Walking With Jesus

Failure and Fullness

“From His abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another.” (John 1:16 NLT)

Failure, like so many areas and activities of our lives, is relative. Some, unfamiliar with the truth behind Jesus’ sacrifice, would dare say He was a failure. After all, a bright, young, Rabbi got Himself murdered on a cross at age 33. “What a waste!” some would conclude. Yet, Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross led to His greatest triumph on Easter Sunday morning.

In our more lucid moments, we’ll often be forced to admit that our most valuable life-lessons were learned in the wake of failure. I could fill a lot of pages listing all of my failures, but the truth is, much of what I write has been learned by the Holy Spirit’s instruction as a result of the times I’ve fallen or failed.

Henry Ford said: “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.”

Two pictures come to mind when I think of failure. One is found in John 18 that records the three times Peter denied that he even knew Jesus. The second is found in Matthew 26 which records Judas’ betrayal of Jesus with a kiss.

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Abraham Lincoln said: “My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.” The reality is, we’ve all failed, not only in the course of life, but, if we profess faith in the Risen One, we’ve all failed Him. It’s called sin, and, according to Scripture, we’ve all “been there, done that.” It’s never a question of “if we sin,” it’s only a matter of how often and how we respond.

That Peter and Judas sinned is no surprise to anyone. How they sinned is what raises the hair on the back of our necks. And, sadly, it’s not uncommon for us to say or think: “How could they? Why, I’d never…!” But if you’ll remember, that’s what each of the disciples said prior to Jesus’ execution (Matthew 26:35).

Failure can lead to despair, depression, and self-execution, either by a rope, as Judas chose, or by our continued inability to believe Christ could/would forgive us. Rather than confess our sin and receive forgiveness and the fulness of the Spirit’s indwelling, we wallow in our failure and nullify any good that Christ might have gained through us.

Einstein said: “Success is failure in progress.” Whatever measure of sensitivity to the Lord’s leading we have will largely depend on how quickly and truthfully, we confess our failure and turn from it. If our confession of sin simply seeks to put a Band-Aid on the cancer of our addiction to sin, not much is going to change in our life.

It’s not until, like Peter, we go out and weep bitterly, not because we were “caught” in our sin, but because we realize the deep, deep debt of gratitude we owe the Lord for giving us another opportunity to get it right. It’s no accident that Peter became the preeminent leader of the early church. It wasn’t his greatness as a man or even as a leader, it was his willingness to repent and turn from his failure, relying solely on the fullness only Jesus could provide.

How about you? Like Judas, will you give Satan the upper hand and allow him to rob you of your “life?” Hopefully, you won’t literally take your life, but if you’re not intentional in pursuing forgiveness and fullness in Christ, you run the risk of becoming simply another religious robot, going through the motions of religiosity. Your concern will focus more on how others view you than how Jesus views the people in your spheres of influence who are lost, heading for a Christless eternity.

Choose, rather, to respond like Peter, seeking Christ, not only for forgiveness, which is vital, but allowing Him to make you more effective for Him than you ever dared dream you could be. You and I are only as effective as our willingness to confess our sin and believe in His limitless Lordship to fill, empower, and enable us to overcome our sin, doubt, and fear, and move forward in the power and anointing of His Holy Presence with us.

Failure or fullness? Which will you choose? Remembering, it’s a choice we are continually making.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Pain and Suffering (Part 2)

“The field is the world, and the good seed represents the people of the Kingdom. The weeds are the people who belong to the evil one.” (Matthew 13:38 NLT)

In yesterday’s post we looked at pain and suffering from the standpoint of our own responsibility. We considered that much of what we often tend to think of as “pain and suffering,” is brought about by our own negligence or disobedience to the clear instructions of Scripture. Admittedly, especially if we come to Christ late in life, much of our pain and suffering is the result of reckless living, the “logical consequences” of a life devoted to sin. However, there are circumstances, accidents, diseases, offenses committed against us over which we have little or no control or responsibility, from which we suffer greatly. Where is God in these?

