Good morning, Lord Jesus. I welcome You here in my heart and in every moment of my day. You’re with me always . ...
As You cried out from the Cross, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’ -- “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” -- You took upon Yourself all my sins and all that would separate us (Mark 15:34). “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
“Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:4-6).
“Because He poured out His soul unto death,
And He was numbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:12).
Forgive me for any way I take this Truth for granted. Forgive me for failing to remember -- with a heart filled with thanksgiving and praise in every moment of every day -- all You have done for me because of all the mercy and love You have for me.
As I’m pondering Your Truth in my heart this morning, I sense Your Spirit drawing me to embrace the fruit of Your sacrifice. You literally died for me to have more deeply, more fully intimate presence of You in my life. On this side of the Cross, on this side of the resurrection, may You receive Your full reward of Your suffering. And part of that reward is the oneness of the spiritual intimacy with us You prayed for and died for in ways we can’t even comprehend or imagine.
You’re One with the Father and One with the Holy Spirit (John 14:10, 16). And in the mystery of faith and the mercy of God, You want to be One with me and every one of Your children of God as well. As You promised for all who trust You and believe in You will receive Your gift of God from You,; “At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him” (John 14:20-21).
Just before You died for us, with the same passion that You cried out from the Cross in surrender to the burden of our sin, You cried out to the Father in prayer for the intimacy of our spirits with Your Spirit, our hearts with Your Heart, that we would be one with You, that we would be one with our God:
“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me” (John 17:20-23).
This is all part of the reward of Your suffering. This is all part of growing up in spiritual maturity “to the unity of faith.... to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). This is all part of “the joy that was set before You” when You “endured the Cross, despising the shame” for us (Hebrews 12:2). And that’s all part of why we’re to remember, to embrace, to never take for granted, not even for a moment, that gift of God we have of a life of intimacy with You, as we live out our journey of faith morning by morning, step by step “looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:1).
So by the mercies and grace and love of God, I do. Looking to You, responding to You, I trust and obey You, that You may have the fullness of Your desire and Your reward. I choose this oneness with You that You desire for me -- this day and every day. For “he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him” (1 Corinthians 6:17). In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray you may know you are one with the Father, one with the Son, one with the Holy Spirit, as you fully surrender your heart to Jesus and live out your journey of faith in deep intimacy with Him morning by morning and step by step, in Jesus' name. God bless you my friends!
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