Matthew 28; 1 Thessalonians 1-3

Color me confused this morning………Agitator or drowning someone, holding them to....…
I don’t know…I need your healing help this morning Father….Please soften my heart to KNOW the difference…..soften my heart to YOUR direction……but I am thoroughly confused this AM to believe that I LOVE ferociously and that that is painful to and for people just….
color me confused and begging You to help me see TRUTH.

Matthew 5-6 The angel spoke to the women: "There is nothing to fear here. I know you're looking for Jesus, the One they nailed to the cross. He is not here. He was raised, just as he said. Come and look at the place where he was placed.
7"Now, get on your way quickly and tell his disciples, 'He is risen from the dead. He is going on ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there.' That's the message."
8-10 The women, deep in wonder and full of joy, lost no time in leaving the tomb. They ran to tell the disciples. Then Jesus met them, stopping them in their tracks. "Good morning!" he said. They fell to their knees, embraced his feet, and worshiped him. Jesus said, "You're holding on to me for dear life! Don't be frightened like that. Go tell my brothers that they are to go to Galilee, and that I'll meet them there."

So, not unheard of that a woman would be told to share something unbelievable….why did He reveal himself to women? And tell them to go and tell His disciples, can’t believe they were believed first off……
is it that I WANT to be believed???…..
No... I just want people to find Jesus ...that's it.....
I don’t know how to live it do I??
I just talk adnauseum about it and probably do more damage than anything. But ….ah hell I am just confused…….I think the way I ferociously love is living it…..BUT…..
how to love the way YOU intended……more in action……so be and do for people what they want and trust YOU…….boy o boy, YOU ARE going to have to do a mighty work in me…..
Be still and KNOW that YOU are God….
I am not going to get to be who I think I am…YOU are calling me to be who YOU DESIRE me to be……trust that.

1Thessalonians 1: 1 I, Paul, together here with Silas and Timothy, send greetings to the church at Thessalonica, Christians assembled by God the Father and by the Master, Jesus Christ. God's amazing grace be with you! God's robust peace!

2-5 Every time we think of you, we thank God for you. Day and night you're in our prayers as we call to mind your work of faith, your labor of love, and your patience of hope in following our Master, Jesus Christ, before God our Father. It is clear to us, friends, that God not only loves you very much but also has put his hand on you for something special. When the Message we preached came to you, it wasn't just words. Something happened in you. The Holy Spirit put steel in your convictions.
5-6 You paid careful attention to the way we lived among you, and determined to live that way yourselves. In imitating us, you imitated the Master. Although great trouble accompanied the Word, you were able to take great joy from the Holy Spirit!—taking the trouble with the joy, the joy with the trouble.
7-10 Do you know that all over the provinces of both Macedonia and Achaia believers look up to you? The word has gotten around. Your lives are echoing the Master's Word, not only in the provinces but all over the place. The news of your faith in God is out. We don't even have to say anything anymore—you're the message! (BIG responsibility) People come up and tell us how you received us with open arms, how you deserted the dead idols of your old life so you could embrace and serve God, the true God. They marvel at how expectantly you await the arrival of his Son, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescued us from certain doom.
1 Thessalonians 2: 1-2 So, friends, it's obvious that our visit to you was no waste of time. We had just been given rough treatment in Philippi, as you know, but that didn't slow us down. We were sure of ourselves in God, and went right ahead and said our piece, presenting God's Message to you, defiant of the opposition.
3-5 God tested us thoroughly to make sure we were qualified to be trusted with this Message. Be assured that when we speak to you we're not after crowd approval—only God approval. Since we've been put through that battery of tests, you're guaranteed that both we and the Message are free of error, mixed motives, or hidden agendas. We never used words to butter you up. No one knows that better than you. And God knows we never used words as a smoke screen to take advantage of you.

I could cut and paste the whole of 1 Thessalonians 1-3 this morning…..so maybe I’m not so much confused as just plain stubborn BUT You are changing my heart……I FEEL it……..it’s not about BEING LIKED it IS about following YOU…..and following YOU will make me softer and yet my convictions like steel……so yes color me confused and yet not hopeless…..
so very hopeful. What an amazing God.
And then Tozer : whoa

November 28
Spiritual Warfare and Sin: Grace and Forgiveness
And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
--1 Corinthians 6:11
I do not know all of the Savior's reasons for choosing the woman at the well. I know that His revelation of Himself to her constituted an everlasting rebuke to human self-righteousness. I know that every smug woman who walks down the street in pride and status ought to be ashamed of herself. I know that every self-righteous man who looks into his mirror each morning to shave what he believes to be an honest face ought to be ashamed of himself....
Jesus was able to see potential in the woman at the well that we could never have sensed. What a gracious thing for us that Jesus Christ never thinks about what we have been! He always thinks about what we are going to be. You and I are slaves to time and space and records and reputations and publicity and the past-all that we call the case history. Jesus Christ cares absolutely nothing about anyone's moral case history. He forgives it and starts from there as though the person had been born one minute before. Faith Beyond Reason, 103-104.
"Again I worship You today, great God, for Your matchless grace.
No matter what my past, thank You, thank You, thank You, that 'Jesus Christ cares absolutely nothing about anyone's moral case history.' Amen."