Temptation

"And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen." (last part of the Lord's Prayer, Matthew 6:13)

How do you pray "lead us not into temptation?"

It seems I am forever faced with such
and it is agony
and agonizing

Lord,
Lead me not into my own will
Lead me away from all that is bad for me
Make Your will stronger than my will.

How can I pray at that last minute.

There I have no strength,
no will power

There is nothing.
I give in.
I have fallen
and then
I have consequences to face.

I learn.
I understand.
But unfortunately,
the learning and the
understanding
don't stay with me.
It dissipates
and a return
to those things
I really don't want to do
comes again.

Please Lord
Lead me elsewhere
Away from all
the not-so-good-for-me
temptations.

Success and successful

Successful.

To the world
success and successful are the deeds accomplished,
getting us from one place to another
by any means

To the world
Jesus is not a success nor successful.

He is to be pitied.
After all ....

To the world
He accomplished nothing
He hung on a cross
with nails pierced through
His body
dying to save You

To the world
judged, charged, condemned

To the world
He was a nobody.

But to God
He was and is His Son,
His Beloved Son.

And to His followers
He was and is The Christ,
The Messiah,
Savior
King of Kings
Lord of Lords
Master
Friend
and more

He is My eternal Salvation.
My eternal Hope
My eternal Security
My eternal Love.
My eternal Peace.
All of any success I achieve I owe to Jesus.

Proof

"Only when I forgo visible proof, do I believe in God." -- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

There are some who think we need to see
the miracle
Reach out and touch and feel
to believe
in the Almighty God.

But why?
Oh why
is His word
in His book
not enough?

It says in Genesis 1:1,
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

And of the earth,
in Genesis 1:12
God said
"Let the earth bring forth grass,
the herb that yields seed according to its kind,
and the tree that yields fruit,
whose seed is in itself
according to its kind."

He divided the day from the night
-- the greater light, the sun
-- the lesser light, the moon.

The stars, the seasons

living creatures
upon the earth
and under the seas
and birds above the earth

And He made man.
From Genesis 1:26-27,
God said,
"Let Us make man in Our image,
according to Our likeness;
So God created man in His own image;
in the image of God He created Him;
male and female He created them."

We see the result.
It is there.
We live within the miracle.
Why do we not believe
Why do we need more proof
Why is it never enough?!

God sent His son, Jesus.
He said He would and He did.
But woe to all who refuse to believe,
who refuse to accept His promise,
His miracle
and best,
His eternal gift of salvation.

There are many miracles.
There are many who do not believe in any of them.

They ask for proof.
Proof.
Always someone asks another for proof.
Proof you love me.
Proof you will pay.

What is achieved?

"The proof is in the pudding" - you've surely heard that saying.

The proof lies within our heart ... we are in Him ... He is in Us

The love of God

The love of God
is not that same love
that revolves between
individuals interacting together

The love of God
came
as Jesus came;
as He became
... a human being

The love of God
is joyous communion
through
His Beloved Son, Jesus
It is a commitment to
fully engulf oneself in
all that Jesus is
and does
at all cost

The love of God
goes forth
subjecting to any and every
misinterpretation
and
prejudice

The love of God
withstands all
is above all
and through ...

Because of His great love
for me and you
all of mankind
we too go forth
subjecting ourselves to all
in the world
but not living the same.

The love of God
surrounds us,
completes us,
reminds us ...

We are one with Him.

The love of God
accepts us as we are.

The love of God
commands us
to love another
just as He has loved us.

John 13:34 --"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another."

Cathy Orrick Luders
3.17.2010

The ground is emptied

Not many days past
the ground cover
was snow.

Not the
pure white freshly fallen
variety
that beautifies
God's glorious landscape
But
the filthy dirty
kind
that sits around,
reminding us
of a fallen world
filled with
sin and misery

The ground
covered with snow
is emptied...

God's creation --
the Sun --
its warmth
enveloped the earth
bringing about
a transformation,
a renewal.

A soggy mess
of brown
and dull
gives way
to glorious greens
of grass
and wondrous arrays
of colorful flowers
buried deep
within the
crevices of the ground
winding their way
to the top ...
searching.

Just as we.

Jesus came to earth.
He was born to bring us life.
He lived among us.
He died to set us free.
He was buried.
He rose again.
He lives.
He reigns.

So we too can live.

Cathy Orrick Luders
3.16.2010

Live a Holy Life

No matter what befalls us in the world, human power is not the answer. God alone, His being, His power. Only God accomplishes all that is. As human beings we are not personally capable of bringing about ultimate triumph in any situation.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer says, “Only when we look at reality with clear eyes without any illusion about our morality or our culture can we believe, otherwise our faith becomes an ‘illusion.’ ''

We must “believe in God alone and in His power. We must have faith and utilize it every moment of every day. When we give in to ourselves, when we fail to see the world and live in the world as God commands, where is our faith? Is it an illusion? Faith is way more than accepting Jesus as our personal savior. That is the beginning. But faith is how we live our lives with God as our commander.

“Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” – Matthew 5:16

Live a holy life.

Max Lucado notes, “People are watching the way we act more than they are listening to what we say.”

I penned these thoughts yesterday before my husband shared a Letter to the Editor published in The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) that day. The letter was titled “Compassionate family was gift from God” (page 4A, 3.8.2010 copyright 2010 The Gazette www.gazetteonline.com).

Here it is in its entirety.

On the evening of Feb. 6, my husband was feeling ill. He thought we should go to the hospital. En route, his condition began to rapidly deteriorate. I panicked and pulled into the drive of the first house I saw with lights on. This was at 10:30 on a Saturday night, and as I pounded on the door, I prayed to God that someone would answer. My prayer was answered. The gentleman who greeted me at the door called an ambulance and sat and prayed with me until they arrived. He and his daughter then drove me to St. Luke’s Hospital, where they stayed with me and other family members to await word on my husband’s condition. When the doctors delivered the devastating news, they grieved with us and tried to give all the comfort they could to people they had never met until that night. On Sunday morning, I received a call from this caring gentleman asking if there was anything that he or his family could do for us. He and his family came to console us during the visitation and also at the funeral. Words cannot explain the feelings we feel toward this man whom God sent to help in our time of need. Compassion and hope are still very much alive; sometimes it just takes awhile to find. - Bev Martin, Central City

My daily devotionals come from “I want to live these days with You” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I think, Yes, how I want to live these days with My Lord. And yet I wonder how I will accomplish it. I won’t really. Not fully. Nothing will be fully completed, fully accomplished, until Jesus returns, until we have gone on to meet our maker, until we have arrived at our eternal home on that celestial shore, until we see Jesus, face to face, on bended knee. Oh yes, I want to live these days with You.

Jesus, our protector and The One to whom our allegiance is show in all we do, everywhere we go. He is with us. We are with Him. It is through Jesus we are able to endure and it is through Him we are enabled to live a Holy life. It is because of Jesus' sacrifice we have been set free. He reigns. Jesus lives in us, we live in Him.