Just as Day is Breaking

Every morning Jesus is standing at the shore in our life. He is waiting for us to recognize Him and come running. He has watched us all night as we worked hard without him to fish.

Jesus is waiting at our shore eagerly anticipating our arrival with fresh bread and fish on the fire. He is willing to share all He has with us when we pull in our nets once more at His command.

Jesus is standing on our shore waiting for us to see Him, waiting to share and waiting with a question. “Do you love Me?”.

Let us answer as Peter did, “Lord you know all things. You know that I love you.”

Then Jesus reminds us all once again. “Feed my sheep!”

Wings of the Morning

 

Forty five years ago we left the Christian commune where we lived which had slowly degenerated into a cult. Thankfully unlike other groups our leadership majored in booting people out rather than trying to force them to stay.  That morning we hurriedly packed our car with suitcases while squeezing our 6 week old son in between all the stuff in the back seat. A grey cloud of spiritual confusion surrounded me, but then God brought to my mind His promise.

If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;  Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. Psalm 139:9-10

That morning I wished that I had real wings so I could fly fast and far from my fears and disappointments. People I had trusted had misled me but on the other hand, I was young and foolish enough to follow them away from what I knew was right. Thank God that His love was greater than all my sins and stupid choices.

Looking back, I now can see that He has kept and led us all through the long years to heal and rebuild our faith. Over and over He has patiently shown what true humility and forgiveness we can find in following Jesus Christ.   People say that you can’t run away from your problems, but the good news is that God can fly faster than our problems! He always has a plan in place for us even when we don’t know what it is. When we fly away with morning wings we will discover that when we land on the other shore He is already there. In our darkest hour He reaches out His hand to lead us and then He takes in His arms and holds us through the night until the new day dawns.

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Hope of Victory

But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ                       1 Corinthians 15:57 ESV

Sometimes when we are facing a crisis the whisper comes in the dark of night that there is no longer any hope. We feel like a rowboat caught in the tidal wave of serious illness, family turmoil or the death of a loved one. That is exactly the situation which the disciples faced as they accompanied Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus had asked them to pray with him for one hour but the Bible tells us that

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And when He rose from prayer He came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow. Luke 22:45

They were overcome by sorrow, but not their master. Jesus had prayed till His sweat fell like drops of blood. Jesus had continued interceding even when they felt defeated. In the same way He is interceding in heaven for you and I today. Neither our sorrow nor our despair will cause Him to abandon us. He will come and awaken us. He will carry our burdens. He chose in that dark garden to pay the full price for our sin to give us hope. It is that hope which lies behind the cry:

O Grave where is your victory? Death where is your sting? 1 Corinthians 15:55