Magnified in death and life
Christianity · Devotional · encouragement · free · Jesus · lent

Magnified in death and life

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Lent devotional 22

Even dying on the cross Jesus was more than enough.

Many see Jesus’ moment on the cross as a moment He was weak in. It was the end and He was dying. The ministry, the battle, it all stopped with the first fall of the hammer. The first fall of the hammer, the first snap of the cat of ninetails, the first I Am He, was when it all began.
Do you remember in Ben Hur when Judah and his girlfriend bring his mom and sister to see Jesus, to see the one man who could heal them and fix it all, but when they got to Him He was already hanging on the cross? His eyes met theirs and the girlfriend quickly brought them away because people were angry that lepors were there. Remeber what she said? She appologized for making them walk from the lepor colony to Golgatha only to see Him die, that that wasn’t what she had intended for them to see, that she had made a mistake. And Judah’s mother replied, “oh my darling, you did not fail.”
Why? Because even beaten and dying on the cross Jesus was still enough to heal them. He healed their heart and returned hope to them. Hope of life better than this one. In Paradise.
Jesus was never stronger than when He was on the cross, that was His bravest moment, because it was His moment of weakness and pain, yet He endured for us. He could have called down the leagons of Heaven and saved Himself, but He suffered agony and died for us. I seek Him because He is wonderous, I praise Him because He is glorious, but I love Him because He is good and cares for me.
What weak moment of pain are you in right now? Maybe it’s your most powerful moment of courage too, because you have chosen to endure. Jesus was just as powerful bleeding on the cross as He was rising from the grave.

Day of tears and man of sorrows
Christianity · Devotional · encouragement · free · guidance · Jesus · lent

Day of tears and man of sorrows

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Lent devotional 21

Day of tears

‘Today is my day to sorrow’, thought the tiny flower growing beside a rock. ‘Last night a great trouble came over me as a man, or something more than a man, sat by my side and wept. His tears were so great that when they splashed upon me I felt sick and my roots were weakened. I tried to reach out to the man, but I am just a flower and cannot draw attention to myself like a bird can with her song. He cried and screamed and begged and pleaded, but no peace came to this man. I hoped that He would look at me and I could make Him smile. He left and then returned, even sadder when He came back. All I could do was sit with Him. Then I sensed a resolve in His being and He went to stand once more. He stumbled and His hands landed near me. I tried to be radiant to bring Him comfort, finally He saw me, He smiled very gently, then He rose to His feet. “Thank you my radiant flower.” He said, then He left.
I feel that something great and tragic happened that night. Today I feel as though a friend is calling out for mercy. Today I feel sad. But being a flower, I know that tomorrow will bring new joy and hope.’

Jesus is devine
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Jesus is devine

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Lent devotional 20



Jesus is devine

I can feel you all around me, thickening the air I’m breathing, holding on to what I’m feeling – savoring This heart that’s healed.-Flyleaf

The only way He can heal our Brokenness is if He is God. If He had been just a man and had died for the lives of his friends it still would have been amazing; but He died as God, for people who loved him, and for people who hated him. The only reason we are saved is because Jesus is divine. This reminds me of something Sherry Yuki said about the king who was her friend, whom she served in as a herbalist in his castle, ‘I shouldn’t even be permitted around a man of his station, the only reason I am permitted to go anywhere near him is because his authority puts him above reproach.’
The only reason we can go anywhere near God is because he chooses to permit us to be with Him, and because His authority makes it so no one can question Him. But because He lets us come to Him as God and He came to us as man we forget that He is divine, that He is God. When it came to the deity of Jesus no one ever said, ‘look! Jesus is God! Get that through your heads!’ Instead the disciples just naturally spoke of Jesus as God. In Revelation chapter 5, you hear about the Lion of Judah, then you look and see this Lamb who had been slaughtered, this signifies that Jesus- who is coming back- was just as powerful when He was dying on the cross as He is as a returning King. Jesus has the position of the first born, but God did not create Him. All things were created by Him and for Him. Jesus is one with God. Some say Jesus was simply an angel or a prophet but the Bible tells us that angels report to Jesus, nations are dust and will fade away, only Jesus matters. The Living Creatures sing ‘Holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ then the elders fall down before Jesus. The exact same worship that they gave God in chapter 4 of Revelation, they give Jesus in chapter 5. Jesus is consistently reminding us that He is God, because if He isn’t God then we are not forgiven. Oh yes, we would be forgiven by Him as a man, but unless He is God also that forgiveness can’t save us. But He IS God, so we are saved. Jesus Is God, don’t believe anyone who tells you different, and don’t forget that He loves us and welcomes us, but He is still the devine creator, the Author of life, the Alpha and Omega, the Key, the Door, the Blood, the Lion, the Lamb, the Shepherd and the returning King. He is God! Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something.


