What God is Saying

Sing to the LORD; praise his name. Each day proclaim the good news that he saves. Publish his glorious deeds among the nations. Tell everyone about the amazing things he does. — Psalm 96:2-3

Monday, March 18, 2024

Easter Devotion (Day 28) - The Glory of God

 

“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
John 17:24-26 

Jesus' death and resurrection did not end His engagement in the world. The final verse of His prayer says that Jesus' mission to reveal the love of God to humanity stretches forward and backward throughout time. The Word, or Logos, introduced in the first chapter of John, is the ultimate plan of God for the salvation of all people. Jesus, as the incarnation of this salvation plan, has been and will always be engaged with humankind. After His resurrection, His impact will be felt most profoundly through those who love and serve Him in the world. 

Just as Jesus came to the world to serve God, believers are called to live as Christ in service to the world. This is the nature of the glory that Jesus prays about. God glorified Jesus throughout His life on earth by entrusting Him to make God known. Now this job falls to Jesus' followers. They have the opportunity to experience the same glory that Christ experienced through service to God. Of course, that glory came with a heavy cost. But just as Jesus bore His cross for the sake of salvation, we, as followers of Jesus, are asked to carry our crosses for the sake of the Kingdom too. It is our honor and glory as servants of God. 

Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me reflect Your glory in the world today. May I live as Christ in service to the world. Help me to carry my cross for the sake of Your Kingdom, just as Jesus did. In His name I pray, Amen

*This devotion taken from The Sanctuary for Lent 2016 by Sue Mink

Sunday, March 17, 2024

Who Was St. Patrick?

  


Today many people will remember St. Patrick. This day is special for me since my great-great-grandmother was from Ireland and my grandma, Esther, went home to be with Jesus on St. Patrick's Day. But it has also become special to me since I have learned the incredible story of St. Patrick! 

Below is the story of St. Patrick:



St. Patrick: From Slave to Saint
by Grainne Rowland

"Watch out! Hide! Here come the raiders!" My family's servants were screaming and running for cover. I watched in horror as my father's land and house were overrun. The raiders came with the Irish king, Niall of the Nine Hostages.

Suddenly, I was grabbed from behind, tied up, and roughly pushed towards a waiting ship. I, Succat, was being taken as a slave!

I struggled to get free. I thought of how angry my father would be when he learned that his son had been kidnapped. My father was the most powerful man in that part of Britain. Surely he would rescue me!

I was thrown on board the ship with the other captives. The ship quickly sailed away. The raiders began to celebrate their successful attack. I  knew then there would be no rescue. I was only sixteen years old.

In Ireland, I was sold to Miliucc, a chieftain in Co. Antrim. I was forced to herd pigs in cold and rainy weather. I was hungry, wet, and shivery with cold. Always, I was lonely.

I was a slave for six long years. I learned the Irish language and the customs of the Irish people. I also learned to pray.

One night in a dream, I heard a voice say, "Behold, your ship is ready." I woke up and knew my chance to escape had arrived! I began my long walk to freedom.

After many days, I reached Wexford, 200 miles away. I found a ship nearly ready to sail. But the captain was searching for someone to care for a pack of Irish wolfhounds on the journey. I was just the person! I was on my way home!

The ship landed in northern Gaul, where there was only desert. For many days, we wandered in that desert. We found no food. The sailors made fun of my God. They asked why He didn't send us food. So I prayed. To the sailors' surprise, a large herd of pigs came into sight, squealing and grunting. It was enough meat for not only the men, but all the wolfhounds as well!

On the day I walked into my home again, my mother and father ran to hug me. They both talked at once and asked question after question, never giving me time to answer. That night, I was the guest at a huge party. I was given many gifts.

During the next few years, I studied in several places. I finally became a priest. It was then that I was given the name Patrick.

One night, I had another dream. I saw the people of Ireland. They pleaded with me, saying, "We beg you, holy youth, to come and walk among us once more." I knew I must return to Ireland.

When I arrived back in Ireland, I first went to Tara, the home of Irish kings. I asked King Leary's permission to preach in the country. He agreed and I began to travel throughout Ireland. I brought many people to the Christian faith.

In about the year 441, I spent 40 days alone on a rocky, windy mountain praying for the Irish people. The mountain is now known as Croagh Patrick, or the Mountain of Patrick.

