"Get thee behind me, Satan!"

Matthew 16:39&42

[Jesus] prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as You will."

He prayed, "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may Your will be done."

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus reveals His humanity, in shrinking away from the whole purpose for his becoming a Man--to "drink that cup" of suffering and separation from His Father. We know that He had real, genuine, strong temptation to not succumb to the Father's will, by both this passage and also when He had spoken to Peter at the Last Supper: 

(v.23) Jesus turned and said to Peter "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.   

Jesus had been telling his closest friends about how he would be killed and rise from the dead and Peter, in his loyalty, wanted to protect him: but Jesus replied very strongly, saying, in effect, I will not allow you to be an enabler, enabling me to not have to go through with this! It must have been a strong temptation, to allow Peter to fight on his behalf, as he really didn't want to have to go through with it. We see Jesus passionately fighting the enemy, and emerging victorious!

Jesus was always in tune with his Father, and had agreed to this course before they even created this world. This is why Jesus was born--to die. We are each born so we can live. He came to take our sin upon himself. He had to be human in order to qualify to carry our sin-infested nature upon himself on the Cross, and he had to be God to be the eternal Person who could pay our eternal debt in time. So Jesus "became sin, for us," each one of us.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Marriage

It has occurred to me lately that the church leaders may be mistaken that the primary purpose of Marriage is procreation. I think having children is a consequence of marriage, but not its central purpose. I think God gave us Marriage to illustrate our relationship to Him.

He designed our male and female bodies to fit together in such a perfect way to become "one flesh" in the marital act. No two men nor two women are anatomically capable of producing this perfect union of bodies as a man and a woman can in the safety of Marriage.

That is why God gives His approval on the marital act within Marriage, and why any other sexual union is an aberrration, a twisting, of what God designed.

God is totally "other" from us, and calls us His wife, and the bride of Christ. Jesus prayed that we would be one with Him as He is one with the Father. He wants that intimate relationship with us.  

Taking My Own Advice to Others

Journal of December 28, 2009

It has been my advice to others who are beginning to read Scripture on a daily basis that if they should miss a day or so in their readings to not go back to "catch up" if they miss more than a day, so as not to overwhelm them with the amount to be read, but just pick up on "today's" reading & not worry about what was missed.

Well, I finally took my own advice yesterday. I had spent Christmas with my daughter Sarah with her family while her husband Tim was in the Philippines, and I missed two days of readings while I was there; then yesterday I merely looked over what I had "missed" in Nehemiah and Revelation, reading only the headings to get my bearings, and then read yesterday's reading. It was not easy for me, but I did it! It's not easy for me to leave anything unread, but I trust that I have not "missed" anything I need, that God has provided me everything I need to know and have and study at this time, as well as what I need to maintain my health & heal this broken hip [which I broke on Oct. 21 and the bone was healed in six weeks; I was then using a cane, while I regained muscle tone and strength which took another four weeks.]. Praise the Lord for His bountiful provision of everything we need in abundance!   

Our Fickle Hearts

Joshua 24:19a, 27, 20    

Joshua said to the people, "You are not able to serve the Lord ... " -- Joshua knew the people, he knew that their hearts were fickle. They were very passionate people, and would throw themselves into whatever stirred their passions.

"See!" he said to all the people. "This stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words the Lord has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God." -- Joshua set up a large stone to witness all the people would do, to remind them of their determination to serve and obey the Lord. When their passions waned, that stone would remind them of their words, to encourage them to continue to follow the Lord even in the mundane every-days. That was the idea, anyway. Joshua did all he could to keep the people's focus on God.

"If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, He will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after He has been good to you." -- As we read the story of God's chosen people, we see that it was very difficult for them to keep their focus on the Lord, and they ended up conquered by other nations and dispersed all over the world.

America also was founded upon the Judeo-Christian traditions, which means, our Founding Fathers based our Constitution and Bill of Rights on biblical principles, acknowledging God our Creator as the Giver of our rights, and the Government as protector of those God-given rights.

But since we as a Nation has turned away from God and kicked Him out of our schools and public life, He is also withdrawing from us His blessings that has in the past allowed us to rise to become the richest nation this world has ever seen. As a result, our prosperity is waning, and our government is imposing more and more tyranny upon the populace by diluting and denying us the rights our constitution emumerates.  

Our Defense Lawyer

I John 2:1-2  

My dear children, -- Tender love and affection.

I write this to you -- specifically to those dear to him.

So that you will not sin. -- His motive, that we be pure.

But if anybody does sin, -- since we're not perfect yet.

We have one who speaks to the Father in our defence, Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. -- Jesus is our defence lawyer, pleading our case before the throne of God.

He is the atoning sacrifice -- the sacrificial Lamb.

For our sins, -- To take away the sin-barrier between us and God.

And not only for ours -- Jesus did not die for only those who would accept His sacrifice on their behalf, even though it can only be applied for forgiveness to those who admit that they owe the price He paid.

But also for the sins of the whole world. -- Jesus took care of the sin/curse problem for the whole world, the whole universe, purchasing it all for Himself and thereby empowering Him with the authority to be the Judge, and also the cleanser and remover of all sin and cursedness, and to "make all things new" in the New Heaven and the New Earth. All paid for by His death. And proven by His Resurrection.   

The Armor of God

Ephesians 6:13-17   

Therefore put on the full armor of God, -- Don't leave anything out, make sure I have all the parts.

So that when the day of evil comes, -- whenever the enemy mounts an attack.

You may be able to stand your ground, -- Stand to fight, to resist and not fall down.

And after you have done everything, -- Everything I am able to do, not shirking any responsibility.

To stand. -- To remain standing, not knocked down or out, not cowering or hiding. Victorious.

Stand firm, then, -- A good, solid stance, ready for anything.

With the belt of Truth buckled around your waist, -- referring to the "skirt" the Roman soldiers wore, with metal greaves covering the hips and upper thighs; to protect our purity.

With the breastplate of Righteousness in place, -- To protect our heart, and everything that includes.

And with your feet fitted with the Readiness that comes from the Gospel of Peace. -- The tall boots, for marching, travelling, to tell others the Good News.

In addition to all this, -- We surely don't want to forget the rest of our equipment.

Take up the shield of Faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. -- Our Faith, our Trusting in God, will be able to answer any argument, defend any attack, no matter from what direction it comes.

Take the helmet of salvation -- To protect my head, my brain, my mind, to guard my thinking processes from deceit and wrong paths and attitudes.

And the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. -- Our only weapon, that double-edged sword that King Jesus the Conquerer will use to "strike down the nations" (Revelation 19:15), all written down for us in a book we call the Bible.