Shouting His Praises

Yesterday as we celebrated Palm Sunday,

Jesus's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, 

(Photo by RachelRamsdellPhotography)

we read from accounts recorded in all four gospels;

📖 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!” Matthew 21:8-9 (NKJV)

📖  Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and He sat on it.  And many spread their clothes on the road, and others cut down leafy branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  Then those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:

“Hosanna!

‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’

Blessed is the kingdom of our father David

That comes in the name of the Lord!

Hosanna in the highest!”   Mark 11:7-10(NKJV)

📖 Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying:

“ ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!’

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Luke 19:37-38 (NKJV)

📖 The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,  took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out:

“Hosanna!

‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’

The King of Israel!” John 12:12-13 (NKJV)

It made me wonder....we would cheer and shout for Christ wouldn't we? Hollering His praises at the top of our lungs!?

But with in a few short days many of those same people changed their tune...they were shouting alright...."kill Him!"  "release Barnabas!" "Kill Jesus. Release the criminal!"

📖 And at that time they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas.  Therefore, when they had gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” For he knew that they had handed Him over because of envy. While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, “Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him.”  But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” They said, “Barabbas!” Pilate said to them, “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?”  They all said to him, “Let Him be crucified!”  Then the governor said, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they cried out all the more, saying, “Let Him be crucified!”  Matthew 27:16-23

WHAT??!! How could this happen?

We are a fickle people! Some are easily persuaded by voices around them. Not thinking for themselves.  Willing to follow the crowd rather than stand out, or stand up.

📖  For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.  1 Corinthians 3:19a

"Well, not me!" 

But how often do I praise Jesus and then turn around and say something unkind, or be cruel or uncaring?

How often do I sing of His wonderful goodness and then let bitterness and anger take root and run out my mouth??

Or shout His promises in song and then when things get difficult or ugly and scary do I react in fear and doubt?

I may not be yelling "Kill Him"  but haven't I done the same when I don't love as He loved?

📖 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  John 33:34

when I don't  show His kindness to all?

📖Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:32

When I don't speak trust and hope?

📖  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 1 Corinthians 13:6-7

And we have so much more than they did then...we have the resurrection....He had not fulfilled that part of the prophecy yet....for His followers it was just something they had been told would happen.

For us it is a reality of what has been done for us!

When Jesus came into to town he cleared the temple....of those who were being immoral and unjust and defiling His Father’s house of prayer

📖 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’” Matthew 21:12-13

That is what He came to do....with His death and resurrection He came to give us a way to clear out the immoral, sin and filth defiling our souls.

So are we going to keep singing His praise....regardless of what others are doing or saying around us....regardless of...or especially when times are dark and difficult?

🙏My prayer for you today....that you keep singing His praises no matter your circumstances, through your sorrow and pain, in your hope and in your rejoicing!❤

🎵

How Can I Keep From Singing by Chris Tomlin with Lyrics - YouTube

Heigh Ho Heigh Ho

 I returned to my per diem job after being out for almost a year.   A vacation...no.  A rest.. no.

First of all I am grateful my job was secure ...because I was per diem and my shift is nonessential, I wouldn't loose my position, for that I am grateful.

I was very sick a year ago and missed several weeks until I recovered and then the pandemic...and Covid changed how things were done at the hospital ER where I work (at every hospital across the nation...and globally!) But then again things were changing all around us!

In my family things were changing as drastically and as life alteringly as well. 

My thought as I was heading to work...."heigh ho heigh ho it's off to work I go" but the next thought of course was;

"What we do when there is a "pause", a "sabbatical" from what we do for work a pause from our "work"??

It shouldn't be.....

📖 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, Colossians 3:23

Regardless of what we are doing we should be serving the Lord.

📖 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.  Do everything without grumbling or arguing,  Philippians 2:12-14

I believe we should be doing what ever is placed before us, doing what God has purposed for us in His word and do it with out complaining!

