Unpleasant But Necessary

IDOK DEVOTION FOR FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2009

Luke 9: 51 Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem,

52 and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him.

53 But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.

54 And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?”

55 But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of.

56 For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” And they went to another village.

Just a couple observations today – have you noticed that some folks seem to get things done and others don’t? I think verse 51 gives us some helpful insights. Notice first with me that Jesus sensed in His Spirit that the time of His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension was near. And what did He do? He set His face to go to Jerusalem; not in a frantic rush but a determined moving forward. Also, notice that Jesus delegated tasks. In my sanctified imagination, I see Him sending a couple or more folks on ahead of Him to search out and secure a place for them to rest and a place for them to gather with the townspeople. I think He wanted to go through Samaria on His way to Jerusalem to minister to the people there. I think He wanted them to hear the Good News from Him. I think He wanted to ‘love on them’ but they were too full of prejudice and hate to receive. How sad is that?! And why was this? Because the people of Samaria understood that He would be crossing their countryside in order to get to Jerusalem and that He was a Jewish Rabbi. I guess we could say this is another time when there was ‘no room in the inn’.

So it seems to me Jesus knew how to get things done. And we are blessed to not only learn from Him the principles of getting things done we can also ask Him to help us get things done His Way.

We can ask Him for the courage and the will to set our faces toward the ‘Jerusalems’ in our lives – those things that are not pleasant, but oh so necessary to be completed.

And we can learn to enlist others to help.

And finally, in this journey of life when we happen upon folks who think becoming a Christian is the quickest way to spoil their fun, let’s offer to them Jesus’ own spoken word, making it personal: He did not come to destroy your life but to save it. And then let us offer them this word too, telling them there is someone who wants to destroy them but it’s not Jesus. Jesus says in John 10:10: The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

Amen and amen. Be blessed this weekend, Treasured Ones!

ABBA, we accept this good news with grateful hearts and we pray the treatments will eradicate the leukemia and that in these months ahead Vanessa will find Your Presence, Your Tending of her to be worth it all. Lord, thank You that You set Your Face to Jerusalem. Thank You that Your Face is also set to return for us and as surely as You went to Jerusalem as the Sacrifice for us You will return as King to receive us. This gives us strength and direction and we are grateful. I ask that You continue to turn this passage in our minds and that we will glean from it every lesson You would have us learn today. And not only learn but apply it. Thank You for our IDOK Soldiers and we pray for their safety and protection. We pray too that each one of them will come home safe and sound at the appointed time. We pray for Israel, for peace and safety, and for an awakening to You as their Messiah. I love that That Day will come. I long for them to love You, Lord Jesus. And I pray this longing for people to love You will increase to every ‘man’ in me. Thank You for our IDOKs, come and ‘love on them’ today; make Your Presence known to them in tangible ways today and all weekend. And call we Your People to Houses of Worship this weekend where You are High and Lifted Up. Draw the hearts of men and women, boys and girls to Yourself, Lord Jesus, and bless us with the privilege of ‘preaching’ the Gospel in Word and Action. We bring now as we prepare to close and send this edition to every person listed here; we bring their sweet faces and their troubled, weary, and needy souls to You and we entrust them to You in Your Mighty and Holy, All Sufficient Name. Amen and Amen.

As I post this it is 61°F and Haze in Baghdad, IQ (Airport), and the time is 3:39 PM AST on November 20, 2009.