A God-Forsaken Place

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachtani?” which is translated, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” (New American Standard Bible)

What was it that set the death of Jesus of Nazareth apart from others who had been executed throughout history?  Was it the physical pain and suffering He bore?  No, His physical sufferings do not bring us to the heart of the cross.  Many before Him had died excruciatingly painful deaths and some even more agonizing.  Was it his mental suffering?  Roman soldiers cast lots for His clothes at the foot of the cross (John 19:24), He was abandoned by His followers (Matthew 26:56), and mocked by the priests and soldiers (Matthew 27:42, 43, Luke 23:36).  Even his mental state, as anguished as it was, cannot approach the heart and mystery of the cross.

The heart of the matter resides in Him being forsaken of God at that moment and what that meant.  Jesus fulfilled Psalm 22:1 when He cried out “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?”  He felt cut off because He was cut off.  The perfect man became a curse.  At that moment God laid all the sins of the generations onto His perfect sacrifice, Christ the Lamb of God.  The One who had always known fellowship with His Father cried out when His Father had to look the other way.  Somehow at that moment God put the curse of our sin on Christ as He hung on the cross making Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God (2^nd Corinthians 5:21).  We were cursed because of our sin and, in modern day vernacular, Jesus took the bullet.

He knew it would end this way when He set his face toward Jerusalem.  He could have easily gone the other way.  It was in this God-forsaken place that the greatest good for humanity was finished (John 19:30).  We cannot discount the physical pain and suffering our Lord endured in those final hours.  They were indeed horrendous.  But in those hours Christ broke the power of sin and opened up a highway directly into God’s presence by becoming our curse.  The heart of the cross is in what God laid upon His Son.  One would think it would be done in better circumstances yet Christ accomplished our redemption not in the Temple or any synagogue but by being hung on a cross in a God-forsaken place.

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com©

It Doesn't Take an Einstein

And he said to them, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.”  Luke 10:18 (New American Standard Bible)

Albert Einstein is credited with defining insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result each time.  So it would seem with Satan.  He never stops assailing the works of God even though he was created and appointed as one of the mighty guardian cherubim in the inner circle of God’s presence, blameless and perfect in wisdom and beauty (Ezekiel 28:15) and ought to know better.  Every move he makes against God is wisely and perfectly countered bringing good from evil.  He brought Job from ashes to twofold riches and honor (Job 42:10).  When Satan thought he’d ended God’s plan for human redemption by killing Christ on the cross God raised His only begotten Son from the dead (Matt. 28:6, Mark 16:6, Luke 24:6, John 20:14).  When Satan thought he’d scattered the early church from Jerusalem God used it to move those believers into areas of outreach to Jews within the region (Acts 11:19).  When he moved to destroy European Jewry during World War II God raised up the state of Israel.  From the beginning God has been called Eloheim, the Almighty One. 

The power of Christ is the only power within the universe with authority enough to beat Satan at his own game.  In every effort Satan has employed against God and His Christ he has fallen like lightning before God’s holiness and matchless perfection.  He will never triumph and in the end will be cast into the Lake of Fire at the end of this world’s governments (Revelation 20:10).  Satan is doing the same thing over and over in his attempt to defeat God expecting a different outcome each time.  Now that’s insane and it doesn’t take an Einstein to figure that one out.

Glory to God forevermore.

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com

The Ultimate Seal

In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation-having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance to the view of redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.  Ephesians 1:13, 14 (New American Standard Bible)

I spent nearly ten years working in the air freight and trucking (dry goods) industries.  

One thing that was necessary when any container or trailer was shipped was not only to be locked but sealed with a numbered security strip. That seal showed the shipment was a deposit of guarantee by our company until the freight was received by the customer.

When we hear and believe we are at that instant ‘sealed’ with the Holy Spirit of promise.  Sealing represents security, authentication, approval and identification of ownership.  The seal is done in Christ and the Holy Spirit is the instrument of the seal.  It is a deposit guaranteeing our own inheritance in God through His Son.  But it is more than a pledge as a pledge can be altered or even ignored; the seal of the Spirit is a guarantee of more to come.  In essence the deposit of the Holy Spirit is a little bit of heaven with a guarantee of much more that He will give to us in the eons to come.

