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Through
The Window
The Episcopal Church
Of The Messiah
DAILY Addendum
REFLECTIONS ON THE GOSPEL READINGS
For Lent, Year 1
Lent 2003
THE HEART OF THE
CHURCH OF THE MESSIAH
In
the Episcopal tradition Lent is a time of spiritual renewal. During these 40 days we are urged to pray
and to meditate anew on the Gospel accounts of Christ's actions, redemptive
passion and death. As we open our
hearts to God's Word this Lent, we will discover many spiritual questions
asked of each one of us. Am I Really
Trying To Love God? Do I Act As If
I'll Never Die? Am I Willing To
Repent? Do I Really Love Anyone
Besides Myself? Such are the
questions about faith, hope, love, prayer and other topics posed in this
Season and in this booklet.
In
meditating on these daily reading, this year's Lent can be especially
meaningful to those of us in the Church of the Messiah community, since the
meditations come from within our community.
The meditations speak, not from afar, nor from a polished Christian
author's point‑of‑view but from the hearts of our own
people. The words speak directly to
each of us of the faith, hope, love and prayer of our own and in our own
time. If we let them; the meditations
will lead us with Christ through these forty days, through the cross and to
His resurrection.
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Wednesday, March 5 Ash Wednesday
Fast
Day
Matthew
6:1‑6, 16‑21 Father
Jim Reed
The service of the blessing and
imposition of ashes," from which Ash Wednesday gets its name, originated
into the practice of putting ashes on the foreheads of the faithful at the
beginning of the Lenten fast.
Fasting is generally understood as
abstaining from solid food (health permitting) from sunup at least to
sunset. The Prayer Book appoints only
two days of the year as fast days; Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
Lent is that time in the church when we especially
think about spiritual disciplines and how we can practice them to grow in our
walk with Christ. For many of us, it
is a time when we are aware of the lack of the presence of these disciplines
in our lives. In today's lesson,
Jesus mentions three disciplines ‑ giving alms, prayer, and fasting. Jesus supposes his listeners practice
these disciplines. Every time he
mentions one, it is preceded by "whenever you... ."
For Jesus, the issue is not whether or not his
listeners ARE practicing these disciplines, but rather WHY are they practicing
them. Is their piety for the sake of
impressing other people or to impress God.
Jesus warns, "beware of practicing your piety before others in
order to be seen by them". If
they do, then what others think about them will be their reward in life. But if they practice their piety for God's
sake, then their reward will be from Him.
Jesus reminds us as we begin our Lenten journey
for the next 40 days what the purpose of Lent is about; putting God first in
our lives. Giving alms, prayer, and
fasting are only worthwhile when we do them for the Lord and the sake of His
kingdom.
Don't spend too much time worrying this Lenten
season about how much you give, pray or fast. Concentrate more on doing whatever you do as a sacrifice of
love to Jesus.
"Lord Jesus, accept my disciplines this Lent
as an act of love from me, a child of your own redeeming."
Amen
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Thursday, March 6 Special
Devotion
John 1:29‑34 Susan
Smith
Special devotion days: These days are observed by special acts of
discipline and self‑denial (BCP 17).
They include all the weekdays of Lent and Holy Week except the feast
of the Annunciation of Our lord Jesus Christ (March 26).
As I have been pondering this section of
Scripture, the overwhelming picture that kept coming back to me is the
picture of Jesus as the Lamb of God.
It is not an image of a cute, cuddly lamb, but an image of a
sacrificial lamb.
Two concepts of the sacrificial lamb are illustrated
in the Old Testament. In Exodus 12, God gives Moses and Aaron instructions
about the Passover lamb, the blood of which would be put "on the sides
and tops of the door frames of the houses."
Isaiah 53:7 is a Messianic prophecy, a prophecy
predicting Jesus: "He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open
his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter."
This picture of Jesus being the Lamb is also seen
in Revelation ‑ a multitude "standing before the throne and in
front of the Lamb" (Rev. 7:9). John continues, "For the Lamb at the
center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of
living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." (Rev.
7:17)
For me, the picture of Jesus being the Lamb of God
is found in The Book of Common Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father,
Lord God, Lamb of God,
You take away the sin of the world: have mercy on
us;
You are seated at the right of the Father; receive
our prayer.
