Saturday, April 23, 2011

Good Friday

23 April 2011

Good Friday

Was Good Friday a good day?
Is this a trick question?  No, it isn't. OK, maybe it is.

There are two sides to this. On the one hand, our precious Lord Jesus suffered extreme torture on Good Friday. So, we can all certainly understand why so many people would say that Good Friday was definitely not a good day.

On the other hand, it is called Good Friday.  There must be a reason for this name, and the only reason that comes to my mind is:
As of that moment in time, we were and now are all allowed into the presence of our most holy Father, the Most Holy Lord God Almighty. We are allowed into the Holy of Holies. We enter by the blood/death of Jesus, the Lamb of God.

Not only that, we are welcomed in! This is exceedingly good news! Whoever wants to come in is welcomed in!

Now, why do I say, "as of that moment in time"? All three of the synoptic gospels tell us that the temple curtain was torn open from top to bottom at the time of the crucifixion. This signified that the separation between God and people (us) was and is no longer there.

Matthew 27:51
51 Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split,
Mark 15:38
38 Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
Luke 23:45
45 Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two.

So to me, Good Friday was a very bad day, but now is a very good day! Hallelujah!

Larry Carroll

All scripture quoted is from the New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Lord Jesus, Please Drive

05 April 2011

Lord God, Lord Jesus, You Can Drive

Lord Jesus, please drive.

I have a friend who wanted to spend time with me, but had other things he wanted or needed to do, too. So he asked me to come along with him as he attended to his errands. It was sort of OK, but was not really a good time of fellowship. He was quite distracted, and conversation was interrupted frequently. I was just tagging along after him. We won't be doing that again, well, probably not.

I don't want to treat the Lord Jesus like that.

 Lord Jesus, I want and need Your presence, where You're the driver - where You're not just tagging along after me or with me while I'm driving.

As the song by Brian Johnson says - Lord Jesus, where You go I will go, what You say I will say.

Where You Go I’ll Go
[Where You go I go
What You say I say
What You pray I pray
What You pray I pray

Jesus only did what He saw You do
He would only say what He heard You speak
He would only move when He felt You lead
Following Your heart following Your spirit

How could I expect to walk without You
When every move that Jesus made was in surrender
I will not begin to live without You
For You alone are worthy and You are always good

Though the world sees and soon forgets
We will not forget who you are
and what You’ve done for us]
To see more -> http://brianandjennjohnson.com/

 We know that our Lord Jesus was not too busy to spend quality time with Father. I can think of two places where this is documented.

1. Mark 1:35 says, "Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed."

2. After the feeding of the 5000, Matthew 14:23 says, "And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there."

(Interesting - I see Jesus prayed both morning and evening.)

And we know that the time He spent alone with Father was joyful, since Psalm 16:11 says,
"You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

We have found this to be true when we are alone with Father, too, haven't we?

Larry Carroll

All scripture quoted is from the New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers.