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Tag: forgiveness

  • Interrupting Jesus 7 – a lowly woman

    Interrupting Jesus 7 – a lowly woman

    Luke 7:

    36 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table.

    Nice. One of the leading men of your church asks you to dinner. Jesus did just what we would do: He accepted.

    37 And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment…

    alabaster-jarYou go to a nice house of one of the leading citizens in town and chit-chat while the food is being prepared. You begin enjoying your dinner and conversation; but like so many times during Jesus’ mission, some of the common people in town hear about the Messiah’s dinner plans and just show up uninvited.

    38 and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.

    Now what?

    39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.”

    You are trying to convince an important religious leader that He needs to believe that you are the One God has sent to Israel as the Messiah. (If you or I had been sent all we would need here is a small miracle; or perhaps we would make a more persuasive logical argument from the Law or the Prophets, like so many times before.)

    Jesus (as we know) doesn’t deal with interruptions by people the same way you and I do, fortunately.

    He lifts up the lowly and humble and rebukes the high and arrogant.

    Jesus speaks the truth in love to his host.

    40 And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.”

    (Jesus has a way of telling stories which convicts softly.)

    The impact of a parable is in the love for the hearers convicted.

    41 “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

    43 Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.”

    And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.”

    [Note now the gentle body language of our Lord as He turns to the lowly woman, glorifying her, while He speaks the gentle truth of His rebuke for His host, the Pharisee, Simon.]

    Woman annointing Jesus' feet Olejek44 Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.

    Three strikes for His host: no water, no kiss of greeting, no anointing. Here is where we fail in our everyday dealings with ordinary guests. Simon is most certainly convicted, while Jesus points to the humility of the woman who interrupted them as a better hostess, even though she is a sinner looked down on by society.

    47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much.

    But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

    • Do you dwell comfortably at a table of those with little to forgive?
    • Do you consequently lack compassion for those whose sins seem worse than your own?

    48 And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

    [The dinner and Bible study continues. The host and invited guests wonder at the compassion of Jesus as He sends this sinful woman away.]

    49 Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?”

    50 And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

    Shalom. Your faith in the Messiah Jesus has saved you.

     

  • Prayer List

    Prayer List

    May our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus, who we worship with the Father and Holy Spirit, kneed our impenitent hearts of stone into soft sands of His overflowing love. Amen.

    To begin, let’s not forget that God is a Person who cares about us. In Christ Jesus we have a personal relationship with the Living God!

    And by our intimate relationship with the God of Heaven, a spirit to Spirit relationship the Bible describes as most like that of a wife to her husband, we have the intimacy of the love of God and the ear of His loving heart.

    Who, then, do we pray for? (and to whom do we pray?)

    Can we begin any relationship without attention given to the intimacy of love between the one who asks and the person we would have answer?

    IF you ignore the loving question of your loved one, how is it that you ask God and expect to receive an answer? His is an even more intimate relationship, not unlike that of husband and his wife.

    Did I say, ‘His wife?’

    Yes. Unless we are submitted to Jesus Christ as our Lord, He cannot be the Bridegroom of our hope. What a shame that He would say to you, betrothed christian, “I never knew you.”

    Prayer is most personal with the Person of God!

    If we pray privately, which I pray you do and will do so even more, the intimacy will give you more understanding of His will, alongside your dedicated devotion to the scripture of God’s written and living word. (I am too often guilty of a lack of intimacy in my prayer with God, a lack of time and commitment.)

    Privately, (& trying to praise and thank the lover of my soul) I ask God my Lord for what I need, showing me what I need rather than what I want which is not in His will. I guess that I would say that I NEED God to sustain me in my prayer for my own heart-felt needs.

    church prayer listCorporately, that is in praying as part of our church or a prayer group, I find that prayers like my deepest prayers to God are sorely neglected by most of those asking ONLY for prayers for others, not confessing our own deepest hurts, needs, and desires for God’s love and the love of our Christian community.

    We border on hypocrisy in our false, hopeful faces before our brothers and sisters in Christ.

    If we only ask prayer for our family, friends, loved ones and others, while hiding the depths of our brokenness from those who would, along with God, sustain us in prayer; is our prayer request not disingenuous, an easier substitute for our own heart-felt needs for love and prayer?

    as a husband

    Our God is a God of relationships – loving relationships. We dare not neglect His expected intimacy in our prayer relationships in which we would intercede for others by our own prayers.

    I pray first for my wife, then for our three (grown) children. I try to do this more than daily. This has always been my first priority of prayer.

