Tag: John 14:6

Temples Won: Flipping Tables for Hearts

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Victories look different depending on the battles or contentions fought and won. The victory our Lord Jesus Christ gained on Calvary was nothing short of a miracle that could never be replicated again. But the fight to win the world, the battle to cleanse temples and hearts, didn’t start on the day the nails were driven into His hands. Holy Week is remembering the significance of each day that led to the cross and the sacrifice of our Lord.

Therefore, being Monday, we look back to the cleansing of the temple. Jesus could not bear the unholy manner in which the Father’s house was being treated. All respect, all honor for the sacredness of His place had been replaced by merchandising and swindling of those who sought to truly honor and worship before our Heavenly Father. Jesus, coming into the Temple, was appalled by what He witnessed.

In Jesus’ day, the temple of God, specifically the outer courts where the Gentiles worshiped (supposedly), was turned into a kind of marketplace. A meeting place of money and merchandise rather than humble hearts looking for a graceful God.

Can we imagine trying to worship and pray to God, sincerely lifting hearts up to Him, listening to the ding of a cash register going off and people asking for price checks while others barter over cost and quality of product? Well, there may not have been the ding of a cash register in Jesus’ day, but this disturbance in the meeting place of God was just as real. People who were seeking the Lord, in the place where they are told He may be found, were not able to connect with God as they should have been able to because of all the business going on.

Surely, this was not His first time there and witnessing the unashamed way people were being hustled, but as He was marching toward Calvary, He would make another attempt to redirect the hearts of those around. For Jesus, this event was about what was going on in the temple of people’s hearts, as well as the brick and mortar building of worship. Previously, I wrote:

“Unashamedly and without regard for roving eyes and the tsk tsk tsk of the people’s lips, He flips tables over and starts throwing people out to get His Father’s house back in order.  With holy force, He sought to reclaim what was rightfully God’s.

But can I tell you, His fight didn’t stop there.  He wanted more than a building to reclaim for God, He wanted people that rightfully belonged to Him.  He wouldn’t gain that by flipping over tables, rather He flipped over the gates of hell.  He wouldn’t get there by driving people with wrong intentions away, but with force, He drove the enemy of our soul away and crushed him under His feet. He wanted to win the temple of people’s hearts for His Father and this fight could only be won on the cross.” (©When Jesus Cleansed Our Temple/WordforLifeSays.com)

God has always intended His house to be a special, holy place where He and man can meet. And, from the time of Genesis, God has always had it in His mind that all men, from all over the globe, would be invited to come to Him and to worship: “Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people“ (Isaiah 56:7; emphasis added).

You and I, coming to the Father through Jesus Christ, were worth fighting for. Every leg of His battle, every scar, wound, and contention had Him focusing on a better future for us: “… who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). Friend, your heart is the temple Jesus fought most to win. “Your heart wants God.  Your heart will never be happy with anything or anyone else. You may not completely understand how it all works, what it all means, or what this is all supposed to look like, but your heart wants God.” (©Your Heart Wants God/WordforLifeSays.com)

With that, the beginning of this week can be the start of a brand new life or a recommittment to Jesus Christ. Today, all the noise of this world can be silenced by the call to salvation: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16, and “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6).

Many battles have been fought through the years, but the greatest battle fought and won is the battle for the hearts of people everywhere. Will you let Jesus in your heart today? Jesus said, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” (Revelation 3:20). 

Father God, thank You for every leg of this Christian journey Jesus fought for and accomplished in our lives. Thank You for being so mindful of us that You didn’t mind flipping over tables and hell to win our hearts. Thank You for the holy determination that drove the Savior’s love for us to do the impossible, eventually laying His holy life down on Calvary’s cross to free us from our unholy life. Today, we don’t take for granted this remarkable love shown. You have done the impossible in our lives. May our hearts ever reflect on the sacrifice and love commended toward us during this Holy Week of remembrance.

Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay

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Walking Through the Gate

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Photo provided through Pixabay

“Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the Lord: This gate of the Lord, into which the righteous shall enter.” (Psalm 118:19-20)

Gates give entrance. Gates keep out intruders and ne’er do wells. Gates offer protection and security for all who dwell within her walls.

Gates ask if you belong here.  They want to see if you are identified as someone worthy of trust to be in her enclosure.  They make sure you have permission to be here to enjoy the treasure within.

