The Modern Day Good Samaritan

As I was reading the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-35) a couple of months ago, the Holy Spirit allowed for me to see the relevance of the parable in an entirely new, convicting light. I hope that you are able to experience His desires for the love that we demonstrate to those in our realm of influence through this post!

Check out this scripture in Luke 10...

²⁹ But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” ³⁰ Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. ³¹ Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. ³² So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³ But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. ³⁴ He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵ And the next day he took out two denarii^[c] and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ ³⁶ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” ³⁷ He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

I've read this passages many times before but it wasn't until recently that I felt a challenge in the way that I view the hurt of those around me and the love that I demonstrate to those who are hurting. Now here we see a man who was robbed, stripped of his clothing, beaten, and left for dead (vs. 30). Can you imagine riding along your street and seeing a man in this condition? Can you imagine seeing this man and driving along as if you saw nothing at all like the priest and the Levite (vs. 31-32) did? I'm sure you would at minimum call the police if you saw a scene like this. I'm sure in this situation, most of us would do SOMETHING (our natural instinct to help would kick in) to help the hurting, dying man.

But what do you ACTUALLY do when you see people in this situation? No, we may not ever see a man literally beat up and dying on the side of the street but what we do see often are people who are beat up and wounded spiritually and emotionally. We do know people who are oppressed by the tactics of the enemy of their soul (John 10:10) who are in need of the love of Christ that liberates and sets free. We know people who are living life without any regard for God, we know people who are mean and difficult to love because the light of Christ is not fully filling their hearts, we know people who make bad decisions because they are being led by their own desires instead being led by Christ, and we know people who are selfish and prideful. It may be a friend, it may be a co-worker, it may be a church member, it may be a family member, or it may be a stranger. The point is this, though we don't always see people who are physically beaten up, we regularly see people who are spiritually and emotionally beat up. The pain has been shaped by their life experiences and insecurities, it has been shaped by the distorted truth that the enemy has told them about themselves, it has been shaped by their disappointment in the people in their lives, etc. And Jesus is giving the lawyer who is challenging Him (and all of us) this as an example of how he expects us to love our neighbor.

In order for us to see the relevance of this passage for our life we must first realize this:

The Word of God is The final authority!

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness

Jesus isn't just talking to the lawyer who is challenging Him in this scripture but He has something for all of us to see, understand, and apply. Every part of the bible is meant to communicate something about God's love and His desire for His children. So we have to ask ourselves, when Jesus is talking about love here, what is he saying about the way that he desires for us to love? I've surmised the following:

A few tips on how to be a Modern Day Samaritan (And love The wounded):  

1. Call for Help: When we become aware that we have a friend, co-worker, family member, acquaintance, or stranger that is wounded we must call on The Lord for help. We need God's help to intervene in their situation, we need God's help to give us the strength and wisdom to love them in a supernatural way (let's be real, we don't always feel like loving people selflessly).

2.   Pray for a Compassionate Heart: It's so easy to have a hard heart. It's easy to dwell on how jacked up a person is, how much help they need, and focus on their issues. It takes a compassionate heart to see past a person's actions and love them anyway. One of my favorite preachers, Chip Ingram (livingontheedge.org), said it best: "As Christians, we have to see past a person's actions and behavior to their need and eternity". What a challenge?! And this challenge can only be met by a righteous, holy, perfect God who allows for us to share in His character through the power of His Holy Spirit that He has sent to live inside of our hearts.

3. Total Dependence on God: It's not easy but necessary! Unlike learning from people who can teach us how to do something that we can master, we never become completely competent in loving people. We have to look to God for guidance, humility, and strength when it comes to loving others in the way that the Good Samaritan did. It takes a lot of prayer and a continually recognition of your weakness in light of God's strength.

So, who in your world is wounded? Who in your world needs an extended hand of love and grace? How will you respond? Hopefully you're challenged to respond in love and see the person through the lens of Christ (their need and eternity) and not see them only through a carnal lens. It's not easy, but God didn't promise that it would be; He did promise to help those who seek Him.

