LUKE 22:17 (MSG) | Taking the cup, [Jesus] blessed it, then said, “Take this”...

MEDITATION

I sat on the edge of my bed, tears streaming down my face as God gently said to me, “Take this cup.”

“Really, God? Is this really the cup you have for me, for my family? No. This can't be the cup. I don't know if I can drink from it, how to drink it!” my heart cried out.

My husband, Julio, and I had been in Caracas, Venezuela for five days.

It was an exploratory trip.

LUKE 13:34 (NASB) | "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it!"

MEDITATION

MATTHEW 18:3,5 (NIV) | Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven … And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

MEDITATION

Six years ago, if you had told me that God was going to send our family from Japan to Cambodia, I probably would have laughed in shock. I was a proud missionary wife and mom who felt quite accomplished in ministry. And to be honest, I was so confident in my own ability that I rarely sensed the need to stop and ask for Heaven’s help during the day.

MARK 6:1-6 (ESV) | He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.

LUKE 11:13 | …How much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

MEDITATION

LUKE 5:1-11 (NIV) | … Jesus sat in [Simon’s] boat and taught the crowd. When he finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Push the boat out further to the deep water, and you and your partners let down your nets for a catch.” “Master,” Simon answered, “we worked hard all night long and caught nothing. But if you say so, I will let down the nets.” They let them down and caught such a large number of fish that the nets were about to break … When Simon Peter saw what had happened, he fell on his knees before Jesus and said, “Go away from me, Lord!

LUKE 10:2-3, 21 (NIV) | Jesus told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves … I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.”

MEDITATION

JOHN 3:27-30 (NIV) | John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven… The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less.”

John the Baptizer made quite a splash. His ministry had ripples that were carrying across the countryside. We’d probably even say his work was movemental—crowds came to him in the desert and turned back to God, even outsiders like the tax collectors and Roman soldiers.

Luke 2:10 (ESV) | And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”

MEDITATION

LUKE 2:30-32 (NLT) | “I have seen your salvation, which you have prepared for all people. He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel!”

MEDITATION