THE SCIENTIFIC DEATH OF JESUS

At the age of 33, Jesus was condemned to the death penalty.

At the time crucifixion was the "worst" death. Only the worst criminals
condemned to be crucified. Yet it was even more dreadful for Jesus,
unlike other criminals condemned to death by crucifixion, Jesus was to
be nailed to the cross by His hands and feet.

Each nail was 6 to 8 inches long.

The nails were driven into His wrist.
Not into His palms as is commonly portrayed.  There's a tendon in the wrist that extends to the shoulder.
The Roman guards knew that when the nails
were being hammered into the wrist,
that tendon would tear and break, forcing Jesus
to use His back muscles to support himself
so that He could breathe.

Both of His feet were nailed together.
Thus He was forced to support Himself on the single nail
that impaled His feet to the cross.
Jesus could not support himself with His legs
because of the pain, so He was forced to alternate
between arching His back then using his legs
just to continue to breathe.
Imagine the struggle, the pain, the suffering, the courage.

Jesus endured this reality for over 3 hours.


Can you imagine this kind of suffering?
A few minutes before He died,
Jesus stopped bleeding.
He was simply pouring water from his wounds.

From common images, we see wounds to His hands
and feet and even the spear wound to His side...
But do we realize His wounds were actually made in his body.
A hammer driving large nails through the wrist,
the feet overlapped and an even large nail
hammered through the arches,
then a Roman guard piercing His side with a spear.
But before the nails and the spear,
Jesus was whipped and beaten.
The whipping was so severe that it tore the flesh from His body.
The beating so horrific that His face was torn and his beard ripped from His face.
The crown of thorns cut deeply into His scalp.
Most men would not have survived this torture.

He had no more blood to bleed out,
only water poured from His wounds.
The human adult body contains about 3.5 liters
(just less than a gallon) of blood.

Jesus poured all 3.5 liters of his blood;
He had three nails hammered into His members;
a crown of thorns on His head and, beyond that,
a Roman soldier who stabbed a spear into His chest.

All these without mentioning the humiliation
He passed after carrying His own cross for almost 2 kilometers,
while the crowd spat in his face and threw stones while the crowd spat in his face and threw stones
(the cross was almost 30 kg of weight, only for its higher part,
where His hands were nailed)..

Jesus had to endure this experience,
so that we can have free access to God.

So that our sins could be "washed" away.
All of them, with no exception!

JESUS CHRIST DIED FOR US!

Jesus says: ‘Whoever serves me must follow me.’ What does it mean to me, to follow Jesus? read more...

To follow someone, I must know them well and admire them. And I suppose I would need to believe that I would be welcome company for them. We might not always agree, but we would have standards in common. But the choice ‘to follow’ is mine, and it arises every day. Sometimes I remember that I am meant to be following Jesus, and other times I forget.  I can walk for miles with ideas in my head, but with no thought of ‘following Jesus’. I can stray from the way he chooses.
Then there are times when I do want to follow him, but don’t know what best to do. I see injustice in the organisation where I work. I wonder if I should say nothing lest I make things worse, or should I try to change things? Or should I simply walk away? In a dysfunctional relationship, should I stay on and fight, even if there seems to be no hope that it will mend?
I make my own the Serenity Prayer.

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.
(Reinhold Niebuhr, 1892-1971).

A HERO IS SOMEONE THAT DOES WHAT THEY CAN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDOrzF7B2Kg&feature=player_embedded

WHEN YOU HAVE SOMEONE IN HEAVEN

Taking Action When We Have Negative Emotions

Proverbs 25:28 “Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control” (NIV).


It is not enough to acknowledge the presence of negative emotions or even understand why they exist. We must take action. If we don’t, negative emotions will take control, a dangerous proposition for any woman. We must not only be able to manage negative emotions in our own lives, we must be able to react correctly to negative emotions produced by the sometimes abrasive behavior of those we call family and friend. The seeker watches carefully, curious to see what happens when the pressure is on.