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Friday, March 7 Special
Devotion
John 1:34‑42 Molly
Faulkner
In today's Gospel reading Jesus asks, "What
are you looking for?" Seven years ago I faced the greatest challenge of
my life. From it I learned that prayer is not asking Jesus for what I'm
looking for but asking Jesus for what I need. I was admitted to a psychiatric
hospital suffering from psychosis having lost all sense of reality. Unable to
sleep more than two hours, I paced endlessly physically and mentally exhausted.
My husband was told that I might be hospitalized for a year.
One night my body collapsed and I was unable to
move. I prayed to Jesus, "Please let me die." Miraculously, my mind
quieted for the first time in months and I heard a clear voice say, "I
will be your rest."
I got up, returned to my room, and for the first
night in months slept six hours. Jesus did not give me what I asked; he gave
me the rest I desperately needed. That night marked the beginning of my
recovery. From that night through today I ask Jesus to give me what I need to
be the Christian that he has called me to be.
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Saturday, March 8 Special
Devotion
John 1:43‑51 Jim
Porter
Nathanael asked him, "Where did you know
me?" Jesus answered, "I saw you under the fig tree before Philip
called you"
Who is Nathanael?
Why was he under the fig tree and how did Jesus know him? There is nothing known about Nathanael but
he could be a representative person for someone like you or me. He was sitting under the fig tree, a place
of peace and a place to meditate about God.
I can imagine myself sitting in such a place where I am at peace and
could contemplate my creator and what life meant to me. But I cannot really appreciate what
Nathanael must have felt when Jesus came to him and said "here is
truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!" I know that the Bible says that God knew
me from the beginning and that God is always with me. But to have someone come to me and say in
my presence that he knows me and can judge me is hard to grasp, but that is
what Jesus says to each one of us. He
knows us and wants us to come and know him.
Jesus said to Nathanael
"You will see greater things ….."
and so shall we if we answer his call.
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Sunday, March 9 First
Sunday in Lent
Feast
Day
Mark 1:9‑13 Ann
Porter
We don't know exactly when Jesus understood God's
purpose for him. What we do know is
that he came to John for baptism knowing he had a mission from God, (Matt.
3:13‑15), and choosing to identify himself with us who are
sinners. He was confirmed in his
ministry by God's voice validating his identity, and by the Holy Spirit, who
came upon him and drove him into the wilderness. Even Jesus needed the Holy Spirit to guide him, and teach him
the truth. Some of those forty days
in the wilderness must have been spent learning the exact nature of his
mission, and then Satan was allowed to test him.
Whenever we surrender to God's will for us, Satan
will do everything in his power to get us to take control of our own lives
again, and do what we want to do. But
if God's Holy Spirit dwells in us, we have the power available to resist
temptation and instead rely on God and his word for our truth, as Jesus did.
"As thou with Satan didst contend and didst
the victory win,
O give us strength in thee to fight, in thee to
conquer sin."
Hymn
142
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Monday, March 10 Special
Devotion
John 2:1‑12 Connie Smith
And at Cana wedding guest,
In
Thy godhead manifest.
Manifest
in power divine,
Changing
water into wine.
Hymn
#135
This beloved story occurs only in John's
gospel. It begins "on the third
day," characteristically locating in precise time and place the real
events of Jesus' earthly ministry. It
immediately follows the calling of several disciples, including the guileless
Nathanael, who lived in Cana.
Jesus turns the water into wine at the wedding in
Galilee as the first of His signs and wonders, no less miraculous for being a
relatively minor event. Jesus just
saves a host (probably a friend) from humiliation, no small thing in the
Middle East, where the honor of a house, as well as generosity and
hospitality are of utmost importance.
Jesus' mother approaches Him, not with a direct
request, just a statement of the problem.
Maybe she knows how much His new disciples need to see some
"proof" that He is THE one for whom they have waited so long.
The story ends with the steward's good‑natured
jibe as the nearly anonymous little band, including Mary, slips away to
Capernaum. The "greatest story ever told" has begun.
0 God, help us to recognize You in the miracles
surrounding us every day. May we
acknowledge Your lordship over Creation and keep ourselves humble before You
as we move through this Lent. Amen.
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Tuesday, March 11 Special
Devotion
John 2:13‑22 Judy
Murray
Knowledge Redeemed
Our Heavenly Father,
In this world that we are now living, so many
times we forget the lesson your beloved son taught us in the temple. We choose to turn from the laws of Moses
and fail to keep your church as a holy house of prayer. We are caught in a world of material greed
and bombarded daily by the temptation for more. It may steal upon our hearts in the guise of a good cause and
turn our faces from your will.
