Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening (Devotional) - Saturday, April 27, 2013

Morning

"God, even our own God."
Psalm 67:6

It is strange how little use we make of the spiritual blessings which God gives us, but it is stranger still how little use we make of God himself. Though he is "our own God," we apply ourselves but little to him, and ask but little of him. How seldom do we ask counsel at the hands of the Lord! How often do we go about our business, without seeking his guidance! In our troubles how constantly do we strive to bear our burdens ourselves, instead of casting them upon the Lord, that he may sustain us! This is not because we may not, for the Lord seems to say, "I am thine, soul, come and make use of me as thou wilt; thou mayst freely come to my store, and the oftener the more welcome." It is our own fault if we make not free with the riches of our God. Then, since thou hast such a friend, and he invites thee, draw from him daily. Never want whilst thou hast a God to go to; never fear or faint whilst thou hast God to help thee; go to thy treasure and take whatever thou needest--there is all that thou canst want. Learn the divine skill of making God all things to thee. He can supply thee with all, or, better still, he can be to thee instead of all. Let me urge thee, then, to make use of thy God. Make use of him in prayer. Go to him often, because he is thy God. O, wilt thou fail to use so great a privilege? Fly to him, tell him all thy wants. Use him constantly by faith at all times. If some dark providence has beclouded thee, use thy God as a "sun;" if some strong enemy has beset thee, find in Jehovah a "shield," for he is a sun and shield to his people. If thou hast lost thy way in the mazes of life, use him as a "guide," for he will direct thee. Whatever thou art, and wherever thou art, remember God is just what thou wantest, and just where thou wantest, and that he can do all thou wantest.

Evening

"The Lord is King forever and ever."
Psalm 10:16

Jesus Christ is no despotic claimant of divine right, but he is really and truly the Lord's anointed! "It hath pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell." God hath given to him all power and all authority. As the Son of man, he is now head over all things to his church, and he reigns over heaven, and earth, and hell, with the keys of life and death at his girdle. Certain princes have delighted to call themselves kings by the popular will, and certainly our Lord Jesus Christ is such in his church. If it could be put to the vote whether he should be King in the church, every believing heart would crown him. O that we could crown him more gloriously than we do! We would count no expense to be wasted that could glorify Christ. Suffering would be pleasure, and loss would be gain, if thereby we could surround his brow with brighter crowns, and make him more glorious in the eyes of men and angels. Yes, he shall reign. Long live the King! All hail to thee, King Jesus! Go forth, ye virgin souls who love your Lord, bow at his feet, strew his way with the lilies of your love, and the roses of your gratitude: "Bring forth the royal diadem, and crown him Lord of all." Moreover, our Lord Jesus is King in Zion by right of conquest: he has taken and carried by storm the hearts of his people, and has slain their enemies who held them in cruel bondage. In the Red Sea of his own blood, our Redeemer has drowned the Pharaoh of our sins: shall he not be King in Jeshurun? He has delivered us from the iron yoke and heavy curse of the law: shall not the Liberator be crowned? We are his portion, whom he has taken out of the hand of the Amorite with his sword and with his bow: who shall snatch his conquest from his hand? All hail, King Jesus! we gladly own thy gentle sway! Rule in our hearts forever, thou lovely Prince of Peace.

It Is Finished!!!

 

Remember the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior on this day.  

Happy Good Friday!!!

The Soldiers Mock Jesus
(Isaiah 50:4-11; Matthew 27:27-31; Mark 15:16-20; Luke 22:63-65)

 

1Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. 2And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, 3And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands. 4Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. 5Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man! 6When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him. 7The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.

 

8When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid; 9And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. 10Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? 11Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. 12And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.

 

13When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. 14And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King! 15But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.

 

The Crucifixion
(Psalm 69:1-36; Matthew 27:32-44; Mark 15:21-32; Luke 23:26-43)

 16Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away.

 

17And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:  

 

18Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. 19And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. 20This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin. 21Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews. 22Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.

 

23Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. 24They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did. 25Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. 26When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!  

27Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.

 

 The Death of Jesus
(Psalm 22:1-31; Matthew 27:45-56; Mark 15:33-41; Luke 23:44-49)

 

28After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.  