I love you but God loves you so much more!

With love,

Kristin Sarai

I met this man in Italy…

It has been such a long time since I have written a blog post but my recent trip to Italy has given me a burst of inspiration. I couldn’t pass up this opportunity to point glory to my Father in heaven for the wonders of His hands.



My cousin Princess! Love this chick!

Firstly, let me say that one of my closest cousins (Princess Major) practically made it possible for me to take a wonderful trip to Italy. I’m forever thankful for the love that she has demonstrated to me, I owe this girl 1 million euros! Lol Seriously, nothing moves the heart like the love demonstrated in sacrifice. Sacrificial love is the foundation of God’s love for humanity so to see it human-to-human is like a piece of heaven. Thanks P! Love ya girl!

So…on to the story à

Last Wednesday my cousin and I departed for Milan, Italy for an exciting adventure (and what an adventure it was)! I’m going to save the details of the trip for another post to prevent this post from being exhausting. The main point of this post is to tell about the amazing man that I met in Milano, Italia. I spent Thursday and Friday in Milan exploring the city, tasting the food, shopping, sightseeing, etc. On Saturday morning we checked out of the hotel and flew to Rome for a day (which was a GREAT time!) to do some sightseeing. The Roman experience was amazing; seeing that much history at one time was absolutely breath-taking! On Sunday morning we flew back to Milan. Upon arriving we checked into the fabulous Park Hyatt Milan, located just minutes from the number one tourist attraction in Milan, Italy, The Duomo di Milan (or the Milan Cathedral in English).

The Duomo di Milan

NOTE (About Duomo): The Duomo is the 5^th largest cathedral in the world and took nearly 6 centuries to complete (construction began in 1386 and was completed in 1805). This place is a BIG deal in Milan. It is guarded by military and visitors must adhere to specific rules and regulations to enter.

 

As the hotel receptionist walked us through our room she mentioned that there were flowers waiting for me on the table. I looked over to find a beautiful bouquet of sunflowers (my favorite) and to my amazement they were from my love! I was absolutely blown away that he had found a way to send me flowers all the way in Italia! It made my heart melt that he had been so thoughtful and intentional. It was extra special because just the night before, while riding a crowded train to my hotel in Rome, someone picked my pockets and took ALL of my euros (now I must admit, though I was being careful, It was unwise of me to have all of my money in one location). When I realize that my money was stolen I had an unusual and overwhelming sense of peace. I told my cousin that

The most beautiful sunflowers ever!
Rick had them waiting at my hotel in
Milan upon my arrival! xo

I felt like the Lord was very close to me and was telling me “It’s ok daughter. I am not caught off guard, I knew this would happen. I gave you the money in the first place and I only allowed for your money to get stolen for my glory. This is for my glory! I will give you the money back, plus more. You are my daughter, my prized possession and I have you in the palm of my powerful right hand”. I felt so close to God at that moment! I had so much joy in my relationship with God. I was reminded that the world can take everything away from me, even down to my life, but they cannot take away my joy in Christ and my relationship with the one true God. My spirit was on fire within me. I was also reminded of my purpose; my call to help others experience relationship with Christ so that they could experience the joy that does not depart. While I live, God is with and for me so no matter what circumstances occur, I am taken care of; and if my very life is taken, I still win because I will be with God, my Lord, my savior, and the lover of my soul. It is a WIN no matter what happens. Anywho, I say all that to say that the flowers from my Boo Bear was a pleasant surprise and even more meaningful considering the circumstances of the day prior.

