DEVOTION: Consider Him

By Leila Halawe | @Lhalawe

I was reading a devotional the other day and I came across this verse: 

For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls - Hebrews 12:3 (NKJV)

As I sat and pondered the verse, my eyes kept going back to the first few words: For consider Him. 

Consider Him. 

As I sat there staring at the words, I asked myself how often I consider Him. Really consider Him, not just say some quick thanks for the day and for my food and for safety. But really stop and consider Jesus.

How often do I stop and consider Him who created me? That question led me to stop and really take stock of all the things I know about God. Like the fact that He created the heavens and the earth. And the fact that it is Him who makes the sun go up each day. Or the fact that He was the one who placed every star in the sky and calls each one by name.

How often do I stop and consider that He knew me before I was born? When I stop and think about how often I consider Him who left heaven and came down to earth to walk among us and show us the way to heaven, I realise that I don’t stop to consider Him as often as I should. I don’t stop often enough and consider Him who took my burdens and shame on His shoulders; who went to the Cross as an atonement for my sins, and was tortured so that I would not have to deal with the consequences of our actions. I realised that I don’t spend enough time considering Him who lay in darkness for 3 days before He was raised to life again; He that defeated death so that it would lose its sting over my life. Him, who sits on the right hand of our Father in Heave advocating for me so that I can draw closer to God and have eternity with Him in Heaven. I don’t know about you, but I realised that I spend far too much time considering other things, and nowhere near enough time considering the One who loved me so much that He sent His Son for me.

In the coming days, most of us will start to stop and think about Easter. We will think about that needs to be done; the gatherings and meals and services. We will stop and celebrate the victory we have in His resurrection. But let’s also stop to really consider Him and all that He has done. Not just His place on the Cross in exchange for us, which still baffles my mind, but let’s sit at His feet and consider all He has done for us; the miracles we have seen. The provision He has provided. The kindness He has shown us over and over and over again. The favour He has poured out over us. Let’s stop and consider the blessing it is to know Jesus; to intimately know the One that was there before the foundations of time. The blessing and joy it is to be known by the Creator of Heaven and earth and know that He knows us by name. And as we consider Him, let’s lift up our eyes and our hearts and sing praises to the One who deserves all the honour and praise and worship. May your Easter season be one of love and peace and sweet communion with God.

*This post was cross posted at Looking In

Leila (Lays) Halawe is a Sydney based coffee loving nonfiction writer and blogger. She has published a short devotional, Love By Devotion, and shares her views on life and faith via her blog page Looking In . You can connect with her via Facebook at Leila Halawe Author  and via Twitter at Leila Halawe.

Render onto Caesar

Easter and income tax season coincide in my part of the world. Whenever I consider this task I cannot help but think of Render onto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and onto God the things that are God's. I don't actually mind rendering unto Caesar. I enjoy clean water, good roads, hospitals, airports, schools, national parks ... taxes are a small price to pay for citizenship in this country. What bothers me is the process. I swear the people who design Canada Revenue's T1 form and the accompanying instructions have an advanced degree in obfuscation!

My usual approach to the task is to delay as long as legally possible, then scowl, fret and sweat my way through it and hope the folks on the other end will believe I did my best and not penalize me for errors.

However, in the spirit of "sunny ways" I've resolved this year to tackle the job early and with a positive mind set. So, here goes.

• We have income — that’s good. 
• We have taxable income — even better. 
• We have enough to share — those charitable donations not only reduce tax, but apparently make you feel just as good as eating chocolate. 
• I bought a programme that does all the arithmetic so I don’t get hung up with wrong numbers. 
• Having the year summed up in tidy columns of plus and minus is rather satisfying in a control freak kind of way. 

But doing my taxes reminds me there is so much more to life than the getting and spending of money. In 2015 I wrote a contemporary romance (it’s in the rewrite stages now). I outlined an historical romance. I wrote 89 blog posts, some here, others at my church blog and still others for my own blog. I wrote a Christmas short story and a Christmas play.