 

29Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. 30When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

 

Jesus' Side is Pierced
(Zechariah 12:10-14)

 

31The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. 32Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. 33But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: 34But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. 35And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. 36For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. 37And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.

 

The Burial of Jesus
(Isaiah 53:9-12; Matthew 27:57-61; Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-56)

 

38And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus. 39And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. 40Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. 41Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. 42There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.

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 http://kingjbible.com/john/19.htm

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Meditation And Mourning: 3 Obstacles to Successful Grieving

 


A woman hosts a costume party in her home where everyone is supposed to show up dressed as an emotion. The woman finds herself shocked when she opens her front door and her friend is completely naked, except for a pear around his penis. "Larry! What are you supposed to be?" she exclaims. "What?" he says, "It's not obvious? I'm fucking 'dis pear!" Needless to say, despair is an ugly emotion.

Emotions like despair and grief are tough to work with, because they feel so fathomless. Whether you are going through the death of a loved one, a rough break up, or sudden unemployment these emotions can get their hooks into you and, once hooked, they are hard to shake. Looking at intense grief is like staring into the sun. You can't do it directly or if you do, you look only for a second at a time. At least that's how I felt when I lost one of my best friends this summer.

Alex was 29 when he died of heart failure at work. Many wonderful things have been written about him since his passing about his compassionate heart and his loving nature, his humor and sharp intellect. For his work on the Obama campaigns he was written up alongside such notables as Whitney Houston and Neil Armstrong in New York Times Magazine's "The Lives They Lived" memorial issue.

Still, for anyone who has suffered a similar loss, you know that no amount of nice words can heal the sense of grief you experience every day. As I began to grieve, I noticed something very familiar arise in how I related to this process. A certain synchronicity occurred where my grieving patterns mimicked patterns often perceived as obstacles to meditation. They are: laziness, speedy-busyness and disheartenment.

Laziness
For the first several weeks after Alex died I couldn't get out of bed. I couldn't eat. I couldn't exercise. I didn't do anything. From an outside point of view this phase of my mourning could be perceived as me being lazy. The Tibetan word for laziness is lelo, which is interesting in that it sounds exactly how being lazy feels: You just want to lay low.

Laziness from a meditation point of view often shows up as feeling an aversion to the practice and convincing yourself you don't have to do it. It can be as simple as hearing the rain hitting your window, feeling the warmth of your comforter and looking over at the meditation cushion in the corner of your room with disdain. It isn't nearly as warm and cozy as your bed, and you deserve an extra 20 minutes of sleep, so you figure you ought to just skip your meditation practice. That's laziness.

If you find yourself struggling to get to your meditation seat, just remember to take it easy on yourself, drop judgment and exert yourself just a little more than you are comfortable with. When it came to working with my grief that meant going to see friends even if I wasn't feeling social, just to feel an extra layer of support and talk about what I was going through. It can also look like relating to the details of your life, such as cleaning up your home or catching up on work-related emails. You may find that the more you exert yourself beyond your desire to lay low the more inspired you feel. Of course, it is important to balance this advice with gentleness to yourself.

Speedy-busyness
After my initial weeks of laying low I picked myself up and decided I needed a way to channel my grief. Alex had passed away while working for the Obama campaign. I made a decision to continue his efforts. I dropped everything in New York City, put my belongings in storage, moved out of my apartment and moved to Columbus, Ohio to work the campaign in his honor.

Campaign life is not easy. You work 14 to 16 hours a day, only occasionally taking breaks for food that is not particularly healthy. No minute is spared for months on end; you're on the phone talking to potential volunteers or voters all day, every day. There is no time off. No weekends, no days you sleep in, no time to catch up with a buddy back home for an hour. You are there to work so you work. You work hard.

It actually felt good to be in Ohio on the campaign in honor of Alex. However, I would notice that whenever I was in the car alone, or taking a shower, or any other time I had literally three or more minutes to myself, I would end up sobbing. My grief was all-pervasive and I was convincing myself I was too busy to deal with it.

