Joanne Lowe is a Christian lady from Florida who writes inspirational writings as Jesus inspires them from the heart. Joanne has been kind enough to allow me to post a few of her writings on this site.
I encourage you to visit Joanne's web sites at joannelowe.blogspot.com and heavenwardbound.com where you can view her extensive collection of over 800 writings. Also, if you'd like to contact Joanne directory, she has asked me to prove her email address for you: joannelowe8@@cox..net[?]. Enjoy!
Many parents have children who have gone astray and are not serving Jesus. We, as parents, have the responsibility and privilege to pray for our children. Some parents have shed many tears over their children but nobody has shed as many tears as Jesus has shed over us. I'm sure that He weeps when we go astray. When He prays for us I think that He weeps because we are hurting and because of His compassion for us, He is going to reap in joy. One day He is going to return for us and present us to His Father with rejoicing. O how I long for that day when I shall see Jesus face to face!
Parents, if you are praying and weeping for your children's salvation or for them to come back to Jesus, there is hope in the Lord. He is faithful to do what He promises. We can depend on Jesus. We need to be certain however when we pray for them that we are praying because we love them and are really concerned about them. If we're just praying for our children out of anger and indignation, then we are not praying from our hearts. How many tears have you shed for your children?
We need to cry out to Him with broken hearts and plead with Him for our children. They are precious to Him and He will hear us and answer us in His perfect timing. He knows where they are and He also knows what is in their hearts and He is moved with compassion for them. Keep loving your children and keep praying for your children with a heart full of love and tears. Don't let satan lie to you and tell you that your children are beyond help. Stand on the promises from the heart of Jesus.
I watched a family movie yesterday on television. The family had gone to church as the daughter of the family was about to be married. As the bride started walking down the aisle with her dad everyone stood up in honor of her. The parents had tears of joy and tears of sorrow in their eyes because they were going to miss their daughter but they were also rejoicing because their daughter was so happy.
One glorious victorious day, our precious Bridegroom, Jesus is coming back for us. On that day we will fall to our knees in honor of Him as we watch Him make His triumphant return for His bride. I believe there will be tears of joy on our faces when He comes to take us home with Him but I also believe there will be tears of sorrow when we see Him face to face and realize that we didn't always do our best for Him.
Are you going to be there when our Bridegroom comes back for us? Have you made a heart commitment to the Saviour of the world? Will you be able to look at Him with tears of joy or will you have to look away with tears of sorrow because you did not serve Him? Thank You, Jesus, for loving us when we were so unlovely. Thank You for Your grace, mercy and compassion. Above all, thank You for giving Your life for us on the cross.
I prayed last year and asked God what true repentance means to Him. He spoke to my heart and said “The repentance that pleases Me is when you hurt because the person who hurt you is hurting”. It wasn’t easy and it didn’t happen overnight, but I can honestly say that when someone hurts me now, it is a lot easier to forgive them. I am not perfect because the only perfect person that ever lived was Jesus. I still lose my temper at times as much as I don’t want to do it. Before God told me what true repentance means to Him, I was happy if someone who had hurt me had something bad happen to him or her.
Sometimes I get emails from people who tell me that they are going to follow me to which I immediately reply, “Don’t do it”! We are not to follow anybody or anything. We are to keep our eyes on Jesus. If we ever put our jobs, sports, television, our families, our homes, our cars and yachts, swimming pools or anything else ahead of Jesus, those things have become idols to us and we are breaking the heart of our precious Saviour.
One day we will stand before a Holy God and give an account if we have followed someone or some thing other than Jesus. Only Jesus is to be followed, worshiped and adored! He is the one who was beaten, cursed, tortured and abused for us. He is the one who walked a long lonely road to be crucified for something He hadn’t done. He gave His life for us. He and He alone deserves all the praise, glory, honor, adoration and obedience.
You will never walk in true repentance until your heart breaks because someone who hurt you is hurting. We need to stop pointing the finger at other people’s faults and point the finger at our own faults. We don’t know what is going on in the person’s life that caused them to lash out at us with anger and criticism. A lot of people take their anger out on someone when they are really angry with someone else. It shouldn’t be that way, but it is and we should try with the help of Jesus to look at the person’s heart instead of listening to the cruel words. It is impossible for us to do that by ourselves. It takes Jesus working in our hearts to make us the kind of people that He wants us to be.
Has your heart broken because you hurt someone, even if you didn’t do it on purpose? Have you allowed Jesus to give you a heart filled with compassion and unforgiveness? Do you have Jesus, the only one who can give you unconditional love and compassion, living in your heart? Have you said “yes” to Jesus and asked Him to forgive you and save you and come into your heart to be your personal Saviour? If not, I urge you, I plead with you to do it now before it is too late.