Cross

He Knows Where You Are!

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me. Isaiah 49:16

Have you sometimes felt that God has forgotten where you are or doesn’t understand what you are going through? You are not alone! Lots of people in the Bible felt like that. For example, just what was Adam thinking when he tried to hide from God in the garden? Did he think maybe God didn’t know every nook and cranny of His own creation? Abraham was regularly reminding God not only where he was but of the promise that he would have a son. When Gideon was visited by an angel he had questions as well

,” And Gideon said to him, ‘Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? ‘ ” Judges 6:13

Does that question sound familiar in your own life. Does it seem you would like to say with Martha,

“If you had been here my brother would not have died!” John 11:21

But God has not forgotten us! He knows exactly where we are, what is happening and how we feel. If you are going through deep waters today as you read these words, don’t give up or become bitter. God’s promise to us is that he has engraved us on the palms of His hands. Then if we pause to think we will remember that that engraving was with the nails of the cross.

As they pierced through the soft flesh of the hands of Jesus and His blood spilled over the rough wood. Your name and mine were carved on His palms. He suffered in agony that afternoon till He cried out “My God My God, Why have you forsaken me?” In that moment on Mount Calvary Jesus felt alone and forgotten so that we would never be!

Tree of Calvary

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Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14 ESV

This week on the election day, my wife spent almost 13 hours as I poll worker leaving me with I lots of free time alone. So during the day on Tuesday I worked on something God had been speaking to my heart about over the last week on learning to accept the passing of seasons in life. Slowly what began as a journal entry evolved into a rough poem and then into a song. Today I thought I’d share the first verse and chorus from Tree of Calvary. A video with this should be ready soon. Change is never easy because true change is irreversible and it means letting go of some things dear to us in order that we may take hold of things even better. May God bless you this week in your own life as with God’s help you are learning to let go so that you may reach out to all the great things that God has in store!

 
 
 

 To every life a season will come
 When autumn’s in the air
 And the cold winds blow, and the leaves do fa
 And change is everywhere
  
 Then I’ll lift my heart and sing to Him
 For His pardon rich and free
 His forgiveness washing all my sin
 From the tree of Calvary 

Tree of Calvary by Peter Caligiuri © 2020 All rights reserved

The Message of the Cross

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Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Matthew 16:24 NIV

Some people wear a cross around their neck while others have bracelets or earrings, using it as a fashion statement. But even though the cross has become a popular design for jewelry, its message remains difficult to receive.

In Jesus’ day, no one wore a cross for decoration or thought it would be nice to have one on the peak of their roof. That is because the cross to them was both the most horrible way to die and also a constant threat to anyone who would dare to challenge the Roman rule. In fact, the very thought of crucifixion was so horrible that no one even mentioned it. But Jesus was not afraid to talk about the cross. As His time on earth neared its end, He repeatedly told His disciples about it. But just as it is today, the followers of Jesus couldn’t understand and were not ready to receive the sacrifice that Jesus was about to make for them. But instead of turning back, Jesus went to Calvary, freely giving Himself because of God’s great love for us. So today whether or not you wear one around your neck, ask yourself whether you have received the gift of the cross, through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. True faith means loving the cross and giving our lives to Him, just as He has for us. Only in His cross will we will discover the wonderful joy and peace of knowing that our sins are forgiven and that we will be with Him forever!