After checking in, my cousin kept talking about the Duomo and wanting to go to the top to take pictures (even though she is deathly afraid of heights! LOL) so we decided to go up and do just that. At the top of the Duomo you can overlook the entire city of Milan. You take an elevator up but to get to the very top you have to go up about 20 steps. So, we rode the elevator up and just before we got to the steps P said that she was scared to go up but asked me to go and capture pictures for her. I refused to go without her so we left and went back to the room to get ready for dinner. As we were walking back out to find a place for dinner I noticed this guy that looked just like my love; then I noticed that he was looking at me, and smiling at me; then I realized that IT WAS HIM!! You can imagine my confusion! As far as I knew, he should have been in Atlanta, preaching at His friend’s church (I had been praying for him all morning that he would deliver the word with clarity! Ha!).

So romantic!

I asked question after question about why He was in Italy, how long he had been there, and how he got there, just trying to make sense of what I was experiencing (none of which he answered). We walked back to the Duomo (me still in a totally confused and shocked state) and took the elevator up; Princess was behind us capturing pictures. As we got to the steps and went to the very top I noticed that Rick seemed to know all of the security guards in the entire Duomo (also confusing for me).

This is when my life changed forever…

He lead me to the platform at the very top of the cathedral (which security had cleared off for his use) and shared with me how much he loved me, how much joy that I’ve brought into his life, how this was the biggest moment in his 30 years of life, how I was his best friend and his rib, how God had planned for us to be together

The most beautiful ring I've ever seen! My
love did an excellent job! Feminine and
classic with a vintage feel! Inscribe on the
inside is Songs of Solomon 4:9-
"You have captivated my heart, my
bride; you have captivated my
heart with one glance of your
eyes, with one jewel of your necklace."

since before the foundation of the earth (and many other things that I didn’t remembered because of my shock. I had Rick to tell me what he said again later LOL), and he got on one knee, presented me with the most gorgeous ring that I have ever seen in my life, and asked if I would be his wife. As I exclaimed a tear-filled YES, I had to express thanks to God who gave me a wonderful man, who protected us until the point that we met on January 12, 2012 (we met as I was leading a LifeGroup bible study at my house. It was the first session that I hosted and I was nervous. He literally knocked on my door the first time we met; it's amazing knowing that God had already planned this moment even then), who guided us into relationship on April 14, 2013 (after Rick called me and asked me to fast and pray with him about the direction of our friendship), and who graced us on Sunday, October 27, 2013 to publicly declare our love and commitment to one another. After the proposal the Italians who were on the top  

side view of my ring- Tacori makes the most
feminine and beautiful rings!

of the cathedral with us began to cheer and sing a cultural song of celebration to us; it was absolutely beautiful!

  
 


I am forever thankful for Rick’s heart for me, for his love and respect of me. I’m thankful for his commitment to God and his commitment to love me as God desires. I’m so blessed to be able to marry my soul mate, my best friend, and the man that God created just for me. Meeting him and being in relationship with him makes my life make so much sense. Every experience and every piece of the story of Kristin Major has been shaping me for him. I am a better woman because of his love. I look forward to being his wife, his helper, to serving and loving him, and to helping him achieve everything that God desires for his life to accomplish. Rick is the best man that I’ve ever met in my life (not to include my wonderful father, brothers, and uncles; that's a totally different vantage point); I respect and admire him tremendously. And next year, I look forward to committing to him in Holy Matrimony.

I met Rick soon after making a decision to get off of the fence (living for God part-time and living according to my own desires and volition part-time) and give God 100%; to put all of my eggs in His basket. At that point, God exceeded my every expectation with Rick and gave me a true treasure in him.

I met this man in Italy, and He made my dreams come true.

The day after our engagement, in front of the Duomo di Milan; where it all went down!

If I could tell you one thing it would be to give your life completely to God. His sole purpose of creating you was to bless you and love you; He wants to give you the desires of your heart (once you allow for His desires to become your desires). The common misconception is that God wants to give you something that you don’t want, that maybe he wants to make your life miserable and boring. But I am here to proclaim that the adverse is true! He LOVES you and wants to give you the best that He has to offer. God told me in 2011 that He wanted to use my life to prove “God’s way does STILL work”. And I can truly say that I am a living testimony of that truth. I haven't had to disrespect my savior or my body, I haven't had to compromise in anyway, I haven't been restricted from being who God created me to be. There is freedom in true love. Rick esteems me and protects me not only physically but also spiritually (by not asking me to or allowing me to compromise). I know that this love can only be produced by God.