I planted a garden, tended it, harvested it and filled my freezer with home-grown goodness. I won ribbons at the Fall Fair. I read books, sang in choirs, nurtured my friendships and enjoyed my cats. I went fishing with my husband. I had a birthday. I made Christmas ornaments for my great nieces and nephews. We celebrated 27 years of marriage. I redid my website . . . 2015 was filled with beautiful days, amazing adventures, quiet moments and a few rain storms.  Definitely more in the plus column than the minus.

In Canada we have what is called "progressive" taxes. Those with the most, pay the most. Those with little, pay nothing. Seems fair, don't you think.

As I tot up my pluses and minuses in this Easter season, I remember that two millennia ago there was One who owed nothing, yet paid everything. I may wipe the slate clean with the tax department. I can never repay my debt to my Redeemer.  I humbly offer Him my thanks, my praise and my heart.

Christ is risen.  Hallelujah!

Alice Valdal  lives in Beautiful British Columbia, Canada. In 2015 she got a new publicity photo.

Visit her at www.alice valdal.com or at facebook.com/#!/alice.valdal.5 

Published Books.

Her One and Only

The Man for Her

Love and Lilacs

 The Man Who Loved Christmas

The Cross before Time

You know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your fore–fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 1 Peter 1:18-20.

The Lord God’s foreknowledge made Him well aware of Adam’s future act of treason in Eden. Being expelled from the garden would seem, on the surface, a mild rebuke rather than a judicial decree. The declaration about death also doesn’t appear to be very frightening. Only as the record unfolds do we gain an appreciation of the horror and dread sin unleashed. A question remained. How could the holy God still communicate with the expelled couple, and later, their offspring?

Strange though it may be the answer is given in the closing book of the Bible. Revelation 13:8b tells us that the Lamb (a title for Jesus) was slain from the creation of the world. God could only bear with Adam and his offspring because in God’s mind the Cross had already taken place. God was able to deal with humanity because He looked at them through the Cross. This is still the only way He can deal with the world. One day, in His time, the Lord will say, ‘It’s judgment time!’ On that day He won’t be looking at people through the cross. He will be assessing them from his throne!

In the book of Job, one of the friends makes a very pertinent quote, ‘How then can a man be righteous before God? How can one born of a woman be pure? If even the moon is not bright and the stars are not pure in his eyes, how much less man…’ (Job 25:4-6a). In Genesis 3 Adam and Eve tried to make themselves respectable to God by covering themselves with fig leaves. It was an attempt to camouflage their true condition. There was no repentance and there was no indication of sin’s action being atoned.

In Genesis 3:21 is the act of real atonement. The word atonement refers to a covering. ‘The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.’ This was provided so as not to be offensive to God and thereby be destroyed. The initiative was God’s. It cost the life of a substitute animal. Here is a shadow of God’s answer to the quote from Job: the only way to be righteous before God is for someone to pay the price for our covering.

When Revelation 13:8b speaks of ‘a Lamb slain’ the word for slain refers to an act of slaying for the purpose of sacrifice. Within the sacrificial system of ancient Israel animals were slain as a substitute for the individual or nation. The shadow cast by the sacrificial system of Israel is fulfilled in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Before time had begun the Godhead knew the consequences of creation mixed with freewill. God was willing to pay the price! The Lord was without sin. He fulfilled the requirements of the Mosaic Law. Therefore He was able to offer Himself as our atonement.

We are not automatically covered, and thereby protected, from God the Father’s justice. Faith must compel us to cry out to the Lord to forgive and to cover us. Only then are we fit to stand before Him. How beautiful is Galatians 3:26-27. ‘You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.’

Ray Hawkins

This is a day's devotional  from His book 'Captured by Calvary.'

http://rayhawkinsauthor.blogspot.com.au

Blessings and Curses – We’ve All Done It By Marcia Laycock

the Cross

The shouts of the crowd were deafening. Men and women crowded the road, throwing their coats down before a man on a donkey. Children waved palm branches, calling out, “Save us! Save us!” (Matthew 21:9). They had been listening to their parents. Indeed, all of Jerusalem was buzzing about a man who’d been dead for four days but had been resurrected. Only one man could do that, the people said. This must be him. This must be the man who would save them from the oppression of the Romans. He would set up a kingdom unlike any they had seen. This Jesus had to be their Messiah.

