What's More Important

That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was. Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
Mark 1:32-35 NIV

Jesus was always doing something. He was very hands-on. You know He was busy during the day, and yet here He is in this passage at evening time, after sunset. After the normal day's work. And the people brought Him ALL the sick and demon-possessed. And look! It says the whole town gathered at the door. Now, if you've ever been to a healing service where they called for everyone, you KNOW it goes on for hours. The whole town and it was already after supper time! So we can just guess that it was very late when He laid down to rest.

And yet, Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up... He didn't have 8 hours sleep. He didn't get a cup of coffee. He didn't grab the morning edition of the Jerusalem Journal to catch up on the news. There was no TV. No radio. It doesn't say He crawled back into bed to catch a few more minutes of sleep because He was so tired. No, He left the house and went off to pray... someplace where He could be alone with God the Father.

Jesus knew the Scriptures because He read from the scrolls of Isaiah (Luke 4), so I believe He knew Isaiah 40:31, But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. Jesus knew He had to wait on the Lord. What's more important - sleep or time spent with the Lord?

Prayer:

Father,

          Help us to be more in tune with who You are than who we are. Drive home the Truth that to renew our strength we must wait on You. Let us do so with joy and anticipation of what we will hear when we are alone with You and hear You speak to us.  In Jesus' Name. Amen

Be Sweet

But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume. And who is adequate for such a task as this?
2nd Corinthians 2:14-16 NLT

To help understand this analogy in today's world, it is helpful to know a little history. The analogy is very powerful when you understand that "In a Roman triumphal procession, the Roman general would display his treasures and captives amidst a cloud of incense burned for the gods. To the victors, the aroma was sweet; to the captives in the parade, it was the smell of slavery and death. When Christians preach the Good News, it is good news to some and repulsive news to others. Believers recognize the life-giving fragrance of the message. To nonbelievers, however, it smells foul, like death - their own.*"

Do you ever wonder why someone doesn't like you when you never did anything to them? It's the Holy in you that the unholy in them cannot abide. When you have Jesus living inside of you and you are full of the Holy Spirit, it's going to come out of you. You are going to spread the knowledge of Christ within your sphere of influence. There will be those who love and appreciate it, and there will be those who resent the living daylights out of it. Verse 15 in the Voice translation reads, In a turbulent world where people are either dying or being rescued, we are the sweet smell of the Anointed to God our Father. So always be sweet, dear ones.

Prayer:

Father,
Thank You for Your Word that enables us to know You. Thank You for the Holy Spirit to help us rightly divide the Word of Truth. Thank You for Your Son whereby we may cry, "Abba, Father!" Help us to always be a sweet smelling savor of Christ. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen.

*Life Application Study Bible, Tyndale House Publishers

A Silly Measure of Love

For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you.
2nd Corinthians 2:4 NIV

There have been so many songs written about love that I think it would be nigh on impossible to count them all. And so many supposed definitions with feelings ranging from angst and anguish to zest and zeal, from selfish to self-less. If we haven't seen or done it all, we've at least heard about it all.  

When I was younger, we used to ask, "How much do you love me?" when we wanted something or wanted someone to do something for us.  Enough to bring me something from the other room? Or drive to the store for me? Or whatever the want was at that moment. A silly measure of love.

Paul's love was so deep that many people did not understand it.  He cared enough to confront sin in the lives of those he loved, risking their anger, the loss of their return love. Sometimes it is beyond difficult to offer a loving correction knowing that you may lose that person's affection, but Proverbs 27:6 reads, Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy. It is a depth of love not easily measured. 

It was true then. It's true now. People do not like to be told what to do period, let alone what they are doing wrong. They definitely do not like to be confronted with their sin! But if you truly love someone would you tell them? How much do you love me? Maybe it's not so silly, after all...

Prayer:

Father,
          Help us to love beyond ourselves. Beyond our own selfishness. Help us to love others as You love us - to always, ALWAYS be motivated by love and not manipulation. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen.

When the Results Are In

We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us.
2nd Corinthians 1:8b-10 NLT

This is an amazing chapter! It explains so much about the heart of Paul and his strong penchant to give thanks always in all things.

Have you ever been where you thought you would never live through "it"? What did you do? Did you run to God? Did the situation drive you TO Him or cause you to question Him? Have you been able to reach the place that - like Paul - you've allowed the fertilizer application of life to bring forth good fruit? In verse 6, Paul explains, Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. Talk about preferring one another in love (Romans 12:10).

