Time with Jesus - Friday, 23 November 2012
Hi all,
Today’s meditation is about circumstances. How one
thing leads to something else and so on and so forth. You and I can try and
orchestrate them but we don’t succeed very often. God does it all the time.
Imagine for the moment exactly the circumstances and factors needed to produce
you or me. 13 For you created my inmost
being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. Psalms 139:13 NIV Reading these words I am reminded of my
mother knitting for the family. Hours and hours were spent with her needles
knitting for us. Does God do likewise?
Blessings,
Jim & Phyllida Strickland
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
Time with Jesus – Friday, 23 November 2012
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
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©
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These
devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright
protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it
is for non-commercial Christian purposes
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©
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INTRODUCTION
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DAILY
LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES
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CIRCUMSTANCES
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It’s
amazing how things line up so that some predetermined purpose can come about!
At school there was a little story that illustrates this. “For lack of a
nail, a shoe was lost; for lack of a shoe, a horse was lost; for lack of a
horse, a rider was lost; for lack of a rider, a battle was lost, For lack of
a battle, a war was lost.” Based on this we could say that a war was lost
because of a missing nail. It may sound like a fishy story. Nevertheless it shows
how small things can have terrible consequences. A good example is the
Concorde disaster in Paris. A smallish piece of metal on the runway damaged a
tyre at take-off. Minutes later the huge aeroplane crashed into a hotel. One
thing had led to another culminating in disaster.
Life
is like that for all of us. Very often we happen to be in the right place at
the right time. Very often, God orchestrates events to bring about a
pre-determined outcome. I’ve heard it said that if our planet was fractionally
closer or further away from the sun, life as we know it on this planet could
never have happened. We understand that God arranged things the way they are.
so this was not a purely random happening. It could not have been otherwise.
Too many random events would have been necessary for life to exist on this
planet.
The
father of a friend of mine was decapitated in a motorcar accident. His car
smashed into an oncoming truck. One second either way and the accident may
not have happened. The time it takes to drink a cup of tea was the difference
between life and death.
On
the Christian front, for the Gospel to be spread around the then known world,
many factors were necessary. The Roman roads and “pax-Romana” made it
possible for the Gospel to go international. The fact that Greek was the
international language made it possible for just about everyone to hear. We
need to realise that God had so engineered circumstances that the coming of
Jesus Christ and the spreading of the gospel could take place.
Equally,
certain things had to be in place for Jesus to be born, live, minister and
die upon a Roman cross at exactly the right place, date and time in history.
He had to die at exactly the same instant the priests were offering up the
sacrificial rams for the Passover. An innocent man had to be sentenced to
death by His own people and executed by the civil authorities. He had to be
whipped, mocked and spat on. He had to be sinless. He had to die a brutal and
agonizing death. But not for Himself. He had to die and go through all that
He suffered so that you and I don’t have to go through it. Lord, Thanks for perfect
circumstances!
Jim & Phyllida Strickland
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36
Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this
world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been
fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is
not from the world."
John 18:36 ESV
12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice
for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made
a footstool for his feet.
Hebrews 10:12-13 ESV
64
Jesus replied, "You have said it. And in the
future you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God's
right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven."
Matthew 26:64 NLT
25 For Christ must reign until He humbles all His enemies
beneath His feet.
1 Corinthians 15:25 NLT
57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death
through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:57 NLT
20 that
raised Christ from the dead and seated Him in the
place of honour at God's right hand in the heavenly realms. 21
Now He is far above any ruler or authority or
power or leader or anything else--not only in this world but also in the
world to come. 22 God has put
all things under the authority of Christ and has made Him head over all
things for the benefit of the church. 23 And the church is His body; it is made full and
complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with Himself.
Ephesians 1:20-23 NLT
15 God will bring Jesus back at a time that pleases him.
God is the blessed and only Ruler. He is the greatest King of all. He is the
most powerful Lord of all.
1 Timothy 6:15 NIrV
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Many dreadful things took place when He’d been led away.
Things that are so terrible they frighten us today.
They’d asked if He was Jesus. He answered them “I AM!”
At which they all fell over. God’s Holy Name went “bam!”
It hit them like a poleaxe and swept them off their feet.
He could have simply walked away; each one of them was beat.
But Jesus didn’t exit. He had to follow through;
And do the very thing the Father said that He must do.
And so He let them take Him, to do their very worst.
To smash the power of Satan and have the fall reversed.
They took Him first to Annas. He used to be High Priest.
The man who couldn’t wait to see the Son of God deceased.
The witnesses came forward, but they could not agree.
And so they went to Caiaphas. They thought perhaps that he,
Could bring a guilty verdict and have Him executed.
But every charge against Him was totally refuted.
Caiaphas then asked Him in a very special way.
In the Name of God Most High I charge You now to say,
If You are the Son of God; tell me yes or no?
There wasn’t any other way for Jesus Christ to go.
“It is as you have said it; your statement’s is quite true.
Now that I’ve declared it, what are you going to do?”
“Blasphemy!” screamed Caiaphas. “You’ve heard what He has said.
We don’t need further evidence. For that, He must be dead!”
They mocked Him, beat and spat on Him and He was led away.
“We must have Him crucified. He has to die today!”
They weren’t allowed to do it. Not under Roman law.
They took Him before Pilate, who examined Him once more.
But Pilate said, “Not guilty! I will not crucify,
A man who has done nothing wrong does not deserve to die!”
Pilate once more tested Him. “Are You the Jewish King?”
“My Kingdom isn’t of this world”. If it was I’d bring
All my many soldiers and sit upon My throne.
You would know for certain, I am not on My own”
Pilate became frightened. He had the Master flogged.
But Pilate’s thinking processes were very quickly fogged.
And even though he washed his hands, he finally complied.
He didn’t want to do it, but had Christ crucified!
Jim Strickland
Written
23rd November
2012
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