I pray that my story encourages you to trust God more, to experience real relationship with Him (not merely church, but real relationship with the living God). May God bless each of you and keep you, and cause His face to shine upon you!

Here we go...Team Fields!

The beginning of the sweetest story ever told. Rick and Kris

With love,

Soon-to-be Mrs. Kristin Fields

XO  

 

P.S. – It seems that everyone knew that Rick was planning to surprise me in Italy except for me. I’m impressed that my friends and family kept the secret so well. Bravo!

Also, I later found out that Rick arrived in Milan just 1 day after me. I’m blown away!

The Epidemic: "Baptized but NOT saved" (Part 1)

It truly is an epidemic! Baptized but NOT saved; a tactic that the enemy uses to deceive people to believe that by an emotionally charged journey to the altar at church, saying a prayer, and being baptized, they are now saved and in right standing with God. Now, i'm not saying that people don't come down to the altar and make a sincere decision about Christ, but I am saying that many people have an inaccurate view of the "why" and "how" of salvation and how to "grow" in relationship with Christ. Unfortunately, It's one of those foundational blocks of the Christian faith that is not given the needed emphasis or presented often enough for people to have a clear understanding. My goal over the next few post (with the help of God) is to help individuals understand what it means to truly be a Christian.

 I serve on the Decision Counseling ministry at my church; this is the ministry that assists people who have made a decision to accept Christ as Lord and Savior of their life. I also try to be intentional about sharing the love of Christ with people by sharing the gospel with them and offering relationship with the living God. The single most common thing that I hear when people tell me that they are saved is "I was baptized when I was (insert age here); i'm saved." When I ask those same people about the change that they experienced when they received Christ they can't offer anything. When I ask them about the contrast of their life before Christ and after Christ they can't offer anything. When we take a look at reality of if they live their lives as GOD teaches or as THEY DESIRE, the favor is in THEIR side. This is the devastating reality of what I come across 85% percent of the time. This breaks God's heart because He is very protective of His glory and if people are living lives that are contradictory to what God commands but yet they are calling themselves Christians; then God is being misrepresented. Sure, we will all sin and fall short, but our commitment as Christians should be that we are daily becoming more and more like Christ by allowing HIM to transform our hearts and our lives. This doesn't just happen by osmosis, it takes intentionality.

Another phrase that I often hear when asking people about their salvation is, "I'm saved, I grew up in the church". This is yet another tactic that the enemy uses to convince us that we are right with God. We go to church RELIOUSLY but see no evidence of God's power displayed in our lives. There is little difference between our life and the life of those who are unbelievers. So many find comfort and security in their relationship with God (or lack thereof) because they ritually attend church and avoid what they deem as the "major sins". God is clear that true relationship with him causes a HEART/LIFE CHANGE! I'd venture to say that unless your life looks different after Christ (meaning that your desire for righteousness is increasing, your taste for sin is decreasing, and evidence of that is displayed in your life), you must take a deep look at if you ever truly accepted Christ in the first place. The book of 1 John has a great deal of information that will help one to determine if they are truly in relationship with God (I'll cover some of that soon but for starters, you can read it in a version of your choosing that is simple to understand).

Now why am I so passionately talking about this? Is it to point out this epidemic just for the sake of it? Absolutely not! My goal is to help people have an understanding of the danger of claiming relationship with God without truly being involved in that relationship. That is damaging to the Kingdom of God and an extremely dangerous position for an individual to take. In the next few post I would like to walk through some ways that the bible clearly teaches us in identifying that if we are truly in relationship with Christ.

