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Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and said to them, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!" — Matthew 20:17-19 Thoughts on Today's Verse... One thing the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) make clear: Jesus' death on the cross was no accident - it was no tragedy outside the will of God. Jesus knew the challenge that awaited him in Jerusalem, and he walked into his horrific challenge to deliver us from the same fate he suffered. His trust in the Father's "third day solution" opened the doorway for God to secure victory for Jesus and all of us who build our futures through our faith in him ( Colossians 2:12-15 , 3:1-4 ). The question for us is straightforward: Will we face our challe...

The fool says in his heart there is no God. — Psalm 14:1 Thoughts on Today's Verse... At one time or another, most of us raised an angry fist to fate and cursed the darkness. Each of these actions is equally ineffective. To deny the existence of God is something else altogether. To rob heaven of God is to rob ourselves of grace, hope, and future. How foolish to forget that behind a Creation of wonder, order, variety, beauty, power, and pattern is the Grand Creator. He is far greater than his handiwork, and we dare not ignore, deny, or dismiss him, for then we become our own gods, left to only worship ourselves and the beauty created for us. How small our world becomes when we do deny there is God ( 1 Corinthians 1:18-32 ). My Prayer... O LORD God Almighty, Creator and Sustainer, we thank you for not only being there always as the great "I AM," ( Exodus 3:13-15 ; Hebrews 13:5-6 ) but being with each of us this very day. Please use us, your children, to awaken our skeptical...

He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. — Isaiah 53:5-6 Thoughts on Today's Verse... As we did yesterday, today we look at one of Isaiah's four Servant Songs ( Isaiah 42:1-9 , 49:1-7 , 50:4-9 , 52:13-53:12 ) that speak of the coming of God's servant Messiah, whom we know as Jesus, our LORD and Savior. I don't know how Jesus could stand up under the weight of his divine assignment as Messiah and Suffering Servant, but he did for you and me. This servant song ( Isaiah 52:13-53:12 ) emphasizes what Jesus endured and carried, along with the weight of his cross. He carried my sin, your sin, our sin with him to the cross. He allowed the weight of our sins to be placed upon him so that we would not have to bear the consequences of the...

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and he carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. — Isaiah 53:3-4 Thoughts on Today's Verse... Jesus was everything, created everything, and gave up everything to become nothing for you and me ( Philippians 2:5-8 ). Most of the people on earth he came to save didn't recognize him or accept him when he was here. Many in the crowds just assumed he deserved what he got, crucifixion. Most did not repent. But there was something about Jesus' self-sacrificing story, self-emptying story that grabs our hearts and calls us, God's lost children, home. On our journey home, we not only find him to be our Savior, but also the servant promised by God through Isaiah the prophet ( Isaiah 42:1-9 , 49:1-7 , 50:4-9 , 52:13-53:12 ), God's Son...

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. — 2 Corinthians 5:21 Thoughts on Today's Verse... Righteousness! That's what we are. We are not just righteous. No, it is much bigger than that. We are God's righteousness. Before Jesus, and without Jesus, no one is righteous ( Romans 3:21-24 ). Now, however, we find our righteousness in him ( Philippians 3:9 ). We are the testimony of how holy and gracious God truly is because of Jesus ( Ephesians 2:1-9 ). God provided the sacrifice for our sins, and now his righteousness has re-created us in Christ Jesus to do good works for him in our broken world ( 2 Corinthians 5:17 ; Ephesians 2:10 ). Altogether, this is God's righteousness, and that's what he has made us, his righteousness in Jesus! My Prayer... Thank You, Almighty God, for making me righteous by the blood of your Son's death. May people see a reflection of your holiness, justice, and mercy in me, as I t...

For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men — the testimony given in its proper time. — 1 Timothy 2:5-6 Thoughts on Today's Verse... We do not need to have another human, no matter how mighty, pious, or special, to intercede for us before God. As God's children, we can go freely, knowing that God himself has provided the perfect mediator and intercessor between himself and us. That mediator is the Son, who is head of the Church, one with God himself, and our High Priest interceding before God on our behalf. His name is the man, Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, the Son, and our LORD, Savior, and brother, who ransomed us through the cross and who now lives to make intercession for us ( Hebrews 2:11-14 , 4:14-15 , 7:25 ; Acts 3:6 ). My Prayer... O God, you are my God, and I praise you for making access to you so freely available. I know that if left to my own worthiness, I would have no strength or righte...