FIX YOUR EYES ON JESUS (Hebrews 12:2)
we are told BUT what if you are too afraid to fix your eyes on
HIM because doubt overcomes your soul as you question~ "JESUS, Are you REALLY who YOU say YOU are?" I looked into JESUS eyes in the midst of an overwhelming darkness that I couldn’t shake.
A darkness that was so dark,
that I had never felt before. It was after a time I was so depleted
and in such despair
that I was actually afraid to FIX my eyes on JESUS
because I couldn't even "feel" GOD~
therefore I was afraid to trust HIS SON. But then I saw HIM in the garden of Gethsemane. Slumped over a rock, in HIS weakest moment as “....HE began to be sorrowful and troubled.
Then HE said to them,
'My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death...'" (Matthew 26:3738). "And being in anguish, HE prayed more earnestly,
and HIS sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground” (Luke 22:44.) There HE was~
my KING suffering~
and fear took over me. I shouted to HIM~
"How can I trust YOU?
Look what they did to YOU!"
Wow, my FEAR exposed. And then HE answered me
oh so clearly
as I heard the words spoken to my heart~ “It takes a STRONG MAN to get on a cross!” And wow
the ONE who hung on the cross didn’t do it in weakness. Oh the STRENGTH of FORGIVENESS. And in that moment the fear & the darkness was removed in me. What if I didn’t cry out in my fear? What if JESUS didn’t cry out in Prayer~ “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from ME;
yet not MY will, but YOURS be done" (Luke 22:42)~ Would HE have been strong~ "An angel from heaven appeared to HIM and strengthened HIM" (Luke 22:43). What about you? How many prayers have you cried out in anguish? Have you been STRENGTHENED by prayer
as you cry out
in fear
in anxiety
in worry
in doubt
in _______
to the ONE who was clothed with STRENGTH?
THE STRENGTH OF FORGIVENESS
at HIS LAST SUPPER
as HE shared with the one who would betray HIM.
THE STRENGTH OF FORGIVENESS
as HE cried out
"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34)
THE STRENGTH OF FORGIVENESS
as HE RECEIVED each nail that hung HIM on our cross
as HE cried out again to HIS FATHER
“Eli, Eli, lemasabachthani?”
(which means“MY GOD, MY GOD, why have YOU forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:45)
Oh THE STRENGTH OF PRAYER
as we continue to cry out to OUR FATHER in our moments of
Fear, Anxiety, Worry & Doubt
because HE cried out first in HIS anguish
because
IT TAKES A STRONG MAN TO GET ON A CROSS .
What is the CRY of your HEART?
Have you TRUSTED "it" with the ONE who cried out on the cross?
So let’s FAST from
HOLDING ONTO
whatever is weighing down your heart
that you need to surrender to JESUS,
and just CRY out in PRAYER to HIM
Oh THE STRENGTH OF PRAYER
as we continue to
"TURN YOUR EYES"*
to the ONE
who has HIS eyes turned to you.
*(listen to the song below)