I am a Christian, a retired teacher, a mother and a grandmother. I love to read and I love the Lord Jesus Christ! Unless otherwise specified ,all visual illustrations are from the YOU VERSION APP of the Bible.
From the Holy Bible
Watch Luke 22:19-20 by Spoken Gospel:
This is my devotional today on Maundy Thursday on the YouVersion Bible App. The New Covenant was established with the blood of Jesus, His sacrifice on the cross. May today be a remembrance day of His great love for each of us.
I haven’t moved any physical mountains lately, but I have seen mountains in my life fall. They are the mountains that keep me wondering what life is all about and why all the pain and suffering and all of the medical tests with no answers. They are the mountains that help me to know that God is alive and working in my life because He is actively involved in all the circumstances. He didn’t put the mountains in my life, but He will help me move them. Faith moves mountains…Jesus said it and I believe it!
I generally avoid crowded places because, as an introvert, I am uncomfortable around a lot of people whom I don’t know well. But I am looking forward to being in the crowd that surrounds Jesus in Heaven. He is not a stranger to me since I have come to know about Him in His Word. I am truly looking forward to the day when I will see Him face to face and be able to give Him the praise and honor due His Name.
People in today’s world seem to be hung up on diversity and accepting others from all over the world. God already does that because everyone is welcome to come to Heaven. You just have to get the passport that allows you to enter. What passport? The one that says your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. How do you get that to happen? You accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, be baptized and live for Him. May I suggest that if you are seeking salvation that you read the Book of John? It is like a biography of Jesus and the reason He came to earth to be our Savior, how He suffered and died so that we can live forever with Him. He provides the stamp on our passport that says we can be a citizen of Heaven for eternity.
God provides the way to be saved, but it is up to us to accept the free gift that He offers. If you want to be part of the crowd in Heaven, you have to open the gift.
Finally, once you have chosen to follow the path of Christ, to declare that He is your Lord and Savior, you have to follow Him daily. What that looks like for you is different than what it looks like for me. We each have our own cross to bear as we follow Jesus. For some, it may mean rejection from other family members. For others, it may mean a life of sacrifice on the mission field. For still others, it may mean giving up your old lifestyle to accept a new life in Christ. Whatever it means, it will be worth it when we see Jesus!
God lifts me up daily to face whatever pressures or challenges try to thwart me in my journey towards Him. He puts me on solid ground, but even more, He reaches out His own hand and steadies me there. I have to continue to walk along, to travel on life’s road. But there is no fear or falling back into the mud of sin and shame because God is holding on to me, keeping me beside Him. This is a beautiful word picture of God’s strength, my weakness, His ability to save and keep and my dependence on Him.
Remember that God is the absolute source of all hope! I needed this today and hope that it ministers to someone else out there.
Answered prayer: my brother got a job after being unemployed for six months.
Prayer request: our daughter has a melanoma on the back of her right shoulder and is having surgery on Thursday.
Praise report: All of my heart tests came back normal with no irregularities.
Prayer request: I have to meet with a vascular specialist because my veins in my legs are leaking and causing some issues. Also, I have an MRI on my brain Tuesday. The doctors are still looking for the reason why I get light-headed and faint.
That’s it for today. Anything I can pray for you for? I will be glad to agree with you and lift you before His throne.
When Samuel was choosing a new king for Israel, the tall and handsome young men seemed to be the obvious choices. But God was adamant that He was looking for someone whose heart was right with Him, not someone who looked good on the outside. God still seeks those whose heart is steadfastly turned to the Lord. All the beauty products and latest fashions cannot change who we are on the inside. God already knows our hearts and wants them surrendered to Him. The outside is a façade, a deceiving look at who we really are. The heart represents who we really are, the secrets we hide from others but can never hide from God.
Since I was a small child, I have feared the darkness. I always had a night light as I grew up, although my mother wouldn’t allow one plugged into my bedroom socket. Instead, there was a street light just outside my window that shone brightly all night long. When I went to college, I left the bathroom light on when I didn’t have a night light. When I moved into my first apartment, I had a night light in the kitchen and in the bedroom. These days, I have one in the living room and in the bathroom. I just hate it when the electricity fails and I am in total darkness until Dominion Power restores it. I don’t fear the darkness so much these days because I know that God made it just as He created the light. But I much prefer the light and being able to see things instead of stumbling around in the darkness. After all, God called the light “good.”
I feel very bad for those who live in darkness day in and day out. They don’t know about the light that can shine into their world and lead them on the path of eternal life. How difficult it must be for them when they are facing death, eternal darkness! We don’t have to walk in darkness, but some people choose to do so because they prefer not to be seen. They don’t want people to know them as they really are. I’m not sure that they realize that God sees them wherever they are and whatever they are doing. Our sins are always known to the Father who made us and yet He provided a way to save us from the darkness of our sins even before we are aware of His great love for us and His gift of salvation.
The darkness that is in the earth today is because sin is rampant and it doesn’t seem that it’s going to get better. People seem to prefer the darkness of sin and living for the evil one rather than choosing light and living for God. As I stated at the beginning, I don’t like the dark. I am not afraid of what it can do to me these days. Rather, I fear what it is doing in the hearts of mankind, with their permission. They allow darkness in and push the light away, much to the detriment of their souls. I like light. God made it and said that it was good. God separated the darkness and the light for a reason, and He wants us to choose to live in the light. However, mankind wants to confuse the two so that their sin is justified in their own minds. Again, I am afraid of the dark…not for what it will do to me because I am a child of the light, but for what it is doing to sinful man who continues to make the wrong choices and is even leading small children in their sinful ways. God will have the last word just as He had the first ones. He will speak and judgment will fall…darkness on those who chose darkness, for all eternity. I pray that many will repent before that Day of the Lord comes!
No matter what circumstances you find yourself in today, I hope that you set them aside for just a little while so that you can worship the Only One who deserves praise, honor and glory.
“How Great Thour Art”-Alan Jackson
There are all kinds of things that can grab our attention as we make our way through the obstacles of life. However, if we keep our attention on the path that God has laid out for us, we will be fine. We have to realize that God is leading us in the way that is best for us, even when it seems crooked or perilous at the time. God knows best, and we just have to keep our eyes on Him.
As we travel down this pathway called life, it is good that we pray for God to open our eyes to see the truth of His Word. The more we know about the Father through studying His Word, the closer we stick to the right path.
I think that it is important to note that Hebrews 12 follows the great leaders of the faith of chapter 11. The word “therefore” connects the two. Our great cloud of witnesses who are cheering us on include the heroes of the faith like Abraham, Enoch, Moses, David, Samuel, etc. We are running a race but it isn’t a sprint. It is a race of endurance that requires that we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus who went before us and is waiting for us at the right hand of God.
How can anyone look at all of the marvels of God’s creation and not believe in a Creator? The answer lies in their hearts. They have been deceived by science and man’s own desire to explain away God so that they can be God. Every day I marvel at something new that I see in God’s creation that I never noticed before, and I am thankful that He led me down the path of belief in Him and in His great power. There are so many mysteries in life, but the creation of the world is not one of them. “And God said…and it was good.”
Vickie's Book Nook and Meditation Corner 