I was having a spiritual struggle and one person or the spirit from one person seemed to be the biggest challenge. I could not name the spirit but I knew it was there. Finally it was apparent I needed to get alone with the LORD and have a prayer time to throw this thing off. I was prepared to spend many hours if necessary, but surprisingly it only took a couple hours. This is the resultant poem.
Turn again to your rest o my soul, for the Lord has treated you well. Have you instructed your soul in this was to be restored? Have you ever read Psalm 116 in terms of your relationship with the LORD God Almighty?
5 Gracious is the Lord and righteous; our God is merciful. 6 The Lord protects the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me. 7 Return, O my soul, to your rest, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.
Psalm 116:5-7 NRSV
When I take time to review my life and my relationship with God I am brought back to a place of rest. Not do-ing, but be-ing with Him. When I peel off my complaints I realize He HAS treated me well, dealt bountifully with me. This fresh realization brings me to a point of wanting to serve Him more, in any ways that He asks.
Have you ever made vows to the Lord? We often hear of people in painful situations trying to bargain with God along the lines of “If You will just do what I want here and now, I will serve You forever.” We are really not in a bargaining position with God. But if You have made a vow to Him from the depths of your being, have you paid the vow?
I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice and call on the name of the Lord. 18 I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people,
Psalm 116:17-18 NRSVUE
As an Associate of the Convent of the Transfiguration in Glendale Ohio I made a vow to pray for the Sisters daily. I promised to support the Convent and their work as I am able.
When the verse says “I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people,” to me it means there will no longer be just me and Jesus. I will live out my commitment to Him publicly, in the presence of all His people.
Are you living out your faith before the Lord only, or also before His people. Have you vowed to be a living sacrifice? That is my word for the year ( you can read back in January when I was impressed to choose that.) There are times this living sacrifice does not want to climb up on the altar, does not want to be a living stone.
Present yourselves as building stones for the construction of a sanctuary vibrant with life, in which you’ll serve as holy priests offering Christ-approved lives up to God.
1 Peter 2:5 The Message
and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 2:5 RSV
As a building stone I want to be like Jesus, ‘a chip off the old block’, similar in yieldedness and willingness to obey His Father and my Father.
“Lord help me to pay my vows to You in the presence of all Your people. Help me to serve you with joyous willingness. Show me Your chosen paths for me and I will walk there with You. Amen.”
Seems this did not post correctly the first time, so here it is again!
I recently purchased a note card from the Printery House as Conception Abbey in Missouri. The image is the Good Shepherd carrying a sheep. the back reads:
The image of Christ as Good Shepherd is deeply rooted in the Gospels: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? (Luke 15:4, cf. Matthew 18:13). The symbolism is of this icon hinges on Christ’s saving Passion. This image of a shepherd carrying a sheep on his shoulders, borrowed from secular art of the Greco-Roman world, is now combined with the imagery of the Paschal Mystery: the resurrected Christ, who bears the marks of the nails, brings back sinners who were lost and now are found. The cross is seen in the background as a sign of Christ’s victory over death. Jesus is not only the shepherd, but as the Passion symbolism indicates, he is also the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).
About the same time as the card arrived I was looking through a devotional called Forward Day by Day. For many years I used this as my morning devotional guide. The Scripture readings for each day are listed and a short meditation written by various different authors each month. This page read as follows.
John 10:14I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me.
At historic St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Chestertown, Maryland, where I served years back, someone installed an oversized window with an image of Jesus carrying a sheep around his neck. I never liked that window. It did not fit the space stylistically, historically, or size-wise, but also, I had never been a fan of the passive image of Jesus as Good Shepherd.
That was the case until I visited the sheep ranch of close friends. They invited me to watch the annual sheep branding, which you will be relieved to know is by spray paint. The sheep also receive oral inoculations for various diseases. The shepherds funnel the sheep from a holding pen through chutes, but because sheep are antsy, the shepherds sometimes must wrestle a few. The sheep will fight and buck and wriggle and strain.
The passive sheep around Jesus’s shoulders has surrendered, given himself over to a shepherd that he trusts will lead and guide and even carry when necessary.
MOVING FORWARD: Have you surrendered or do you still fight and buck and wiggle?
Rob Geizelman Forward day by Day Wednesday March 29, 2023
I really like the MOVING FORWARD question: Have you surrendered or do you still fight and buck and wiggle? What sort of sheep are you? Have you surrendered to Jesus? Do you ever allow Him to carry you?
I recently purchased a note card from the Printery House as Conception Abbey in Missouri. The image is the Good Shepherd carrying a sheep. the back reads:
The image of Christ as Good Shepherd is deeply rooted in the Gospels: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? (Luke 15:4, cf. Matthew 18:13). The symbolism is of this icon hinges on Christ’s saving Passion. This image of a shepherd carrying a sheep on his shoulders, borrowed from secular art of the Greco-Roman world, is now combined with the imagery of the Paschal Mystery: the resurrected Christ, who bears the marks of the nails, brings back sinners who were lost and now are found. The cross is seen in the background as a sign of Christ’s victory over death. Jesus is not only the shepherd, but as the Passion symbolism indicates, he is also the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).
About the same time as the card arrived I was looking through a devotional called Forward Day by Day. For many years I used this as my morning devotional guide. The Scripture readings for each day are listed and a short meditation written by various different authors each month. This page read as follows.
John 10:14I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me.
At historic St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Chestertown, Maryland, where I served years back, someone installed an oversized window with an image of Jesus carrying a sheep around his neck. I never liked that window. It did not fit the space stylistically, historically, or size-wise, but also, I had never been a fan of the passive image of Jesus as Good Shepherd.
That was the case until I visited the sheep ranch of close friends. They invited me to watch the annual sheep branding, which you will be relieved to know is by spray paint. The sheep also receive oral inoculations for various diseases. The shepherds funnel the sheep from a holding pen through chutes, but because sheep are antsy, the shepherds sometimes must wrestle a few. The sheep will fight and buck and wriggle and strain.
The passive sheep around Jesus’s shoulders has surrendered, given himself over to a shepherd that he trusts will lead and guide and even carry when necessary.
MOVING FORWARD: Have you surrendered or do you still fight and buck and wiggle?
Rob Geizelman Forward day by Day Wednesday March 29, 2023
I really like the MOVING FORWARD question: Have you surrendered or do you still fight and buck and wiggle? What sort of sheep are you? Have you surrendered to Jesus? Do you ever allow Him to carry you?
Jesus promises the Spirit in John 14 and 16. How did we get stuck on Friday? How do we move beyond it?
The movie was supposed to be true to how things likely happened when Jesus was crucified. It was gory and grotesque and certainly showed man’s inhumanity to the Son of God and Son of Man. And to think this was done frequently throughout the ages. Worse yet, it is still done today.
ISIS militants have been known to crucify those who attempt to resist them.
However, there is also another place where crucifixion is known to occur. Yep, you guessed it, Saudi Arabia. Under the Saudi penal code, crucifixion is a legal form of punishment and execution. In one case that has drawn international attention, the Saudi government sentenced a 17-year-old boy named Ali al-Nimr to crucifixion for his participation in anti-government protests. In Saudi Arabia, crucifixion takes place after death with the dead body being crucified in a public place to serve as a warning to others. Amnesty International has condemned the act as “the ultimate form of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.”
So why would God the Father allow this to happen to His Son? Hebrews says of Jesus
… fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2 NIV
What joy? The prophecy in Isaiah 53: 10-12 might help our understanding.
10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with affliction. When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring and shall prolong his days; through him the will of the Lord shall prosper. 11 Out of his anguish he shall see; he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge. The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out himself to death and was numbered with the transgressors, yet he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.
Isaiah 53:10-12 NRSVUE
Jesus loves you that much. All He is asking is that you surrender to Him. Let Him live through you by the power of His Holy Spirit. This has nothing to do with chocolate or bunnies, eggs or candy.
Read that quote from Isaiah again. I think if you read it slowly and ponder the meaning you will have a glorious Easter Season!
If you remain at the cross and the blood, ask yourself if that is what Jesus would want? Yes, He is holy and righteous and to be adored. What about the promises He gave us? Did He die so that we could sit at His grave forever? Are you willing to move beyond the blood, brutality and death?
I think the Father had more in mind than that, much more. His ways are truly higher than our ways and His thoughts than our thoughts. Father help us to move into the truth You desire for us.
The LORD has come to earth to build His Kingdom in and through us. It is almost impossible to comprehend the power and the glory He has put forth on our behalf and within us. How can this be?
Even Mary asked in Luke 1:34 “How can this be?”as she pondered God moving in her through the Holy Spirit.
