Help Me to Remember

Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.
Luke 23:34 KJV

He was ostracized before He was born (born in a barn to a mother who was pregnant by Someone other than her husband). Those who knew Him best didn't respect Him (Mark 6:3-5). The high priest and leaders of the temple hated Him and conspired to kill Him.

What did Jesus do? He prayed. How many times do we read in Scripture that Jesus prayed? He sought God in all things. I would submit for your consideration that one of the things Jesus prayed about while living on earth was the constant rejection. How do you continue to love people who constantly reject you or hurt you? And if you can't love them, how can you forgive them? If you can't forgive them, you can't be forgiven by your Father in heaven (Matthew 6:12).

How many of us walk through life with the Marine attitude of "Kill 'em all - let God sort 'em out"? Now, I don't know about you, but for a long time in my journey, I wanted to forgive, but there just seemed to be something so wrong about the one who committed the offense being let off the hook. It was like letting them get away with it. How can you let someone get away with that kind of thing? That's just not right...is it? You can't let them think they got away with it scott-free, can you?

I'm reminded of the accessory line that came out quite a few years back. WWJD - Do you remember those tee shirts and bracelets and earrings and necklaces, Bible covers, etc. What Would Jesus Do? Reminding us to be like Jesus. Well, what did He do? Did one of His own disciples betray Him? Yes. Did Jesus know about it? Yes. Did the leaders of the temple conspire to kill Him? Yes. Did Jesus try to stop any of them?

Did they taunt Him with lies and shove it in His face? Read Luke 23:35-39 NLT, The crowd watched and the leaders scoffed. "He saved others," they said, "let him save himself if he is really God's Messiah, the Chosen One." The soldiers mocked him, too, by offering him a drink of sour wine. They called out to him, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!" A sign was fastened to the cross above him with these words: "This is the King of the Jews." One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, "So you're the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you're at it!"

Was He - is He God's Messiah, the Chosen One? Yes! Could they have killed Him if He hadn't laid down His life in OBEDIENCE to the Father in sacrifice for our lives? No, they could not! Did they kill Him? Yes. Did they think they got away with it? Yes...

What did Jesus do? When the circumstances demanded justice at such wrong-doing, He gave mercy. Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do... Aren't we to follow Christ's example? Are we to be like Jesus?

Prayer:

Father,
            Help us to realize that forgiveness is not a feeling. It's a choice of will. Help us to understand Matthew 18 and forgiving others seventy times seventy... Remind us to choose to forgive every time it comes up. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Finding the Balance

But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness. And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight.

2nd Peter 3:13-14 NLT

Almost every day, while online, I see some sort of headline about finding the balance in life. How to balance your checkbook. How to balance work and kids. How to balance housework and fun. How to balance all of it together - checkbook, work, kids, housework, and fun. And don't forget your marriage, if you have one. It's crazy. 

Sometimes adding one more thing we're "supposed to do" to put balance in our lives can actually cause the crash and crumble. We can spin out of control trying to keep up with such a frenetic free-for-all.

There is only one real place to find true balance. And that is at the Cross of Calvary. The weight of our sin - all of it - weighed on Him. Our lives were in the balance and He bore it perfectly because of His great love. 

Prayer:

Father,
Help us to always remember Your Son was and is the perfect foil for the enemy in our lives. Thank You for helping us to keep our balance in whatever we do when we lean on You. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

What Are Those Promises?

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
2nd Peter 1:3-4 NLT

We love to quote this Scripture passage about what exceedingly great and precious promises God has given us. The ones that enable us to share His divine nature. The ones that allow us to escape the world's corruption. Do you know those promises?

They're found in both the Old and New Testaments, but Paul put them together for us in 2nd Corinthians 6:

As God has said:

“I will live with them
and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they will be my people.”

Therefore, 

“Come out from them
and be separate,
says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing,
and I will receive you.”

And,

“I will be a Father to you,
and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.”

He never said we wouldn't have problems while we lived here. In Truth, Jesus told us we WOULD have problems, but He promised to never leave us or forsake us. And He hasn't. Those are the promises.

Prayer:

Father, 

           Thank You for Your exceeding great and precious promises to us! Thank You for giving us everything we need to live a Godly life. We pray according to Your Word in 2nd Corinthians 7:1, Because we have these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear You, God. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Perfectly Perfected

But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.
1st Peter 5:10 NKJV

The New Living Translation reads, In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus...

