Mark's Daily Reading Journal

By God's grace I am planning to take this year and teach through the Bible Chronologically/historically using the curriculum Firm Foundations Creations to Christ published by NTM.  Below is one reason why.

Many people have known and studied the Word of God without knowing the God of the Word!  (Pharisees and Sadducees)  It is our passion to lead those we disciple to encounter the God of the Word though Jesus Christ, the Word incarnate.  We were created to be in relationship with God and with other people.  The Bible is our curriculum and reading and studying the Bible chronologically/historically is a vital part of our plan.

For many years now the church in America has tended to study the scriptures systematically, (systematic theology) or topically...so many preachers preach and teach topically instead of teaching through a book of the bible.  Even when we study books of the bible we do not see the over arching redemptive story of God revealed progressively through HIS Word in history. 

By studying the scriptures this way we have lost the metanarrative, the big picture, God's big picture...the over arching story of "creation, fall, redemption and restoration."  When we don't see the big picture, HIS big picture, it is easy to forget or to never see at all that you and I are living at a strategic time in HIS story and as HIS children HE longs for us to be a part in bringing in the "restoration," the new heavens and new earth.  Remember Paul's words in Ephesians 2:10?  "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."  We are HIS workmanship, created for good works in Christ that God prepared beforehand! 

"Workmanship" is the Greek word "poiema."  If you look closely you will see our English word poem.  Poem?  What is a poem?  It is an effective way to tell a story.  So you and I are part of God's story, HIStory.  God has written us into HIS grand story as a part of HIS poem that includes the "creation, fall, redemption and restoration and we are living at a time in HIS story immediately before the restoration.  HE is inviting us and commanding us, HIS children, to be a part of HIS story, HIS plan to bring about the restoration...our part is to "go and make disciples of all nations..."

Quickly now...what happened to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus?  Personally, I always jump to the "burning heart" part of the story...I love that part, because I want that to happen to me every day!  Ah, but how did they come to have burning hearts?   You just have love this...Luke 24:27 "And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself."  WOW!  Then their "eyes were opened" and their hearts were set on fire because the resurrected incarnate Word of God, Jesus, taught them the scriptures from beginning to end, chronologically/historically!  Jesus walked them through the first five books of the bible that Moses wrote and then HE walked them through the prophets.  Luke tells us that HE "interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself."

I realized that to bring others to the place of experiencing the God of the bible in a manner that ignites your heart and sets your life ablaze for the kingdom you must encounter HIM as HE has progressively revealed Himself through HIS precious Word!

It would be wonderful for some of you who have been studying and teaching the scriptures chronologically for some time now to share how God has used chronological bible study to enable you and those you disciple to encounter the God of the bible through HIS Word.  Please share your stories with us!

GO Disciples!

Thine eye diffused a quickening ray—
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

Shortly after coming to faith in Christ this hymn, "And Can it Be" or "Amazing Love", by Charles Wesley, quickly became one of my favorites...it beautifully captured my experience and the awe in my heart toward God.  The few lines above always fill me with awe and wonder at the power and glory of our great God.  These words and other recent events have caused me to think and pray much about the freedom we are called to as followers of Christ.

"For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." Gal 5:1

This past July 4th proved to be one of those Ahaaa moments for me, somewhat of an epiphany if you will. My sense was that God, my heavenly Father, orchestrated my circumstances to allow me to see and understand freedom a little differently...quite possibly a lot!

The first circumstance is that I have been teaching a series in my class out of 1 John constantly asking the question "How can I know I am saved?"  We are walking through 6 tests from first John for each of us to hold our lives up to and ask the question...do I pass the test?  If we pass the test the question turns into a prayer requesting ever increasing growth in grace, longing to be transformed to be like Jesus.  The tests are quite simple:

•Your walk, lifestyle (1:6), •Confession of sin/Brokenness over sin (1:9), •Keep God’s Word (2:3), •Walk as Jesus walked (2:6), •11th Commandment, love your brother (2:9), •World is passing away or being pressed out...are you being conformed to the world or transformed by the renewing of your mind? (2:17)

While we were unpacking the third test "keeping God's Word," I was making the point that John makes in 1 John 5:2-4. 