While salvation is a free gift given to us by God through Jesus Christ, it is more than just saying words; it is submitting to a heart change and committing to growing in the knowledge and righteousness of Christ. We don't have the ability to do it in our own strength, but by relying on the power of the Holy Spirit given to us through Christ Jesus at the point of salvation, we can truly experience what it means to have abundant life in Christ (John 10:10).

I pray over the next few post I am able to help you or someone that you know see what God truly desires for us as His children. His love is unfailing and unrelenting and he desires TRUE relationship with you today. Come back and join me for more on understanding what it means to be a born again child of God.

I love you all, but Jesus loves you SO much more!

Kristin Sarai  

The Stage of Life: God HATES pride

 

 

I’ve always considered myself to be kind, sweet, giving, and humble. I’ve always been the type to shy away from receiving praise from people because I recognized arrogance as a characteristic that I hated in other people. I was comfortable thinking, “I have many areas where I need God's transformative power and molding but pride is NOT one. Recently, I was slapped in the face with the truth (God has a way of illuminating in your heart the truth of who you are and who He wants you to be); I DO have an issue with pride and I DO need God to transform my heart further in that area.

We always think of pride as arrogance, conceit, or bragging but another form of pride that often goes unchecked among Christians is self-dependence. Pride is also putting confidence in yourself to run your life. I know this may sound crazy because we live in a culture that constantly tell us that independence is respectable, it should be desired, and it’s the best way to prove that you have what it takes.

I enjoy acting (though it's not something that I have the opportunity to do often) and my favorite part of the process is hearing the director's vision for the play. What's the story line?, what message does the director want to send to the audience?, what will my role add to the big picture?, etc. But can you imagine if I walked into rehearsal with no lines and no defined role and started doing whatever I wanted to do? What if I made up the parts myself and expected everyone else to get on my page. I mean, what's the big deal? I'm have a vision for my role too, why can't I just do what I want to do?

The sad reality is that many people approach life in this way. We have a director (God) who has written the story of our lives, who has given us a role (purpose), and has personally agreed to help us learn how to play our role but yet we hit the stage and do what we want to do instead of yielding to the vision that was already set (in God's case, it was set before the foundation of the earth).

One thing that I’m learning more and more in my Christian walk is this; anything that we attempt to do outside of God is a path to destruction. We did not create ourselves, we don’t know what the plans for our lives are (outside of what God clearly tells us is His plan for all of His children), but far too often we set our hands to making decisions about our lives and playing our own director. Let's look at a scripture in James 4 and see what we can take from this: 

⁶ But He gives us more and more grace (^[a]power of the Holy Spirit, to meet this evil tendency and all others fully). That is why He says, God sets Himself against the proud and haughty, but gives grace [continually] to the lowly (those who are humble enough to receive it).

⁷ So be subject to God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him], and he will flee from you.

⁸ Come close to God and He will come close to you. [Recognize that you are] sinners, get your soiled hands clean; [realize that you have been disloyal] wavering individuals with divided interests, and purify your hearts [of your spiritual adultery].

⁹ [As you draw near to God] be deeply penitent and grieve, even weep [over your disloyalty]. Let your laughter be turned to grief and your mirth to dejection and heartfelt shame [for your sins].

¹⁰ Humble yourselves [feeling very insignificant] in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you [He will lift you up and make your lives significant].

 

So, it would take me several post to completely dig into this scripture but I'll share my key takeaways with you all.

 

1. Pride is our natural inclination: Our default is to trust ourselves to run our lives. I mean, most Christians that I know have a regular saying, "God knows best", but few Christians live life in a way that proves that they truly believe that. If we truly believed that, we would study His word and through His strength, do all of the things that He has instructed us to do therein. We would also depend on Him for leading our paths, decision making, and teaching us how to love like Him. We can only eliminate pride through allowing God to do the work IN our hearts.

