Loyalty

When God created Adam, a body was prepared for him that would suit the Son of God Himself.

Psalm 139 :14 God made us fearfully with the capacity to suffer horrific pain; and He made us wonderfully  with the capacity to enjoy exhilarating pleasure. We have the capacity to love and enjoy God at levels no other creation, including the angels has been given.

The Cross gives significance to the pain of the world. Without the Cross, all the anguish of the human race would be considered senseless suffering.
In the silhouette of Calvary's twilight,, I see  a God hanging there who is not removed or insulated from my suffering. This is not a God who is impervious to my pain. Rather I see a God who has intentionally inserted Himself into my world of pain, drinking more deeply from the cup of suffering than any other human being ever has.

Consequently, no one can look at God and say 'You don't understand' To the contrary, He empathizes with our suffering from first hand experience. He who suffered in the body cares for all who suffer in their bodies, since He Himself is in the body also. 

 The statement from this book brings to mind my friend Mike Sands who is suffering with ALS To think of Jesus with ALS...makes me think of Mike Sands, and all his family who suffer with their dad, husband, son.)  http://alswithcourage.blogspot.ca/  (nancy)

 When I can't make sense of my journey , I go back to the Cross.  When I can't process my pain levels, I go back to the Cross. When my wound seems incurable, I go back to the Cross. When I can't see my way forward, I go back to the Cross. When it feels like He's withholding from me, I go back to the Cross , because sometimes the accuser hit's me with this ancient accusation.

When I look at the Cross, I see a God with nails in His Hands, a nail in His feet, a crown of thorns on His Brow , and stripes on His Back. As He hangs there with arms spread wide, He says to me, ' I give you My mind, I give you My soul, I give you My heart, I give you My Body, I give you My Strength, I give you My all. I give you my last breath, I give you my last drop of blood.

I declare to you that  God withholds nothing from me. He has given me His all. His extravagance has empowered me, in turn to withhold nothing from Him. He had given me His everything and I now give Him my everything. I am His and He is mine.

It is because of the cross that I know He loves me......

Amen...me too Bob...thanks for the reminder, these words strongly imprint this truth deeper into my heart.

You Make Me Brave

Lord, You ALWAYS love first. Thank You. Tonight I really, really, need that from You. I take that first terrifying step out of the boat, and come to you across the stormy sea.....straight into Your arms of loving acceptance and joyful welcome.

The blast of sea spray assaults my face and washes my salty tears into the deep. Eyes locked , You hold my gaze, strengthening my every step. So I come. You  make me brave !

How God Feels About the Cross

I came across a book I have had for a number of years and just never took the time to read. It's called Power of the Blood, Approaching God with Confidence written by Bob Sorge. I have been feeling an urging within my heart to share some of these thoughts that are impacting me so much at this moment.

Things that I have never even thought about when it comes to the Cross and the Blood of Jesus and more importantly,about how did GOD 'feel' about watching what His Beloved Son said yes to, when He agreed to become 'the Lamb of God, slain before the foundation of the world.' For some strange, or perhaps not so strange reason, I feel the need to  ponder and ask for deeper insight.

When you come to the Cross, You're getting God at His Highest Passion.  

If you want to know what God feels most strongly about, talk to Him about His highest joys and deepest sorrows. I am persuaded there is nothing God feels more strongly about than the Cross of His Son.( Is. 53:3) While God knows many sorrows there was one that eclipsed all others. Never has anything torn and lacerated the infinite depths of God's heart as deeply and severely as the crucifiction of His Beloved Son.

 And....He'll never forget .

Look at His Cross . All you see is blood. Blood on His scalp . Blood on His face.
Blood on His neck. Blood on His shoulders. Blood on His arms. Blood on His hands. Blood on His back. Blood on His chest.  Blood on His legs. Blood on His feet.
Blood on His Cross. Blood on the ground. It was a spectacle of Blood.

And then came waves of divine wrath as the deeply offended God unleashed upon His Spotless One the punishment for our sins. As the Son endured the barrage of fiery indignation, creation itself turned dark at noonday because of the terror.

None of us knows just how astronomical the pain of God was during those interminable hours of what  Thomas Dubay calls 'Consummate splendor in monstrous horror'. Because of the pain He and His Son endured God has deeper conviction and stronger opinions about Calvary and what it accomplished.

Come to  the Cross and you find a God who is inflexible regarding alternatives, dire in consequences for those who reject it, lavishly extravagant towards those who receive it, and immediately responsive to those who reach for it. Because when you come to the Cross , you're getting God at His highest passion.

Jesus abandonment left God undone. Calvary shook heaven to the core. God was undone. Jesus' fixation on His Father during His suffering moved God's heart to it's very foundations 

You know how valuable you are to God by looking at what He was willing to pay to redeem you.