by Sharon O | Apr 3, 2010 | Uncategorized
“[Jesus Again Predicts His Death] Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and said to them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!” Matthew 20:17-19 (NIV)
I imagine the disciples were listening.
Thinking that they would be a part of something big. To be observers of a significant moment, but not really realizing that this JESUS…
who they have been walking with, talking with, sharing a friendship with, sleeping alongside and sharing meals with…. would be the SON of Man.
They thought they would just go see something deeply moving to the soul.
A significant moment in time that they would be witnesses to.
Can you imagine for a minute…Jesus?
Knowing the cross and it’s terrible torture it holds for the accused.
It was something HE knew. HE KNEW. He knew.
I know a lady right now who is on hospice dying. She knows in her heart she is going to a better place.
Yet she doesn’t fully know the suffering that is ahead.
No one does till we are there in the reality of the moment.
Was it like that for Him? For Jesus.
He knew the task was ahead. That it was going to be hard and painful.
Yet he also knew it had to be done. He knew HE would win. He knew the final outcome.
He wasn’t always willing.
IN the garden he prayed….FATHER is there a different way?…
FATHER are you listening? Can you take it from me?
Silence answered HIS prayer. silence….. answered his prayer.
silence… answered his prayer.
Have you ever been in a a deeply silent moment?
Remember how empty it feels?
Today it rained.
It rained hard and it was cold.
The wind blowing in many directions.
I could see the ladies weeping at the foot of the cross.
Crying as tears mingled with rain falling down faces so filled with sorrow.
Weeping for a loved one.
Clinging to an old rugged cross with drops of
HIS blood dripping down. dripping down….dripping down….
In rain. In sorrow. IN DEEP DESPAIR. dripping down… mingled in rain…
Jesus… now bruised and battered.
Jesus SO loved and so hated in one afternoon.
The agony of death. The agony of ‘the FATHER rejecting the Son.’
The FATHER rejecting the SON. rejecting His SON….. rejecting… turning his back… from the son…who was so close to Him.
Father… why are you rejecting me…?
Daddy…… I need you……bring me comfort…
why are you rejecting me??
Haven’t we all felt rejection some time in our lives?
Father… I ask you to forgive them…
Do we have unforgiveness that needs to be dealt with?
Father Forgive them………Forgive them…..
For they know not what they are doing….
it is a pleading of the heart that is full of agony and pain and love and agony again.
JESUS. Our hope.
Jesus… our peace.
Jesus… our redeemer.
Can you imagine for a minute what it would have been like to have walked with him.
Talked with HIM. Eat with him. Laugh with him and experience the miracles that HE did.
When He prayed… he made demons flee.
When HE prayed it would bring chills down ones back.
Can you imagine the intimacy of prayer for HE knew the Father.
I wish I was one of them. For I know I would kneel at his feet.
I would WASH his feet as the lady did.
I would never leave.
I would weep at HIS DEATH. Just as they did.
I would grieve DEEPLY.
But I would also know… the ending to the story.
Although HE was beaten beyond his capacity.
HE was not defeated.
Sunday is coming.
by Sharon O | Mar 31, 2010 | Uncategorized
A follow up on my last writing.
If you want a reflective writing that stirs your heart and mind with many emotions this Easter week. Click onto the Holy Experience button on my recommended blogs to read. Awesome reading and I noticed she was the writer I borrowed a line from. (sure hope it was ok) Have your sound on. She has beautiful music too.
I pray we can encourage each other as we grow and mature in spiritual wisdom. Help us to have a heart for the Lord and a desire to be deeply committed to His love and His teachings.
by Sharon O | Mar 31, 2010 | Uncategorized
“Only when the interior of a life becomes a chapel can the outward life echo with the clear word of the Lord.”
I read this on another writer’s blog and really wanted to share it.
(hoping it is ok).
Thinking about that concept I move into memories of when I have walked into a chapel type setting. I can see the stained glass windows. The wooden pews carved in ancient wood attached to the floor with black iron bolts. I visualize how many others have sat on those rugged wood seats or knelt down on knees ready to release the burdens they carried. I can see the variety of ages of singers in robes accompanied by the pumped organ.
