This Is The Day

January 20, 2021

Mary Jo and I are so thankful to The LORD that we’re alive today and part of His plan to share The Gospel with all those around us!  God in His infinite wisdom chose us to be part of His plan exactly in this time in history!

We read in Esther 4:13-14 AMP

Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the Jews. [14] For if you remain silent at this time, liberation and rescue will arise for the Jews from another place, and you and your father’s house will perish [since you did not help when you had the chance]. And who knows whether you have attained royalty for such a time as this [and for this very purpose]?”

We can’t hide our hearts from The LORD.  He gives us all one life to live on this earth.  Like Mordecai told Esther, who knows whether she became queen for this time and the purpose put in front of her.  God knows, that’s for sure!  And God did use her to expose Haman’s plan which in turn saved the Jews in captivity from being put to death!

It excites Mary Jo and me to know that The LORD is not finished with the world yet, we know far too many family members and friends who still don’t know Jesus and we don’t want them to go to hell.  How selfish it would be of us to want Jesus to return just so our lives would be easier!  We don’t know all of God’s plans even for the next moment, but we do know why we’re here on this earth, for such a time as this!

As Christians our desire should be to do what Jesus commanded us to do, remember He said in John 14:15 AMP “If you [really] love Me, you will keep and obey My commandments.  He then gave us marching orders throughout His time on this earth and continued via the Holy Spirit to give them to the writers of the New Testament to clearly show us how to live our lives on this earth.

In Matthew 16:24-27 AMP we read:

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to follow Me [as My disciple], he must deny himself [set aside selfish interests], and take up his cross [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me]. [25] For whoever wishes to save his life [in this world] will [eventually] lose it [through death], but whoever loses his life [in this world] for My sake will find it [that is, life with Me for all eternity]. [26] For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world [wealth, fame, success], but forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? [27] For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory and majesty of His Father with His angels, and THEN HE WILL REPAY EACH ONE IN ACCORDANCE WITH WHAT HE HAS DONE.

Jesus is giving clear instructions here to those who really desire to follow Him, to be His disciple.  We are to quit thinking about our own selfish interests.  What’s a selfish interest, anything that doesn’t promote Christ!  We also have a skewed understanding of what taking up our cross means.  If you don’t understand it, just ask yourself what did it mean to Jesus?  What did He do?  He literally sacrificed everything about Himself as God.  As part of God, he somehow had to become "not" part of God during His time on the cross when He took all the world’s sins on Himself and died in our place.  I can’t begin to understand and will never know exactly what that means or what Jesus went through, but even He said in Matthew 27:46 NASB: About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?” that is, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?”

The AMP version in Matthew 16 above, describes the phrase follow me as: “believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me.”

That’s some heavy stuff, and most of us don’t think that’s what we signed up for when we became Christians, but that’s what Jesus said it means!  Taking up our cross on this earth means living our lives like Christ lived his even if we have to suffer and possibly die because of our faith in Him!  We can only truly follow Christ when we do this.    

Of note in just a few verses before this, (Matthew 16:21-23), Jesus told His disciples what He was about to go through on the cross.  Peter stood up and said, no way!  In other words, he told Jesus that He was wrong and that he wasn’t willing to go along with Jesus’ plans.  What did Jesus tell him in verse 23?  But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”

When we disagree with God’s Word, when we refuse to believe it, when we refuse to obey it, isn’t that exactly what we are doing, becoming a stumbling block to Jesus and what His plans are for us and the world that we live in?  Isn’t that satan’s job?  Who are we aligning ourselves with when we deny God’s Word, His power, His plans, etc, God or satan?  There are no other options.

We’re all only on this earth for a very short time, especially compared to eternity.  In the end we as Christians will ALL be judged for what we did with what The LORD gave us on this earth, our material possessions and our physical abilities!  (1 Corinthians 3:12-13, 2 Corinthians 5:10, Matthew 25)

In Matthew 28:19-20 AMP we read:

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations [help the people to learn of Me, believe in Me, and obey My words], baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always [remaining with you perpetually—regardless of circumstance, and on every occasion], even to the end of the age.”

