Devotions

I always think of this day as Silent Saturday. Jesus’ body is in the tomb, guarded by Roman soldiers. The disciples are huddled in the Upper Room for fear that they will be next to be arrested and crucified.

The women are silently preparing the anointing spices so that when the Passover is completed, they can anoint the body of their friend.

I think Mary must have been stunned as she witnessed her son die, the one who was prophesied would save His people.

Peter must have been in agony knowing that he had, just as Jesus said he would, denied Him three times.

Silent Saturday. A day without hope.

A day when shock probably drove the remembrance of Jesus words from their thoughts. “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He will be killed, but three days later he will rise from the dead.”

Silent Saturday. All those who loved Jesus must have thought Silent Saturday would go on forever … but it would not!

Tomorrow, everything in all creation will change forever. Resurrection Life is only hours away.

I was reminded about the groups of people gathered around the cross. There were the ones who loved Jesus and stood weeping. Scripture tells us of John, the beloved disciple, Jesus’ mother, and a few other women who had gathered.

Then there were those who hated Jesus and who mocked and cursed, shouting hateful things to a man who had done nothing but good – just because He didn’t fit their idea of what the Messiah should be.

There was also a third group, the Romans Soldiers. For them, this was just a job to get finished, they couldn’t care less about the men on those crosses, they were just indifferent.

But as I thought about those groups a few years ago, I heard the LORD say something that stopped me short.  He said, “don’t be so sure you would have been among the weepers.”

Those words pierced my soul. If I had been there, would my heart have been tender, or would it have been hardened or indifferent?

Of course, NOW my heart has been softened by God, and if I saw this happening today, I would weep. But I know that my heart was hard and desperately wicked before Christ changed me. I have come to accept that I just may have been among those who cursed.  That is an extremely humbling thought.

Today I am so grateful for the salvation Christ purchased that gave me a new heart, soft and tender before God. I am so much more in love with my Savior than I have ever been. Today, I am standing among the weepers.

Thank you, Lord.

Jesus took His disciples with Him to Gethsemane that night.  He left most of them in one place and took the three closest to Him, Peter, James, and John farther. Then He went a stone’s throw away from them. They could see He was in agony, down on His face in the dirt. They could hear His cries. Their contribution in all this, however, was to fall asleep. I can’t really blame them. They’d consumed a meal prior to going and it was nighttime after all.

Jesus came back and woke them and then returned to pray. He came back a second time, woke them again, and urged them to pray that they would not fall into temptation. Then Matthew tells us, “So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.” [26:44]

Jesus persevered in prayer.  Three times He sought His Father. Three times He said the same thing. He wasn’t going to give up until the matter was settled one way or another.  He was determined to hear His Father’s response.

I often wonder how determined I am in prayer.  Do I pray until the matter is settled … until I hear God say yes, no, or not now? Or do I just tell God what I think He needs to hear and how I think He needs to act, and then disappear.

A long time ago I began to pray for the “Presence of Christ” to manifest in The Way and in Middleton, Idaho. I am still praying even though The Way has given over to CFC Middleton. I intend to persevere in that plea for the “Miraculous Presence” until God says, “Yes, I’m here now,” or until He tells me to stop. I must follow my LORD’s example and persevere, even to saying the same thing(!) each time.

“Even so, come LORD JESUS. Amen”

I have always been intrigued by Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. There we see Him at His lowest moment. There we see Him seeking His Father, all too aware of what is just ahead for Him. And it is there we see His will set for the suffering He will face.

When Jesus leaves the Garden, there is no wavering. Through each trial, through every torture, through the hours on the cross, Jesus is in control. He answers His accusers when He chooses to do so. He forgives. He takes care of His mother. And when “it is finished,” He relinquishes His Spirit to His Father. This all was settled in the Garden.

One of the most precious moments in Jesus’ prayer is found Mark 14:36:  “’Abba, Father,’ he said.”

“Abba Father.”  Jesus’ prayer was a prayer grounded in relationship. He was His Father’s Son and that night in His deepest distress, He did what He always did, He went to His Father in prayer. This was not the first time. The Gospels are full of references to Jesus praying in the night or early morning hours. His relationship with His Father was strong and vital and consistent.

What the Son had in His relationship with the Father can be ours too. Because of His sacrifice, we have been granted adoption into the Father’s family. This is a binding pledge by the Father to His children, granting them the full rights of sonship.  We forfeited our right as God’s creation when mankind fell, but nothing can now take way our rights to the Father’s love and protection as sons and daughters.

Jesus’ cry is now our cry also. “Abba Father, hear my cry.”

I am spending time in the Garden of Gethsemane with Jesus this week.  I want to learn from the way He prayed that night before His arrest.

Yesterday, I learned that His prayer was a solitary one. It was also a humble prayer.  After leaving His disciples, Matthew tells us, “He went a little farther and fell on His face and prayed.” [Matt 26:39 NKJV]

I’ve often seen that painting of Jesus praying in the Garden, hands folded sweetly, light pouring from the heavens, serenity on His face, kneeling by a rock.  Nice picture, but that’s not what I read in Scripture. There was nothing sweet nor serene about this prayer. His posture was one of abject humility. He literally “fell on His face” on the ground.

Jesus was in agony. He was sorrowful enough that He thought that sorrow alone might kill Him. He fell to the ground, face buried in the dirt.  Here was the Son of God coming to His Father in poverty of spirit. This was no “name it and claim it” attitude—even though no one had a greater right to such.

