Daily Dose of God’s Glorious Love: April 2019

Friday, April 19, 2019

April 21, 2019 Easter

“Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.” (Luke 24:1 NKJV)

Easter and Christmas day are the two days it is easiest to experience God. On these days we see God directly acting for us in a very personal way. Both days allow us to experience the humanity and divinity of Jesus in a moment in time. Easter is so important the early Church move the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday!

Yet it is very easy for us to miss this revelation of God by merely looking at what it means for us. We can be so caught up in the Babe and our resurrection to miss God’s desire and love for us.

The women experienced the wonder of the resurrected Jesus just as the shepherds experienced the wonder God coming not only wrapped in cloth but in human flesh!!! The shepherds came to the manger and the women came to the tomb. The Benedictines of Mary have a song which says Jesus went from the virgin womb to the virgin tomb!

The women came bringing spices which reminds us of the Wise Men so long ago bringing incense of worship and burial spices as a gift to Jesus. The spices also can remind us of the spices used in the temple as an offering to God. And in the book of Revelation we are told the prayers of God’s people are an incense to God.

But the women did not just bring the spices they prepared them. Coming to know God and to be in God’s presence is not something natural to us but takes preparation. Coming to worship services is not just appearing at that time but requires a time of preparation by spending time with God and through prayer and confession renewing our relationship with God in preparation of our worship.

When we come to the tomb with the spices of our prayers and being prepared by confession we are filled with the wonder of the resurrection and the wondrous love of God! It is easy to be stuck on Good Friday celebrating God’s love and forgiveness and miss the wondrous news that we are alive not only through God but in God!

Our preparation for worship allows us to come before the tomb and not just see its emptiness but the fullness of God’s love to not just save us but to make away for us to be with God! We can see this in the Gospels passages showing Jesus talking directly to the women and the apostles. By this Easter becomes everyday and not just once a day!

So Happy Easter and may you honor God by the fullness of worship.

April 19, 2019 Good Friday

“1 ¶ « To the Chief Musician. Set to “The Deer of the Dawn.” A Psalm of David. » My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning? 2 O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; And in the night season, and am not silent. 3 But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel. 4 Our fathers trusted in You; They trusted, and You delivered them. 5 They cried to You, and were delivered; They trusted in You, and were not ashamed. 6 But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people. 7 All those who see Me ridicule Me; They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, 8 “He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!” 9 But You are He who took Me out of the womb; You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts. 10 I was cast upon You from birth. From My mother’s womb You have been My God. 11 ¶ Be not far from Me, For trouble is near; For there is none to help. 12 Many bulls have surrounded Me; Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me. 13 They gape at Me with their mouths, Like a raging and roaring lion. 14 I am poured out like water, And all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It has melted within Me. 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death. 16 For dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; 17 I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. 18 They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots. 19 But You, O LORD, do not be far from Me; O My Strength, hasten to help Me! 20 Deliver Me from the sword, My precious life from the power of the dog. 21 Save Me from the lion’s mouth And from the horns of the wild oxen! You have answered Me. 22 ¶ I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You. 23 You who fear the LORD, praise Him! All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him, And fear Him, all you offspring of Israel! 24 For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Nor has He hidden His face from Him; But when He cried to Him, He heard. 25 My praise shall be of You in the great assembly; I will pay My vows before those who fear Him. 26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied; Those who seek Him will praise the LORD. Let your heart live forever! 27 All the ends of the world Shall remember and turn to the LORD, And all the families of the nations Shall worship before You. 28 For the kingdom is the LORD’S, And He rules over the nations. 29 All the prosperous of the earth Shall eat and worship; All those who go down to the dust Shall bow before Him, Even he who cannot keep himself alive. 30 A posterity shall serve Him. It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation, 31 They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, That He has done this.” (Psalm 22:1-31 NKJV)

This is a long passage but if we read it slowly and with our heart ywe can experience part of the pain of Jesus upon the cross. We can see the agony of the separation of Jesus from the Father which is unlike anything we can experience. We are so used to being separated from God it is natural to us. But Jesus had never known such a separation or experienced it before.

Jesus spoke many times of the closeness and unity between Him and the Father. In the first verse we can sense a part of the agony of Jesus. On the cross this is a guttural scream of despair. Just as the curtain of the Holy of Holies was torn in two so the Trinity was torn for the first time! There is no way we can understand this but we can appreciate it.

Though we no longer feel the pain of being separated from God we can understand being separated from those we love. We have experienced the breaking of relationships and of seeing love broken and shattered. But to help us understand the separation of Jesus from the Father would be to think of the fullness of every relationship broken!!!

Meditate on this passage and discover God not only understands your pain but has experienced it. This is the definition of Good Friday. The love and goodness of God revealed to us and for us!

