. My inner circle sometimes shifts because sometimes life just changes. Certain relationships grow while other relationships have a different purpose in a different season. Can we all see that there’s nothing wrong with that? Jesus would spend the day hanging out with thousands of people, then at the end of the day he would send the crowds away and get in a boat with just his circle of 12. If Jesus did that, so can I – and so can you. If that was important for Jesus, then how much more important is that for us? Let God show you your people, then protect that space with them. Does it mean if someone is not in your inner circle, they’re bad, they’re less important, less valuable? No! Imagine the followers of Jesus gathered at the foot of that mountain that morning when Jesus came down. How many people were there? We don’t know exactly, but later we see a mention of over 70. So, let’s just imagine there are 70 people who have been following Jesus. 70 people who have been listening to him, learning from him, and wanting to go where he’s going next. But Jesus gathers them together at daybreak and announces his 12. Were there some hurt feelings in the crowd? Perhaps. Did Jesus make any apologies for choosing his circle? No. Did he announce his chosen 12 were better than the others? No. My friends, when you seek God’s will, you don’t have to feel bad about walking in it. When you have truly prayed, truly surrendered, and are truly living in obedience, you can finally overcome the crippling plague of people pleasing and step into God honoring. I’m assuming not everyone in this crowd of followers was pleased over Jesus’ selection of his disciples. While it was never Jesus’ intention to hurt anyone, it was also not his purpose to please everyone. He had a mission to fulfill, now he had his inner circle, chosen by God, to train up for the purposes of continuing his mission. Disciple #1: Peter (also know as Simon) First on the list is Simon, who Jesus later renamed as Peter. Who was this fella? Well, if we’re playing favorites, he’s my favorite of the 12. He’s the impulsive one – the all-in one, the rambunctious, adventurous one. He’s also the one who spoke before thinking, and found himself in way over his head. He’s a wild dreamer who wanted things to be happy and positive, and struggled with handling some of the harder stuff. Hmmmm, that’s me. Peter, meet Pamela. Pamela, meet Peter. We are so very alike. Anyone else see themselves in this chosen disciple of Jesus named Peter? Anyone else feeling especially seen and slightly called out? Peter was so incredibly ordinary. He was a fisherman, the most ordinary of professions in this time. He got up early, he worked hard, and he depended on that work for his future. Then Jesus came and turned his whole world upside down. One day Peter was washing his fishing nets after an unproductive night of fishing. They had fished all night and caught absolutely nothing. No fish, no money. So this particular day was especially frustrating. All that work with nothing to show for it. Washing the nets was a big job. For anyone who has a boat, you know the amount of work it is to clean up that boat after a day of fishing. And Jesus is there teaching on the shore as Peter is cleaning up, and Jesus asks if he can get in his boat to teach from the water so more people can hear him. And in that moment, Peter makes a decision that would unknowingly change the trajectory of his life. He lets Jesus in his boat. So, Jesus teaches from his boat. Cool. Peter must have been tired. He had been working the entire night before. I’m sure he just wanted to go home and rest so he could go back out there on the boat and try again the next night and just hope to have more success. But he sits on the boat and holds it steady so Jesus can teach. Then, after Jesus finishes speaking, he turns to Peter and in Luke 5:4, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.” Nope – that didn’t make any sense. But Peter is about to learn that when Jesus says something he can just skip the part of rationalizing and go straight to the part of believing and responding in obedience. When Peter lets down his nets again at the most inopportune and unlikely time for fishing, suddenly his nets were so full of fish, they began to tear! Now, both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking. Now, here’s the really wild thing – this miraculous catch of fish was actually fame and fortune. Peter and his 3 fellow fishermen, Andrew, James and John, had just caught enough fish to all retire. They would be famous for this catch. The value of these fish was about 25 years worth of wages for EACH of them. Everything they had ever worked for, the business they had spent every night growing, now all of a sudden they have the wildest success ever! And Jesus asks them to walk away from it. Literally walk away. Peter, if I give you what you’ve been working so hard for – if I give you more than you even know what to do with – will you drop it all and follow me? Verses 10-11, Jesus said “‘Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!’ And as soon as they landed, they LEFT EVERYTHING AND FOLLOWED JESUS.” Why would Jesus choose an ordinary fisherman? Could it be because Peter was actually willing to leave everything he had ever worked for to simply follow him? Follow him where? Unknown. Follow him and do what? Unknown. Follow him for how long? Unknown. And Peter stared down the unknown while also having the invitation of fame and fortune in his boats, and he chose the unknown with Jesus. Would we do the same? Or would the early retirement be too sweet to pass up? Has the unknown caused you to forfeit a personal journey with Jesus? There’s a prayer I pray every morning while on my knees that seems fitting here: Give me the courage to surrender what I have made too important and the strength to endure whatever it costs to put You first. Give me the grace to receive good things from Your hand without turning them into idols. Help me enjoy Your gifts without worshiping Your gifts. Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamela Or Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pamela.crim Find out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com

Have you ever just been swept away by God’s goodness? Totally overwhelmed by how he provided, how he came through, and how he did what only he could do? There’s just this emotion that rises up from within you – an emotion of gratitude. And what do you do with that gratitude? How do you express that? In the Old Testament, King David had this overwhelming gratitude for God. He was so incredibly humbled by the fact that he was chosen and guided by the Almighty. Even after his moments of weakness and failure, God would strengthen him. Even after David felt fear and anger towards the Lord and sat on the very thing he was told to do for 3 months, God would give him another chance. And this awareness of God’s hand over his life brought David to dancing. In fact, scripture says David “danced before the Lord with all his might.” What was David doing? He was worshiping God. This overwhelming gratitude couldn’t be contained. Even a King had to stop everything and dance. Reading in 2 Samuel 6, starting in verse 13, “After the men who were carrying the Ark of the Lord had gone six steps, David sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. And David danced before the Lord with all his might, wearing a priestly garment. So David and all the people of Israel brought up the Ark of the Lord with shouts of joy and the blowing rams’ horns.” Okay, so what exactly is this occasion and what are they carrying? Ready to really study your Bible with me? The people were carrying the Ark of the Lord. The word ark means box or chest. This particular chest being carried was divinely sacred because it contained the literal presence of God. Remember this is before Jesus, so before the gift of the Holy Spirit. Today we have the presence of God with us through the Holy Spirit. When we have been sanctified through the sacrifice of Jesus, we are found worthy of carrying the very presence of God inside of us. But before Jesus, that could never be possible. God’s presence was entirely too sacred and entirely too powerful to be in us, touched by us, or even seen by us. 400 years before King David, there was Moses. The Lord had given very specific instruction to Moses on building this wooden chest, covered in gold where God’s presence would be carried with his people. The chest was 3’9″ long, 2’3″ wide, and 2’3″ high. Inside were the tables of the law written by God’s own finger, a jar of manna (that miraculous provision of bread from heaven that God gave his people to eat for 40 years in the wilderness), and Aaron’s rod. Now, it was time for this chest carrying God’s presence and these special items to be moved by the Israelites. Doing so was a big job with very big consequences. To move it, they decided to build a new cart and roll the sacred chest on. But, we see that failed. The oxen pulling the cart stumbled, the chest began to slip, and a man reached out to steady the chest. Touching it, God struck him dead. Yip, this is some serious business. The presence of God is not to be taken lightly. What had gone wrong here was they ignored God’s very specific instructions from 400 years ago that this chest was always to be CARRIED. Carrying it was a burden the Lord designed and desired. Hmmmmm, now think about that. Here we are walking around with the very presence of God now living inside of us, thinking everything is supposed to just be easy. And when it’s not easy, we throw ourselves a full grown woman hissy fit. There’s a prescribed burden with carrying the Lord with us. Every step is important because you’re carrying the most important thing ever, my friend. You and I are carrying the Holy Spirit. If that feels like a burden at times, understand – it is. It’s a holy burden for holy work. It’s not always going to be easy. Now doing the ROAM Tour and seeking ways to go out with God and find the hurting souls he wants to love and provide for, I’m experiencing a new tired like I’ve never experienced