In Cinderella the lyrics between the Fairy Godmother and Cinderella are a back and forth of things sensible people would never believe. Pumpkin becomes a carriage and four white mice are four white horses, etc. They go from Impossible to Possible.
But the world is full of zanies and fools
Who don’t believe in sensible rules
And won’t believe what sensible people say,
And because these daft and dewy- eyed dopes
Keep building up impossible hopes,
Impossible things are happ’ning every day!
Such fol-de-rol and fiddledy dee of course is
Quite possible!
For the world is full of zanies and fools—
Who don’t believe in sensible rules
And won’t believe what sensible people say.
And because these daft and dewy-eyed dopes
Keep building up impossible hopes,
Impossible things are happ’ning every day!
It’s possible! It’s possible!
Impossible by Rogers and Hammerstein II
Our seemingly impossible hope of redemption through Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit are often scoffed at by 'sensible' people, especially 'worldly' people. But God knows better than they do!
At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to infants. 26 Yes, Father, because this was your good pleasure.
The world says Impossible. God says Perfect! I pray this Lent you have drawn closer to the Father through the power of His Holy Spirit. The changes He can bring to you are more stupendous than a pumpkin becoming a carriage!
Waterford creation
I pray you are willing to be yielded to His power at work in and through you. May you let Him have His way in your life. Ask the Holy Spirit to rise up within you and do the works of Jesus through you. May 2023 be your best Easter Season ever!
It is almost impossible to comprehend the power and the glory He has put forth on our behalf and within us. And yet our Father says this is His plan. Unlike the Fairy Godmother, His transformations are eternal. Yield to being remade in the likeness of His dear Son.
How has your Lenten discipline been going? I awoke one morning with an interesting insight I want to share with you. During Lent we try to become aware of our weaknesses and God’s strength to aid us. We choose disciplines to help us move consciously towards the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as our Paschal lamb and the subsequent celebration of His mighty resurrection on our behalf. Up from the grave He arose! And we rejoice.
Throughout the year we sing about the Power in His blood. Good Friday we reflect upon His blood shed for us. The water and the blood from His pierced side. His sacrifice compared to the blood of goats and bulls (Hebrews 9-10).
The blood of Christ is important and we need to understand the excruciating death He suffered and why. Too many of us have gotten stuck right there. I think God wants us to think beyond the Blood of Christ. Why did He die for us? What was His promise about His death. God’s version of “There is more to the story.”
In John 16:5 Jesus begins to explain to the disciples about the Holy Spirit by saying ” I am going to him who sent me.”
But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
John 16:7 NIV
Jesus knew that the presence of the Advocate with us is better than His walk alongside us on earth.
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.
John 16:13-14
We might never understand the full significance of these three verses. We do know from the discourse in John 16 that Jesus is teaching beyond His suffering, crucifixion and resurrection. He is teaching about the Holy Spirit, Advocate, Spirit of Truth dwelling within us. This is a consequence of Him shedding His blood for us.
The disciples did not grasp the meaning when He first taught this. He was beaten, crucified, died and was buried on our behalf. He rose again and was seen by the disciples and many others. He bestows His Holy Spirit on those who believe in Him and love Him. Many of us to this day do not grasp the meaning of His words.
There was a song in the 1980s that told of the battle between Jesus and satan, God the Father being the mediator of that battle. Satan is surprised about the outcome. You see, Jesus went to heaven, but by indwelling His disciples, He walks that earth in millions through the centuries.
Now the final blow saved for the final round.
Prophetically Christ's hands came down
And Satan struck in vengeance!
The blow of death felled Jesus to the ground.
The devils roared in victory!
The saints shocked and perplexed as wounds appeared upon His hands and feet.
Then Satan kicked Him in His side, and blood and water flowed.
And they waited for the 10 count of defeat.
God the Father turned His head,
His tears announcing Christ was dead!
The 10 count would proclaim the battle's end.
Then Satan trembled through his sweat in unexpected horror, yet...
As God started to count by saying,
"...10..."
"Hey wait a minute, God..." "...9..." "Stop! You're counting wrong..."
"...8..."
His eyes are moving...
"...7..."
His fingers are twitching...
"...6..."
"Where's all this Light coming from?"
"...5..."
"He's alive!"
"...4..."
"Oh - nooooo!"
"...3..."
"And yet,"
"...2..."
"Oh... Yessssss!
"...1..."
He has won!
He has won!
He's alive forevermore!
He is risen, He is Lord,
He has won!