Jentezen Franklin says in his book Love Like You've Never Been Hurt that "to be kind is to be holy." Not the end-all, be-all of holy, but definitely one attribute of it, and we are called to be holy because God is holy (1st Peter 1:15-17).

It's easy to be kind when all is right in our world - people who love you, your health is good, the bills are paid, there's food enough on the table. For many, if even one of these is removed, kindness may go right out the door. 

John MacArthur writes, 

Christians are to live with the understanding that God’s purposes realized in the future require some pain in the present. While the believer is being personally attacked by the enemy, he is being personally perfected by the Lord, as the next phrase attests: perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle. These 4 words all speak of strength and resoluteness. God is working through the Christian’s struggles to produce strength of character.

What we need to remember is that it's after the suffering that the God of all grace will perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle us.

Prayer:

Father, 
           Thank You for Your many kindnesses toward us - innumerable, immeasurable, fathomless. We want to be like You. To love as You love. To be holy as You are holy. Give us the grace to endure so that after the suffering, You will perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle us. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

*After the Valley

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
Psalm 23:4 NKJV

Christian or cretin - the Twenty-third Psalm is one of the most well-known passages of Scripture in the world today. Children and adults alike can recite it for you. It's similar to a Christmas carol in that respect. We all know the words, but when was the last time we actually paid attention to what the words really say?

I've always been partial to God preparing a table before me in the presence of my enemies... (take that, devil!), but next to verse 1 - The Lord is my Shepherd... - I think our text, verse 4, is the 2nd most well-known phrasing. Two important things to note here - it's the shadow of death not Death Valley, and we're walking THROUGH. We're not staying. We're not setting up camp or a souvenir stand. We may have "been there done that" but we don't need to sell tickets for the side show or sell postcards of it. We're walking through. Keep moving...

Yessiree, keep moving because it's AFTER the valley that we find the goodness and mercy following us all the days of our lives. Praise His Holy Name!

Prayer;

Father,
          I never cease to be amazed at Your goodness and mercy toward us. Thank You for comforting us as we walk through the valley. Thank You for bringing us through to the other side. Giving You all praise - In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

What Are You For?

So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.

John 13:34-35 NLT

There are some great organizations that have been founded in order to give Christians a voice - in the world, in politics, in the workplace. Most are aware of the Christian stand against sexual immorality and pornography and same-sex marriage and abortion, etc. These are all battle-worthy. We win some and we lose some, but at least we're fighting. I will stand and beat the drum in a call to battle, I will fight, I will fund Godly endeavors that line up with the Word of God.

The world is well aware of what we as Christians are against. The point we may be missing is do they know what we are for? King James reads this way; By this ALL WILL KNOW that you are My disciples, if you HAVE LOVE FOR one another (emphasis mine). The question in my mind today is not whether those around me know I am a Christian, but rather HOW do they know? What reasons would THEY give for telling someone they know I am a Christian. Is it because I have love / shown love FOR them or because of what I stand against?

Prayer:

Father,

          Our hearts cry out to be free from distrust. Teach us to love You as You desire to be loved and teach us to love each other with a holy love like You do. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Beast of Burden (by request)

Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.

Isaiah 40:28b-29 NLT

I have lived most of my adult Christian life telling God that He must have me confused with someone else because I am not strong enough to walk this road and carry whatever load I've got at that moment. I have joked about it numerous times - If God says He'll never put more on us than we can bear, He obviously has a much higher opinion of me than I have of myself.  I'll tell you - for an intelligent woman, I can be really stupid.

It's my own foolishness and pride that causes me to think that I can carry ANY load on my own. God has always invited us to come to Him and lay our burdens down. He never put any restrictions on how much we can drop off.  I don't find any Scripture where God instructs us to go away and come back when we have a real load. Or one that tells me to stop wasting His time and go do it by myself. I do, however, find many that invite us to rest in Him, to yoke up with Him, to cast all our care on Him.

Of course, we can choose to be stubborn as mules and do it on our own... but God never called any of us to be beasts of burden.

Prayer:

Father,

         Rather than bray, we choose to pray - for Your wisdom, Your guidance, Your mercy and grace, and Your strength. Open our eyes FULLY to see Your desire for our lives established and fulfilled. When we recognize that it's Your strength and acknowledge that it's not ours, there is NO load too big or too much. Help us to see that Christ carried our load to the Cross, now all we have to do is follow Him. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen