Tag: betrayed

not mine but your will be done

John 18:1  When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered.  Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples.  So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons.  Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.   When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground.  So he asked them again, “Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.”   Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.”  This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: “Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.”  Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)  So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”

Psalms 75:8     For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.

Matthew 20:22    Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.”

Matthew 26:39    And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

Matthew 26:42     Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”

Hebrews 12:2    looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Romans 8:15     For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”  The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,  and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.  For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

I am continually thinking about “for the joy set before Him endured the cross“.  Many thoughts come to mind.  His love for the Father.  His love for us.  His obedience.  His want to do the will of God.  His human struggle.  Can you imagine what this must have been like, to know you could call down 10,000 angels and never have to experience this suffering.  But rather than choose this your eyes are focused on serving God and doing His will above self.  Numerous scripture tells us to seek His will for our life and to live in unity, allowing ourselves to be wronged so that the grace of God may be seen in and through our reflection of His Son.  At a time we celebrate the birth of Jesus with joy and thankfulness it is good to remember His faithfulness, steadfast love, and sacrifice to redeem us from our sin.

Mind set on the flesh

“I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the LORD.”

John 7:7  The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.

1 John 4:5     They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.

Proverbs 8:36     but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death.”

Romans 8:7    For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.

1 John 3:12-13     We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.  Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.

Malachi 3:5    “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts.

Acts 7:51    “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.  Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered,  you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”  Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him.

Galatians 4:16    Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?

There is a difference between those who choose to humbly serve, honor, follow and obey God, and of those who openly choose not to.   It is very easy to see from the way they speak and act.  However I think there is a grey area that has a devastating affect on people.  This is where there is no clear distinction because the commitment of those claiming to be followers is complacent and those who do not claim to be followers have chosen a moral code (without God) to live by.  There is no difference between the lives of the two.  Neglect and complacency of God’s word will have an effect on the heart, mind, and soul.  To have a victorious life time has to be spent in His word with a heart and mind deep commitment to seek, know and follow God.  I wonder if we pick out the worst of humans and then look at ourselves in the mirror and say I am better than that – so I must be alright with God.  However we should be reading His word and seeking to understand what we are like in the mirror of what it is showing us.  If we don’t spend time in His word how will we reflect His joy, hope, strength, love, peace, kindness, generosity, power, faith……

Almost Stumbled

“but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.  Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

“But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

Psalms 73:1   Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped.  For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.  For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek.  They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.  Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment.  Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies.  They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression.  They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth.  Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them. And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?” Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning.  If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed the generation of your children.  But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.

Jeremiah 12:1  Righteous are you, O LORD, when I complain to you; yet I would plead my case before you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive?

Psalms 37:1   Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers

Proverbs 3:31    Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways,

Proverbs 24:1     Be not envious of evil men, nor desire to be with them,

Hosea 7:2     But they do not consider that I remember all their evil. Now their deeds surround them; they are before my face.

Zephaniah 1:12   At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are complacent, those who say in their hearts, ‘The LORD will not do good, nor will he do ill.

I copied this from a commentary on this chapter of 73 Psalms.  “We have in these verses a good man’s temptation. In every age God’s people have asked whether God can possibly know all that is taking place on the earth, and if He does know, why He allows evil to prosper. The dark spirit who is ever at our elbow whispers that we should have done as well, and better”  It surely rings true if not for the questions of “does He know” and “why does He allow” surely for listening to the whispers of Satan into our ears and becoming envious.  We must recognize these whispers and fight them with the word of truth.  Paul in his letters once wrote “I have learned to be content in having little and having much.”  We do well to be content knowing and humbly serving God.  We have so many distractions pulling at our heart and soul it is only those who desire and commit to humbly serve, honor, follow and obey who will find true peace and rest this side of eternity.