God – Page 2 – Karen Gamble Writes

Proverbs 15:1

A gentle answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger. Proverbs 15:1 (NIV)

When someone says something harsh to us we have a choice.

We can say something back to them just as harsh.

Or, we can cover over their harshness with a big dose of love.

When we answer softly and kindly it deflects their anger from us and preserves our peace.

If we answer harshly we are accepting their anger and embracing it as our own.

This causes us harm.

As Christians we are called to love our neighbors as ourselves, setting the example and showing Christ’s love to others at every opportunity.

We can’t do that if we are embracing anger instead of kindness.

We don’t always know why someone is angry.

Sometimes their anger has nothing to do with us.

That doesn’t matter.

What matters is how we respond to them.

This world is full of anger and harshness.

Let’s be the ones to respond with kindness and love at every turn.

We might not be able to stop someone’s anger, but we can meet it with soft words and kindness.

In doing so, we begin to heal the hurts we see and to spread the love of the Father to those around us.

That’s a pretty great response.

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins .1 Peter 4:8 (NIV)

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Matthew 22:37-39 (NIV)

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Psalm 46:10

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10 (NIV)

I’ve always looked at this verse in light of how it helps me.

I’ve even quoted only half the verse, doing so from a selfish perspective.

I’ve often referred to this verse by saying, “if you’re feeling stressed or out of sorts go sit quietly with the Lord and He’ll calm you.”

While that’s true, it’s not quite the point of this verse.

You have to add in the second half of the verse to get the true meaning.

The point of this verse is that because He is God He will be exalted.

Because of this, we should be still/quiet, know/realize He is the Creator, and act accordingly.

Sitting before God is good and it does calm us.

But it only brings us peace if we do it with the right understanding of who He is and how far above us He really is.

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Isaiah 41:10

So do not fear, for I am with you, do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10 (NIV)

Fear is a big problem for a lot of people.

If we aren’t careful, it can bind us up so tightly that we can’t do anything.

It will hinder us from doing even the most basic things.

We don’t have to live that way.

In this verse, God reminds us that we don’t have to be afraid.
He is with us.

He isn’t some distant being who sits far away and lets whatever might happen, happen.

He’s right here with us, up close.

Because He is with us, we can be encouraged and optimistic.

We don’t have to be afraid of anything.

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What Is Maundy Thursday?

Maundy Thursday is an important, though often overlooked, part of Holy Week.

A lot of things happened on Maundy Thursday.

Among them:

Jesus celebrated the Passover in the Upper Room with His disciples.

We now call this meal the Last Supper because it was the last time He shared a meal with them before His crucifixion.

It was during this meal Jesus instituted Communion as a way of remembering Him.

At the end of the meal, Jesus washed the feet of the disciples as a show of humility and as an example of how He wanted them to humbly serve others.

Following the Last Supper meal, Jesus and the Disciples went to the Garden of Gethsemane, located at the Mount of Olives.

Here Jesus went off alone to pray.

He asked the Father to take this cup away if possible, meaning the Crucifixion He was about to experience, but immediately followed it up with, “Yet, not my will, Father, Yours be done.”

Jesus knew what was coming.

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What Is Passover?

Passover is a Jewish holiday that commemorates when the death angel passed over the Israelites’ houses.

The Israelites were slaves in Egypt.

At God’s prompting, Moses went to the Pharaoh and asked him to let the people go.

The Pharaoh refused and as a result God sent several plagues.

The 10th one was that the death angel would pass over each house and strike dead the first born of each family as well as that of their cattle.

To spare His own people, God instructed the Israelites to kill a lamb and to smear its blood around the outer door frame of their home. When the angel passed by it would not kill anyone inside a home with these markings.

This plague finally convinced the Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. He even told them they could take with them whatever they wanted, which allowed them to gather needed supplies for their journey.

To commemorate this event, God called the Israelites to yearly observe this Passing Over with a 7-day festival.

During this time no one may eat anything with leavening (yeast) in it. They must remove all yeast from their house.

On the first and seventh day of the festival they are to hold a solemn assembly. No one is to work on these days except to make food for the people to eat. (Exodus 12:14-20)

This festival is to take place from the evening of the 14th day until the evening of the 21st day of the Hebrew month Nisan.

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The Last Supper

The night before He was crucified, Jesus celebrated the beginning of Passover with His disciples.

This meal is often called the Last Supper because it was the last meal Jesus shared with His followers.

During the Last Supper is when Jesus instituted the act of Communion (also called the Lord’s Supper).

He broke a loaf of bread and said it was a symbol of His body being broken for us.

He then poured a cup of wine and told them to drink, explaining it was a symbol of His blood being shed for the redemption of our sins.

Jesus instructed them to do this in remembrance of Him.

In churches today, we periodically celebrate Communion by drinking a small amount of wine or grape juice and eating a small piece of unleavened bread.*

This is to remind us that Jesus’ body was broken for our healing and that He paid a high price to ransom us. .

