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HEALED BY HIS STRIPES
A Forty Day Lenten Devotional
"And with His stripes we are healed" The lashes that seared the body of our Lord as they readied Him for Golgotha were not only punishment for our sin, they were for our healing.
They make it possible for us to be different.
It is those whip lashes on the flesh of our Master that deliver us from the plague of sin and enable us to do His commandments.
But to receive the healing that is in His stripes we must act on Jesus' Word. We must rise up from our bed of sin-sickness and live like the free men and women He made us on Golgotha.
These guides for meditation are offered as daily reminders that our Lord has healed us of the old plague.
Therefore we can do the things He commands us.
1st Day Read: Luke 7:11-17
Do you see why Jesus raised that dead man?
Because He saw the mother weeping.
Her broken heart drew Jesus to that coffin with power to raise her son from the dead.
When Jesus sees you weeping for a dead church, rending your heart,
He will have compassion on you and will draw near and raise it from the dead.
"Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted."
Blessed are those who weep and lament and break their hearts before God because the Church has lost her living fire, for they shall be comforted!
When He sees our broken hearts, He will speak once more with the voice that wakes the dead.
"Therefore now also saith the Lord,
Turn ye to me with all your heart With fasting and with weeping and with mourning And rend your heart and not your garments.
Then will the Lord be jealous for His land And pity His people.
Then shall the Lord cause His glorious voice to be heard, and ye shall have gladness of heart."
God gives His children light, wonderful light. . But that light only covers a short distance:
the distance of one day ....
from the moment you awake until the moment you sink back into godly sleep.
Walk in the light of this day, and you will enjoy God's wisdom, God's power and God's blessed peace.
Your supplies are running out. Do you have enough food for today?
Then eat your bread with thanksgiving.
Tomorrow belongs to God.
If you will do your work faithfully today and trust God for tomorrow, your Heavenly Father will not disappoint you.
You say you can see problems looming on tomorrow's horizon.
What can you do about tomorrow's problems?
If you want to wrestle with problems,
wrestle with those you can get hold of --- today's problems.
Tomorrow's problems are in hands a billion times steadier than yours.
Leave them there and be at peace.
Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
"How easily I could be a Christian, if only the people around me would give me a break!
---if my husband would be a little more understanding...
---if my wife would stop complaining...
---if my boss would get 'off my back'"...
How we like to blame our weak faith and stumbling lives on other people!
Friend, your brother's fault can never keep you from being a Christian.
His fault isn't causing the trouble! His fault is only a tiny speck, a mote, a splinter.
The fact that you get so annoyed, The fact that his fault causes you to lose your peace, is proof that you have more than a splinter in your eye:
You've got a beam - a rafter.
The beam in your eye which is causing you so much trouble
is an attitude, a merciless attitude,
toward those folks who have the specks and splinters.
Get rid of that beam in your eye
then you will see clearly enough not to stumble over other people's specks and splinters.
There are Christians who make dramatic sacrifices and spend much time trying to serve the Lord,
and yet they have no "glory" in their souls .....no joy .....no radiance.
They're nervous and they make everybody else nervous.
Because, while they go about trying to do good, their hearts are poisoned with hard thoughts, a grudge,
toward perhaps just one person whom they will not forgive.
If your time is up and you are still holding that grudge, how can you expect the blood of Jesus to cover your sins?
Remember, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon that Cross avails for you on one condition:
that you turn around and show to your brother, every brother,
the same mercy God has shown toward you in Jesus.
Is there someone against whom you have hardened your heart?
Think carefully. Ask the Spirit to give you light.
Confess to God that you have sinned against that soul....and in obedience to your Lord, forgive that person from the bottom of your heart.
Many people think "blind faith" is a virtue.
It is not... It is a sin.
It is not enough to "believe" that Jesus is the Son of God just because the preacher said so or because you read it in a book.
You must see with your own spirit-eye that Jesus is the Son of God and your Lord.
You will see for yourself who Jesus is if you take the trouble to honestly seek.
"I am the light of the world: he who follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life."
The light will come on in your heart. Everything will become clear. You will know.
What must I do? 1. Get rid of your "blind faith."
2. Become an honest open little child.
3. Let Jesus be your only teacher.
4. Do what your Teacher says.
You may not understand Jesus' parables. His promises may be too high to reach at first.
