The Devotional

What does Papa “J” Say?

Biblical riches are not found in the pockets of the rich and the famous, or the poor and infamous. These riches are not seen in the outward layers of appearance. These are stored in the soul and cannot be tainted by rusty hands. Proverbs 13:7

Are you not tired of reading about the moral decline of our great nation? I am tired of writing about these things! I feel like saying to everyone, “just read your Bible”. That truly would work if everyone would. Yet I know that reading the Bible is not a very high priority for anyone these days. It is not even a priority among those who say they are children of God through faith in Jesus. There are roughly two hundred fifty people that read these brief messages everyday. I also know that there are thousands of blogs that are similar to this one calling people to pray for this nation, to repent and return to the LORD of heaven and earth. So I really do not feel that I am alone in this plea for national reconciliation toward God. So the point! Most of us hope and pray that the nation will experience a Spiritual Revival and that it will be soon. Many pastors and teachers of the Living Word of God are calling for an Ezra or a Nehemiah to rise up and rebuild our crumbled walls of Faith. I believe that the last man standing in this position is a retired pastor whose name everyone knows, was; Billy Graham. Agree or disagree, it really matters little, what matters is that our nation is standing in the quicksand of change. Someone will show up to take the country into the future. Again I am not referencing a political point of view and to look at politics as a solution to our problems is to walk down a dead end street. Our future is dependent on, “One Nation under God with liberty and justice for all” Never mind the holy water, bring on the Sack cloth and Ashes and maybe a tent and a palm branch or two”. Nehemiah 8:1-18.

The Gospel of John

John 13:1-5 Who is Jesus? Jesus is the Master of Everything and the Servant of All. Notice in these opening verses of chapter thirteen that Jesus knew He was about to depart the world and return to His Father. Also note, that Jesus understood that the Father had turned over all authority to Him. This meant that the power and authority of accomplishing the Father's will was now in the human hands of Jesus to carry out.

Rather then rising up and taking charge of the kingdoms of the world as Satan prompted Him to do, from Matthew 4:8-10 and Luke 4:5-8. Instead, He laid aside His garments, His physical garments of man and His Spiritual Garments of Authority and became for these moments the Servant of All. The Servant of Heaven and Earth. Can we really get hold of this wonderful moment in Time and Eternity?

A time when the Creator of the Universe emptied His Being of all allegiances except the allegiance of love, the love found in John 3:16. He did this for you and for me. He did this for your enemies and my enemies. He did this for His enemies; you and me. He stood in our place as Romans 5:6-11 so clearly explains. So the question is; “where do you stand today?” Are you standing in the completed work of Jesus and His love for you? Or! Are you standing in the incomplete works of some church doctrine, and/or you own works of relative righteousness?