From a meditation vantage point this is known as speedy-busyness. A real technical term, that one. It's the idea that you know you want to meditate. It's definitely something you want to do. But when you get up in the morning you check your email and then you realize you're late for work so you scramble to get there on time, swearing you'll meditate when you get home. As you're about to clock out a friend texts you and asks if you want to drop by and see her new place so you do but you really will meditate after. Then you get home and you smell so you decide to shower. Then your mom calls. Then you check your email again. Then it's 10 p.m. and you have to get up early so you realize you just don't have time for that 10 minutes of meditation.

Frankly, you do. You do have 10 minutes you can meditate. It's just that you've spent an entire day convincing yourself that you don't, making everything other than your meditation practice a priority. That is speedy-busyness, a form of avoiding your practice through conceptual means.

When you are grieving, you might experience a period within which you decide you need to do a hundred million things. You may not throw yourself into an around-the-clock work schedule like I did, but you might fill up your time with appointments, meetings, social engagements, everything and anything just so you don't have to acknowledge that poignant layer of heartbreak boiling away just underneath the surface. As soon as you're not busy you know you're going to be a mess, so you avoid that eventuality at all costs.

Speedy-busyness is one of the reasons I recommend that people have a set time that they meditate. If you say, "I meditate at 8:00 a.m. every day, Monday to Friday," then you will build out your schedule to include that commitment. It will not keep falling to the back burner. So I recommend having a consistent time you meditate, and making that a priority. Similarly, when working with grief, it may be helpful to have certain times when you allow yourself to just be with whatever you are feeling. A regular session with a therapist, or a daily long walk, or a consistent tea time might help you glance at the sun of your grief in a way that feels workable.

Disheartenment
Throughout my grieving process I have definitely experienced fucking 'dis pear. Despair and disheartenment manifested as me wondering if I would ever be happy again, and feeling like I will never find a friend like Alex again, and in general just feeling lost and alone. The grief was so profound that I felt that my life would never again be more than that.

Disheartenment is considered the third obstacle to meditation. Because meditation is such a gradual path, where it may take weeks or months before you start to notice you become more present or calmer, people often get disheartened. They think that meditation isn't working properly, or they aren't doing it right, because they are not immediately at peace with themselves after a week of consistent practice.

For meditation training, the key antidote to all of these obstacles is having a strong motivation to practice. I have found that over the years meditation has made me kinder, or at least less of a jerk. I find that it has made me more present, not just with my breath while meditating but with conversations with friends and family, with the difficult moments in my life, when I'm kissing someone and enjoying their company. It has given me the ability to enjoy my life, and feel content within the present moment, regardless of whether what I am experiencing is conventionally good or bad, fun or painful.

Each of us has to come up with our own motivation to meditate. At first it might be something like, "I don't want to be so stressed out," or, "I want to learn to be comfortable with the strong emotions I am feeling." Those are both great. Over time you may find that your motivation shifts. You were in it to better yourself but gradually your heart has opened and you see that meditation is having a positive effect on your life. Your motivation might transition into, "I want to learn more about myself so I can be more present with others," or, "I want to be able to be of benefit to the world as a result of this practice."

As for grief, it has been said that time heals all wounds. Grief, like all emotions, shifts and changes over time. Not an hour goes by when I do not think fondly of my friend and miss him, but strong emotions like despair no longer hold such sway over my emotional well-being. Partly that is time, but partly that is because that I have developed a motivation out of this tragedy that I can look to as a compass for navigating my grief.

Alex was an extremely good friend. He was loyal, considerate and thoughtful. One motivation I have in working with my grief is to become as good a friend to others as he was to me. For someone who might be mourning a loss of a romantic relationship, your motivation might be to learn to love yourself more whole-heartedly before you love again. For someone who is grieving the loss of a job your motivation might be realizing that you are inherently capable and talented and coming back to that knowledge over and over again.

The bottom line is you have to engage this process, be it developing a meditation practice or grieving for a loss, with a motivation that feels right to you. Because both are such gradual paths of healing, you need to be patient and put in the time to let things shift within you. When you do that you can reflect back and say, "I guess this meditation stuff is working," or, "I feel less despair than I used to." It may take weeks, months or even years, but if you can look back and say, "Overall, I am starting to develop in a better way," then you will be motivated to continue looking at your mind and your grief in a way that feels wholesome and worth-while. Over time, fucking despair may fade away and you notice that you are actually content.

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Article courtesy of Lodro Rinzler written for Huffington Post