    I try also to pray for my Christian family, as if they are nearer to me than my own biological family; for through Christ in eternity, they are also adopted alongside me into His body, through the Blood of His Holy Sacrifice of love for all of our sins.

    Pray first for the person. Pray then for their need.

    I try to bow my head and thank God in prayer before I eat or enter into some activity of the day. (I seek to do this both privately and publicly as witness.) This is not so much about the person, as it is for our immediate need. For example, my wife once insisted on praying for our safety most times we left home in the car. Our security and safety are needs, of course. Yet the soul of a loved one is certainly more important to God and to me than any thing I might ask for a trip across town.

    girls at slotsIs it right that one who claims Jesus as “Lord,” should pray for help in winning in the world so that they might live comfortable in Christ?

    lottery prayer filterDo you pray that you or someone in your family will ‘hit the Lottery’ and help answer your unanswered prayers? Do you pray for a blessing from God, nearer than the blessing God already sent for you to have and to hold?

    We know the true answer in Christ.

    Yet is not forgiveness and grace so necessary in dealing with the struggles and sins of our most beloved ones as they trustingly share the concerns of their own heart?

    The false face of our prayer requests (sometimes)

    Some of the sins of our lives and struggles of our flesh remain even more as anathema to ‘church’ prayers. Who will hear our cries to God, a crying out for help, love, forgiveness and grace; cries from some of our beloved Christian sisters and brothers?

    Dare you even mention one of these at ‘church?’

    Dare your brother or sister even mention: an abortion, adultery, a homosexual experience, pornography or any other such ‘christian’ taboo?

    Dare any of our Christian youth even mention the passions and indiscretions which most commonly lead to the pregnancies the church must hide? For that matter, dare one divorced, widowed or unmarried for a time ask the help of a brother (sister) in prayer for the same?

    Dare any ‘grace-faced christian’ even reveal these struggles and prayers to a pastor, let alone a dear friend of the church? Again, let us be careful not to judge too harshly.

    You know why you put on the mask of hypocrisy.

    Do you not suspect that those you love in Christ are not threatened by the judgment of your rejection?

    How difficult it is for us to not judge (for even Jesus would not judge).  I am guilty. May the Lord have mercy on me, for I endure the punishment of His curse. Yet I include loved ones guilty of each or these sins just mentioned and more in my prayers to God.

    If God can forgive them (should they turn to His love), how can I not also pray for their repentance and return to God through the same Blood of Christ Jesus shed for me?

    David committed adultery with a woman and murdered her husband! Yet when the man after God’s own heart finally repented, David prayed:

    Against you, you only, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight,
    so that you may be justified in your words
    and blameless in your judgment. – Psalm 51

    How difficult it is for us to reprove in love – give a Christian sinner the help for which they have asked God in their own deepest prayer. How difficult to love AND forgive those most dear to us.

    Yet by the Blood of Christ, God has covered even our sins of today (in addition to those long past).

    Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
    whose sin is covered. – Psalm 32:1

    The revelation of God’s love for us is in Christ Jesus, who died on the Cross and IS risen! He hears our pray. Jesus hears our plea. He is revealed to us. We are freed by his blood.

    Amazingly, by his blood, we are made His Priests and His intercessors!

    Revelation  1:5 … and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.

    To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

    Help us, God. Help us, beloved believer. We all need prayer. Allow us, as His Priests to intercede for those near and dear to our hearts and our souls.

    Who is important in your life?

    Are you praying for your VIP in humble humility to God and asking your loving brothers and sisters in Christ to stand by you in prayer for their needs?

    Who is most import in God’s will?
    • A husband to his wife &
    • A wife to her husband.
    • BOTH parents to every child.
    • a loving father to all of his children, at home and by example in Christ,
    • a nurturing mother to all of her children, at home and by example in Christ.

    We all FAIL in some of these most important relationships God expects from us in His love, don’t we?

    So why not ask God, with whom we have a personal relationship in prayer, to help us to do what is right in His will and not our own?

    And why not ask our most intimate of friends, Christian brothers (sisters), who care for us in Christ deeply, to support us in prayer for these same relational needs for the VIP’s of our daily life? Sometimes the difficulty of these struggles of life are more appropriate for a small group of believers or even one life-minded brother (or sister) in the Lord, than for the prayer list of the entire church (often as fodder for speculation and gossip).

    It seems the ‘perfect christians’ must go to some other church.

    OR perhaps some we know just hide behind their masks of Christ’s perfection.

    Let us, dearly beloved of Christ Jesus, love them as He has loved us.

