More on what Jesus endured for us.

“Your wrath swept over me, your terrors destroyed me…the darkness is my closest friend.” (Psalm 88:7)

You, Lord Jesus, endured this wrath, moved through it, drinking every last drop of the bitter pain—

you not only endured the jeers of the Jews,

but also all the aggressive attacks of the absolutely evil demonic forces.

And You waited until the right second to rise up

to defeat Satan and death, shattering the strength of the foe

who had enslaved all mankind with the fear of death.

You triumphed in a dazzling blaze of glory,

defeating, dethroning, destroying death

and the devil with all his diabolic plans.

Only you, only you, Lord Jesus, could have done this,

and you did it at the right time and in the right way!

You accomplished it perfectly!

Your work is finished, opening a doorway

between the dominion of darkness and the Kingdom of Light,

calling all the prisoners of the devil

to come out into the warmth of your love and forgiveness.

You, Lord Jesus Christ, are worthy of all Praise and Honor, all Exaltation and Magnification.

You are the Great and Humble Lord,

the Mighty and Meek Savior,

the Most High and the Most Holy.

To you be glory, both now and forever more!

Picture: Jesus opened the way out of  the dominion of darkness into the Kingdom of Light

The bank teller looked up, “Where did you get this?” he asked the man standing before him.

“I sold my lawnmower,” he said. “Why do you ask?”

“Because this $100 bill is a counterfeit!”

“Really?!! How do you  know that?”

“Well I  have seen so many legitimate $100 bills  that I can  instantly spot a fake. See here, this line is too thin. Look at this regular bill, see the difference?”

“Yes, I do,” the customer reluctantly admitted. “So what do we do now?”

“I’m afraid I’ll have to confiscate this and you are out $100. If I didn’t know you, you could be arrested, but I’ll let you go.”

How about us? When we are presented with a teaching, a perspective, a spiritual idea,  are we able to quickly spot an error?

To be able to do that, we must immerse ourselves in Scripture, to know it so well that we can quickly discern an aberration,

and there many out there.

Many people listen to pod casts, read things on line, follow a certain preache–but don’t get into the Word  themselves,

they are at the mercy of whatever they come across, like health and wealth, or Jehovah Witness doctrine, or liberal ideas.

But if you know the Word for yourself, your will spot the lies quickly, protecting yourself and others.

How are you doing with this? Reading in the Word every day? Reading in an orderly fashion, going through books, a chapter at a time?

And then memorizing striking passages, like Psalm 23? And learning to pray Scripture, like Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 4?

“The decrees of the LORD are firm, and all of them are righteous.  They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold;

they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward.” Psalm 19:9-11

Picture: taking God’s Word very seriously

From  my journal.

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” Psalm 46:1

Praise you, Lord God, for you bless your children with your continual presence.

Today I feel far from you, without much positive emotion and for this I thank you—

it is an opportunity to live in faith, to trust your Word, to live by Truth, not sight or sense.

You, O Lord, have proclaimed yourself as the God who saves us—you are there, despite all the negatives.

And in the midst of the woes of  this world, you are at work, guiding, protecting, carrying, teaching.

You are giving faith-opportunities to offer the sacrifice of praise—times when

there is no visible reason to trust you, but plenty of reason from your Word to rejoice in you.

Thank you that our feelings are not the measure of truth,

that although our view is so limited,

yours is high and wide,

full and complete,

total and eternal.

We can trust you to act in power and wisdom out of your understanding.

So I praise you now for whatever will come today, whether I like it or not!

Picture taken from our porch: A Glorious start to a new day

“Bow down your ear and hear me, O Lord, for I am poor and needy….”  Psalm 86:1

If there is one thing that we begun to learn while living in the Middle East, it’s how poor and needy we are—that is, how much we are in need of the Lord in every way.

There are many other opportunities for God to act into our neediness.

While in Syria, we gave a ride to a fellow who befriended us. As we drove through a rural area, there was a drought looking man standing beside the road holding an AK47. He waved for us to stop, but I just stepped on the gas and kept going. I wasn’t going to  stop for  some bandit. Our new friend, however, was appalled. “That was a policeman,” he said, “you should have stopped!”  But I didn’t and the Lord protected use.

The next  day we returned from our exit to Syria. The trip itself was long and arduous with heavy traffic, many big trucks,  and rough, winding roads making travel slow.  Near evening I failed to see a large pothole and when I hit it, the right front rim was bent and the tire began to go flat. But, praise God, it was not totally dark yet and we were able to drive far enough to find a place to get off the narrow, heavily traveled road and change the tire.

If the tire had  gone flat immediately, it could have been a disaster, both for us and the others on the road, as we would have blocked everyone. We didn’t have control over these things, but God did!

And we are thankful that He got us home before real winter weather set in the  next day with freezing temperatures and lots of snow.

There is so much out of our control, but our Heavenly Father is totally watching over us, every minute, every hour, every day. We can rest in His  goodness.

Picture: slow traffic on the way home