Posted on 04/04/2007 10:15:14 AM PDT by Quix
Thanks for your kind agreement and affirmation.
His Highest to you this Good Friday.
Could y’all be kind and loving to me today by praying for God to make His will known with regard to my employment?! I’ve received 3 tempting job offers in as many days...and I’m just agonizing.
Thanks, brothers and sisters.
Lord, God of Israel and all that is . . .
We confess that as Paul says, we have the mind of Christ by His Spirit. And we claim that for our beloved ?sister? Kimmie7.
We ask, Lord that you enable Kimmie to get aside at least some moments and focus peacefully, confidently, receptively on YOU. Help her lay aside all other considerations for some moments.
At a fitting moment, gently, by Your Spirit raise within her an image, a principle, a truth, a phrase, a video . . . an association . . . which will highlight your HIGHEST for her in this regard.
You alone, Lord, know all the priorities and situations ahead. You alone know where her best interests lie amongst these 3 choices. If there's a 4th better waiting in the wings, make that clear.
Whatever is Your Highest for her and her family, Lord, make abundantly clear to her such that she can walk CONFIDENTLY forward with you into that new job and not look back.
Help her to know and FOLLOW AFTER YOUR PEACE IN HER HEART, MIND AND SPIRIT about YOUR CHOICE. Let her know by your PEACE which choice that is and then to walk in that Peace about that job; in that job.
In your Precious Name, Jesus, Amen.
I’m here. I was preparing my Good Friday meditation. It’s big, graphics heavy, and I just finished putting the final touches on it. Now I’m going to post it. So I might be distracted for a bit longer.
Amen! This prayer, I believe, is what the “One Another Devotion” is (or should be) all about. God bless!
No sweat.
Bless you in all your doings this Good Friday.
Thanks.
PTL.
Am blessed, humbled, touched you’d agree. Thanks.
I look forward to any contribution to such a Good Friday devotional as you may have time and inclination to provide.
A Joyous Easter to you and all of yours!
Likewise Dear Heart.
May your Resurrecton Sunday weekend be all you and family need and wish it to be.
thanks for stopping by.
Hmmmmm
Given that Resurrection is so many syllables . . .
Perhaps we could start calling it
ALIVE! SUNDAY!
I think I like
!ALIVE! SUNDAY!
better than
RISEN SUNDAY.
This of course was a picture of the offering of Christ on the cross. And I can't help but be moved at God's tender, lingering words to Abraham: "Take now your son ... your only son ... Isaac ... whom you love ... and offer him."
Who can doubt that the great heart of God was thinking of His own Son ... His only son ... Jesus ... whom He loved ... and the great offering He would make on the cross?
"He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all" (Rom 8:32)
When it came to Abraham's son, the word was "slay not". When it came to His own Son and the great sin debt of the world, the word was "spare not".
INDEED.
ABSOLUTELY AWESOME FORESHADOWING and
MORE AWESOME EXECUTION of the LOVE OF GOD.
Thanks tons.
Great.
Thanks tons.
Something I found:
Some of us have deliberatly rejected kindness. When it comes to a showdown over some petty issue, kindness doesn’t strike us as forceful enough to hold our ground. It seems effeminate, weak, indulgent, even lenient. We appear to get more mileage from counter-attack, parry and thrust. So the fruit of the Spirit drops to the ground, victim to more “useful” tactics.
Our Father exhibits His eternal kindness toward us by a purposeful forbearance. We can keep our anger from canceling kindness. Not easily, but with a firm grasp on Christ’s power. New Testament kindness is not the laxness of an indulgent grandfather. Kindness is strength. “Better . . . a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city” (Prov. 16:32). We require the full strength of the Holy Spirit to control anger. Three Biblical strategies enables us to remain kind, even when angry.
