This is a Crowder cover song that my son Aaron has recorded. I felt impressed to share this today with those of you who follow my blog.
Our Hope is in Jesus! He is our confident expectation of all the good that is to come through Him! May we worship Him today and always as our glorious hope!
Have a wonderful day in Jesus our Lord!
Today’s reading is Luke 14.
The setting in today’s chapter is a meal at the house of a prominent Pharisee, a religious leader of Jesus time. Jesus sat and watched as the guest came in looking for seating in prominent places. They wanted recognition and positions of power with the affluent in the room. It is at this point Jesus tells a parable about a “Great Feast, “ a feast much like the kingdom of God.
A man sent out invitations to a great feast he was giving, but everyone he asked had excuses for why they could not come. So the man told his servant to go and invite the “rejects”, “the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.” (Verse 21) He also instructs the servant to go “to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in…” (verse 23) The man throwing the feast wanted his house to be full.
Our loving Heavenly Father is like this man. The invitation to His Heavenly banquet was sent years ago, on a dark night, in a Bethlehem Stable. Jesus came inviting the ones rejected- the poor in spirit; those crippled by fear and pain; those blinded by sin; those lame, unable to stand in His presence. He calls to the “roads and country lanes” ,the out of the way, lonely places, “Come!” He longs for His house to be full!
For this I am so grateful. I am all of the people Jesus invited- I am the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. I am the one who could not come to the banquet had it not been for Jesus inviting sinners to come!
The first Christmas shows us a glimpse of the God who would go to great lengths to see His house full of guests delighted and fulfilled at His banquet. Our God came to be His invitation, with us- Emmanuel. He prepared the way for us to the banquet by His sacrificially dying on the cross, and victoriously rising from the grave. May we hear the invitation declared to us so many years ago at His birth, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests.” Luke 2:14.
His favor is upon us! His invitation has been sent! May we drop any excuse for not attending His feast and RSVP with Him replying “Yes! I come!”
Today’s reading is Luke 11.
Jesus loved to pray. It was his regular practice to go to a secluded place and spend time with His Heavenly Father. The ones closest to Jesus had seen Him take time to do this often.
Could you imagine being there when Jesus spoke to His Heavenly Father? Hearing Him talk to God, not in a formal religious formula, but in a close and intimate conversation? Watching Jesus and His time of communion with God the Father was enough to spark curiosity within one of the disciples, probably more than just curiosity, a hunger. “Lord, teach us to pray…” (verse 1). Jesus then gave His disciples the model prayer, what we often call, “The Lord’s Prayer” or some call, “The Our Father.” This prayer was meant to be an outline of prayer for His disciples to follow: worship, prayer for needs, repentance and forgiveness, prayers for guidance, etc.
Today what is highlighted to me in our reading is the section of verses following it. Jesus told another parable- a short story with a spiritual point or application. This story tells of the interaction of a man in need and his friend who was reluctant to help. This “friend” did not want to be bothered with the needs of his friend who came to him at midnight needing three loaves of bread to feed his surprise visitor. But the friend with the need persists. He keeps knocking and asking until the man in bed gets up and gives the man in need the bread he needed. Jesus goes on to talk about a son asking his dad for a fish to eat. Would the dad give him a snake to eat? Or instead of an egg, a scorpion? (Verses 11-12). Then Jesus says something profound, ““If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”” (Verse 13)
How often the disciples had watched the religious leaders of their time approach God with rigidness! God was spoken to with formula prayers and He was viewed as unapproachable, perhaps even, aggravated, as the man in the parable was , that the people had come. But Jesus told His disciples, His Father was not that way! He longed to give “good gifts.” And the most precious gift of all the gift of the Holy Spirit living within them! All that was required of them was to come and to ask!
Our God is the same today, yesterday, and forever! He isn’t a God hidden from us, only accessible through formula prayers and religious rituals. He isn’t irritated when we come to Him with our needs. He so desires us to come! He desires to give us the gift of the Holy Spirit living within us. He eagerly waits for us to do just what Jesus modeled in this chapter, spend time with Him in prayer. He longs for us to come to Him and to ask!
God displayed the lengths He would go to be a part of our lives so we would “come.”The Christmas story displays this all so well. God broke the silence when He sent an Angel to Mary to tell her she would conceive and give birth, by the Holy Spirit, God’s Son, God with us!
Once again God longs to break the silence in our lives! He longs to give us another gift just as He did at the first Christmas, the Holy Spirit- God living within us! May we come to Him and ask!
Today’s reading is Luke 9.
The accounts written about in today chapter seem to be the height of the wonders Jesus did while walking with His disciples. He continued to do miracle after miracle and speak truth that was irresistible to listen to. He then invited His disciples to participate with Him in proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of God. Still there was something coming He wanted to prepare His closest friends, the disciples for, His death.
