Romans 15:4 "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope."
25 But Paul replied, “I am not out of my mind, most excellent and noble Festus, but [with a sound mind] I am uttering rational words of truth and reason. 26 For [your majesty] the king understands these things, and [therefore] I am also speaking to him with confidence and boldness, since I am convinced that none of these things escape his notice; for this has not been done in a corner [hidden from view, in secret]. 27 King Agrippa, do you believe the [writings of the] Prophets [their messages and words]? I know that you do.” 28 Then Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time [and with so little effort] you [almost] persuade me to become a Christian.” 29 And Paul replied, “Whether in a short time or long, I wish to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become such as I am, except for these chains.”
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Amen.
A Theology, A Witness, A Testimony: Christ-Like Life
A lifetime faithfully lived believing in God, Paul was convinced that both his short-term future and his eternal future were securely in the hands of Jesus.
Because of this lifetime of belief, faith, Paul — a prisoner facing a potential death sentence — could pray for his rich, powerful, and influential captors to become like him, staunch believers, except for his difficult circumstances.
Acts 26:29 Amplified Bible
29 And Paul replied, “Whether in a short time or long, I wish to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become such as I am, except for these chains.”
These powerful closing words of verse 29 were Paul’s bold invitation for King Agrippa and the Roman governor, Festus, all of the other Romans present to come to believe and become faithful, faith-filled followers of Jesus Christ.
What else did he have to lose except his very life which was going to happen anyway at any time the Romans decided they had enough of Paul’s mouth.
Paul’s beliefs were forged in the furnace of life.
What had not happen to Paul during His life which did not serve to challenge his self professed beliefs in himself, in his fellow man, in his God and in his Savior?
From witnessing Stephen’s incomparable defense of God and Jesus before he was stoned to death.
Finding his staunch faith in God challenged to the extreme by this man Jesus, he went on to become a hyper zealous much feared persecutor of the followers.
Until his hard experience on the Damascus Road when the Resurrected Jesus appeared directly in his path, stopped him cold and took his sight from him.
Three days blind, Paul found himself completely helpless until his sight was miraculously restored by Ananias – told then what his new life’s mission was.
Along this new way, what had he not experienced but plots against his life, an array of severe beatings, shipwrecks, bitten by poisonous snake, imprisonment on several occasions, betrayals, long journey’s across the globe, # of illnesses.
When his legs were virtually cut out from underneath him, he learned all the more that he had no control over what happened to him – God is in control.
It was during Paul’s two-year imprisonment in Rome that he wrote letters to the Ephesian, Philippian, and Colossian churches and to his friend Philemon.
It was during this season of suffering that God mightily inspired, encouraged him, to write of Savior Jesus, “In him all things hold together”(Colossians 1:17).
When he wrote to the Ephesian followers, he urged them to see that God, who is sovereign over all, has put all things under Savior Jesus’ feet (Ephesians 1:22).
Ephesians 1:20-23 The Message
20-23 All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.
These truths were not just rhetorical.
These truths were not just theoretical.
Paul heavily relied upon them during the most difficult seasons of his life.
Paul’s experiences doubtless helped him to understand more deeply that he continuously needed all of the gospel not just for salvation but for all of life.
We, too, when confronted by the faults, failings and sinfulness of the world which distract and tempt us daily, absolutely need the maximum gospel daily—the good news that for love alone, Jesus died in the place of sinners, He was raised for our justification, that He sent the Spirit to sanctify us and to fill us.
The gospel creates within us a confident anticipation, confident expectation of the return of Jesus -it causes us to view the world from a heavenly perspective.
Reverend Dr. John Stott, who was unparalleled in his ability to synthesize and succinctly condense vast amounts of material, summarized the impact of Paul’s imprisonment upon his theology in this way:
“Paul’s perspective was adjusted, his horizon extended, his vision clarified and his witness enriched.”
His chains did not become an occasion for disappointment or regret. Rather, his trials, which kept him in a state of weakness and dependency upon God, altered his perspective and shed light on the horizon.
He was able to stand before a Roman governor, a king, and a queen, and say, What you have you cannot keep. What I have I cannot lose. I wish you could become like me—a sinner saved by grace, an heir to eternal life. I would not like for you to share my chains, but I would just love for you to share my faith in my Savior.
Paul experienced the very truth that he had written to the Romans years earlier:
“We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
This was so not only true for Paul but is also true for all who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ.
Are you blinded by life?
Are you challenged by life?
Are you confronted by life?
Are you confused by life?
Are you facing a discouraging trial?
Did life just “blindside” you right across your jaw?
Did life just slug you in your solar plexus?
Ask as many questions about living life as you can dare to contrive.
Take courage!
God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are 100% here.
God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are 100% alive.
You have all you truly need, no matter what, you can’t be separated from them.
Romans 8:31-39 The Message
31-39 So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:
They kill us in cold blood because they hate you. We’re sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.
None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.
All the riches and comfort that this world can offer do not compare to what you have in the gospel—“Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).
Christian theology is not for an ivory tower but for the prison cell, for the trials.
Let those undeniable truths of the gospel strengthen your soul and shape your life’s perspective as you cling to the hope that Christ has purchased for you.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 19:11-14 The Message
11-14 There’s more: God’s Word warns us of danger and directs us to hidden treasure. Otherwise how will we find our way? Or know when we play the fool? Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh! Keep me from stupid sins, from thinking I can take over your work; Then I can start this day sun-washed, scrubbed clean of the grime of sin. These are the words in my mouth; these are what I chew on and pray. Accept them when I place them on the morning altar, O God, my Altar-Rock, God, Priest-of-My-Altar.
Dear ABBA Father, as your children, may we have a bold faith like Paul’s. Help us when our faith wavers because of our circumstances. May we be strong in our trust, whether times are great or hard. Thank you for giving us reasons to believe and such a glorious hope in our future because of Jesus, in whose name I pray. Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Amen.
1. Guide me, O thou great Jehovah,
pilgrim through this barren land.
I am weak, but thou art mighty;
hold me with thy powerful hand.
Bread of heaven, bread of heaven,
feed me till I want no more;
feed me till I want no more.
Genesis 24:10-14The Message
10-14 The servant took ten of his master’s camels and, loaded with gifts from his master, traveled to Aram Naharaim and the city of Nahor. Outside the city, he made the camels kneel at a well. It was evening, the time when the women came to draw water. He prayed, “O God, God of my master Abraham, make things go smoothly this day; treat my master Abraham well! As I stand here by the spring while the young women of the town come out to get water, let the girl to whom I say, ‘Lower your jug and give me a drink,’ and who answers, ‘Drink, and let me also water your camels’—let her be the woman you have picked out for your servant Isaac. Then I’ll know that you’re working graciously behind the scenes for my master.”
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
A Servant’s Prayer
Genesis 24:12 New American Standard Bible
12 And he said, “Lord, God of my master Abraham, please [a]grant me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.
Our reading for today opens with Abraham calling his most trusted servant to a special task – to swear an oath to go forth into his homeland and find a wife for his son, Isaac – from those who authentically worship Jehovah God not idols.
The servant makes a vow, gathers his master Abraham’s gifts on his camels and sets out on a journey to find a wife for Isaac from among Abraham’s relatives.
We do not know much about this “senior and most trusted” servant, but we can tell he has truly seen God at work in the lives of Abraham, Sarah, and now Isaac.
Mother Sarah is dead and Father Abraham is old, and he wants Isaac to marry.
Abraham is trying to arrange for a bride for Isaac, but only Jehovah God is the one who will really provide “our success” so that God’s promises are fulfilled.
Before the servant starts any conversations with the young women of the area, he prays to the God of his master and asks God to show kindness to his master.
Success for the servant will come by God’s taking the next step in this mission.
Why is the name of the servant not shared in this story?
Maybe it helps us focus on God as the primary actor in this drama – a servant who prays for success turns not to his own abilities but to the kindness of God.
Not knowing the name of the servant helps us put ourselves in his sandals.
How do we define “success”?
In this case, the servant’s success is the completion of Jehovah God’s mission by the most senior, most trusted servant for his master the Patriarch Abraham.
The master’s success is the ultimate goal of the servant.
Have we prayed the servant’s prayer lately?
Praying Our Great Expectations of God Will Be Met
The major emphasis of this passage is centered on what we might call the cooperation of the Spirit.
This is the missing note in much personal evangelism.
Many men and women have heard the command of God, Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation(Mark 16:15).
Mark 16:14-16 The Message
14-16 Still later, as the Eleven were eating supper, he appeared and took them to task most severely for their stubborn unbelief, refusing to believe those who had seen him raised up. Then he said, “Go into the world. Go everywhere and announce the Message of God’s good news to one and all. Whoever believes and is baptized is saved; whoever refuses to believe is damned.
They have recognized this is a command, but then, in their uncertainty, in their “stubborn unbelief” they go out, acting as if all success all depends upon them.
This is where the grim-faced, fever-eyed fanatic comes from, on the one hand and, on the other, the fanatically shy, timid, blushing, flustered Christian who hardly dares to utter a word believing success is that thing they all desire least.
There is a failure to recognize that not only has God commanded us to do this, but he has also provided the Holy Spirit by which we will overcome, to go do it.
This is what we see as the story progresses.
Here is a man, a loyal servant, greatly expecting God to work for our success.
He does not go into this land and say to himself,
“Well now, I guess the success or failure of this whole job is up to me and me alone. I have to find this girl, and how in the world am I going to find “the right one”? And after that, I must somehow persuade her to come. How am I going to do that?”
For this loyal servant of Father Abraham, it is very simple for this man, because he knows within the deepest parts of his soul he is not left alone to do this task.
Hebrews 11:1-2 The Message
Faith in What We Don’t See
11 1-2 The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.
An invisible partner is at work, going ahead of him, preparing the way for him.
I wish we would pray to successfully learn this lesson about our own witness.
Jehovah God has not left it to us to do alone.
John 3:16-18 The Message
16-18 “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.
The work of going forth into our own homelands, to pagan lands reaching men and women for Christ is not a matter of human persuasion, but it is a divine call.
Luke 10:1-9 GOD’S WORD Translation
Jesus Sends Disciples to Do Mission Work
10 After this, the Lord appointed 70 [a] other disciples to go ahead of him to every city and place that he intended to go. They were to travel in pairs.
2 He told them, “The harvest is large, but the workers are few. So ask the Lord who gives this harvest to send workers to harvest his crops. 3 Go! I’m sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Don’t carry a wallet, a traveling bag, or sandals, and don’t stop to greet anyone on the way. 5 Whenever you go into a house, greet the family right away with the words, ‘May there be peace in this house.’ 6 If a peaceful person lives there, your greeting will be accepted. But if that’s not the case, your greeting will be rejected. 7 Stay with the family that accepts you. Eat and drink whatever they offer you. After all, the worker deserves his pay. Do not move around from one house to another. 8 Whenever you go into a city and the people welcome you, eat whatever they serve you. 9 Heal the sick that are there, and tell the people, ‘God’s kingdom is near you!’
We are called and sent – not just into all of the easiest places as Abraham sent his servant into – with that highest expectation of our own personal success.
