Our Cross

For the Christian, in every part of our lives Jesus has set our example.  Today I am going to talk about the example Jesus set for us on His cross.

We are familiar with the story of Jesus’ crucifixion on the cross. Though we face sufferings in our lives, we do not always know how to carry our own cross.  However, for those who follow Jesus, there is a personal cross to bear.

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.’”

Jesus told His disciples that denying themselves was a cross to bear, and being nailed to a cross is painful.  Many times we think that God will substitute something nice for that thing which we deny so that we do not feel the pain.  Let us look at Jesus’ example;

“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.”(Heb 12:2)

Jesus was not comforted on the cross.  In the time of denial to His own personal right to life, He was not given a substitute to take away the pain.  Jesus’ life ended in suffering a painful death.  When we carry a personal cross and deny ourselves the right to . . . let’s say anger, God does not put a yummy dessert before us, or instantly change the one we are angry with.  Our cross remains painful, and that is why it is called a “cross.”

This may sound fatalistic, so let us continue with the example of Jesus.  Jesus was able to bear the shame and pain of the cross because He believed God.  He knew the will of the Father was to raise Him from the dead, and that His resurrection would set captives free, and give gifts to men (Eph 4:7). In following Jesus’ example we also need to believe on God’s words and that there will be a good result from our personal cross.

In the book of Hebrews we read that our hardships are discipline from our heavenly Father. “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” Heb 12:11) Our personal crosses, whether refusing to give into anger, or taking in a stranger that abuses our good will, are God’s hand molding us, if we are in His will.  These hardships mold us if we are trained by obeying God’s word.  And as we obey God’s word we will find our faith growing to believe in God’s word for our future.

“For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jer 29:11)

God already knows our cross is painful.  But He has plans for us that include joy; plans for our welfare, plans to have hope for a good future.  Let us set our faith on His goodness today, knowing that good will come from the cross we bear. Amen.

 

 

Everything We Need

“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.” (2 Pet 1:3)

Sometimes we do not believe we have “everything” that we need.  Though we have found Jesus, and received salvation and the fullness of Life in Christ, we look at our lives as if they are full of lack.  But it is our knowledge of Him that fills our lives up.

Our knowledge of Christ is meant to show us the Father (Jn 16:25).  If we hear His words, we learn about God’s ways and His lessons are in our lives.  When we see lack in our lives, perhaps we are looking at the wrong things.

Our lives are lived out on this earth for more purposes than we often realize.  We may become disappointed that God does not lead us to minister to others in a significant way.  Perhaps we believe that only miracles are evidence of the Kingdom of God.  Though it seems reasonable to believe God’s works of power manifest His Kingdom, it is not reasonable to think that God has called us to live a life where only miracles take place.

Let us look at two of Jesus’ parables, both about the Kingdom of God.  The first is The Parable about the Sower.  Jesus explains to His disciples that His Word is the seed, and that “the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Mt 13:23). In this parable Jesus connects God’s words with our understanding.  The result is a good harvest.

The second parable is about a woman who mixes yeast into her flour “until it worked all through the dough.” (Mt 13:33) Jesus is talking about the Life that resides in God’s words, and their power to convert the heart of one who will receive it.  What is common to both these parables is that they connect God’s words to the working of God’s Kingdom in our lives. God’s words can do that because, like the seed and the yeast, they are living and active (Heb 4:12).

The parables show that the words are inserted into our hearts.  God’s words do not come all at once, and we do not bear only one harvest.  Our minds could not contain all the knowledge about God’s ways at one time, nor could we churn out a completed work of God in our lives in the following moments.  God’s words come as our lives happen.  He knows what we need, and if we listen and receive His words for the given circumstances, we have what we need for life, and godliness grows in us.

Jesus used examples of agents of change in His parables, such as a growing seed, and expanding bread dough.  These changes that take place in our lives fill them up with the Knowledge of God, because His Kingdom is growing inside of us.  If we listen and learn from our everyday lives, we are full of what God has provided for us and there is no lack.  It is a true saying then, that God has given us everything we need. Amen.

 

When God's people are Shunned

For those of you who prophesy, and for those of you who are prophets, sometimes there are repercussions to our ministry that make life unbearable.  Brethren avoid you, and church leaders silence your ministry.  It is a shunning, a psychological punishment.  Yet the poor treatment received at the hands of those we esteemed is not indicative of how the Lord sees us.

In Isaiah 66 we read about those who “tremble” at God’s word.  “Your brothers who hate you, and exclude you because of my name, have said ‘let the Lord be glorified’, . . .” (Is 66:5).  Those that hate prophets often think they are choosing sides with God and that separating themselves from what offends them glorifies God.

Concerning prophecy and being a prophet, I went through a period of doubting my intentions. Indeed, the light of the Holy Spirit exposes our own shortcomings, and it became hard for me to believe God would associate Himself with me.  I was ripe for the shunning of the brethren that occurred at the same time as my period of doubt, and bore the fruit of withdrawing from my gift and office. 

Then one day the Lord said to me “Where are those people now who oppressed you? Are they happy you no longer prophesy? Do they in turn invite you into their presence?” I suddenly realized that my oppressors had no plan for my life, and that I was silent for nothing.  It was not the brethren I had esteemed that worked alone in the shunning: it was an enemy greater than men . . . it was satan. He is the one who plants the seed of doubt and nurtures it with oppression and shunning.

Isaiah 66 continues with the broader perspective from the Lord about shunning.  “Hear that uproar from the city, hear that noise from the temple!  It is the sound of the Lord repaying His enemies all they deserve.” (Is 66:6) Those very same people who silence gifts and avoid people are not on His side, and they do not glorify the Lord.  He will repay all who oppress His people.

Since it benefits no one to be silent, hidden from those who do not receive prophecy nor the office of a prophet, come out, you who have been oppressed.  Your enemies do not have a plan for your lives. What is more important is that you are part of God’s plan, and your words will affect many lives.  Amen.