Eight Ways Jesus Suffered for You and Happy Good Friday

In the churches I grew up in, all the crosses I saw were plain and empty and usually painted white. We celebrated the fact that Jesus came off the cross and was raised from the dead on Resurrection Sunday. So I always considered the Catholic cross very odd because Jesus was still hanging there in bloody agony. Some people I knew even suggested that crucifixes should be avoided because they leave Jesus in perpetual death.

I’m not lobbying for anyone to wear a crucifix. But I do think we Protestants have at times been so fearful of Catholic doctrines that we minimized Jesus’ painful suffering. In the Gospels, plenty of time is spent describing the torture that led to Calvary and the pain Jesus suffered while nailed to a piece of wood. We should ponder what Jesus suffered if we ever hope to fathom the price He paid for our salvation.

Here are eight things we should think about during the days leading up to Easter:

1. He was betrayed by His disciple Judas. Jesus’ pain was not just physical. Can you imagine the sorrow He felt when one of His own trusted friends became the ultimate traitor? We aren’t exactly sure how to calculate the modern value of 30 pieces of silver, but many scholars suggest about $950. All the pain Jesus endured on Good Friday began the night before, when Judas took blood money to have his Master arrested.

Think about it: There’s a bit of Judas in all of us, and we all betrayed Jesus to get our own way. Yet He chose to forgive us!

2. He was abandoned by His other followers. We often focus on Peter’s denial of Jesus. But the Scriptures remind us that all of Jesus’ disciples “left Him and fled” after His arrest (Mark 14:50, NASB). Jesus had to suffer alone. All the men He had taught and invested in for three and a half years abandoned Him in His hour of need.

Think about it: Jesus paid it all. He accomplished His work of redemption without our help. But He forgave us for our denials!

3. He carried the burden of the sins of the world. Jesus’ greatest agony didn’t start on the cross. It began at Gethsemane, where God laid on His Son the sins of the world. Jesus agonized so intensely in those moments that He sweat drops of blood (Luke 22:44). Scholars say He probably developed a condition known as hematidrosis, in which blood is emitted through the sweat glands because of intense stress.

Think about it: Your sin was transferred to Jesus’ account, and He bore the punishment you deserved!

4. He was falsely accused and rejected by Jewish leaders. Can you imagine the heartache Jesus experienced when the very people He was sent to save spat in His face, blindfolded Him, cursed Him and accused Him of blasphemy? The Sanhedrin set up a kangaroo court and sentenced the Son of God to death.

Think about it: Jesus did not open His mouth in self-defense when He was falsely accused. Now, when Satan accuses you, Jesus argues your case and declares you not guilty!

5. He was mocked and abused by Roman guards. After Pilate caved into pressure from the Jews, Roman soldiers flogged Jesus with a whip, drove a crown of thorns into His scalp, beat His head with sticks and mockingly pretended to worship Him. The flogging alone which would have involved leather cords with pieces of lead or bone attached would have drained much of Jesus’ blood.

Think about it: Jesus could have called on angels to stop His torture but He chose to endure the pain because He loved us!

6. He was crucified between two thieves. We cannot even fathom the pain of crucifixion. Metal spikes were driven into Jesus’ hands and feet, and He had to slide His mangled body up against the wood of the cross in order to catch His breath. And because it was the habit of Romans to crucify criminals naked, Jesus endured the ultimate shame. What's more, He hung on that crude cross next to two men who had been convicted of crimes while He was completely innocent.

Think about it: We should have been on death row, not Jesus. But He took our place!

7. His body was pierced with a spear. Even after Jesus took His last breath, a soldier jabbed a spear up through the chest cavity most likely to make sure Jesus was dead. John tells us that blood and water spilled out (John 19:34), evidence that the spear pierced the pericardium, the sac around the heart. Jesus’ heart was literally broken for us.

Think about it: Just as Adam’s side was opened to bring forth the first woman, Jesus’ side was opened to bring forth the church. His piercing produced a fountain of life for us!

8. He tasted death for all. This is the most horrible reality of the cross. Christ did not die metaphorically or symbolically. He died literally. The Son of God, who had never sinned and who was least deserving of death-died so we could have life. His heart stopped beating, He stopped breathing and His spirit left Him. First Peter 3:18 says: “For Christ also died for sins once and for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God.”