before. Yes, it’s a new joy unlike anything else, but with that joy comes a burden and a weight. If in your pursuit of God’s plans for your life, in your obedience of what God has told you to do, if you’re experiencing a heavy burden and a deep tiredness at times, it may not be because you’re doing it wrong – it may very well be because you’re doing it right. Carrying the presence of God is a big job and the Lord wants it to cost us something. He wants us to carry the burden and stop seeking ease. In the pursuit of ease in carrying the presence of God, the Ark had slipped, a man reached out to steady it, and because it was absolutely untouchable, the man has died. Now David is terrified of continuing his job. Someone just died because of it. So 3 months pass and David finally returns to continue leading the movement of the Ark. Remember, that is the wooden chest carrying the untouchable and heavy presence of God. And this time, they only make it 6 steps and David stops everything to sacrifice to the Lord and celebrate. He celebrates 6 successful steps carrying the Lord. He’s overwhelmed by the fact that God has chosen him and is using him. Because remember who David really is. David is the little shepherd boy that no one thought worthy of a big job. And now, here he is, the most powerful man in all of Israel with a crown on his head. And this is where David dances. Not just a little jig, but he dances with all his might. I mean he lets loose! And guess what happens? What happens next is what can happen to every one of us when we unashamedly celebrate the goodness of God. David was criticized. Who criticized him? The one closest to him. The one he probably loved most. HIS WIFE! Y’all, that’s just the way it is sometimes. Sometimes the ones closest to us are the ones that tear us down the most. Are you going to let that dampen your praise of the Almighty? Are you going to sit on the sidelines because of what others say? Are you going to water down your worship because someone else just doesn’t get your relationship with God? Decide now, because not everyone will understand your overwhelming gratitude for the goodness of God. So, let’s read what happened when David’s wife saw him dancing. Still in 2 Samuel 6, now picking up in verse 16: “But as the Ark of the Lord entered the City of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul (that’s David’s wife), looked down from her window. When she saw King David (that’s her husband) leaping and dancing before the Lord, she was filled with contempt for him.” Verse 20, “When David returned home to bless his own family, Michal came out to meet him. She said in disgust, ‘How distinguished the king of Israel looked today, shamelessly exposing himself to the servant girls like any vulgar person might do.’ David retorted to Michal, ‘I was dancing before the Lord, who chose me above your father and all his family! He appointed me as the leader of Israel, the people of the Lord, so I celebrated before the Lord. Yes, and I am willing to look even more foolish that this, even to be humiliated in my own eyes! But those servant girls you mentioned will indeed think I am distinguished!’ So Michal remained childless throughout her entire life.” Do you think God takes worshiping him seriously? I think so! Do you think he’s okay with us criticizing the way someone genuinely worships him? Clearly NOT. Michal, David’s wife, was punished for the rest of her life for this criticism. Now, I want you to really get a visual of what David’s worship looked like here and why his wife was so upset. If you study the original Hebrew of the text, you’ll see a few specific things. The translation we read today is watered down a bit. When David said “I was dancing before the Lord”, the actual translation is more like “I was SPINNING WITH the Lord.” David was not performing for God. He was spinning in circles with God, like a child does. We’ve all seen a young child dancing with their arms held wide just spinning and spinning so joyously in circles. THAT’S WHAT DAVID WAS DOING. And then when David says “I celebrate before the Lord”, a better and more absolute translation is “I play with the Lord.” WOAH! Have you ever realized God invites you to come play with him? Spin and dance, celebrate in joy like a child. Is our God playful? Oh absolutely – look at his creation, doesn’t it show you his playfulness. Look at his unique creations in sea creatures. Look at their colors, their quirkiness each so vibrant and unique. Yes, God is playful, and he has invited you to come play with him! Jesus once said in Matthew 18:4, “Anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.” Yes, with childlike faith that just believes – but also with childlike wonder and joy that will spin and dance and play with Jesus! When did we become too grown up to delight in the presence of our Father? When did we stop throwing out our arms and spinning in circles? When did we decide we just couldn’t dance because someone might see us? When did we decide what others would think of us is more important than worshiping our God? David was so overwhelmed by the six successful steps they had just taken in a very big task of moving the very presence of God, that he couldn’t help but stop everything and worship. I don’t know how many successful steps you’ve taken on the task God has given you, but maybe it’s time you pause right here and worship him. And if you look childlike, Jesus says that’s best. If you spin, you spin with Jesus. If you play, you play with Jesus. Don’t be ashamed. And remember, my friends, we don’t judge or criticize others in their worship of God. We may have no idea of the heavy burden they’ve been carrying. We may have no idea of the past failure they’re just walking out of. We may have no idea of how hard their last 6 steps were and how grateful they are to be finally getting it right with God. If God says, spin around with him – Girl, spin around with him! If God says, ‘Come on, let’s play together’ – why not just play? One of the ways we show God that he is truly first in our lives is we stop holding back and we stop caring so much about what anyone else might think or say – including the very people we live with. There’s only one person who’s ever died to save my soul – that’s the one I’ll spin around with! That’s the one I’ll play with! That’s the one who is my priority! Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamela Or Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pamela.crim Find out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com

Some bad things happen for good purposes. Some of the hardest of things become the sweetest of things when God’s full purposes are revealed. Is everything that ever happens to you from God? No – remember we have an arch enemy in this world who’s sole purpose is to separate us from the love of the Father in absolutely any way possible. Satan will never take God’s love from you because we’re promised nothing can ever make God stop loving you – however we can allow the things that happen in life to dampen our love for God. We can become so busy, so distracted, so disillusioned that we stop loving God, but he never stops loving us. These hard things in life sometimes come as an attack from the pits of Hell, however God has a unique way of taking the very things intended to harm us and turn them around to be used as a tool for his goodness. Could it be possible that even this very thing that you’re going through right now was intended for harm by Satan, carried out through his demons on attack – but God is turning it all around for eternally good purposes? Could this darkness help you truly see the light? Speaking from experience, when life knocks you down, it’s easier to find your knees. When nothing else is helping, you begin crying out to the One who can truly help. This is where Mary and Martha were. They were desperate, crying out for the help of Jesus. Their brother Lazarus was sick, like really sick. Now, get this – Jesus received the message of Lazarus’ sickness, and while Jesus cared deeply about Lazarus and personally loved this family, he delayed going. He waited. And as Jesus waited to go, Lazarus got worse. Why would God just allow things to get worse? He holds the divine power to change everything in an instant, to make everything better, to stop every attack of Satan, and yet sometimes he waits. Maybe your calls for help feel like they keep getting a busy signal. You’re sending SOS texts and seemingly left on read. He heard you, but he didn’t reply. He could come, but he’s not. Why would God do that? We’re actually not left to wonder. Jesus himself tells us exactly what’s happening. John 11: 4-5, “‘Lazarus’ sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.’ So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary and Lazarus, he stayed where he was for the next 2 days.” The love of Jesus actually kept him from going to them immediately when they asked for his help. His love allowed things to actually get worse. Jesus waits for 2 days, then he begins his journey to them. And during this time, Lazarus dies. His family has had the funeral. They have gone through the ceremonies, they’ve put his body in a grave, they’ve mourned and wondered why Jesus didn’t come. Mary and Martha knew of Jesus’ miracle working power. They knew he was truly the son of God. They knew Lazarus’ sickness could be healed with one touch, one word from Jesus. But he didn’t come. And let’s be clear. Jesus KNEW Lazarus had died. He was not surprised. He wasn’t expecting his body to hold on a little while longer. Jesus says to his disciples in verses 11-12, “‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up.’ The disciples said, ‘Lord, if he is sleeping, he will soon get better!'” Now look look at this clarifying side note in verse 13, “They thought Jesus meant Lazarus was simply sleeping, but Jesus meant Lazarus HAD DIED.” Jesus knew this sickness was serious. He knew it would kill Lazarus. He knew his body would survive. He knew every detail of what was happening – all while he held all the power to stop it or change it. By not stopping it, Jesus knew a greater miracle would be revealed. The greater miracle is NOW THEY WOULD REALLY BELIEVE. He was going to show them something miraculous they couldn’t deny. Jesus shows up on the scene, 4 days after the funeral and burial of Lazarus. Martha comes to meet with Jesus in her grief and says, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.” She knew Jesus could have stopped this. She knew Jesus held the power to heal her brother’s sickness. But now the real statement of faith comes next in verse 22, Martha says to Jesus, “But EVEN NOW I know that God will give you whatever you ask.” EVEN NOW. What a statement of faith. Even now, when it’s far too late. Even now, when the worst has already happened. Even now, when we are absolutely shattered with this loss. Even now, when all other hope has been gone for days. Even now, I KNOW YOU CAN. Jesus, I know anything you ask for can be made possible. Jesus, I know, even now, you hold the power. Martha is affirming her absolute faith in the power of Jesus to ask God for even the most impossible thing, and she knows it will happen. Jesus, even now, we know you can. We may not understand why you haven’t already. We may not see the fullness of your good plan in the middle of our mess. We may not even agree with your timeline. BUT WE KNOW EVEN NOW, YOU STILL CAN. Jesus, will you ask the Father for us? Will you speak to God for us? Will you move Heaven for us? Will you do the impossible for us? Can he? Yes. There’s nothing he can’t do. There’s no place too far for his reach and no timeline beyond his power. What we must release is the details of how he will work. What we see as good is only a tiny piece of the bigger picture. Jesus sees good that reaches into eternity. He knows what is good for the soul, not just for the body. He knows what impacts future generations, not just this one. He knows what will bring God the greatest glory, not just what makes you happy today. Sometimes it doesn’t go the way we think it should – and ultimately we have to be okay with that. We have to surrender to a great big God who sees the unseen and has written out every day of our lives for his good purposes before our very first breath. We have to remember the moment in time will come when we step into eternity and suddenly it all makes sense. Secrets are revealed and then we get it. Ahhhhh, God, you really were working all things together for good! You did so much more than I could have ever imagined. But for now, God knows we just don’t have the capacity to understand it all. For now, we get all wrapped up in earthly affairs and temporary things, struggling with trying to control what was never ours to control. And he’s so patient with us. So gracious. So loving. And sometimes, Jesus shows up, and he does the impossible for us here and now. He makes a way where there has been no way. He restores what was wayyyyyy too far gone. He breathes life into what was dead. He makes things new. Jesus says to Martha in verse 23, “Your brother will rise again.” And of course Martha is like, yeah, I know one day he will rise again – but she is hurting so badly right now. Then Jesus says something so personal to Martha – he says, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?” Jesus is saying, Martha, do you believe there’s something greater than this life? Do you believe even while this is so hard right now, I have something so good beyond this? Martha, do you know there’s life with me beyond this temporary life? Martha gets it. She believes. Jesus asks to be taken to Lazarus’s tomb. Jesus weeps. He hurts with them. He is emotionally moved. Even with all his power – even with the perfect plan of eternity fully in his sight, he cries with his friends in that moment. Y’all THAT’S OUR SAVIOR. That’s my Jesus. What a God we have! Then Jesus goes to the tomb, demands the stone to be rolled away, and says, “Lazarus, come out!” Verse 44, “And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, ‘Unwrap him and let him go.” Now, don’t miss this – the real ending of the story comes in the next verse, “Many of the people who were with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw this happen.” Souls were saved there that day. God received great glory. And we get to see our Jesus a little more personally. Today, we remember, EVEN NOW, with things in the state they’re in – Even now, Jesus can still ask God for anything and IT WILL BE DONE! Whether we see it here on earth, or we see it in Heaven, we will see God’s plan was always FOR US and ETERNALLY PERFECT! Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamela Or Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pamela.crim Find out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com

Where are you lacking the ability to believe Jesus? You believe Jesus is who he says he is – you believe Jesus can do everything he says he can do – but maybe you struggle to believe he will actually do it for you. Your circumstances tell you something different. The patterns you live in tell you nothing really ever changes for you. You intimately know your struggles. You are personally acquainted with your shortcomings. You’ve been living with your problems. And the truth is, the miraculous powers of Jesus always seem to be for someone else – not you. Why is that? If Jesus can heal – why hasn’t he healed you? If Jesus can make all things new – why are you still stuck in this old mess? If Jesus holds all this power – why haven’t you seen it working for your family? We’re ashamed of these questions and feelings, aren’t we? We’ve been told these kinds of doubts indicate our lack of faith. And scripture is actually quite clear, “It is impossible to please God without faith.” So here we are, walking around with a reasonable amount of doubt, feeling like failures. Gosh, God must be really disappointed in you right now, huh? Actually, no. Your struggle to believe and your wrestling with seeing God’s miraculous works in your life aren’t a failure of faith. This is the PROCESS OF FAITH! You don’t have to run from this – lean into this. If you currently find yourself in this place of believing in Jesus and his miracle working power, but questioning if his miracles will ever show up personally for you, you’re in the middle of the faith process. This is a beautiful place to be. Faith invites Jesus’ healing. It was the faith of the leper that Jesus declares brought his healing. Jesus said it was the faith of the mother that brought healing to her daughter. It was the faith of the friends that brought healing to the paralyzed man. Jesus said it was the bleeding woman’s faith that delivered her healing. Did they still have a reasonable amount of questioning? before their miracle Probably. Did they wrestle with dismissing themselves thinking they weren’t worthy of approaching Jesus for healing? You bet. Were they running through a hundred scenarios in their mind of ‘what if this doesn’t work’ as they reached for Jesus? Of course. How do I know? Because every single one of these recipients of a miracle were human. They believed, but at the same time they doubted. Why? Because their faith was in process. Faith causes you to reach for the hem of Jesus’ robe. Faith causes you to cry out for help. That is pleasing to God. Doubt is not the opposite of faith. Doubt is wrestling with all that you believe and not understanding some things. My friend, maybe that’s what you need to hear today – it’s okay that you don’t understand this. It’s okay that you’re still wrestling with some questions. It’s okay that at times you still struggle to believe Jesus would ever personally get involved in your struggles. It’s okay to wrestle it out with those thoughts of things never changing for you. This is your process of faith. Sometimes we fail to see just how patient God is with us. He doesn’t expect you to be some superhuman who never struggles. Girl, he knew you wouldn’t be perfect – that’s why you need Jesus. His personal involvement in the details of your life and his miraculous power working in you are not dependent on superhuman faith – even a little mustard seed of faith will do. A faith that is still growing. A faith that is still struggling. A faith that knows he can, but sometimes questions if he will. Your little tiny seed of faith calls Jesus to show up for you! Let him have those doubts and questions – you don’t have to hide those from him (as if you could anyway.) He wants to show up for you in the middle of your struggle to believe. Have you ever read the story of the desperate father who struggled to believe Jesus? A man who confessed his doubts. A man who just didn’t know if Jesus would in fact heal his son the way he had heard about him healing others. Let’s read it together today and see what Jesus has for us! Mark 9: 17-29: One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, “Teacher, I brought my son so you could heal him. He is possessed by an evil spirit that won’t let him talk. 18And whenever this spirit seizes him, it throws him violently to the ground. Then he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn’t do it.” 19Jesus said to them, “You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.” 20So they brought the boy. But when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the child into a violent convulsion, and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth. 21 “How long has this been happening?” Jesus asked the boy’s father. He replied, “Since he was a little boy. 22The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.” 23 “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.” 24The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!” 25When Jesus saw that the crowd of onlookers was growing, he rebuked the evil spirit. “Listen, you spirit that makes this boy unable to hear and speak,” he said. “I command you to come out of this child and never enter him again!” 26Then the spirit screamed and threw the boy into another violent convulsion and left him. The boy appeared to be dead. A murmur ran through the crowd as people said, “He’s dead.” 27But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet, and he stood up. 28Afterward, when Jesus was alone in the house with his disciples, they asked him, “Why couldn’t we cast out that evil spirit?” 