In the verse above, from the parable of the Wheat and Weeds in Matthew 13, Jesus explains that the farmer planted good seed, which, according to Jesus’ explanation of the parable, were people who belong to the Kingdom of God, but the “weeds” were people who belong to the evil one. From the very beginning, God has given mankind the gift of choice.

In the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve exercised their free will to choose to disobey God’s clear instructions. The result of their sin was a world of evil out of control, so much so the Lord regretted creating them, and chose to cover the earth with water, killing every human being except those He allowed to enter the Ark.

Fast forward to 2023 and you see a growing population dominated by evil the likes of which the world has never seen. Jesus said in Luke 17:26-27: “When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. In those days, the people enjoyed banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat and the flood came and destroyed them all.” Everyone was so busy carrying on life as usual they had no time or interest in what God was doing. What’s my point?

When sin is rampant good people, yes, even people of God, including children, handicapped, mentally challenged, and others who can’t care for themselves, are going to be neglected and hurt. Is that to imply that God has lost control? Certainly not! But God’s hands and feet on earth are His Church, His people, but the ever-increasing need is so great, and the world population is expanding so quickly there is unprecedented need.

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It’s heart-breaking to see all the suffering in the world today, but it’s not that God is turning a deaf ear. Every day there are those who are answering His call to go to “the uttermost parts of the world,” for evangelism certainly, but many are seeking to bring clean water, medical help, education, and training. There are those who are going to the impoverished of the world to teach them how to grow their own food; to establish means of generating income through small businesses; and in other ways being the visible hands and feet of Jesus.

But what compounds the suffering and pain of many is the blatant evil that is rampant in our world. It’s estimated that nearly a million young people are kidnapped and sold into sexual slavery every year in America alone. Multiply that by the number of people who are slaves to alcohol and drugs and you have a world that makes Sodom and Gomorrah look like a 1960’s Disney movie.

God is our only hope! He opened a way to know and love Him and become a part of the solution rather than continue as part of the problem. If Satan can keep people’s minds filled with darkness, blaming God for what He gave His only Son to address, the world will only get darker.

We must, as God’s children, live fully committed, no-holds barred for Jesus. We are God’s answer to the needs of mankind. We have the Good News that can change people’s hearts and lives. We have the powerful Holy Spirit who can work miracles and change this world for good, one person at a time, but we must take our lives in Christ more seriously. We must make prayer the priority in our lives that it has to be.

God isn’t slack, but neither will He do for us what He’s commissioned us to do. We must seek first His Kingdom being diligent in carrying out our Father’s Business. This is no time to be lazy or negligent when it comes to our walk with the Lord. It’s a time to commit everything we are to everything He is. The salvation of the people in our spheres of influence are depending on it! Why is that so important? Because there is no greater pain than not knowing Jesus!

Holy Father help us!

Blessings, Ed

Pain and Suffering

“What we do see is Jesus, who was given a position ‘a little lower than the angels’; and because He suffered death for us, He is now ‘crowned with glory and honor.’ Yes, by God’s grace, Jesus tasted death for everyone.” (Hebrews 2:9 NLT)

Pain and suffering are the common denominators of each member of the human family. Just because we put our faith in Jesus and serve Him conscientiously, doesn’t exempt us from what Jesus referred to as troubles or tribulation. The issue isn’t whether we’ll suffer or have pain, the only issue is when and to what degree.

Rushing to Jesus in an effort to be delivered from the hardships of life is a little bit like spending all your money on Christmas presents, then crying out to the Lord because you can’t make your normal monthly expenses. It’s not that He doesn’t care or isn’t with us, it’s that He isn’t, as a rule, going to bail us out of a jam we’ve put ourselves into.

You’ve likely heard the adage: “the two happiest moments in a person’s life are the day they buy a boat and the day they sell it.” For me it wasn’t a boat, it was a car, but the point is the same. I had no business leasing the car, I had too many other places that money needed to go. But I made the deal and loved the car, until I quickly realized I’d been a fool to get it.

