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2023-03-24

Good Morning Dear Ones,

We might ask: “What did Jesus know about the Father in His time of need that gave Him peace?”  To answer this question, we must go back and read Christ’s words in LK 22: 42, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not My will but yours be done.”  Since the Son of Man knows the Father well, why would He have said this in the Garden of Eden?  God’s second personality had been betrayed at the Last Supper, scourged, humiliated, subjected to a real kangaroo court, and yet none of these awful things would be enough to crush His Spirit.  Jesus knew ahead of time what He faced.  So, of what did He fear most?  Anyone would be afraid to be crucified; it is the most painful death any person can endure.  But, even that wasn’t what this most perfect of men feared most.  Instead, it was knowing that temporarily He would be separated from the Father!  He knew He would be carrying out the most important command the Father ever gave Him!  It was the atoning sacrifice of His physical life for the sake of all who would come to believe in Him.

There are some important truths that we need to know when the time comes for us to physically die, truths that gave Jesus the courage and obedience to carry out this all- important command.  MT 6: 8, [Christ’s words] “Do not be like [babbling pagans when praying], for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”  Moreover, we need to claim RO 8: 38-39, which tells us that “nothing can separate us from the love of God.”  That, of course, applied to Jesus as well as all believers, but He had the task of atoning for our sins, so that we could be eternally forgiven for them [JN 3: 16-17].  So, we shouldn’t think for a moment that this command was painful for the Father to give His beloved son!  We all should know that God is righteous and has no evil in Him [1 JN 1: 5].  When  we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are saved, eternally forgiven, and justified.  That, Dear Ones, is a huge motivation for studying His word, praying often, and proclaiming that our Lord really is Who He claims to be. 

So, what about our response to this huge blessing.  The latter begins with faith, as outlined in HE 11: 1, “Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”  Faithfulness is one of the gifts we receive from the Holy Spirit [GA 5: 22-23].  While not something we can hold in our hand, faith is none-the-less a powerful force in our lives.  We need to consider the issue of worrying that we do.  The Lord discusses this, in MT 6: 25-32, which I hope you will read now.  The Father is not telling us to be lazy about our basic needs, but He is telling us that He knows, even before we ask for it, what we need.  God has given us the beautiful wild flowers and birds that we see, for example.  “Even Solomon, with all his wealth, didn’t have clothing as beautiful as these flowers.  Worrying will not add another day to our life” [vs 23-27].  “Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness and all these things [our needs] will be given to you…Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry abut itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own,” [vs 33-34].  This may seem a curious way to end a paragraph meant to comfort, but there is an important implied message we need to receive.

Why mention each day having enough trouble of its own?  After all the time I’ve spent trying to prayerfully understand it, I have come to an unexpected conclusion that even the trouble God allows to happen in our lives has value.  A former pastor of mine said, “God’s in charge and we are not. Get used to it!”  At first, I was quite annoyed at him for making this assertion.  But as I thought about it, I could see its truth.  As we come to the end of ourselves and work out that God was allowing trouble, so we could become more dependent on Him.  We needed to trust that our Lord Jesus is offering us His hand in help to work through these troubles.  He wants us to turn to Him FIRST!  There is no question He has seen all the same troubles we have before and knows what we should do to resolve these troubles.  His advice given in prayer always works and we should not feel that our troubles are unique to us [1 COR 10: 13].  They are never so awful that they are designed to break our resolve to be faithful.  We need to calm down, think prayerfully through them, and take advice our Lord gives us.  Moreover, we experience our greatest maturation through this process.  My own grieving over the death of my husband of 44 years is healing,  I have faith that he is in heaven with the Lord Jesus having every need met.  My focus, as I miss Peter’s companionship, needs to be on moving forward with my earthly life while making decisions with eternal consequences in mind.  It’s what the Lord would want, and I know it’s what Peter would want me to do. 

PRAYER: O Lord, You can and are giving us greater and greater faith in You.  This is the only way that we can better ourselves.  You are here for us 24/7.  As we learn to trust in You –even be dependent on You—we mature in our faith and gain eternal perspective on our trials.  They are never easy for us, but we must remember that You are always present, always powerful, and always knowledgeable.  You may reside in heaven, but Your loving intervention and deep understanding of our needs is a constantly felt in our lives.  Even our trials, losses, illnesses, and other unwelcome events are things You understand completely.  When we pray, You can give us great wisdom, showing us how to work through them with Your help.  We are grateful that nothing can separate us from Your love and for Your continuing willingness to stretch out Your hand in help.  You are to be praised and thanked for all the good things You are and do for us.  In Christ’s holy name we pray.  Amen.

NEXT WEEK:  The Holy Spirit commands me to look at more pictures of peace next week.  I am fast concluding that any peace we have must involve the Lord.  He is  capable of bringing whatever is needed to the table that will further our spiritual maturation and demonstrate the unbreakable bond of love He has with us.  If someone turns from Him for any reason, He is disappointed and may even weep over it.  But He never stops loving us.  I was foolishly disappointed when I became partially disabled and unable to continue singing in a choir, something I had done for almost 50 years.  I even shook my fist blaming God; but He responded to me by giving me an even larger ministry that needed to use the time I had been singing.  Of course, I confessed this sinful attitude and He forgave me.  I know that because of the amazing intervention He has done in my life since.  Our God is patient with us, and teaches us to be patient as we wait for our prayers to be answered.  Remember, JN 15:7, “If you remain in Me and My words remain in You, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”  This amazing promise to believers is done for us in His own perfect time and way.  Praise and thanks be to Him!

Grace Be with You Always,

Lynn, JS 24: 15

© Lynn Johnson 2023. All Rights Reserved.

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