He gave thanks

"The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this is remembrance of me."  In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." 1 Cor 11: 23-26

On the night you were betrayed you still gave thanks. You broke the bread knowing the significance of what it meant- that some hours later you would be inspected as the Passover Lamb, condemned and crucified. Yet you gave thanks!  You were to go through the biggest trial of your life, so overwhelming that you sweat drops of blood, and yet you gave thanks! You gave thanks to God for being my offering, my sacrifice and my substitute to receive my punishment and judgement.

You lifted up the cup in that hour and you gave thanks. That cup represented your life's blood being poured out, the whipping you would receive for my healing; the crown of thorns: your pierced hands and feet and the water and blood that poured out from your side- and yet you gave thanks!

For the joy set before you, you endured the cross, and that joy was souls, the whosoever, those who believe. 

When you were in agony in the garden, were you thinking of another garden where you saw Adam and Eve distrust the goodness of God at the serpent's lie and so disobey and partake of what God clearly said not to, and throw all humanity into the ravages of sin and death?  In the garden of your agony and greatest temptation, you trusted in the good will and promises of the Father, and so clung to His will.

Then I said, ‘Here I am: I have come – it is written of me in the scroll of the book – to do your will, O God.’  When he says above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sin-offerings you did not desire nor did you take delight in them” (which are offered according to the law),

then he says, “Here I am: I have come to do your will.” Rom 10: 7-9

Though the Lord desired to crush him and make him ill, 

once restitution is made, 

he will see descendants and enjoy long life, 

and the Lord’s purpose will be accomplished through him.

Having suffered, he will reflect on his work, 

he will be satisfied when he understands what he has done. 

“My servant will acquit many, 

for he carried their sins.  Is 53: 10-11

And because you stuck to God's will and endured all you had to for our sake you brought us salvation, healing, forgiveness and life.  Your blood still cries out Father forgive them they know not what they do. It is an eternal reminder of the work you did Calvary for us and we give thanks.

Not in our own strength

The (Holy) Spirit [Himself] – indwelling your inner most being and personality...May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell – settle down, abide, make his permanent home – in your hearts!  May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love.... Eph 3:16, 17 Amp

Grace! And more Grace!  This Christian life is a life built on God’s unmerited favour upon us and our faith in that grace.  It is astounding to me that the Maker of the Universe could lavish so much love and grace upon us humans who have been infected with a sin nature since the days of Adam.  But as all loving parents, God desires a better life for us then we sometimes even desire for ourselves. 

As a parent, I find it particularly hard when I see wasted potential in a child.  You try to “get through” to speak truth lovingly and to pass on wisdom but it gets rejected because your child “knows” better.  You see the struggle they are in.  Life is always a bit clearly for the one on the outside looking in on a situation but not involved in it.  How many parents have felt the pain of seeing a child “speak death” (negativity) over their lives because they simply cannot believe better being full of self-loathing and self-rejection.   Before I met Christ I was exactly like this.  I had no hope, no confident expectation that anything good would happen to me.

I thank God for His grace upon me because of the cross of Christ.  I know that I am not perfect and I still struggle with parts of my old nature that I don’t seem to understand but make me react in certain situations and turn a molehill into a mountain.  Sometimes we have deep-rooted hurts in our soul that we have buried so long we have no idea what they even are anymore and unless the “spotlight” of the Holy Spirit unveils a memory where the lie attached itself and continues to challenge the truth we will continue to react out of that hurt.  Yet I have seen in my Christian walk great change in my life and healing that has come from the gentle touch of a nail-scarred hand to my soul.  More and more I see that we are victorious when we, by faith, appropriate the grace and love of God, through what our Saviour Jesus Christ did for us at Calvary.

We know that our old (unrenewed) self was nailed to the cross with Him (Jesus).  Jesus fully identified with us so that we can identify with Him and what He did on that cross for us.

Just believe that we have “died to sin” and to our old nature through the work at Calvary and that we now walk in the newness of life and live to the glory of God.  God Himself works in us daily to bring us from one degree of glory to another.

[Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you – energising and creating in you the power and desire – both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.  Phil 2: 13b Amp

I love this scripture.  It is not in our own strength.  We don’t have the strength to be Holy as God is Holy nor perfect as He is.  But He has given to us Christ’s righteousness and by faith we believe that we are right with Him because of this and all the while God’s responsibility is to effectively work in us the change to become more like His Son.  I love it.  He energises us and He creates in us, through the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, the desire that becomes our driving force to surrender our will, our hurts, our rejection and pain and trust Him to work in and through us for His pleasure.  It brings God great satisfaction to see His children walk in the freedom that Christ has paid for us to walk in.  It delights Him when we move with Him, obeying the prompting of the Holy Spirit, and allow Him to flow in and through us, to become His nail-scarred hand to others.

We are in Christ.  Our life is hid in Christ in God.  We are His hands, His feet, His passions, His love and His truth to others when we live by faith in the Son of God and in His great and wonderful Grace.

He promised an outflow of “rivers of living water” to all those obey Him and are filled with the Holy Spirit.  We are that flowing water that will bring life and refreshment to others when we allow the Spirit to work in us and through us. 

At the Feast of the Tabernacles, when Jesus went to Jerusalem, He stood on the steps as the water flowed and cried out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty let Him come to me and drink”.  He beckons, He woos, He calls and it is up to us to respond.  Come and drink of Him, the water of Life and live.  This is the greatest invitation that we could accept.  RSVP today a resounding YES to Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God.  You will never regret it.