As the stark reality of Luke’s narrative plainly puts before us in Luke 10:1-9 we are also summoned and called by God to try and to evangelize even the wolves.
We are also called by God to try and evangelize those who would not even give us the time of day or would offer to sell us us drugs at the point of a revolver.
We are also called by God to go and move and evangelize among those who are marginalized, untouchable, viewed by us as being too far gone even for our God to make even .01% difference, are too deeply inside our own “abhorrence zone.”
Overcoming our “abhorrence zones” thru the intercessory work of Holy Spirit.
Recalling first and foremost John 16:31-33 The Message
31-33 Jesus answered them, “Do you finally believe? In fact, you’re about to make a run for it—saving your own skins and abandoning me. But I’m not abandoned. The Father is with me. I’ve told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.”
Jehovah God is the One who is continuously and miraculously at work to move, to overcome hate, to shape, to develop, to transform the lives and hearts of all.
Do you notice how Abraham’s servant does it?
Genesis 24:11-14 Names of God Bible
Abraham’s Servant Finds a Wife for Isaac
11 The servant had the camels kneel down outside the city by the well. It was evening, when the women would go out to draw water. 12 Then he prayed, “Yahweh, Elohim of my master Abraham, make me successful today. Show your kindness to Abraham. 13 Here I am standing by the spring, and the girls of the city are coming out to draw water. 14 I will ask a girl, ‘May I please have a drink from your jar?’ If she answers, ‘Have a drink, and I’ll also water your camels,’ let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. This way I’ll know that you’ve shown your kindness to my master.”
First, he prays, revealing his expectation that God is at work.
In his simple prayer he asks God to make the way clear, to indicate the one to whom God would have him speak.
As he prays about his problem, he confidently, greatly, expects God to answer.
This is a wonderful concept to remember when we’re testifying and witnessing.
When I get behind the wheel of my personal vehicle, or go on a cruise ship or go someplace where I may be in contact with someone who doesn’t know the Lord, I try hard to recall to ask God to indicate who is the one He wants me to talk too.
Maybe there is no one; maybe the Lord wants me to spend my time reading or studying and praying and observing all of those neighbors placed into my path.
But very likely He does have someone He wants me to encounter and to engage with at some point in my future – I don’t know with whom God is working, but I know He will certainly direct me through ways of which I am hardly conscious.
“Jehovah, Lead, Guide, Direct my Steps. Break My Heart for What Breaks Yours.”
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 37:23-34 The Message
23-24 Stalwart walks in step with God; his path blazed by God, he’s happy. If he stumbles, he’s not down for long; God has a grip on his hand.
25-26 I once was young, now I’m a graybeard— not once have I seen an abandoned believer, or his kids out roaming the streets. Every day he’s out giving and lending, his children making him proud.
27-28 Turn your back on evil, work for the good and don’t quit. God loves this kind of thing, never turns away from his friends.
28-29 Live this way and you’ve got it made, but bad eggs will be tossed out. The good get planted on good land and put down healthy roots.
30-31 Righteous chews on wisdom like a dog on a bone, rolls virtue around on his tongue. His heart pumps God’s Word like blood through his veins; his feet are as sure as a cat’s.
32-33 Wicked sets a watch for Righteous, he’s out for the kill. God, alert, is also on watch— Wicked won’t hurt a hair of his head.
34 Wait passionately for God, don’t leave the path. He’ll give you your place in the sun while you watch the wicked lose it.
Master, Creator, make me a servant of your peace. Help me continue to pray and seek for your will to be done on earth, in me, as it is in heaven. In your name, O Jehovah.
As Paul took his leave of the Ephesian elders in Acts 20, the Apostle felt an urgent compulsion from the Holy Spirit to go back to the city of Jerusalem.
He declared to all present he had no idea what would happen to him when he got there, but he had a clear sense hard times and imprisonment awaited him.
Then he made this incredibly valuable and impossibly staggering statement:
“I do not account my life of any value.”
Acts 20:22-24 The Message
22-24 “But there is another urgency before me now. I feel compelled to go to Jerusalem. I’m completely in the dark about what will happen when I get there. I do know that it won’t be any picnic, for the Holy Spirit has let me know repeatedly and clearly that there are hard times and imprisonment ahead. But that matters little. What matters most to me is to finish what God started: the job the Master Jesus gave me of letting everyone I meet know all about this incredibly extravagant generosity of God.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
As Paul took his leave of the Ephesian elders in Acts 20, the Apostle felt an urgent compulsion from the Holy Spirit to go back to the city of Jerusalem.
He declared to all present he had no idea what would happen to him when he got there, but he had a clear sense hard times and imprisonment awaited him.
Then he made this incredibly valuable and impossibly staggering statement:
“I do not account my life of any value.”
“I do not account my life of any value.”
What an incredibly shocking statement summarizing Paul’s own deep, abiding passion for the urgent way he personally views the sum total of his valued life.
“If my life isn’t of any value, it’s not precious to me, I got one thing I’m focused on, and that’s the ministry I have received from the Lord Jesus, testifying to the gospel of his grace.”
This was not first century mindset of masochism—some strange utter hatred of personal joy, happiness, self control, peace, or spiritual health, or physical life.
So what, then, did Paul mean by declaring his life completely valueless?
Simply this:
that solely for the sake of His Savior Jesus and the Kingdom of God, he did not regard his own life as so precious a possession as to be held on to at all costs!
What value we assign to our lives is summarized by people often nonchalantly saying, “Well, as long as I have got breath, and health, that’s all that matters!”
“I am happy I am still breathing, my heart is still beating and I am standing!”
Yes!
Absolutely!
Value all of these things and so much more!
Be happy you are still breathing, your heart is beating and you are standing!
But that is not all that is to be valued, all that matters in the Kingdom of God!
Be Comforted but also recall our invaluable bodies are steadily passing away. (Isaiah 40:1-9)
We are crumbling even as we live and breathe.
We may have our health today, but a day will come when we do not.
Unless we are able to say with Paul, “To live is Christ,” we cannot legitimately affirm with him, “and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).
The only way that death can be a valued gain is if Christ is urgently everything.
And if Savior Christ is valued as urgently everything, as Paul says He is, then we can declare with him, My life is not ultimate. I don’t need to protect it as the most precious thing I have. I want to spend it for the most precious person I’ll ever know.
What mattered most to Paul was that he finished his life trusting Christ and carried out to the best of his abilities the ministry Christ had given him.
He felt a compelling, overwhelming resolve to complete the task of testifying to “the gospel of the grace of God” everywhere he could reach by foot or by boat.
There’s a task!
There’s a purpose, significance, an agenda, a calling!
There is a Christian lifestyle which matters to the Kingdom of God!
There is a Christian lifestyle worthy of being valued!
And this is the task entrusted to all of us—the Great Commission to (Matthew 28:16-20) to let everyone we meet know the good news of God’s amazing grace.
Matthew 28:16-20 English Standard Version
The Great Commission
16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in [a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
“If Only I May Finish My Course …”
Acts 20:22-24 Amplified Bible
22 And now, compelled by the Spirit and obligated by my convictions, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, 23 except that the Holy Spirit solemnly [and emphatically] affirms to me in city after city that imprisonment and suffering await me. 24 But I do not consider my life as something of value or dear to me, so that I may [with joy] finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify faithfully of the good news of God’s [precious, undeserved] grace [which makes us free of the guilt of sin and grants us eternal life].
From time to time, I will silently pray about each of these verses in Acts 20:22-24 and as I do quietly pray through them I will find myself constantly driven, then more urgently praying for the spread of the gospel through all our lives.
It then feels like every chapter and verse I can recall and prayer that flows from every verse and every chapter has got to help me to faithfully share the gospel.
That’s exactly what Paul is expressing here.
Think about it.
Paul knows he’s on this earth specifically for the spread of the gospel.
He urgently desires, and he says later, “I want to depart and be with Christ, but it’s better that I’m here.
Philippians 1:21-24 Amplified Bible
To Live Is Christ
21 For to me, to live is Christ [He is my source of joy, my reason to live] and to die is gain [for I will be with Him in eternity]. 22 If, however, it is to be life here and I am to go on living, this will mean useful and productive service for me; so I do not know which to choose [if I am given that choice]. 23 But I am hard-pressed between the two. I have the desire to leave [this world] and be with Christ, for that is far, far better; 24 yet to remain in my body is more necessary and essential for your sake.
In God’s wisdom. He’s left me here for the spread of the gospel. This is what I want to do. I want to testify of his grace.”
Acts 20:24 Reminds Us of the Bible’s Teaching
Let’s look at our lives in a similar way.
I’m not saying this is the only thing we do in the world.
This is obviously not what the Bible is teaching, but the Bible is teaching that this is primary.
We are here on this earth for the spread of the gospel of the grace of God.
We are here exclusively to help other people know how good, and great, and gracious, and glorious and invaluable God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are to all.
This is the opportunity God has given us every day and the place where he has put us in the world to make this good news to others.
A billion years from now what’s going to matter most is whether or not we have made this good news known to as many others as is possible in ones lifetime.
Acts 20:24 Leads Us to Have a Right Perspective
God, we ought to be urgently praying:
“Please give us a right perspective on our lives here.”
“God, Help us not to miss this glorious purpose you’ve entrusted to us.”
“We want to be a part of testifying to the gospel of your grace, telling other people about your love in Christ.”
“Lord, we don’t want to get to the end of our lives and look back and not have done this, not have given our whole lives to this, not having spent our lives doing this.”
In all the places I find myself, and I think about my life, my schedule this week.
I think about each person who’s praying this and their lives, their schedule, the different workplaces where they are, the different places where they live, the different people around them who probably don’t know Christ as their Savior.
“Lord, help us all. Help us all, we pray, to be faithful to testify to the gospel of your grace. And, Lord, help us not to neglect this most important ministry.”
This Reminds Us of Our Duty to Proclaim the Gospel
Obviously, we know we are not Paul in the same way that he was an apostle in the New Testament.
But we do know that, like the Apostle Paul, we have been urgently sent out by Christ with an urgent message, a gospel of God’s abundant and eternal life so to proclaim.
“Dear God, Help us urgently, we pray, to do it faithfully.”
“May I say in my own hearts my life I don’t count of any value.”
“Precious unto myself.”
“If only by your grace, I may finish this race and complete this ministry that I have been given from you, this opportunity that you have given to me, to urgently testify to, and witness exclusively unto, the gospel of your exceedingly amazing grace.”
“God, help me to be faithful to run that race today and to do this work today.”
“For the exclusive glory of your name and for the exclusive and urgent spread of your gospel, we pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.“
Living Out and Into A Lifestyle of Urgency
In these most contemporary of “lets hurry up and wait” how are you and I, like Paul, to live a life of urgency so that you and I might keep going until the end?
You and I must run our race with all our might, with the finish line in view.
Do not look for any opportunity to bow out or slow down before the final lap is over and urgently run with all our strength and running right through the tape, gripped by Christ’s love, energized by God’s Spirit, and guided by God’s Word.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Heavenly God, Author of my life, Perfecter of my faith, be with me as I run the race of becoming more like your son Jesus. I pray God that you remove my selfishness so I follow what’s best for You, not what’s best for me. When I am tired, please give me strength to finish the race with joy. Let my actions, my witness and my testimony show the meaning of the gospel, reveal the invaluable message of Christ my Savior.
