“After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
The angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen, just as He said.'”
Matthew 28:1-6
Hello friends,
I’m sorry I’ve been AWOL for a little while, but I’ve been in the process of selling our house and moving, and that’s taken just about everything out of me. I’m getting settled, though, and my thoughts are turning to our election process here in America and the state of our society, and it has me grieved.
I’ve posted this on my personal Facebook page, but I wanted to open it up to any of you who may be interested in our future here in America, and in large part, the rest of the world.
Whoever would like to join me, I’ll be fasting and praying on Sunday, March 13. At least that’ll be one day. There may be more before election day.
Of course what we face is nothing new. David was also distressed by lying lips and deceitful tongues. But he cried out to God and David tells us that God heard him. God will hear us, too, as we pray fervently from a righteous, repentant, and humble heart. My prayer is for God’s grace and mercy to open the eyes of those who are currently blinded by the enemy, and for belief that leads to salvation.
“I call on the Lord in my distress,
and He answers me.
Save me, Lord,
from lying lips
and from deceitful tongues.
What will He do to you,
and what more besides,
you deceitful tongue?
He will punish you with a warrior’s sharp arrows,
with burning coals of the broom bush.
Woe to me that I dwell in Meshek,
that I live among the tents of Kedar!
Too long have I lived
among those who hate peace.
I am for peace;
but when I speak, they are for war.”
Psalm 120
Oh dear ones, loved so greatly by God, can I ask you to, for just a moment, lay down your tape and scissors? To take your eyes away from the Christmas movies and your ears from the holiday music?
Can I ask you to come take a journey with me? We are going to see a King.
There is a little, ancient town full of people who have come to be counted in the census. All the rooms are full, too.
There is a very young woman who is about ready to give birth. She and her husband have come a long way and she looks tired and uncomfortable. Her labor pains have begun.
“The barn is available,” they’re told.
Humbly, they make their way to the stable. He tries to make her comfortable with a bed of hay as the animals make room for a royal guest.
She gives birth and the pain is soon forgotten as joy overwhelms her. He is perfect in every way. They gaze upon their miracle child, the one given to them by God Himself. There is a feeding trough, and he makes a bed for this tiny baby. The stars are shining on this most special of nights.
Meanwhile, out in the nearby fields, men who only a moment ago were tending sheep now stand in shock and fear as a glorious and heavenly light shines around them and an angel of the Lord appears to them and says,
“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord.This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
The shepherds are barely able to take it in when a whole host of angels appears, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
They grab their staffs and run to the place where this Savior, this long-awaited Messiah has been born. He is beautiful and they can hardly believe it. They have seen the great Shepherd.
Room has been made for this little family of three. They wonder what the future holds in and through this new and precious life.
Sometime later, other worshippers make their way from the east. A star has led some wise men on a journey. It’s been long and dusty, but they’ve been moved by something, Someone, beyond them to make it. They’ve brought gifts suitable to present to royalty: gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Gold for a King, but not just any king. A King who has chosen to strip Himself of His heavenly robes and crown and become like us.
Frankincense, symbolizing His priesthood, one that would never end.
Myrrh for embalming, for one day in the not-too-distant future, this King will die for the sins of the world.
The star that led them from so far away has stopped directly over the house where the King lay. They step inside and bow before Him and worship Him. They present their gifts, and Mary and Joseph continue to marvel at God’s love, His miracles and His glory.
The world looks different to them now. Suddenly it is filled with hope and love and promise. Under the light of the stars was the Light of the world. Salvation was here.
I am so excited to be back with you after my long hiatus. God has been good and faithful and has done some great things in my heart and life during my break and I’m ready to resume our journey with the Lord together.
Life is hard, I know, and the world seems to be getting crazier, darker, and more unstable than ever, but I hope to encourage you to keep focused on Jesus. He is our compass, our light, our peace, our truth, our hope.
He is our solid foundation.
When all else is shaky, we can walk surefootedly, and we can stand unwaveringly in our faith and trust of the God who loves us.
The enemy would have us get sidetracked, even in things that seem good, but none of it means a thing if our focus does not continue to be this:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Mark 12:30
This is the crux of our journey.
Everything we do hinges on God’s love – understanding and receiving it more and more as we grow in our relationship with Him, and loving Him back more today than we did the day before.
God’s love is where all true treasure lies.
From His love all good things flow. With it we have the power to forgive, the confidence to pray, the strength to serve, the courage to do whatever He calls us to do. And that’s when an enriched life begins.
