Tag: misunderstood

Jesus prayed for us.

Been misunderstood? Is it hard to find a friend who understands?

There’s a Friend who understands everything. Every evil brought against us, Jesus knows first-hand.

In desperate times and days filled with hardships, we need to see with our own eyes a reason to hope. We look out at all that’s going on and we only see destruction and pain.

It’s at times like this, when a closed Bible on the shelf seems impossible to open. I don’t have the “want to.”

God must know we can’t do it on our own. The pages are too heavy. Every other App is shouting, “Open me!” But the Bible App remains closed.

But Jesus prayed for us.

His light can overcome any darkness. He accomplishes His will.

My will says “no,” but the spirit urges me to receive healing in its open pages.

The Gospel of John is opened.

Misunderstood? This is Jesus’ story from the beginning. He Created the very ground the people stood on, yet, he was not received.

“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” John 1:12.

What Good News is sandwiched in the middle of rejection. Choice is His gift.

The stories unfold.

Disrespected? Treated with cruelty? Hated?

The God of the Universe, the one who sees the heart of man, He knows.

He was spat upon. Beaten.

Jesus experienced it all. He suffered.

Are lies spread against you? The enemies of Jesus spread word that “by the ruler of the demons He casts out demons” Mark 3:22.

Let the reading of the Gospels, today . . . be our refuge. An open Bible gives sight to our blurred eyes and water to our discouraged and hardened hearts.

Living Waters move hard things. Through God’s Word, the mountains of anxiety in self-discovery are scattered to freedom in knowing Jesus came to earth for one purpose, to die on the cross to set us free.

Jesus walked this sin-cursed earth. He kept His eye on His Father. Jesus prayed for us. He prayed . . . that we would be one.

With God, all things are possible. He trusted the Father. So can we.

“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them”John 17:20-26.

God demonstrated His love. He suffered. He rose again on the third day. He will help us rise as well, through His glorious power and love, He will show us how to love.

He will.

“Satan thought he had won, but You rose again to give me life, to give me victory! I love You Jesus, because You first loved me.” -Lincoln Wright

Lincoln Wright, a missionary in Managua penned these words many years ago when our dear friend was very ill. They were both revived in spirit by Jesus’s love and sacrifice. I put music to the words for my two friends.

I pray this music therapy of the Gospel message becomes a response and remedy for healing and hope because we discover again or for the first time, . . .

Jesus loved us first.

Taking time to think on the day Jesus died for me.

The soldiers led Jesus into the hall, the Praetorium by name.

And they called together a band—of mockers and scorners of ridicule and hate.

It’s as if it were staged. The one’s who chose not to believe, shouted with rage.

Oh, that those who believe on His name, would have double the passion to sing aloud their praise.

They clothed him with purple and laid a crown of thorns on His head. The one who it was said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the world’s sins, He sits alone. Misunderstood. With a bleeding head.

He was saluted, “Hail King of the Jews,” as they mocked him on their knees. He was hit, and spat at and whipped with a reed.

Is this what we think of when we read, “Remember Me.”

They took off the purple and put on the plain, then led him out to be crucified. They compelled a foreigner to carry the cross through.

On that note, believer, think it not strange when passing through this foreign land, that we be compelled, to carry a cross too.

But, oh, we do. Oh, yes, we do.

The one’s who chose not to believe, laughed and scorned Him, and brought  horror and shame. Shall we take a minute as we take our next breath, to adore Him and thank Him for enduring such pain.

Jesus was brought to the place, Golgotha. The Place of the Skull was and is it’s reputation. They offered him “wine mingled with mhyrr” but he refused—He endured to the utmost, the crucifixion.

He was numbered with the transgressors. He was crucified with two thieves. His guiltless name was written with a list of men with wrong-doings.

Yes, this was prophesied hundreds of years before, that this would be.
He bore ridicule from passers-by. He bore mocking from Religious heads.

He bore the shouts, “Save, yourself. Come down from the cross.”

What is meekness? What is patience? Let Jesus be our teacher when we find ourselves at a loss!

And “when the sixth hour had come there was darkness over the land.”

Noon until three, darkness surrounded. Does God have wisdom and power above what we do and don’t understand?

What were the hearts of men doing then? Some had fear, others—faith. For those who choose faith, let’s bow our heads together, taking time to thank Him for His loving grace.

There’s more to His Story. This is from Mark 15. On the ninth hour, 3:00 in the afternoon, Jesus shouted, “Eloi, Eloi, lama Sabachthani.”
“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

And He shouted, and we learn from another Gospel the words, “It is finished.” Jesus died on that tree.

“And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” Impossible with man, but with God—this testimony is true.

A witness, the centurian standing in front of Him during the passion, watched Him as He breathed His last breath, and said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” 
What is our comment? We best consider our reaction.

It might not seem to matter much to us today. But we best take time. To consider. Where. We plan to spend our eter-ni-ty . . .

Taken from Mark 15:16-32 and Isaiah 53

Who knows agony of spirit?

Who knows agony of spirit?
For some it comes in an instant. Sudden loss and trauma roll in like thick clouds. They don’t move, the thick darkness. It simply stays around.
For some there is heaviness of feeling, being abandoned and alone. Being rejected and forsaken, and Confusion makes a home.
“My God, My God. Why have You forsaken Me.” (1) These are the words of Jesus, the Lord.
“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall,
But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.” (2)
This is the word of God. Oh, how it reads like a poem.
The enemy of God wants to destroy faith in His name. The enemy, and our flesh destroy, But God remains the same. He is the same, yesterday, today and forever . . . (3)
Who is like God? He was. He is. He is to come.
“In the beginning God,  . . . and darkness was on the face of the deep . . . and the Spirit of God was hovering over the  . . . waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.” (4)
Who knows agony of spirit? We all do.
But Jesus does most.
Beyond the depth of our darkness, He has walked. We cry out, “Jesus.”
He understands.
This is the will of God. That we turn to seek Him.
Hear Him.
Follow Him. Know Him.
There is no One like God.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him, should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world,
but in order that the world might be saved through Him. (5)
“Let there be light.”
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear …” these are the words that we must hold on to, as Jesus endured hours on the cross. “But of power and of love …” there is hope. God will restore – His word is alive even now, in each of us, ever more.
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (6)
God restores and gives us, “sound mind.”
 Right now.
Step by step, and hour after hour.
Does He know we are in agony of Spirit? Oh, yes. He knows.
He is with us.
“Jesus.” we call.
A new creation, a resurrection from the dead, this is what He gives. We wait. We trust.
His name is Faithful.
His name is True.
His eyes remained on the Father, and that is what we  . . . will choose to do.
“God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.”
Could it be? Could it actually be? That this present darkness we are in, will be a comfort for someone else, some day, some when? When we can hold their hand and listen, and cry with them too, and say, “Oh yes. Jesus knows exactly what you are feeling. He knows, through and through.”
And somehow, in a way mysterious, where pain and beauty meet, we are drawn to the Savior, like never before, again and again, we worship Him, complete.
 
(1) Mark 15:34
(2) Isaiah 40:28-31.
(3) Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”
(4) Gen. 1:1-3.
(5)  John 3:16,17
(6) 2 Tim. 1:7.
(7) Psalm 46:1