19 The Lord said to Moses, 2 Say to the whole community of the Israelites: You must be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy. 3 Each of you must respect your mother and father, and you must keep my sabbaths; I am the Lord your God. 4 Do not turn to idols or make gods of cast metal for yourselves; I am the Lord your God.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
Though it is often ridiculed by those that have not read it, or misunderstood by those who do not have spiritual discernment, the fourth book of the Torah, Leviticus, is a book that directly concentrates its readers upon holiness – the 100% ultimate holiness of God and the need for the nation of Israel to be holy.
“You shall be holy,” God informed His chosen nation through Moses.
“You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.” Leviticus 19:2
From start to finish, Leviticus is a book that points the faithful to Christ.
He is pictured in the perfect Law of Moses in many ways, and by careful reading and studying its words, He can be identified in the various sacrificial offerings.
The person and work of Christ can also be seen in the holy articles of the Tabernacle, the function of the priesthood, and the feasts of the Lord.
The book of Leviticus points to Christ in many ways – for His “One and Done” atoning sacrifice of his own blood alone forever takes away the sin of the world.
Jesus is the Second Person of the Trinity, Who was fully and finally, ultimately revealed to the world through the birth, life, death, and Resurrection, Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is undeniably the eternal Son of God, Who did tabernacle among us, for a time and a season while He walked and talked and who had taught, healed and ministered unto the ancient people of the early first century Israel.
He is the perfect Word of God made flesh, through Whom the world was made and in Whom is life eternal, through which darkness and death have no power.
He is the eternal Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world.
And He is the sinless Son of Man, Who was sent by His Father to live among us, to set the example of life, set aside His heavenly glory to become like one of us.
Jesus is the Second Person of the immortal, invisible, almighty, HOLY God.
He is the only Member of the Holy Trinity Who was clothed in human flesh, so sinful men and women might be saved by grace – through faith in His sacrificial work at Calvary.
Throughout the Hebrew [Old] Testament, God gradually revealed His character, His attributes, His name, His miraculous redemptive plan for mankind, through the writings of specifically anointed holy men of God, many prophetic voices.
But in these last days, God has spoken to us in His Son, Whom He appointed Heir of all things, and through Whom also He made the world.
However, hidden deep within the pages of the Hebrew [Old] Testament, are many concealed references to Christ Jesus.
For those with eyes to see and a teachable spirit, we discover many ‘types’ and pictures of His person, His mission, His atoning work, and His supernatural life.
Numerous prophecies give details of His coming to earth as a newborn babe in a manger in Bethlehem, His ministry on earth, His sacrificial death, His glorious Resurrection, His ultimate victory over sin, over death and ultimately, Satan.
And Scripture records His coming millennial rule as King of kings and Lord of lords, for He is God’s appointed Messiah of Israel, He is the Savior of the world.
Moses was one such prophetic voice in Scripture, and he was inspired by God to write the book of Leviticus.
He was the man that God chose to become the first great leader of His people.
He was God’s anointed mouthpiece unto Pharaoh and the one who finally led millions of God’s redeemed people out of Egypt, on that first Passover night.
It was Moses through whom the Law was first written down and given to God’s chosen nation, and it was Moses who led, guided, directed, and instructed His people how to live as God’s own people, if they were to receive God’s blessings.
It was Moses who warned them what would happen if they disobeyed the Lord’s command and Moses was instructed by God to
“Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.'”
Israel was to be set apart from the gentile nations.
They were to be a separated nation, a covenanted people, an atypical race that was holy to the Lord.
They were to be God’s unique nation and a people for His own possession.
They were chosen out of all the people groups who live on the face of the earth, to have a holy relationship with the one and only, holy God.
Israel was to be a holy people unto the Lord their God.
They were to be sanctified unto the Lord – a peculiar people unto Himself.
They were to be an example of a nation that was consecrated to God.
Israel was to be God’s earthly light to the pagan nations and an example of a holy community, who honored the Lord.
They had seen God move before them as pillars of fire and smoke and they had witnessed the mighty miracles that decimated their proud Egyptian overlords.
They had made a covenant with the Lord and had promised to do all that the Lord had commanded – which is why God said to Moses,
“speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.'”
The call to holiness still stands for Christians in this epoch of the grace of God.
Like Israel, we are also instructed to be obedient children who are to be holy unto the Lord.
Like them, we are not to be conformed to the lusts of the flesh and pride of life.
Like Israel we are also instructed to be holy ourselves also in all of our behaviors – because as it was covenanted and written then and is still covenanted, written for us today, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
As God’s “Holy” People in the World Today?
Proverbs 27:17-19 Common English Bible
17 As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens a friend. 18 Those who tend a fig tree will eat its fruit, and those who look after their master will be honored. 19 As water reflects the face, so the heart reflects one person to another.
When God created us, He created us in His image.
Because we are, we should reflect every aspect of who He is because His image in stamped and engraved in us.
In Leviticus 19:2 God instructs Moses to tell the Children of Israel to be holy because God is holy.
That applies to us today as well.
Our words should be holy.
Our actions should be holy.
Our thoughts should be holy.
The way we live should be holy.
Other characteristics of God includes: merciful, forgiving, grace, truthful, keeps his promises, righteous, just, faithful, and unconditional and unfailing love.
As beings created in our Creator’s image, we should reflect these attributes in our everyday lives.
Colossians 3:10 says, “And have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”
And in Ephesians 4:24, Paul wrote, “And to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”
In Proverbs 27:19, Solomon wrote, “As water reflects the face, so the heart reflects the person.”
Whatever is living in and within our hearts is what is reflected in our lives.
Is our heart reflecting the holiness of God and His attributes/characteristics?
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
God, my Heavenly Father, thank You for the uncountable, invaluable lessons that Your Church can learn through the history of Israel and for the many types and pictures of Jesus that are hidden within the sacred pages of Scripture. Thank You that like Israel, I have also been called to be holy, because You are holy. It is humbling to realize that as part of Christ’s Body, we have also been chosen, in Him, to be kings and priests unto God – to be a chosen people, who tell the world that Jesus died for their sin and rose again, so that by faith in Him we may be holy, as He is holy. Thank You that by faith in Christ, I have been called to be Your very own, and to proclaim the wonderful deeds of Him Who called me out of darkness into His marvelous light. May I live and work from this day forward, to be more like Jesus, and to live a holy life that is separated from this fallen world system. In Jesus’ name I pray, AMEN.
3 Blessed [gratefully praised and adored] be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts and encourages us in every trouble so that we will be able to comfort and encourage those who are in any kind of trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For just as Christ’s sufferings are ours in abundance [as they overflow to His followers], so also our comfort [our reassurance, our encouragement, our consolation] is abundant through Christ [it is truly more than enough to endure what we must]. 6 But if we are troubled and distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted and encouraged, it is for your comfort, which works [in you] when you patiently endure the same sufferings which we [a]experience. 7 And our [b]hope for you [our confident expectation of good for you] is firmly grounded [assured and unshaken], since we know that just as you share as partners in our sufferings, so also you share as partners in our comfort.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
Come! Listen! Let Me Tell You What My Savior Has Done For Me.
Psalm 66:16-20 The Message
16-20 All believers, come here and listen, let me tell you what God did for me. I called out to him with my mouth, my tongue shaped the sounds of music. If I had been cozy with evil, the Lord would never have listened. But he most surely did listen, he came on the double when he heard my prayer. Blessed be God: he didn’t turn a deaf ear, he stayed with me, loyal in his love.
The writer of Psalm 66 wants to tell us his “GOD story” when he says, “Come and hear, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me.”
The psalmist does not want to talk about his accomplishments or achievements.
The Psalmist wants to talk about what God has done for him throughout his life.
His life had not been easy.
He had been tested and refined like silver.
He had experienced many burdens.
But through it all God had been with him and by listening to his cries for help,
God had led him, guided him, directed him to “a place of abundance.”
Like the Psalmist, each and every one of us has a strikingly similar story to tell.
All of us can bear great witness to the weight of burdens we have had to carry.
All of us can testify to hardships in our lives—but also to the one irrefutable fact that God, and God alone, has always been there and always acted on our behalf.
We must make sure we tell our story.
We must make sure you tell about God’s presence in our life and about his amazing grace in the midst of our much diverse and various degrees of trials.
We must wake sure we tell, re-tell it to our children and our grandchildren.
Someone once said to me,
“If something were to ever happen to you, I am sure I would not know anything about any legitimate kind of relationship to God or His Son or the Holy Spirit.”
Don’t let that happen to you.
Start contemplating your story.
Start writing or telling your story today!
A story which begins with (Song by Bill & Gloria Gaither and Ladye Love Smith)
Days are filled with sorrow Days are filled with sorrow and care Hearts are lonely and drear Burdens are lifted at Calvary Jesus is very near
Troubled soul, the Savior can see Every heartache and tear Burdens are lifted at Calvary Jesus is very near
and ends with ….
A repetition of this guided affirmation of faith in our Savior Jesus Christ ….
Burdens are lifted at Calvary Calvary, Calvary Burdens are lifted at Calvary Jesus is very near
Burdens are lifted at Calvary Calvary, Calvary Burdens are lifted at Calvary Jesus is very near
Burdens are lifted at Calvary Calvary, Calvary Burdens are lifted at Calvary Jesus is very near
Let Us Now Lift Up Our Hearts Unto Calvary Because Jesus is Very Near
I want us to imagine that we are each standing at the end of a long hallway.
The hallway represents the entirety of our life so far on earth.
To begin with, look down to your feet, where you are standing is todays date; all the way down at the far distant other end of the hallway is the day of your birth.
Now, just begin walking – please do not run, skip or jog or sprint or fast walk, Neither get on your skateboards, roller blades or roller skates or your bicycles.
Leave your car keys, your truck keys, your mini-van, your hybrid or EV car keys.
You are not driving anywhere – you are only and just walking with Savior Jesus.
Go outside of self and stretch your legs a bit, start working that heart muscle.
As you begin walking down the hallway heading back in your life, I want you to take notice of all of the notice various and diverse sizes of pictures on the wall.
These pictures are all of the “events” from your life; it’s like a photo album of your entire life which someone has taken the time to paint or print and hang.
Some are large framed pictures; they are the most significant experiences you have had so far.
Some are good; some are bad; some are happy; some are sad.
As you steadily walk down this hallway of your life, I want you to take a long and considered look at the content and context of all of these large pictures.
What significant events from your life do you see that stand out?
Is there a wedding?
The successful purchase of your first home?
The Birth of your first child?
Are there family vacations or sporting events pictured on the walls?
Is there an achievement like a high school or college diploma or an award?
Is there a significant milestone depicted – high professional achievements?
Is there a significant milestone depicted – your long awaited retirement?
Are there spiritual experiences like your coming to faith in Christ or a time God miraculously entered into your sub-conscience, especially touched your life?
