God's Will from Swaziland

My friend, Patti (left), recently returned from a mission trip to Swaziland, Africa. We talked for hours about the impact of the trip on her life, and it spoke to me personally in many ways. I think the words that had the biggest impact on me were: "You ARE God's will." There may be times to seek God's will, but with Him living inside me, I AM GOD'S WILL.

I am His hands, His feet, His voice. The question becomes, How can I be the representation of Jesus right where I am? ...in my house? ...with my family or roommates? ...in my church? ...in my neighborhood?

How is He choosing to use my hands in this moment?
Where is He choosing to go in this moment?
What are the words that He is choosing to speak through my mouth in this moment?
I AM GOD'S WILL, because He lives in me.

Most specifically, I'm hearing Him speak to me:
"Be MY voice. They need me."

I'm recognizing that this is how I can have confidence. I have nothing to fear in speaking to others, because I open my mouth to be His voice. There is nothing to fear in embracing the wounded, because we are reaching out with His arms rather than our own. We, as His followers, ARE His will.

Jesus' authority questioned in the temple

I read Luke 20:1-2 recently: "One day as he was teaching the people in the temple courts and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him. 'Tell us by what authority you are doing these things,' they said. 'Who gave you this authority?'"

What struck me about this was that Jesus was in the temple when his authority was questioned. Today, WE are His temple. Our hearts were immediately transformed when Jesus entered in (Ezekiel 36.26), but our minds are in a process of transformation (Romans 12.2). Our minds still contain impurity and lies that have yet to be transformed (as we make choices to renew our minds), so we still have "Pharisees" in our minds that continue to question the authority of Jesus. As a result, we can end up confused, misguided and/or despairing. I'm challenged to claim the authority of Jesus in THIS temple.