“Like a sapling he grew up in front of us. like a root in arid ground.
Without beauty, without majesty (we saw him), no looks to attract our eyes;
a thing despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering,
a man to make people screen their faces; he was despised and we took no account of him.

And yet ours were the sufferings he bore, ours the sorrows he carried.
But we, we thought of him as someone punished. struck by God, and brought low.
Yet he was pierced though for our faults, crushed for our sins.
On him lies the punishment that brings us peace, and through his wounds we are healed.”
Isaiah 53:2-5

He laid in the tomb, He walked into the Pit of Hell and He rescued us from death and all the saints before Him. And yet they did not know Him. Do we really know Jesus? Are we not seeing Him for the greatness He has done? Let us learn to hear and to see what others did not. Let us see God in Christ Jesus. Let us see Christ in each other.

Prayer for today: Grant us eternal Peace, and Mercy for what our sins have done. Amen

“It was now about the sixth hour and, with the sun eclipsed, a darkness came over the land until the ninth hour. The veil of the Temple was torn right down the middle, and when Jesus cried in a loud voice, He said,’Father into Your hands I commit My spirit.’ with these words he breathed His last.” Luke 23: 44-46

This is what we celebrate, the final sacrifice. In Jesus, all sacrifices are complete. As a man He took all sin, all transgressions and bore them into death. And even onto the very last breath, He committed all this to the Father. He took presented them to God and took the death that was due mankind and died for our sake.

I have believed at the moment of this death, Jesus was separated from the Father because God can not contain sin, so it was Jesus, wholly man who bore our sins. And as man, Jesus turned His spirit over to the Father to take all punishment for our sins. In doing this we are free from condemnation. While we were still sinners, He took our sins, suffered our fate and defeated Satan at his own game. That is why this day is such an important day to remember.

Prayer for Today: Lord Jesus, you gave everything that we may obtain grace and purity. You became nothing so we could have everything holy and pure. Blessed is the Name of Jesus! Blessed are You who are our rescuer and salvation! Amen!

“I say to you as a sensible people: judge for yourselves what I am saying. The blessing cup that we bless is a communion with the blood of Christ, and the bread that we break is a communion with the body of Christ. the fact that there is only one loaf means that, though there are many of us, we form a single body because we share in this single loaf.” 1 Cor. 10:15-17

“Now taking as they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and when he has said the blessing, he broke it and gave it to His disciples, ‘Take and eat,’ He said, ‘this is my body.’ Then he took a cup, and when he has returned thanks he gave it to them, ‘Drink all of you from this,’ he said, ‘for this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, which is to be poured out for many for the forgiveness of sin.” Matt. 26:26-28

In the words of Thomas a’Kepus, “For it is Your [Christ’s] work, not the power of man, Your sacred instructions, not his invention. No man is able of himself to comprehend and understand these things which surpass even the keen vision of angels. How, then, shall I, an unworthy sinner who am but dust and ashes, be able to fathom and understand so great a mystery?”

I AM NOT ABLE TO UNDERSTAND but I still believe, I believe in the fullness of Christ as it was presented to the disciples. And that when we partake of the sacrament, we are joined in Christ, with Christ and for Christ. That we are held up to God the Father in Union with Christ as a single body,one Faith one People of God. It is no coincidence that Jesus used the Passover to introduce this sacrament to us, He is presenting Himself as the lamb of Israel and by His blood on our Doorpost to our souls, we are spared eternal death but are guarded by the Holy spirit, in that we are receivers of the Promise of God for eternity.

Prayer for Today: Let the celebration begin! Christ has given Himself for us. In His blood we are sealed in the New Covenant! Rejoice, oh my people, rejoice and Praise to the Father who grants us eternal Peace! Amen

“Finally, brothers, we urge you and appeal to you in the Lord Jesus to make more and more progress in the kind of life that you are meant to live: the life that Gods wants, as you learnt from us, and you are already living it. You have not forgotten the instructions we gave you on the authority of the Lord Jesus.” 1 Thes. 4:1,2

Now that you have left the wilderness, the wilds of the world and its sinful desires, and you are being taught the ways of the Lord, though your church, pastors and teachers; you are being lead onto the Word and the Way. You are being guided on the path of Right living, godly living. Do not let the false wisdom of the world and the flesh.

Let sound teaching reach your hearts and test every thing as to it source. Is it of men or of the Son of Man, Jesus? Continue to live as Jesus lived and walk the path of His Light.

Prayer for Today: Dear Lord, Let me make true progress on Your Light, more and more purity in loving in your Word. Do mot let me walk away from Your instructions. Amen

“Whoever believes in me, believes not n me but in the one who sent me, and who ever sees me sees the one the one who sent me. I, the light, have come into the world so that whoever believes in me need not stay in the dark anymore. If anyone hears my words and does not keep them faithfullyit is not I who will condemn him, since I did not come to condemn the world, but to save the world; he who rejects me and refuses my words has his judge already: The word itself I have spoken will be his judge on the last day.” John 12:44-48

The Gospel of John is loaded! It is not meant for the Sunday Morning Christian. It is meant for the Everyday Christian. These verses speak directly to the point. Keep His Word faithfully! Failure to do so will be your judgment. The key words, the word itself will be the judge. How you lived according to the word. So in the new Path of God, are you going to continue to pass your gaze at the world or are you going to keep your eyes straight on the Word?