Are there significantly painful experiences—a divorce, the death of someone you really loved, a failure, a betrayal, abuse, alcoholism, a difficult to care for child which leads to a hardcore challenging, difficult marriage, a significantly threatening health diagnosis, an over abundance of “no money,” an addiction?
Take some time now to walk beyond all of that, walk all the way to the end of this hallway of your, notice “self-portraits” in all these significant experiences in your life… contemplate, take notice of all the ones named “my aloneness.”
[NOW TAKE SOME QUALITY TIME WITH GOD IN SILENT REFLECTION].
As I pray, for you like the Psalmist did, I plead with you to realize that all these experiences have actually shaped who you are today, whether you like it or not.
I pray for you to realize there is no time for self-blame, or blame God, He didn’t cause all of these hard things to happen, but did allow them to happen to you.
What GOD wants to do with us, within us, is to use all of these experiences–Good and Bad–to grow us spiritually and mold us into the likeness of our Lord and Savior Jesus and to shape us for the unique purposes He has for our lives.
His intent is not to cause us any harm (1 John 4:7-12 The Message)
God Is Love
7-10 My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.
11-12 My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!
By the unmeasurable enormity of this love He expressed through Calvary,
He does not intend nor want even one of our life experiences to be wasted.
With a very God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit specific long term intention:
Romans 8:28-30 Amplified Bible
28 And we know [with great confidence] that God [who is deeply concerned about us] causes all things to work together [as a plan] for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His plan and purpose. 29 For those whom He foreknew [and loved and chose beforehand], He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son [and ultimately share in His complete sanctification], so that He would be the firstborn [the most beloved and honored] among many believers. 30 And those whom He predestined, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified [declared free of the guilt of sin]; and those whom He justified, He also glorified [raising them to a heavenly dignity].
God takes every single one of our life experiences—whether positive or painful, intentional or accidental, known or unknown, avoided or not, caused by you or by someone else, to shape all His Children for His unique calling in their lives.
Romans 8:28-30 may be, for some of us, the most personal verses in the Bible:
We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.
Your life experience and my own are one of the most overlooked ways that God uses to mold, shape, and transform us for the way He wants each of us to serve Him and others in this world, to edify, that is, to build up, His Kingdom alone.
The Bible says that God is working in every experience you have—our mistakes, our decisions, our successes and failures, our education or lack thereof, all of our different jobs, relationships, our lack of relationships, our unemployment, our disabilities, our marriages, our health issues, our finances—you name it.
God is working in every single thing in our lives—even in and through our own continued and continuous bent to our sins–to accomplish His purpose for you.
What Is The “God Specific” Purpose For Which God Is Even Now Working In Every Single Thing In Our life?
He is always working for the good in our lives.
Reverend Rick Warren puts it this way:
God can take the mess in our lives and bring a message out of it.
He can take the tests in our lives and create a testimony out of it.
He can take any crisis and show all of our Savior Jesus Christ through them.
GOD does not, never will, waste any experience any one of His Children have.
Moses murdered a man and had to flee into the wilderness between Egypt and Israel to save his life.
Some 40 years later God came to him in the vision of a burning bush and said, Moses, I have chosen you to go back down to Egypt to set my people free from slavery and guide and lead them through the wilderness to the Promised Land.
Moses knew the wilderness; he had lived there, learned its ways for 40 years.
Likewise, as Moses did, that through God, not our wits, God wants to use the wildernesses of our lives to help guide others, to find God’s way for their lives.
Joseph, his father Jacob’s favorite, was conspired against, thrown down a well and eventually sold to merchants into slavery by his hyper jealous brothers.
He ended up a slave and a prisoner in Egypt, but God gifted him and made a way for him to become the Prime Minister of Egypt and second only to the Pharaoh.
When famine threatened the very existence of God’s people, God used Joseph to plant, grow, harvest, store, manage the supply the grain that His people needed.
And when his brothers came to him starving, Joseph said to them: You intended to harm me, but God long intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the housing, settling and feeding, ultimately the saving of many lives.
But notice carefully God does not just do this for everybody.
God works His good for those who love Him and follow His plan.
The promise of Romans 8:28 is not for everybody.
God does not work His good in our lives when we don’t love Him or we turn our backs on Him.
It’s not that God turns His back on those who don’t follow His plan for their lives – God loves everybody, but He cannot help and use those who close their hearts, souls, minds, strengths and lives to Him and His plan for their lives.
One of the most common ways God uses our life experiences for good is to help others – to empathize, give comfort and encouragement while God works.
God can and does take each and everyone of our experiences, especially the painful ones, and turns them around, transforming them in a positive way.
Who better to help someone who is struggling than another person who has gone through the same struggle?
2 Corinthians 1:4 says, God, through Christ at Calvary, comforts and encourages us in all of our troubles so we can then, in turn, comfort and encourage others.
From Calvary then, when others are troubled, we will be able to reciprocate, to give them the same comfort and encouragement from Calvary God has given us.
Our troubles can become the very ministry God will use to help other people.
That uniquely painful experience in your life that you keep locked in the inner recesses of your soul could become your singularly unique, greatest ministry.
God has used the failures and hurtful experiences of my own life more than anything else to mold, shape and transform me exclusively for His purposes.
Those bad life experiences of my have helped me grow uniquely, spiritually.
Truthfully, in the good and happy times of my life, I have usually just coasted spiritually, taking God’s grace for granted that He will always, forever be there.
I have to see, from the long shadow extending outward from Calvary, and into eternity, God does not want me to allow my experiences to count for nothing.
I have to become the better person, through Christ, God needs me to become.
Now, it is my relationship with God which continues to keep me looking more forward versus more backwards, instead, a day at a time – Sweet Savior Jesus.
He was my Best Forever friend, much better than a brother I never had.
I was so “at ease, more comforted, more encouraged” with my Sweet Savior Jesus, stark comparison to the “disease of sin” I was struggling to recover from.
He truly brought wholeness to my life, an indescribable joy and immeasurable degrees of comfort that will always and forever be etched deep in my memory.
In His time on earth; Jesus had completed God’s mission for His life; and there is no doubt God touched uncountable many lives through him.
Through Calvary, by my walk to Calvary, My Sweet Savior Jesus helped me to see how life is supposed to be lived—in tune with my GOD and the Holy Spirit.
He helped me to find God and my family, the church to which my wife and I go.
On more than one occasion, the Bible says that God chooses to use weaker vessels to do His work so that He may get the glory.
In 2 Corinthians 12:9, God says: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Paul responds: “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
God can help people more through their weakness than we can through our strengths.
That’s why we need each other; it’s why we need the supportive fellowship of the church.
You can learn from others who have gone or who are going through the same struggles you are.
Perfection, if we could achieve it, would help nobody.
What experiences have we had to confront in our own lives which GOD could use to help comfort and encourage others?
“I Thirst” and then “It is Finished”
John 19:28-30 Amplified Bible
28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said in fulfillment of the Scripture, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar full of [a]sour wine was placed there; so they put a sponge soaked in the sour wine on [a branch of] hyssop and held it to His mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and [voluntarily] [b]gave up His spirit.
At Golgotha, the Place of the Skull, At Calvary, the death of the perfect Son of God was the darkest moment in world history, but look back at the portraits in the length and breadth and width of your hallway at how God used Jesus’ death.
Jesus’ death atoned for every single one our sins and everybody else’s sins and made for each of us an unobstructed way back to God, into heaven when we die.
Out of Christ’s crucifixion, God brought to all mankind the ultimate comfort and encouragement – God brought salvation for all who trust and follow Jesus.
This is our hope in Jesus Christ!
On that first Easter Sunday two millennia ago, God brought life out of death.
Jesus Christ died, three days later he arose from the dead and is now a living presence among us right now— forgiving us, delivering us, shaping us, guiding us, loving us, living in and among us and wanting to use us for His purposes.
God can use all your life experiences, good and bad, to shape you for His unique calling in your life—if forego any resistance to any, all change, if we let Him.
Hebrews 3:12-16 Amplified Bible
The Peril of Unbelief
12 Take care, brothers and sisters, that there not be in any one of you a wicked, unbelieving [a]heart [which refuses to trust and rely on the Lord, a heart] that turns away from the living God. 13 But continually encourage one another every day, as long as it is called “Today” [and there is an opportunity], so that none of you will be hardened [into settled rebellion] by the deceitfulness of sin [its cleverness, delusive glamour, and sophistication]. 14 For we [believers] have become partakers of Christ [sharing in all that the Messiah has for us], if only we hold firm our newborn confidence [which originally led us to Him] until the end,15 while it is said,
“Today [while there is still opportunity] if you hear His voice, Do not harden your heart, as when they provoked Me [in the rebellion in the desert at Meribah].”
16 For who were they who heard and yet provoked Him [with rebellious acts]? Was it not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?
“Today, while there is still opportunity, if we WILL hear His voice …”
“Do not harden your hearts again and again, with further acts of open rebellion …”
God’s Call and Invitation to each and everyone of us through Mount Calvary:
God has 3 callings in the lives of each and everyone of His Children:
(1) He calls you to salvation and a new life in Jesus Christ;
(2) He calls you to be an active part of His church;
(3) He calls you to serve Him and comfort and encourage others in the unique way He has gifted and shaped you.
Encouraging one another is an important part of our daily walk with Christ.
Comforting one another is an important part of our daily walk with Christ.
We live in a world corrupted by unbelief, sin, and, at times, persecution.
How can we stay firm in our faith?
Scripture gives us this recipe:
Comfort, Love, Encourage, and Daily Pray for one another.
In God’s grace, the Holy Spirit uses these acts of mutual and shared comfort, care and encouragement to guide us, see us, through the most trying of times.
When fellow believers are struggling, be quick to extend your helpful, sharing hand.
Be graceful and be generous.
Be gentle and be merciful as unto the Lord.
Be comforting and be encouraging.
Offer words of comfort and prayer, as well as tangible acts of help, encourage people around you, and be surprised by how much you are encouraged yourself!
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Would you pray this prayer with me?
Almighty God and my Everlasting Father, Lord of my life, I offer back my life to You. Everything I’ve been through, Lord, use it for Your glory. Jesus, I give You my all. In your name I pray and commit myself to Your continuing work in this world. Lead, Guide and Direct my Steps back towards Calvary from whence comes my Savior. That I may be a comfort as I was comforted, I may be an encourager as I was encouraged. For indeed, there is no other name under heaven through which mankind is saved.
15 So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these [others do—with total commitment and devotion]?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I [a]love You [with a deep, personal affection, as for a close friend].” Jesus said to him, “Feed My lambs.” 16 Again He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me [with total commitment and devotion]?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You [with a deep, personal affection, as for a close friend].” Jesus said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me [with a deep, personal affection for Me, as for a close friend]?” Peter was grieved that He asked him the third time, “Do you [really] [b]love Me [with a deep, personal affection, as for a close friend]?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know everything; You know that I love You [with a deep, personal affection, as for a close friend].” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.
Our Times Are in His Hand
18 I assure you and most solemnly say to you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and walked wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and arms, and someone else will dress you, and carry you where you do not wish to go.” 19 Now He said this to indicate the [c]kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. And after saying this, He said to him, “Follow Me [walk the same path of life that I have walked]!”