We’re like that in life. We ignore the clear instructions of the Lord by bypassing reading and studying God’s Word, forfeiting our “God-time,” missing church and/or our small group meetings, neglecting serving with our brothers/sisters in Christ, then wonder why we have no heart for Christ or the things of the Spirit.

When my children were small, I read a book by Rudolf Dreikurs entitled Children: The Challenge. The main idea I gleaned from that book was the issue of “logical consequences.” It was masterfully written and made a lot of sense, especially as it related to the relationships between parents and children. But on many levels, it can apply to our relationship with our heavenly Father.

For example, when children are first learning to handle things, like toys or food, they notoriously toss whatever they get in their hands onto the floor, then start crying because we don’t pick it up for them fast enough. Dreikurs essentially said: “Let them cry.” Why? Because they have to learn that the logical consequence of throwing something onto the floor is you no longer have it in your hand.

In a similar way, God allows us to suffer the logical consequences of our own misbehavior. We smoke until our lungs are destroyed or drink or drug until our bodies are ruined. We defy God’s Word ignoring His clear instruction regarding purity and holiness of life, then wonder why we worry or fret about every detail of our life.

Much of our “suffering and pain” are the results of our own disobedience to God’s clear instruction. Yes, of course, He forgives us when we repent and turn from those things, but He seldom, if ever, frees us from suffering the logical consequences of our sin. However, that being said, there are times when we suffer and it’s no fault of our own.

I think of the suffering of Job, in the Bible and millions of people who live in deplorable conditions, including children who are faultless, yet suffer in immeasurable ways. Does God not care? Can He not address those vast needs?

Let’s look at these things more closely in tomorrow’s post.

Blessings, Ed 😊

The “Couples” of the Bible

“Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.” (Ephesians 6:18 NLT)

As we begin a new year, I’d like to point our attention to several “couples” in the Bible. No, these aren’t literal married couples, rather couples of words that often go together in Scripture. Words like “faith and persistence,” “pain and suffering,” “failure and fullness,” and so forth.

Today we’ll look at the first couple, faith, and persistence. It’s worth noting that the above verse from Ephesians, follows Paul’s instruction on the whole armor of God, which he begins in Ephesians 6:10 by saying: “A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.” In our walk with Jesus there is no strength but God’s strength; there is no “mighty power” except it’s given us from God.

The purpose of God’s armor isn’t simply to protect us from attacks from without, but to be a constant reminder of our need to be ever aware of the disciplines and attitudes that emanate from within. Most of our obedient walk with Jesus begins with a decision, not made once for all time, but renewed day after day as we continually remind ourselves of whose we are and why we entered this fight of faith in the first place.

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Faith is the foundation of our journey with Jesus. In Hebrews 11:6 we read: “And it is impossible to please God without faith.” Faith is the fundamental conviction upon which the structure of our commitment to Christ is built. But as vitally important as faith is, it’s valueless unless and until it’s given visibility through our persistent efforts to make much of Jesus, while making less and less of ourselves.

Rick Warren made an interesting observation when he wrote: “Moses realized this important truth: You can only accomplish the impossible when you see the invisible.” Jesus reinforced this idea in Matthew 19:25-26 where we read: “The disciples were astounded. ‘Then who in the world can be saved?’ they asked. Jesus looked at them intently and said, ‘Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.’”

We’ll struggle understanding salvation and how to walk faithfully in it unless and until we understand that humanly speaking it is impossible. That’s why it’s so critical that we walk by faith and not by sight. Until by faith we see that Jesus is God in human flesh who laid down His life for our sin, rose from the dead, and ascended back to the Father to continually bear intercession for us, His followers, we’ll wrongly believe we’re responsible to walk in our own strength.

Yes, of course, faith must be matched by persistence and perseverance, but again, those efforts aren’t our attempts to take things into our own hands and live out our faith in the flesh. We persistently seek to magnify Jesus in the energy of the Spirit who resides in us. We persevere in exalting Jesus in everything we think, say, or do through the power of the Spirit as we yield more and more of who we are to the Spirit of Christ who indwells us.