So many women are imprisoned by feelings of inferiority and the results are always disastrous. Constructive criticism is perceived as an emotional attack. Jealousy burgeons as others receive the accolades we desperately crave. Decisions are made and a course of life is determined so that fragile egos are fed, excluding God’s plan and purpose. Comparison reigns as a false idol attempting to validate worth and success. Inferiority crosses over to pride and sin reigns.

On the other hand, we can put negative emotions to work in our lives. Every woman knows that emotions can be like runaway horses. You are trampled by a friend with a hidden agenda, kicked in the gut by a family member, thrown by the lies of a trusted co-worker or crushed by a lack of integrity and character in those in authority over you. Emotions can easily stampede out of control and into sin.

The success of emotional integrity lies in the one who holds the reins. We must constantly choose to surrender every emotion to the supernatural control of God because when we do, the Holy Spirit empowers that choice, produces control and transforms emotional bondage into emotional freedom. Learning to control anger is a crucial life lesson and one that we need to master.

The people around us want to see what happens when life pushes our buttons or squeezes our emotions. While God created us with the capacity for emotions, it is our responsibility to control them instead of allowing them to control us. When Jesus saw money-changers desecrating the temple of God, He was furious! Yet, He modeled the right way to harness emotions and use them for good. I have heard many Bible teachers and preachers attempt to soften the response of Jesus, but the truth is - He was irate! I can almost see His face shrouded in plain old fury as He contemplated His options. If I had been in His place, I can tell you that those wicked men would have been toast! But before Jesus faced the intruders, He stepped aside to braid a whip - not because He had completed “Whip Braiding 101”, but because He was taking the time to harness His emotions. Jesus then used that harnessed anger to drive the money-changers out of the temple, correcting a wrong. We choose where to invest every ounce of emotional energy we possess. Like Jesus, we must learn to invest wisely, in order to reap the benefits of healthy emotions, harnessed and trained by godly discipline.

Emotional bankruptcy is too often responsible for the destruction of a life. We must intentionally monitor emotional withdrawals and the impact they will have on our lives. There are certainly emotional withdrawals that are good, right and ordained by God.


However, some emotional deposits are not good, right, healthy or God-ordained! Life is jam-packed with lifeless places in which to invest emotional energy. There are those who look to us to be their faithful savior or always available crisis manager. That job belongs to God alone!

We all know about bounced checks. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why banks don’t adopt my obviously superior philosophy about checking accounts. It goes something like this, “As long as there are checks, there is money.” Sadly, my current bank is rather narrow-minded in this area, so the reality is that my checks will bounce when our bank account is overdrawn and out of balance. The same is true in life.

We constantly need to check our emotional balance, guarding the emotional withdrawals we allow and diligently making consistent emotional deposits. Prayer, solitude, Bible study, friendships, service, accountability and a guarded thought life are just a few of the deposits that can make the difference between emotional health and emotional bankruptcy. Emotional imbalance occurs when we operate in our own strength, doing our “own thing” instead of wholly depending upon God and living in the parameters of His will. When we abandon all that we are to His strength, purpose and power, the Father deposits everything we need to accomplish every good work He created us to do.

TRUE IDENDITY

One of the greatest blessings of becoming a Christian is receiving a new identity. In the Bible, when God touched and changed a person’s life, many times He changed his or her name. He said, “You will be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will bestow” (Isaiah 62:2). Saul became Paul. Abram became Abraham. Sarai became Sarah. Jacob became Israel. Simon became Peter.

Likewise, when you accepted Christ, God gave you a new identity and a new name. If you want to know who you really are, then you need to look in the Bible and see who God says you are. It may be different from what you’ve heard others say about you, but which do you think is more accurate? Who do you think has a better perception of who you are, your Creator, or other creatures just like yourself? If you are a Christian today, the following verses describe your new identity.