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
(Psalm 144:4) Man is like a mere breath; His days are like a shadow that passes away.
Perhaps there exists something so natural to us we take it too much for granted.
Perhaps that something which so very natural to us is our time alive, our time allotted to us by God to simply breathing and moving and living on this earth.
Do we take the time to ponder exactly how Time is so precious — time with our families, children, parents, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ – With God?
How do we invest our time?
When do we invest our time?
Where do we invest our time?
With whom do we invest our time?
Why do we invest our time with whomever we invest our times?
You know, when it comes right down to it, getting back to the basics of life, our time with God and each other is really more valuable than the money we invest.
Once the present time and its opportunities are gone, they can’t be reclaimed.
So as we begin each day, as we look at the sunshine through the rain, perhaps contemplate “time management” “thought management,” ask God we will be able to “know His time,” to see it for what it is, to use it for its greatest good.
Irretrievably so, time – God’s Time” passes quickly, like the shadows of early evening, it’s not long before it is absorbed into the gathering darkness of night.
When We Feel “Forever Stuck” In The Moment?
From time to time, while in the process of drafting a new devotional, I find myself in a deep mental conundrum – my mind and my spirit seem to go blank.
The kind of blankness I so desperately want to escape, but as every cliched movie villain always says, “escape is futile, resistance to change is futile”
Sometimes the same conundrum affects me on an emotional level, even spiritually – what difference is anything I write about a particular subject I believe the Holy Spirit provides, going to make in anyone I truly care about?
I feel a certain way and don’t want to, but the villain tells me yet again, escape is futile – In other words, I’m feeling stuck in my moment- or so I tell myself.
The first kind of hindrance is writer’s block, something every author eventually faces during his or her artistic pursuits.
Then there’s the kind of barrier we can all relate to, where we’re looking for a change on an emotional or spiritual level, but find ourselves confused, maybe even miserable – we are longing for answers but find none – That’s a life block.
We encounter them in our relationship with God, with each other.
We find them on the job and at home and on vacations.
We find them in ourselves and of ourselves.
In other words, we contend with a seemingly insurmountable problem; but only to us, the problem is not seemingly, but definitely perceived as insurmountable.
We’re stuck in a moment of time, or in a memory, or so we will take great pains to try to sell it that way to ourselves.
Escape is futile, we keep talking to ourselves and therefore we come to believe.
Yet, the reality is, deep down, we know the movie villain is 100% exaggerating.
For the dramatic effect and for their audiences, they will always exaggerate.
There is a way through the barrier, a way to get unstuck, a way back to writing those stories, transforming perspectives, having the right perspective of God.
Though the frustration and confusion may be too deep, ceaseless, unrelenting, too aggravating, too anger provoking, the solution is simple and two-fold.
First, take a break; not in the sense of giving up, but in the sense of ending your striving.
There’s only so much we can control in our lives.
The sooner we realize this, the more peace we will find.
After you take a break, either wait or look for inspiration.
Sometimes finishing a devotional requires that I stop writing for ten minutes so that I can go for a walk or have a quick moment to wander around my home.
Sometimes finishing a devotional requires me to temporarily set it aside, to pray to God and then as God will’s it, come back after a day or longer.
That time off from the writing effort is useful for conjuring up, discerning new ideas, letting the Holy Spirit work and gaining insight from God or other people.
Creating distance from the problem at hand often helps with developing a more objective perspective.
The same applies when we’re navigating relational conflict, battling addiction, battling mental health issues, family issues or just trying to discern God’s will.
After we take a break from all the struggles of doing things our own way, we can find “Father, Son and Holy Spirit” inspiration for tackling our circumstances.
Proverbs 16:1-4 Amplified Bible
Contrast the Upright and the Wicked
16 The plans and reflections of the heart belong to man, But the [wise] answer of the tongue is from the Lord. 2 All the ways of a man are clean and innocent in his own eyes [and he may see nothing wrong with his actions], But the Lord weighs and examines the motives and intents [of the heart and knows the truth]. 3 [a]Commit your works to the Lord [submit and trust them to Him], And your plans will succeed [if you respond to His will and guidance]. 4 The Lord has made everything for its own purpose, Even the wicked [according to their role] for the day of evil.
Inspiration comes only through our connection to God, sometimes through people, sometimes through nature, and sometimes through so much more.
Inspiration also finds us through God’s Word, the wisdom of the Cross, and a visit from Jesus helping us see with a perspective that doesn’t come naturally.
Stuck in His Guilt, Peter is Restored to Discipleship
John 21:18-19 Amplified Bible
Our Times Are in His Hand
18 I assure you and most solemnly say to you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and walked wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and arms, and someone else will dress you, and carry you where you do not wish to go.” 19 Now He said this to indicate the [a]kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. And after saying this, He said to him, “Follow Me [walk the same path of life that I have walked]!”
On the night Jesus was arrested, Peter had instantly revoked his discipleship.
Under threat of arrest and exposure and potential death sentence, by those in the courtyard he had denied three times that he was a follower of Jesus – each time he publicly proclaimed his denials more desperate than the previous one.
Luke 22:54-62 Amplified Bible
Peter’s Denials
54 Then they seized Him, and led Him away and brought Him to the [elegant] house of the [Jewish] [a]high priest. And Peter was following at a [safe] distance. 55 After they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat among them. 56 And a servant-girl, seeing him as he sat in the firelight and looking intently at him, said, “This man was with Him too.” 57 But Peter denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know Him!” 58 A little later someone else saw him and said, “You are one of them too.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not!” 59 After about an hour had passed, another man began to insist, “This man was with Him, for he is a Galilean too.” 60 But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. 61 The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.” 62 And he went out and wept bitterly [deeply grieved and distressed].
Again, to emphasis, the power of the moment, its deep significance, when he realized what he had done, he went out and wept bitterly (Matthew 26:69-75).
In that moment frozen forever in time, He was indescribably overwhelmed by incalculable shame and immeasurable guilt.
Luke 24:36-43 Amplified Bible
Other Appearances
36 While they were talking about this, Jesus Himself [suddenly] stood among them and said to them, “Peace be to you.” 37 But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a spirit. 38 And He said, “Why are you troubled, and why are doubts rising in your hearts? 39 Look at [the marks in] My hands and My feet, [and see] that it is I Myself. Touch Me and see; a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.” 40 After saying this, He showed them His hands and His feet. 41 While they still did not believe it because of their joy and amazement, He asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 42 They gave Him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and He took it and ate it in front of them.
Even as Peter with the other disciples in the Upper Room, heard the words from the resurrected Jesus – “Peace be To You,” the question – “why are you troubled and why are doubts rising in your hearts,” having been offered the opportunity to look at the marks in His hands and feet, to even touch them for his own self,
We can say that Peter’s heart, despite all of the irrefutable evidence offered by the resurrected Jesus to the contrary, Peter kept significant doubts of himself.
He looked directly into his Messiah’s eyes when he betrayed Him and wept bitterly and inconsolably – only an exchange of words with eye to eye contact would make any significant and lasting difference which did not happen here.
Such a moment required utmost discretion couples with the utmost presence of God in Christ and the utmost intimacy and the utmost compassion, forgiveness.
Jesus comes to the lakeshore.
After breakfast, Jesus and Peter together, go much further down the beach.
Jesus quietly looked into Peter’s eyes and quietly asked Peter a few questions.
But the questions were not “What were you thinking?” “Why did you abandon me when I needed you?” or “Why didn’t you have the guts to stick up for me?”
It was simply “Do you love me?”
Jesus had died on the cross for Peter’s sins.
What Jesus wanted to know now was only whether or not Peter still loved him.
Peter’s sins were in the past; Peter’s expression of love would shape his future.
When Peter said, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you,”
Jesus, the conqueror of sin and death and the Lord of life, graciously invited him to take up his discipleship again and forgiven, follow him into the future.
Doing the same with us, Jesus is astonishingly gracious.
He doesn’t bring up our past sins, betrayals, or infidelities.
He simply wants to know if we love him.
He simply wants to know, to hear He can still make a difference in Peter’s life.
He simply wants to hear Peter acknowledge he still believed in himself, in his ability to move through and beyond his transgressions, to make a difference in the lives he will come to engage with until his own death at some future point.
Did Peter believe, though still being stuck in the brutality of his mistakes, he could still make a significant difference, significant impact in God’s kingdom?
Forward through the Ages for Christ’s sake – for that makes all the difference.
Whatever horrendous mess you might be stuck in now, are you seeking Jesus?
Forward in His Forgiveness, Forward through the Ages,
Do you Still love Him as He still loves you?
Will you still serve Him as He first Served you (Mark 10:35-45, Luke 19:9-10)?
Micah 6:6-8 Amplified Bible
What God Requires of Man
6 With what shall I come before the Lord [to honor Him] And bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, With yearling calves? 7 Will the Lord be delighted with thousands of rams, Or with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my acts of rebellion, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you Except to be just, and to love [and to diligently practice] kindness (compassion), And to walk humbly with your God [setting aside any overblown sense of importance or self-righteousness]?
He invites us to go out and serve him today!
Steadfast and Immovable Gracious and Compassionate In Him.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Eternal God, please give me the wisdom to use the time given me today to do what is best, right, good, and profitable for Your Kingdom. I want to better invest my time in what is truly enduring and redemptive and transformative, living in and loving out from the depths of resurrection, from the depths of your mercy and forgiveness for all my sins. Please help me use my time to influence and bless all those with whom I may interact with so that they too are brought closer to you. In Jesus’ name, I pray.
24 One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin),[a] was not with the others when Jesus came. 25 They told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.”
26 Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”
28 “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.
29 Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
Answering the Kingdom of God’s Hardest Questions
What is the hardest question we, as Christians will ever ask another person?
Reverend John Wesley, founder of Methodism gives the very simplest answer:
“How is it with your your Soul today?”
A very simple, non threatening, open ended openly friendly question to be sure.
But one that is not so frequently asked perhaps for the fear that someone might actually and truly take 20 minutes to “chew your ear off” giving their response.
Who is actually ready to suddenly separate 20 minutes, perhaps even more, for the extra donut and coffee, out of their day to truly engage this inspired soul?
Not going to risk being late for work?
Picking up one’s child from school?
Missing the wife’s best meatloaf dinner?
Being late for the opening pitch of your home teams baseball game?
Not really interested in risking that new friendship which might transpire?
Not really interested in receiving tough theological questions you are unsure you are able to give a sufficient non threatening answer for – “who is Jesus?”
Some churches don’t want you or me to ask those hard and honest questions.
Their mindset is they are reluctant or do not to respond to those questions which have no obvious and clear cut answers, which present no evidence of God, His existence, His attributes, His Miracles, His Sovereignty or Authority.
That’s sad, I think.
If we have been Christians awhile in these churches, we kind of get trained to know which questions we find easiest to ask and which ones to simply let go.
That’s where Curious Unbelievers and New Christians can be so refreshing.
They ask bold and fresh and honest and naïve, thought provoking questions.
They’re not afraid to seek for the Lord and find his answers.
Thomas is our designated doubter.
His doubts and questions enable our doubts to be expressed and to receive an answer from the Lord himself.