Rick Warren said it this way: “God will give you strength to persevere. He’ll give you the power to keep working on the marriage that seems hopeless. He will give you the power to pick yourself up when you’ve fallen. He can give you the power to keep going when you’re on the edge of bankruptcy. He’ll give you the power to keep your convictions when all the pressure around you says to give in. The key to faith is to be persistent. Keep your eyes on God, not on your problem. God’s power to keep going is always there for you. You just need to ask him for it.”

Our part is faith. His part is to fill and empower us to persist in that faith until He calls us home.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Your Days Are Written In God’s Book

“All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God, how vast is the sum of them.” (Psalm 139:16-17)

*As we begin this new year I thought it would be helpful to get a renewed view of how God sees you. Read slowly and deliberately these words by Sylvia Gunter, letting them sink deep into your heart and mind. May 2023 be your best year ever in your walk with Jesus. Blessings, Ed (this article is used with permission)

God nurtured you in the womb, and since your conception He has watched over you. Your days were not written haphazardly. Your life is not a random thing. His thoughts of you are precious and too vast to count. He thinks of you continuously and of new ways that He can bless you, just because you are His special child. He has written the script of your life. He chose every part of it. He is looking forward to reveal the chapters to the story He has already written.

God thought through all the details – your siblings, your birth order, large family or small family, city family or rural. He foresaw your pain, too. He knew that out of that brokenness comes a larger story, just like when Jesus took the loaves, and He blessed them, then He broke them, then He multiplied them to feed many. Because of His love, His power, and His blessing on you, He causes all the pain and negative things to be transformed into good things in His story for your life. So take courage. God has given you everything you need to be an overcomer, to have victory over the negative parts of your heritage, and to live in the beauty of all that He placed within you.

In God’s master plan and design He chose and designed every part of your spiritual heritage. He reached back into generations past and chose different parts of your heritage. Your generational blessings go back a thousand generations (Deut 7:9). He chose the spiritual treasure chest of generational blessings that is set aside with your name on it. You are blessed to be an heir to this spiritual treasure. Seek God for it and ask Him to release it at His appointed appropriate time.

Love is who God is and what He does. He says of you, “You are My beloved child, in whom I am well pleased.” That’s what He said of Jesus, and you are in Jesus and Jesus is in you. You are beloved. That is your incarnate identity. He pours out His loving kindness on you every day in big ways and little ways. Be blessed to receive your belonging and worth in His love. Be blessed as God’s love validates and affirms that you are special, His covenant child. God thinks you are the best. Be blessed to celebrate your identity and legitimacy. Today be aware of your belonging, inclusion, significance, and worth in Him.

Be blessed in the name of your Father who has carried you until you reached this place (Deut 1:31).

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An archive of past devotionals is available at www.thefathersbusiness.com

Are You Ready?

“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit upon His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered in His presence, and He will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep at His right hand and the goats at His left…And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:31-33, 46)

I recently received a copy of the following poem by an unknown author. May it stir your heart as it did mine, to the reality of the brevity of life, and the finality of death apart from Jesus. Blessings, Ed

‘Twas the Night Before Jesus Came

‘Twas the night before Jesus came and all through the house

Not a creature was praying, not one in the house.

Their Bibles were lain on the shelf without care

In hopes that Jesus would not come there.

The children were dressing to crawl into bed,

Not once ever kneeling or bowing a head.

And Mom in her rocker with baby on her lap

Was watching the Late Show while I took a nap.

When out of the East there arose such a clatter,

I sprang to my feet to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I few like a flash

Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash!

When what to my wondering eyes should appear

But angels proclaiming that Jesus was here.

With a light like the sun sending forth a bright ray

I knew in a moment this must be The Day!

The light of His face made me cover my head

It was Jesus! Returning just like He had said.

And though I possessed worldly wisdom and wealth

I cried when I saw Him in spite of myself.

In the Book of Life which He held in His hand

Was written the name of every saved man.

He spoke not a word as He searched for my name;

When He said “It’s not here” my head hung in shame!

The people whose names had been written with love

He gathered to take to His Father above.

With those who were ready He rose without a sound

While all the rest were left standing around.

I fell to my knees, but it was too late;

I had waited too long and this sealed my fate.

