Jesus Lives Videotaping.

I'm finishing the editing for the Jesus Lives videos. I'm just so in awe of what God has done to bring this Bible study to life. I'm so grateful to everyone who played a role and participated in it. May God reach people with the truth of who His Son is and the Savior of the world. May He take it to the people that He wants to know Him!

In the World, not of It

In the World, not of It
By Shirley Mitchell

"My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth."
John 17:15-17

On Jesus' last night as a man on earth, He prayed fervently for His disciples and for all who would believe in Him through their message. He did not pray for us to be taken from the world to a safe place. Instead, He prayed for the Father's protection for us from the evil one. He prayed for us to not be of the world, just like He was not of it.

We are not to blend in with the world. Part of our identity in Christ is to be peculiar. We are not to participate in the gossip at our workplace. I remember when my friend Paige was a teenager. In regard to her stand against the peer pressure to watch certain movies, she said, "How can I possibly watch that movie and serve God?"

We must guard our minds against the world. We are to be in the world but not of the world. We can't silo ourselves from the world. Remember our God "so loved the WORLD that He gave His only Son" to it. He loves these people so we must love them, too. He hates the sin. He hates cultures where lawlessness abounds, violence invades, and immorality proliferates. If we don't guard ourselves, we will become just like them. The world will lure us and ensnare us.

I will never forget the first time I realized how many of the world's lies that I had bought. In my years of drifting far from God, I had bought everything that the world had to sell. My clothing, my lifestyle, my activities, and my attitudes toward relationships were all the world's opinions. When I learned I was pregnant with my first daughter, I returned to God realizing my desperate need for Him and longing to raise my child to know Him. I stopped watching all TV because I was barely surviving each day. My daughter kept me up all night with feedings, and I worked outside the home. However, I had been feeding on the Word of God, listening to every Christian preacher on the radio as I drove, participating in Bible study (not doing my homework completely but getting there!), and listening attentively to my preacher at church. After my daughter was about eight months old, I finally had settled into the mom role. Then I watched my favorite TV program, the number one show of that day. Within the first five minutes of the show, the Holy Spirit inside of me was grieved. I looked at the clothes the girls wore. I saw their callous attitudes toward sex. I was so saddened that I stood up, pointed my finger at the TV set, and said aloud, "That's a LIE!" I shook as I realized I had bought their entire way of life. I was very upset that I had been deceived to think they were so cute and so hip. I had bought into their beliefs that this was how a woman was to live.

This moment changed me. Now, I assess whatever I put in front of me. You and I must be alert to what we watch on television, listen to on the radio, read in magazines, and surf on the internet. We should ask ourselves, "Is this beneficial for me? Will this please God? Where will this lead me? Will this build me up and make me whom I desire to be in Christ? Can I share this with my Bible study friends?"

Beloved, can you describe a time when you blended in with the world or made a choice to be "peculiar?" Are you living like Jesus commanded us to live "in" the world and not "of" the world? I ask for both of us to allow the Holy Spirit access to even the most restricted places of our hearts and minds so He can reveal to us the areas of our lives where we need to make choices that clearly show we are not blended in but "peculiar" people who are set apart for God.

Pray with me: Oh, God, You are our God! We worship You and exalt Your Name. You are magnificent. You are the sweetest thing that we have ever known. Give us, Lord, the passion we need to be in the world but not of the world. Strengthen us. Make us courageous and unyielding to temptation. May we protect our eyes from the worldly things that we see. Make we cover our ears from ungodly things that we might hear. It's in the Name above all names, in Jesus' Name, Yeshua's Name, I pray. Amen.

Excerpt from the Jesus Lives Bible study
Copyright 2009 © Christ Compels

Late One Night

Late One Night
By Shirley Mitchell

"Late one night he visited Jesus and said, 'Rabbi, we all know you're a teacher straight from God. No one could do all the God-pointing, God-revealing acts you do if God weren't in on it.' "
John 3:2 (The Message)

Nicodemus was one of the Pharisees, a group of religious leaders in Israel. We met these leaders when we studied John the Baptist. They are easy to pick out of the crowd for they were the ones pointing their fingers and bearing the proud faces. They were the dry ones - physically and spiritually - too pious to accept the invitation of baptism by John. Nicodemus was a member of a group of 70 men who had given their lives to study and obey the Law of Moses and follow the traditions. He was a man of prominence, wealth, and power. He could have summoned Jesus to his home or addressed Him in the temple. However, he chose to come in the shadows of night.

Isn't it interesting that Nicodemus sought Jesus in the cover of night? Scholars conjecture many reasons why the visit was after darkness settled. Most Pharisees studied the Torah at night after a day's work in the temple. Or maybe he wanted a private conversation with Jesus' full attention and no interruptions. Or was it because he was too afraid of his peers and coworkers to be seen with Jesus? I think it was fear. I picture him looking over his shoulder to make sure no one was watching and pulling his prayer shawl over his head to conceal his face. I wonder if he sneaked past the Romans who guarded Jerusalem or if he had the influence to move freely.

I lived the first part of my life with a desire to keep my faith in Jesus to myself. In college, I was so embarrassed when my older sister placed a bumper sticker on my mother's convertible. The sticker said "Jesus Lives." She branded the most hip car that we ever owned in the family declaring to everyone that we were Christians. My, oh my, isn't it interesting how God can change a heart? Not only would I proudly have that bumper sticker on my car, I want it to be the neon sign of my life! How I long to use my frail mouth with His mighty Spirit to tell precious souls that Jesus really does live today.

Consider what Nicodemus was thinking that led him to visit Jesus. He watched the crowds as they listened to Jesus. He never held their attention like Jesus did. Jesus used simple words, but He taught with power. Nicodemus, Israel's teacher, had never performed one miracle. He had to visit Him and understand how this could be. It would be too bold, and possibly foolish, to talk to Him where the other guys could see.

He was drawn to Jesus because He knew that He was a teacher sent straight from God. No one could do the God-pointing, God-revealing acts Jesus was doing without God's involvement. Jesus was pointing the people to God! Jesus came to reveal God to man and to be His Messenger to us! Jesus replied to Nicodemus in verse 3 of the Message, "You're absolutely right."

Do you think he accepted Jesus as Savior as a result of this encounter? God's Word does not tell us directly. We can only guess by his actions. Nicodemus and Jesus met publicly soon after this private meeting. In John 7:45-52, Nicodemus stands up to the Pharisees who want to bring Jesus in because they think He has deceived the people about the Law. He plays it safe, sticks to the Law, and says, "Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?"

The third encounter helps us to be more certain about Nicodemus' faith. After Jesus died on the cross, Joseph of Arimathea, a secret disciple who feared the Jews, asked Pilate for His body. With Pilate's permission he took the body and prepared it for burial with Nicodemus. They brought myrrh and aloes and wrapped the body with strips of linen according to Jewish customs. Both men risked judgment by the religious leaders if it was revealed that they were followers of Jesus. Additionally, Jesus was crucified as a criminal and enemy of Rome. It was dangerous, but they were convinced of who He was and stood for the truth.

Aren't you proud of our shadow walker? His life was changed by the courage that it took one late night to come to Jesus. Later, he took a greater step of courage to risk his life to be involved with Jesus. He did it! Oh, precious one, may you and I be willing to risk something precious to us for the most precious thing in all life - Jesus! May no one be confused about our alliances. May it be evident to all who observe our lives that we believe in Jesus Messiah and live for Him!

Pray with me: Oh, God, we worship You! We exalt You. Give us the courage to seek You even though the crowd may not. Give us the desire to want to understand the deep things of You. May it be obvious whom we are in covenant relationship with. It's in the Name above all names, in Jesus' Name, Yeshua's Name, we pray. Amen.

Excerpt from the Jesus Lives Bible study

Copyright 2009 © Christ Compels

Stairway to Heaven

Stairway to Heaven
By Shirley Mitchell

"When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, 'Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.'
'How do you know me?' Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, 'I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.'
Then Nathanael declared, 'Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.'
Jesus said, 'You believebecause I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that.' He then added, 'I tell you the truth, youshall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.'
John 1:47-51

Jesus traveled from town to town preaching the good news of the kingdom of God. While He was in Galilee, He called Philip to follow Him. Philip found his friend Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote-Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." Nathanael questioned how anything good could from Nazareth.

From human eyes, Galilee seemed like the least likely place for a Messiah. It was the farthest province from the holy city of Jerusalem. Culturally, it was the most backward. Galileans were known as the country bumpkins. Nazareth was a small village in the hill country of Galilee. Scholars say the lack of respect by Nathanael was most likely due to an unpolished dialect, a lack of culture, and perhaps a lack of religiousness and morality.

In verses 50-51, Jesus makes a startling promise to Nathanael. He will see greater things than Jesus being merely able to see him under the fig tree. He told him that he would "see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

Jesus is making a direct reference to a story from the Old Testament. As a Jewish man, Nathanael would have known it very well. The story is from Genesis 28:12-15a when Jacob left his father's household after he deceived his father and stole his brother Esau's blessing. When he stopped for the night, he put his head on a stone and lay down to sleep. He had a dream "in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the LORD, and he said: 'I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go.' "

In Jacob's dream, the angels were ascending and descending on the stairway to heaven. Through Jacob's ladder, we have yet another picture of Jesus in the Old Testament. God gave Jacob the dream of the stairway to heaven symbolizing that His Son would sacrifice Himself on the cross for mankind, including you and me, hundreds of years later. Jesus would be the Gate to heaven. Jesus connected man to God and gave us access to the throne room of heaven. God promised Jacob in verse 14 "All peoples of earth will be blessed through you and your offspring." Indeed, all people were blessed. Every person no matter her race, class, or education can be saved if she will believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died for her sins, repent, and accept Him as her Savior. I am overwhelmed at God's desire to be accessible to mankind. He longs for us to use that ladder to approach Him, sister! Anytime, anywhere.Full access to the throne room.

Jesus promised Nathanael, one of His chosen, that he would see the fulfillment of Jacob's dream. Jacob never could have understood the full meaning of his dream. I understand why Scripture ends after the story Jesus told Nathanael. He must have been left with his mouth gaping open. The story his father had taught him since he was young was going to be fulfilled in front of him! He probably had visions of a royal coronation as Jesus overthrew the Roman rule over Israel with His throne set up and angels all around it. I am sure Nathanael never could have predicted the stairway to heaven would be a Roman cross. Neither would we. Oh, beloved, let's give God room to be unpredictable and to astonish us, too.

Pray with me: Thank You, Jesus, for being our stairway to heaven. You showed Nathanael so many great things. He was astonished that day, many days of the next three years, and the rest of the days of his life! We invite You to keep astonishing us, too. Show us greater things than You already have. Take us deeper with You. When will we ever stop thinking with our thoughts and begin to grasp Yours? Just as You saw Nathanael under the fig tree, You see each one of us. Nothing goes unnoticed. May we take comfort in this. Give us a hunger for Your coronation Day, King of Kings! It's in Your Name, Yeshua's Name, we pray. Amen.

Excerpt from the Jesus Lives Bible study

Copyright 2009 © Christ Compels

Dull, but Loved

Dull, but Loved
By Shirley Mitchell

"And He said, 'Are you also even yet dull and ignorant (without understanding and unable to put things together)?' "
Matthew 15:16 (Amp)

"One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him."

John 13:23

In John Mac Arthur's book Twelve Ordinary Men, he says that Jesus "chose to work through the instrumentality of those few fallible individuals rather than advance His agenda through mob force, military might, personal popularity, or a public - relations campaign." Jesus was not about using strategies to enlarge His group of followers. He did not use marketing techniques. He preached the truth, confronted the religious establishment, and focused on transforming individual lives.

The most amazing part of His strategy is that not only did He use twelve disciples who were not perfect, at times, they were difficult to tolerate. InLuke 8, the disciples wake up Jesus who is sleeping through the storm because they think they are going to drown. Jesus rebuked the wind and the raging waters, and the storm subsides. Then He asked them disappointedly, "Where is your faith?" In Luke 9, when Jesus comes down from the Mountain of Transfiguration with Peter, James, and John, the other nine disciples cannot cast the demon out of the boy - even though they had cast out evil spirits previously. Jesus said, "O unbelieving and perverse generation. How long shall I stay with you and put up with you?" Also in Luke 9, the disciples argued about who would be the greatest. Jesus tells them that whoever is the least will be the greatest. In Matthew 15 when the disciples do not understand the parable, Jesus asked them, "Are you still so dull?" In John 14, on Jesus' last night with them, Philip asked Him to show them the Father and that would be enough. Jesus answered him, "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father."

They were slow learners. They could be spiritually dense. They made mistakes. Their faith failed. They may have frustrated Him and abandoned Him when He needed them the most, but they were His disciples. And He loved them. They knew it. Above all other emotions, the prevailing one Jesus demonstrated to them was love.

The disciple John refers to himself by a title which underscores Jesus' prevailing attitude toward this group of frustrating men. He repeatedly calls himself, "the disciple whom Jesus loved" (John 13:23, John 20:2, John 21:7, John 21:20).

In a recently released movie, a man is recounting the love story of two young people to a lovely woman with Alzheimer's disease in a nursing home where they live. The man is her husband telling her the story of how they fell in love. Every day, he tells it to her in the hope that she will remember him for a few moments. The majority of the movie is scenes from their youth when they fell in love. However, by the end of the movie, the interesting part of the story is no longer the couple in their youth but the couple at the end of their days. The love of the elderly couple had built a life together, endured time, survived hardships, and the loss of physical and mental abilities. While the circumstances of their physical life had worsened, their love for each other had grown even deeper. The love between a man and a woman can be different from God's love in some ways. In other ways, it gives us a picture of God's heart for us and our response to His love. Usually, the love in movies is a dream. No person can love another like that! However, God can. He can love us better than our dreams.

