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- I See His Blood - I See His Blood: For this devotional, let us in prayerful meditation consider this poem by Joseph Mary Plunkett, "I See His Blood Upon the Rose." We are truly saved by Christ's sacrifice, it is His blood that elevates us to become a child of God. His resurrection makes possible a blessed earthly life, with the promise of a rich eternal life with Him. For this devotional, let us in prayerful meditation consider this poem, I See His Blood Upon the Rose, blood shed for you and me.. Continue reading
- Mary’s Sword - Mary’s Sword: Speaking Mary’s imagined words in the book Simeon’s Sword, Mary Remembers, author Pastor Alice E.W. Smith writes: “Simeon said something about what Jesus was destined to do that I (Mary) did not understand at the time. The words were spoken with hope, peace, and certainty, but then, with a sadness that he had not shown before, when he said to me, '...and a sword will pierce your soul, too.' I stood staring at the old man for a moment in disbelief. I realized that Simeon knew something that I had only suspected. Somehow, this beautiful baby, my son, was to suffer terrible things." Continue reading
- Many Turned Away - Many Turn Away: Many of Jesus followers and disciples turned back to their own lives after hearing his words that seems so harsh. So Jesus challenges the twelve with this critical question,“Are you also going to leave?” Christ's sacrifice, his pain and suffering have hung over lent like a massive ridge of dark storm clouds, making it the most difficult and somber of liturgical seasons. Added to this burden, for many, is the sacrifice of food, activities, involvements given during the lenten season. This discipline is often contrary to our human nature for we often engage in in such to offset the stresses that comes with simply the living of our lives. Continue reading
- Thy Will - Thy Will: They had traveled a distance, from the hillside outside Gadara, with the memory of the miracle feeding of the crowd still fresh in their minds, now they stood outside Bethany. The journey had been eventful and amazing. The evening with that tax-collector in Jericho, restoring sight to that blind boy, and then up the rugged road toward Jerusalem. Even the disciples wondered who was this man they had followed for years, now? This carpenter, this miracle-worker. Continue reading
- Cost of Discipleship, Part 2 - Cost of Discipleship, Part 2: How did we leave it last? Oh, yes, those who say Jesus is their Savior, but following is an option. Huh? Let’s put the Savior verse Lord question on hold for a moment. I’m in the process of writing a story, based on the man in the above passage of Luke. So, I have the rich man, Caleb, walking away from his encounter with Jesus. He is sad and has this conversation with Rachel, his wife/girlfriend/partner (yet to be determined): “Caleb and Rachel watched Jesus walk away. The discontent that he had felt before was still with him. Continue reading
- Cost of Discipleship, Part 1 - Cost of Discipleship, Part 1: Over the months, we have heard a great deal about polls and the census, and what they might reveal. George Gallup contends that fewer than 10% of evangelical Christians could be called deeply committed. Most of those who profess Christianity don’t know basic teachings and don’t act differently because of their Christian commitment. Fewer than 50% say they read their Bible once a week, or not at all. Being a disciple of Jesus can be hard. Salvation is both absolutely free and yet it costs you your very life. You receive it freely at no expense to you, but once you receive it, you have just committed everything you are to Jesus Christ. Absolutely free? Continue reading
- Express Your Joy - Express Your Joy: How do you express your joy in the Lord? Not so that other people would know, because it’s just between you and God. But how do you express a grand ‘thank you, lord’ for you have planted in my heart a joy I can’t explain nor would I, unless the Lord moved me to do so? Just let it out. Don’t manufacture it. This is not a must do; It’s a get to, because we really can’t contain the joy of the Lord. It might be reflected on your face, but that’s not required because the joy that you feel, the God given joy, is within our heart. Continue reading
- God’s Watchword - God’s Watchword: God‘s word, peace, is mentioned more than 400 times in scripture. . God‘s peace is the focal point throughout our reading of the word. To Mary at the tomb, the message from Jesus was ‘peace’. To the disciples on their way to a Emmaus, the message was peace. To those gathered in the upper room, confused and not knowing what to do, Jesus stood in their midst, and his message was peace. Peace is God’s powerful watchword, and peace should be our watchword, a message we live out and we share. Continue reading
- Who’s in Your Bed? - Who’s in Your Bed? Did you ever wake in the morning with a buzzing in your mind; discouraging and negative thoughts that belie a good start for the new day? Whisperings of worry from yesterday, anxiety for what lay before you this day, concerns for tomorrow? It’s like a demon, fully decked out, had crawled into your bed prepared to cause you mental wrack and ruin. Satan’s little demons chirping at you about how bad you are. Our Lord tells us, when we run into those demon ‘chirpers’, to resist the devil and he will flee from us. I found that to be true especially with my morning time with the Lord. Continue reading
- The End of Faith? - The End of Faith: Years ago, I listened to a sermon by a Pastor whom I revered. At some point in his sermon he made a statement that has stuck with me ever since; that in our eternal life there will be no need for faith because all will be revealed. The end of faith? Jesus' question “Do you love me?”, awakened in Peter the fact that at the very center of his person was a committed and devoted life to Jesus. There would never be another time when Peter would deny his Lord. A resurrection of the heart. Continue reading
