Prayer Of The Day #3

Today is the Birthday of my younger brother. Happy Birthday Rigel! May you have many more Birthdays to Come...God bless you always.

Firepower for the Wrong Reasons

Quoted from: Sweeeeet! God's Awesome Plan for You by Jan S. Doward

For the Son of man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them. Luke 9:56


Jesus decided to take a short break from Jerusalem and walk to Galilee. He left the city because the hatred of the priests and rabbis had become so fierce that they would have killed Him before the right time. His mission on this planet was to take the death penalty for human beings, but He was determined to follow God's timing.

When the right time did arrive, He knew what going back to Jerusalem would mean, and He was no coward about it. The Bible says, "He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem" (Luke 9:51).

His trip to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles had been secret and He had arrived unannounced, unknown, and unhonored. But this time would be different. Now He must call attention to Himself as the Lamb of God being offered for the sinner. But Satan was right on hand to whisper all kinds of attractive ideas of staying to heal the people and spreading joy and gladness everywhere. Why face death and leave the work to those weak disciples?

Jesus refused to listen. He set His face southward toward Jerusalem, knowing full well that He was going to be persecuted, denied, rejected, condemned, and finally-murdered.

On the way Jesus sent messengers to prepare for overnight lodging. James and John went on ahead to a Samaritan village, but the people shook their heads. No, sir! If Jesus was headed for Jerusalem, He could not come through their town. For a long time the Samaritans had had a quarrel with the Jews about the proper place of worship, in Samaria or in Jerusalem, and they simply refused to allow Jesus to pass through if He was going to Jerusalem.

This made James and John so angry that they began to see red-red like fire! They could see Mount Carmel in the distance where Elijah had called down flames from heaven centuries earlier. Why not call down fire right now and destroy the whole lot of these Samaritans to the spot? But when they asked Jesus if that was all right, they saw how sad and pained it made Him.

He had told them earlier that He was the Good Shepherd who gave His life for the sheep. He had not come to destroy but to save. This spirit of revengeful anger came directly from Satan.

When we hang on to he feeling of wanting to hurt those who disagree with us, we give positive proof that the devil is influencing us.

Our Prayer:
Lord, we pray that we will not be revengeful for we know that the spirit of revengeful anger came from Satan. Help us to have more patience and thank you very much for dying in our stead.Amen