John was taught much about love. He changed from one fighting to be the greatest to one who talked repeatedly about Jesus' love and loving each other. Decades after Jesus left, John still identified himself in his writings by the description meaning the most to him throughout his life - "the disciple whom Jesus loved." This love grew deep roots and invaded his entire being. This love endured time. This love deepened through the hardships. This love built a life together. This love defined who he had become.

Oh, precious one, do we really understand Jesus loves us this deeply, too? He wants His love and our love in return to grow deep roots. He wants this love between Him and you and between Him and me to invade our entire being. This love should sustain us through hardships. This love should build a life together. This love should define who I am and who you are. Does it? Has it invaded you? Is it shaping who you are becoming? Oh, how I pray that we let this love shape every part of our being.

Pray with me: Almighty God, thank You for loving us so much! We know that we can be frustrating at times. We know we can be slow, dull, and faithless. Thank You for being patient with us. Thank You for loving us more than we can imagine. May this love build a life together with You, define who we are, and last a lifetime. It's in the Name above all names, in Jesus' Name, Yeshua's Name, we pray. Amen.

Excerpt from the Jesus Lives Bible study

Copyright 2009 © Christ Compels

Light into the Darkness

Light into the Darkness
By Shirley Mitchell
Interview of Terri MacGregor
For more information go to: www.sonlightpower.org/tmacgreg

"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
John 8:12b

My very good friend Terri and I have studied the Bible together for years at work. We have laughed and cried together as God has revealed Himself to us through His Word. We also have been in the Lexington Passion Play which portrays Jesus' last days on earth. One year the director put us short girls on the front row, and we called it "praise row" because Terri and I truly love to worship Him and don't mind letting it show.

Through the process of getting her master's degree in engineering, God revealed to Terri her calling. She had been praying for years that God would use her engineering degree for His kingdom. God answered her by giving her the passion to bring electricity to some of the poorest people in the world through installing solar panels. God connected her to a non-profit ministry called SonLight Power that changes the lives of people in Central and South America as well as Africa. She went on her first solar mission trip to Honduras in June and is headed back in July. Terri said "This is the kind of thing I've always dreamed of doing. I really believe I am making a significant difference in someone else's life, and it feels great."

These people live in areas where there is not a supply of affordable electricity. I never realized how much having electricity impacts our lives in the USA and how much it hinders other people's lives in the quality of their medical care, in their education for their children, and in their everyday life. The people are not just poor in monetary terms, but they are poor in spirit. They have lost hope. Some of these places are the most spiritually dark places on earth. When Terri and the team arrived, they brought hope to them. They showed that they care about them by meeting their physical needs. It proved to the people that God loves them and opened the door for them to listen to the Gospel of Jesus Messiah.

With tears in his eyes, one father said of this ministry, "You have taken the machete out of my daughter's hand." His daughter has the opportunity to have a better life and to not toil in the fields. Terri went to one school where the children prayed every day for a year to have their school selected for a solar panel system. God answered their prayers by sending Terri's team. She went to a medical clinic that did not have a working refrigerator. Through her work, they are now able to keep life-saving medicines for the people.

When I think about many things that people are able to do in this physical world because of light, it makes the Scriptures come alive about what we have in the spiritual realm. Jesus said in John 8:12, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." A man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going (John 12:35). We are a royal priesthood called out of the darkness into His wonderful light and are commanded to live as children of the light (1 Peter 2:9 & Ephesians 5:8). We are to put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light (Romans 13:12).

Just like the people whom Terri is serving no longer have to live in physical darkness, believers were not intended to live in spiritual darkness where there is sorrow, oppression, despair, and sin. We are to live in the light. We are commanded to live as people who have received the blessings of the light. These people in Honduras are examples to us of what God has done spiritually for every Christian and what He longs to do for every believer. Because Jesus is the Light, we never have to walk in spiritual poverty and blindness again.

Pray with me: Oh, Jesus, You are the great light to people living in darkness (Matthew 4:16). We lift up Terri and the mission team traveling to Honduras this weekend. We pray for their protection from the enemy and from all harm. We ask, LORD, that You give them the eyes of Elisha to see into the spiritual realm and the wisdom and discernment so they can take action for whatever they encounter. May the people they are serving have their eyes opened to the Gospel. Lord of the harvest, send more workers to the harvest because the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. It's in the Name above all names, in Jesus' Name, Yeshua's Name, we pray. Amen.