A few short days later the same crowd, the same men, women and children screamed, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” (Matthew 27:22). They had discovered this Jesus was not going to do what they wanted him to do. He was not going to drive out the Romans and set up a prosperous kingdom. He was just a man like any other, a man who couldn’t even prevent his own arrest. He had lied to them. He deserved to die.

It’s easy for us to read the accounts of those days and shake our heads at the people. How could they have missed the truth about the kingdom Jesus was going to establish? How could they have so viciously turned against Him?

Perhaps we should pause and think of all the times when we have done the same when God didn’t do what we wanted Him to do. He didn’t get us that job or that raise, or sell that house or car, or make our loved one well again. Just like the crowds on the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem, we have cried out, “save us,” and Jesus didn’t do it. And just like those crowds we became angry and frustrated. We turned our backs on God because He didn’t act according to our will. We stood by and watched while men cursed and crucified Him. We blocked our ears when we heard Him plead softly, “Father, forgive them.” We scoffed at the story of His resurrection. No, we said, this Jesus didn’t do what he should have. This Jesus is no Messiah.

Are you guilty? You’re not alone. All of us have done it. Even his closest friends betrayed Him. The good news is that Jesus still whispered that prayer for forgiveness, He still gave His life for us. He stands now between us and the Father, casting his shadow of righteousness over us so we are acceptable to God. None of our foolishness or stubbornness has stopped Him. He has saved us. All we have to do is accept that act of love. All we have to do is say, “Yes, this Jesus is my Messiah.”

Then we will want to shout from the rooftops – “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (Matthew 21:9). 

Marcia Lee Laycock writes from central Alberta Canada where she is a pastor's wife and mother of three adult daughters. She was the winner of The Best New Canadian Christian Author Award for her novel, One Smooth Stone. The sequel, A Tumbled Stone was short listed in The Word Awards. Marcia also has three devotional books in print and has contributed to several anthologies, including the Hot Apple Cider books. Her work has been endorsed by Sigmund Brouwer, Janette Oke, Phil Callaway and Mark Buchanan.

Abundant Rain, an ebook devotional for writers can be downloaded on Smashwords or on Amazon. It is also now available in Journal format on Amazon. 

Her most recent release is A Traveler’s Advisory, Stories of God’s Grace Along the Way.

 Visit Marcia’s Website

 Sign up to receive her devotional column, The Spur

DEVOTION: Sunday's Coming! ~ by Shirley Corder

Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you. Psalms 55:22a

On Friday, John stood at the cross, his arm around Mary, the mother of Jesus. Together they faced what was surely the worst day of their lives, as the man they loved suffered and died. When it was over, John took Mary to his home.

We next read of John on Sunday, racing to the empty tomb. But where was he on Saturday?

Did he try to comfort Mary, while dealing with his own brokenness? Did he spend time with the other disciples, as they struggled to make sense of recent events? Did he go for a long walk, agonizing over the devastation of the past days?

If only we could have reassured him. "Hang on, John. Sunday's coming. Things will get better." He probably wouldn't have believed us.

One of the worst days of my life was when I received my cancer diagnosis. People told me, "It will get better," but I didn’t believe them. Yet years later, I have a new ministry to hurting people, and I'm a published author. Yes, things got better. But I didn't believe it at the time.

Have you recently experienced a Friday? Have you witnessed the death of someone special? Or seen the end of a dream you held dear? Are you stuck in Saturday? You're broken and confused. The future seems a hazy mess.

If that’s your situation, hang on, dear friend. Sunday's coming. Life will take on a new hope. God says so in His Word.

PRAY WITH ME: Lord, when I face the tough days, help me to remember that you've promised to bring good out of my circumstances. Thank you for that reassurance. Amen.

THIS WEEK: When you face tough times, remind yourself to take heart! Sunday's coming!

SHIRLEY CORDER lives on the coast in South Africa with her husband, Rob. Her book, Strength Renewed: Meditations for your Journey through Breast Cancer contains 90 meditations based on her time in the cancer valley.

Sign up here to receive a short devotional message from Shirley in your inbox once a week.

Please visit Shirley through ShirleyCorder.com, where she encourages writers, or at  RiseAndSoar.com, where she encourages those in the cancer valley. You can also meet with her on Twitter or FaceBook.  