Kind Confrontation
Kindness doesn’t rule out plain speech, confrontation, or rebuke. These are acts of Christian kindness. Jesus directs us to confront squarely a brother who sins (Lk. 17:3). Paul was anything but namby-pamby. He faced issues head on (Gal. 2:11ff; cf. 2 Tim. 4:2; Tit. 2:15). Yet his words of rebuke never aimed to injure, but to set right and heal (cf. 2 Cor. 2:2-4). For Paul, rebuke went hand in hand with “patience and kindness . . . weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left” (2 Cor. 6:6, 7).
Long-term kindness between imperfect family members is possible only through confrontation. To remain emotionally healthy we must acknowledge our anger, but we don’t have to give it free reign. Loving rebuke, when appropriate, keeps rising anger from turning ugly and blocking kindness altogether. “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another” (Eph. 4:31-32).
Active Forgiveness
Genuine forgiveness faces sin squarely, without either trying to excuse the sin or minimize the hurt. At the cross, God didn’t stretch the truth to lessen the pain. Christ bore the sin fully so He might forgive it completely. Forgiveness is the raw material of God’s kindness. His forbearance in the face of provocation is inconceivable without “forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin” (Ex. 34:7). Real forgiveness is neither an excuse or a brave front. It is a deliberate faith choice, a refusal to hold this sin against him, against her. “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Eph. 4:32). Excusing or trying to rationalize Hank’s cruel words can’t defuse anger. True forgiveness can.
Courtesy
Christian courtesy is vital kindness in tense times. Listening without interrupting. Refraining from namecalling. Allowing the other person to speak his piece. Common courtesy. The Bible challenges us “to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all men” (Tit. 2:2, RSV). If courtesy is required in public, how much more in our own families? Living by a rule of courtesy enables us to keep inevitable anger from overflowing into rage.
Kindness in the Face of Provocation
Anyone can return kindness with kindness. But kindness in the face of provocation, kindness in return for hostility—that is the Biblical fruit of the Spirit at its peak of ripeness. A word study of “kindness” in the New Testament yields a amazing discovery: where “kindness” is mentioned in hostile situations, God Himself is nearly always the author.
He personally demonstrates before His children this raw, unvarnished kindness—love in return for hostility. Paul lists a catalog of man at his worst: “foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved . . . We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.” Then comes the good news. “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us . . .” (Tit. 3:3-5).
God’s greatness is seen in His restraint. Even when fools “show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience”—count it as softness—yet He persists (Rom. 2:4).
Before a God who substitutes kindness for retaliation, our excuses evaporate. Provocation does not justify rudeness, “because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked” (Lk. 6:35). If our God can show kindness in the extremity of utter rebellion, how much more should we show kindness to our own families. With God’s example in sharp focus, we see that Christian kindness is no fair-weather option. Kindness is not based on merit of the recipient but on the character of the author. Kindness isn’t for weaklings. It is the guts and gears of the gospel in action. The ooey-gooey of a honeymoon couple is charming but less than convincing to a cynical world. The really compelling witness before our tragically fragmented culture is this: a Christian marriage which demonstrates kindness in spite of conflict. “All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another” (Jn. 13:35).
Before a God who substitutes kindness for retaliation, our excuses evaporate. Provocation does not justify rudeness, “because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked” (Lk. 6:35). If our God can show kindness in the extremity of utter rebellion, how much more should we show kindness to our own families. With God’s example in sharp focus, we see that Christian kindness is no fair-weather option. Kindness is not based on merit of the recipient but on the character of the author. Kindness isn’t for weaklings. It is the guts and gears of the gospel in action.
== =
QUITE SO! QUITE SO.
Tons of wisdom in all your words. Thanks much. May The Lord help me apply His wisdom through you well by His Grace and Spirit.
I’m still kind of lost in my Good Friday reminiscences...but I am around now...took a long nap this afternoon. I had stayed up to 3:30 last night putting artwork on my meditations. I have a lot of clip art already for the Passion, but I needed some key pieces and it took a long time to put the package together....
And then my doggie decided at 7:15 that it was time I get up no matter what cause she wanted to go out...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.