Debtor_40 day journey_header
DAY 28: Passion                                                                               June 28, 2015

 
"Greater love has no one than this,
 than to lay down one's life for his friends." 
 (John 15:13, NKJV)

MORNING DEVOTION - "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee..." (Psalm 63:1)
 
Scripture Reading: Luke 23:26-43
   
The love of God was imprinted on the earth in the footprints of Jesus as He made His way to the cross.  From the moment His feet touched the earth, and with every step He took as He ministered to the people, up until He took those final, painful steps on the road to Calvary, Jesus' mission was to spread the love of the Father into the hearts of the people.  "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, 'Your God reigns!' " (Isaiah 52:7).
 
The Scriptures paint a beautiful picture of our Lord's unconditional and selfless love throughout His ministry, and as it was extraordinary demonstrated in the final week of His Passion. "I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep" (John 10:11).  When Jesus entered Jerusalem on the first day of the week He wept over the city (reference Luke 19:41). Later, when the cross was laid upon Him the women would follow Him weeping and wailing, and He would have compassion on them and call them to instead weep for the judgment that was to come upon the city, and that they should weep for themselves and their children and for their sins which where the reason He was being put to death. "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me; weep for yourselves and for your children..." (Luke 23:28).  His compassion was remarkable as He prayed His final prayers on the cross.  The first being an incredible prayer of intercession calling on the Father to forgive those who were murdering Him even as they nailed Him to the cross.  "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" (v. 34 a). In the hour of great suffering our sacrificial Lamb announced the reason for His death: the forgiveness of sins.  He also demonstrated for us how much we need to pray for our enemies.  Our Lord was being crucified for who He is, and one of the criminals being crucified beside Jesus recognized the truth in the words written above His head:  "THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS" (v. 38).  A thief saw what the chief priests couldn't see, and he submitted his prayer request to be saved by one who would not even save Himself from the cross.  His humble prayer exhibited great faith and hit the nail on the head, for that is exactly why Jesus was being crucified, to save sinners by the cross.  And Jesus responded immediately to his dying request:  "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise" (v.43).

Jesus loved and ministered up until His final breath. His body was beaten and torn beyond recognition. He suffered excruciating pain, yet in His own agony He was able to speak words of comfort and bring hope, forgiveness of sin, and the promise of eternal life to those around Him.  He had been verbally and physically abused, spat upon, mocked, tortured, and unjustly accused; yet there was nothing that could affect His love or deter Him from His mission.  He willingly and obediently took everything we deserved to suffer upon Himself, and purchased through His death what we could never achieve for ourselves (reference John 3:16).  His mercy and grace were passionately poured out from the cross as He prayed up until His dying breath.  "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this:  While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).
 
Heavenly Father, 
"The LORD, the LORD,
the compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,
maintaining love to thousands,
and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin." (Exodus 34:6, 7a)
"Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous;
it is fitting for the upright to praise Him.
Praise the LORD with the harp;
make music to Him on the ten-stringed lyre.
Sing to Him a new song;
play skillfully, and shout for joy.
For the word of the LORD is right and true;
He is faithful in all He does.
The LORD loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of His unfailing love.
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people He chose for His inheritance.
We wait in hope for the LORD;
He is our help and our shield.
In Him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in His holy name.
May Your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD,
even as we put our hope in You." (Psalm 33:1-5, 12, 20-22)
 In Jesus' Name. Amen. 
 
It can be painfully difficult to love and minister to others when they are attacking us with vile words or abusive behavior, yet this is the example Jesus set for us.  He looked beyond, or really into, their hateful (empty) hearts, and saw a great need that only He could fill.  Jesus was not deterred or distracted by the reactions or responses of the people, He responded solely to the Father's heart and His extraordinary love for His creation. Sadly, it is often the people we should love the most that turn out to be the ones we struggle the most to love.  When conflict and criticism arise we find ourselves more apt to respond with anger and bitterness, rather than love. As we kneel in prayer this morning, let us pray that we would respond the way the Lord has commanded, and demonstrated for, us:  "As I have loved you (remember the cross!), so you must love one another.  By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:34 b, 35).

_______________________________________________________________________
AFTERNOON DEVOTION - "Evening, and morning, and noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and He shall hear my voice" (Psalm 55:17, KJV).

