Christian Reflection and Prayer

"How Can the Christ be Lifted Up?"

Lenten Devotion

(Jesus said) "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw
all people to Myself" (John 12:32). 

Read John 12:33-50.

The crowds are confused. Jesus has told them He will be
"lifted up," and they know exactly what He means. Being "lifted
up from the earth" was a familiar phrase describing death on a
cross. But they all know the Christ remains forever, so how can
Jesus be the Christ if He will die on a cross?

It's easy for us to share that confusion too. God's light doesn't
always make sense to our sin-darkened minds. Jesus simply
tells them, "The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk
while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you." Satan is
always trying to overtake us, trying to snatch away the light from
us.

One of the tools he uses is the confusing things that happen in
this life, things that don't always make sense to us. Often our
search for answers leads us to question God and doubt His love.
Jesus just encourages us to walk in Him. He invites us to lay
those questions at the foot of His cross, to focus instead on the
extent of His love for us. It's a love that moved Him to lay down
His life in terrible suffering that we might be forgiven.

We don't understand every reason for everything that happens to
us. And we won't always find all the answers to all our questions,
but we don't have to. We only need to walk in Christ's light and
keep looking to Him. At the right time He will make everything
clear.

THE PRAYER:

Heavenly Father, I don't always understand the things I see around
me. Help me to come to Your Son's cross, that there I may know
Your love and receive Your strength. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

Written by Rev. Wayne Palmer

"My Soul is Troubled"

Lenten Devotion

"And (Jesus said) "'Now is My soul troubled. And what shall I say?
'Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I have come
to this hour'" (John 12:27).

Read John 12:27-33.

Jesus has just told His disciples why He has come to Jerusalem:
He is to suffer and die for the world. But the thought is not easy for
Jesus to face. He says, "Now is My soul troubled." We see that
turmoil again when He falls on His face in agony in the Garden of
Gethsemane (see Luke 22).

Here He prays, "Father, glorify Your Name." He doesn't ask the
Father to save Him from the cross but to use His suffering and
death on the cross to glorify His Name. He wants people to look
at the cross and believe that "God so loved the world that He gave
His only-begotten Son." In Gethsemane God will send an angel to
strengthen His Son, but here He speaks to Jesus. "I have glorified
it, and I will glorify it again."

We all come face to face with overwhelming situations and
struggles in life -- heartbreak and loss, grief beyond telling, the
shadow of death -- whether our own or that of a loved one.

Jesus has come to this hour in His life to be the answer to the
overwhelming situations in each of our lives. He will be raised up
to draw all men to Himself. This was done so that in Jesus Christ
each of us might find the answer to our problems, the courage for
the trials we face and the victory over Satan who brought all these
situations upon us through his temptation.

THE PRAYER:

Heavenly Father, You glorified Your Name in the sufferings of Your
beloved Son Jesus Christ. Glorify Your Name through me as You
give me strength and courage to face the difficult times in my life.
I pray in Jesus' Name. Amen.

Written by Rev. Wayne Palmer

"Keep this Life or Lose It?"

Lenten Devotion

"And Jesus answered them, 'The hour has come for the Son of
Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of
wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies,
it bears much fruit'" (John 12:23-24).

Read John 12:20-26.

Jesus entered Jerusalem in triumph. The disciples were
convinced He was about to establish His throne in Jerusalem,
so Jesus had to teach them a tough lesson.

Christ Jesus stood alone, the only man whose life on this earth
was perfect and worthy of earning heaven. But unless He died on
the cross in our place He would remain alone, and we would all
perish eternally in hell. By dying in our place, taking our sins on
Himself and paying the full price God's justice demanded, Jesus
would save us all, and open wide the gates of heaven.

Our earthly life is similar in many ways. If we wish to selfishly
save our earthly life, we will lose it. But if we hate our earthly life
in comparison, longing for that better, heavenly life, we will keep
it for eternity. Thankfully, Jesus leads the way for us. He did not
love His earthly life so much that He was not willing to lay it down
on the cross. No, He was looking forward to a better, eternal life
with us-a life made possible only through His suffering, death and
resurrection.

It's a good time for us as individuals to stop and examine our
attitudes toward our lives, as well as our willingness to leave them
all behind for Jesus and the eternal life He gives.

THE PRAYER:

Heavenly Father, thank You for offering us eternal life through Your
Son Jesus Christ. Help us all to hate this life in this dark, sinful
world that we may keep our lives eternally in Your light. In Jesus'
Name. Amen.

Written by Rev. Wayne Palmer