Today’s chapter uses a mother’s pain in childbirth to show how pain is easily forgotten in the great joy experienced at the birth of new life…
READ JOHN 16 Make notes, if you’d like, of what stands out for you. Feel free to use the “Leave a Comment” box below to also write some of your thoughts.
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
I love good, easy-going (preferably wholesome) chick flicks – even if they make me cry. The best endings are when the couple, after years of waiting, finally do get married – never to be separated again.[a] They then live happily ever after[b] in a castle in the sky.[c]
This storybook scenario – that has captivated poets, writers and producers for centuries, and that many of us love to dream about – is actually true of the story of humankind, as the Creator God predicted it. We like happy endings – often only found in the last two chapters of the book or in a few-minute-conclusion to a feature-length movie – but we avoid the library of events that’s involved in making that conclusion so powerful, so beautiful, and so desperately wanted, when it finally arrives. So, just like a women expecting a child will experience pain before it arrives – so that joy follows grief – to get to the wonder of the mountain top, Jesus predicts pain in an uphill climb. [v1-3]
Although we’d prefer to view it from a cinema seat than experience it in reality, hopefully we’ll not walk out half-way through the movie before we’ve experienced the ending that’s ahead of us: “I’ve told you this, so that when the time comes you’ll remember that I warned you.” [v4]
Read More? …CLICK on “25 April – Additional Notes”
But what about your thoughts – can you tell me what today’s “breadcrumb” is? Leave a note in the “Comments” box below to tell me what you think of today’s chapter.
Finding it hard to speak directly with the Author of our story? The rest of this webpage uses Jesus’ own prayer to help…[d]
THE LORD’S PRAYER:
1. Praise: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your Name. Your Kingdom come! Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven …”
Sovereign Lord, You’ve shown me Your greatness and Your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works You do? [Deuteronomy 3:24]
2. Ask: “…Give us today our daily bread…”
The World: Pray for God’s Grace on Colombia[e]
Your Country: Local Church Ministries
Yourself: Spiritual Growth
Your concerns for today
Thank-you, Lord, for leading the blind by ways they’ve not known, along unfamiliar paths You’ll guide them. You’ll turn the darkness into light before them and You’ll make the rough places smooth. These are the things You’ll do and will not forsake them. [Isaiah 42:16]
3. Admit: “…Forgive us our sin as we forgive those who sin against us…”
You are gracious and compassionate, Lord. You’re slow to anger and rich in love. [Psalm 145:8]
4. Protect: “…Lead us not into temptation but delivers us from evil.”
Father, I have this hope now as an anchor for my soul, firm and secure. It’s a hope that enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where my forerunner, Jesus, has entered on my behalf. He’s become my high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek. [Hebrews 6:19-20]
“For Yours Lord is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory now and forever. Amen!”
When Jesus was questioned, tested, tricked or in His hour of great need, He always spoke things that were previously written in God’s Word.[f] Following these memory verses from ten topics, will help you learn 52 verses from the bible in a year! THIS WEEK’S MEMORY VERSE: An Assured Future
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life, has set us free from the law of sin and death. [Romans 8:1-2]
[a] Revelation 21:1-3
[b] Revelation 21:4-7
[c] Revelation 21:9-11
[d] Matthew 6:5-15
[e] http://www.operationworld.org/country/colo/owtext.html
[f] Matthew 4:4,6,7,10; 11:10; 21:13; and 26:24,31