But His commandments are simple.
Obey them because He tells you to. (Do not love because it's the "Christian thing to do", but because Jesus commands you to.)
Then the "light" will come on. You will see.
6th Day Read: I Corinthians 2:1-5
Until your life is touched by the Cross
you live in separation from God
and in union with sin.
Everything God should be in your life,
sin is instead.
Sin rules your mind instead of God. Sin rules your emotions, your actions, your decisions.
....Maybe you call it "selfishness" but it's the same thing and leads to the same Outer Darkness.
People think it's "normal" to be selfish.
Jesus doesn't.
So moved was He by your loneliness of separation from God and your helplessness to overcome selfishness that He gave Himself up to death
to become your atonement with God and your release from the chains of self.
The only Way into the presence of God, The only Door of escape from self is His Cross.
Do not be content until you have found that door and entered it.
There you will find separation from sin
and union with God.
7th Day Read: Luke 10:25-37
When this day is over, God will not ask you:
"How many souls did you save? How much did you get done?"
God will ask: "Did you love your neighbor?"
God is not impressed by the fact that we are busy doing "good deeds" and "Christian work".
Our Christianity is so complex and busy (and at the same time fruitless) because we are trying to love people en masse---in the abstract.
Our Lord commands us to love people as He does: one-by-one, one-at-a-time.
"Thou shalt love thy neighbor" (note the singular)
That person who breaks into your busy day with a pass-the-time phone call is not just an "interruption". She is your neighbor....sent into your life at that moment in the providence of God to prove and refine the love of Jesus Christ in you.
The unwelcome visitor who upsets your quiet evening at home is not a "pest". He is a God-sent neighbor who will call forth a new measure of the compassion of Jesus in you, if you will obey the Spirit.
God loves you as though you were the only one in the world. That's how He wants you to love your neighbor.
8th Day Read: Luke 23:33—34
"I'll forgive my neighbor–
after he apologizes,
after he dies before me in repentance!"
That is not THE forgiveness OF FAITH
The forgiveness of faith
is to die first.... die to your offended pride and forgive him anyway for Christ's sake.
Jesus did not say,
"I'll forgive them when they apologize!"
"I'll absolve them when they crawl!"
The first words He spoke when they lifted Him up on the cross were: "FATHER FORGIVE THEM FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO."
If Jesus died forgiving those who sneered in His face to the last, by what "righteousness" dare you, His servant, hold yourself aloof from your neighbor until he says, "Forgive me"?
"When I was a child I spoke as a child, I under- stood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things."
O Spirit of God, enable us to put away our childish self-styled "love" and to walk even as He walked.
When men accused Him,
"He answered nothing."
When they witnessed against Him,
"He answered never a word."
How can He stand there and let them lie in His face? ....and say nothing!
When will we learn to follow His example!
If you want God to vindicate you before your accusers,
YOU MUST STOP TRYING TO VINDICATE YOURSELF.
Let your answer be silence. At the right time, God will speak for you.
If you are in Christ, then abide in Him!
Don't "run out of Christ" to defend yourself against your accusers. Don't be so anxious to "set the record straight". (Satan's record will never be straight, and God's record is already straight without your help.)
Relax and wait upon Him who answered His accusers with silence.
If you are in His will, If you are clean by His blood, STAY THAT WAY!
Don't lose your position before God by opening your mouth to justify yourself before men.
The reason most nominal Christians are such "worry warts" is because they are not seeking God's Kingdom with a whole heart.
Truly, you'd be much more stable...much less nervous and confused inside, not to seek God's Kingdom at all, than to seek it with half-a-heart.
Seeking God with half-a-heart is like trying to walk down two streets at the same time---an impossible venture that will only tear you apart inside.
If you want the peace of God, make up your mind to seek God first.
God, first in your life---ahead of everything else.
God, your first thought when you awake in the morning.
(Your waking thought has tremendous influence upon your day)
God first---with thanksgiving and praise ---when something good happens to you.
God first with your pay check.
God first with your problem.
When you start habitually putting God first in the ordinary details of your daily life, then you are seeking His Kingdom and His Righteousness.
And as sure as the sun shines, all things needful will come your way
---always enough and always on time.
11th Day Read: I Corinthians 10:31 |