The story of the woman who broke her alabaster jar full of expensive oil over Jesus's head is a well known and one of my favorite biblical stories. Why? Because it's about bold faith, humility, complete abandonment of self, fearlessness, hope, and devotion to Jesus!
To live with that boldness, abandoning any concerns of what the world thinks, giving all that you have for hope; for deliverance... While it may seem frightening in a world where our freedoms are eroding, God isn't, nor are His expectations of living in BOLD faith.
[ We all have alabaster jars, and it takes our consistent conviction whether or not we choose to break open those jars and pour out our faith through the ways in which we live our lives and walk God's narrow path ]
I know we've often thought that we don't have the abilities or strength ( boldness) of Jesus's disciples because Jesus was corporeal, but Jesus IS with us, The Father The Son The Holy Spirit are too, within and along side us always!
We are given abilities and talents to use to live boldly. We have the power of actions, prayer and speech to speak God's Word boldly into the church ( the body of Christ ~ the people ).
We can choose how to live the way God desires us to. This can be something as new habit forming like giving up Profane Speech ( cussing 🤬) if that's one of your strongholds. Shifts in behavior change our brain and spirit. Small but Big 🙌🏽 It's not easy to let go of our sinful behaviors and habits, but isn't it worth it to keep striving for it?
Strongholds keep the devil in business! They keep us from living fully for our Lord God and living of the world.
We can see and as foretold in the Bible, this worlds people are being reformed to accept Unsound doctrine, and false beliefs that are in direct opposition to God's. The world is setting itself up for the Antichrist Spirit and we can see bold signs of that happening NOW!
This is why it's so important to live Big for Christ ~ He did for us... Each of us have a responsibility to not only open our 'alabaster jars' but to make life changes in ways to smash those jars open. Starting with our behavior, ( our speech, actions, reactions our thought life... ) can allow us to train so that we can pour out our 'spiritual oil' into the world.
[ 🥴 When getting Checked by the Lord wasn't what you had in mind when you started out!😄 ]
God has been dealing with some of my behaviors and has allowed me to see with spiritual eyes showing me how I'm Not so unlike those I dislike or want to change...😟. I always say we're all more alike than different. It's humbling, and that's the way God wants us... Spending time with the Lord is allowing me to pray differently and more effectively for challenging situations in my life... growth is hard, but life without spiritual growth is harder.🫣
It's my prayer that this blesses us to begin a shift to deeper living. Life slowed down to speed up in working for our Lord. Small steps begin within ourselves and 'pour' outward into the body of Christ.
Amen✨🙏🏽🙌🏽