Just give in
Devotional · encouragement · free · guidance · lent

Just give in

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Lent devotional 19

No one is coming to save you. Just give in.

The devil has a consistant lie that he tells people, ‘you are alone and no one, no one at all, is coming for you.’
You see he wants to destroy us. That’s his whole purpose, and it’s easier to get people to give in if they believe that they are alone. People stop fighting, Christians give up, sometimes holding on to your own faith takes all the strength you have.
Being hated, rediculed, rejected, thrown away, criticized, beaten, just because you are a Christian makes you wonder if it’s worth it. The pain grows with every comment in your youtube chat feed, everytime your Christian post is blocked as pornographic material on a gaming site’s wall, everytime people stop being polite to you in the grocery store because of your ‘God is Love’ T-shirt, and then the devil whispers, ‘you’re alone. There is no God here. No one is coming to save you. Just give in. Cooperate. Become one of us and this will all go away.’
He’s good at what he does.
But Jesus is worth fighting for. Even if your only proof is the pounding in your heart that says ‘I have hope.’
Don’t forget, someone is coming for you. Someone is dropping in with an army to rescue you away from your tormentors. Jesus is coming to save you. If Jesus isn’t real then there is no point to anything, but He is real, we know He is, we’ve met Him, we’ve called on His name and seen Him answer. In the end Jesus takes us home. The devil wants to barrage our minds with hate and despair until it infects our souls, but we know the truth, and the truth is that Jesus saves.
Sometimes you need to step back and take a break, let your mind rest from the constant banging from the infected on the doors of youe safe house. You are cured and that causes them to hate, because they see the death inside them more clearly when they see how someone who is alive acts. You can share the cure with them, but they don’t always want it, sometimes all they want is for you to be infected too.
When you need to rest and can’t take anymore then just close your eyes and speak Jesus. I once read a wall hanging that said something along the lines of, ‘ask God for patience with the small sorrows, and for courage with the big ones, then close your eyes and go to sleep because God is awake.’ I forget who wrote this but it is so good. When you need a break just give it to God and take a break.

but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Isaiah 40:31 NIV
https://isaiah.bible/isaiah-40-31

Devotional
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How can we accept others where they are at, when we can’t accept ourselves where we are at? God meets us at whatever point we are at in life, we have to stop feeling like Jesus is waiting for us to come to Him after finishing the race; He is right here, arm around our waist, helping us limp to the end. Stop being hard on yourself, you’re making it, just keep going.

Speak Jesus
Devotional · dreams do come true · encouragement · free · guidance · Jesus · lent · Love · Prayer · searching · The Bible · True Joy

Speak Jesus

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Lent devotional 18

I will speak Jesus and the devil will flee because he knows that name and what it means for him.
Darkness is inevitable, there will always be darkness in this world because it is dying. People cling desperately to things that don’t matter, trying to make it feel like they aren’t about to be consumed. But there is a name the darkness knows and flees from. Speak Jesus. The devil will lie to you. He will try to make you feel lost, left behind, confused, worthless. Speak Jesus. He will show you that you are found, accepted, loved, wanted, valued. Jesus is coming back to take us home. The darkness of this world will not haunt us in the presence of Jesus. Where Jesus is there is no fear. He is light. Brilliant light. When this world dies we won’t be with it. Imagine seeing Jesus coming and picking us up in his arms and laughing and smiling, holding us close and saying, ‘come on precious, let’s go home.’
Jesus drives away darkness, present darkness and eternal darkness.

Fear no darkness
Devotional · encouragement · free · guidance · Jesus · lent · Love

Fear no darkness

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Lent devotional 17

There will always be people who want to stomp on your light and squash it out. But remember that -like a glow stick- when stepped on, part of your light will stick to them as they walk away. Even when they hurt you, because your light scares their darkness, God can use that moment to stick a bit of Himself to them so that eventually they find Him and their darkness fades with His glory. Don’t be afraid of the negative moments that you have with people, because if you show yourself a true believer and respond by turning the other cheek it will scare the negative people off, because they don’t know how to deal with that. And you never know what God has done through you in that moment.