- Do What He Tells You - Do What He Tells You: His ministry had started. Now they were on to the wedding party, and it was there that Mary’s instructions were instrumental in moving Jesus to act, keeping the wine flowing and the party going. There was something very similar in what Mary said to the stewards: “Do what he tells you”, words that echoed the words of God just months before, there on the Jordan at Jesus’ baptism: “This is My beloved son, listen to him.“ What do we make of this confirmation? In truth this is a guiding principle for Christian faith. Continue reading
- Moments of Surrender - Moments of Surrender: Do we often go sideways to God’s will? We enjoy the blessings of the graces that the Gift affords us, yet the following His will, we find difficult. Before long we find His will secondary to our own desires and behaviors. We get far away from what He has designed us to be, and we permit pride and self-interest to lead us. We know Lord, that the authority that we have been given through Christ Jesus is to build up, not to tear down, so help us get beyond ourselves and rest in you. Each of us could find a place in the lives that we have lived where we have alienated another, or for undefined reasons, there has been a falling out. A place of estrangement that needs healing and restoring. Continue reading
- Humble Yourself - Humble Yourself: Over the span of my Christian lives, we’ve heard of any number of scandals of high-visibility Christian teachers and preachers who have gone astray. Who put on a show of modeling the way of Christ, the way we should live, yet have been involved in scams, and we find out that when the cameras are off, and there’s no one to impress, they walk a completely different path. To be sure, there are any number of strong Christian preachers, teachers, and those who live as Christ would have us. We see them on television, in our churches, in our neighborhoods, and, no doubt, in our homes. Continue reading
- Pit of Despair - Pit of Despair: Have you ever been in the pit of despair? Maybe that’s too strong a word to describe discouragement, or dissatisfaction, or a mild sense of anxiety, and yet, sometimes it does feel like a pit, despite our best efforts to pull ourselves out. When I started writing Christian stories, many were set in Wyoming. When led by the Holy Spirit in the midst of a storyline, I would often refer myself to being "Lost in Wyoming", a good thing, a blessed thing. Continue reading
- Like an Orphan? - Corrie ten Boom, from Clippings from My Notebook: “Worry doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrows, it empties today of its strength.” Worry. We do, despite our Lord telling us “do not worry”, we just go right on worrying. Or do we? Some worry is not worry. Right? We look both ways, twice, before driving through an intersection. We use caution on stairs. Some of us check the ‘Use by date’ on foods, just to be safe. Is all that evidence of worry? Think of it this way: Pride says, what happens is up to me and this only creates more anxiety, worry. Humility says, “Lord, everything that concerns me is in your hands.” This is the beginning of peace. When you worry, God says, “You’re my child. Why are you acting like an orphan?” Continue reading
- Gifts and Graces - Gifts and Graces: Think about that and about the gifts or talents given to each of us. Every person has the task of releasing angels by shaping and transfiguring all those raw materials that lie within into our life, artistic works, careers, etc. We chip, and scratch, and file away at our raw material to discover our gifts, and the transformational process begins. When we talk about being ourselves -- being the person we are intended by God to be -- we are talking about gifts. We cannot be ourselves unless we are true to the gifts and graces that flow to us from His hands. Continue reading
- Truth and Grace - Truth and Grace: On matters of truth and grace, it occurs to me that we may not know the full definition of either one of those ideas. I have read essays that talk about what is truth, but when it comes to the matter of grace, I wonder if we fully understand. Do we see Grace as a ‘get out of jail free card’? You know that’s partly correct. Grace is God’s way of delivering us from what we really deserve. However, there is a condition in there.In The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer draws a fine distinction between cheap and costly grace. The short version – Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, or repentance. Costly grace confronts us as a call to follow Jesus. Continue reading
- Healing vs Miracles - Healing vs Miracles:Ask any doctor and they will probably tell you that our bodies are designed to heal. It’s more than ‘take two aspirin and call me in the morning,’ and maybe you will feel better. Is that a miracle, or is the aspirin what causes the healing? Your child falls while climbing a kid’s apparatus and breaks their arm and although the doctor puts the arm in a cast, the body of your child works to heal the arm. Miracle or nature? There’s a part of our intellect and part of our common sense that can make some kind of a clear cut separation between a miracle and a healing, and yet I would submit that everything in the universe bears the “fingerprints” of our God. His nudges, his words, his voice is constantly active in our lives. In our lives, God has given us the tools. Continue reading
- The Power of Small Things - The Power of Small Things: Do we realize that when we do what could be considered small acts of kindness for others, in the name of Jesus, we are glorifying his Holy Name? When we express genuine concern for hurting people, give to worthy and helping causes, our generosity and compassion are seen by the All-Seeing, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’ Continue reading
- The IF of My Faith - The IF of My Faith: We keep running into conditionals and transitionals as we read God’s word. Sometimes it’s "therefore", sometimes it's "however", or "although", or it’s any number of other words that provide a contrast or a cause-and-effect, or a transition. When reading God's Word, we run into a lot of “if’s”, setting up the condition which follows, i.e. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. We’d like the Lord to grant us our every wish. But it doesn’t work that way. Along comes the “If” condition that God sprinkles into our yearnings, our greatest desires. Continue reading