One day, I was telling the people about God. They did not understand. So I picked a shamrock and showed them that there are three leaves but only one plant. Then the people could better understand that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit make only one God. That is why, when you see a picture of me, I am usually holding a shamrock.

I trained new Irish priests, and they learned many things. They knew how to copy and beautifully decorate the Bible and other books. They copied everything by hand and made paint from plants and minerals. In later years, the people of Europe forgot about learning. The Irish monks and scholars kept copying books and kept important knowledge alive.

Not long before I died, I built a large stone cathedral in the town of Armagh. I also had a school built there. It later became a famous university.

I died on March 17, 493, in the town of Saul, in Co. Down. This was the same place I had built my first church.

Many towns wanted the honor of giving me a burial place. So my body was put on a wagon drawn by two oxen. The oxen pulled the cart to the town of Downpatrick. There I was buried.

My body lies in a cemetery next to the Downpatrick Cathedral. The grave is marked by a large granite stone and the name Patrick.

After St. Patrick died, Ireland was used greatly by God to keep Christianity alive in Europe during the Middle/Dark Ages. At a time when there was much corruption in the Church in Europe and when very few people knew how to read so that it was difficult to spread the Gospel, the Irish/Celtic Church sent out many missionaries and helped preserve the Christian religion through its monasteries. This early Celtic Church flourished with many monks and priests leaving Ireland to begin missions in Europe. In the first two hundred and fifty years after Patrick's death, around five hundred Irish saints were recognized. These missionaries established monasteries in Scotland, England, Switzerland, France, Germany and as far south as Italy.

We have much to be grateful for in the lasting Christian heritage and legacy of Patrick and Ireland!

Easter Devotion (Sunday) - Prayer for Us

 

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." 
John 17:20-23

After praying for Himself and His disciples, Jesus expands His prayer to include all people who will come to know God through His story. Thus, we can read these verses as a direct personal intercession from the Son to the Father for you and for me! 

Jesus' deepest request for us is unity. He prays not only for the unity of the Kingdom people of God on earth, but for our unity with Jesus and God the Father. Jesus asks that we stand as a united front against the sin of the world, perfectly in tune with the desires of God, just a Jesus was a perfect reflection of God.

If we look at the church in the world, it seems that this unity is yet to happen. Christianity is splintered into at least forty major divisions and as many as forty-two thousand denominations. Only when Jesus comes again in glory to claim His kingdom will this prayer of one church be fully answered. But, if we look past denominations and at the heart of the people, the church becomes united every time it stands against evil. Every time Christians come together united in prayer and action for the lost, the orphan, those caught in sex trafficking or the slave trade, those sick and dying or in prison for their faith...then Jesus' prayer is seen in action.  

If we strive to be united with Jesus, then each of us will grow in His likeness. Our personal unity with Jesus Christ will expand to our community of believers. While theological divisions may continue to exist, if our hearts are all striving to be like Jesus, we will grow together into a powerful community for God.

Prayer: Jesus, teach us to grow together in faith, with You as our model. Help us to stand with our brothers and sisters in our communities and around the world as we speak up for the defenseless and as we fight tyranny and evil. May we be in You Lord Jesus so that the world may know that You love them. In Your name we pray, Amen. 

* This devotion taken from The Sanctuary for Lent 2016 by Sue Mink

Easter Devotion (Day 27) - Prayers for His Friends

 

“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.  For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.  I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.  All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
John 17: 6-19

Early in Jesus' ministry, God entrusted twelve disciples to Jesus; and in this passage, Jesus prayed for their spiritual strength and safety and also for the community that they had created together. Jesus taught them about God, and they listened. They learned that Jesus had been sent to them from God. They came to understand God's desire for them in the world and started to adopt a new vision for their lives. They became unique and were about to be deeply challenged by living without Jesus in a world that did not understand them. Just as Jesus was about to suffer as one who challenged a worldly system that was not based on the kingdom of God, He knew that His followers would struggle living as God's people among those who still followed the dictates of human sin. 

Jesus prayed both for their protection and for their sanctification. He was deeply concerned that they remain "set aside" from corrupting influences while still remaining in the world to do God's work. He did not depend on the community that He built but trusted God to guard their future. Still today, the work of Jesus' community on earth depends on God's care, not on what we say or do. We exist today as the church because of the never-ending grace of God. 