Gracious Lord, look upon us now in our weakness
through the eyes of your son. Redeem
us with the knowledge of our failings, humble our hearts restored with the
burning desire to honor you all the days of our lives forever keeping your
house holy.
In Jesus name,
Amen
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Wednesday, March 12 Ember Wednesday
Special Devotion
John 2:23‑3:15 Joe Corrao
Ember days: Their early history and original purpose are obscure, but in
Christian terms they traditionally date back to the third century and were
certainly well established by the fifth century as days of fasting and
abstinence. We now devote Ember
Wednesday to pray that more individual are raised up to the vocation of Holy
Orders; Ember Friday is devoted to
praying for those already in Orders and Ember Saturday is devoted to praying
for all called to ministry (Clergy and laity).
Each Sunday the narthex hosts a farmers market, convenient
for parishioners who donate food and profitable for the growers, although
some in the congregation dislike the bustle and mess. One Sunday a visitor attends, becomes
enraged at the scene and throws the farmers out, scattering their goods
across the parking lot, throwing their tables over and yelling that a market
does not belong in church. Some
parishioners quietly congratulate the visitor, but he is not warm to them
because he knows when the police come, they will fade away and will not
defend him.
Later, a deacon of the church finds the visitor
alone. Their conversation is recorded
in our reading today. The visitor
recalls that when the Israelites, wanders then in the desert, were plagued by
snakes, Moses began to carry an image of a snake on a pole. He told the Israelites that if one were
bitten, as he lay dying he had only to look at the snake to be healed. Many Israelites balked at this because
they did not understand how looking at the image could cure their injury, but
those who tried it ‑ what had they to lose? ‑ found it worked,
and the rest stopped worrying about how.
God had instructed Moses to fashion the snake
image so that snake‑bitten Israelites might be saved. God sent Jesus, his only son, into the
world to be raised up on the cross in our sight, so that all people bitten by
sin might be saved. It is not
important to understand how Jesus' sacrifice brings about our salvation; it
is necessary only to know that it does because God wills it. Seen through earthly eyes, the acts of God
are inexplicable, even irrational.
Seen through the eyes of faith, the acts of God express his infinite
love for us, his great anger at sin, and his infinite capacity to forgive. For God so loved the world that he gave
his only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have
eternal life. God did not send his
Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.
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Thursday, March 13 Special
Devotion
John 3:16‑21 John
Ball
When I read these lines, I know I need Jesus.
Love is beyond feeling. Love is a deed done for others.
God acted.
He not only professed his love for us, but also
died on the cross. Had God not acted,
had he not followed through, then we would have no claim to him. His act becomes our light.
When we are indifferent to God and others we do
not act. Our deeds turn inward, become self‑indulgent, evil. All who do
evil hate light. For light reveals us
to ourselves and we see our true broken condition. Evil deeds pale when revealed by the light of selfless loving
acts.
Therefore, God's act of love, Jesus' became our
light. He does not condemn us. He
offers us a choice. He is high up on
the cross for all to see. We can draw
near to him. Or we can stay in the
shadows, far away from him.
If we draw near, our acts of love for God and
others will shine, brightly reflected in His light. Our acts of evil will be exposed for what they are
indifference, self‑indulgence and laziness. As we draw near and reveal ourselves, he will not condemn us
but save us.
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Friday, March 14 Ember
Friday
Feast Day
John 3:22‑36 Matt
Small
John the Baptist was the ultimate witness for
Christ. His only mission was to point
people to Jesus. As shown by verse 26, he did not allow jealousy to divert
him from this mission. In verses 27‑30,
he demonstrates his humility ("He must become greater, I must become
less") and joy in serving Christ and pointing others to Him. John the Baptist shows us by example that
we should not try to force others to believe our way, rather that we should
simply witness to others what Christ has done for us. John's mission and focus, as ours should
be, was to have everyone confront the answer to the question "Who is
Jesus Christ?" Jesus Himself
sets before us the greatest choice in life and He wants us to choose Him and
life.
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Tuesday, March 15 Special Devotion
John 24:1‑21:13‑22 Betti
Small
I am overwhelmed with the wonder of God's perfect
plan of salvation to all peoples.
Jesus breaks through all cultural barriers to share the Gospel with
the Samaritan women at the well just as He will break through all barriers to
offer each of us the "gift" of God's grace. He is the only one who
can offer us "living water".
The water that wells up from deep within our soul to give us eternal life.