Copyright 2009 © Christ Compels

Who Am I?

Who Am I?
By Shirley Mitchell

“Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and he said: ‘Who am I, O Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?...Is this your usual way of dealing with man, O Sovereign LORD?...How great you are, O Sovereign LORD! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you...”
2 Samuel 7:18, 19b, 22a

King David was known as a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14). He showed his passion for God in the many psalms of praise that he wrote. He showed his love for God when after all the years that he had to run from Saul, David is finally made king and lives in the palace. When David reflects on the fact that he is living in splendor, but the ark of God is in a tent, he decides to build a temple for the ark. The Word of the Lord came to Nathan that night changing their very good plan.

The Lord told Nathan that this bright idea was not His idea. Instead, God moved from place to place with a tent as His dwelling as long as His people were mobile. Then He said to David, “I took you from the pasture and from following the flock to be ruler over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men of the earth.” When David died, God would raise up his son to succeed him, and God would establish His kingdom. This son would build a house for God. Then He promises in verse 16, “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.”

Nathan told David this entire revelation. David went in and sat before the Lord. The Hebrew word gives the image of David on his knees, rolling back and forth. He prayed the prayer in today’s Scripture. I imagine he was quite shaken knowing that God had singled him out from the pasture, to be ruler, to know his son would be blessed to build the temple, and to be the head of a dynasty that would endure forever and ever. The first words out of his mouth were, “Who am I?” David was saying, “Why do I deserve this honor, Lord? I had no idea that God would ever relate to man like this. I am amazed.” I think David’s “Who am I?” moment was one of the greatest moments of his life.

One of the greatest experiences of my life was my “Who am I?” moment. The story begins when God orchestrated for my friend Pam and me to meet two women who became two of my best friends at a Cracker Barrel restaurant just south of Cincinnati after the popular Christian teacher Beth Moore’s speaking engagement called Living Proof Live (LPL). One of them, Carla, was going to be the event coordinator for the LPL event the following summer. These women combined with three other women to form the event planning committee. God glued these godly women together. Incredible friendships were formed that have endured the passing of time.

Carla asked me to write a 14-day devotional for the event. I had only written a few devotions for my church’s newsletter at the time. She trusted the Holy Spirit within me. I had to trust God to give me the words. God wrote every word on every page. It was a beautiful masterpiece because it showed how God can take the pen or control the keyboard to make sure His messages get communicated.

On the night of the actual event, the speaker Beth mentioned part of a devotion because she had done it herself. When Beth talked about it and she mentioned the story that I wrote about Sophia, I couldn’t believe she talked about my daughter and me in front of all those people! I just felt like David when he learned that God would bless his son with the honor to build his temple.

There were 18,000 women there who would have loved for Beth to read their devotions and mention them to such a large audience. Out of 18,000 women, He chose me. Nothing of what she said in the next minutes entered my mind. My thoughts were that I should run out of the arena to the preparation rooms in the back, fall on my knees, throw my hands up in the air, and exclaim, “Who am I?” like David did!

I felt like God pressed a soft hand to my head and told my spirit, “No child, you sit right there and listen to every word of this. You’ve prayed to hear my Word taught by Beth for over a year. You’ve led others in what to pray. It is time for you to let my Spirit fall on you. Take the honor I give to you and enjoy it.”

All I could think about was who am I? Who am I? What am I that God would bestow such an honor upon me and my family? God is so loving to deal with me this way! I deserved to be in broken pieces; yet, He put me back together and honored me. I am a sinner and the worst of sinners. My past is so ugly, and my reputation was so soiled.

Yet, in one moment, God showed me His pleasure with me. He bestowed upon me honor. He is incredible! He removes the shame of the repentant. He gives honor to those who have a heart for Him. Those who seek Him are blessed with riches that the world does not know. If you need this, also, Beloved, He can do it for you, too! Give Him everything you have, and He will give you 10-fold, 100-fold back and more. Fall passionately in love with Him and make Him everything in Your life. Then see how God showers you with His love.

Pray with me: Oh, Dear Heavenly Father, only You can bring us far from our destructive nature, remove our sins, and give us an honorable reputation. I ask that every person praying these words will have their “Who Am I” moment when You astound them and knock the breath out of them. May our faithfulness result in our loved ones being blessed by You. It’s in the Name above all names, in Jesus’ Name, Yeshua’s Name, we pray. Amen.

Copyright ©2009 Christ Compels