It is Finished!
But why are so many of us believers "guarding an empty tomb," trying to keep the shame of memories, regrets, sins of the past from impinging themselves on our present as if these offenses are still alive...and unforgiven?
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Thank you, my Lord Jesus Christ, for dying for ME! Thank you for taking my place on that Cross. Thank you for experiencing mysteriously the separation from God that my sin warranted.
"It is Finished!" What glorious words!
Read MoreToday is a Day of Reckoning...but not how you think! Usually we use that term to mean to give an accounting, a calculation, a settlement of accounts. In fact according to Wikipedia, it can mean a host of things from the final judgment day to heavy metal albums and Nintendo games.
But in the Bible sense, EVERY day is a Day of Reckoning. This word reckon in the Greek is often rendered consider. In other words, "count on something to be true". My reckoning doesn't MAKE it true. It already IS true, so I count on it and live from it. So each day is THE day to reckon to be true what God says is true...because it IS true…
Read MoreYes, He did and Yes, we truly did. Let me explain . . .
He died FOR us . . . for our sins, for the penalty that we deserve. He took our place on that Cross, suffering the eternal punishment that we deserved, so that we wouldn’t have to…So our forgiveness is total and complete and finished, because of HIS death FOR us…BUT what about the power of sin within that still harasses our souls? That’s where the second side of the Cross comes in…
Read MoreYes, He did and Yes, we truly did. Let me explain . . .
He died FOR us . . . for our sins, for the penalty that we deserve. He took our place on that Cross, suffering the eternal punishment that we deserved, so that we wouldn’t have to…So our forgiveness is total and complete and finished, because of HIS death FOR us…BUT what about the power of sin within that still harasses our souls? That’s where the second side of the Cross comes in…
Read MoreFor the past eight months, I’ve had the honor of sharing some of my writing on a new creative site called Kingdom Winds. I love their work and how they transform my humble thoughts and make them attractive in so many ways…
So for myself this Holy Week, I decided that I would read these sections fresh as if for the first time…right here from the Kingdom Winds posts. Maybe I’ll even forget that they are my own words led by the Spirit. And maybe those of you who have followed this Lenten series for all these eight years with me on A Branch in the Vine will read them again as if for the first time. And together we can melt under the weightiness of this beautiful Words of our Savior from the Cross.
Read MoreFrom the hosannas of the fickle crowd to the hallelujahs of the grateful, faithful ones, because of our King…praising HIM forever:
To the King who gave everything for me
Who's body crucified, high on Calvary's Tree
Who's redemptive blood makes way for me . . .
Just this today . . . just THIS!
Read MoreNow I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.
So goes a traditional nighttime prayer taught by American moms to their children for generations. It may seem odd to us today that there would be the mention of death in a child's prayer. But scientists say that sleep is the closest we come to death while still alive. The Greeks even had a proverb,
Sleep and death are brothers.
However, in the first century, Jewish moms taught their children a different bedtime prayer...quoting Psalm 31:
Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit.
Read MoreAll you need for your day! Join in with your heart and soul.
Read MoreIn the midst of all the pain and uncertainty and sickness and death and economic upheaval surrounding us in this time of COVID-19, we come back to the inevitable question WHY?
I’m not going to try to answer it. Rather, I’ll take you to the passage of Scripture that helps me a lot. Romans 8. And I’ll tell you why.
Read MoreTetelestai!* It is finished! The death of Christ on the Cross is the HINGE of human history...and nowbefore He breathes His last breath... a cry of victory,It is finished!
What's finished? It must be something BIG,...look at what happened when Jesus died:
At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead.
Read MoreHow to refocus on Christ and the Cross during these unsettling, fear-filled days of the COVID-19 pandemic? I usually post a review of all of our Lord’s beautiful final words before His death on the Cross during Holy Week.
But I decided this year to share this post at the beginning of each of the remaining weeks of Lent. It will take us back “beneath the Cross” via links to each saying and also via an amazing “cartoon” from days gone by — B.C. (Johnny Hart).
I love this post because it was such a serendipitous delight to find this clipping in my file a few years ago. So I can't help but share it year by year.
Would you meditate along with me ... and revisit Christ's seven sayings for the Cross this week? [See links below] It's truly "holy ground" as we reflect on the Cross, what our Lord went through, but mainly, what He accomplished there. What a perfect preparation for the joy, freedom, and release of the Resurrection.
Read MoreSo appropriate is this imagery for what we are facing today with the COVID-19 outbreak. Now more than ever, we need these Scriptures and these truths to keep us stabilized in the Lord.
When in the deepest of troubles...when there is no consolation or comfort...go to the sacred place where you and the Lord live together and nothing can touch...the place of union with our God through Jesus Christ by faith (Colossians 2:9-10 ESV)...and rest in Him who rests in you (John 17:20-23 ESV)!
Hide me in the shadow of your wings. Psalm 17:8b
Read MoreTalking [oops, singing] to myself these crisis days. How about you?
Read MoreThirst is a primal need in all of us humans...more demanding even than hunger! We can go quite awhile without eating, but a very short time without drinking. Jesus on the Cross had refrained up to this point from satisfying His thirst. Instead He drank the Father's cup to the very last drop! He became sin for us...the Sinless One! Jesus took our place, and the Father turned His back. The punishment for sin had been accomplished...spiritual separation from God....for US!
Now in fulfillment of prophecy, Jesus expresses His own physical need:
After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said ( to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. John 19:28-29 ESV
Read More…For you are timeless and part of a puzzle.
You are winsome and young as a lad.
And there is no disease or no struggle, that can pull you from God,
Be Ye Glad.
We have an Enemy. . . a silent enemy. . . an invisible enemy . . . a nasty Bully of an enemy.
And it’s not the coronavirus or any other entity that can harass our bodies and do damage in our physical world. The enemy I’m referring to is the Enemy of our souls, God’s enemy and therefore ours (because we belong to God) — the “spiritual forces of wickedness” —the devil and his evil legions.
Read MoreI don’t know about you, but I have been so distracted these past couple weeks. So much to process. So much to try to wrap my head around. So much still going on with COVID-19 ramping up in the US. Whatever Lenten Meditation I traditionally do at this time of the year has been distracted and even sporadic.
Every Lent for the past 8 years, I have shared reflections on Jesus’ words from the cross. I love to think deeply on each of Christ’s words. And even though I wrote them down as the Holy Spirit illumined my mind and heart, I read them fresh as coming from another pen.
Read MoreThis entered my email inbox early today through a trusted friend. I just HAD to share it with you — the wise and practical words of one of my flawed but courageous heroes of the faith. Take his ancient words to heart…so applicable to our COVID-19 situation today.
Read MoreJanet Renner Loyd has been a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ most of her life. Her formal education includes a degree in education from the University of Arizona and also a degree in Bible & Theology from Moody Bible Institute. For more than thirty years, she has been involved in teaching and leading women’s Bible studies, retreats, and meetings…most notably Precept upon Precept and various studies that she has personally developed. Professionally, Jan recently retired from teaching language and writing to GED and adult ESOL students.
About her life, Jan says, “The most important thing about me is my relationship with my Father God through my Lord Jesus Christ. I am forever grateful to Him for His love, mercy, and grace to me and my family and friends...and the world.”
Jan has been happily married to John Loyd for more than forty years. They have two adult, married children and five lively young grandsons.
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![[New Song added] The Place of QUARANTINE. . .Under His Wings](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/564e2a34e4b0ad118963f571/1584283176248-IPDBY80BMM4BXAIRIRE7/MOTHER+HEN.jpg)
