Our Great Intercessor

“And the Lord said, ‘Simon, Simon!

Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that

he may sift you as wheat. But I have

prayed for you, that your faith should

not fail; and when you have returned

to Me, strengthen your brethren.”

     Luke 22:31-32 (NKJV)

 We may think that Jesus is only there to cheer us on when we’re doing well, but that’s not true.  Passages like this assure us that Jesus knows our weaknesses and He prays for us in them. (See also John 17 for Jesus' prayer for His own.)  It’s amazing to realize that the Creator of the universe is not only mindful of us but that He prays for us.

 Jesus knew Peter would deny Him three times and yet He assured Peter that He was praying for him. Jesus also encouraged Peter that despite the sifting by Satan, Peter would ultimately be victorious in the trial.  And that did come to pass. Although Peter failed miserably, his faith was never overthrown.  

It is reassuring to know that Jesus knows when we will stumble and fall, and that He prays for us during those times. Nevertheless, we must remember that Satan is our foe, just like he was Peter’s, and we must be on guard against his snares and schemes. But if we are a child of God, Jesus is our great intercessor.  We may fail Him but our faith will not fail because of His faithful prayers.  May that knowledge sustain and strengthen us during our times of trial.

P.S. I came across a hymn written by John Newton (composer of "Amazing Grace," etc.) that is based on Luke 22:31-32. I've never heard it but the words are inspiring. The Believer's Danger, Safety, and Duty

Thursday Devotional - Love and Judge

When you tell people about God and Jesus, do you focus on their love or their judgment?

I think some people probably focus on one or the other. Paul, of course, did a wonderful job of highlighting both. As we talked last week, he was courageously consistent to all audiences, whether commoners or top officials (such as with governor Felix).

Acts 24:24-26           ²⁴ Several days later Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish. He sent for Paul and listened to him as he spoke about faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁵ As Paul talked about righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and said, “That’s enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you.” ²⁶ At the same time he was hoping that Paul would offer him a bribe, so he sent for him frequently and talked with him. ²⁷ When two years had passed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus, but because Felix wanted to grant a favor to the Jews, he left Paul in prison.

Like Governor Felix, people often don’t want to talk or hear about God as Judge or that they may need to make changes in order to follow Christ. Earlier this year, James had several conversations with his fellow gymnastics’ peers and coaches. He told them God was real, loved them, etc. He was so saddened that many of them blew him off, didn’t believe in God and didn’t want to talk about Him. In one conversation he shared that if they didn’t believe in God then they would go to Hell. I first cringed, thinking he was a bit harsh. However, he was sharing the whole truth! He also did it out of a heart of love and not trying to scare them into belief.

May we be like Paul and James, able to consistently share the whole truth of God with those He places in our path to hear. May we gently and lovingly share God’s love and the truths of Him as the perfect Judge.

Lord, help us follow your lead for your words and timing.   

Alice

Lessons Learned

When the people heard these stern words, they went into mourning and stopped wearing their jewelry and fine clothes.  For the Lord had told Moses to tell them, “You are a stubborn and rebellious people. If I were to travel with you for even a moment, I would destroy you. Remove your jewelry and fine clothes while I decide what to do with you.”  So from the time they left Mount Sinai, the Israelites wore no more jewelry or fine clothes.  Exodus 33:4-6

The worst grounding I ever got was in the Summer of 1981.  It was the end of my Sophomore year in high school, and I was so looking forward to the many things me and my friends were going to do.  Bike rides, basketball in the backyard, and talking with girls were all on the agenda.  So, I came into this time in my life with a pretty big chip on my shoulder.  So much so that I thought I could talk to an adult like I was their equal when they asked me to take out the garbage.  “Why don’t you take out the garbage,” I said to my mom’s friend.  Big mistake!  My mother would make sure I learned a lesson from that.  She grounded me during that summer … for a month!!!  The only joy I would have would be my birthday and listening to Detroit Tigers baseball on the radio in my room.  A couple of things came out of that.  First, I grew to love a Hall of Fame broadcaster named Ernie Harwell as he was my only friend that talked to me most of that summer.  Second, I never was disrespectful to an adult again.  It’s a lesson I never forgot.  It’s a wonder that people used to compliment my mom. “Your son is so kind and courteous,” they would say.  If they only knew 😊