I stood and I cried as they rose out of sight;

Oh, if only I had been ready tonight.

In the words of this poem the meaning is clear;

The coming of Jesus is drawing near.

There’s only one life and when comes the last call

We’ll find that the Bible was true after ALL!

A Suitable Response (Part 2)

“Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.” (Romans 8:5-6 NLT)

What you think about comes about! Sinfulness or holiness are attitudes of the heart developed over time as we learn to allow the Holy Spirit to harness our thought-life. Having walked with the Lord for many years, I’ve learned a few things that have helped me deal with my sin.

The closer I get to Jesus the more abhorrent my sin becomes. The more beautiful He becomes, the less attractive sin is. The closer I am to the Lord, the more natural it becomes to fill my mind with thoughts of Him.

On some levels it’s like falling in love. I’ve told you before that when my wife and I first met I literally couldn’t stop thinking about her. Over time that changed, but ironically, the longer we’re together, the more I think of her and love being with her.

It’s similar in our walk with Jesus. At first, He’s all we think about. We’re so hungry for the things of God we hardly give sin a thought. It’s like we’re walking a few inches off the ground. But over time Satan plants seeds of doubt, discouragement, and despair in our mind that trouble us and redirect our thoughts to worry and frustration. Before long we struggle to pray or read God’s Word at all.

Temptation becomes our constant companion, so we’re so busy fighting with the enemy we hardly have a thought of the Lord. It’s ironic that one of Satan’s tactics is to keep our minds so focused, either on our present problems or our past victories, we rarely allow our mind to think of future victories or successes. Why is that?

What we think about comes about! Satan knows if he can keep anything but God in your consciousness, that’s what will harness your life. If all we can think about is how bad things are, guess what, they’re only going to get worse. Faithfulness requires discipline. That’s why it’s so crucial to develop godly disciplines like reading the Bible, praying throughout the day, attending a Christ-centered, Bible-teaching church, being a part of a small group who loves Jesus and each other, and having a regular avenue of focused service for the Lord.

The only suitable response to Satan’s activity in and through temptation is complete dependence on the Holy Spirit to teach us how to respond, primarily by submitting ourselves to the Spirit’s control. If we understand our need for the armor of God, as outlined in Ephesians 6, and we faithfully wear the protection God has provided, we’ll begin to recognize and deflect the attacks of the devil.

As Pastor Tony Evans explains in his teaching on the Helmet of Salvation, sin has built-in consequences. We so often convince ourselves that what we’re doing or about to do isn’t really “sin,” that I’m really not hurting anyone but myself. Or we con ourselves into believing – “It won’t really matter because God will forgive me anyway.” When in fact the sin itself is laden with unavoidable consequences, that while, yes, God will forgive us if we sincerely repent and turn from our sin, the lingering effects of our sin can cripple our effectiveness and dull our senses to future attacks.

The fact is, the only suitable response to temptation, in whatever form, is to run! Run to Jesus in prayer! Run to a faithful brother/sister who loves Jesus and with whom you can share honestly. Run to a quiet place and pour out your heart to your heavenly Father, seeking His refuge and loving presence.

In this season of my life, I want nothing more or nothing less than everything God has for me. Like David in Psalm 34:8, I’ve tasted for myself and have seen that the Lord is good. He has everything we will ever need to satisfy every desire we will ever have. We just have to trust Him.

Blessings, Ed 😊

A Suitable Response

“When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death.” (Romans 7:5 NLT)

Our response to temptation, which, though it isn’t sin, can lead to sin, is telltale evidence of the condition of our heart. Paul stated in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” What are wages? Wages are what we expect from our employer at the end of every pay cycle. Wages are what I’ve earned; what I deserve.

If sin is our “employer,” the “evil one” for whom we’re working, death is our wage. Every human being has a sinful nature, except Jesus. That’s why He had to be born of a virgin, He couldn’t be infected by our sinful human nature; thus, the reason He was born of the Spirit, not of the seed of a human father. Our natural “bent” is to sin. Given the flow of our normal desires, we’ll choose sin every time.