Many fancy themselves going through those pearly gates one day (Revelation 21:21).  Many claim they will have immediate entrance to the eternity within.

Friend, if you want to enter, make sure you have the right key – make sure you have aligned your life, your heart, and your soul with the right point of access.  And that right point of access is through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Once, Jesus taught, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture” (John 10:9).  If our deep desire is to walk through those future gates, please know, dear soul, that none can enter without Jesus.

As the shepherds of old would lay their bodies across the entrance of the sheepfold (compare John 10:7), Jesus Christ has laid His body on Calvary’s cross that one day we might enter the fold of the righteous.  That one day, we might be where He is.

“I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).  Jesus is, and I cannot express this enough, dear heart, the only way in.  He is the only way you will ever experience that spiritual freedom you are looking for.  He is the only way to be truly delivered.  Through Him, is the only way to salvation: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).  And He is the only way to gain that holy admission to heaven. 

When He becomes your Lord, you have access to the treasure within, and those gates will be opened for you, and you can say with holy confidence the words of the psalmist: “Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the Lord: This gate of the Lord, into which the righteous shall enter” (Psalm 118:19-20).

Access the right key, Jesus Christ, and the doors will be opened for you.

“Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.  Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.  Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.  Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory.” (Psalm 24:7-10)

Receive Him for yourself today.

Copyright © Word For Life Says.com (Sharing any posts or lessons can only be done through the share buttons provided on this site from the original posts, lessons, and articles only. You can reblog from the original posts only using the reblog button provided, or share using the share buttons provided from these social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest, etc., and they must be shared from the original posts only. All other repostings are prohibited. Posts and other items of interest found on this site MAY NOT BE COPIED AND PASTED, downloaded, uploaded, etc to another website or entity not listed (physical or electronic).  See COPYRIGHT PAGE for more details.

“God Made a Way!”

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Dear Friends, God made a way for you and He made a way for me.  A pathway that was once littered with sin and debris from our human nature and wrong choices has become clear and access has been opened for every heart that truly seeks and longs for Him.

Imagine, before His holy throne, God made a way for there to be a space just for you to come to pray and worship.  There is no longer a need for you to carry burdens alone.  There is no longer a need to second guess the this or that’s of life.  He gave us an offer of Himself to approach Him and to come before His presence with it all: “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need,” (Hebrews 4:16).  

God made a way through the life and death of our Lord Jesus Christ.  To the life that will turn their heart and soul over to Him, He made a way.  “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me,” (John 14:6).  He is our access key.  He is the one who paved the pathway for us in righteousness and through His blood provided a space for us in His heavenly realm.  If we are His and have turned to Him, there is a place with your name on it in heaven.  A place waiting and wanting to be filled by you, but you must come through Jesus Christ only.

He made a way for us to experience His presence even while still on this old earth we call our current home.  To those who are His, they are supplied with His Spirit.  “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you,” (John 14:16-17; emphasis mine).  His Spirit leads us and guides into all truth (John 16:13).  His Spirit is our Comforter through this life we walk (John 14:18; 15:26).  He is with us today because Jesus made a way!

Friends, through it all, God made a way for us to approach Him and to be close to Him in our daily walk and life.  Don’t neglect the chance to draw near and to know Him as your own.  He promised when we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us (James 4:8).  There are no excuses for not being where He is today.  God already made a way!

“His Footsteps, Our Pathway!”

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Photo: Pixabay/ddzphoto

Which pathway are we really walking down?  The times we are living in are disturbing.  Biblical prophecies are coming to pass like never before.  I have heard much preaching for us to have an awareness that we are living in the last days.  Jesus is soon to come back and escort us home, but will we be ready to follow?

There are many influences in the world today.  There are many questions being raised about this life.  There are many voices out there ready to give you their version of what the right answer is.  Many voices that want to pull you and me in this direction and that; trying to twist your arm to go along with what they believe is right for your life.

Our challenge today is to fight to stay on the true and right course that God has already preordained for each of us to walk.  A course that doesn’t always seem plain and straight; a road that may seem rocky and hard to journey on at times, leaving us to believe that we can’t make it.

Life is rough, I’ll give you that.  Nevertheless, be encouraged.  Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” (John 14:6, NKJV).  1 Peter 2:21 also tells us, “Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps.”

Even when the way seems dim, follow His footsteps and we will travel on the pathway that leads to life.