As that love between us and God grows, nothing will be able to move us. No surprise diagnosis, no financial upset, no personal attack, no shocking headline, nothing.
Walking with Jesus we can endure anything, and endure it with a peace and joy that can only come from Him.
During my break each one of you (followers on the website and on the Facebook page) have been prayed for individually, by name. Let me tell you, it was an absolute joy to do that. I hope the Lord blessed you through it as much as He did me.
Please feel free to ask for prayer anytime. You are all on my heart and I love you all very much.
If you follow God Treasure through email, please consider liking the Facebook page where I post scripture and music and other things I may not necessarily post on the regular website.
And if you follow only through Facebook, since FB has a quirky policy of not getting the all the posts to all the followers, please consider signing up on the website – Godtreasure.net – to receive the blogs by email so you don’t miss any. I promise, I won’t send you anything else! And the more you like the posts on FB, the more likely you are to get the posts. And don’t forget to share!
“The Lord bless you
and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace.”
I must have heard this admonition at least three or four times over the past couple of weeks. Heaven help us if we ever come to the place where we think we have it all figured out. Or that we’re too old or too young or too busy, or too anything to learn new things.
There is no where that is truer than in our walk with Christ on our journey through life.
God is always speaking, as long as we’re listening.
In Peter’s second letter to those living in faith in Christ, he writes:
“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.” 2 Peter 1:5-7
Faith is not a badge we put on at the moment of conversion as if the race were over and the rewards already given. Faith is the starting point. Then, with our faith in hand, we run the race.
Virtue
Live with high moral standards. That is a daily, conscious effort in this morally-declining world. Up is down, right is wrong and wrong is right. But we know where to go to cut to the chase and find the absolute truth, and that is always God’s Word.
The more we allow the Holy Spirit to rein in our hearts and lives, the more we will learn to restrain ourselves from the things of the world that create division from Him, and vice versa.
Steadfastness
This is a cheerful, patient endurance through all our trials, ever-increasing in hope that through it all our God is molding us into the image of His Son. We learn to wait – to wait for direction, to wait for discernment, to wait for rescue, to wait for healing, to wait on our God and know that He hears, He loves us, and His timing and ways are perfect.
Godliness
Simply, less of me and more of Him.
Brotherly affection
Daily we are to grow in our love for our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Love
This is agape, the highest form of love. It is the pinnacle of sacrificial, unconditional love that puts ourselves on the alter to serve another.
To grow in these godly qualities takes a willingness to be humble. It takes being able to admit when we’re wrong so we can repent and grow. It is taking regular stock of our hearts through scripture as the Sword “penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Heb 4:12)
It takes walking out of the shadows into the bright and baring light of Christ and letting Him examine us, burning off those ungodly traits through the fire of trial, and knowing that those same flames burn with His love and grace and mercy and forgiveness.
Why? Why do we want to do these things instead of just coasting through life, knowing that we have salvation at the end of it? Peter tells us in the next verse:
“For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:8
I don’t know about you, but I want to be effective. I want my life to count for good. It was used for enough pain and sorrow before Christ graciously invaded my life. I want to learn and grow and trip and get back up and try again, trust more, pray more, yield more, love more.
In this one life I get, I want Christ to have His way in and through me. I want to learn the way of my Master and be prepared and unashamed when I meet Him face to face.
But it won’t come by osmosis.
So I take the faith handed to me by the Holy Spirit, and together we run…
“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
John 8:36
Daniel knew it in the lions’ den, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego knew it in the fire, David knew it in the wilderness, Paul knew it in chains, John knew it on the island of Patmos, Pastor Saeed Abedini knows it in prison, and countless others know it under communist rule, tyrannical regimes, intense persecution… No matter what circumstances we face directly around us or in the world, no one can chain our spirits once Christ has set us free.
“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To Him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 5:10-11
I’ve been reading through 1 Peter again, but this time more through the eyes of Peter. Precious Peter.
The man who was given three chances to pray along with Jesus on the night He was betrayed, instead fell asleep and three times fell into temptation.
He had looked into Jesus’ eyes and said he would be the lone faithful holdout among everyone else on earth…and then denied Him the very next day.
He had gone so far as to tell Jesus would rather die with Him than deny Him…then denied Him with an oath.
He had impulsively cut an ear off one of the high priest’s servants when they came to arrest Jesus, and then fell so fast and so hard that that very day he called down curses and emphatically swore on oath that he…did…not…know…the…Man.