Think about it: Because Jesus died in our place, we no longer have to die. Eternal life is His free gift to us!

This Easter season, ponder the steps the Savior took from Gethsemane to Golgotha. Look at His nail-pierced hands and feet. Take a careful survey of His wondrous cross, and thank Him for hanging there six hours for you.

By J. Lee Grady

You have to watch these videos below and Think about it

 "If Christ is God, He cannot sin, and if suffering was a sin in and by itself, He could not have suffered and died for us. However, since He took the most horrific death to redeem us, He showed us in fact that suffering and pain have great power."

"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree that we, being dead to sins, should like unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." - 1 Peter, 2: 24

 "Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.'" - John 11:25-26

"God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son." - John 3:16

I love these videos cos through it many crews and folks believed more in  Jesus our Saviour, you too got to see for yourself. Enjoy Enjoy Enjoy and Happy Good friend from ASB-World.

12 Ways To Have a God Centered Dating Relationship

Do you want to have God at the center of your dating relationship? Would you like God to influence the love you show another person? Here is some advice that can help you pursue God’s will in your dating relationship.

1. Remember that God’s Love is the ultimate. Knowing the love God has for you means that you do not have to seek fulfillment in how anyone makes you feel (a weakness of human love): the most perfect love comes from God, and it is always yours. He will do much more to fill the love-space than a person ever could. Approach your dating relationship knowing that God likes you and loves you, and there is plenty room for wonders of love, marriage, mature family love, i.e.: constancy (not fickleness) thus enabling you to build and love your own family, of course. (Christians: Always remember He sent His son,Jesus, to die for your sins.) Make sure you are strong in your loving relationship with God. This means knowing that He is always there to help you along the way. Trust Him. Make God the most important in your life. Make Him the love of your life.

2. Know the ideal match for you. Date someone that you would consider marrying. Choose a person that has a similar desire for God, one that will build you up in your faith. If you are already in a relationship, positively encourage one another in pursuing God. Help your boyfriend or girlfriend to keep God the focus. Understand that Christians are not to be "unequally yolked" that is, if they are not willing to accept the faith, the relationship might have to be sacrificed.

3. Pray. Pray about your dating relationship. Give everything over to God. Let God know that you are asking His approval. Talk to God about the problems that arise. Thank Him for the opportunity to be in a relationship and the happy times you experience. You can also pray with your boyfriend or girlfriend. It is a good way to help each other out with whatever stresses life brings. By praying together, you are experiencing God together. Though, it could make the focus more about you two building intimacy still there is a tendency to bring out one another's faults in prayer; therefore, avoid prodding, interrogating, judging; instead, help each other in order to build trust; love and forgive each other as the Lord's Prayer models for us.

4. Talk about God. Make an effort to bring God into your conversations. Not only will it help in keeping God on your minds, you will also find out about each others beliefs. Talking about a spiritual subject changes normal conversation into one of eternal significance. Discussing God also allows you to build up each others knowledge and confidence.

5. Read the Bible. Keeping God’s words in your heart helps you to remember the love and promises He has for you. Try reading the Bible together. It is fun, spiritual and good for conversation. Different verses will help you along the way in your relationship.

6. Get involved with Church. Make sure your boyfriend or girlfriend and you are active in the body of Christ. You will feel good about sharing God’s love. He calls us to serve Him. 

7. Be careful with physical affection. Hugs are great. God created physical affection to be good. But be careful in how much physical permission you give one another. A relationship can easily turn sinful if physical bonding occurs too quickly. Everyone is different. But if you feel guilty at all for actions, it may be good indication that you are going too far. Avoid physical actions that might cause lustful thoughts (such as sitting on lap, laying on each other or sensual kissing and massages). Save sex for marriage. Talk about your physical actions with each other, making sure you are both comfortable and feeling great. Understand what might be innocent to one or another might very well be dangerous to you.

8. Show Christ’s love to each other. Make sacrifices for each other. Watch a chick flick. Go to a basketball game. Be willing to serve one another. Put one another above yourselves. Find how to show love to each other. Use the love God has shown you and bring it to your boyfriend or girlfriend.