He has won!
He's alive forevermore,
He is risen!
He is Lord!
Proclaim the news in every tongue,
Through endless ages and beyond
Let it be voiced from mountains loud and strong
Captivity has been set free, salvation bought for you and me
'Cause Satan is defeated,
And Jesus is The Champion
Written by: Thomas Allan Flowers, Richard C. Ivanisevich, Douglas James Eldridge
Album: The Champion Released: 1987
Andrew Peterson captured the same miracle with the song “His Heart Beats.” Part of those lyrics are:
He rises, glorified in flesh
Clothed in immortality, the firstborn from the dead
He rises, and His work's already done
So He's resting as He rises to reclaim the Bride He won
And His heart beats
So crown Him the Lord of Life
Crown Him the Lord of Love
Crown Him the Lord of All
He took one breath
And put death to death
Where is your sting, O grave?
How grave is your defeat
I know, I know His heart beats
Are you willing to embrace His sacrifice and let Him live in and through you? I pray your disciplines have led you to a point of surrender to Jesus in every way, shape and form.
Amid a crowd of paltry things … in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses. 2 Cor. 6:4.
It takes Almighty grace to take the next step when there is no vision and no spectator—the next step in devotion, the next step in your study, in your reading, in your kitchen; the next step in your duty, when there is no vision from God, no enthusiasm and no spectator. It takes far more of the grace of God, far more conscious drawing upon God to take that step, than it does to preach the Gospel. Every Christian has to partake of what was the essence of the Incarnation, he must bring the thing down into flesh-and-blood actualities and work it out through the finger-tips. We flag when there is no vision, no uplift, but just the common round, the trivial task. The thing that tells in the long run for God and for men is the steady persevering work in the unseen, and the only way to keep the life uncrushed is to live looking to God. Ask God to keep the eyes of your spirit open to the Risen Christ, and it will be impossible for drudgery to damp you. Continually get away from pettiness and paltriness of mind and thought out into the thirteenth chapter of St. John’s Gospel.
I once heard a wise woman speak the truth that what you see on the exterior of a Christian only partially gives you a hint as to what has occurred in that persons’ life with God. Chambers calls it “the next step when there is no spectator.”
We each live out our life with God by ourselves. Yes, there are others around about us, but we carry what Bonhoeffer calls the Cost of Discipleship. We walk alone with Christ. Are you willing to take the next step with Jesus? When there is no vision will you be obedient to the last thing He asked you to do? Many times we want to side-step the last thing and move along. Too often that step you want to get around may be a foundation for you to stand strong further along the journey. Would you let your impatience or discomfort ruin your foundation?
“It takes far more of the grace of God, far more conscious drawing upon God to take that step, than it does to preach the Gospel,” said Chambers. Most of us cannot imagine preaching the Gospel in front of a crowd. Are we willing to draw upon God and take the next step in our journey?
Ouch, true confession here. My next step is to take better care of myself physically by doing the prescribed physical therapy home exercises daily. But my body cries out that they often make me feel worse, not better. Such is the life of one with fibromyalgia and other ailments. The stretches for plantar fasciitis have shown me that they do have a cumulative effect for the good. Shoulder stretches? not so much! I need to do them. As I age I need to do them more, no matter my whining excuses. I need more grace to begin again each day. I need to do these in order to serve God better. God needs me to do these as part of my obedience to my doctors .
Oswald tells me “Ask God to keep the eyes of your spirit open to the Risen Christ, and it will be impossible for drudgery to damp you.” Oh LORD, help me think of You as I do what I need to do for this body to be more flexible and carry less pain. Help me to push back against the drudgery and my dislike of physical exercise, counting repetitions , etc. I yield to steady persevering work in the unseen. For Your glory and honor. Amen.
How about you? Is there something you do not want to do that the LORD is asking of you? How will you proceed?
Have you been keeping a holy Lent? You might ask, “What does that even mean?” Is your focus upon Christ even as the grocery stores fill up with rabbits, candy, chickens and baskets? Next we will likely see Reese’s peanut butter egg advertisements on television!
Christ Church Anglican notes: “The Season of Lent is a time of fasting, penance, prayer, and worship. Lent is all about disruptions. These disruptions, however, have a holy purpose. They are aids to help us prepare our hearts for the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection. Lent is not about earning our salvation or proving something to God or others. Instead, Lent is a season of heart renovation. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at sundown on Holy Saturday. By the time we get to Easter, we are often drawn closer in our relationship with God, our faith encouraged, and the sins we have been wrestling with have been cast off.”
