Anxiety filled the Lord Jesus twice.  He prayed so hard, before His trial, that His sweat became drops of blood.  Only an intense internal struggle could cause such a display.  But this struggle was not selfish in nature.  He was preparing for an epic undertaking.  God was about to be crucified for the sake of all creation.

He wept real tears because anxiety filled His soul.  He did not weep out of frustration that men would not listen to Him.  Weeping came because of fear.  Jesus was completely aware that this “Good News” He was building is sure.  No doubt entered into His heart, as it might into ours.  Sadness, fear for men’s future, and anxiety at their blind plight consumed Him to tears.

” 34 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. 35 Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.;'”  (Luke 13)

I wake with anxiety.   I sleep with anxiety.   I speak, write and consider with anxiety.   But the anxiety is not for me.  Nor is there frustration which might be associated with isolation.  We come to believe in the Gospel more strongly than others believe in the reality of this world.

The plight of the unsaved consumes my days and nights.  But what can be done if they refuse to take their attention off the things of this world?  So anxiety remains.   Much like the fan who sits up on the edge of his seat as the last few minutes of the game trickle away.  So it becomes for those who believe.

I search the horizon for salvation to appear among men.  Yet, as long as there is even one left, how shall this fire of anxiety be quenched?

By His Grace

Such an important message:

Fine, you’re a Christian.  You’ve been set free from the law of sin and death.  But you have not been set free so that you can continue in sin.  The freedom you have been given is that you may obey.

Do you count this freedom as invaluable?  Or do you value his grace so that you can continue as you were?  Such folly will not provide you what you hope.

Jesus was tested as are we.  And was found to be without sin.  To this same goal you are called in your new freedom.  We are to be diligent in our salvation.

Do you love Him because he has set you free?  Do you now live your life as if you live in His house?  If you do, then good.  You understand.  If you do not, you understand little.

I write this to help my brothers and sisters.  But beyond these words I can do nothing.  Please strive to understand what has been written here.  What you will be forever is at stake.

When the moment comes for you to depart this place, the years you will have spent here will become as nothing.  What you have been here is how you will be sealed forever.  Nothing you can do, at that point, will change what is.  If you have not understood these things you will arrive before him empty handed.

By His Grace

There are plans to erect a statue to satan.  It would be pleasant for man to see the Lord destroy it.  But this is the day of man so let them build it.  Let the statue remain for them so that they may celebrate the enemy of God.

I find it extremely fascinating that they will worship a spiritual being such as Satan but they deny the existence of the Holy Lord of life.  But they will arrive before the Lord with the guilt of their hands still upon them.  May they prosper in their way until that day.

By His Grace

Fox news reports “Jesus is not allowed in school.”  But aren’t the children precious to Him? 

There are two powers at work in this world.  If it isn’t for Him, it belongs to satan.

TOP STORIES
Teacher tells 6-year-old ‘Jesus is not allowed in school’
foxnewsonline@foxnews.com
Jan 07, 2014
A California elementary school is facing a possible lawsuit after a teacher allegedly confiscated a six-year-old child’s Christmas candy canes and told him “Jesus is not allowed in school.”

Last December, Isaiah Martinez brought his first grade classmates at Merced Elementary School candy canes. Attached to each treat was a message explaining the religious legend surround the candies. The legend references a candy maker who created the candy cane to symbolize the life of Christ.

When the six-year-old boy arrived at school, his teacher noticed the religious message and immediately confiscated the gifts, according to Robert Tyler, the general counsel for Advocates for Faith & Freedom.

The teacher, identified by the AFF as Valerie Lu, then consulted with the supervising principal who instructed her to prevent Isaiah from distributing the candy canes.

“Ms. Lu then spoke to Isaiah and told him that ‘Jesus is not allowed at school,'” Tyler wrote in a letter to the West Covina Unified School District. “In fear that he was in some sort of trouble, Isaiah then watched as Ms. Lu proceeded to rip the candy cane legend off of each candy cane and then throw the Christian messages back in to the box.”

Tyler said the little boy watched as his teacher threw the box and the messages into the trash.

“She then told Isaiah that he could distribute the candy canes now that the Christian messages were eliminated,” Tyler wrote, noting that the teacher was following the “explicit instructions” of her supervisor, Gordon Pfitzer.

Isaiah was later allowed to distribute candy canes with a Christian message but he was forced to do so off-campus, outside the schoolhouse gate at the conclusion of the school day, according to his attorney

“Meanwhile, other students in Isaiah’s class handed out Christmas gifts to their fellow classmates,” Tyler wrote. “Some of these gifts expressed secular messages concerning Christmas and were packaged with images of Santa Claus, penguins with Santa hats, Christmas trees and other secular messages.”

The Advocates for Faith & Freedom sent a letter to the district demanding they apologize to Isaiah and adopt a new policy “to prohibit school officials from bullying and intimidating Christian students and religiously affiliated students.”

Tyler said it has been well established by the U.S. Supreme Court that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”

Citing the court case Morse v. Frederick, he warned that “any policy that suppresses a student’s free speech, in this case the censorship of the candy cane legend violated Isaiah’s constitutional rights unless the school district reasonably concluded that there would be material and substantial disruption of the school’s work or discipline because of the candy cane message.”

Perhaps the teacher and principal feared the sounds of students slurping their candy canes might disrupt the school’s learning environment.

Superintendent Debra Kaplan released a statement to Los Angeles-area news outlets defending the teacher’s actions.

“At the present time, we do not have any reason to believe that the teacher or any other district employee had any intention other than to maintain an appropriate degree of religious neutrality in the classroom and to communicate this to the child in an age-appropriate manner,” Kaplan stated.

It takes a special kind of evil to confiscate a six-year-old child’s Christmas gifts. In this age of tolerance and diversity, public school educators seem to be under the impression that they can bully and intimidate Christian boys and girls.

They are sorely mistaken and I’m glad the Advocates for Faith and Freedom has exposed the West Covina Unified School District’s repugnant treatment of Isaiah Martinez.

It’s a good thing he didn’t give the kids Hershey’s Kisses. The  teacher would’ve probably hauled him to the office on sexual harassment charges.

.

By His Grace

A thought:
Don’t worry.  The Lord will appear and then you will go home.  He has belongings here.  Soon enough He will come to retrieve them.  Get caught hoping not worrying.

So much more can be said about this.  But what good would more words do if what was just said cannot be taken in? 

Everyone knows that life demands too much.  How is it then that the Lord of life has told us not to worry?  Is God so foolish that he would tell us to do what can’t be done?  Or is it that we become so consumed with the things of this world that we cannot obey. 

When I want to do something that is too high for me, I accomplish what I can by putting one foot forward.  Step after step I have conquered some of my goal.  If we can’t cease worrying at least we can conquer worry in different and smaller places.

Having achieved some grasp of my goal I am closer to the finish.  Letting go of small things teaches me to let go of larger things.  In the end I am caught striving to obey.  Such a position is all he asks of us.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled.  Simply develop a hunger for peace.  Worry tastes sour anyway.  Peace tastes so much better.

By His Grace

A lot of books have been written describing the Christian faith.  Some have even gone as far as to scientifically explain our experience in Christ.  Such books have the potential to do a lot of harm.

For human nature being what it is, we tend to rely on their expert witness.  Men tend to live their lives as described by these authors.  They should be going to the Lord to allow Him to develop their own witness.

Along with being careful of what we think we hear, we should also be careful of what we are told.  It is completely impossible to manufacture the Christian experience.  The grace of God in our faith is driven by His Holy Spirit, not by the wisdom of men.

By His Grace

By His Grace