It is in the hard times that we come to know the Truth. To know God for who He is and to learn what we are NOT when we don't rely fully on Him. So when the results are in from all those times, where are we - running TO or running FROM?

Prayer:

Father,
           We give all praise to You, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! Our merciful Father and the Source of ALL comfort. We choose You. Guide us into Your Truths and help us to comfort others, Father, with the same comfort You've given us. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Wholehearted Commitment

The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:4b-9 NLT

We just love it when God does something for us that we've asked and believed Him for, don't we? Most of us will tell anyone who will stand still long enough to listen to us testify about it, right? We've all had opportunities to testify of God's mercy and grace. It's great, isn't it? And usually, it primes the heart pump of the hearers to pour out just such an occasion in their life where God came through. Once we get rolling on it, we cannot possibly tell ALL that He has done in one setting! However, we can have ample opportunity to share one at a time. The question is, do we?

And how about when we get those opportunities to trust Him that we didn't ask for? You know what I mean... when we've lost a job, or get a medical diagnosis we weren't ever expecting, or have material need, etc. What do we do then? Are we still committed wholeheartedly to testify of the goodness of God or do we somehow cast a little blame on Him? Do we state with emphatic faith what God will do, based on His whole Word, or do we look to our neighbors and friends to nurse, curse and rehearse the situation? Did God change? No. Emphatically No.

If we look for ways to bless His holy Name, we won't have to look far to see all that He's doing in our lives. God is wholeheartedly committed to us. He sent His sinless Son to die on the Cross to pay the price for our sins. Mine. Yours. So we could be One with Him. And God raised Him from the dead. And now that same power that raised our Lord from the grave lives inside of us. Undivided. Wholeheartedly.

Prayer:

Father,
        Forgive us for those times we neglect to acknowledge Your blessings in our lives. Help us to see stuff as just stuff. Father, we commit to wholeheartedly acknowledge You in all our ways. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

* Not Surprised

I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.
Revelation 1:18 NLT

Not much is written about what Jesus did during the time between the crucifixion and His resurrection. There is plenty of conjecture and even some men's point of view being taught as though it were Scripture, but it's not my job to point fingers or argue with points of view. It is my job to search the Scriptures and point a lost and dying world to our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

The day before, Christ suffered unbearable pain and suffering to take away our sins. He paid the highest price to redeem our sin-sick souls unto salvation. When they laid Him in the tomb and rolled the stone to seal it, He was dead to the world (so to speak). Now, I realize I may mess with your theology on this, but whether or not He went to Hell or Hades, whether or not He fought satan for the keys or actually always held the keys is not my primary focus. According to John 19:30, while He was still on the cross, Jesus proclaimed, "It is finished."

Colossians 2:13-15 NLT declares, You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

Here's the only thing I know for certain about that Saturday. Jesus knew going into the weekend what the Father had told Him. He knew it was going to be unbearable, but knowing certainly did NOT make it any easier. His flesh did not want to go through it. But He went in fully trusting the Father's Word. He went in knowing He would rise again. He knew He would be victorious. He was not surprised by what was coming the day after...

Prayer:

Father,
            Thank You that Your Word assures us in Romans 8:11, The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in us. And just as You raised Christ Jesus from the dead, You will give life to our mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within us. Your Spirit living in us. Help us to come to the knowing that we will rise again, that we will be victorious in and through You. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Last Words

Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.
Luke 23:32-34a, 39-46 NIV

From BillyGraham.org:

Why did Jesus promise this criminal, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43)? The reason is because this man (unlike his fellow robber) knew he needed to have his sins forgiven, and he believed only Christ could forgive and save him: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42). He could not depend on his good works–for he had none. He could only depend on Christ–and that was all he needed.

The same is true with us. Only one thing will keep us out of heaven, and that is our sin. But Jesus Christ came to take away our sins by His death on the cross. Are you trusting Him alone for your salvation? If not, open your heart to Him today.

Romans 10:9-10 9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

Prayer:

Father,

          We believe that Jesus is Your only begotten Son and we declare that He is Lord and that You raised Him from the dead. Thank You, Father! We pray for a tremendous harvest of lost souls this weekend, Father. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen