Many times, we as believers, pray for God to speak & show Himself to us. Guess what?! He HAS already spoken everything we need to know...through His Word. He gave us His word for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16). I am SO thankful for that, and still stand amazed at when I hear God speak (not audibly) so clearly through His Word! I'll give you an example.
Tonight, I had THE sweetest devotion and prayer time with Savannah. She is really learning & growing, and it blesses me SO much to hear the things she takes away from our time in the Word. Tonight, we read about the crucifixion in our Jesus Storybook Bible (which if you don't have it, I highly recommend it...it's written by Sally Llyod-Jones, and is unlike any Children's Bible that I've ever read. A lady recommended it to me last year, and it was one of the best things I've ever bought for my girls!). I want to share with you an excerpt from the middle of our story tonight:
"They nailed Jesus to the cross. "Father, forgive them," He gasped. "They don't understand what they're doing." "You say you've come to rescue us," the people shouted, "but you can't even rescue yourself!" But they were wrong. Jesus could have rescued Himself. A legion of angels would have flown to His side--if He'd have called. ......Jesus could have just climbed down. Actually, He could have just said a word and made it all stop. Like when he healed that little girl. And stilled the storm. And fed 5,000 people. But Jesus stayed. You see, they didn't understand. It wasn't the nails that kept Jesus there. It was love. "Papa?" Jesus said, frantically searching the sky. "Papa? Where are you? Don't leave me!" And for the first time--and the last--when he spoke, nothing happened. Just a horrible, endless silence. God didn't answer. He turned away from His Boy. Tears rolled down Jesus' face. The face of the One who would wipe away every tear from every eye. Even though it was midday, a dreadful darkness covered the face of the world. The sun could not shine. The earth trembled and quaked. ...........The full force of God's fierce anger at sin was coming down. On His own Son. Instead of His people (you and me). It was the only way God could destroy sin, and not destroy his children whose hearts were filled with sin (US). Then Jesus shouted out in a loud voice, "It is finished!" And it was. He had done it. Jesus had rescued the whole world. "Father!" Jesus cried, "I give you my whole life." And with a great sigh, He let Himself die."
After reading this and talking more about the crucifixion, we said, "But we know the REST of the story!" What a joyful thing the REST is...that he defeated death & arose from the grave to become a victor over sin! However, my heart was still very much on the thought of Calvary at that moment. We always refer to "Jesus dying on the cross for us," but what does that really mean to us? Have we let that thought in itself become lightly taken in our hearts and minds for hearing it so many times? Have we lost the thrill of what Jesus did for us personally? I thought about that, and how I never again in my life want it to become so familiar that I take it for granted like I used to (!!). So I posed this to Savannah: "What if Scarlet was older and she did something REALLY bad, like going to get a VERY BAD spanking for it, grounded for a month, no TV, etc... What if YOU, being her sister that loves her SO much, came to me and said, "Mommy, I don't want Scarlet to get the bad spanking, I'll take it for her. I won't watch any TV or do anything fun for a month. I said, "YOU would take her place, Savannah. She wouldn't have to get that really bad spanking because YOU took it for her. YOU took ALL her punishment for her. I would have to punish SOMEONE for the really bad thing she did, so you would take her place. Then think about after that. Don't you think Scarlet would really love you and want to show you her love for you? Don't you think that she would really be thanking you & telling you how much she loved you everyday?? Well, that's what Jesus did for US!! To save us from eternal seperation from God and going to hell, Jesus took the punishment for OUR sins and got much worse than a spanking or being grounded!! He loved us so much that He took our place for OUR punishment that WE deserved. We shouldn't do what's right or wrong just to follow any rules, but out of our love for Him. Even people that don't believe in God try to do good things. We should be serving & following Him instead of ourselves because of what He did for us!" I wish you could have seen the look on her face. It was like the lightbulb truly clicked on in her mind at that moment. When she considered her own pain from that punishment, she understood a little more about the punishment that Jesus took for her.
I share all this for a reason. I feel like someone needed to hear it, even broken down so simply, that a child can understand. God forgive us for losing sight of what He WILLINGLY did for us at Calvary. It brings tears to my eyes to think about friends & loved ones & people I don't even know who take this so lightly, and don't want to live their life for Him because of what He did for us. I followed up by telling Savannah that yes, God rescued us by doing that, but each person still has to CHOOSE HIM for themselves. I was on a path for much of my life that I knew all this, and used Scripture as the doctrine for what I believed, but I sure didn't use it for reproof or correction, nor instruction in righteousness, because my actions spoke much louder than my words. God doesn't want lip service from us. He wants ALL or nothing. Look at what He gave!! He turned His back on His Son at that moment for YOU!! It's NOT just a STORY, like I told Savannah, but really happened. And one day He's going to come back for us, and it will be too late for you to start taking the God of the Bible seriously. Please, I beg you, die to yourself today, and make Him Lord of your life, and not just Savior. Small is the gate and NARROW is the way that leads to life, and only a FEW find it. I think for much of my life I wasn't a part of the few. I believed in God, and loved Him, but still wanted to do life MY way. I didn't want to surrender all. I didn't want to die to self. It was TOO much to give up. We don't have to get cleaned up to come to God, He is STILL cleaning ME up everyday!!
After our story, we prayed as we always do. I can't explain to you the feeling of that sweet prayer time. I was moved to tears, and just couldn't speak for the gratitude in my heart for what He did for me!! Savannah asked me afterwards, "Mommy, why couldn't you talk?" I just told her that I could just imagine us being right at the throne of God, praying and talking to Him, and how awesome that was. That the God of the universe that created EVERYTHING was available at that moment and time to listen to she and I. And all because of what His Son did for us!! I told Josh THAT is when I can feel and hear God speak. We ask Him to, and He already has, through His word. When we're faithful to seek Him, we find Him. To those who don't believe, I get it. This sounds like foolishness. Scripture says that clearly. It was real, and it was true, and when I called Josh to share with Him our time tonight, He says that's so weird because He was just reading Romans 5 & 6 tonight, which just about summed it all up for me & made my cup overflow for the day!! I hope you'll read some of it below...
"For while we were still helpless, at the appointed moment, Christ died for the ungodly. For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us! Much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by His blood, we will be saved through Him from wrath. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by His life! And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have now received this reconciliation through Him." (Romans 5:6-11)
"But the gift is not like the trespass. For if by the one man’s trespass the many died, how much more have the grace of God and the gift overflowed to the many by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ. And the gift is not like the one man’s sin, because from one sin came the judgment, resulting in condemnation, but from many trespasses came the gift, resulting in justification.Since by the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. So then, as through one trespass there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act there is life-giving justification for everyone. For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 5:15-21)
Romans 6: "What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in a new way of life. For if we have been joined with Him in the likeness of His death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of His resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that sin’s dominion over the body may be abolished, so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, since a person who has died is freed from sin’s claims. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him, because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over Him. For in light of the fact that He died, He died to sin once for all; but in light of the fact that He lives, He lives to God. So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires. And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness. For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under law but under grace. What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Absolutely not! Don’t you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey—either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness? But thank God that, although you used to be slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching you were transferred to, and having been liberated from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness. I am using a human analogy because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you offered the parts of yourselves as slaves to moral impurity, and to greater and greater lawlessness, so now offer them as slaves to righteousness, which results in sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free from allegiance to righteousness. So what fruit was produced then from the things you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death. But now, since you have been liberated from sin and have become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification—and the end is eternal life! For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
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