 


Scripture Reading: Matthew 27:32-56
  
Three hours of darkness had enveloped the land; it was the middle of the day, and a dark cloud of despair covered the people like a heavy cloak. Jesus lifted up His voice and cried out to the Father, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" - which means, 'My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (v.46).  Jesus had prayed for strength to endure these dark hours of separation from the Father while He was laboring in prayer in the garden just hours before.  Now that the time had come for Him to be forsaken by the Father, He cried out in a loud voice, laying hold of the Father for His support even though His back was turned on Him. He raised His voice like a trumpet and announced the hour of sacrifice.

 

Jesus lifted up His voice, and loudly proclaimed His final prayer, "It is finished"; and then He "bowed His head and gave up His spirit" (John 19:30).  It was the ninth hour, the time of the evening sacrifice; our sacrificial lamb had laid down His life for the sins of the world.  "For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed" (1 Corinthians 5:7 b). Jesus deposited His life into the hands of the Father "as a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28), and His offering was accepted. "Into Your hands I commit My spirit; redeem me, O LORD, the God of truth" (Psalm 31:5).  The Father did not prolong the suffering of His only begotten and beloved Son. Jesus had willingly surrendered to the Father's plans, and was received as a victor into the Father's hands. In that moment, the dividing wall came down, the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom, and the way to God was opened to mankind. "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" (Hebrews 4:16).
 
Heavenly Father,
"Therefore, since through God's mercy
we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.
Rather, we  have renounced secret
and shameful ways; we do not use deception,
nor do we distort the Word of God.
On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly
we commend ourselves to every man's conscience
in the sight of God."
"But we have this treasure in jars of clay 
to show that this all-surpassing power 
is from God and not from us. 
 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; 
perplexed, but not in despair; 
persecuted, but not abandoned; 
struck down, but not destroyed.  
We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, 
so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body...
Therefore we do not lose heart.  
Though outwardly we are wasting away, 
yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  
For our light and momentary troubles 
are achieving for us an eternal glory 
that far outweighs them all.  
So we fix our eyes non on what is seen, 
but on what is unseen.  
For what is seen is temporary, 
but what is unseen is eternal"
 (2 Corinthians 4:1-2, 7-10, 16-18).
 In Jesus' Name. Amen.

 


As Jesus was being crucified, His friends stood by, helpless.  How terrible it must have been to see Him in such pain and agony, and to watch Him suffer and die. Praise God that we are no longer powerless or helpless.  On the contrary, our great Mediator has opened a "new and living way" to us, and has invited us to join Him in His heavenly occupation of intercession before the throne. This afternoon as we pray, let us offer praise to the One who has purchased our entrance into the throne room of heaven, and acceptance before the Father, with the sacrifice of His own body for our sins. As we come before His throne of grace, may we remember that Christ is in His kingdom and He has opened the kingdom to us to dispense forgiveness of sins and eternal life to all who would come with repentant and believing hearts.  May our every prayer be an extension of the love of the Father to bring these great treasures to all those in our circle of influence. Let us draw close to our Savior and look upon His nail-scarred hands, and lay hold of all the power and authority He has placed at our disposal when we pray. "What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to Him?" (Deuteronomy 4:7).

______________________________________________________________________

EVENING MEDITATION - "...and on His law he meditates day and night" (Psalm 1:2)  


Scripture Reading: Psalm 22
 
The most quoted Psalm in the New Testament, Psalm 22, is a Messianic Psalm, written by the prophet David (reference Acts 2:30-31).  David, while speaking about his own distress, prophetically describes the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in great detail.  The first section of David's Psalm focuses on Jesus' agony as He suffered and was crucified.  Let us draw encouragement from David's words this evening as we wrestle with our own seasons of uncertainty, and struggle with difficult circumstances and times of suffering,  Let us lift up our voices with a loud cry to our Father in heaven, who will never leave or forsake us,  and put our full faith and trust in Him as our strength and support, and worship Him with all our heart.  "To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen" (Revelation 1:5b, 6).  
 
 Heavenly Father, 
"But You, O LORD, do not be far from me;
O my Strength, hasten to help me!"
 "I will declare Your name to my brethren:
in the midst of the assembly I will praise You.
You who fear the LORD, praise Him!"
"A posterity shall serve Him.
It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation,
they will come and declare His righteousness
to a people who will be born,
that He has done this."
In Jesus' Name. Amen.
  
 
______________________________________________________________________________
"This is how we know what love is:
Jesus Christ laid down His life for us.
And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers." 
-  1 John 3:16
 
  
Thank you for praying with us!

Join the Trumpet and Torch Mailing List HERE!

Click HERE if you have missed any of the previous day's emails.

DEBTOR: Labor of Love 40 Days of Prayer
(c) 2010, Traci A. Alexander.  All Rights Reserved.
Trumpet and Torch Ministries, Inc.