My Identity in Christ

Matthew 5:13 I am the salt of the earth.
Matthew 5:14 I am the light of the world.
John 1:12 I am a child of God.
John 15:15 I am part of the true vine, a channel (branch) of Christ's life.
John 15:15 I am Christ's friend.
John 15:16 I am chosen and appointed by Christ to bear His fruit.
Romans 8:14,15 I am a joint-heir with Christ, sharing His inheritance with Him.
I Corinthians 3:16 I am a temple of God. His Spirit dwells in me.
I Corinthians 12:27 I am a member (part) of Christ's body
2 Corinthians 5:17 I am a new creation.
2 Corinthians 5:18,19 I am reconciled to God and am a minister of reconciliation...
Ephesians 1:1 I am a saint.
Ephesians 1:3 I am blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places.
Ephesians 1:11 I am sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit who has been given as a pledge of my inheritance.
Ephesians 2:10 I am God's workmanship created in Christ to do His work that He planned beforehand that I should do.
Ephesians 4:24 I am righteous and holy.

That is a lot to put on a nametag, but that is your new identity. Neil Anderson, in his book Victory over the Darkness notes, “The reason so many Christians are not enjoying the maturity and freedom which is their inheritance in Christ is because they hold wrong self-perceptions. They don’t see themselves as they really are in Christ. They don’t understand the dramatic change which occurred in them the moment they trusted in Him. They don’t see themselves the way God sees them, and to that degree they suffer from a poor self-image. They don’t grasp their true identity.”

YOUR FAITH HAS HEALED YOU

“Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you,”(Matthew 9:22 NIV).


All day long God is working in and around us. It is so easy to simply go about the task of living without seeing God’s handprints on our circumstances and footprints on our paths. When we see life as a “to do list” to check off, or random acts of fortune to celebrate or misfortune to endure, we miss seeing God and hearing His voice as the scarlet thread that connects the moments and the days of our lives.

Frederick Buechner noted, “All the absurd little meetings, decisions, inner skirmishes that go to make up our days. It all adds up to very little, and yet it all adds up to very much. Our days are full of nonsense, and yet not, because it is precisely into the nonsense of our days that God speaks to us words of great significance…”

When Jesus came to earth in human form, He had a definite plan and purpose. The Bible tells us, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work,”

(I John 3:8). Another translation says it this way: “The reason the Son of God was made manifest (visible) was to undo (destroy, loosen and dissolve) the works of the devil [has done]” (Amplified).

Even though Jesus’ plan and purpose was clearly stated, He welcomed interruptions when His Father placed someone in His path. Jesus turned aside to care for the woman caught in adultery and spoke to the Pharisees about forgiveness. He turned aside to heal a blind man and spoke about the reason the man had been blind from birth. He turned aside to bless children even though the disciples tried to shoo them away.

He turned aside to question who had touched the hem of his garment and spoke words of encouragement and healing to a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. He turned aside to speak to a curious Zacheaus perched in a tree. He turned aside to woo a frightened insecure fourteen-year-old girl and welcome her with open arms – me.

Jesus paid attention to the circumstances of those around him as he went from one place of ministry to the next. He noticed a woman mourning in a funeral procession for her only son, a woman drawing water by a well, a lame man lying by a pool and a blind man crying out by the side of the road. To those looking on, they may have seen each of these situations as an interruption in Jesus’ busy schedule, but Jesus saw them as divine appointments.

Today, as you go through the tasks of daily living, pay attention to those around you. You never know when someone in your path may be your special assignment from God

I Want It All

Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever (Psalm 136:2, NIV).


I want it all. I want everything God has for me. However, I don’t believe my life really reflects that attitude. I tend to settle for so much less than God’s very best for my life.

You may have heard the story of the man who died and went to Heaven. He was met at the Pearly Gates by Saint Peter who welcomed the man and then said, “Let’s take a look around Heaven and then I will show you to your new home.” The man was stunned by the beauty and grandeur of Heaven and could hardly wait to see what his house looked like. Peter finally stopped in front of a beautiful mansion and said, “Here you are. This is your home in Heaven. How do you like it?” The man stared in awe at the place where he would spend eternity. “I can’t wait to see what it looks like on the inside,” the man exclaimed. Saint Peter took the man by the arm and said, “Let’s take a look.”

