Today is Saturday of Holy Week.

On Thursday we went to a Maundy Thursday service. There we remembered that during His last Passover meal with His apostles, Jesus gave us a new command: “Love one another as I have loved you.” 

This was the same night that Jesus knelt down as a lowly servant to wash the feet of His followers to show them what His love is truly about–humbly caring for, and cleaning, even the roughest, dirtiest areas of our lives.

Yet, we are cut to our souls to know that this new command of LOVE was given on the very same night when Jesus was left alone, by all His closest friends, as He poured out His heart in agonizing prayer to His Father.

It was the same night that Jesus was betrayed by Judas, one of His closest followers, who with a kiss brought a crowd carrying clubs and swords to seize and arrest the Prince of Peace.

It was the same night that the one Jesus had named Peter–the Rock–would choose to lie about Him and three times deny even knowing Jesus. How could this outrageous denial happen? Wasn’t it Peter who had once boldly proclaimed, ” You are the Christ! The Son of the Living God! ” ?

On Friday we went to a Good Friday service that had us look full in the face of our Jesus as He suffered a horribly ugly, shameful, unjust, undeserved death on the cross. He was falsely accused. Jesus was mocked, slapped, beaten with fists, whipped with the flesh-ripping lashes. His holy head was punctured and bloodied by the fierce push of the crown of thorns. His feet that walked so many miles to preach good news to the poor and His healing hands that had healed all manner of illness, cast out demons and gave life back to the dead were now brutally stopped as nails hammered into them, pushing His flesh and blood into the wood of the cross. And even after Jesus committed His spirit into the hands of His Father and gave up His last breath–His side was pierced by the forceful stabbing of the soldier’s sword.

On Friday Jesus died in an agony of spirit and body–that none of us will ever fully comprehend. He suffered the physical torment of outrageous brutality while bearing the weight of every sin ever committed by every person throughout all of human history. Jesus died for me. For my sin. For you. For your sin.

On Friday His dead, disfigured body was taken down from that cross, and Jesus was buried in a tomb that was meant for another.

And now it’s Saturday. No more lies. No more betrayal. No more denial. No more brutality. Just death.

This is Saturday–the Sabbath. But rest comes only as shock. Only as numbness. Only from exhaustion of body, mind and spirit. It’s quiet. It’s dark. It’s confusing. 

This is Saturday, and we wait…there is something we are holding onto…but right now that something is indistinguishable. It is the shock and the numbness that are far more real and more tangible than anything else right now on this Saturday…on this Sabbath. Too many questions. Too much confusion. And so we wait…

Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wournds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD laid on him the iniquity of us all.  Isaiah 53:4-6

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

One heart-breaking day, after some soul-challenging teachings by Jesus, some of His disciples turned back and no longer followed Him.

Jesus wants all those who would chose to follow Him to fully trust Him with their hearts and their lives. And so, Jesus asked the apostles if they wanted to leave Him too.

May each one of us choose, believe and declare as Simon Peter answered:

“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”  John 6:68-69

To whom shall we go? I just love that first, gut-honest response by Peter?It’s not: To where shall we go? It’s not: What shall we do?

No. Peter’s first response is: To WHOM shall we go?

That really is the foundational question at the core of each of our hearts–our hearts that are crying out for an intimate RELATIONSHIP. To WHOM?

We want to know to WHOM do we belong? We want to know to WHOM will our hearts and souls respond, and recognize, as the One who answers our deepest cries for love and life? 

It is only in the intimacy of a relationship with Jesus that we will know true Love. It is only in relationship with Jesus that we will know true Life–now and for all eternity. It is only in Jesus that we will know Truth.

And in this relationship, we will choose to go to Jesus–to follow Him passionately–because we believe and know that our Lord Jesus Christ truly is the Holy One of God!

Yes. Jesus is The Holy One of God—to WHOM, one day, every knee will bow and every tongue confess this eternal truth!

May we each choose now to go to Jesus to hear, believe, know and follow Him as He speaks His words of eternal life!

God’s strength offers us a power so beyond ourselves that we might be astonished at the challenges we have met, and at the heights we have climbed.

I know that for me, when I look carefully, and honestly, at my life and the transforming journey God has taken me on, I clearly see that it was God’s Sovereign love, wisdom and strength placing and holding my feet the whole way–one step at a time.

And my Abba picked me up when I fell down–during those times when I stubbornly chose to go my own way instead of His. Yes, my Sovereign, Loving Lord picked me up, cleaned me off, forgave me, and once again, offered me the fullness of His strength. and the placement of my feet, to go on for the journey. And how awed I am by where my Abba has enabled me to go!