In our relationships with God, it is often at our lowest point that we show our greatest understanding of who He is.  Today, we are into the moment after Moses had punished the people for sinning against God.  The punishment was that those Israelites who stood with God had to kill those that chose not to.  This included relatives and neighbors; three thousand in all.  You want to talk about making tough choices?  It had to be incredibly painful to do what was asked of them.  Being honest, I guess listening to Ernie Harwell was pretty light in comparison to this, but I digress.  So, in the aftermath they stopped wearing jewelry and fine clothes because God told Moses to tell them.  No hesitation.  No deviations from the plan.  As stated, “they went into mourning and stopped wearing their jewelry and fine clothes.”  That was a pretty dramatic shift from previously where in Exodus 32:6 it spoke of their worship of the golden calf noting, “The people got up early the next morning to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings. After this, they celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.”  Thus, the rather subdued Israelites now disdained anything that harkened to that dark moment.  Giving up jewelry and fine clothes was a reminder to never go back to that life again.  The many things God had done to earn give them freedom was not yet enough for them to be obedient.  But following a false God and having to slaughter their brethren clearly had the desired impact that they would not veer against God again.  It was this low point that drove them to be a people truly intent on following God and His laws.  I once wrote that God had to drive me down to my knees where I would say to Him, “God, I have no place else to go but to you,” and then He made a way for me.  We can always sing praise on God when things are going well and everything is in order.  But it is when things are bad and our character is broken down where we truly find God, and it is there we both submit to His will and follow Him.

God wants us to grow in our relationship with Him.  More times that not, it is with love, grace, and appreciation.  But sometimes, we must endure some hard times to truly see His glory.  Tom Hanks’s character in the movie ‘A League of Their Own’ summarizes dealing with difficult times in a great way.  When questioned about the difficulties in the game of baseball, he said, “It’s supposed to be hard.  If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it.  The hard … is what makes it great.”  Let us remember the hard times where God showed His light brightest in our lives.  What do you remember about your relationship with God in your most trying times?  How can that inspire you to a closer relationship with Him?  My prayer is that we are humbled by God’s grace in those lessons learned.  Amen.

Tough Talk

Lots of guys are about tough talk, talking smack, and bragging, or whatever you want to call it. Their team, their dad, their accomplishments are always better than anyone else's. But their days are also worse, they've endure worse stuff, no matter what you've been through, they've "been there, did that". It's almost sociopathic. I think it was Bill Cosby who once joked about Americans and pets, "You could have a rhinoceros, walking it down the street, and someone from the United States would meet you on the sidewalk, and say, 'You have a rhinoceros? I used to have a rhinoceros.'" We're so silly.



I used to think it was just guys who play the "one-up-manship" game, but I've heard women do it too. Hearing people play it used to bug me (because I lost all the time), but now I find it comical. Part of the change in me was because of this one time when I was complaining to Jesus, you know, the Son of God who endured the crucifixion? I totally lost that storytelling competition. He didn't even have to say anything. But it's not just me. Lots of people have had that experience. In fact, there's a popular "meme" about it:

 

If this is you too, keep in mind, it's been believers since the first century. See how the writer of Hebrews puts it:

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 

For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 13:1-3 NASB)

Consider Jesus and what He endured so that we don't grow weary. We follow the One who gave all, endured the unimaginable, and overcame the insurmountable, for us. And we're only worth it because He says we are. In the economics of heaven, our value is set by our Creator, not our location, condition, or history. And He calls us to follow where He went, do what He has done, and wind up where He is.

So, let us not grow weary and loose heart. This is nothing compared to what we have to look forward to. And that's true regardless of whatever this is for you, whether it's the other person you work with, your neighbor, or buddy, or friend, or that one person who simply rubs you the wrong way. Whatever you endure, it's nothing compared to what we have coming in Jesus. Which is cool, if you think about it. So, think about it.