If you believe with all your heart, your focus will be only on Jesus and His choices. You will see with His eyes, hear with His ears. Bless as He blessed and remember that He only forgave, never condemned.

Prayer for Today: I believe, Lord, I believe. Show me open my eyes, my ears to see and hear every word in my heart. Amen

Jesus replied to them:
“Now the hour has come
for the Son of Man to be glorified.
unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies,’
it remains only a single grain;
but if it dies,
it yields a rich harvest.
Anyone who loves his life loses it;
anyone who hates his life in the world
will keep it for eternal life.
If a man serves me, My Father will honour him.
Now my soul is troubled.
What shall I say:
Father, save me from this hour?
But it was for this very reason that I have come to this hour.
Father, glorify Your Name!”
A voice came from Heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”
John 12:23-28

So much to say in these few words, so much to understand. The Disciples could not understand that Jesus was speaking of His own death. But it also speaks of us, we are to die to the world so that we can begin a new life with eternal consequences. We are to be of service to God as He was. Only in this way can God honor us. Jesus said no love greater than to give up your life for another, but He gave up not only His Life but His relationship with the Father in taking in all our sins. And in knowing what was to come and being obedient to the Father for our sake, He was glorified and once again He will be glorified in the Days of Judgement. God has given Jesus the Glory that is His alone. God says, “I will Glorify Jesus!”

Prayer for Today: All Glory is Yours, Lord Jesus, all glory in Heaven and on Earth, Blessed are you who so loved that death is conquered. amen.

“The next day the crowds who has come up for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. they took branches of palm and went out to meet him, shouting, ‘Hosanna! Blessings on the King of Israel, who comes in the name of the Lord.’ Jesus found a young donkey and mounted it – as scripture says: Do not be afraid, duaghter of Zion; see your king is coming, mounted on the colt of a donkey. At the time his disciples did not understand this but later, after Jesus had been glorified, they remembered that this had been written about him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead were telling how they had witnessed it; it was because of this, too, that the crowd came out to meet him: they had heard that he had given this sign.” John 12:12-18

We have been given a sign. We have been reminded that the King has come! he came from a humble stable, lived in a backwater town, preached in the countryside of a obscure province of a vast empire. He rode a young donkey, entered with praises and then was dragged to a tormented death only to be glorified again with the Father. We celebrate this event with palm branches, branches that were to signify the cleaning of the road, a dusty road into a glorious city.

Let the palm branches represent to you the clearing of the wilderness and the sheltering us from the dust of the world. For in Christ we are also glorified with the Holy Spirit, joined with God the Father. The waste of the Wilderness is now gone, we walk on a cushioned path, softened by Grace. The filth of the word no longer clings to us.

Prayer for Today: Blessed is he who come in the Name of the Lord! Spread our branches before the King who reigns in the Most High heaven. Glory to God. Amen!

“Who can overcome the world? Only the man who believes that Jesus is the Son of God; Jesus Christ who came by water and blood, not with water only but with water and blood; with the Spirit as another witness – since the Spirit is the truth – so that all three of them may agree. We accept the testimony of human witnesses, but God’s testimony is much greater, and this is God’s testimony, given as evidence for His Son. Everybody who believes in the Son of God has this testimony inside of him; and anyone will not believe God, is making God a liar,because he has not trusted the testimony God has given about His Son.” 1 John 5:5-10

As is my custom, I watch the movie “The Passion of Christ” every year around this time. And the movie is the testimony about Christ as the living sacrifice. We, as believers are to be filled with the Holy Spirit, redeemed by the water and blood of Jesus and reconciled before God as witnesses to the truth, that Jesus is the Son of the Living God. The question we have to ask ourselves is whether or not we have the testimony and witness of Christ or are we just going through motions to placate ourselves. Take time this week, Passion Week, to reaffirm your commitment to Christ and to become the witness that you are called to be.

Prayer for Today: From Your entrance into Jerusalem to your death and your triumphant victory over death, we exalt You Jesus, That you should take away our sins and call us Yours. Let our lives be the witness of Your Grace and Mercy. Amen

“Anyone who says, ‘I love God’, and hates his brother is a liar, since a man who does not love the brother that he can see cannot love God, whom he has never seen. So this is the commandment that He has given us, that anyone who loves God must also love his brother.” 1 John 4: 20,21

Every day I see this battle between people of God. And I wonder, if they trully understand what it means to love God. We are given the commandment, love one another, love your neighbor, love your enemy. But then we still are filled with the desire to fight each other, to maim each others hearts, to even slander them in public. Why is that?

Is ti because we still walk in the wilderness? that we have not taken the hand of Jesus completely? Or is it because we still cling to our human frailty and fleshly faults. Most likely it is simply we are weak, we are alone with our failings and are not yet perfected in love. A n on going journey that is yet to be completed and may not be until the final Judgement.

Prayer for Today: I am weak, I am still struggling with the idea of pure godly love. Help me by Your Spirit to overcome these failings that I may trully Love You and my fellow man as you love us. Amen.