📖  In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16

No matter what "job" is before you....we do it to the best of our ability because we are doing it for Him and we can serve Him as we serve those around us.  

That is our most important "job" and we need to be doing it every day!

🙏My prayer for you today is that you see what you can do to serve others around you today and by doing so serve our Savior!💜

No Luck About It (2021)

 I hope you don't mind....but I am going to repost last year's blog...posted on St. Patrick's Day....

So, today being St Patrick's day...green galore, leprechauns, rainbows, pots of gold, shamrocks.

What could I possibly have to say about all that silliness!?
Because behind what seems all fantasy and qs is a very real story of someone who IS worth celebrating.
Maewyn Succat  - Roman Britain born sometime during the fifth century (a.k.a. Saint Patrick)
According to the autobiographical Confessio of Patrick, when he was about sixteen, he was captured by Irish pirates from his home in Britain and taken as a slave to Ireland, looking after animals; he lived there for six years before escaping and returning to his family. After becoming a cleric, he returned to northern and western Ireland. In later life, he served as a bishop, but little is known about the places where he worked. By the seventh century, he had already come to be revered as the patron saint of Ireland. (Wikipedia)

Why is that phenomenal? If you were kidnapped and forced into slavery and then managed to escape...would you go back??!?
But he did...to spread the gospel...to teach about God, despite any fears, anger or resentment he might have had.
In our present global state....are we letting our fears, anger, resentment or even lack of mobility hinder our message about the love of God and the salvation of Jesus Christ?

Tradition has it that Patrick, as he was later named, used the indigenous shamrock as on object lesson of the trinity.
Is it one? Or 3?
It is both.
God is One, but also 3.
GOD  is; God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit.

📖" I and the Father are one.” John 10:30
📖 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—  the Spirit of truth. John 14:16-17a

There is a phrase " the luck of the Irish"....naa...there is no luck about this!
If you know, and believe in God the Father, Jesus His Son and the Holy Spirit...
That isn't luck....it is grace!
And I pray you share that grace any way you are able right now.
Just as Patrick didn't let his fear dictate his message neither should we.
God is still on the throne!  He still loves and cares for each of us.
📖For God is the King of all the earth; 
sing to him a psalm of praise.

God reigns over the nations;
God is seated on his holy throne. Psalm 47:7-8

Jesus's death on the cross and resurrection from the dead is still for ALL.
📖 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. Romans 6:10

And once you have accepted that you are given the Holy Spirit as a helper and guide.
📖 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.  John 14:26

What better message to share!?
 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20

A perfect song that was brought to my attention just this morning!

🎵Praise the Father, Praise the Son. Chris Tomlin

Sound of Silence

 I have probably written on something similar in the past....but after last week...."Those Who Have Ears, Hear"(CoffeeTime With A Dear Friend 2/3/2021)..I kept thinking about the importance of listening to the silence.

The title of this may have brought to mind a song (if you are as old or older than me....or like the "classics") Sounds of Silence by Simon and Garfunkle.  I am not referring to that song....where silence is a negative thing....that would be a whole other topic.

The silence I am looking at today is the silence that God allows when we quiet our souls before Him.  Ceasing, at least for a time, those things which distract us from hearing what the Lord has for us in that silence. 

📖 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”  Psalm 46:10

Sometimes we stay busy...not just physically but also in our minds...we may be trying to avoid all the clamor that is going on around us, or in our own minds. Or sometimes we are avoiding the silence because we are uneasy in it.

But if we try to avoid the silence we could miss what God has for us in the quiet.  

Sometimes it is to learn patience...."I was quiet and didn't hear a thing!"... patience...was there enough time spent in the silence?  Sometimes the quiet will look differently than it has in the past or than it is for others.

We may have to eliminate something that creates "noise" for us one time and not at another.