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. 4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world— our faith.

What is that point?  Simply, that when we, God's adopted children, walk by faith, trusting and believing in the promises of God, filled with the Holy Spirit...empowered by the Holy Spirit, living out the victorious Christian life...that IT IS EASY!  I pointed to Matt 11:30 where Jesus tells us that HIS yoke is  easy!  How is it possible that HIS commandments are not burdensome?  It is only possible to the degree that I surrender my life, to the degree that Christ becomes incarnate in me as I walk and live in repentance and faith, repentance and faith, enjoying the victorious Spirit filled life in Christ.

As those words came out of my mouth one man in our class almost came out of his skin with disbelief and a few others looked very perplexed.  That particular morning we spent the rest of the time on that topic.  God was gracious to me and brought to mind a few verses like Zec 4:6 “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts...and Phil 1:6, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ."  We stopped at this point two weeks in a row and I had several private conversations with friends in our class explaining how "it is easy". 

Please don't misunderstand, I know that it is both easy and hard...HIS yoke is easy...the gate is narrow and the way is hard.  Is it easy or is it hard...According to Jesus the the answer is yes!  However, if you have never experienced those times when it is easy than you are probably not walking in and enjoying the victorious Christian life, the Spirit filled life, the abundant life in Christ, the life Christ died for you to live now.

That was the first circumstance that God brought about...for every spiritual leader there is a sense of anguish when those you love are not walking in victory...Remember what Paul said in Galatians 4:19?  "My little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!"

The second came this past week...I was thinking and praying about how to tie the lesson to July 4 and our celebration of freedom as a nation.  Out of this God brought to mind two other times that people were set free.  Thinking about July 4th 1776 and our Declaration of Independence the Lord brought to mind the Emancipation Proclamation signed by Abraham Lincoln September 22, 1862 and the liberation of Auschwitz on January 27, 1945. 

Bringing these events together may appear strange on the surface...and, well...I have never claimed not to be strange:)  An acquaintance of mine that lives in the Memphis area is the descendent of slave owners, the land that the family owned is still in the family and much of the family lives on sections of the property...nothing strange yet.  The amazing thing is that a descendent of one of the slaves of the family still lives on the property with the permission of the family.  She lives in a shack in basic poverty on the property!  She was born free and yet she chooses to stay and live in poverty...WHY?  Abraham Lincoln paid a price to push the Emancipation Proclamation through...Martin Luther King Jr paid a price right here in Memphis pressing for civil rights for Blacks...WHY would someone born free choose to live in poverty, why would they choose to live a life similar to that of a salve?

I remember learning about the liberation of Auschwitz and other concentration camps and the reaction of the prisoners when they were liberated.  One would expect them to run out of the camp shouting for joy, leaping, jumping, screaming at the top of their lungs...I'm free, I'm free, I'm free!  That is not what happened.  Viktor Frankl, M.D., Ph.D. (March 26, 1905 – September 2, 1997) was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist as well as a Holocaust survivor.  In his best selling book, "Man's Search for Meaning,"  Frankl talks about the strange reaction of the prisoners to their freedom.

Frankl recalls an experience a few days after being liberated:

"a few days after the liberation, I walked through the country past flowering meadows, for miles and miles, toward the market town near the camp.  Larks rose to the sky and I cold hard their joyous song.  There was no one to be seen for miles around; there was nothing but the wide earth and sky and the larks' jubilation and the freedom of space.  I stopped, looked around, and up to the sky--and then I went down on my knees.  At that moment there was very little I knew of myself or of the world--I had but one sentence in mind--always the same: "I called to the Lord from my narrow prison and He answered me in the freedom of space."

How long I knelt there and repeated this sentence memory can no longer recall.  But I know that on that day, in that hour, my new life started.  Step for step I progressed, until I again became a human being."

I pray that those few words will haunt you...until I again became a human being, until I again became a human being, until I again became a human being."  You and I were created for a very great and glorious God, we were created in HIS image to ENJOY HIM...slaves know nothing of this JOY...ONLY SONS!  You and I were created in HIS image, in the image of God, we are image bearers of the Sovereign God of the Universe! 

Again, consider the incredible cost that was paid to liberate the prisoners in the concentration camps. 

You may be thinking...Mark, all your learning has made you crazy!  The truth is that I come by it honestly...it is not the fault of the learning:)  What does this have to do with living a victorious Christians life?  What does this have to do with freedom in Christ?  I suppose that the answer to that question is the third thing that God did to grant a deeper understanding of freedom.  Contemplate with me about the three different reactions in the physical world to freedom.  Consider the varying reactions of those living in the Colonies during the Declaration of Independence, the slaves set free by the Emancipation Proclamation, and the prisoners liberated at Auschwitz.

The end result for each is the same...you are free, you are free, you are free!  WHAT IS YOUR POINT Mark?  Each of these were set free from a very different place, out of very different circumstances and so their reaction to freedom is radically different. My point is that the people that you and I love and care about, (this includes you and me) enter the freedom that Jesus purchased from very different places, out of very different circumstances.  Therefore our reaction to freedom is radically different!  As God's children, coming to faith in Christ is only the beginning, this is where sanctification begins...remember John's words in 1 John 3:1-2?  "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is."  So sanctification begins at salvation...we were dead in our sins in trespasses and God's Word tells us in 1 Peter 2:9 that, "you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."   So we were dead men walking in the shadow of death, HE made us alive together with Christ in the heavenlies, HE called us out of darkness into HIS marvelous light that we may proclaim HIS praises!  Remember the words to the song?  "Fast bound in sin and nature’s night; Thine eye diffused a quickening ray—I woke, the dungeon flamed with light; My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and followed Thee."

Do you remember the reaction of the people of Nazareth to the offer of freedom?  Jesus, the Word incarnate, read from Isaiah and the people rejected him, they rejected the freedom HE proclaimed and the freedom HE purchased.

Luke 4:17-19 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

This is repeated in the Psalms, To hear the groaning of the prisoner, To set free those who were doomed to death Psalm 102:20, Who executes justice for the oppressed; Who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free Psalm 146:7, and it is repeated in the prophets, Zechariah 9:11 tells us that, "because of the blood of My covenant with you, I have set your prisoners free from the waterless pit."

Over and over throughout God's Word we learn of our freedom in Christ.  "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed" (John 8:36), the words of Paul tell us what we have been set free from, "And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness"  (Romans 6:18).  Paul also gives us the why in Romans 6:22,  "But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life."  In Galatians Paul warns us not to take our freedom for granted and then gives us instructions as to what we should do with our freedom!  In Gal 5:1 he warns us to, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage."  A few verses later he tells us in Gal 5:13 that you "have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another."  Again, we see in John 8:31-32, "Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  In Revelation 1:5 we see again that..."Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.  To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.   The sovereign God of the Universe purchased our freedom, purchased our liberty with HIS own blood...check out 1 Peter 1:19 and Acts 20:28.

Let me try to summarize:

1.  Teaching that the Spirit filled life, when truly Spirit filled is easy receives a wide range of reactions from my class...from some nodding in agreement to others coming unglued with disbelief.

2.  Contemplating our national freedom...the reaction of the colonist to freedom compared with the reaction of the salves and prisoners to the Emancipation Proclamation and the liberation of Auschwitz.

3.  Contrasting how an understanding of the different reactions to freedom can be compared to the different reactions of God's adopted children to their new found freedom in Christ Jesus.

What does all this mean?  I have gone on way to long so I hope to continue this discussion in future posts...let me leave with this thought.  My passion, my burning desire is to know HIM and make HIM known...to expand slightly, to be mature in Christ and to lead others to a place of maturity in Christ (Remember Gal 4:19)...REGARDLESS OF THEIR PAST, REGARDLESS OF WHAT THEY HAVE DONE OR WHAT HAS BEEN DONE TO THEM.  To do that you must discern where a person has been and where they are before you can begin to take them where God wants them to be.

What does it look like to be completely free in Christ, filled with the Spirit of holiness, equipped with radical obedience to the one who purchased me with HIS own blood?  I pray for the opportunity to unpack that here over the next few weeks

From the hymn "And Can it be" we have the powerful words depicting our freedom in Christ

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray—
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

2 Co 4:6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Pursuing HIM together!

m

Every time I ready this passage in Luke I picture myself... (a little like Peter at times...frequently saying the wrong thing:)) ...I picture myself jumping in front of Jesus and instead of saying "Lord I am ready to go with you to prison and to death..." I would say something like "tell him NO, Lord, please tell Satan, NO, don't you let him sift me as wheat!  I appreciate you praying for me, but don't let him sift me please!"

You may remember the passage in Luke 22:31-32 where Jesus tells Peter,  “Simon, Simon,  look out! Satan  has asked to sift you  like wheat.  32 But I have prayed  for you  that your faith may not fail. And you, when you have turned back, strengthen  your brothers.”  This reminds me of God's Word to Isaiah in chapter 43:1-2, Israel is being restored and God tells HIS people..."Now this is what the Lord says— the One who created you, Jacob, and the One who formed you, Israel — “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine. 2     I will be with you when you pass through the waters, and ⌊when you pass⌋ through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you.  You will not be scorched when you walk through the fire, and the flame will not burn you."

I love the end of verse one, we have been commanded not to fear for God has redeemed us, we have been called by name and my favorite part is HE says YOU ARE MINE!  GLORY!  God's children, God's sheep, hear HIS voice and are secure in HIS righteous right hand, the hand of Jesus (John 10:27-30).  I love verse two as well,  but I must confess that my flesh is terrified of verse two!  Why is that Mark?  For God's own glory and our joy in HIM God's children are told that we WILL suffer, we WILL be afflicted, we WILL face persecutions (2 Tim 3:12, Col 1:24).  How do you get that out of verse two?  HE does not tell us "IF" you pass, but HE tells us "WHEN" you pass...when you pass through the waters, the rivers and through the fire...you will not be overwhelmed, scorched, burned.  Bottom line is HE promises HIS presence.  Not only does HE promise HIS presence, HE promises that we will see HIS glory!  Do you remember what we see in 1 Peter 4:13?  "Instead, as you share in the sufferings  of the Messiah rejoice, so that you may also rejoice with great joy at the revelation  of His glory."  Remember Jesus prayer in John 17?  Specifically, verse 24..."Father, I desire those You have given Me to be with Me where I am. Then they will see My glory, which You have given Me because You loved Me before the world’s foundation."

In Isaiah 48:10-11 God tells us as HE tells Israel..."Look, I have refined you,  but not as silver; I have tested  you in the furnace of affliction.  11 I will act for My own sake, indeed, My own, for how can I  be defiled?  I will not give My glory to another."

How awesome is it to know that the Great "I AM" has prayed and is praying for you!  Not only is HE praying for you, but HE has promised to be with you to the end of the age!  HE is praying for you, HE is with you, HE is protecting you, HE is refining you...preparing you to spend eternity with HIM marveling at HIS magnificent glory.  PLEASE GET THIS...this really helps me...the fact that HIS glory is on the line gives me great assurance that HE will complete the good work HE began in me and in you. 

HE is praying for you, HE is present with you, HE is protecting you and HE is purifying and preparing you to spend eternity in HIS blazing glory...It makes me what to shout!  Someone should write a song:)

For years now John 17:24 is and has been responsible for throwing me into catatonic states of heart and mind...in the body or out of the body I don't know, God knows, in the body or out of the body I don't know but God knows.  Sorry, I could not resist!  Catatonic might be too strong, but I sit and pray over and meditate on what Jesus is talking about when HE says..."Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world."

If this is (and it is) a prayer request from God the Son to God the Father do you think it will be answered?  YES!  YES!  YES!  It will come to pass!  So those of us that are truly children of the most High God will behold Jesus in HIS magnificent, radiant and blazing glory!  I don't know about you, but it makes me what to shout.

I know that if you ask most good Baptists what they want to hear when they see Jesus they will quote the first half of Matt 25:21...let's say it all together..."well done thy good and faithful servant."  Please don't miss understand and please don't get mad at me...I long to hear those Words too, but I must confess what really gets me excited is when Jesus says at the end of the verse "enter into the JOY of your Master."  Do you hear Peter's Words in the background..."joy unspeakable and full of glory."  I do long to hear "well done" but infinitely more than that I burn to SEE JESUS IN ALL HIS RADIANT GLORY...I BELIEVE THAT IS WHAT YOU AND I WERE CREATED FOR AND THEN AND ONLY THEN WILL WE BE CONSUMED WITH THE JOY OF OUR MASTER.

We see God's Word testify to this in 2 Cor 4:6-7, "For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us."   Jesus is the manifestation of the glory of God the Father.  There are three other verses that come to heart and mind quickly.

Heb 1:3  He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

Col 1:15  He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

Tit 2:13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

In Luke 18:41 a man crying out to Jesus repeatedly for mercy and Jesus asks him,  “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, I want to see."  Jesus responded to him receive your sight, your faith has healed you.

All I will add to my prayer, all I will add to my request to the Great I AM, is LORD, I want to see, I want to see Jesus!

Father in Heaven,

In the name of your precious Son open the eyes of my heart and mind that I might see and behold your glorious Son...that I might gaze upon HIS beautiful face and be conformed into HIS image...for your glory and my joy in YOU.  With ever greater intensity incline my heart and mind to your Word and to be consumed and heart burning with a white hot passion to know you and make you known.  I long to hear you say on that day..."enter into the joy of your Master!

In the few weeks leading up to Easter, as I have already mentioned, I was consumed with Isaiah 52-53, John 12 and Isaiah 6.  I thought it was very God like for Pastor's Easter message to be about the 2 Disciples on the Road to Emmaus.  If you recall that was one of the verses that was mentioned in the first "ALL EYES on JESUS!  I had no idea that that was going to be his text:)

Two huge truths are burning in my heart right now.  First, we actually have it much better than the two Disciples on the Road to Emmaus!  I have often thought how awesome it would have been to walk with Jesus and have HIM explain ALL the scriptures beginning  with Moses and ALL  the Prophets concerning HIMSLELF!  HOW AWESOME!  I believe that you and I have it better than they did!  We, as God's children, have HIS presence dwelling within us and HE offers to us the Spirit-filled life!  Jesus left the Disciples on the Road to Emmaus...HE has promised that HE will never leave us or forsake us!  Remember...they said, "did not our hearts burn within us."  They were looking back a few moments to when their hearts burned...oh please hear this...if we are willing to meditate on HIS precious Word day and night, crying out in desperation for HIM, filled with the Holy Spirit our hearts may burn without ceasing!  I believe that they will burn brighter at moments, but HE offers us the ability to offer HIM our own heart, burning, ablaze and consumed with HIM and HIM alone.  I believe that this is what Paul described in Romans 12:1-3...present your bodies a living sacrifice.

Second, we have at our disposal the full counsel of God's Word.  The plan of God was still unfolding in history when the Disciples walked the Road to Emmaus.  Jesus explained the Old Testament to them and how everything in the OT was about HIM.  You and I have the Holy Spirit as our teacher and we have the full counsel of God's Holy Word!  This is an incredible gift that we too often take for granted.

Oh God, set our hearts ablaze, enable us to be consumed with YOU and YOU alone.  Open the eyes of our hearts Lord, shine YOUR Holy Spirit in our hearts that we may behold and become conformed to YOUR image...for YOUR glory and our Joy in YOU.