2. God gives believers the Holy Spirit to overcome our pride with humility: God has given His children the Holy Spirit to rest in our hearts to liberate us from slavery to sin and pride. When we approach God with a sincere heart, desiring for Him to make us more like Christ, He promises that He will do the work within our lives. That's the whole point of the Holy Spirit (to be our helper, counseling, advocate, standby, and strengthener)

3. God explicitly HATES pride: Ummm how many times can I express that God absolutely hates pride. I dare you to do a many study on "How God feels about pride" and see just how serious He is about His disdain for it.

4. Recognize your need for cleansing: In order for God to transform you, you must: acknowledge your sin, recognize that you need saving, and recognize God as the source for the transformation (God is the solution). You must realize that there is nothing that you can do in your own strength. We can decide to have the life that is offered to us in Christ by submitted and allowing God to transform our hearts or we can continue to be self-dependent and always grasp at the life but never achieve it.

5. Get desperate for Him and draw near to Him: We spoke about the need for cleansing right?! Ok, this step is critical! We have to be desperate for it! Don't merely want it, but approach God in a "Look, I want to be like you, I want the character of your son Jesus Christ, and I will not stop pursing you until you change me". That may mean that you'll lose some sleep, you may miss some meals, you may be unavailable to family and friends during this process, but THAT desperation will move the hand of God and just as He promised, "As we pursue Him, He WILL pursue us".

6. God WILL exalt you and make your life significant:  This is where it gets GOOD! This is when we are truly experiencing the "abundant life" that God is offering His children. We see a shedding of our sinful nature and we start to look like Christ. We start to grow in the fruit of the spirit, we love better, we handle adversity better, we see visions of our future, we are walking in our purpose, we are living our life as an act of worship unto God, and because of that, he gives us His joy and peace. It's just SO good!

 

God is the perfect director, His vision is clear, His desire is to bring us to an expected end and give us abundant life in Him (John 10:10, Jeremiah 29:11). I hope that today you will renew your commitment to giving God full director responsibility and submitted to His vision for the role that you are to play. He won't give you a bad role but I promise, you'll create a bad role for yourself (even if it seems great initially). He loves you and he wants to constantly move you to a place where you are experiencing His love in a deeper way.

Prayer:

Lord, thank you for shedding a light on our hearts through Your word. Please forgive us of our sin and help us to turn away from them for they are many. Thank you for an understanding of how You feel about pride. We submit to your molding! Please remove pride from our hearts, remove our self-dependence and help us to trust You more. We trust that you know what is best for our lives, we trust that you will NOT let us down, and we trust that life in You is better than anything that we can do on our own. Have your way in our lives Lord, press your word upon our hearts, and make us more like your Son, Jesus Christ. Thank you for the promise that you will exalt us and make our lives significant. We believe you and we Love you! In Your Son Jesus name, Amen.

 

I love you all, but Jesus loves you SO much more!

XO,

Kristin Sarai

 

Introducing The REAL New Normal! New video webseries in collaboration with Tamiera McNeil with The Life For Less Ministries

Hi friends! It has been a while since I last wrote a blog but I've learned that there are some seasons in life where God will just overwhelm you with the way that he chooses to express His love and I am in that season now (oh how sweet it is)! I hope that today you are encourage to continue to pursue The Lord! As we pursue Him, he without fail pursues us just the same!

I want to take this opportunity to introduce to you a new video webseries that I am doing in collaboration with my dear friend and sister, Tamiera McNeil with The Life For Less Ministries. It is such a humbling experience to share what God has done in us with you! My prayer is that you have a fresh perspective and you are inspired to grow deeper and closer in relationship with Jesus Christ! He truly is standing there, waiting for you, with arms opened wide. I love you but Christ loves you SO MUCH MORE!

The REAL New Normal Webseries: Episode 1 Mary and Martha

XO,

Kristin Sarai

Check out my sister's ministry page, you're sure to be encouraged by it! I promise :) www.thelifeforless.com

The Necessity of Walking On Water: Faith over Fear

God has been pressing the scripture in Matthew 14 (where He and Peter walked on the water) for the last few days and actually when I consider it, the last few months. At first glance it seems like no more than a super cool story about something impossible being accomplished with little implication for the modern day believer BUT this scripture is jam packed with encouragement and implications for believers in the 21^st century!  Let’s see what we can pull out of this text!

²² Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. ²³ After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, ²⁴ and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

²⁵ Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. ²⁶ When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

²⁷ But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

²⁸ “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

²⁹ “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

³¹ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

³² And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. ³³ Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Ok so first it’s important for us to understand that absolutely everything that is written in the bible has purpose. God is a purpose-driven God; therefore, He desires to tell us a story about Him in everything.

Can you see it? The disciples have had a hard day and an amazing day all at the same time! They are tired (You’d have to read the entire chapter to capture this part)! John the Baptist has been murder in the worst way; they had a massive crowd show up (about 5,000) to be healed by Jesus and to listen to Him, they had been out there in the heat all day and they told Jesus “Send these people home so they can eat, it’s getting late” and Jesus responded “uhhh no, they are hungry but don’t shift responsibility…YOU FEED THEM”. They look at Jesus like he is crazy, “Master, we can’t possibly feed ALL of these people, we only have 2 little sardines and 5 loaves of bread!!” Then Jesus, full of swag responded “Perfect, bring me what you have and I’ll make the increase”. The disciples witness 5,000 people fed with more than enough food remaining afterwards (and they were able to take some ownership because Jesus used their hands as vessels to give the increase).

Ok that brings us to this point à the disciples on a boat after a long, difficult but exciting day of miracles. The waves are crashing around the boat and all of a sudden they see Jesus walking on the water (for some reason, we always get nervous when we see Jesus operating outside of our realm of understanding). Jesus told them “Take Courage! It is I! Don’t be afraid!” I imagine Jesus thinking “here we go again; they are acting like they’ve never seen me do impossible things before. Just today I allowed them to see 5,000 people be fed with just a little food yet they are still amazed. Ok, I will take this opportunity to confirm who I am to them once more.”

Peter cracks me up so much!! Do ya’ll see this dude’s response? “Lord forreal forreal, if that is really you then I bet you can’t make me walk on water!!” Jesus decides to oblige him here and tells Peter to come. I see myself in Peter and I can relate to what He was feeling. He steps out of the boat by faith and he’s doing it; He’s actually walking on the water! Then Peter takes His eyes off of Jesus and focuses on his circumstances. He starts to look at the waves and forgets to focus on Christ and that is the place where he begins to sink. But the good thing is that he has enough sense to call on Jesus for help. This next part is beautiful…

The scripture says, “Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught him”. Wow, what a loving father! If it were me, I may have let him sink a little bit more to teach him a lesson before I saved him (horrible, I know). But Jesus, like the gracious warrior and loving father that he is, IMMEDIATELY reached out His strong hand to save Peter. He also took an opportunity to give Peter a pep talk about trusting Him. When the other disciples saw what had happened they worshiped Jesus. Funny how our trials propel us to worship God right!

Worry ends where faith begins. It is critical that we take the limits off of God. God desires for us to walk on the proverbial water (walking on water for our context is allowing Him to do the impossible through our lives). What is it that God has called you to accomplish? God gives vision to each of His children and sustains our life so that we can do THAT. Often “that” can seem like an impossible task…to start a ministry, to build churches, to heal the sick, to give justice to the disenfranchised, to start a business, to share the gospel with a co-worker, to home school your children, to be a husband or wife that loves like Christ, etc. It can all seem overwhelming…as I imagine the waves crashing around Peter appeared. But thank God that His loving hands IMMEDIATELY lift us up as He did for Peter.

God desires for you to walk on water, to TRUST Him, to TRUST His character and His love. Once we step out we have to purpose in our hearts to not be moved by the circumstances that present themselves in our lives. We can’t become anxious because that is the point where we began to spiral out of control. Philippians 4:6-8 is a good scripture to plug in here.

Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (^[b]definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.

