What More Do We Need?

Good morning. It is FRIDAY!!!! June 12, 2015.

Today’s word of the day, from Dictionary.com, is cavort. This is a verb, which means, “to prance or caper about,” or, “to behave in a high-spirited, festive manner; make merry.” The fact that it is Friday makes me want to cavort. However, there is rarely cavorting at 6:00 AM, around here. 😀 Not until I have had coffee, at least.

Today is Superman Day. Yes, that Superman. Nothing philosophical or lofty about this. It’s a celebration of a comic book character. But not just any comic book character. We’re talking the one and only Superman, fighting for truth, justice, and the American way!!

Well, Christi wound up not going to Huddle, last night. I can’t say as I blame her. She had not had one single evening at home since Sunday, and had back-to-back meetings all day yesterday. She needed some resting time, and that is one of the things Huddle teaches as one of its principles, that we need to have balanced time between work and rest. Christi’s pendulum was swinging a bit too hard toward the work side. So we had a nice evening at home, eating our “Mexican soup,” and watching the season premier of Major Crimes.

Today, Christi has to bowl after work, as they have started a short league among people who work with her. They will normally bowl on Tuesdays, right after work, but Christi and several others, were, of course, trying to leave El Paso, at that time. El Paso was not giving them up without a fight, though! Tomorrow, should be a pretty normal Saturday. And I don’t know what’s happening Sunday, yet. Hopefully nothing.

TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL

Let their own table before them become a snare; and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.
Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually.
Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your burning anger overtake them.
May their camp be a desolation; let no one dwell in their tents.
For they persecute him whom you have struck down, and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.
Add to them punishment upon punishment; may they have no acquittal from you.
Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous.
But I am afflicted and in pain; let your salvation, O God, set me on high!
I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
This will please the LORD more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs.
When the humble see it they will be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
For the LORD hears the needy and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.
Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves in them.
For God will save Zion and build up the cities of Judah, and people shall dwell there and possess it;
the offspring of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall dwell in it.
Psalm 69:22-36

(From Knowing Jesus)

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:31-39

Today’s reading is “Jesus, Our Conqueror.”

The author of this book, Jim Reapsome, speaks of defeating cancer twice, in his lifetime. “Two times, Jesus has conquered my disappointment, fear, and hopelessness in the face of the disease.” He states that Jesus did everything that Paul promised He would.

In what is one of the best-loved passages in all of Scripture, Paul is wrapping up his treatise on our salvation in Christ, and he sort of finishes it off with a “dramatic ‘so what?'” “What difference does it really make that God gives us salvation, requiring only our faith in Jesus?”

Well, for starters, God “did not spare his own Son,” but along with Jesus, gives us “everything we might possibly ever need!” In any circumstance we might face, we need only focus on this gift of grace. “Jesus died for us, rose again, sits at God’s right hand, and pleads our cause, so what do we have to fear–from cancer or anything else?”

These truths compel us to run to Jesus, over and over again. It is a “lifelong adventure,” beginning with our initial confession of faith, and going on as we learn more about Jesus, along with brothers and sisters in Christ, over the years.

During one of his bouts with cancer, the author was returning home from a walk, when he heard these words from Jesus: “Wait a minute. What worries you? What do you need? Do you not realize that you are completely secure in me? I have taken care of your most critical need, your eternal salvation. No condemnation awaits you. I died for you. That’s the main thing, isn’t it?”

Jesus loves us, and he is stronger than anything that we could ever face . . . even death. “Nothing can ever cut us off from his all-powerful love.”

Father, the timing of this reading today is perfect, just as your timing always is. There are things that I am grappling with right now, that are consuming me. Yesterday, I had an extreme bout of missing my father. I am trying to sort out where I’m going from here with several directions in my life. But none of these things are enough to separate me from your love in Christ Jesus. Even death cannot separate me; in fact, death is merely a gateway into your eternal presence. Help me to remember the truths of Romans 8, as I grapple with these things, Father.

I pray for this day, that we might have safe passage to and from work. I pray for Christi, today, that her day would be full of you and that she would know your presence as she works. May your great love surround Stephanie, Rachel, Justin, and especially my mother. May we all know your strength in our lives today.

Your grace is sufficient.

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What more do we need?

Grace and peace, friends.