Pure Religion

Yesterday I saw the heartbeat of Jesus. I encountered what our God calls as pure and faultless religion.

At work yesterday I was asked to deliver some food to a very elderly woman that was unable to come in herself for the food. So I got the directions, and arrived at the house. From the outside of the house it looked as if no one lived there. The lights were off, the house bare from any signs of activity, and as if no one had been there in a while. I proceeded to the door, and the door was opened by a very petite, elderly woman struggling to keep herself balanced without hanging onto her nearby walker. She welcomed me in without even seeing or asking why I was there. We spoke for only a few moments, and then I left. All that was within me wanted to stay with this woman. This woman that has a story, that so few probably take time to stop and listen to. And this woman who sits in her house all alone, left with the memories of years before. As I drove away, I heard the Holy Spirit whisper deep within my spirit, "this is pure and faultless religion, to look after widows and orphans in their distress." It took my breath away, not because I hadn't heard it before, but because I had always taken the orphans seriously, but never the widows. I was compelled. It brought so many thoughts into my mind, as I thought about the way so many of us view the elderly. So many of us tend to overlook them, look down, or even ignore. The very generations that came before us, and could teach us from their own life's and mistakes we choose to not to take time to even stop and listen.

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.." James 1:27


Pure and faultless, means without spot, perfect. Isn't that what we as followers of Jesus are ultimately living for? To be like Jesus- Holy. Pure. Perfect. But as much as we know we will never reach that kind of perfectness inside ourselves, we should never stop striving every day to be just like Jesus. Pure. Faultless.

My heart is hopeful as I think about what we as a church would really look like today if we applied and lived out this verse in our lives. Wouldn't the way unbelievers look at us change? Wouldn't they be able to see Jesus clearly because we are living and breathing Jesus' heartbeat- the very way of life He calls as pure and faultless.I pray in faith that as you read this God opens your eyes to the orphans and widows around you. That you would see orphans don't just exist in third world countries, but in your very own town. One thing Jesus deeply taught and placed in me as I came back to America in May was that the United States is full of orphans. Adults, and children that don't call God their heavenly Daddy. Thousands of hurting, abused, neglected children that are not heard. They are there.
Ask Jesus to open your eyes to see them.

Be ready to love without giving up.

Decide to be like Jesus.


I am making a choice. I am deciding to not look back. I want to know Jesus' heartbeat every hour of every day of my life. I am stepping forward. I am falling on my face before Jesus.

Jesus, I can't do this without You. You are the reason I live this way. You are the very reason I exist and am. This life is Yours.
To You be all Glory, honor and praise.

My Mission

This is the mission God has given me and placed so passionately in my heart-

The Spirit of the Sovereign and Supreme LORD is on me,because the LORD has consecrated me to sacred duty.

To speak publicly of the good news to the poor and humble.

He has commissioned me to bind up the shattered, violated, and brokenhearted.

To proclaim freedom without cost for the captives and release from darkness the prisoners in confinementphysically and spiritually.

To proclaim the year of the LORD's kindness, and they day of punishment for sin.

To comfort all who mourn, and provide for those in deep anguish in Zion.

To give them a crown of victory and beauty instead of humiliation, the oilof joy and pleasure instead of sorrow and grief, and a garment of worshipinstead of spirit of despair and failure.
They will be called of trees of divine righteousness, an establishmentof the LORD, for the display of His Glory.

The one He loves

What if someone loved you because it was the very reason they lived.Their very being was consumed, obsessed with you. They loved you without reason. This love was strong. Measureless.
I want to know my Jesus so intimately. I want to love him more each day. I want to know His love more each day.I want to sit at his feet, and place his dusty, beautiful feet against my face and feel the skin of the one who passionately pursues me each day. I want to lean my head on his chest and feel his heartbeat. The heartbeat that is consumed with me every second. I want to soak in his presence, gazing into the eyes of him who calls me beloved. I want to hear his voice that is filled with justice, yet unyielding compassion. I want to know his heart as if it was part of my own. I want to kneel down before him and soak in his beauty and holiness. I want to be held in his arms and listen to him sing over me with amazement at his creation.I want to know my Jesus the way John did. I want to be known as the one that Jesus loved.