Jesus is the Almighty Christ! He is
the one for whom we have been waiting, the Messiah who will explain
everything. He desires us to
experience the abundant, spirit filled life, that he has for those who will
accept this "living water". I pray that we open our hearts to know
that Jesus is the one and only true Messiah, Almighty God. Let us be like the women at the well who
when hearing this truth believed and was so filled with "living
water" she could not contain it.
Only then will we be able to worship the Father in spirit and truth.
Let us continue to drink of this "living water" and we will never
be thirsty again!!!!
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Tuesday, March 16 Special
Devotion
Mark 8:31‑38 Alice
Wimmer
In Mark 8:31‑38 Jesus teaches the disciples that
he will be killed and after 3 days rise again. Peter rebukes Jesus for telling them this, Jesus in turn
rebukes Peter by saying "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human
things." Wouldn't you think
Peter would have learned to believe and trust in Jesus by this time,
especially after his disastrous attempt to walk on water. Later Peter denies the Lord not once but 3
times. Can you identify with Peter?
We really are a lot like Peter, we profess belief
but when push comes to shove we are afraid.
We don't want to deny ourselves, give ourselves entirely to Jesus,
take up our cross and follow him. We
hesitate to lose ourselves and live only in Him.
Jesus said "Those who are ashamed of me and
of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man
will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy
angels." Are we really ashamed
to step to the forefront and let the people know that Jesus is our Lord and
Savior? If we are, will we be
prepared to show our shame when we stand before the Lord and will he be so
ashamed of us that we will not have our place with him in Heaven.
Don't let fear, shame and disbelief in our Lord's
divinity keep you from your eternal reward.
Live so that when you are called home that Jesus will welcome you with
open arms. Don't give Jesus a reason
to say to you "Get behind me, Satan
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Monday, March 17 Special
Devotion
John 4:27‑42 Anonymous
Never has the world had a greater need for love
than in our day. People are hungry
for love. We don't have time to stop
and smile at each other. We are all
in such a hurry! Pray. Ask for the necessary grace. Pray to be able to understand how much
Jesus loved us, so that you can love others.
Mother Teresa
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Tuesday, March 18 Saint
Joseph
Special Devotion
John 4:43‑54 Betty
Massey
Miracles or Message?
Jesus said "Unless you see signs and wonders
you will not believe." Jesus was
saying, "Won't any of you believe in me unless I do more and more
miracles?" Was he frustrated
that no one would believe without these signs? Jesus was sent by his father to be an example to us and to be a
sacrifice for our sins. He was not
sent to perform miracles but to give us the message that God loves us and
that we should return that love and share it with others. Did Jesus perform this miracle because he
had compassion for the man and his son or was it because he wanted the people
to believe in him? It was both. Jesus' love for the man and mankind
compelled him to heal the son. Not
only did the man and his household believe when the son was healed but the
world saw what Jesus had done.
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Wednesday, March 19 Saint Joseph's Day
Special
Devotion
Matthew 1:18‑25 Maria Yates
I was baptized a Catholic as were my parents
before me and their parents before them.
It was through sporadic church attendance, religion classes focusing
on memorizing by rote‑prayers, the catechism, the commandments, the
list of sins to tell the priest in confession, receiving communion and being
confirmed that I learned about God.
Sunday sermons revealed to me who Jesus was, but presented in bits and
pieces. Therefore, in my daily living
a connection between God and me was missing.
I had no personal relationship with Jesus, either. There was no such thing in those, days as
Bible Study. The Bible was to be read
and, interpreted by religious scholars or religious orders (priests), not the
laity.
I became a church drop out for approximately ten
years and saw no need to become part of any church at all. Then I became a parent. Pretty apparent that I had to do something
about their spiritual training. On
the advice oŁ a good friend, I turned to the Episcopal Church in our
community. Through habitual church
attendance Bible study, and a firm commitment to do my job as a mother of
four, I began to see the importance of Jesus in our lives and to understand
God's power of love. I came to know
the strength he gives from our heart to live according to his will. He was
not a God, who out of discipline, not love, could send you to an eternal
fiery hell.
I read his story.
In a little Jewish town years ago, God sent us to Jesus, his only
Son. He came into the world not as a
king but as a low born person to taste the poverty, the sorrow, the anguish
in a world where Jew hated Samaritan, Roman hated Jew and religion was
usually phony. He reached out in LOVE
toward all humans to LOVE people as they are. Thank you Jesus, that you
reached out to my thoughts, my emotions, my will. You have taught me to reach out in LOVE toward my fellow
humans, as you did.
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Thursday, March 20 Special
Devotion
John 5:19‑29 Kelly
Angelo
Accomplishments, judgment and life.