In preparing for Easter it is so very important that we quiet ourselves....our souls and focus on who Christ is and what He has done for us,

and quiet does not mean doing nothing.  You are drawing your attention and focus on Him and on the nature of who He is:

📖  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

 Revelation 22:13

📖 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die John 11:25

📖 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all

📖 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”. John 8:12

📖 I and the Father are one.” John 10:30

📖    But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. John 14:6

📖 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 2 Corinthians 13:14

We are preparing our hearts for what ever He shows us....

we are to move forward towards Him...in our busyness and in the silence.

Sometimes we just have to listen to the sound of silence.

🙏My prayer for you today is that you welcome the silence and what God has for you in it.❤

Those Who Have Ears, Hear

The last 4 weeks have been about what Jesus said the kingdom of heaven was like. 

This week I am going to focus on one chapter in particular... and a couple of the parables Jesus seemed to emphasize maybe a bit more than the others. 

He repeats 9

"Let him who has ears ..hear" once after telling a parable and once after explaining one.

I am going to have the whole scripture reference first and then look at a few of the specifics. (Coming from the New King James Version NKJV)

📖 Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth.. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away.  And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”   Matthew 13:1-9

And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”   He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 

 📖  13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not  hear,  or do they understand. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:  ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,   And seeing you will see and not perceive;  For the hearts of this people have grown dull.  Their ears are hard of hearing. And their eyes they have closed,

Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,

Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,  So that I should heal them.’   But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

18 “Therefore hear the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares    

Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field;  but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’  He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”    

Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”

The Parable of the Leaven                                                                                                                 Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.”

Prophecy and the Parables                                                                                                                       All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:    “I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world.

📖 Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.”  He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!  Matthew 13:  36-43

First of all He says in Matthew 13 verse 13 that there are those who have ears but do not hear. They may listen but they will not comprehend or understand; "their hearts are dull"  But blessed are those who hear and see what comes from the Lord.

He is speaking in parables this whole chapter.  Telling one right after another.  Trying to say it in a way that would "click" for them....that they could not possibly miss what He is saying.   He even explains a couple of them.

The first parable He tells is about the sower of seeds and the type of ground in which the seeds fall on.

He ends the telling of it with the phrase "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!". 

I feel He didn't just say "Listen up!" Which could be what He meant...but I wonder...

If you have ears....

we all have ears...there is a saying..."it fell on deaf ears"  meaning that the hearer did not hear what you intended, did not understand the meaning...did not "get it" and most of all did not follow the instruction.

What I think Jesus was saying "those who have the ears to hear"...make sure you listen...but not just physical ears....those  believers listening...ears that are tuned to Gods word. 

In other words, "Believers, pay attention, this is important to your spiritual well being!"

AND THEN it was so important that they understand that in verse 18 He begins to explain what the Parable of the Sower means.  

I pray I have/you have "ears to hear and eyes to see" that it is important when we hear the Word of God that our spiritual condition, the condition of our heart needs to be ready and prepared (humble and repentant).

He goes on to tell several other parables and tells the people listening that in speaking parables He is fulfilling the prophecy from the old testament.

Then Jesus sends the multitude away.  I love this statement.  He isn't just telling a few people or passers by on a street corner these parables, there are a "multitude" of ears listening to Him.  

But with His emphasis on what He was saying it suggests, to me, that not everyone in the crowd was there listening with humble, hopeful hearts. 

Once the disciples had Him alone....the ones we would think would completely understand the man they were following....they asked Him to explain one of the parables He just told.

Verse 37 He begins to break it down, point by point, explaining so they could understand.

Again, I pray that we "hear" the meaning of this parable as well.

Once the seed (the message of the Kingdom) is planted in the good soil (the hearts of believers), forming good strong roots and bearing much fruit, it is ready when the harvest comes and all that is not of God is burned away, the children of God bask in His glory!

That is why this is so important....it is explaining our salvation, our growth and our part in spreading the gospel to as many "ears" as we can, and the glory that will be ours.

🙏SO I pray all who read this have the "ears👂 to hear and the eyes 👀to see" and the hearts💓 to understand the message that Christ has for each of you. ❤💜🙏💜❤