DEVOTION: He Is Risen Indeed! ~ by Kathi Macias

"He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay" 

(Matthew 28:6, NKJV).

“The Old Rugged Cross” will always be one of my favorite hymns, for the old rugged Cross is where the costly, bloody price was paid for my sin—and for yours. Without it, we would all be without hope in this world.

But the story doesn’t end at the Cross. Though we focus on that great sacrificial symbol throughout Holy Week—and rightfully so—that beloved Cross would be meaningless and powerless if it hadn’t culminated in the empty tomb. On Easter morning, our focus moves from Christ’s death to His Resurrection, for that is what we truly celebrate.

Without the empty tomb, the Cross, as precious as it is to those of us who have personally identified with its sacrifice, would be the saddest emblem in history, the symbol of the worst failure and defeat of all time. For if Christ had not risen from the dead, then He would merely have been a nice man who performed good deeds, modeled a good life, and then died a martyr, deserted by His followers, leaving nothing more than an example behind.

Praise be to God that the Story did NOT end there! God accepted His Son’s sacrifice, and visibly exhibited His acceptance by raising Jesus from the dead and restoring Him to power at the right hand of the Father. That very acceptance, shown in the Resurrection, is our insurance of resurrection as well. Because humanity had turned away from God, each choosing to go his or her own way, a tremendous price had to be paid to restore us to relationship with God. That price could only be paid by One without sin. 

No human being has ever met that criterion, except the One who was both Man and God—Jesus Christ Himself. Out of a depth of love that we can’t even begin to imagine, God sent His only Son to be that sinless sacrifice. Out of that same unconditional love, the Son willingly came and suffered an excruciating death on our behalf. But three days after being placed in the grave, He burst the bonds of death and hell and arose, victorious, opening the door to heaven once again.

That old rugged Cross will always be precious to me, but it is the empty tomb I will celebrate this Easter. May you too join the many choruses of hallelujahs resounding around the globe this Sunday morning as we celebrate the pivotal point of all history, the empty tomb!

Kathi Macias is a multi-award winning writer who has authored nearly 40 books and ghostwritten several others. A former newspaper columnist and string reporter, Kathi has taught creative and business writing in various venues and has been a guest on many radio and television programs. 

Kathi is a popular speaker at churches, women’s clubs and retreats, and writers’ conferences. She won the 2008 Member of the Year award from AWSA (Advanced Writers and Speakers Association) and was the 2011 Author of the Year from BooksandAuthors.net. Kathi “Easy Writer” Macias lives in Homeland, CA, with her husband.

Biblical Fiction That Shows Us Jesus

Stephanie Landsem is with us today. She lives in snowy Minnesota, but she writes about people who met Jesus in first-century Palestine. Read to the end of this blog to find out how you can win a free e-copy of her latest novel, The Thief, released just last week. Here’s the description:

Nissa is a Jewish woman with a sharp tongue and no hope of marriage. Abandoned by the God she once loved, her only recourse is to depend upon Mouse, the best thief in Jerusalem, to keep her blind brother, Cedron, fed and the landlord satisfied.

Longinus is a Roman centurion haunted by death and failure and desperate to escape the accursed Judean province. Accepting a wager that will get him away from the aggravating Jews and their threats of revolt, he sets out to catch the thieves harassing the marketplace.

LeAnne Hardy: I loved this book. Part of the tension for me was the knowledge that two thieves were crucified with Jesus. Which of the characters we are getting to know (and in some cases love) will die at Golgotha? The author sticks closely to what we know from Scripture even as she expands on events with her fictional characters.

Thank you for being with us today, Stephanie. Nissa in The Thief pretends to be a boy. Mara in The Well, the first book in this Living Waters series, is also an outsider. Do you see yourself as a rule breaker? What draws you to women who are?

Stephanie Landsem: When I read the Bible, I see that Jesus was drawn to outsiders. The Samaritan woman, the woman caught in adultery, the sick and diseased. He didn’t come to preach to the well, but to heal the sick. Perhaps that’s why my heroines are women that are desperate or on the fringes of society, to show that Jesus is present to them, no matter what their past sins.

LH: The crucifixion scene was very moving. How hard was that to write?