    Let us bow down before the Lord our God in great humility, with hearts overflowing in love and pouring forth forgiveness, through our prayers for for the family of Christ Jesus. Amen.

    How may I pray for you, adding you to my personal prayer list?

    Please comment. If you would like any of our readers to also pray for you, please share your personal prayer needs with us.

    (IF you would rather have your request remain private, please begin your comment with the word, ‘Private,’ and I will not post it publicly.)

    Pray also for me, that I might return to a purer committed faith in God to both hear and answer my ceaseless prayers for my most beloved.

    Roger Harned, author and site administrator

  • A Personal God – Jesus

    A Personal God – Jesus

    Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. – Isaiah 26:4 ESV

    … and he would have given you living water.” – John 4:10b

    “I and the Father are one.” – John 10:30

    Setting aside for a moment your personal preferences for worshiping God; whether ritualistic routine, overflowing emotion, singing, shouting, standing, sitting, hands held up, heads bowed low, knees on the floor or feet off the ground; on the scriptural presumption that Jesus and God are one, let us examine two things:

    The Person of Jesus and His personal mission for each of us.

    Before Christ became God in Person on this earth as the Son of Man, some worshiped God and some worshiped worship. Some worshiped the Law, some worshiped family and forefathers above the Living God. Though Moses stood in the Presence of the Living God, the people worshiped God only in the fear and emotion of the moment.

    Exodus 20:

    18 Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off 19 and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” 20 Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” 21 The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

    22 And the Lord said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the people of Israel: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven.

    Followers feared Moses only when he reflected the glory of God, yet would not obey the commands given to Moses by the God they feared.

    The Prophets spoke God’s word and demonstrated the truth of God’s refining exhortations. Generation after generation, God’s worshipers assumed a posture of disobedience and self-righteousness; for by their witness they forgot the fear of God. By their witness they failed to please the LORD with the same love and compassion the LORD had shown them from generation to generation.

    The worshipers of God would not listen to Moses. The worshipers of God would not listen to the Prophets.

    Therefore, God intervened in time in the Person of Christ Jesus to redeem a sinful world from the futility of death and the inevitability of judgment.

    Jesus Christ lived in Perfect righteousness on the earth. NO man of any religion on the earth has lived in the righteousness of Christ. Men of every era have lived agendas of purpose for the earthly agendas of man; not the will of God for a Heavenly Kingdom.

    Jesus did not come into the world for worship of holy mothers or ancient fathers. Jesus did not come into the world to win a war by peaceful protest or by sword. Jesus did not come into the world to work miracles to impress or heal men who will die.

    The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…

    1 Timothy 1:15a

    Jesus became the sacrifice to God for the redemption of sin – sins you and I have committed in God’s Holy presence.

    The gospels testify to the glory of Christ Jesus, the Word of His instruction and the Life of His own witness.

    Our God is a Personal God and He IS present in the Person of Jesus Christ.

    By the perfect and sinless example of Jesus Christ we have assurance of forgiveness for our many sins and eternal life for our soul, which does long for the embrace of God through the love of His perfection.

    Fear the God Who IS. Give thanks to the One who has formed your flesh and summons your soul.

    Jesus Christ was witnessed by the Apostles, including Paul who was blinded by His presence. Jesus Christ was witnessed by disciples who believed (as well as those who refused to follow Him).

    The Apostles stood and sat and ate in the presence of the Person of Jesus from day to day and after the resurrection of His crucified body. They are witness to the Person of God in Him.

    And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” – Mark 4:41

    Acts 9 (excerpt) … and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. 4 And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” 7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. 8 Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing.

    God and Jesus pursue sinners personally – sinners like you and me.

    Jesus taught us how to live as a perfect son (which I am not) and how to approach God as a perfect father (which I am not). We are neither perfect son nor father, perfect daughter nor mother; yet because Christ Jesus has taken our sin from us, He presents us to God the Father as blameless to do the will of our Father and Lord, as He would have done ‘on earth, as it is in Heaven.’

    Our Personal God and Father has sent Himself in His only Son, Christ Jesus, to us; as example for a personal obedience to His will on earth in this day and until the day He has appointed for our finished work, the witness of His love, to complete His purpose for our mortal life.

    In Christ Jesus, our Lord, my soul stands before God and man as witness to hope eternal and witness to eternal life daily.

    In you, our Lord has placed an eternal voice and temporal call to a personal relationship of love to fulfill His purpose for your mortal life on this earth.

    God has something He has sent your soul here to do in the flesh. The Person of God has a mission just for you.

    Will you do it?

    Will you listen to God our Father and Christ Jesus our Lord?

    To be continued, God willing