When Saint Peter opened the front door, the man gasped at the sight before him. Beautiful boxes of all shapes and sizes were stacked from the ceiling to the floor in every room. “I don’t understand. What are all of these boxes doing here?” Saint Peter sadly smiled and said, “We will have them removed as soon as possible. These are all of the blessings we had waiting for you on earth – but you never asked for them. Now it’s too late.”

God longs to pour out His blessings on His children. We have somehow bought into the lie that we will receive good things from God by working harder, trying to be better or doing more good things. Girlfriend, that is from the pit and smells like smoke.

We are saved by God’s grace and nothing we do or don’t do will ever be good enough to earn the favor of God. In Ephesians the apostle Paul tells us that salvation is a gift – period.

Ephesians 2:8 (NIV) “Forit is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God … “

If we could earn salvation, it would simply be a salary for works we have done. We are saved through faith in God alone. Salvation and the blessings of God are His gifts to us. We simply receive them. And yet, we try to make the blessings of God seem almost impossible to experience. He is just waiting for us to seek Him … to listen for His voice … and then to follow Him.

Just imagine that today is your child’s birthday. You have a wonderful party planned and have spent a lot of time picking out the perfect birthday gift. Do you expect your child to earn that gift by cleaning the house, doing the laundry, taking out the trash and completing every job on a very long list of chores you have prepared? Of course not! You simply want to delight in the joy on your child’s face when he or she receives and opens that special gift.

I have received the gift of salvation as have many of you. We have surrendered our lives to Him and are seeking to follow Him. But I want everything He has planned for me – don’t you? The good news is that God wants us to come to Him with “shameless audacity” and ask for His blessings.

Luke 11:5-10 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need. So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Did you catch the mind-blowing truth in this passage of Scripture? The words “shameless audacity” jumped out at me for the first time as my husband preached a powerful message on this passage of Scripture. Don’t miss this truth, girlfriend! God wants us to pray and live and breathe with the mindset that we want everything He has planned for us now and eternally! And we can come to Him with that shameless audacity – not because of anything we have done – but because of who He is and what He has planned for each one of us. He is God! He is our Lord and Savior and our Father who is just waiting to pour out His amazing blessings on His daughters. Why? Because He loves us! He adores us! We were created by God for God. As Max Lucado says, “If God had a refrigerator our pictures would be on it!”

Today, grab hold of the truth that in the eyes of God you are somebody special. You are planned and wanted. You belong. You are chosen. Come before Him and tell Him you want it all! Yes, you want everything He has planned for you! Now hold out your hands, girlfriend. God’s highest and richest blessings for your life are on their way!

God's Great Plan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=0xwzItqYmII
("I Can Only Imagine" by Mercy Me)

March 5, 2012
God's Grand Plan1 Thessalonians 5:23-24(From In Touch Ministries)

It's amazing but true that God's grand plan for your life is far greater than you can imagine. In fact, this earth-bound existence has us so preoccupied with the demands of life that most of us give little thought to what it will mean to be completely sanctified.

In the Christian life, sanctification is a three-stage process. At the moment of salvation, God sets us apart for Himself. Then throughout the rest of our earthly life, He works to transform us into the image of His Son. One day, however, there will be a glorious culmination to our sanctification. Presently, we all struggle with sin, but when we die, our spirits and souls will ascend to heaven and be completely sinless. Then we'll see our Savior face to face and experience unimaginable joy. No longer will we struggle with the pride of life or the lusts of the flesh and the eyes (1 John 2:16).

However, as great as this will be, it's not yet the final step. Some day in the future, Jesus will descend from heaven, bringing with Him the souls of those who have died in Christ. They will be united with their resurrected bodies, and believers who are still alive on the earth will be changed (1 Thess. 4:14-17; 1 Cor. 15:51-54). Then sanctification will be complete--spirit, soul, and body.