SL: It was extremely difficult. I remember sitting down and thinking “Why did I think I could do this?”  I read many accounts, spent a lot of time in prayer, and went through a box of tissues before it was done.

LH: I had to reach for the tissues reading it! Near the beginning of The Thief, Nissa’s brother Cedron is healed of his blindness in a fictionalized account of John 9. Later he is beaten and left with a limp. I found myself wondering why Jesus didn’t come back and heal the limp. What did you want to show us by Cedron being healed of one thing, but left to suffer another?

SH: As in The Well, I explored the question of what happens after an encounter with Jesus, the Incarnation. Once Cedron believed in Jesus, would his life be magically better and perfect? Or would he have even more challenges to face and how would he face them? We’ve seen that believing in Jesus isn’t a recipe for a perfect life on earth, but it will get us to the perfect life with him in eternity.

LH: Cedron is a Zealot. He has militaristic expectations of the Messiah. I found myself wondering about expectations we have of the Messiah today, like why doesn’t everybody get healed? What other expectations do you think we have of Jesus that he may, or may not fulfill? (I’d love to see readers chime in on this in the comments, too.)

SH: That’s a good question. Cedron had a simplistic view of Jesus based on what was happening in Jerusalem at that time. But God’s plan isn’t simple at all, as we know, and we can’t think that we ‘know best’ what he should do. I think it’s a mistake that’s easy to make when we’re facing personal hardship.

LH: Your books are biblical fiction. Do you start first with a Bible story you are drawn to or with a character?

SH: I start with the character and go from there. I like to wonder about the parts of their lives that aren’t written in the biblical account. Who were their families? How did they fit in their communities? And mostly, what happened after they encountered Jesus?

LH: Your books are full of historical details that bring the place and period to life. What are some of the techniques you have found most effective for historical research?

SH: I start with the Bible, then often read commentary and devotionals about that passage to get many interpretations of it.  Then I order many books from the Minnesota Library system and get an overview by paging through them. I find they have all sorts of resources from general history to compilations of papers published by historians, archeologists, and theologians. Many books have maps and sketches that are very helpful - such as when I was researching ancient Jerusalem for The Thief. It's really a treasure trove! After I get the majority of the research done and am writing the story, I use the internet when I come up against a specific question. For The Thief I needed to know what a first century Roman lock and key looked like and found it instantly on Google. For The Tomb, my WIP, I often go to JewishEncyclopia.com for questions on common Jewish practices.

LH: I’m sure you find much more interesting material than you end up including in the book. Do you have any guidelines to offer fellow-writers about when to include a research detail and when to leave it out?

SH: That’s a hard one. I hate leaving anything out. I usually know when I hit upon an historical detail that stands out as very different from present day. When I say to myself “Wow, that’s fascinating,” then I know it must be included.

LH: The Thief stands on its own, but it also includes characters we met in your first book, The Well. What was the thinking behind that?

SH: I thought it would be fun to have a minor character from The Well make an appearance in The Thief, and Longinus, the Roman soldier, seemed like a good choice given the setting of Jerusalem. But as I started writing him, he became a major character and one of my favorite ones that I’ve written so far!

LH: It isn’t often that a novel leads me into worship, but this one did. The scene at the foot of the cross shows Jesus full of power even as he submits to death. Each character brings his or her own story to the cross and there finds the mercy and forgiveness Jesus offers us today. The Thief will be wonderful reading for the Lenten season.

Comment on this blog by Friday, March 14, to enter a drawing for a free e-book of The Thief. I would love to hear your comments on our expectations of the Messiah, but that is not required. Don't forget to leave your e-mail address encoded to foil phishers. Odds of winning depend on the number of entries. Void where prohibited by law.

Add pop over to Stephanie's blog to enter not just to win a free book, but a Kindle fire for reading it!

Thank you, Stephanie, for being with us today.

SL: Thank you for having me. It has been a pleasure to answer your questions.

___

LeAnne Hardy enjoys a critique group with the talented Stephanie Landsem. LeAnne hasn't published any biblical fiction to date, but her stories reflects her faith, her passion for storytelling that stretches the mind, and the cultures she has lived in. Learn more at www.leannehardy.net .