It takes a supernatural encounter with the Son of God, activated by His Spirit, to free us from our bondage to sin. Sin demands a death penalty. Someone must die for our sin. Us or Jesus. That’s essentially what hell is – our eternal effort to pay the penalty for our own sin. The problem is, we can NEVER pay what’s owed, that’s why hell is never ending.

So, once I receive God’s Spirit, upon my decision to repent, confess my need of Jesus, and believe in Him by placing my full trust in His completed work on the Cross, does that mean I’ll never sin again? No, but what it does mean is that you have a choice. Sinners sin, that’s the nature of the beast; however, once we’re born again of the Spirit of God we don’t have to sin.

John wrote in 1 John 2:1: “My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin.” That’s God’s will and desire, that we put sin behind us and live in the light, love, and power of His indwelling Spirit. The longer we serve the Lord, ideally, we will choose more often not to yield to our sinful nature but allow the Holy Spirit to strengthen and deliver us, enabling us to sin less and less.

John Piper wrote: “Many people weep at the consequences of sin who still love the sin.” We’re going to obey the desires of our heart, so, if my sin is more satisfying than obedience to my Savior, I won’t see sin as a problem, unless and until I begin to suffer the consequences of my sin.

What we often want is to have the proverbial “cake” and eat it too. We want Jesus to not only forgive our sin but deliver us from sin’s consequences. We want to drink and drug, have indiscriminate sex, rob, steal, kill, live like the devil, but pretend we’re a saint, and never suffer any ill effects from our blatant disobedience. But that’s not how God works.

Yes, of course, He loves us no matter what we do, to Him or anyone else, no matter how destructive our behavior becomes, to ourselves or others. Love is what nailed Him to the Cross. Love opened a way for us to be saved and delivered from the penalty of our sin, but love alone will never deliver us from the consequences of our sin.

The only suitable response to our sin and their consequences is submission to the Lord’s authority, seeking not only His forgiveness, but deliverance that can only happen by the powerful presence of His Holy Spirit working in and through us as He wills.

Let’s look at this more closely tomorrow.

Blessings, Ed 😊

The Path of Blessing

“And if you do not carry your own cross and follow Me, you cannot be My disciple. But don’t begin until you count the cost.” (Luke 14:27-28a NLT)

The path of blessing at times may seem elusive, yet over and over in Scripture it is clearly outlined. For example, in His sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:3-11, Jesus outlines what is commonly referred to as the Beatitudes. At the beginning of each verse are the words: “God blesses…”

Pay special attention to the categories that lead to blessing: the poor, those who mourn, those who are humble, those who hunger and thirst for justice, the merciful, those whose hearts are pure, those who work for peace, those who are persecuted for doing right, and those who are mocked and persecuted for being a Jesus follower.

These aren’t typically the paths most people choose for themselves, but Jesus says in the verse above from Luke, that if we don’t choose to carry our own cross and follow Him, we can’t be His disciple. But He adds: “don’t begin until you count the cost.” “But,” you may ask, “how are ‘carrying your own cross’ and ‘blessing’ connected?”

Perhaps a reasonable question would be: “To whom is Jesus speaking in these passages?” The Beatitudes are directed to His disciples (see Matthew 5:1), but the passage in Luke is directed to those who are following Jesus but haven’t decided to commit to discipleship. So, that begs the question: “Where are you? Disciple? Or are you still kicking the proverbial tires of commitment?”

The Beatitudes essentially reveal Jesus’ heart, because everyone of them describe a characteristic of who He is. So, to become His disciple, or in other words, to pick up and carry our own cross, is to exhibit these characteristics in and through our own life. On some levels, these beatitudes are revealed in us the closer we walk with the Lord.

Yet, for those who aren’t yet following the Lord, they need to commit to Him their whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. How so? By an act of their will. Carrying a cross implies picking it up and carrying it. So? So, that is an act of our will. Jesus doesn’t pick it up and set it on our shoulder. We choose to believe that He is the Christ, the Messiah of God, God in human flesh. And because of that choice, we pick up our cross, which essentially means, to place God’s will and preferences above our own.

