By D. Copeland, P.AV.E Devotional
Purple Ark Ministries © Copyright Reserved July 4th 2010
"Cross of.AV.E Devotional
The CROSS an image viewed by many as just another symbol or art form. Used by countless people across the world as a jewelry to enhance the dress of the day. Yes, the cross has been engraved on a persons flesh twisted and contorted in shape and often merged with demonic artistic work. The cross worn by the commoner to the glitzy elite of "Hollywood", rock stars emblazon it across their instruments, album covers, body parts, and stage sets to the glory of millions. The cross offensive too many millions, even billions across the world. Why?
The cross, the image that in my mind, shows the greatest love that man can receivat. The unending and deep love that God has for His created being. The cross, offensive to all that do not believe and are not Spirit filled. The cross, the only bridge between man and God who through the infinite past planned the cross as the bridge to the gap between sinful man and God. The cross, the weapon of torture developed by the Romans to execute criminals and offenders of the Roman empire. The cross, where my Lord and Savior through His love for me, died a tortured, painful death so that I may have eternal life.
The cross, the gift of God, to bear witness for all eternity to mankind that your are dead in your sins unless your eyes and heart turn to the cross and what the cross means. Today, most people of this world look at the cross as just another geometry figure, a tool, an artistic object, and an item to be discarded like trash without a second thought.
The cross of Christ, the ultimate object of our faith, destroyed the conquest of Satan. Satan gloried in the fact that Christ hung on the cross for 6 long hours. Satan certainly thought he had won the spiritual battle of eternity when Christ endured the Roman punishment that put Christ in the grave. Little did Satan know, the battle was won because Christ laid His faithful life in the hands of God the Father in full submission, so that God could raise Him alive and destroy the Destroyer. Through the cross, I see eternity with God because I have given my heart to the Lord and have accepted my death on the cross through Jesus Christ. He died a terrible death on the cross, so that I can call upon His name and be saved. You see, without the cross, my salvation and my ability to approach God, could never have happened.
Joh 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth
I praise God for the cross. I praise God; I live now during the New Testament period. I praise God that the revealing truth of the cross, was made known to all mankind some 2000 years ago. Without the cross, all of us would be dead in our sins forever doomed for all eternity to separated from the Living God. The cross, probably the most drawn object of religious art by man, likely the most universally recognized object and word the world has ever known, is sadly rejected and mocked by billions across the world. The Jews of Christ' day, didn't even have a word in their vocabulary for the "cross" called it a "woof or a warp". The cross was foretold by the prophets hundreds of years before Christ would fulfill prophecy; yet, the Jews of the day missed the whole event because of their blindness.
The punishment leading to the cross was so offensive to the Jews that Pilate had hoped to set Jesus free and satisfy the blood thirsty leaders of the Jewish people. Little did he know that God used him to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah,
"Isa 53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
Isa 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Isa 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
Isa 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Isa 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isa 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
So the cross offends those that turn their backs toward God. The God who died a horrific death laying down His life, so that you and I can know the peace of Jesus and call upon His name for eternal forgiveness. The cross offends many but a few are drawn to the sacred cross and kneel before it in submission and humility. For those who the Spirit draws to the cross, the repentant heart is lifted in joy and forever changed in newness and purpose.
Just as Christ was raised on the wood of the cross, His back lacerated to the bone by scourging with a cat of nine tails, His flesh ripped from His back, His hands nailed to a beam of wood, His feet both nailed through, exhausted, hanging without drink in the heat of day, laughed at, mocked, stripped naked of His only possession of this world His cloak, and eyed like a prize by the Roman soldiers and Jewish elite- Jesus suffered so you and I can know His love. How great is His love!
Mat 10:38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
Mat 10:40 He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.
Jesus is calling you to the cross. The cross, what is your answer to that call? Are you a part of the world and choose not to be offended? Are you rejecting the free gift of Christ, the only begotten Son of God, by whom you can be saved? Do you wish to become a disciple of Christ and take up the cross or reject the power of the cross and eternally be seperated from the Father. Luk 14:27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
God determined that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior of all. Do you call on the cross to set your free from the bondage of this world?1Co 1:23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
Don't allow Satan to bring to your foolishness, breathe freshness into your spirit and allow the cross to bring you into fellowship with the living God.
Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Act 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Friend, take a moment now and call upon the name of Jesus Christ, look to the cross as a tool of salvation. Jesus conquered death through the cross so that you and I know may the peace of God and throughout all eternity be with Him in heaven. Don't reject the cross, don't spend eternity spiritually condemned. Take a moment and claim the power of the cross. Ask Jesus into your life.
Pray a simple prayer, which is all that you need to do. Your guilty life of sin was laid on the body of Christ on the cross 2000 years ago. He died for YOU. He is ALIVE in heaven drawing you near to Him. Pray with me these words and forever change your life physically and spiritually.
Dear Jesus, I call upon your name to save my soul. I accept the cross and accept you as my Lord and Savior. Forgive me for all the sins I have committed, cleanse my heart, my body, my soul. Give me eternal life through the power of the cross, I believe on your name. Jesus, I call you to change me and mold me into a disciple of Christ.
AMEN!
Friends, pray a simple prayer like this one. The cross will change your life. God will be revealed to you through the power of the Holy Spirit who indwells in all those who are "born again". The Holy Spirit will lead you and guide you to learn more about Jesus and His plans for your life. Seek Him and His word through the Holy Bible. Find a church that teaches the word of God and that is spirit filled.
Welcome to the kingdom of God.....see you in heaven..........
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