On Wings Of Eagles

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Wednesday, March 31, 2010

The Price Jesus Paid



I don't know how Jesus could stand up under its weight. He had my sin, your sin, our sin. He allowed it to be placed upon him so that we would not have to bear the ultimate consequences of it at all. But in that sacrifice, as horrible as it was, we find ourselves healed -- cured of the most awful disease a person can have, a sin-sick soul. He was pierced, crushed, and punished for our sins. In their place, he has left us his transforming peace and a place to belong.



He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.


— Isaiah 53:5-6



Dear Lord, fill our soul with the wonder of your grace. Let us not forget the cost of your love. Stir in us the constant and abiding memory of your redemptive grace. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

He Was Despised and Rejected


Jesus was everything and became nothing for us. Yet most of the people alive on earth with him when he came, even his very own people, didn't know him or accept him even though he came to save them. The crowds just assumed he deserved what he got. Most did not repent. But there was something about that sacrificial story that has grabbed hearts over the years and called God's lost children home. In our journey home, we find him to not only be a Savior, but a servant who lived and died for our salvation as well.



He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and he carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.


— Isaiah 53:3-4




Dear Lord, your plan to redeem us takes our breath away. Why you chose to take your precious son and expose Him to such public disgrace while He was on earth we will never comprehend. But we do know: you love us with an everlasting love and we will serve you with all of our strength in thanks for His great sacrifice. Thank you for your love. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Monday, March 29, 2010

Righteousness




Righteousness! That's what we are. We are not righteous. No, it is much bigger than that. We are God's righteousness. We are the testimony of how holy, just and gracious he truly is because, in Jesus, we are his righteousness!

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

— 2 Corinthians 5:21

Dear Lord, thank you for making us righteous in the blood

of your son's death. May people see in us a reflection of

your holiness, justice, and mercy as we try to share your

grace with them. In Jesus’ name. Amen



Sunday, March 28, 2010

Jesus Gave Himself aa a Ransom



We do not need to have another human, no matter how mighty, or special, to intercede for us before God. As his children, we can go to our Father freely, knowing that God himself has provided the perfect mediator between himself and us. That mediator, alone, is head of the Church and Chief Priest before God on our behalf. His name is Christ Jesus, and he is our Lord, Savior and brother.



For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men -- the testimony given in its proper time.


— 1 Timothy 2:5-6



Dear Lord, you are our God, and we praise you for making access to you so freely available. We praise You that in your grace, you not only provided a ransom for our sin, but you also provided a mediator for our approach to you. We thank you as well, for paying the price and staying at the Father's side to intercede and speak for us! In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Palm Sunday


Palm Sunday is the day we remember the "triumphal entry" of Jesus into Jerusalem, exactly one week before His resurrection (Matthew 21:1-11). Some 450-500 years earlier, the Prophet Zechariah had prophesied, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9). Matthew 21:7-9 records the fulfillment of that prophecy: "They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ Hosanna in the highest!’” This event took place on the Sunday before Jesus' crucifixion.



In remembrance of this event, we celebrate Palm Sunday. It is referred to as Palm Sunday because of the palm branches that were laid on the road as Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem. Palm Sunday was the fulfillment of the Prophet Daniel's "seventy sevens" prophecy: " Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times" (Daniel 9:25). John 1:11 tells us, "He (Jesus) came to His own, and His own did not receive Him." The same crowds that were crying out "Hosanna" were crying out "crucify Him" five days later (Matthew 27:22-23).

Dear Lord, we pray that this week we will take the time to remember what you did for each one of us. We pray that we will not turn our backs on you like they did just after Your triumphal entry. In Jesus' name, Amen