Jesus knew He would suffer. He knew He would be separated from them. He knew how hard it would be. But verse 51 says He “resolutely set out for Jerusalem.” He headed to the place He would die with a fixed purpose. But this was not the first time Jesus “resolutely set out” for the place He would suffer. Jesus left the splendors of Heaven, with a fixed purpose. He willingly submitted Himself fully as God to become fully man. With resolve, He came to us! He knew before He ever entered our world on that Christmas night that He would live, laugh, and love with us. He knew He would experience pain, sadness, and sorrows. Yet He came. He never wavered in His fixed purpose! He had come to love, to provide the way, for our own good, to be with Him.
The things to come in the chapters of Luke we have not yet read this month of December, Jesus knew would come about. The betrayal, the trial, the beatings, the execution, the death… Jesus knew it would come. For the King of born in Bethlehem at Christmas was born to die. This death had a fixed purpose as well. Without His sacrifice, there would be no cure for the sin of our stony, hard, and darkened hearts.
As we celebrate His birth, let us not forget His death! He had come to give His life so we could be united with Him again, free from our sins!
I went to college at Mizzou. That seems like the appropriate thing to do for a Missouri Girl. Back in the 80’s MU was known as a party campus to the kids in my high school. As a young lover of Jesus, my motivation to go there was definitely not to party, I wanted to be a light and witness to my generation.
One thing I loved about the campus at Mizzou was the A.P. Green Chapel, next to Memorial Union. It was like a small candle flickering light on a campus with so much darkness in it. I would go there frequently to pray and read my Bible. It was in that chapel during one of my times of prayer that I wrote this poem.
Chapel Prayer
Let me see the world as You see it.
With the compassion of the Cross
That's a heart of Love that breaks
For the dying of the lost.
Let me cry as You cried and
Break me as You were broke
Make my heart like Your heart
And let me wear Your yoke.
Let me be as You are Full of love and kind,
Gentle and compassionate,
Sweet as the New Wine.
Let me see the world as You see it,
Through the eyes of the cross.
Willing to give my all for You
So others won't be lost.
(originally written January 21,1990)
This morning as I started my time in prayer memories of that chapel and a young, wholly devoted heart that I had started to flow through my mind. I know that at that time if God would have told me to pack up my bags and head to the corners of the earth, I would have. I wanted to do whatever He wanted no matter what the cost. Over 30 years have went by since I sat in that chapel writing those words. I’ve had my times of living a life for God that I felt like I was red hot on fire and then lukewarm since then. I have often wondered If I heard God say, ” Pack up everything and go,” would I be willing to obey like my younger heart would have? Then I thought of the poem above that my younger heart wrote during a time of prayer.
Things haven’t really changed much since that day. The world I live in is still dark and full of death and destruction. Just this week two shootings have occurred in my country for no real reason except evil in the hearts of mankind. However, I know the remedy, Jesus. It seems like all that I can do is like a tiny band aid on a gaping wound.
In Isaiah 6 the prophet Isaiah saw a vision of the Lord. His way of going about life was wrecked by what He saw. He saw a God who was so holy, glorious, and awesome in power, that all he could think of is how sinfully human he was. But he also heard the voice of God asking, “Who will go for Us?” Sitting there realizing how unqualified he was he replied, “Here am I. Send me!” Sitting in the presence of Jesus has that effect on a person. Seeing what Isaiah saw, a God who is so much bigger than us and yet so loving and so kind, I also can hear His voice calling to me. “Who will go for Us?” Although I have no idea what that will mean for me, may my heart say as Isaiah’s did, “Here am I. Send me!”
As it usually does during my times of contemplation, I come across a song that stirs within me. The lyrics of this song are so powerful. May it be my prayer. May it be the prayer of all of us.
God has given us so much to be thankful for this season. Let us purpose in our hearts to not only give thanks, but give ourselves to Him fully! Taking the remedy to our brokenness to the world around us! Come Lord Jesus!
“If it’s bandaging the broken
Or washing filthy feet
Here I am, Lord, send me
If it’s loving one another
Even when we don’t agree
Here I am, Lord, send me
If I’m poor or if I’m wealthy I’ll serve You just the same
Here I am, Lord, send me
On the mountain or the valley
I will choose to praise
Here I am, Lord, send me
If I’m known by how I love
Let my life reflect how much I love You I love You
And before You even ask
Oh, my answer will be yes ‘
cause I love You I love You
If the truth cuts like an arrow
I will say it anyway
‘Cause here I am, Lord, send me
And if it’s means that they’ll reject me Lord, I will still obey
‘Cause here I am, Lord, send me
And if I’m known by how I love
Let my life reflect how much I love You I love You
And before You even ask Oh, my answer will be yes
’cause I love You Oh, I love You
When I’m standing in Your glory
I’ll be glad I chose to say
“Here I am, Lord, send me”
“Well done, good and faithful” I live to hear You say
Here I am, Lord, send me”
“Send Me” – Bethel Music
I have been writing weekly devotions for a local ministry, Women on Wednesdays.
Here is the latest written about how a heart that is wholly devoted to God loves:
Click on Link Below
Your Love 