Prayer: O Lord, strengthen and uphold Your kingdom people! Help us to adopt Your vision for our lives. Keep us set aside from corrupting influences while we do Your work in this world. We know that our future depends on you Lord God. In the name of Your Son Jesus, Amen

*This devotion taken from The Sanctuary for Lent 2016 by Sue Mink 

Friday, March 15, 2024

Easter Devotion (Day 26) - The Glory of the Son

  

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

John 17:1-5 

This prayer is the theological climax of the Gospel of John. Jesus has said good-bye to His disciples and now turns to God, praying for Himself, His disciples, and the church as He prepares for His death and resurrection. Jesus will experience betrayal, humiliation, scorn, a painful execution, all God's wrath for the sin of the world piled on Him and lastly, rejection by God for a time. Yet in John's Gospel, His prayers are all about glory. In this prayer, Jesus is not focused on His death, but instead, looks to His resurrection as God's victory over sin and death. His resurrection will be glorious because it will prove His place as God's holy Son and will offer eternal life to all who know God through Him. He will return to His Father to live in the glory that He had to abandon by coming to earth. 

God tasked Jesus with nothing less than showing humanity the purpose of their creation. Jesus was incarnated to turn people's eyes back to God and to teach them how to live within the blessings of their Creator. At the evening of His betrayal, Jesus takes the cup that God had poured for Him - a cup full of bitterness and pain, but even more so, a cup of glory and salvation for the world. 

Prayer - Lord Jesus, thank You for the work You did on earth to glorify the Father, so that we may all know the one true God. Thank You that You showed us the purpose for our creation and how to live within God's blessings. You are amazing and I am so eager for Your return. I love you Jesus! Come Lord Jesus! In Your name, Amen 


*Devotions taken from The Sanctuary for Lent 2016 by Sue Mink

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Easter Devotion (Day 25) - Putting Others First in Prayer

 

Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test. Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong—not so that people will see that we have stood the test but so that you will do what is right even though we may seem to have failed. For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. We are glad whenever we are weak but you are strong; and our prayer is that you may be fully restored.
2 Corinthians 13:5-9 

What a terrible thing to be proven wrong. When one has made a strong public statement and that statement is refuted, it can weaken one's credibility and can destroy reputations. Yet that is exactly what Paul is praying for in this passage. Paul had chastised the Corinthians for poor behavior, and they accused Paul of not being a true mouthpiece for Jesus Christ. In response, Paul prayed that the Corinthians examine themselves and find the spark of Christ that is within them. If they were to do that, then they would be approved by God, and Paul would have been wrong in threatening to discipline them. Paul is much more concerned with the spiritual health of the fledgling Corinthian church than in saving face. 

Jesus tells us to pray for our enemies, but here, Paul tells us how to pray for them. Our concern in praying for others is for their own benefit. Although Paul would look foolish if the Corinthians proved him wrong, that is exactly what he prayed would happen. Everything that he did was to build them up and bring them to faith. It was never for his vindication, glory, or even ease in dealing with them. He would rather be seen as weak and wrong than see those who attacked him, and who he cared about, fall prey to sin. 

Prayer: O Lord, may my prayers always build others up. Help me to be more concerned for others than myself, entrusting myself to Your care. May I pray for others according to what will benefit them. In Jesus' name, Amen

* This devotion taken from The Sanctuary for Lent 2016 by Sue Mink

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Where is Jesus in Alzheimers and Dementia?

 


Before my mom went to be with Jesus, she suffered from Dementia and Alzheimer’s for a number of years. We watched her slowly lose interest in how she looked, in politics, and playing games with her family… Driving, a clean house. She lost interest and the memory of so many of the things that were important to her throughout her life. 

But the one thing she never lost interest in or love for, is the Lord Jesus Christ! Even when her mind couldn’t hold onto other things, Jesus was holding onto her! Her last words before she went to meet him in heaven were the words of the song "Jesus loves me". 

As I thought about this truth, I realize that those last few years were a picture of the assurance that each of us has that it’s not about us holding onto Jesus Christ, but it’s about Him holding onto us. “ For I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him, (my faith in Him), until that day!” 2 Timothy 1:12

So, where is Jesus in Alzheimers and Dementia? He's right beside your loved one! If they put their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior, even if they don't remember your name at times, they will not forget Jesus. In fact, these terrible diseases seem to bring a person back to the only thing that truly matters in this world and in the world to come...knowing Jesus. Be encouraged and trust Him for your eternity!