Jesus bore the cross upon which He died by an act of His will. He wrestled with that mission in the garden of Gethsemane, but ultimately chose to obey God. That’s basically the decision we make every morning, every second of the day. We choose God’s way – the way of spiritual poverty; to mourn the lostness of those around us who don’t yet know Jesus; to humbly choose submission to His authority over our lives in place of our own; to hunger and thirst for more of Him; to be merciful; to allow Him to cleanse and purify our heart; to work for His peace, not only in our lives, but in the lives of those who are lost; and to choose persecution and mocking for His name’s sake rather than walk in the ways of the world.

There’s a sense in which if we counted the cost of following Jesus and measured it against our own strength and willpower, we’d never muster the courage to take the first step. However, Jesus isn’t calling us to be the proverbial “lone Ranger,” making our way in our own power. That’s why it’s so critical that we respond to His invitation to be yoked with Him (see Matthew 11:29-30).

Being a disciple of Christ is a partnership that leads to unimaginable blessing, not only in heaven when this life is over, but every second of every day as we listen to His voice and rejoice in His loving friendship. The path of blessing is the path on which He leads us as His children every day.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Our Long-Awaited Messiah

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulders: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6 KJV)

As 2022 draws to a close, regardless of what kind of year you’re having, let it be an encouragement to you that the above words were written more than 700 years before the birth of Jesus. It boggles my mind that God spoke with such precision to the Prophet of old yet is willing to speak with us today with just as much clarity and certainty.

Can you imagine being a Jew living when Jesus was born? Few, if any of even the most devout Jews expected the Messiah to come as an infant. They were looking for a great warrior or statesman who would lead a revolution that would free them from their enemies. Most Jewish people are still looking for their Messiah to come. What a shame.

Aren’t you glad you’ve been given insight into God’s Word that has led you to an understanding that Jesus was and is the long-awaited Messiah who came to rescue us from our sin? If this sacred season is anything it’s a season of HOPE! Think of the descriptive words Isaiah used to describe the child who would be born: “Wonderful!” “Counsellor!” “The mighty God!” “The everlasting Father!” “The Prince of Peace!”

Everything we could ever need, in this life and the next, was and is embodied in the Lord Jesus, the Christ! Having walked with the Lord for nearly 60 years, I’m so grateful that He’s more real to me today than ever before. His love is warmer, His voice clearer, His presence closer than they’ve ever been.

My prayer for you this Christmas is, if you’re not where you know you should be with the Lord, that you’ll turn from your worthless trinkets and invest your life in the Treasure, who is Christ, the Lord! Literally nothing this world offers can compare with intimacy with Jesus, walking faithfully and obediently in the light of His love and grace.

Paul wrote in Romans 3:24-25: “Out of sheer generosity He put us in right standing with Himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where He always wanted us to be. And He did it by means of Jesus Christ. God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin.”

C. S. Lewis wrote in his book The Problem of Pain: “The human spirit will not even begin to try to surrender self-will as long as all seems to be well with it. Now error and sin both have this property, that the deeper they are the less their victim suspects their existence; they are masked evil. Pain is unmasked, unmistakable evil; every man knows that something is wrong when he is being hurt.” I can’t presume to know all that Lewis crammed into these few words, but I know this.

One of the most common errors we make in this life is believing God allows us to be sick or in pain because He’s upset with us or punishing us. Quite to the contrary, sickness and pain are allowed to draw us to Himself, because we’re too often deaf to Him until we’re hurting. They’re designed to draw us to Him, not push us away.

God experienced the excruciating pain of the death of His only Son to open the door of opportunity for us to be saved from sin and given new life in Jesus our risen Savior. As the new year dawns, let it be a new beginning of devotion to and life lived in honor of the only One whose opinion of us matters. Trust Him! Love Him! Find hope in Him for the life you’ve only dreamed of having. Everything you’ve ever hoped you’d be can only be found in a personal, love relationship with the King of kings and Lord of lords made possible by the sacrifice of His sinless life in your place, and mine.

Blessings, Ed 😊