All A Necessary Part of God’s Plan All Along
First things first: The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is 100% central to our Beliefs.
For their is no other name under Heaven by which man is saved! (Acts 4:8-12)
and also …
Romans 10:9-13 New Living Translation
9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. 11 As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” [a]12 Jew and Gentile[b] are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. 13 For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”[c]
Jesus in The Synoptic Gospels
Though Jesus mentioned many times that He would rise from the dead, it never seemed to penetrate the minds and hearts and souls of any one of His disciples.
After all, the crucifixion would have left them completely dumbfounded.
They would not know what to respond with do or how to handle the prophecy.
They would or could never be sure where they should go or what they should do.
And when they finally heard that Jesus was alive, it came as a surprise to them.
Mark’s Gospel says,
“Then Jesus began to tell them that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead” (8:31 NLT).
The disciples couldn’t begin to wrap their minds around the idea that the ugly crucifixion was or could possibly be any part of God’s plan for their prosperity.
How could something as ugly and brutal like that be called any “good thing?”
How could all that brutal humiliation, suffering and sacrifice have any value?
But it would be through Jesus’ death that death is defeated, eternal life came.
Jesus was saying,
“I’m in control. I know it sounds radical when I say that I will suffer and die. But I’m also saying that I will rise again. This is part of the plan. I know what I’m doing.”
This is what God says to us as well.
There are times in our lives as Christians when we may not understand what God is doing.
Why did He allow this thing to happen?
How could He allow this thing to happen?
Why did He allow those problems?
How could He allow these problems?
Why did He allow that tragedy?
How could He allow to that tragedy
And why hasn’t He intervened?
Why doesn’t He intervene?
It is hard to know why sometimes.
It is hard to receive the questions that are being asked here.
Because we simply have no way of giving any reasonable or correct answer.
But Jesus is saying to all generations,
“I am in control. I know what I am doing. I always know what I am doing.” (Psalm 46:10-11 AKJV)
10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. 11 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
The absolute truth for every Christian is whatever we give up to follow Jesus will be more than made up to us in this life and in the life to come.
It will be worth it all.
It was all a part of God’s plan all along to reveal and to affirm the pathway it is necessary for any one, whether a non-believer, new believer or mature believer, to travel first declaring their unbelief, need for miracle to believe, then believe.
This Roadmap to Belief? God’s Plan For Us All Along
Hebrews 10:12-18 New Living Translation
12 But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 13 There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet. 14 For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.
15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so. For he says,
16 “This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day,[a] says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”[b]
17 Then he says,
“I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds.”[c]
18 And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.
It’s hard to fathom Christ’s final, agonizing hours upon a Roman cross.
The floggings, torture, and humiliation He endured were reserved for the worst of criminals.
It is no wonder, then, that with His last breath, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, Tetelestai!—“It is finished” (John 19:30).
But what was this cry?
Was Jesus simply announcing His own death?
Was it an acknowledgment that the cruelty and pain were now finished?
Was it even something of a cry of defeat?
On this point, the Bible is clear: Jesus’ final word was actually a shout of victory, of triumphant recognition (Colossians 2:15; Hebrews 10:12-14; 1 Peter 3:18).
He had fully accomplished the work He had come to earth to do.
In the realm of eternity, in perfect fellowship and harmony with one another, the Father had planned, and the Son along with the Spirit had willingly agreed, that this would be the way—and now their purpose was being accomplished.
So we must always remember that Christ’s sacrificial death was according to the Father’s plan.
Christ was chosen to bear the penalty of mankind’s sins “before the foundation of the world” (1 Peter 1:20).
Likewise, Isaiah prophesied concerning the Suffering Servant who was to come, saying, “It was the will of the LORD to crush him” (Isaiah 53:10).
From all of eternity, the Father chose the Son to be the Perfect one who would provide an “one and done for all time” atoning sacrifice for the sins of many.
The Father’s plan is paralleled by the Son’s sacrifice.
When Jesus walked onto the stage of human history, He was clear concerning His role and mission: “I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38).
The sacrifice of the Lord Jesus was not coerced.
Rather, He laid down His life in full awareness of and voluntary submission to the Father’s plan.
The truth and reality of this covenant plan of redemption is applied to our lives by the Spirit’s testimony.
The Spirit of God repeatedly affirms and continually testifies through God’s Word, in no uncertain terms, reminding us all of the wonder of what God has accomplished for us through Christ Jesus’ finished work on the cross (Hebrews 10:15).
Christ’s offering means we stand perfected in God’s sight.
Our sin has been removed by His Son, and we are clothed in the righteousness of His Son.
The death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ was never Plan B.
Nothing could be further from the truth!
In eternity past, the triune God determined that the road to Calvary would be the only way of salvation.
Bow today under the simple beauty and wisdom of God’s redemption plan, asking the Holy Spirit to help you understand more fully and appreciate more deeply what it meant for the Son of God to bear and take away your sin.
Receive the doubting Thomas’ who all too often choose to remain anonymous and separate from the joy and triumph first found in that Upper Room that day.
Let’s not be so anxious asking any one of those doubting Thomas’ the question:
“How is it with your soul, today?”
Let’s be careful not to squash asking those honest and seeking questions.
Of course,
Our goal isn’t so much in asking the question, but in our and some Thomas receiving an authentic faith in the Lord, who is the answer to our questions!
“Are We Able … to Ask of the Master …
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Father, stir my heart to continue to seek after you. I want to know more about you, and I also want to be more aware of your presence in my life. I want my character to be conformed unto your will. So please know that my doubts and questions are my seeking you and not my seeking some random tidbit of knowledge. Give me the Spirit of revelation to know you more completely so that I might be transformed by your will rather than being conformed to the culture around me. In Jesus’ name, I pray.
1 1-2 I, Paul, have been sent on special assignment by Christ as part of God’s master plan. Together with my friend Timothy, I greet the Christians and stalwart followers of Christ who live in Colossae. May everything good from God our Father be yours!
Working in His Orchard
3-5 Our prayers for you are always spilling over into thanksgivings. We can’t quit thanking God our Father and Jesus our Messiah for you! We keep getting reports on your steady faith in Christ, our Jesus, and the love you continuously extend to all Christians. The lines of purpose in your lives never grow slack, tightly tied as they are to your future in heaven, kept taut by hope.
5-8 The Message is as true among you today as when you first heard it. It doesn’t diminish or weaken over time. It’s the same all over the world. The Message bears fruit and gets larger and stronger, just as it has in you. From the very first day you heard and recognized the truth of what God is doing, you’ve been hungry for more. It’s as vigorous in you now as when you learned it from our friend and close associate Epaphras. He is one reliable worker for Christ! I could always depend on him. He’s the one who told us how thoroughly love had been worked into your lives by the Spirit.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
It is wonderful when someone comes into the kingdom of God.
That person receives God’s gift of grace through faith in Jesus, and they begin a new life of walking with the Holy Spirit.
The new believer realizes that their old life of selfish pursuits offers nothing that will ever satisfy.
They have turned their back on the darkness and are enjoying the light of the world, Jesus. Praise God for his love!
Paul is filled with thanks to hear that the people of Colossae have come to faith in Christ Jesus and are showing their love for all God’s people.
He even says, “We always thank God . . . when we pray for you . . .”
They have become wonderful examples of living by faith in Jesus.
They believe and trust, they love, and they hope in what God has already stored up in heaven for them.
Drawing all this together, we can witness and testify with Paul that the faith of the new Colossian believers was rooted in Jesus Christ.
But What of the Root Witness and Testimony of a More Mature Community of Faith Such as Today’s?
John 15:15-17 Amplified Bible
15 I do not call you servants any longer, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you [My] friends, because I have revealed to you everything that I have heard from My Father. 16 You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed and placed and purposefully planted you, so that you would go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, and that your fruit will remain and be lasting, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name [as My representative] He may give to you. 17 This [is what] I command you: that you love and unselfishly seek the best for one another.
John 15:16-17 The Message
16 “You didn’t choose me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won’t spoil. As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you.
17 “But remember the root command: Love one another.
The Bible is often referred to as a love letter or love story; an incomparable history of hearts laid bare, broken, hurting and taking great pains, believing.
Filled with incomparable songs of love, promises of love, and commands to love, God’s Word is clear – Love, rooted in Christ is our purpose, our mission.
I believe we embrace the Bible as a love story in no small part because the Bible shows us, testifies to us exactly and exactingly who, whose we are—sins and all.
It pulls us up by our roots, from the dirt and dust in Genesis through a far off cataclysm of warfare unto final victory through our Savior Christ in Revelation.
And yet, at the heart of it is still the refrain that God so loves the world, anyway.
It’s most interesting to note that although Jesus talks about loving God, your neighbor, enemies and more all throughout Scripture, he wraps his message of love in John 15 in that of abiding in him, even though the world may not love us.
He begins with the image of himself as the vine we draw sustenance from His roots and yet ends with the reality that the world will hate those who love him.
As he paints a picture of humanity stretching forth into the Kingdom of God, bearing fruit only by the power of the vine rooted securely in Christ, he says in John 15:12, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”
To be sure the importance of his command is felt, he says it again in John 15:17, with greater clarity:
This is my command: Love each other.
Or as the Message Bible states it:
“Remember the Root Command: Love One Another.
John 15:1-10 The Message
The Vine and the Branches
15 1-3 “I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. He cuts off every branch of me that doesn’t bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more. You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken.
4 “Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me.
5-8 “I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is—when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples.
9-10 “I’ve loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you’ll remain intimately at home in my love. That’s what I’ve done—kept my Father’s commands and made myself at home in his love.
Let’s note some general observations about how we each grow as Christians.
Let’s consider how our spiritual growth is gracious, gradual, and guaranteed.
One of the most important things we ought to notice about spiritual growth and wellness is that spiritual growth and wellness is the result of God’s work in us.
Though we each definitely have a critically important role to play, even our determination to flourish with the fruit of the Spirit is evidence of God’s grace.
The Holy Spirit is the one who empowers, inspires, stimulates our inner desire to grow in Christ, to stay rooted in Christ and to branch out from Christ alone.
Growth is gracious.
Growth is slow and steady and sometimes painful to watch and to experience.
As we watch the new sprouts emerge from the cold of winter into the spring, it takes a great deal of time and effort for that sprout to emerge from the branch.
But those new sprouts will emerge, will grow, will be nourished to full bloom only from the truest quality and quantity of the trees centralized root system.
We water the ground under the tree to give it a chance to grow deep and strong.
We fertilize the ground around the tree to provide additional growth nutrients.
Creator God does the rest underground where we cannot see, have any control.
Jesus is offering himself here, as he does for eternity, as our unseen root source of true, abundant life when our winterized lives requires us to re-emerge in the spring season, to choose to reach for the “Son-light”, choose love over death.
He is assuring us that we draw our ability to draw our nourishment, our love from Him—the only vine that makes our inept winterized branches bear fruit.
Without him, we wither and amount to nothing as he describes in verse 6.
The one who loves us so much that he gives his very lifeblood to reconcile us to our Creator knows…that as his followers, we’re up against a world of hatred.
So, he commands us: root ourselves to hatred or to love, to choose love anyway!
