The 6th cry from the cross, “It is FINISHED” signifies that Jesus had finished all that the Father had put before Him. In these words, lies the assurance of our own salvation, the sure knowledge that our personal debt to the Father was paid by another. Even though Jesus had yet to be buried, rise again, and ascend into heaven. The difficult work of suffering, the difficult work of being separated from the presence of His Father, the difficult work of being treated like a sinner was over. Though as His followers we suffer for different reasons and in different ways, we can take heart that our suffering, too, shall someday be done with. Whatever we face today we will one day be able to say, “IT IS FINISHED.” For those who choose to turn to Jesus and accept His suffering to pay the penalty for their sin, will one day find the rest they long for. The question is whether we have endured with the sure knowledge that grief is part of the divine place. We rest in the Divine plan and allow Him to use our lives to bring hope and perspective to others. We must remember that … READ MORE

Each of us needs to cultivate a small group of spiritual friends who we can share our temptations and struggles with. The Puritans used to ask God for one “bosom Friend” who they cold share their temptations and struggles with. In order to do this we have to admit our need and give the other person “permission” to minister to us. Galatians 6:2 reminds us that we are to “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” After God created man, and put him in the garden in Gesesis 2. We are told that God said, “It is not good for man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18. God recognized that we needed people even before sin entered world, with that in mind to overcome our struggles and difficulties we need to develop relationships now. We often have a hard time finding that friend in our life who can and will help us in times of need. We need to remember Proverbs 18:24 which says, “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” Take time to develop spiritual relationships, you never really know when you are … READ MORE

If we want to appropriate the grace of God in our lives, we must realize that we must submit ourselves to the providential plan of God in our lives. Our tendence is not to humble ourselves but to resist the working of His mighty hand. Not only must we see God’s mighty hand behind our circumstances, we must also see it as the hand of a loving Father dealing with His children. It is often difficult for us to see God’s hand of love in the midst of heartaches because we persist in thinking that happiness is the greatest good. However, holiness is a greater good than happiness. God is more concerned about our eternal than our temporal welfare and more concerned about or spiritual than our material welfare. As we submit to his working, we will begin to understand that adversity has its purpose. We need to pray for the grace to humble ourselves under His mighty hand and the grace to believe that He does in fact care for us.… READ MORE