2 Cor 4:6-7 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

1 Co 6:19-20  Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Father, it is breathtaking to know that YOU have taken up residence in YOUR children, Emmanuel-God with us!  YOU dwell in YOUR children by YOUR Holy Spirit and YOU have given YOUR children a more sure Word, we know that YOUR, "divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence" 2 Peter 1:3.  Father, grant YOUR children eyes to see and ears to hear, grant YOUR children an understanding of the inheritance we have in Christ alone.  GLORY!

This morning my heart and mind have been transfixed on Isaiah 52 and 53, John 12:27-43 and Isaiah chapter 6.  If you are able to gaze upon these passages without your heart exploding with delight, wonder, awe and then falling prostrate to worship...you are either lost or in a horrible spiritual condition! 

How can you see that "it please the LORD to crush him," "he was wounded for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities...with his stripes we are healed."  Is it possible to behold the Son of God crushed with your iniquity and my iniquity and not be consumed?  Only if you do not have eyes to see and ears to hear!  Is it really possible to behold Jesus Christ crucified, pouring out his soul to the death, to bear the sins of many and not be moved?  It is not possible!  Only those that are spiritually dead in their sins and trespasses will be unmoved...they are dead!

Mark, I hear the words of Isaiah 52-53 sprinkled in above, but what does this have to do with the passage in John and Isaiah 6?  I'm glad you asked:)  In this passage in John Jesus quotes Isaiah and then pointed out that Isaiah said these things because he saw HIM!  I find this amazing...about 600 years before the second person of the Trinity comes in human flesh, Immanuel, God with us...Isaiah tells of HIS coming and sacrificial death.  Then Jesus quotes these Words, HIS Words and proceeds to tells us that Isaiah said these things because he saw HIS glory.  I believe that Jesus is referring to Isaiah 6 where Isaiah saw Jesus high and lifted up! 

Jn 12:27-43 “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die...While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”  WORSHIP KING JESUS, WORSHIP KING JESUS...FOR HIS  GLORY AND YOUR JOY IN HIM!

When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. 37 Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, 38 so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

          “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

39 Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said,

     40     “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.”

41 Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. 42 Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

Father in heaven,

In YOUR great mercy, love and grace...grant us eyes to see and ears to hear YOU, to behold you and be conformed to YOUR image...for YOUR glory and our JOY in YOU.  Restore unto me the joy of YOUR salvation, enable me to love and delight in YOUR glory and be repulsed by the glory that comes from man...it is no glory.  In the year King Uzziah died, in the year of financial ruin, enable us, enable me to see King Jesus high and lifted up...set my heart on fire, consumed with YOU and YOU alone!

love,

m

Oh Father in Heaven,

Thank you for Jesus, thank you for the Cross...we celebrate the empty tomb, we celebrate YOU and that our names are written in the Lamb's book of life!  Father in heaven, thank you for the death, burial, and resurrection of our Great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Lord Jesus, thank you, that through your shed blood, YOU opened the way for us to be adopted as your children, as we repent of our sins and place our faith and trust in you and your finished work, you place your Holy Spirit within us...you grant us a new birth from above, we become new creatures in Christ Jesus.

Father in heaven open the eyes of our hearts, open the eyes of our understanding that we might behold and become like Jesus.  Father set our hearts ablaze, open your Word to our hearts and minds and consume us, consume us..."our God is a consuming fire."  Fill us with your Holy Spirit and set our hearts and minds aflame with you and you alone LORD JESUS...for YOUR glory and our JOY in YOU!

Heb 12:2   looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Lk 24:31-33  And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. 32 They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” 33 And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together,

Lk 24:45-49  Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Father,

Clothe your children with power from on high, fill us with YOUR Holy Spirit..."For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" 2 Cor 4:6.  Enable us through your precious Word to behold your face in Gethsemane, on the Cross, and now resurrected and seated on high at the right hand of the Father.  Enable us to see you, to behold you and become like you, to live transformed-conformed lives as your ambassadors in a world that desperately needs to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ!  WHY DO YOU LOOK FOR THE LIVING AMONG THE DEAD?  HE IS RISEN!

love,

m