How?
Remain in him.
Remember His words. And, as he says in John 15:10, “keep my commands.”
So, What Did This Look Like In That Upper Room?
Luke 24:36-43 New King James Version
Jesus Appears to His Disciples
36 Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.” 37 But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit.38 And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”
40 [a]When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. 41 But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, “Have you any food here?” 42 So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish [b]and some honeycomb. 43 And He took it and ate in their presence.
What does this “Stay Rooted in the Vine” “Stay Rooted in Christ” look like for an imperfect human, a group of imperfect human beings, in a hurting world?
It often takes surrendering your perceptions of what being rooted in an agenda really means – rooted to the Kingdom of God versus the kingdom of our enemy.
The resurrected Jesus Himself came and stood among His frightened disciples.
And the first words out of His mouth were: “Peace to You!”
Then to further settle the moment further: He asks, “Why are you troubled?”
The resurrected Jesus takes immediate command of the moment.
Immediately turns everyone’s eyes, ears, hearts spirits and souls to Him alone.
Away from their fear of everything external over which they have zero control.
40 [a]When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. 41 But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, “Have you any food here?” 42 So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish [b]and some honeycomb. 43 And He took it and ate in their presence.
For the disciples to respond, it definitely required a willingness to claim utter dependence on a love supply greater than any of them, and perfect in its plan.
It definitely required them to step away from themselves in moment of their gravest doubts and concerns over their futures – to consider sharing with their resurrected Messiah, a meal of fish and honeycomb, then to watch Him eat it!
We have to give our doubts and our fears and our brokenness permission to see the entrance of our resurrected Savior, hear His words of peace and of comfort over our paralyzing words of anxiety, our self-deprecating words of abject fear.
When Peace Like a River Attendeth our Ways and Sorrows like Sea Billows Roll, Welcome His Presence, Welcome His Words, Welcome His offer of a good meal.
Remaining Rooted in the Love of Christ, remembering to remain rooted in His Love involves our consciously seeking Him in our prayers when hatred prowls around, like a crouching lion seeking to rip away and to burn up our branches.
It means our crying, asking God for the wisdom to choose love, instead of hate.
It means overcoming, our seeing even those who hate us as needing love, too.
Does Jesus say to set those haters straight?
Does Jesus say to bear a grudge, go passive -aggressive, angry, rotten fruit?
Not at all. He later says in John 15:27 that in presence of hate, we testify.
By judging?
By dividing and conquering and failing at both?
By divisiveness?
By poking “sharp sticks” into each other’s eyes?
By casting stones and sometimes even boulders at each other?
Performing on a stage whose audience is waiting for the “last one standing?”
Well, In this passage, there’s only way – By remaining rooted in Christ’s loving.
Philippians 2:1-4 New King James Version
Unity Through Humility
2 Therefore if there is any [a]consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2 fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
So, rather than get our branches in a twist, and risk breaking off from the One strong enough to grow us, let’s not respond to the reality of hate with hate.
Let’s abide, by asking what the vine would have us do to show His love instead.
Friends, my prayer is we will have faith in Christ Jesus; my hope for us is, that in Jesus’ name we are loving others, giving ourselves up for them, and growing in hope in all that God has promised and Christ is storing up for us in heaven.
Remember the Root Command: Stay rooted in Christ,
Let’s abide, by asking what the vine would have us do to show His love instead.
Anticipating the reality of God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 46 The Message
46 1-3 God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need him. We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom, courageous in sea storm and earthquake, Before the rush and roar of oceans, the tremors that shift mountains.
Jacob-wrestling God fights for us, God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.
4-6 River fountains splash joy, cooling God’s city, this sacred haunt of the Most High. God lives here, the streets are safe, God at your service from crack of dawn. Godless nations rant and rave, kings and kingdoms threaten, but Earth does anything he says.
7 Jacob-wrestling God fights for us, God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.
8-10 Attention, all! See the marvels of God! He plants flowers and trees all over the earth, Bans war from pole to pole, breaks all the weapons across his knee. “Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God, above politics, above everything.”
11 Jacob-wrestling God fights for us, God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.
54 Then they seized Him, and led Him away and brought Him to the [elegant] house of the [Jewish] [a]high priest. And Peter was following at a [safe] distance. 55 After they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat among them. 56 And a servant-girl, seeing him as he sat in the firelight and looking intently at him, said, “This man was with Him too.” 57 But Peter denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know Him!” 58 A little later someone else saw him and said, “You are one of them too.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not!” 59 After about an hour had passed, another man began to insist, “This man was with Him, for he is a Galilean too.” 60 But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. 61 The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.” 62 And he went out and wept bitterly [deeply grieved and distressed].
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
I remember a secular song popular many years ago called “River”.
To this day, lines from that rather somber Joni Mitchell song stick with me.
She sang, “I’m always hard to handle. I’m selfish and I’m sad. Now I’ve gone and lost the best baby that I ever had.”
The words came to mind again this week while reading a post from a Christian who said, “I still struggle with being angry, ungrateful, and cranky.”
I added her words to what several people have written recently about Apostle Peter in today’s discourse from Luke 22.
As much effort as Peter made to assure and then reassure Jesus and the other disciples to never give up on Jesus – no matter the circumstances – He failed.
He failed in the worst way possible.
He failed himself.
He failed his friends and fellow disciples.
He failed his mother and his father
He failed to uphold every single thing he held to about his faith in God.
He failed his sworn and covenanted oath to God.
He failed his Messiah – denying him thrice times and very publicly.
When his Messiah needed and required him to be there for Him, as Messiah had predicted, before the cock crowed three times, Peter was nowhere declaring his his utmost confidence and faith in his Messiah nor his willingness to even die.
How much worse could it possibly get in that moment?
Then that fateful glance in the courtyard where Peter’s and Jesus’ eyes met after Peter thrice times emotionally, very publicly refuted his association with Jesus.
61 The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.” 62 And he went out and wept bitterly [deeply grieved and distressed].
They have preached this passage, taken a long look at this passage, been very self-introspective of this text as it was preached to them – and they CRIED TOO!
We can probably, without much effort, safely guess what emotions were going on in Peter’s much anguished heart and soul: “Will God Now Give Up On Me?!?”
They cried, proclaimed – “I was not there when my Savior needed me most!”
They cried and declared – “I got so very tired, so very much worn out by it all!”
The cried and declared – “I feel like I have simply given up on God, My Savior!”
They have likewise asked of themselves, “Will God ever give up on me?”
Gravely worried because they think they have already and repeatedly done the one single thing that’s “finally too much for God to take,” they are feeling fear.
Many Will Worry About Keeping God’s Love
Now, their concerns aren’t just about their repeated failures toward conquering their anger, their fears, their broken promises, their ingratitude, or crankiness.
Some are worried about other things like unrelenting unswerving doubts, their waning and waxing faith, a fresh sin committed, or a repeated sin committed.
But, this lingering question comes rushing back to many people at different times, at too many inopportune times
“Does God give up on us as we all too often give up on Him?”
A significant question with what they believe has severe eternal implications.
I can safely confess here that despite what I staunchly believe is a steadfast and immovable faith – a “Superman Faith” if you will, I’ve certainly had that fear.
Have you?
At times, I’ve wondered if I have let God down too much or too severely or made that “one too big a mistake” with the severest of eternal implications possible.
It hurts my spirit.
It puts a giant strain, an immovable millstone upon my heart and upon my soul.
I will simply never have the necessary knowledge nor the required wisdom nor any of the maximum allowable strength to even begin to move it or remove it.
Responding to the Lord’s “Once In a Lifetime” Look
Luke 22:61-62 Amplified Bible
61 The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.” 62 And he went out and wept bitterly [deeply grieved and distressed].
Two captivating stories are happening at the same time.
Inside the high priest’s court Jesus reveals his true identity as the Messiah.
Outside near the fire in the courtyard Peter denies his Lord three times.
Then the climax brings the two story lines crashing together.
Jesus’ eyes look directly at Peter’s eyes and quite literally changes everything.
Peter surrendered to the paralyzing fear of his faith’s ability at standing alone.
But fortunately Jesus enabled Peter to break out of the cage of conformity.
The rooster’s crow activated the alarm of Peter’s conscience.
Immediately he repented.
In extreme sorrow, Peter wept bitterly.
Do We Lose God When We Are Selfish and Sad?
As in Joni Mitchell’s sobering song, do we lose the best loved one we’ve ever had – our God and our Savior – when we are selfish and/or broken or sad?
No!
Absolutely Not!
It’s a guarantee that after we receive Jesus Christ as Savior, we still won’t be perfect!
And God knows that!
Instead, we all have a lot of “cleaning up” to do even at that point.
But, that is something onlyGod can do in your life.
Yes, you and I must cooperate, we must be and remain willing participants.
The way we do that is to believe Him that He loves us and has changed us.
That He IS always and forever changing us.
And, in addition, you and I must learn, and re-learn, how to receive His love.
With regards to Peter and His coming to terms with his catastrophic failures;
Later in the Upper Room he reaffirmed his love for Jesus by being there and not running away, fleeing from His presence, when Jesus appeared to the disciples.
Still later, doubts intact, Peter is recommissioned as the Lord’s representative.
John 21:15-17 Amplified Bible
The Love Motivation
15 So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these [others do—with total commitment and devotion]?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I [a]love You [with a deep, personal affection, as for a close friend].” Jesus said to him, “Feed My lambs.” 16 Again He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me [with total commitment and devotion]?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You [with a deep, personal affection, as for a close friend].” Jesus said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me [with a deep, personal affection for Me, as for a close friend]?” Peter was grieved that He asked him the third time, “Do you [really] [b]love Me [with a deep, personal affection, as for a close friend]?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know everything; You know that I love You [with a deep, personal affection, as for a close friend].” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.
In John 21 we find that Jesus refused to let Peter cover up his unresolved past.
Three times the Resurrected Jesus asked Peter how much he loved his Lord.
And Peter asserted repeatedly, “Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus then empowered Peter, gave divine approval and permission, God’s own blessings, to just put his past behind him and walk confidently into his future.
Jesus’ aim is to come to us, bless us, reassure us, reconcile with and rehabilitate us whenever we feel the full weight of our millstones, when we fall from grace.
And our conscience can halt us before we yield to temptation.
But even when if we inevitably slip back into sin, God wants to restore us.
God does not stand behind home plate like an umpire at a baseball game with a great cloud of witnesses present waiting to signal and then shout, “You’re out!”
Instead, He comes to us on our lakeshores, draws us to Himself with kindness.
For us this means responding to the raucous alarm of our conscience, removing ourselves from the moment and place of temptation, repenting of our sin, give God permission to take our millstone, to reaffirming our loyalty to Jesus Christ.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 13 The Message
13 1-2 Long enough, God— you’ve ignored me long enough. I’ve looked at the back of your head long enough. Long enough I’ve carried this ton of trouble, lived with a stomach full of pain. Long enough my arrogant enemies have looked down their noses at me.
3-4 Take a good look at me, God, my God; I want to look life in the eye, So no enemy can get the best of me or laugh when I fall on my face.
