Happy Friday!!
There is just so much going on today, thought a little humor would brighten the day.
WARNING, this video is a little punny. : )
Month: April 2022
April 25, 2022 – John 11:25
Jesus made it easy for us. All we need to do is believe!! If you are reading this for the first time, if you want to know more about knowing Jesus click here, Knowing Jesus.
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HE IS RISEN!!!!
John 24:6 -“He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee”
Jesus has risen, He is alive today and here with us. His word tell us He will never leave us or forsake us. The Bible tells us in the Old and New Testaments that He will never leave us or forsake us, Deuteronomy 31:8, Hebrews 13:5. God said it to His people in the OT and He says it in the NT. When Jesus came to this earth, the law and the requirements for sacrifice were no longer needed. The Ten Commandments were summed up in two, Mark 12:28-31-
30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
But God carried over the promise to never leave us or forsake us from the OT to the NT. That must mean something.
Think on These Things
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” – Philippians 4:8 (NIV)
The Bible clearly tells us that we need to have healthy thoughts. So often we can find ourselves in a downward spiral of just bad thoughts. We as humans tend to think the worst. We have a tendency to catastrophize the worst in situations and in others. It’s not fair to our loved ones, our co-workers, our neighbors when we start to think the worst, especially when we don’t have all the information. We see something, we don’t like it, we’re offended, we judge and think the worst. We can easily start believing lies, convincing ourselves it’s the truth. It can be subtle. And we know that our enemy, the father of lies, is subtle (Genesis 3:1-24). Satan can devour us with our own bad thoughts and he is subtle about it. Eve in the Garden is a good example.
“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
1 Peter 5:8 (NIV)
We need to be watchful, aware of being suspicions when we start assuming the worst in others. We can easily overlook the plank in our own eye (Matthew 7:3). We tend to be offended by the actions of someone else and see it as a sin against us, we don’t see our own sin against God. We are so quick to speak and slow to listen (James 1:19) when the suspicion becomes our focal point. It’s easy to suspect and can be so hard to forgive.
Matthew 7:1-2 – “Do not judge, or you will be judged. 2. For with the same judgment you pronounce, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.… Think about that. I don’t want to be treated unfairly. Who does? Matthew 7:12 comes to mind, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you … ” God KNOWS all, He is omniscient. He really does know more about the situation then we do. It’s not our job to judge or condemn. Even Jesus didn’t come to condemn, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world…” John 3:17 (NIV).
God gave us instruction to love out neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:31). As Christians we do not belong to this world. Our lives need to reflect God’s love and forgiveness. But being the humans we are we can’t do this on our own. We need the help of Jesus. We need Him to be the focal point our our lives even when we start to suspect. Stop and recognize what is happening, repent of what you are doing and rejoice that God sees all and knows all. Leave the situation in His hands, let Him work out justice.
You know I wonder when we start to think we know what the other person is thinking or doing, are we trying to know all, like God, especially when we don’t have any evidence and none of the information, when we are believing lies fed to us by the enemy? Even in a court of law we are innocent until proven guilty. God who is the only one who can judge sees us as guilty until proven innocent by the blood of His Son Jesus Christ.
As we celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus this weekend, thank Him that He is omniscient, thank God for sacrificing His only Son, thank Jesus for sacrificing His life and His blood for us and rising again on the third day, thank the Holy Spirit for living inside us. We are all sinners and have fallen short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23).
When thoughts start to spiral out of control, when lies begin to infiltrate and take over your thoughts, when you become suspicious remember Philippians 4:8 – “… whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
April 11, 2022 – John 19:30
“When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” – John 19:30
Tetelestai is what Jesus spoke before He commanded HIs spirit into His Father’s hands. It means so much more than it’s translated to in modern English. This is something you would say after an accomplishment, after working for something for so long, like finishing a dissertation, finishing a marathon or making the last mortgage payment. It means you accomplished exactly what set out to do.
But wait, there’s more. In Greek Tetelestai is in the perfect tense. That’s huge because it indicates that an action has been completed at the present time, in the past, or will be completed in the future. Think about it, how many years ago was the Bible written? And Jesus spoke that word in that tense. It was finished then, it is finished now and will be tomorrow and the next day and the day after that. That word is like in an “eternal tense”, like the One who spoke it.
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April 4, 2022 -John 12:23
Happy Monday! Easter is almost here. Jesus is alive in Heaven!!! If you haven’t yet read the gospel of John over the next few weeks. I can only imagine how Jesus was preparing for His time. I do know that He prayed. How are you preparing for Easter?
Resolve to Stand Against the Enemy
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” – John 10:10 (NIV). That’s Satan’s job, that’s what he does. It’s our job to stand against him. Some days that can feel like a losing battle, but it doesn’t have to be. We can stand strong against the enemy but putting on the full armor of God. “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” Ephesians 6:11 (NIV)
Don’t know about you, but for me that is easier said than done some days. Some days I let my guard down, I get busy and forget to put on the armor of God. What exactly does that look like?
Ephesians 6:13 -17 13″Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
There’s another part of this I believe to be key in putting on this armor. It’s resolve. During this time of year many Christians are setting aside time for lent. Some Christians give up sweets or maybe a bad habit. Some Christians decide to do the Daniel Diet. I guess that’s kinda giving up something. The book of Daniel is one of my favorite books in the Bible. Not just because of all the prophesy but because Daniel does something I believe to be key in the Christian walk and that is resolve. He and his friends resolved not to eat the rich fatty foods from the king’s table. They instead ate fruits, vegetables and drank water. And after ten days they were in better shape and looked better than the young men who ate from the king’s table.
What if we applied to resolving to our everyday walk with God? What if we resolved to put on the full armor of God daily in order to stand against our enemy? When we resolve to read God’s word daily we are reading truth and it’s with truth we are able to shut Satan down with lies he shoots our way. By reading God’s word and gaining truth we can wear the breastplate of righteousness to guard our hearts from deceit. These are tactics, schemes Satan will use against us. I won’t go into all the armor here but if you want to know more you can read about it here.
The point is to resolve. If you know you are facing a difficult situation at work with a difficult co-worker, resolve before you go to work that day how you will treat that co-worker. Maybe it’s family gathering and you know that there will be family members who will test your faith, resolve how you will stand strong. Maybe Satan likes to get you to spend money you don’t have to spend when you are feeling down and stressed, telling you it will make you feel better. Whatever the situation and however you plan to resolve it requires being intentional. Be intentional. Be intentional to resolve and stand up to Satan’s schemes and slick tactics. Be alert to signals your body gives you when someone pushes an emotional button and you want to lash out. This all takes practice and we have a big learning curve called grace. Resolve to be in God’s word daily and put on the whole armor.
For prayer requests, you can leave a message in the comment section or email at thekedgeanchor@gmail.com. And if you liked this post, please like and share, and until next week, anchor in Hope.
The Kedge Anchor 
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