April 18, 2019 Maunday Thursday

“1 ¶ Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. 2 And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, 4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. 5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. 6 Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?” 7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.” 8 Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” 9 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” 11 For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “You are not all clean.” 12 So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 “You call me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 “For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 16 “Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. 17 “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” (John 13:1-17 NKJV)

There is a difference between serving and being a servant. Here we see Jesus serving and this tiny view of the life of Jesus should remind us how Jesus was a servant to us all throughout His life! God Who deserves praise, worship and our obedience came to serve.

This description of Jesus is more than a reflection of the Father but a revelation of who God is!!! Seeing Jesus is seeing the Father and the most direct way we can see and know God. This brief description is a 3D view of God as these words in the written word of God allow us to not just see God but experience God.

Whatever our understanding of God we can see who God really is. Over three years we are given a revelation of who God really is, how God lives, how God responds, and the impact God has on people. In Jesus we experience the fullness of humanity and the fullness of God! DO NOT LOSE YOUR WONDER OF GOD THROUGH “FAMILIARITY”!

Serve as you are being served, love as you are being loved and experience the wonder of God!!!

Sunday, April 14, 2019

April 14, 2019 Sixth Sunday in Lent – Liturgy of the Passion

“5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:5-11 NKJV)

If you want to truly understand what happened at the crucifixion of Jesus you must look at Psalm 22. To get a full description of Jesus you must look at Philippians 2. In this passage we can become acquainted with who Jesus really is.

People often talk about the “historical” Jesus or the “real” Jesus but what about the Biblical Jesus? We search for Jesus in dusty out of date books or even in our own imaginations but what about the book of books, the Bible? Does it seem important that those seeking the historical or the real Jesus often compare and contradict the Jesus revealed in the Bible?

Does it really matter whether you believe in the “historical”, the “real” or the Jesus of the Bible? Only if you want a Jesus to see you throughout this life and have the hope of an eternal relationship with God!

Choosing between the Living Word Jesus as seen in the Bible and any other “savior” is choosing who will save you. The choice is not who will save you but who can!

This passage ends with what can be a joy or a warning that “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Will you declare the name of Jesus with joy, regret at Who you missed or through gritting teeth in hatred? That is your choice!!!

The Passion of Jesus

God’s passion for us

Passion is deeper love

A love putting before

A love that gives all

A love which forgives

A love that warns

A love that guides

A love that is Life

A love desires good

A love that is Truth

A love that is scary

A love unappreciated

A love often unwanted

A love willing to die

so you can live again 4/7/2019

The journey is long and the road is hard

the trail goes from easy to very difficult

at times the trail will be flat and easy

and then the trail climbs beyond sight

then the trail will grow to be a trial

The weariness sets in like a blanket

enfolding, wrapping weighing down

Not just our body but even our soul

Hope can seem just out of our reach

We must climb step-by-step trusting

In the trail and the trails Creator

as we climb soon the clouds get thinner

in the light begins to shine to guide us

we reach the peak standing in the light

soon our body and soul are renewed

We want to stay at the peak in comfort

But the Creator beckons us to go

The path which lies for us declines

and we want to decline to go

but the Creator pushes us forward

and we descend into the clouds

the trail going down is not easy

At times it even seems harder

our feet stumble threatening we

Will pitch forward and fall down

if we are not careful we will look down

And our feet will stumble and fall

we must keep our eyes on the Creator

to follow the trail at any time and place 4/9/2019

Tuesday, April 9, 2019

April 7, 2019 Fifth Sunday of Lent

“4 ¶ though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: 5 circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; 6 concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. 7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 ¶ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:4-14 NKJV)

Our Journey through Lent is a struggle but there is one struggle we often do not anticipate and that is pride! During our journey we see those who are not on the journey and those who fell out along the way. Look at us! We got this! We are the good and faithful ones!

Paul slaps us upside our cheek! If anyone could “boast” about their qualifications it was Paul. Take a look at his qualifications and they will amaze you, especially if you take time to see what they mean and the effort it took to accomplish them. Paul was an official leader and “defender” of God as can be seen by his persecution of Christians.

But Paul proclaims all of that is just rubbish or dung. There is nothing a person can do to make themselves righteous! All Paul had learned and done did not and could not save him! Paul had discovered the wonder of God's grace and the experience of having a relationship with God rather than rote legalism.

Through grace and acceptance of our need for the saving death of Jesus we participate in the resurrection of Jesus and will also be resurrected! Jesus by death overcame our death and by resurrection became our resurrection!

Then Paul takes us further on the journey by reminding us to not look at our life before Christ (BC days) but through God's salvation (AD days) we can look ahead to seeing the face of God!

We do not need to look down in shame, fear and anger but can look “upward” to see what we are now living for and not settling for the rubbish of this world. Even when we turn back we can remember all we have lost and once again look upward through the grace of God!