Because of this, believers acquire every spiritual blessing including election, predestination, adoption, grace, forgiveness, wisdom, understanding, knowledge of the mystery of His will, and inheritance.  We remain God’s possession and delight to the praise of His glory. Being sealed by the Holy Spirit is a secure and precious privilege.  It is not done by human means but by Christ Jesus as His Ultimate Seal of love and power.  In its security and approval we are now and will remain God’s shining glory for eternity.

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com

Our Mission to Missions

Brethren, pray for us.  1^st Thessalonians 5:25 (New American Standard Bible)

 Children of military parents are constantly having their roots pulled up and moved to wherever the government wants their mom or dad to serve.  The kids have to leave friends, school and hometown to be put in a new place where they will need to adapt to new people and ways of doing things. And there is an even greater hardship if they have to deal with a foreign language and culture if their parents are stationed overseas.

When Christians leave for the mission field there is culture shock they endure in their new “home” wherever that may be.  In a different culture there may be the sense of offense if something breaks and they ask that the situation be remedied immediately as we have come to expect in our own culture.  That can be very frustrating if it’s the middle of winter and your heater breaks and within the local culture there is the feeling the landlord doesn’t need to move quickly. Repairs or replacement could take weeks. There can be additional worry if the missionaries have children.

While financial support is indeed important to missions the greatest thing they need is our constant support through prayer.  Satan’s own mission is to destroy the works of God and he has an arsenal of means to do it. Prayer is a Christian’s power and praying for our missionaries helps them stand firm and finish the task God has given them. Dropping a check in the offering marked ‘missions’ is a good thing and praying daily for our missionaries is even better.  Satan believes he has no boundaries to attack until he comes up against the bulwark of the power of Christ.  And the most effective means to make the best use of that bulwark is prayer. There is no other force on earth that can do the same.  When it comes to our missionaries ‘pray without ceasing’ intensifies that need in a very real way.  When we do He will be faithful and we can praise Him for all His glorious works.  When it comes to our missionaries let us truly pray for them without ceasing.  It’s our greatest mission to missions.

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com

The Saga of Captain Flash

For that which I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.  Romans 7:15 (New American Standard Bible)

When my grandson was three he discovered large marker pens and delighted in writing wherever he could find a flat surface.  He was repeatedly cautioned about it and for a while there were no more incidents-until the day I sat down to eat lunch.  In that short period he found a black marker and decided to write on my new tan suede sofa, the hallway walls, the hallway tile floor, doors and facings.  Fortunately there was a cleaning product that took the marks off of everything, even the suede sofa.  Now it looks good as new and I have nicknamed my grandson Captain Flash for he is truly faster than a speeding bullet.

Paul speaks of the part of our Christian experience in not practicing what we want to do but instead doing the very thing we know is wrong.  For some reason our sin nature remained strong and intact even though we accepted Jesus Christ into our lives.  When Paul said we are ‘dead to sin’ he means that we died with Christ to our former ways of sinful living.  Our sin natures will be completely done away with when we stand before Him either through death or rapture.  But in this life we still wrestle with the temptation to do wrong.  It is one of the hardest things about our life in Christ.

Christ’s sacrificial death and resurrection did away with the power of sin to again enslave us against our will.  Before we trusted in Christ we didn’t have the ability to resist temptation but now through the power of the Holy Spirit we indeed have a choice.  It is still a fight, for practicing sin is easy and there are still times when we will do what we hate.  We can go to Him for help and relief for He removed our chains of slavery to sin.  When there are occasions that we step out of His will thanks to Him we can let those chains lie at our feet and continue to trust in His magnificent grace.

