It Is Finished

So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit - John 19:30.

                  The sixth word of Jesus on the cross is "It is finished".  It means that His suffering is over and His task is completed. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do - John 17:4. Jesus came down to earth from heaven to do the will of God. I can of Myself do nothing. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me - John 6:38. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me - John 5:30.

                   His purpose of coming to this world to save us from sins was finished. "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29). "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." (Luke 19:10). "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mark 10:45). "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." (1 Timothy 1:15).  By the finished work of Jesus on the cross, we are made alive from dead.

                When Jesus said, “It is finished,” every promise, and every prophecy about Him was finished and fully accomplished in Him. All His sufferings were finished. He won the victory over sin, death and Satan. God wants us also to feel that same way about our lives. Let us finish all the purposes that God had planned for us in our life. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith - 2 Timothy 4:7.

                                                           

PRAYER: Dear Lord, We thank You for what You have finished and accomplished on the cross. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

I Thirst

After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” - John 19:28.

              The fifth word of Jesus from the cross is “I thirst”. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death - Psalm 22:15. The Gospel of John first refers to thirst when Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well. He answered the woman, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life" (John 4:13-14).

               Let us hunger and thirst more for God and His presence like a deer which longs for flowing streams. O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water - Psalm 63:1. As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God? - Psalm 42:1-2. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled - Mathew 5:6.

              Jesus' greatest thirst is for all people to be saved. On the last day that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” - John 7:37,38. For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, And floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, And My blessing on your offspring - Isaiah 44:3.

                                                         

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Let us hunger and thirst more for You and for souls to be saved. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Palm Sunday

“Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ The King of Israel!” - Luke 12: 13.

                    

                  Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter that begins the Holy Week. It is the day that we remember and celebrate the day Jesus entered into Jerusalem as Savior and King. Jesus told His disciples to untie the donkey and bring it to Him. You will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden - Mark 11:2. Likewise, He tells them if anyone tries to stop you tell them, “The Lord needs it.” The disciples went and found it just as He had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They replied, “The Lord needs it.”

                   They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. People laid palm branches and their cloaks across the road. They shouted "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!". God needs us for His purpose. Like how the donkey which had never been used before for any worldly purpose, let us also be separated from the world to be useful to the Lord.

                  God has chosen us with amazing plans to use us. John 15:16 says “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last.” Let us carry our Lord Jesus Christ with us and proclaim Him to the entire world. Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey - Zechariah 9:9.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, We thank You for choosing us to proclaim the salvation to other people. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” – Mathew 27:46.

           Christ was separated from His Father because of our sins. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit -1 Peter3:18.

             When the three hours of intense darkness came to an end Jesus cried out, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?"  which was quoted in Psalm 22:1. Jesus was forsaken by everyone, even His disciples. Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled - Mathew 26:56. God’s love for us is great. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins - 1 John 4:10.               

             Jesus was forsaken by God in our place because God would not forsake us. I will never leave you nor forsake you - Hebrews 13:5. Christ gave Himself as a ransom for many. We are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ shed on Calvary who gave Himself for us. Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world - John 1:29.

                                                    

PRAYER: We thank You for Your precious blood that has redeemed us. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Woman Behold Your Son

He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!”. John 19:26-27.

              Jesus addressed third word to his mother Mary and John, the disciple whom he loved. When He was a boy, He obeyed and honored His parents. Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart - Luke 2:51. Honor your father and mother - Ephesians 6:2,

               Mary, the mother of Jesus is the one chosen by God to bring to earth the infinite riches of the Son of the Most High God. We are reminded of the prophecy of Simeon shortly after Jesus' birth, when he said to Mary: "And a sword will pierce your very soul" (Luke 2:35). No doubt, Mary’s soul was painfully pierced as she saw the sufferings of Jesus on the cross.

             Jesus cared His mother even on the cross. He committed her to the care of the disciple he loved. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother." And from that hour John took Mary to his own home and obeyed what Jesus told him to do.

                                                         

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Help us to honor our father and mother. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Today You Will Be With Me In Paradise

"Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." - Luke 23:43.

                     The second Word of Jesus from the cross is "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." Jesus was crucified between two robbers. They crucified two robbers with Him, one on his right and one on his left - Mathew 27:38. One of the thieves recognized that Jesus was the Son of God. The fear of God is the first step toward repentance.

                   Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.” But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?  And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.”  Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”- Luke 23:39-42.

                  Jesus promised him paradise that very day. “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). Our God is just and faithful to forgive our sins when we confess it. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out - John 6:37. We will have an eternal life when we believe God. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” - Romans 10:!3.

                                                             

PRAYER: Dear Lord, We thank You for giving us the assurance of eternal life. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Father Forgive Them

Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” ( Luke 23:34).

                The first words of Jesus from the cross were “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” Before Jesus was nailed to the cross, He was betrayed, mocked, spat upon and beaten. Jesus started His first word on the cross with a prayer. He prayed, “Father, forgive them,” because He was fulfilling Old Testament prophecy: “He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:12).  

               Jesus teaches forgiveness in the Lord's prayer: "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us" (Matthew 6:12). When asked by Peter, how many times should we forgive someone, Jesus answered seventy times seven (Matthew 18:21-22). If we forgive people when they sin against us, our heavenly Father will also forgive us. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one - Matthew 6:12-14.

              We are to forgive others just as God forgives us. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.  Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you - Ephesians 4:31-32. Just as Jesus prayed for His enemies on the cross, let us also pray. But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you - Mathew 5:44.

                                                       

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Help us to forgive others just as You have forgiven us. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.