⁷ And God’s peace [shall be yours, that ^[c]tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall ^[d]garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

⁸ For the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them].

Peter forgot about this scripture in the instance where he saw the waves crashing. He became worried, concerned, anxious, and nervous (typical flesh response). God calls us to respond with spirit…and what gives us added benefit is that God’s very spirit lives within us. Peter had Jesus physically there with Him which can seem most comforting, but I’d argue that we are in a better position having the Holy Spirit LIVING inside of us.  It’s critical that we walk on water and walking on water begins with FAITH in the LIVING God, Faith in Who God Is and His Character, Faith in His Love (perfect love cast out fear and Christ IS love), and Faith in His sovereignty. Be encouraged friends…Look to Christ all of the time and follow the instructions in Philippians 4:6-8. God is chiseling down the layers of our humanity and building something beautiful…Himself within us. That is complete elevation. More to come next time!

With love,

Kristin Sarai XO

God as the Masseuse

This weekend I went to the spa to celebrate the birthday of one of my dearest friends. It had been far too long since the last time that I had a massage so I was extremely excited and anticipating the relaxation. As I comfortably positioned myself on the table the masseuse informed me that my back and shoulders were really tight. I’m no newbie to massages but this one was a unique experience because the Holy Spirit decided to minister to me right there on the spot (God is always prepared to speak to His children).

In my experience, the massages that have relieved the tension and made my body feel better were the ones that were uncomfortable during the process.  In simple, the masseuse adds additional pressure to areas that are tense in an effort to provide relief.  In order to endure the pain I have to breathe deeply and force my body to relax.  After a good massage I am usually sore for the rest of the day but on day 2 my body feels NEW, Relaxed, and Relieved.

Over the last week I have been faced with fear, anxiety, and doubt regarding personal things in my life and I’ve been jumping some spiritual hurdles as God requires greater faith and trust from me. Right there in the middle of my massage God took the opportunity to teach me how similar my relationship with Him currently is to what I was experiencing at the spa. 

He spoke this to my heart: “You came to me excited, eager to lay on my table and in full anticipation for an experience that would ultimately make you better.  You looked at my credentials and my track record of success and you stretched out before me in submission to me working on you to ultimately make you better (holy, righteous, set apart, Christ-like, patient, disciplined, loving, longsuffering, meek, patient, etc.).  I began to work on you; to work the toxins out of your life, to remove things that didn’t look like me from your heart, and to put my heart and character inside of you. I know, I know, it doesn’t normally feel good when I’m in the middle of working these out but just like with the massage, in those times you have to “breathe deeply (focus on my word and know that any pain that you are experiencing is out of my love for you – Romans 8:28), and force yourself to relax (by using the power of the Holy Spirit working inside of you).  I know just how much pressure that you can bare and because of my love for you, I will never allow that level to exceed.  As I am working out the issues you can have confidence knowing that this is ultimately for your good and out of my love for you and my desire to do my job as your father and savior in excellence.  Yes, you feel a bit sore immediately after I’ve made some critical changes and uprooted some deeply rooted issues but trust me, I replaced those things with something far better.  A day after our massage is over you will realize that you’re far better than you were before the process. You’re regenerated, you have more joy, and you feel like a new woman and guess what? You ARE! You are less like Kristin Sarai and more like Jesus Christ. So, the next time you lay on my table, don’t tell me to decrease the pressure, don’t complain about the tension, just rest in My peace knowing that I love you and every time that I am applying pressure it’s for your ultimate good and to bring you to your expected end. I love you more than life itself, so I stretched my arms out and died so that you would live.”

Once again, it’s amazing how God will shut down your little pity party and give you a way of understanding the way that He works. In 2013, God is still speaking in parables! LOL Today, I hope that you find encouragement in knowing that your sufferings (this is specific to people who are truly seeking to honor God with their lives in obedience) are God’s way of molding you into the image of Christ. He is near to you during the suffering and He will work it out for your good. Be encouraged!

With love,

Kristin Sarai