When we participate in Communion we are reminded of the great sacrifice Jesus made by dying for us and we are acknowledging we know He did it for us personally.

While Jesus and the disciples were at this meal, Jesus told them He knew one of them was a traitor who would betray Him.

He even went so far as to name Judas as the one.

Judas immediately left and went straight to the leaders and priests to tell them where to find Jesus.

This led to Jesus being arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane later that same night.

After the meal, they sang a hymn and left the Upper Room to go to the Garden of Gethsemane.

Judas knew that’s where they would be and that is where he brought the leaders and priests to arrest Jesus.

This arrest meant the end of Jesus’ ministry on earth.

It also meant the beginning of His trial, which led to His Crucifixion, death, and resurrection.

To learn more about what happened next, please read my post, Jesus Was Arrested.

*Because the bread used during Passover is unleavened, it is tradition to use unleavened bread during Communion.

To read about the Last Supper, please see Matthew 26:17-30, or Luke 22:7-23

To learn more about the Easter Season, please visit my Easter page, a compilation of previous Easter and Lent posts.

Category: Death, God, Holiday, Jesus | LEAVE A COMMENT

Why Jesus Was Crucified

There is a passage in the New Testament where the crowds are mocking Jesus while He’s on the cross.

One of the rulers even says to Him, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.” Luke 23:35 (NIV)

They didn’t believe that Jesus was the Son of God.

It is important we understand that Jesus was fully God, as well as fully man, and as such He had the power to prevent the Crucifixion.

He could have called down legions of angels to fight for and protect Him.

He could have killed all the people who were against Him.

But, He didn’t.

Jesus knew He’d come to earth for one reason – to fulfill God’s plan for mankind’s redemption by going to the cross and paying for all sin for all mankind once and for all.

Jesus was perfect and had lived a completely sin-free life.

By being crucified, He was paying for all the sins of all mankind.

He was trading His perfect life, which fulfilled all the law of the Old Testament for the redemption of all the sin-filled lives of every person ever born. .

He knew many would reject Him.

He knew many would not understand.

He also knew many would accept Him and the free pardon of sin He offered.

Jesus went through with the crucifixion because He loved all of mankind past, present, and future and He wanted to ransom each and every person ever born.

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Looking At Judas

Looking at Judas Iscariot I sometimes see myself.

Judas turned his back on Jesus in search of personal gain., choosing to put self and money first.

He even went so far as to betray Jesus by telling the Pharisees where to catch Him so they could arrest Him.

I may not try to get Jesus arrested, but every time I turn my attention to the world and it’s shiny objects, making them more important than my faith walk, I betray Him.

Every time I choose to spend time watching t.v. but decide I’m too tired or don’t have time to read my bible, I betray Jesus.

Every time I say I don’t have tithe money but go out to eat or shopping, I steal from Jesus.

Every time I do it my way instead of submitting to His will, I choose self over Jesus.

The answer is simple, really

Give Jesus the attention He deserves.

Give Him the first of my time and money, not the leftovers.

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Why Easter’s Date Changes

It seems like Easter is never on the same Sunday.

In some years it’s in March and in others it’s in April.

There’s a reason for that.

Not long after Christ died there was disagreement among Christians about when Easter should be celebrated.

Because the original Crucifixion had happened at Passover, many people felt it should be held close to that.

Others felt it wasn’t right to tie a Christian holiday (Easter) to a Jewish one (Passover).

After a lot of arguing the decision was made by the First Council of Nicene to use a set standard to calculate Easter each year.

The standard is that Easter is held on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the Spring Equinox.

This is very similar to how Passover is calculated.

Passover typically begins on the evening of the first full moon after the Spring Equinox.

There is one big difference, though.

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What Are You Seeking First?

When I was first learning to walk with the Lord, I struggled to maintain a good connection with Him.

Life and the things in it kept getting in the way.

Kids, work, laundry, even church commitments consumed me.

It wasn’t that I wasn’t trying.

I was.

It’s that there was just so much going on that I felt like I was drowning.

Then I saw this verse:

³³But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33 NIV

It really got my attention, but it took a while for me to understand it.

I finally realized that I was seeking the kingdom, and the Father, second.

Yes I was praying and studying – a lot.

But I was cramming it into whatever spare time I had.

Reading a bit here and there.

Most of my prayers were, “:please help me to get to work on time,”, as I ran out the door, breakfast in one hand, a to-do list in the other.

I would pray and go over my church’s prayer list while washing dishes.

Even my quiet times were overshadowed by my long list of to-dos and the struggles of the day.

Then one day the Lord showed me it was because I was doing it backwards.

Instead of reaching out through all the pressures and demands of life to try to reach Him, I needed to set all of that down, step aside from them, and just get alone with God.

No agenda.

No prayer list.

Just one-on-one time with Him, sitting in His presence and soaking up His love.

Just the two of us, to get me back on the path.

Standing with Him as I looked at my life and began to focus on it from His perspective, I realized that I had things a bit askew.

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