And then a rooster crowed, and Jesus stopped everything and looked into his eyes.
Peter fled, found a solitary place and wept bitterly.
It must have seemed like an eternity from that moment until the moment after Jesus had risen from the dead and met them on the beach with fish frying over a fire and Jesus once again looked him in the eye, asking him not once, but three times, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?” John 21:15-17
And three times Peter answered yes.
And in that moment Jesus restored him with his new assignment, saying “Feed my sheep.” (John 21:17) And then the command “Follow Me.” (John 21:19)
And Peter became a fisher of men.
The man who had been so filled with pride before became the man who wrote “be self-controlled.” (1 Peter 1:13)
The man who had let fear rule in his heart is the same man who would later write “But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.” (1 Peter 13:14-17)
Peter knew true suffering. Those days he spent with guilt and shame, far from his friend, far from God, far from forgiveness, were agonizing. He probably spent much of those days with his head hanging down looking at the ground, or into the sea, as he resigned himself to his old life of fishing for fish. Jesus was gone; his life with Him was over. Simon Peter discovered there is no greater suffering than to be separated from God.
Maybe circumstances in your life have changed and you’re feeling like a failure. Maybe they’ve left you on the sidelines. Maybe you think God’s done with you.
Let me tell you something: He isn’t. He wasn’t done with Peter and He’s not done with you.
He’s using circumstances to mature you, to perfect you, to make you wholly dependent on Him. And when the time is right, with His resurrection power, He will restore you.
You are His domain, His glory. He started the work and He will complete it. Hold onto to the hope that Peter discovered was not a vain hope.
Be careful not to fill that heartache with something less than God’s perfect will, something of this earth. Don’t go back to fishing. Keep waiting and filling your heart with truth, hope and His promises.
Ultimate restoration will come for all of us who trust in Him when we see our Savior face to face. As long as we’re on this side of heaven and away from the Lord we will feel a longing to be with Him, to be restored body and soul. In the meantime, keep following Christ on the narrow road.
“Above His head they placed the written charge against Him: “THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS” Matthew 27:37
This was the charge. They had pointedly asked Him “Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”
He couldn’t deny it.
They immediately surrounded Him and spit on Him. They punched Him with their fists and slapped Him. They mocked Him saying “Prophesy to us, Messiah. Who hit you?”
It had begun.
Meanwhile, Peter had fallen fast and hard. After he denied ever knowing Jesus for the third time, a rooster crowed, just like Christ predicted. Jesus was close enough to look into Peter’s eyes, “And he (Peter) went outside and wept bitterly.” Matthew 26:75
Judas, too, was seized with remorse, and went back to the chief priests and the elders who had paid him money to betray his Friend saying, “I have sinned, for I have betrayed innocent blood.” Matthew 27:4
But they didn’t care, and they didn’t forgive his sin.
The crowd was asking for Barabbas, a notorious insurrectionist and murderer — charges worthy of crucifixion — to be released and for Jesus to take his place.
Why would they want a known murderer back out on the streets, and a man who just a week prior they had celebrated calling Him “Son of David!”?
The murderer hadn’t personally betrayed them, but Jesus had.
Jesus had come into Jerusalem — their beloved city, the city of God — riding on a donkey, a sign of peace. They thought He was their messiah, their savior, their king…and now He was arrested and at the mercy of the leaders.
He didn’t look at all like a savior or a king. He had lied to them, and they were angry.
They shouted “Crucify Him!”
But when Pilate pressed them, they answered “His blood is on us and on our children!” Matthew 27:25
Cat-O’-Nine-Tails
And so it would be. But in His mercy, that was God’s plan all along.
By now Jesus’s face and head would be swollen and dripping with blood, teeth knocked to the ground.
They ordered Him to be scourged.
Prior to crucifixion, Romans routinely used a cat-o’-nine-tails — a whip fixed with small pieces of metal or bone at the end. He would be whipped up to forty times.
His flesh was torn from the bone, exposing organs, tendons, nerves. Blood flowed profusely. His body began to shake with shock, and then it started to shut down.
Then soldiers dragged Him back inside the court room. They took off His clothes and put a scarlet robe on Him and gave Him a staff. Someone ripped a branch off a thorny bush and twisted it into a crown and shoved it on his head, spikes stabbing His flesh. They spit on Him again, grabbed the staff and hit Him in the head over and over. They took the robe and put His clothes back on.The pain was excruciating, but there was still the road to Golgotha.
A crossbeam weighing a hundred pounds was heaved onto his mangled, screaming back. He struggled and stumbled under the weight of it, and Simon from Cyrene was pulled from the crowd to carry His cross.
Some prisoners were only tied to their crosses. Nailing was left for those who were seen as especially heinous.
His clothes were taken and He was laid on the ground while large nails were driven through flesh and bone, sending burning pain up through His arms and legs. He was heaved up onto the main beam, and a sign naming His charge was nailed to the top:
THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
Through all of it every word He spoke was full of grace and mercy and compassion and forgiveness.
Even through the magnitude of His torture, none of it matched the pain of the sin — from the garden where sin began to the end of time – that was heaped upon Him. Every vile murder, every sickening rape, every twisted abuse, every act of adultery… Peter’s and Judas’s betrayal. Yours and mine. Every sin was laid on Him.
And He bore it all with love.
Once our sin was paid for, it was up to us to choose whether or not to accept that payment.
Judas chose to confess his sin to the wrong men. No one has authority to forgive sin but God though the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. Confession to anyone else is futile. In his overwhelming guilt, he hung himself.
Peter would face Christ and his sin would be forgiven, his guilt and shame forever taken away.
Jesus once asked His friends, “Who do you say I am?” Matthew 16:15
He asks every one of us that same question. People who lived near Jesus believed all kinds of things about Him, but only one thing was true: He really was the King of the Jews, and of anyone who would call on His Name. But His kingdom wasn’t an earthly one. They wanted to make Him king, but He wasn’t just king, savior, messiah, He was King, Savior, Messiah! His kingdom was a spiritual one. He was King of all kings, with all power and authority, for all time and eternity. He was and is more than they could have ever imagined.
My friend, if you don’t already know it, Jesus died for the sins of the whole world, and that includes you. He died for your sins so you don’t have to. So you can be free of the weight and the guilt and shame. So you can live in peace and know you have a home waiting in heaven.
God loves you. It’s why He sent His Son to the cross. Confess your sin to Him today, and He promises to forgive you, for “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other Name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12
Perhaps you’re angry at God. Maybe you’ve accused Him of some wrongdoing, like the crowd had. Their expectations drove them into sin, but they would have a chance to confess and be forgiven, too. Soon they would see that everything Jesus claimed to be was true, because the story was just beginning…
“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” Romans 10:9-10
This Friday, March 20, the movie Do You Believe? will open in theatres. It journeys alongside the lives of a dozen people, all struggling and looking for something, but they don’t know what.
Sounds like a lot of people in the world right now. And of course, there is only one answer to all of life’s questions, to its pain, its confusion, its heartache, to the web of our own sin, and that is Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth and the life. “No one comes to the Father except through me” Jesus declared. No one.
But the good news is that anyone, no matter what a person’s religious background, age, color, socioeconomic background or anything else, and no matter what sins a person has done, anyone who believes on the name of Jesus Christ and declares Him as Lord will be forgiven and saved from the eternal punishment of those sins.
Christ says “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” Revelation 3:20
Not only will a place be made in heaven for those who believe in God’s Son, but Christ promises to live with us right here, right now, to journey with us and give us hope and peace in the midst of our struggles.
We all know people who are struggling and looking for something but they don’t know what that something is. But we who know Christ do, and we may be the only one who can stand in the gap for them, who can be the bridge between darkness and Light, who can introduce them to the One who is the answer to the questions they’re asking.
Ask the Lord who that person or persons are who He would have you invite not just to see a movie, but to be shown the Way. Pray ahead of time that the Lord would soften hearts. Fast and ask the Spirit to break the chains. And then be bold and ask.
Heck, throw in a big tub of buttered popcorn.
Maybe you are the person who is struggling and looking for answers. Maybe you’ve gone to church all your life, maybe you haven’t stepped foot in one in a long time, maybe never at all.
Please know this: God loves you. His Son, Jesus Christ, loves you, and He desperately wants a relationship with you, so much that He died on the cross for your sins. His grace and mercy are deep and wide enough to reach you no matter how far away you think you are. He is only one prayer away.
If you can, go see the movie this weekend. And whether you go for yourself or you take someone, come back here and tell me how God spoke to you through it.
Life is short, and none of us knows how much time we have left. All those who will pass away today didn’t know it yesterday. We must seize the day.