Accomplishments:
Anything I try to achieve on my own will only ever be as good as I, a
human, can accomplish. Although, when I let go and let God, I find that
wondrous things happen, things that I could never have fathomed possible on
my own.
Judgment:
Being human, I am guaranteed to make mistakes. What a loving God to
give us "The Son of Man" so that He could judge us with first‑hand
knowledge and experience of what temptation truly feels like.
Life: Life
is a gift from God, what we do with our life is our gift to God. I try as
hard as I can, with God's help, to live my life so that when my hour comes
and I hear His voice, I can come out of my grave and into the resurrection of
life. I have learned throughout my Bible study that flesh should not be
confused with life. Life is a wonderful gift to share, to plant seeds in the
hearts of others so they too may feel the hunger for the Bread of Life.
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Friday , March 21 Special
Devotion
John 5:30‑47 Pat
Milnes
"I can do nothing on my own." When I read those words my immediate
reaction was "I am a mature, educated woman, surely I can do things on
my own." But on second thought
can I really? Or better still, do I
want to? How many times have I come
to God, my hat in my hand, begging Him to bail me out of some mess that I
have gotten myself into? If I am
honest, I probably turn to God several times a day for help.
Reflecting on the first sentence of this lesson, I
can look back and see God's fingerprints all over my life. I did not see His
hand at the time but it was there.
When my father's job required two moves during my high school years I
believe God was preparing me for the 20 moves that Dick and I have made in
our 41 years of marriage. I didn't fall
into the friendships that I made after those moves by myself, God's hand was
there. When my parents, my mother‑in‑law
and our granddaughter died, friends said "you are so strong." I wasn't strong in my own right, God's arm
was around my shoulder and He picked up the pieces when I fell apart.
Can I do anything on my own? No! Do I want to do anything on my own? Absolutely not!
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Saturday, March 22 Annunciation
of our Lord Jesus Christ
Special
Devotion
John 7:1‑13 Frank
Slonka
Upon reading this gospel passage by John, I was
made more aware of our human spirit and our human nature, with all of its
frailties and shortcomings, and how we fall short in our belief and faith.
The passage bespeaks how, even in the face of true
knowledge, we oftentimes cannot, or choose not, to believe in the teachings
of Jesus. In verse 5 it is noted that
despite living with Jesus, personally having heard his teachings and seeing
his miracles "even his brothers did not believe him." How much harder is it for us, nearly 2000
years later, to believe based on faith alone.
Yet, despite our shortcomings, it is obvious that
Jesus accepts us as we are. In verses
10 through 13, Jesus, in secret, attended the festival of the Feast of the
Tabernacles. The Jews who attended
the festival were looking for him, asking "where is He?", with many
complementing him and saying "He is a good man", while many
complained "No, He is deceiving the crowd."
Today, I look upon our world as a correlation to
that Festival that Jesus, in secret, attended. Just as he was with those at the festival yet they did not
physically see him, I believe he is with and among us today, even though we
can not physically see Him. Despite
the fact that I can not physically see Jesus with my eyes, I believe I can
see Jesus with my heart, my soul, and my mind.
In my own walk with the Lord and early on, as one
with questions, I asked whether Jesus was "a good man", the
Messiah, or was "deceiving the crowd" as some Jews believed and as
our human nature causes us to question.
As a more mature Christian, I have come to believe ‑ because of
a greater abundance of faith, brought, on, not by the growth of my humanness
but by the growth of my Christian spirit.
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Sunday, March 23 Third
Sunday in Lent
Feast
Day
John 13:13‑22 Bob Morris
In this passage, Jesus willfully takes on the role
of a servant and then exhorts us to do the same. But I have a position to uphold! Why does Jesus ask me to take on the role of a slave? We grade our success today by the heights
to which we rise above servant status.
We stay in school so we WON'T have to do lowly, dirty jobs for other people. Yet, Christ tells us that we achieve God's
will through acts of humility and charity for others. Great leaders certainly know how this
works. With a "servant's
attitude," these leaders work hard to identify with people at every
level of the organization. By helping
individuals to succeed, "servant leaders" ensure the entire group
succeeds. How do we become a servant
in a world where achievement is measured in status and prestige? Jesus shows us through his own life of
servitude and sacrifice. After
washing the disciples feet, Jesus said: "What I did was to give you an example: as I have done, so you must do." Jesus is saying that only with genuine
humility and service will we ever make any real difference. Only by taking on the servant's heart can
we follow His way.