Oranges
Devotional · Jesus · lent · Love · True Joy

Oranges

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Lent devotional 16

Never forget the imortance of oranges. They are sweet and full of vitamins. You can use every part except the stem in food, they are a bright pop of color annnnnnd, they didn’t need to exist. The world and every animal or insect that eats oranges would have been fine eating a different fruit, in fact, the world only requires 1 fruit that has the same nutrients as oranges or grapefruit or any of the other fruit in that catagory. That’s why they are so important, because the world doesn’t need them, God simply chose to make them. It pleased Him to create them because He knew we would enjoy eating them. God cares about the little things that make us smile. He takes of the big stuff too, but He also likes to give good gifts to His children, sweet things that are unnecessary, like oranges.

St.Patrick, the true story
Devotional · Jesus · lent

St.Patrick, the true story

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Lent devotional 15

Patrick

In the midst of human sacrifices and superstitious fear the voice of a mother holding a sick child cried out, “with all the gods we serve is there no god of mercy?”
In the same area, out in the fields with his flock, cried another voice, “as a slave in the land of my captivity I have found freedom in you God.” That was the beginning of Patrick’s mission to Ireland, he wasn’t even Irish, but he was a Christian. As a boy his father’s religous pious irritated him, but as a captive in a new land, brought as a slave by Marauders, he found that his mind traveled back to God. Alone with his sheep Patrick prayed about everything, and found God near and ready to answer. After God caused Patrick’s sheep to be the only healthy livestock after a year of drought, the man was then brought before the clan chief. Patrick gave all the credit to the one true God who saw him in his weakness and helped him. This caused the chief’s wife to ask Patrick to pray for her son. After God healed the bed ridden child the clan’s priest devised to have Patrick killed, but our loving Father made a way for his servant to Escape and find his way by boat back home. Then after troubling dreams Patrick returned to Ireland twenty years later to find the human sacrifies to have gotten considerably worse, as had the famine and disease. The priest of the clan ,after seeing Patrick had returned, demanded the man walk the ‘trial of fire’ to prove his God true. Patrick agreed to walk fire laced walkway to the pyre for sacrifies but said that the priest of the pegan gods had to walk with him. Without looking back to see if the pegan priest followed, Patrick strode to the fire and prayed to God in his heart, we don’t know what he prayed but I suspect it went something along the lines of ‘but even if you don’t God, my trust is in you.’ Patrick had ash and flame fall all around him, but like the three Hebrew boys in Nebuchadnezzar’s day, no flame touched him; the clothes of the other man, however, lit on fire and he ran away.
After that Patrick and the son of the chief went through Ireland spreading the gospel and telling people, ‘yes, there is a God of hope and mercy, His name is Jesus.’
The true story of Patrick makes you realize why he was so important to so many people, because he was just one more reminder of what happens when God is in control.

Disclaimer
This story rendition is taken from the story done on St. Patrick by the Christian History Institute. If anything doesn’t seem possible or accurate to you in this story please take it up with them. For me, I started to realize that God makes the impossible possible a long time ago, as for accurate, I have to believe that the people who have degrees in historical study know what they are talking about.

Sit on your spot and don’t move, ‘kay God?
Blog · Christianity · Devotional · encouragement · free · guidance · Jesus · lent

Sit on your spot and don’t move, ‘kay God?

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Lent devotional 14

I don’t want Jesus to simply have a place in my life, I want Him to have my whole life.

There are times when I feel like I am telling God to wait His turn. I’m busy right now God, give me a second to finish this please. Will He wait? Yes. Should He have to? No. It’s like I’ve put God into a spot in my life and He gets His time but has to stay put. Remember when we were kids and we sat in Children’s Church or Kindergarten and we had a mat to sit on? That was our spot and the floor was lava so we had to stay on our spot as the teacher read. There are days when I feel like I have given God a listening mat to sit on and that’s where I tell Him to stay. But as Stormie Omartan said once, I had let God into a room in my heart and had locked the door. That was where He supposed to be. But He kept knocking on the door to the next room until I opened it. Then the next one. And the next. Until I threw open all the doors d simply said ‘here God, I am yours’. That’s us. God doesn’t want a mat or a room, He wants all of us. He desreves all of us. What area of your life have you locked God out of? Pray, and ask Him to give you the courage to open the door and let Him in to every area of your life.