29Jesus replied, “This kind can be cast out only by prayer.” Who were the faithless people? The people in the crowd who were arguing over the disciples failure to heal this boy. The faithless was NOT the father. The father believed, but he honestly struggled with some natural unbelief. How did Jesus respond to this natural measure of unbelief? HE HEALED HIS SON! Did Jesus wait until this father overcame all his doubts and questions? Did Jesus’ miracle depend on him understanding and fully expecting his son to be healed? No. It wasn’t about the father’s questions. It wasn’t about the father’s lack of understanding. It wasn’t about the father’s ability to perform or be perfect. It was about his need being brought to Jesus in an imperfect way during his process of faith. And Jesus responded to his little bit of faith, his believing that sometimes struggled with unbelief, his human nature to question that which he couldn’t understand – AND HIS SON WAS HEALED. What I see here is someone like you and I. Someone with a reasonable amount of doubt at times. Someone with an imperfect faith that believes, but still has unbelief. Someone NOT disqualified from the miracles of Jesus. Because even a little faith moves mountains. A little faith reaches for Jesus with one hand while still having a whole lot of questions in the other hand. A little faith says, “Jesus, help me if you can” – all while nothing is impossible for God. A little faith believes, but needs help overcoming your unbelief. And Jesus responds to that little faith. This man was not denying Jesus. He believed in Jesus. He believed in Jesus’ power to heal. But he simply didn’t know if Jesus would truly heal his son. His son who had been tormented by sickness because of an evil spirit. His son who had suffered since he was a little boy. Would Jesus move for him with his imperfect faith? His statement of “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief” is the beginning of faith. The beginning of faith is recognizing where you’ve lacked faith. The beginning of faith is holding belief in one hand and questions in the other. The beginning of faith is tiny, and it is powerful! You’re in the process of building faith. That’s what your questions mean. That’s what your unbelief at times shows. You’re growing in faith – and that is radically pleasing to God. Jesus can and will respond to your little seed of budding faith. Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamela Or Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pamela.crim Find out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com

God has faith-filled spaces waiting for you that you could never reach alone. There are divinely appointed places for you, but you cannot walk there on your own. Only God can call you there. Only God can enable that walk. If you’re trying to get there on your own, you will fail miserably. If you’re […]

Sometimes God’s plan has us waiting. His timing is not our own timing. But know this, when it is God’s time, then it’s quick time! The very thing that was not happening in all the years before just starts happening! I know something about waiting. On the other side of a 7 year wait I […]

Today, we will look at the story of Jesus’ first miracle. Do you know what his first recorded miracle was? He turns water into wine at a wedding. Isn’t that crazy? That’s where he decides to reveal his power first? That’s always confused me – but there is so much dept to this miracle and […]

We may not understand the story we’re living today. But we haven’t reached the end of the story yet. God’s not finished writing the story of your life – chapter by chapter, it’s still unfolding and God knows exactly how he will divinely guide those chapters to his glorious ending. Life is so hard to […]

Is Jesus our healer? Absolutely? Is any sickness, any disease, or any disability out of his reach and beyond his power? No – nothing. Not even death. But, here’s what we often miss – there’s something even greater to be healed of. Something more important. Something much bigger. Have we forgotten that Jesus healed us […]

Someone listening is questioning if they could ever be enough for God. They’re afraid if they really give God their heart, something bad will happen – so they hold back. You’re exhausted from the yo-yo living – the ups followed by the hard downs. Feelings of shame, regret, guilt, of being unworthy and unseen. And […]

We are united as girls who dare to believe Jesus when he said, “Anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done.” Maybe we don’t understand why us or how us, but this is the part where we believe what we cannot see and we cannot understand. We believe in Jesus, […]

So, where are you from? Where do you claim citizenship? Wherever your citizenship is, is where you belong. You may travel other places, but home is always where your citizenship is. Think about how where you are from has made a radical difference in your life. How different you would be if you were from […]