This is not a fairy tale, but the believer appointed destiny. God Himself promises to bring it to pass. We'll walk in His presence, spotless and without blame, for all eternity. Knowing this, how will you live today? The promise of salvation isn't meant just to give hope, but to spur us on to holy living

The Lenten Retreat

The theme of this Lenten retreat is ‘Loving Service’. The focus is on Jesus Christ, with whom we journey during the weeks of Lent, through the darkness of Holy Week and into the sunlight of Easter. If we can keep in mind that each great moment of Jesus’ final days reveals some aspect of his commitment to loving service, we will have the key that opens up the mystery of God to us. Jesus is presented by the evangelists as the ‘loving servant’ who serves his Father and us ‘to the very end’. It is this loving service that brings about the salvation of the world.

Jesus therefore gives a new and divine meaning to all the loving service that goes on across the world. All of it, your service and mine included, plays its part now in the transfiguring of our world. That gives comfort when you are burdened with much to do and when you have little time for yourself.

At the same time, Jesus is portraying what his Father is like. ‘To have seen me is to have seen the Father’. So he is presenting us with the image of God as ‘loving servant’. This challenges many of our images of God: we usually think of God as the all-powerful monarch, solitary and remote, who loves us but also dispenses unflinching justice on sinners.
  As we journey along together, let us pray for one another that each of us may receive the particular graces that God wishes to give to each. By becoming more like our Lord, our service of others into the future will be done lovingly. This will help to change the world around us and also bring joy to Jesus who goes before us and sets us an example. There is joy in heaven when we catch on (Luke 15:7, 10). 
This retreat can be done in whatever way suits you best. You may be able to set aside a day when all else can be put aside. Or you may find it more feasible to spread your retreat over a number of days. This would mean setting a special time aside on those days, apart from the time your ordinarily give to your  prayer. Pray as you can, not as you can’t! Let the time you set aside be a source of gladness for you, not a burden that you just want to get done with. The main thing is for you to meet the Lord and to grow more like him. Since the theme of this retreat is very simple you can also reflect on it outside your formal prayer times.

So, to practical matters! We step back from my usual routine of everyday living. We choose a suitable time in the day when we can go apart into real quiet. Jesus invited his disciples to do that after a hard day’s work and the horror of the news that John the Baptist has been beheaded at Herod’s feast (Mark 6:14-29). Jesus says to his little band: ‘Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while’ (Mark 6:31). He invites me to do likewise.

We set out here three times of prayer, each focusing on one of the Gospel passages chosen by the Christian churches for our attention during Lent. If an hour of prayer seems too much, then let me decide on what we can cope with. Perhaps 30 minutes or less may suit me best. It may be that as we move along we  will feel the desire to give more time. Prayer is not an endurance test! The main thing is to meet the Lord personally, to notice what is happening for him, to speak with him and listen to him.

We find a space where we can be alone and become more aware of God’s loving presence - maybe outside in the garden; maybe sitting, standing or kneeling in our prayer corner; maybe in a church or chapel. We switch off my mobile phone, radio and TV, anything that might interfere with the silence and solitude where we meet God. “Be still, and know that I am God!” (Psalm 46:10). We slow down. This time is not for doing but for being: I make no effort to achieve, to ‘catch up’ or get things done. We just become aware, listening to hear what message God has for us personally.

You may be helped to pray by lighting a candle, or by having a crucifix before you, or a picture of Christ. These can help you to enter into God’s space and time. The images that accompany the stages of the retreat may be helpful, or some other picture may recommend itself to you, prompted, perhaps, by a phrase in the texts you find here.  Prayer is all about two friends chatting about what is going on in their lives. Putting it another way, praying is all about growing in relationship with Jesus who loves us completely.

You may like to choose a piece of music to listen to quietly or meditatively, letting it be a background for your prayer. It may be that a favourite piece comes to mind – one that would help you to pray. If so, you can prepare it before you begin.