“Lent is a season of heart renovation.” Remember during the pandemic how people worked on their homes? Bought up the wood and other hardware store items and went to work on their dream project? How about renovations in your heart? Have you spent time during Lent asking the LORD to help renovate your heart?
And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,
All those references saying the same thing. This is the plan God has for heart renovation! How is the plan working in your personal heart?
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Hebrews 8:10 ESV
He has written His laws into our minds. Are our minds quiet enough to hear those laws? Can you discern His voice among the sounds that bombard your brain? Do you seek out quiet to listen for His voice? Can you read the laws written into your mind or is your mind covered with the graffiti of the world?
He has written His laws on our hearts? What about that? Is you heart like the walls of an old house, needing scrubbing or a new surface so the writing is clarified? Can you imagine your heart with the product called chalkboard paint? “Chalkboard paint is a specialized paint that creates a chalkboard like coating that can be utilized as a writing surface in the same manner as a traditional chalkboard or blackboard.” Wikipedia
Instead of a grocery list imagine the LORD writing His laws and messages to you there!
“I love you with an everlasting love.”
“In all you do and say, do it as unto Me.”
“Seek my face.”
“In returning and rest you are saved; in quietness and trust is your strength.”
“I will be with you always.”
“Love Me with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength.”
“My grace is sufficient for you.”
“In everything give thanks.”
“I have given you everything needed for a life of godliness.”
Can you imagine running into the room each day to see if something new had been written on your walls? You can do that now. Truly you can do that right now by choosing to be with Him and yielding you heart to Him.
So how is your heart renovation going during Lent 2023? It is never too late to begin. God is patient and kind. He is not willing that any should perish.
The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9 RSV
I urge you to examine your heart. Ask Him if there are renovations to be done? Pray for His help in getting those underway and completed. Completed for this season. For you see, there is always more we can do to become like Jesus before we enter into our eternal reward. If God had told me everything I needed to change and asked for that all at once I would not have survived the request.
The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.
This was supposed to post last week, but obvious I did something wrong because it did not post?!?!
There is another Scriptural reference to foothold. Here is a teaching about it. Green print is quote and blue print is Scripture.
The most common use of the word foothold today is as a place or thing that will support a climber’s foot or as a secure starting position from which further advance can be made. In biblical Greek it can refer to a spot, place, location, room, home, position, tract, occasion, opportunity, locality, region, or condition.
Paul gave us insight into how Satan might establish a foothold in our thinking from which further advancement towards hindering our walk can be made. He says:
“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. (Ephesians 4:26-27)
In these verses Paul warns us to quickly forgive an offense so that retained anger does not turn into bitterness, because bitterness (long-held unforgiveness) gives Satan a “foot up” in our thought life. It can give him a platform that will support further incursions into our thought life.
See the website above for a more thorough teaching.
Long-held unforgiveness creates a foothold and stronghold…. how is your hold upon Scripture? “In your anger do not sin..do not give the devil a foothold.” I am familiar with a woman that many folks are having difficulty understanding. Seems she has a rather violent and shocking verbal temper that does not always show. Something has happened to make her this way. Perhaps an unwillingness to be angry but sin not? God reads hearts and He is the only One who knows for certain.
Previously I focused on creating a foothold for the Gospel to take root. What about a foothold for evil? Do you have unforgiven anger towards someone or a situation? Do you find your walk with Christ full of boulders and slippery areas that keep you stumbling and even falling? Perhaps it is time to ask the LORD to help you uncover those areas and deal with them in the Light of His love and power?
By refusing to forgive we make our lives difficult and bring more trouble than we need have into our existence. If we practice this relentless anger for decades we create chasms as deep as the southwest Grand Canyon. Then we come to the edge, thinking we can simply step over and the eroded area surprises us. There are so many times when we plainly do not know ourselves and the difficulties we have created in our own lives. Jesus is a bridge builder. He can show us how to release that unforgiveness and build a bridge into His arms of love.
A foothold can become a ladder towards the kingdom of darkness. Do you recognize the footholds you have created? Are you willing to let the LORD destroy those footholds and show you the way into His life?
Turn to the One who loves you best and loves you the most! He is able to do marvelous things!
giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. 13 He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves. 14 We have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, in Him.
Treasures in Plain Sight, A Christian Blog 