The Sovereign LORD is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He enables me to go on the heights. Habakkuk 3:19

In love, peace and purposeful passion,

Sylane

BALANCE!

Balance in all things comes to us as we allow God to hold our lives in His love, grace and truth so that all of our thinking, speaking and acting will honor God, and bless others and ourselves. (Read that again! Really, I have to think about this all the time in order to choose to live in God’s balance!)

This balance is based on living in God’s Truths that:

We are absolutely dependent on God for everything.

AND

God’s inexhaustible power is fully available to us, in every circumstance of our lives, as we choose to trust God.

This balance of true humility from each of us before our Holy, Loving God and unfailing strength that comes to each of us from our Mighty God is where we need to keep our minds, attitudes and actions.

We each need to determine–we each need to choose–to live continually between, what I call, The Bookends of Faith:

…apart from Me you can do nothing… John 15:5

I can do everything through Him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13

Living between the Bookends of Faith is the safest, truest and strongest place we could ever choose to live!

In humility before our Lord, we have the true and right perspective that all that we are, all that we have, all that we are able to do–everything about us and our lives–comes from our Creator God. It is humbling and freeing all at the same time. We are called to believe the truth and live like we truly believe that…apart from Jesus Christ we can do nothing. Ultimate humility.

Ahhhh! But the other Bookend of Faith is just as true. In our Lord Jesus Christ, the truth of our dependence on God is exactly what leaves us open to receive the full power of God! And in His strength we have been given the power to deal with everything–every person, every detail, every circumstance, every joy, every tragedy, every moment–that comes into our lives! Ultimate power.

Nothing apart from Jesus…Everything in His strength.

This is the God’s perfect, loving and powerful balance in which we each are meant to live–in between the Bookends of Faith–so that we may live in true freedom and strength as we live in humble dependence on our Lord Jesus Christ!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

Communicating through words is such a fabulous gift!

But, oh! Like everything else we must use this gift wisely! Our words, if not guarded by God’s grace and truth, can twist reality in outrageous ways, or send a cutting blow to both our adversaries and loved ones.

When words are many sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.

Proverbs 10:19

When words are many, they can just be too many! And we need to: Watch Out!

I have never been viewed as a person of few words. I probably never will be.

However, I do pray that God will continually and vigorously (that’s how I need God to do it!) rule my head, my heart and my mouth so that my words–whether few or many–will be words that are wise, motivated from love and balanced with the grace and truth of our Lord Jesus.

That’s what I want. That’s not always what I let happen.

I need God’s strong and pure Spirit to direct and limit my words so that I do not exaggerate and/or “spin” the telling of anything that would not match with the way Jesus would tell it. 

Otherwise, that would be telling lies. Watch Out!

I need God’s strong and sovereign Spirit to direct and stop my words so that I do not keep talking and talking–thinking that if I say just enough words to someone they will get it…get me…or get my point…and do things my way!

I need to always remember that no one has to do anything my way. It is about me doing things according to God’s Way. And trusting God to speak into the heart and life of the other person…in God’s time and in God’s Way.

And all my talking in the world does NOT make me anyone’s Holy Spirit! Watch Out!

I need God’s strong and loving Spirit to direct and form my words so that I speak words that are as full of the grace of Christ as they are full of the truth of Christ. Even when I am called to speak hard truths into someone’s life, I need to be doing this only out of a grace-filled, sincere and compassionate love for them–that comes only from Jesus.

Otherwise, this truth-telling would be self-serving (coming from frustration, hurt, anger, pride–or any other sin of choice) rather than from a servant’s heart, and mouth, of love. Watch Out!

So, although, I probably will never be known as a person of few words. I do want my Lord to grow me, more and more, so that I will be a vessel of God’s Words and obedient to God’s Way of speaking those words. At all times. With all people.

And if I can’t/won’t do that, may God help me to choose, once again, what I call the Wisdom of Silence! 

This is God’s ultimate, loving, Watch Out! weapon to protect all of us–speakers and listeners alike–from too many words.

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

We each need to think about where we really expend our energy, time and effort. Where is it, how is it that we apply our hearts–with all our emotions, thoughts, motivations and actions?

Now think about how much God would like us to apply our attention to Him and His loving plan for our lives!

Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.  Proverbs 23:12

There are many people whose future is uncertain right now when it comes to their employment status. Some are already out of work. Some know that their jobs are on the line.