9.Bring out all of "The 'Fruit' of the Spirit": notice it is not fruits, we are not to pick and choose the ones we prefer. This will work to relieve stress in relationships in this World of troubles.

·         Cheerfully realize this is a package not bits or pieces: "Love, joy, peace, long-suffering (patience), gentleness (kindness), goodness, meekness (gentleness), faith (faithfulness) and temperance (self-control)... Against such things there is no law.", Galatians 5:22-23 KJV (parentheses NIV).[1] Read those again and again...

10. Have Fun and Praise and Glorify God. Smile and know that God is with you. Enjoy the life that God has given the both of you. Whenever you get the chance, praise God for whatever He has poured into your life. Trust and know that God has your back. He wants what is best for the both of you. 

11. Cherish your own personal God time. Make sure you spend time alone with God. You need moments of reading the Bible, journaling or praying just between you and God. Since God is your ultimate love, it is good to have that time alone with Him.

12. Keep in mind the reality that God is real. While having a special someone can bring great happiness in this world, realizing the eternally wonderful nature of God’s love is something you do not want to miss. God is real. His love is real. God is love. Realize that God is working in your life right now. His forgiveness is real and His promises are real. Give the love God has given you to your boyfriend or girlfriend. God’s love is perfect. Let Christ’s love reign in your dating relationship. Let the love you have for each other be a banner to the world displaying God’s goodness. Remember though, "You are not your own, you were bought at a price" - therefore God must reign in your relationships. We are called to be holy, because He is holy. We might very well have to "honor [our] father and mother, [our] wife and children, [our] brothers and sisters--yes, even [our] own life--"; our dating relationships are no exception. Remember, as C.S. Lewis has said, that love that becomes a god, becomes a demon. Submit all your love, therefore, to the one that is Love, and He, like a gardener, shall prune our loves which are so fickle and temporary by nature, into beautiful gardens which we may share with all our relationships including our dating relationships.

By Maluani

Inspirational and worth reading

The Parable of the Prodigal Son (1)
'...There was a man who had two sons.' Luke 15:11
The real star in the Parable of the Prodigal Son is the father. He had two boys. One was rebellious, the other was religious. But he loved each of them. And because they were his family he refused to give up on them. While the younger brother was away wallowing in sin, the older brother was at home wallowing in self-righteousness. One was guilty of the sins of the flesh (the obvious ones); the other was guilty of the sins of the spirit (the not-so-obvious ones). Only when the younger brother lost everything did he discover that living in submission to his father's rule was the safest, most fulfilling place you could be. Only when the older brother discovered the difference between rule-keeping and relationship was he able to understand his father's words, '...Everything I have is yours' (Luke 15:31 NIV). 
One was a miserable rule keeper; the other was a miserable rule breaker. (Which are you?) The problem was neither boy really knew the heart of their father because they were self-centred. But that changed when they discovered that he loved them in spite of their flaws, and planned to bless them. Understand this: you can read the Bible, go to church, keep all the rules - and not really know God's faithfulness, His love and His plan for you. Until you really know God, you'll have no anchor in life; you'll be tossed to and fro by every circumstance, emotion and temptation. But when yoIu know Who you are, you'll begin to understand who you are, what you're supposed to do, and where you're supposed to be. 
By Aniyi

In The Potter's Hands

TEXT: JEREMIAH 18:1-17

KEY VERSE: “O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this porter? saith the LORD. Behold as the clay is in the porter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel“ (Jeremiah 18:6).

After Apostle Paul renounced his elite status as a Pharisee and erudite lawyer from the prestigious school of Gamaliel following his conversion, he remarked to the Corinthian Christians that: “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the word to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty” (1 Corinthians 1:26,27). Thus, God uses what is despised to teach or guide us.

In today’s text, God showed to Israel how easy it is for Him to bring their nation to ruin if they refused to repent of their sins and show them mercy if they repent of their evil ways. He illustrated this in the ordinary process of making useful vessels out of the raw clay and the crushing of such vessels which got marred along the way because of impurities.

We are often impatient with God in not waiting to have Him fashion us out into the divine instrument He desires. We often wished we were someone else doing some other things. Our usefulness for divine purpose is totally dependent upon God, personal training and preparations notwithstanding.

We are in His hands as clay is in the hands of a potter. He can shapen our destinies the way it pleases Him. He can make you a great vessel as easily as the potter can do with the clay. Yield yourself unto God in righteousness and resist not His plan for your life. Ask Him today to give you a humble spirit so you will be able to walk with Him always.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Only sin can stop God’s readiness to bless.

Just Shake Off The Beast

Shake off the beast, show forth His Glory and they will soon change their story when the shame becomes HiStory.

Do you know that the fact that you face ups and downs in life is a reflection that you are still alive? Just visit an intensive care unit and watch the monitors on a critically ill patient; when the graph becomes one horizontal line, it's a reflection that life has ebbed out of that person. The seemingly dramatic rising and falling on the graph, shows that the patient is still alive and something are going on in the background though they are not outwardly visible. Dear Jewel regardless of how critical your situation, something is going on in the background. Suddenly, your story will change and all those who gave you names based on a temporary predicament will be forced to find another name for you.

Such was the story of Paul in a Acts 27 & 28. He had been through so much, escaped the storm and ship wreck as well as the soldiers that had orders to kill him and fellow prisoners and finally he arrived at Melita, in Acts 28, a place of refuge a place of honey (sweetness).
Acts 28:1-6
"And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita. And the barbarous people showed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold. And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand. And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live. And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm. Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god. (Acts 28:1-6 KJV)

How many times have we being through really challenging situations and just when we thought we were over the worst, and we have come to a place of rest concerning the situation, something deadly literarily crawls out of the heat to give us yet another challenge to contend with?

Take heart dear child of God, the battles are all part of what makes you who you are in Christ. James says we should "count it all joy ..."James 1:2-4
Let the situation perfect your patience as you wait; so that your formation might be perfect without any deficiency or malformation.

Whatever the adverse situation, it's a beast, shake it off, 'shake off the beast'! Shake off that beast!

Even while the enemy is waiting to see you crumble in that trouble, stand tall in faith, be bent only in your prayer, and shake off the beast!

Whereas they called you a sinner;
you will now be called a believer,
Whereas they called you a pauper,
they will be there to watch you prosper.
The ones that called you barren
will see you carry your many children.
Where you labeled a failure?
Your success will be one to savour.
Are they referring to you as being sick? Soon they'll wonder what makes you tick
Are you currently the one called lonely
Soon we'll find your abode homely
Once you were numbered among the impotent.
Soon you'll be displaying the glory of the blessed and only potentate.

Shake of the beast! Shake it into the fire of your prayer! Shake it off firmly and authoritatively. That thing that was supposed to finish you off completely will soon be the reference point for your uplifting!

Rahab was called a Harlot, she shook that label off by being a blessing to strangers, her and her household were saved from destruction and she booked her place in Christ genealogy. Keep on being a blessing.

All it took was contact with Jesus for the woman with the issue of blood and the mad man in Mark 5; Stay connected. They both lost their names to their situation, but when they had contact with Jesus and circumstances of the evil label were no longer present, the names had to change. That is what happened to Paul in Acts Chapter 28:5-6 "he is a murderer" and then suddenly " he is a god" also to 'the man who was blind from birth' suddenly became 'the man who had been blind' John 9:13

It does not matter how long the issue has been lingering that beast will fall off, your story will change and so will your name and location just like the man by the beautiful gate in Acts 3 and the man by the pool of Bethesda in John 5 you will no longer be numbered among impotent folk.

Very soon we will hear your praise report and rejoice with you, but first you must shake off that beast! Call yourself your new name in faith even before the negative situation changes. Don't accept the negative label. Learn from the daughters of Zelophehad in Numbers 27 who refused to settle for the status quo and thereby changed the course of history by shaking off the beast of an unfair tradition.

Shake off the beast!

By sis Adetutu

THIS UNGODLY ACT MUST STOP, NIGERIAN

Our  heart goes out to the families and friends of all the Abuja Nigeria bomb blast victims today. May the  good Lord comfort them all. Stop killing the masses, you people killing others are just creating more strategies way for embezzlement for so called our Leaders/Govt.

THIS UNGODLY ACT MUST STOP. From Adenike Salako Blog's World.