We are NOT on this earth for our own gain, but rather to live all aspects of our lives full out and on for Jesus!  He said that we’re to live according to His Word no matter what the circumstances that happen in our world and promised to be with us always.  He said we’re to help those around us to learn of, believe in and obey Him!

There are no escape clauses in God’s Word, in other words, we’re to be faithful to Him no matter what happens in the world around us.  NO MATTER WHAT!!

Jesus has told us in many places in His Word that this world will continually get worse and just like in the days of Noah and Sodom and Gomorrah people will continue to deny Him.  It may seem bad in our world today, but it still isn’t as bad as during those times!  (Luke 17:20-37, 21:7-36)  Sinners sin and they will continue without Christ in their lives.  None of this should surprise anyone who claims to follow Christ. 

What should appall us is those who claim to follow Christ but live as if they’re their own, like the world, and continue in sin.  Remember it says in James 4:17 NASB: Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.  So if we aren’t denying our desires and taking up our cross to follow Christ and going into all the world, beginning with the part of it that we are daily part of, then we are living in sin.

As the world gets darker, our light should shine brighter.  This should excite us!  What if this was the beginning of a huge revival that sweeps across our nation?  Remember that the word revival comes from the word revive.  It’s a redoing of something, and in this case we’re talking a Spiritual thing.  Revival needs to start in the hearts and lives of those who claim to follow Jesus and then it can begin to spread to all of those around us!

Do Mary Jo and I want to suffer, no, but we’re willing to do whatever it is that God has set for us to go through and consider ourselves worthy that He has chosen us to serve Him, even if it means suffering and possibly death because our hope is in Jesus and we know that heaven is our reward!  (Ephesians 2:10, Acts 5:40-42, Matthew 5:11-12, Philippians 3:14, 1 Peter 5:4, 2 Timothy 4:8)

So get busy, quit living in fear, but rather do the loving thing for others which is living your lives full out for The LORD in such a way that draws others to Him!  Pray for our country, President Biden, Vice-President Harris, your congressmen and all the rest of your elected representatives down to those in your home area, especially for their salvation!  (1 Timothy 2:1-4)

I’ll leave you with this with no commentary as God speaks for Himself!

2 Corinthians 5:1-15 AMP

For we know that if the earthly tent [our physical body] which is our house is torn down [through death], we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. [2] For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our [immortal, eternal] celestial dwelling, [3] so that by putting it on we will not be found naked. [4] For while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened [often weighed down, oppressed], not that we want to be unclothed [separated by death from the body], but to be clothed, so that what is mortal [the body] will be swallowed up by life [after the resurrection]. [5] Now He who has made us and prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the [Holy] Spirit as a pledge [a guarantee, a down payment on the fulfillment of His promise]. [6] So then, being always filled with good courage and confident hope, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— [7] for we walk by faith, not by sight [living our lives in a manner consistent with our confident belief in God’s promises]— [8] we are [as I was saying] of good courage and confident hope, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. [9] Therefore, whether we are at home [on earth] or away from home [and with Him], it is our [constant] ambition to be pleasing to Him. [10] For we [believers will be called to account and] must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be repaid for what has been done in the body, whether good or bad [that is, each will be held responsible for his actions, purposes, goals, motives—the use or misuse of his time, opportunities and abilities]. [11] Therefore, since we know the fear of the Lord [and understand the importance of obedience and worship], we persuade people [to be reconciled to Him]. But we are plainly known to God [He knows everything about us]; and I hope that we are plainly known also in your consciences [your God-given discernment]. [12] We are not commending ourselves to you again, but are giving you an occasion to be [rightfully] proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in [outward] appearances [the virtues they pretend to have] rather than what is [actually] in heart. [13] If we are out of our mind [just unstable fanatics as some critics say], it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for your benefit. [14] For the love of Christ controls and compels us, because we have concluded this, that One died for all, therefore all died; [15] and He died for all, so that all those who live would no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and was raised for their sake.

Please don't hesitate to reach out to us with any questions, prayer requests, etc.  We'd love to pray with and for you and to the best of our ability answer any questions you may have soley using God's Word!

Love y’all and LORD Bless,

Curt & Mary Jo