The choir director standing with arms outstretched moving to the count of every note.
Old and young with voices mingled sitting together. Rich history accompanies every word in multitudes of notes sung from hardback hymnals donated by someone.
It is all visual… I can see it. I can hear it. I value the experience. I love the old fashioned worship. The hymns of long ago.
On a hill faraway stood an old Rugged Cross.
There is power power wonder working power.
Onward Christian soldiers.
Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love.
Can you go there with me in memory? Is the picture clear?
Just to say the word CHAPEL…. brings forward a reverence. A holy thought. A place of comfort and a place of welcoming.
If our interior condition is to be like a chapel. It means we would have a place carved out for the Lord, the word and the Spirit deep within our hearts. If we are not centered on the word, we cannot echo the Love of God to anyone.
It would not be possible.
Thinking about an echo… it is a sound that repeats whatever is heard. So if we hear and read and study the word then we will be able share … the sound with others.
I hope this brings you encouragement and moves you into a thinking process.
This writing is not to say I dislike the new way of worship.
I value it. The singers and muscians who bring it to us are gifted and talented.
As we worship by ourselves or with others. I am praying that our thoughts will bring us to a new kind of chapel. For that is when the Lord can use us.
by Sharon O | Mar 27, 2010 | Uncategorized
I love to iron.
Yes I know it is a strange confession.
But for me it is refreshing, and rewarding.
To look at a wrinkled piece of fabric and press onto it the hot warmth of the hand held iron.
Ah……. I breathe in the steam and it opens up my head.
I love for my husband to look pressed and ready for work. It makes me feel like I have done a good thing for him.
OK for those who do not like to iron, I might sound like someone who needs a therapy session. But in reality it reminds me of what the Lord does to me daily.
The hot iron of his word presses me as I allow the wrinkled crumpled emotions to breathe in the steam. The warmth and the heat have forced me to say on occasion “ouch that hurt”… as God gently presses me more. I don’t mind for I know just as I press the fabric to create a fine piece of clothing. The Lord does the same to my heart to create a better person.
Sometimes the heat is intense and the blast of steam brings me pain.
But the reward is worth it if I allow Him to do his work in me.
When my daughter was in junior high she would often come out of her room wearing something she drug out of her hamper or the bottom of her closet. I remember saying to her more than once, “You look like an unmade bed” and her quick reply would always be “Well I am comfortable.”
Yes an unmade bed is comfortable. It is inviting. A nap is always welcome.
But to walk around looking like an unfinished chore is not good.
Our hearts can look like that also.
So as I iron I pray.
Lord help me to allow the warmth of your love to press in and show me the wrinkled broken areas in my heart that needs changed. Help me to receive your correction as the fabric receives the hot iron. Just as I control what I press I pray for the willingness
to let you have full control of the journey of my heart.
by Sharon O | Mar 26, 2010 | Uncategorized
In 2 Kings 6:16-17 we read:
“Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, “Oh Lord, open his eyes so he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
Isn’t that just an awesome passage for us to experience? Can you see it?
They are on the side of a mountain looking over a valley warriors are heading towards them.
The battle looked overwhelming and grim. They were going to go down defeated very fast. The servant with him said, “Oh NO we are going to die.”
[I didn’t read that I am just guessing]
Then….Elisha said, “Be still and do not be afraid.”
“I know we have a huge fight ahead of us. We are not alone. I want to show you to not fear and lose heart.”
His faith was so powerful. He reached out and claimed it so that those with him could SEE the power and majesty of what he knew to be true.
What an encouragement that had to have been.
In that MOMENT when the overwhelming feelings and fear was present, Elisha said, “Don’t be afraid.”
Reminding me of the passage in 2 Corinthians 4:18:
“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
Wow… in verse 17 the verse before he says: “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”
It is a perspective that the writer is trying to reveal to us.
In this world we will have problems.
We will have issues and conflicts.
We will have relationships that will hurt us and battles to fight.
But if we know the spiritual side of it all…we are not alone.
The war we fight is not our own to try to win.
We have a great host of warriors surrounding us.
If only we could see them and pray Elisha’s prayer.
Shall we be bold enough to believe it to be true? As we pray for the Lord to open our eyes.