Lent originally meant ‘spring-time’ – the time when the snows melt and flowers begin to bloom. So while it is a time for fasting and doing good works such as almsgiving, it is also a time of new growth in us. It is a time when God comes into sharper focus for us. We look at Jesus, and also look at ourselves as disciples. For many of us, Lent is a time when we turn more energetically toward God. We pray more, confess our sins, participate in the Eucharist. We can imagine a sunflower drooping in times of darkness; then the sun emerges and it turns its face toward the warmth and light. Perhaps we are like that? Pause for a few moments, sit with Jesus and ask him to give you an image of what your inner life is like right now. Let your imagination play on this: imagination is a great help in our relationship with God. God has an unbelievable imagination: God dreams up our extraordinary world of stars and crocodiles, smiles and tears, music and sunshine. What image does God have of you? You are, after all, ‘God’s work of art’ – have you any idea what this special work of art is like. If it is a painting, is it black and white or coloured? Is it large or small? Or perhaps it is a sculpture, and if so, what is it like?

It is important to note that loving service does not mean self-abasement. It does not mean that we should be at everyone’s beck and call, a slave in all but name. We are God’s beloved, and God wishes us to have a right to care for ourselves.  We are meant to love ourselves rightly.

Loving service means instead a service freely and willingly done. It may require that we practise the art of discernment when faced with life’s demands. St Ignatius would say that we should make no decision without chatting about it with God. So we ask God: ‘What do YOU want me to do?’ I cannot do everything. God may wish me to leave one demand aside and to take up another instead, or to leave both aside and relax!

When we are more ourselves, the service flows better than if we are worn out and distracted. In one of the L’Arche communities established by Jean Vanier there was a rule: ‘If you are not in good form, don’t do the cooking!’ Saying ‘No’ can be done graciously if it is born out of a sense that I am only a small person with limited energies, but that God can provide where I cannot. I need to be humble about my capacities. Jesus ‘went about doing good’ (Acts 10: 38), but he also took time out to pray and be alone. For him these too were ways of being at the loving service of the people around him. So let it be with me.

Some forms of service can be very demanding, and yet can be done lovingly. If a couple find themselves with a severely handicapped child, a new depth of love is needed to strengthen ordinary parental love. A daughter or son may start out caring for their ageing parents who are in fair health, but when one of them develops Alzheimer’s they feel called to ‘go the extra mile’. Jesus came into the world with a simple agenda – ‘to do good’ - but as hostility grew his love was stretched to the uttermost. God is provident, and if I am called to engage in service in demanding ways, God will give me the love I need for this.

When we become more aware of how well we are loved by God, loving service comes more easily. The Ignatian phrase ‘In all things to love and serve’ takes on more meaning as we see how well Jesus has serves us. This retreat will help us grow in generosity by opening out to us new horizons of his love. And so a new love will be born in the world!

The Aroma of Christ

A life without Jesus Christ is filled with the aroma of death but the fragrance of Jesus Christ at work in a life is pleasing and winsome. The knowledge of Christ is a compelling and magnetic fragrance that draws the broken heart and wounded soul to a place of restoration. When God looks at one of His children, I am convinced His heart beats with love, giving off the beautiful aroma of grace and hope.
But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? ( 2 Corinthians 2:14-16, NIV).ist at work in a life is pleasing and winsome. The knowledge of Christ is a compelling and magnetic fragrance that draws the broken heart and wounded soul to a place of restoration. When God looks at one of His children, I am convinced His heart beats with love, giving off the beautiful aroma of grace and hope.

How about your life? Do you live in such a way that people are drawn to you and the pleasant aroma of Jesus Christ and His truth at work in you? Does His transforming knowledge compel others to take a second look at your life and want what you have? I so want my life to be one that is winsome like Jesus was. I want others to see Him in me and be drawn to the fragrance of His love and mercy that save me and give my life purpose. I want to be the aroma of Jesus Christ to the broken and wounded people who cross my path every day.