These precious ones will be putting energy, time and effort to apply for the kind of job that will help provide for their financial needs–their earthly survival needs. To apply energy, time and effort in this way is necessary and right for them to do. It is a good thing.

Others will be putting their energy, time and effort to apply for admittance into all sorts of education programs and universities. Others will apply for acceptance into specialized training programs to further develop their abilities and talents within the fields of art, music, language, history, math, science and athletics. To apply energy, time and effort to develop a greater knowledge level and stronger skills is also a very good thing.

But! God also calls us to the very BEST thing to which we need to apply our hearts: To knowing and listening to–and obeying–God’s Word and God’s desire for lives.

When we apply our hearts to God’s loving instruction and the knowledge of His truth, we can be certain that this will be one application that will be fully accepted and bring great blessings to our lives.

Although we can’t know everything on this side of heaven, God has been actively speaking to us and continually reaching out to us in very clear and powerful ways throughout  the centuries.

And through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God’s Holy Son, our LORD has spoken the full message of His love and salvation plan for us.

In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe.

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word.

After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. Hebrews 1:1-3

God chose, out of His passionate love for us, to speak over and over again through His prophets and, then, God spoke His definitive purpose: our eternal salvation through the sacrificial love of Jesus.

Our choice is to listen and believe. And live. 

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

A little boy of four years old once spoke great words of wisdom when I asked him a question. He didn’t answer with the often heard response: “I don’t know.”

Instead, this little guy answered me with a far more honest and humble response:

“I can’t know.”

There are things on this side of heaven that we just can’t know.

We’ve just got to be willing to humbly accept the truth of this. We can’t know all that God knows. God is God. Only God is Almighty and All-knowing. We are not.

Yet, at the same time, there is so much that we do know. Because our Almighty and All-knowing God has chosen to let us know these things.

And God calls us to respond to all those things that we do know–to all those things that our LORD has clearly revealed to us by His Spirit and His Word.

God calls each one of us to trust Him. God calls each one of us to fully obey all that He has revealed to us by His Word and by His Spirit.

And God, in His incredible love, calls us to this place of trust and obedience because our LORD knows what truly is best for us.

So, even when we can’t know all the details surrounding life as we know it, we do know that we need to trust and obey our loving God who does!

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may know and follow all the words of this law. Deuteronomy 29:29

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

This world, this life as we know it, is temporary and transient.

How great is our God who has given us His eternal Word in which to place our trust!

Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.  Mark 13:31

Does the thought that the reality of this world, this life–that we can see, hear, smell, taste and touch–will one day be completely gone scare you?

Or do you already know the hope and promise of the deeper, eternal reality of God’s everlasting, life-transforming Word? Oh! I pray you do!

God really is beyond our full comprehension, beyond our physical realm and beyond our own limited grasp on reality.

God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. God’s ways are not our ways. (Isaiah 55:8)

God is mystical and amazing. (Genesis 1:1-Revelation 22:21!)

And God’s Word is Eternal. It will not only never pass away, but God’s Word is also, right now, Living and Active (Hebrews 4:12), reaching out to save us from our own mortality to give us eternal life!

God’s Word is Love, Grace, Truth and Salvation. And God’s Word is named JESUS!

Jesus is our eternal hope and promise. Jesus promises to be with us right now as we walk through this temporary (and often challenging) life.

Jesus promises to bring each of us, who have trusted in the power and authority of His Word, into our eternal home with Him. 

Hard to grasp, huh? It’s okay. Ask God to help you grasp His Word–His eternal reality.

The truth of God’s mystical and amazing Word shakes our senses and our sensibilities, our logic and our perception of tangible reality.

The truth of God’s living and active Word, Jesus Christ, shakes us–and SAVES us–from all that will pass away in a flickering moment and brings us into God’s everlasting realm of reality that will never pass away.

Jesus is the Word of God who spoke everything into being in the first place, and Jesus is the lasting Word of God who will call His people into everlasting life with Him!

Grasp that! Be grasped by it!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                                Sylane

His name wasn’t really Barnabas. It was Joseph.

It was because of how he lived out his relationship with his Lord Jesus and with his brothers and sisters in Christ that caused the apostles to nickname him Barnabas–which means Son of Encouragement. (Acts 4:36)

I wonder what each of us would be nicknamed based on the way we live out our faith in Jesus Christ and our relationships with other people.

When Barnabas arrived and saw evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. Acts 11:23