5-6 I’ve thrown myself headlong into your arms— I’m celebrating your rescue. I’m singing at the top of my lungs, I’m so full of answered prayers.
Psalm 139:23-24 The Message
23-24 Investigate my life, O God, find out everything about me; Cross-examine and test me, get a clear picture of what I’m about; See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong— then guide me on the road to eternal life.
Lord, we read Your text from Luke’s Gospel and we know that your convicting look is filled with thy convincing, affirming grace. Thank you for your transforming power!
19 So when it was evening on that same day, the first day of the week, though the disciples were [meeting] behind barred doors for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them, and said, “[a]Peace to you.” 20 After He said this, He showed them His hands and His side. When the disciples saw the Lord, they were filled with great joy. 21 Then Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you [as My representatives].” 22 And when He said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of anyone they are forgiven [because of their faith]; if you retain the sins of anyone, they are retained [and remain unforgiven because of their unbelief].”
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
In those moments of the death and resurrection, behind those barred doors of the Upper Room, can we even begin to imagine those disciples’ state of mind?
Many of Jesus’ followers had scattered for fear of their lives, and his closest disciples were hiding behind closed doors in fear of the religious authorities.
Their much beloved Rabbi (“Teacher”) had been crucified and then buried.
They had walked with Him for three long years and witnessed much, they had believed in him as the Messiah (the “Anointed One”), their promised deliverer.
Now, “cast off” doubts came rushing in – had it all been “too good to be true”?
Sure, they had just heard Mary’s highly excited message that Jesus had risen.
Peter and John had run to see the now-empty tomb, but that wasn’t even close to being the same thing as what Mary had experienced – seeing “Jesus IS alive!”
Was Mary mistaken?
Was it all “wishful thinking?”
Standing at the tomb in the dark, in her indescribable, immeasurable grief, had she only imagined seeing Jesus, through tear stained eyes, in an empty garden?
Did she see only what her impossibly desperate state of mind needed, wanted, to see, that she might find the only means of coping with the unbelievability?
Had others taken the body?
And Mary could not “handle the gravity” nor implications of, that possibility?
Where was her Rabbi that believed in her when no one else had dared to believe?
Bad news can be so easily believable!
Good news can seem so easily unbelievable!
Crucified and buried men don’t roll away unmovable stones, walk out of graves!
Were they being asked to believe: “impossible” witness and testimony of Mary?
Jesus didn’t keep his disciples waiting long.
That evening, “Jesus came and stood among them and said,‘Peace be with you!’”
He stood before them, and then He spoke these words to them.
He showed them his wounds.
He greeted them with a familiar blessing, “Peace Be With You.”
Jesus gave them the peace and presence they had been missing.
And they were overjoyed.
Things had not been the way they were supposed to be, but now they were!
Today we too celebrate that God is with us!
God’s Peace is With Us!
Christ has risen!
He is alive, and he lives in us! Hallelujah!
Peace is possible!
But, how can we know such a magnitude of God’s Peace through Christ is real?
I cannot claim any similar experience as those disciples in the Upper Room.
I do not know if anyone outside of those disciples in the Upper Room can claim the Resurrected Jesus just appeared to them in their homes or anywhere else?
So we read the post resurrection texts from the Gospels of Luke and John and because I believe in the Word of God for His Children, I “accept” their efforts.
But still, there are the questions being asked by everyone of this moment such a sequence of events are wholly, miraculously unique to the Christian experience.
How about our giving God, through Christ Jesus the benefits, prayers of doubts?
How about our confidence in the Word of God regarding “God’s Perfect Peace?”
How about our confidence in ourselves such a magnitude of Peace is achievable?
You know, actually believing more in the promises of God than the promises of our enemies rust laden promises which we grow fat on, we obsessively feed on?
How Can We Know God Will Keep Us in Perfect Peace?
Isaiah 26:1-4 Amplified Bible
Song of Trust in God’s Protection
26 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
“We have a strong city; He sets up salvation as walls and ramparts. 2 “Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter, The one that [a]remains faithful and trustworthy. 3 “You will keep in [b]perfect and constant peace the one whose mind is steadfast [that is, committed and focused on You—in both [c]inclination and character], Because he trusts and takes refuge in You [with hope and confident expectation]. 4 “Trust [confidently] in the Lord forever [He is your fortress, your shield, your banner], For the Lord God is an everlasting Rock [the Rock of Ages].
Peace is possible even in our stressful, troubled world.
In Isaiah 26:3, the Bible promises that God and God alone “will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.”
Here’s what it means to do that, so you can experience peace in any situation.
What Does ‘He Will Keep in Perfect Peace’ Mean?
Everyone who chooses to keep their minds steadfast because they trust in God can count on experiencing perfect peace while they do so, according to this verse.
That means you can enjoy a state of perfect peace as long as you focus your mind from beyond your circumstances to God, and trust him to help you no matter what.
As a result of choosing to trust God, you welcome God’s peace into your mind.
Some people chase after peace of mind from worldly achievements, such as through the wanton pursuit health and wealth and wellness.
Good circumstances may help you enjoy a temporary feeling of peace.
However, only God can actually provide complete and lasting peace.
God, who alone is perfect, is the only reliable source of peace.
Thankfully, God is willing to give that perfect peace to everyone who decides to trust him to provide it.
Trusting God involves being at peace with God through Jesus Christ since Jesus made it possible for all humanity to have relationships with God.
Ephesians 2:14 says about Jesus: “For he himself is our peace” and Ephesians 2:17-18 points out that, “He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.”
When we have that close connection to God, we can experience peace even during the most challenging circumstances, because “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
“this peace is true, real, and solid; in which sense the word “perfect” is used, in opposition to a false and imaginary one; and it will end in perfect peace in heaven: moreover, the word “perfect” is not in the Hebrew text, it is there “peace, peace”; which is doubled to denote the certainty of it, the enjoyment of it, and the constancy and continuance of it; and as expressive of all sorts of peace, which God grants unto his people, and keeps for them, and them in; as peace with God and peace with men, peace outward and peace inward, peace here and peace hereafter; and particularly it denotes the abundance of peace that believers will have in the kingdom of Christ in the latter day.”
What Is the Context and Background of Isaiah 26:3?
Isaiah 26:3 is part of a song of praise in which the biblical prophet Isaiah celebrates God’s trustworthiness to provide all that people need, including their ultimate need: salvation.
Isaiah sings about how Israel will be judged for their sins yet also restored by God, in his mercy. Isaiah predicts that God will save people from their sins.
Although people may sometimes be faithless toward God, God will always be faithful to his people, Isaiah emphasizes.
God is willing to redeem and restore, and his perfect peace enters the souls of all who decide they have worn out their trust in the world to just trust in Him.
So, Isaiah urges readers to trust in God.
He writes that it is “because they trust” in God that God “will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast”.
The very next verse after Isaiah 26:3 emphasizes trust: “Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal” (Isaiah 26:4).
How Can We Be Sure That We Will Be Kept in Perfect Peace?
We can be sure that God will keep us in perfect peace.
The Holy Spirit will renew our minds whenever we ask for help doing what’s necessary to be at peace: focusing on God and trusting him.
Romans 12:2 urges us all:
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his pleasing and perfect will.”
The Spirit will help us access the perfect peace that God offers us.
Jesus promises in John 14:26-27:
“But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
Peace is one of the nine “fruit of the Spirit” listed in Galatians 5:22-23.
As you invite the Holy Spirit to renew your mind, you can count on the Spirit’s help to do what Isaiah 26:3 calls you to do: trust in God with a steadfast mind.
A powerful way to pursue peace is to pursue wonder because experiencing wonder expands your awareness of God’s work in your life, and that gives you the assurance you need to trust God and be at peace.
And it can be a wonderful way for anyone to seek the perfect peace that only comes from God.
Here’s how it works:
Visualize Jesus on the cross, visualize the specific things that are troubling you.
Then see yourself walking toward Jesus and laying those things down at the foot of the cross for him to take care of for you.
Through a brief prayer, ask Jesus for help with every specific thing you’ve left there for him.
Entrust it all to his care.
See yourself walk away afterward, with your mind and heart open to receiving peace from Jesus.
Prayer ushers peace into your heart and mind,
according to Philippians 4:6-7, which says:
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Characteristics of God’s Perfect Peace
We can be confident that the perfect peace God gives us will last.
The temporary peace of mind we may find from good circumstances in our lives can relieve some stress and anxiety for a while.
However, the peace that God gives isn’t limited to certain times or tied to specific circumstances.
The perfect peace of God is much more than simply the absence of stress and anxiety; it’s a deep and abiding knowledge of being loved and cared for by God no matter what.
Although that peace is beyond our understanding, it will guard our hearts and minds, promises Philippians 4:7: “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Psalm 139 describes how near God’s Spirit is to us at all times and in all places.
Verses 7-10 point out:
“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”
We can be sure that we’re never out of the Holy Spirit’s reach.
So, we’re always able to access the perfect peace that God offers us through his Spirit.
After celebrating God’s sovereignty over all circumstances in life, the psalmist ends with a plea for God to renews his mind:
“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
That can be our prayer in any situation.
When we pray to experience God’s peace through a steadfast mind that is focused on him, we can count on that happening.
The Holy Spirit will strengthen our faith by renewing our minds, and peace will come to us as a result.
“Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” Romans 5:1 explains.
When you follow the advice of Isaiah 26:3, you can be confident that you’ll experience perfect peace from God.
Simply pray and ask the Holy Spirit to renew your mind whenever you need help centering your focus on God.
The Spirit may direct your attention to a wondrous sign of God’s work in your life, or simply quiet your mind.
In the process, perfect peace will flow into your soul!
Perhaps that is why John added the words ofJohn 20:22 to this narrative:
John 20:22 Amplified Bible
22 And when He said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
Words of Purpose!
The first words Jesus spoke to his frightened disciples after his resurrection were words of reassurance: “Peace be with you!”
Then he quickly gave them a renewed sense of purpose: “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
With those words, Jesus was passing his mission on to his followers.
Perhaps you’ve seen a relay race in which one runner comes up behind the next and passes off the baton.
That’s what Jesus was doing here.
He was passing off the baton to his followers and saying, “Go! Finish the race!
Carry on the mission I began!
I ran the first leg; now you run the next.
Just as God the Father sent me into the world, now I am sending you into the world! Go!” (See John 17:18.)
18 Just as You commissioned and sent Me into the world, I also have commissioned and sent them (believers) into the world.
Later, Jesus would remind his disciples again of that mission:
“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20).
With whom can you and I share this good news of God’s Ultimate Peace today?
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Dear Lord, Help me daily to remember you are indeed Lord of my life. You have the right to rule all that I think, believe and do. When I allow my mind to run to places that destroy my peace, remind me these are unauthorized thoughts. You do not want me to dwell on thoughts and emotions that contribute to unreasonable fears.I know my mind will remain in perfect peace as I fix my thoughts on you; so Lord Jesus, let your peace rule in my heart. Remind me of the peace I have in the shadow of Your Cross and in your family, and I pray the Holy Spirit to teach me how to be thankful for those circumstances that cause me to run to you, focus on you, and abide in you. I never need to live with fearful, anxious thoughts. Truth is, you alone are in control!
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 