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Monday, March 24 Special
Devotion
John 7:14‑36 Cutty
Cummings
John 7: 14‑36 is a lesson for us today as is
was for the Jews then. Jesus speaks to
the High Priests and Elders, who are of the highest religious order, they did
not recognize him for who he was, nor the words he spoke. Jesus had to reiterate to them that the
words he spoke were not his, but of the one who sent him; it is also with we
Christians today. When our Pastors
and Priests preach the word of God, we too listen but don't really open our
hearts and minds, because we know him or her personally and they don't
portray themselves as being pious or reverend, so we say nice sermon and
attribute the words spoken as his or her own spin. We don't attune our thoughts to the fact that those are the
teachings of our Lord and Savior speaking to us, so Jesus was judged to
having possessed demons, and that he should be killed, Jesus admonished them,
not to judge on how things appeared, but by what is true and right. Most of us Christians are very much guilty
of being too judgmental based on what things appear to be.
Jesus revealed his Crucifixion and Resurrection
and they all were confused, when he said "I will leave you soon and you
will search for me, but you will not find me, where I go you cannot
come." It was prophesied that
Messiah and Lord will be sacrificed for them, but again they did not
understand, they did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah. The message here, in my opinion, is; that
we Christians must not just say we love and worship him. But get to know him, and that we must not
search for him only when we are in difficulty or trouble, but invite him into
our hearts and constantly search for ways to serve him all the days of our
lives.
The entire passage of John 7:14‑36 as I see
it, Jesus came to his chosen people and they (the Jews) did not recognize him
as Jesus the Messiah and that his teachings were not his but of the one who
sent him. If we Christians do not get to know Jesus Christ when he calls us
we will not answer, because we will not recognize his voice, we then will
miss the boat.
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Tuesday, March 25 Annunciation
of our Lord Jesus Christ
Special
Devotion
Luke 1:26‑38 Stephanie
Reed
This day commemorates how God made
know to a young Jewish women that she was to be the mother of his Son and how
Mary accepted her vocation with perfect conformity of will. Mary's assent to Gabriel's message opened
the way for God to accomplish the salvation of the world. (LFF)
I remember being about 12 years old, listening to
my parents and their friends, Kitty and Heyward Bellamy, talking about faith
one night in our living room in Charlotte, N.C. We frequently had our parish priest and friends over to our
house and we had lively discussions about politics and religion. I usually only listened. This night, however, they were talking
about the Virgin Birth, how the Holy Spirit came upon Mary and that Jesus was
born after that. Being very wise at
age 12, I blurted out, "How can a virgin have a baby?! That's impossible!"
My parents' good and gracious friend, Kitty, took
my question seriously, and after a moment looked at me with great grace, and
wisely said, "Well, Stephanie, some things you just have to take on
faith."
As I have been praying these past months about
this passage and its' richness and depth, I have come to realize that this
was part of God's annunciation to me, one of the many pieces of faith and
grace that have led me and keep leading me on to Jesus. As I look back on my life, I realize how
tenderly Jesus began to call me and then eventually was born in me, like
Mary, and how I have come to believe, like Mary, that nothing is impossible
with God. I am His and He is mine.
When did you first come to believe?
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Wednesday, March 26 Special Devotion
John 8:12‑20 Ejuana
Andrews
What is Your Testimony?
Jesus said to the crowd "I am the Light of
the World. He who follows Me will not
be walking in the dark, but will have the Light which is Life." Immediately, the judgmental and religious
people of the day began to discredit his testimony. Testimony comes from the Greek word "maturia" which
means: a witness, testimony or
record. Jesus told them who He was
and still is. They could not perceive
what He was telling them. Their
hearts were judging after the flesh or the soul instead of the spirit. This did not stop Jesus, he continued to
preach freedom and kingdom living to all.
The Pharisees missed it. But think of the many people who have not missed it in the last
2,000 years.
Have you shared your life with others? Have you told of what God has done for
you? There will be times when people
won't get it. But be encouraged, many
will hear and believe because the Light has come and is coming again!
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Thursday, March 27 Special
Devotion
John 8:21‑32 Joseph
Kellington
To Believe or Not to Believe, That is the Choice
Christ is saying that we have a choice. That
choice is to be a child of God or a child of the devil. There is no other
choice.
If you are not one then you are the other. For one
the result is life and the other is death.
To choose life we must respond to God's action of
revealing Himself to us in Christ by believing in Him through Christ. The gift is not ours until we reach out
and take it.
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