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com

Living Beyond Our Means

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 2^nd Peter 1:2, 3 (New American Standard Bible)

Did you ever hear the saying that someone is “keeping up with the Joneses”?  They buy things on credit or strap themselves of cash simply to carry on a life style they really can’t afford.  Over time it can only bring poverty and misery.

Surprisingly Jesus wants us to live beyond our means, not physically speaking but from a spiritual standpoint.  Our own resources are severely limited. We can only show a ‘form’ of godliness by practicing religious traditions without the power of supply.  The richness of our spiritual lives only comes from the riches of His glory and will do so for all eternity (Ephesians 2:7).

We’ll never be strapped of true knowledge, wisdom and power when the Lord is our banker.  Heaven demands no loan applications.  Our contract with the Son of God is a verbal agreement.  After that He is ready through his divine nature to meet all our needs through His glorious resources.  Being in Christ means never needing to keep up with the Joneses for His riches are always at our disposal.  It is living beyond our means while living within His.  It is His grace and peace multiplied to us.

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com

Giving Sight to Blind Rage

January 9, 2012

In May of 1943 while on a search and rescue mission over the Pacific Ocean Lieutenant Louis Zamprini’s bomber crashed due to mechanical failure.  Only Louie and two men survived and took to two life rafts.  After floating on the sea for 33 days one of the men succumbed to starvation. Louie and his raft mate, pilot Allen “Phil” Philips, were finally picked up by the Japanese Navy on their 46^th day at sea and sent to a prisoner of war camp in Japan.  At the camp they endured cruel treatment at the hands of their Japanese captors, the worse one being a vicious sergeant named Mutushiro Watanabe whom the Americans referred to as the “Bird.”  Watanabe took an immediate dislike to Zamparini and continually singled him out for his ruthless and brutal treatment at one time beating him senseless with a belt buckle.  Zamparini survived the prison experience but when he returned home he was nearly out of his mind with rage at the treatment he’d received from the Bird so much so that his nightly dreams were nightmares of torture and mistreatment at his hands.  He eventually turned to alcohol and by 1949 had become convinced that the only way to gain peace was to return to Japan and find and murder the former guard.

That year, Billy Graham began his evangelical campaign in Los Angeles.  Louis’s wife, Cynthia, was invited by some friends to a meeting one night and found Christ as her Savior.  Her efforts to get Louie to go were fruitless.  He wanted nothing to do with religion.  After Cynthia and his friends pressed him he said he’d go, with the motive to get them to leave him alone.  The first night he became furious at the message and left in a rage.  Cynthia encouraged him to try one more time.  He went reluctantly but at the end of the sermon something changed in his heart and he surrendered his life to Christ.  He said at that point all the hatred, rage and bitterness left him and he was filled with a contentment and peace he’d never experienced.  He had become a new creation in Christ.  All his nightmares concerning the Bird stopped that night and when he thought of his former tormentor it was without the explosive fury that had consumed him before.

Louie returned to Japan in 1950 as a Christian speaker at Sugamo Prison and spoke to a group of Japanese war criminals, among them various ones who had abused him during his time as a POW.  He looked for the Bird but he was not there.* At the end of his talk Louie asked for the men who had guarded him to come to the front.    As the men moved down the aisle Louie met them half way and embraced them.  They were stunned that one who had been so wrongly treated could treat an enemy like this but through it they experienced the true and lasting forgiveness of God.  Louie returned home and began various Christian outreaches, one being a camp for troubled boys in the San Bernardino Mountains above Los Angeles.   He never returned to Japan but could now think of his former tormentor as a man in need of Christ. As of this writing Louie is still living at the age of 94 years and is still involved in telling others how Christ changed his life.  One cannot adequately explain how something like this could be yet the proof is in the years of this man’s life after 1949.  All we can say of this great miracle is God gave sight to a man’s blind rage.

*Watanabe later received amnesty for his war crimes and became a very wealthy business man. Louie wrote him a letter telling him he had forgiven him and asked him to become a Christian.  Mutushiro Watanabe died in April of 2003 and it is unknown whether he found faith in Christ or not.

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com