Sometimes all we can do is fall on our face before God. Sometimes all we should do is fall on our face before God!  But, whatever our physical posture, our heart’s posture must always be one of humility.  We are approaching the Great God, the Awesome God who dwells in unapproachable light.  [1 Timothy 6:16]

I want to spend some time in the Garden with Jesus … oh, not that proverbial rose garden full of loveliness and peace, but the Garden of Gethsemane full of loneliness and struggle. I want to learn how to pray from the way Jesus prayed.

The first thing I noticed was that while Jesus took His disciples with Him, His prayer was a solitary one. “Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, ‘Sit here while I go and pray over there.’ And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, ‘My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.’ He went a little farther and fell on His face and prayed.”  [Matt 26:36-39 NKJV]

He told most of His followers to stay in a certain place, and took the closest three, Peter, James, and John, a little farther with Him.  Then He left the three and proceeded even farther away. Jesus’ prayer was a solitary one.

There is room in our lives for corporate prayer, of course.  It is a good thing to pray with others, family, friends, or in a corporate setting.  There is power in that type of prayer where two or three are gathered, but in the times of intense pain and trouble, going into our prayer “closet” where no ear hears but God’s is best.

I often spend time in private, personal prayer before I pray with others. There I pour my deepest desires and most intense pain out before my LORD. I can be completely transparent and honest. Most times I say little, my words are few. I don’t need to tell God what He already knows. I just need to be with Him.

There are three Gospel accounts of Jesus praying in Gethsemane the night of His arrest.  You can find the accounts in Matthew 26, Mark 14, and Luke 22.  Each Gospel writer gives essentially the same view of the event, but also adds a few details that they found striking.

I have always been fascinated by Jesus’ time of prayer in Gethsemane. It was there He set His soul, His will for what was to follow with His arrest, torture, trial, crucifixion, and death. I believe it was in Gethsemane that His sufferings became vividly real. He told His disciples, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.” [Matt 26:38 NKJV]

I am sure each of us has had times where we might describe our experiences as overwhelmed by sorrow. I am also sure some of have had experiences where we simply felt we might die if something didn’t change.  But I am not sure any of us can truly understand what Jesus experienced there. He was about to take on the bitter weight of the punishment for the sins of the world and being separated from His Father for the first time in eternity.

As a young boy, Jesus realized that His Father had a special task for Him to accomplish. He told His mother when she found Him sitting among the scholars in the Temple that “I must be about my Father’s work.” [Luke 2:41-50]

That was more than likely a beginning revelation that grew and became more intense. Now in Gethsemane it had reached its fullness. Jesus understood what was just ahead, and it was enough to cause Him to think He might die right there in the garden. So, He prayed.

His prayer speaks to us about how we too should pray. Let’s spend these few days leading up to the cross with our LORD in Gethsemane.

The concept of dying to self is found throughout the New Testament, however, that exact phrase is not. The phrase “dying to self” is reflected within the phrases “deny self,” and “crucify the flesh.” Those concepts really express the essence of Christian discipleship.

Jesus told His disciples: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” [Matthew 16:24]

He also told them that “anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”  [Luke 14:27]

There are two serious words in those commands, “MUST” and “CANNOT.” We “MUST” deny self and carry our cross and if we don’t, we “CANNOT” be Jesus’ disciples.

But what exactly does that mean? And how does it express itself in our lives?  I think we have become way too focused on the negative aspects rather than the positive ones.

Jesus set us free. He set us free so that we might be free and so that we might freely serve Him. Freedom is always a positive expression. When we die to self through the crucifixion of the flesh it isn’t about what we can no longer do, it’s about what we can now do that we are free.

We have been set free to express the love of God through our lives so that the world might see Christ in us. We have been set free to lead a productive life that brings eternal rewards. We have been set free so that we might not just pray “Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven,” but also that we might be a part of making known God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.  Wow!

I hate politics. I realize we must have politicians, but the political climate in our land today has forgotten their primary responsibility – to serve the people. It seems to me their greatest goal once elected is to get re-elected.

Jesus had a bit to say about leadership and servanthood. In Matthew 20, James and John wanted to make sure they had a place of honor in Jesus’ kingdom, so they engaged their mother to approach Jesus. After Jesus’ questioned them a bit, He reminded them that it would be the Father who would fill those seats of honor.

When the other disciples learned of what James and John requested, they became indignant. It was then Jesus gathered His disciples together and taught them what worldly leadership looked like, and what godly leadership looked like.

“You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them.” [vs25 NLT]

Well, that definitely describes our modern-day politicians. Christian leadership, however, is to be drastically different.

 “But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” [vs 26-28 NLT]

May we always lead by serving God and God’s children. Amen

I got good news last week. I do not have adrenal insufficiency. The test results proved that my adrenal glands are working. That really is good news. Except. It doesn’t explain “why am I thus?”

That question (Why am I thus?) is one of my favorite questions found in the scriptures. It comes from Genesis 25 in the KJV.

Isaac entreated the LORD for his wife Rebekah because she was barren. God granted his prayer and Rebekah conceived – twins. The babies struggled within her; and she said, “If it be so, why am I thus?” [vs 22]

Rebekah took her question to the LORD who explained that the twins within her (Jacob and Esau) represented two nations and two manners of people. Those two nations would battle each other for dominance – and are still battling today!

We pray and God grants our request, but sometimes that does not answer all our questions – sometimes it can even raise more questions.

The docs have eliminated adrenal insufficiency as the cause of my symptoms, that is great news. But they have not yet been able to identify “why am I thus.”

Still when I think about my life, I realize I have the best Good News anyone can have. I am redeemed by the blood of Christ Jesus. I am a child of the Living God. I am forgiven. I am loved. I know I can trust God even during the “why am I thus” times.