Month: April 2022

The Kitchen Table

“The Cross”

Day 20

But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him                            Acts 2:24

The cross revealed the power of love and the powerlessness of death.  What was supposed to ruin and remove love, revealed and released love.  Death threatens us with a cross with the end of life, love, liberty, but love triumphs from the cross.  The cross threatened to destroy our help and dash our hopes but on the cross, Jesus gave us both.  A cross is meant to take us away from love, but it actually takes us closer.  On the cross, love was and is demonstrated and declared to all who would believe.  The devil’s tool became the devil’s tragedy.  Love wins!

The Kitchen Table

“The Cross”

Day 19

But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him                            Acts 2:24

What godless men did through godless hands, Jesus defeated with godly love.  Death can’t take what loves makes.  But to defeat death, Jesus had to meet death at its’ door from faith, with hope in love.  Jesus went to the cross, believing God and His word that He would raise Him up from the dead in love.  And because He lives, we will too.  Death can’t take what love makes.  The agony of death is defeated by the affection of God.  Jesus went there for us so that we wouldn’t have to go there without Him.

The Kitchen Table

“The Cross”

Day 18

This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross                 Acts 2:23

A cross with no sacrifice is with no significance and a cross with no stain has no strength.  Jesus’ cross had both.  We put Him to death there, that’s what we do with those people and perspectives that threaten our lives and lifestyles.  We can kill the witness, but we can’t kill the word  God said that He would rise again (IS 53:10; Mt 16:21).  In fact, a cross with a stain has even more strength, speaking a word that is even better, giving man hope, help, health, and a horizon rather than a grave.  No one can kill the word of God. 

The Kitchen Table

“The Cross”

Day 17

This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross                 Acts 2:23

God knew what man would do to do what man wanted.  God knew that we would nail Jesus to a cross.  We don’t have to drive the nails in personally, we just let godlessness do it.   When we live in sin, we let sin do what it did and do what it does. Godlessness will always crucify God to keep godlessness.  With the help of wickedness, we create godlessness, or so we think.  All we had to do is silently support sin and sinful men would strike the nails in Jesus’ hands and feet.  Our sin put those nails in His hands because that is what sin does but that wasn’t the end.

The Kitchen Table

“The Cross”

Day 16

Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. ²³ This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.                 Acts 2:22-23

The cross didn’t become the plan once Jesus was here; the cross was the plan for Jesus coming here.  God Himself came to save us from our sin.  And Jesus is the only one who has ever perfectly walked out God’s plan for his life.  The cross, with its power to forgive and free man from the wages of sin, was the point of His life.  He went there so that we wouldn’t have to go there, and He did it in love.  Thank You Jesus for loving us.

Kitchen Table Devotions

“The Cross”

Day 15

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, ²⁰ and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Colossians 1:19-20

A cross without blood is a cross without power.  Jesus didn’t just go there, he bled there and died there.  Blood is the currency of heaven.  There’s a purpose in suffering when it’s suffering for something better.  Jesus suffered on that cross for something better for us, a forgiven, free, and forever life with Jesus.  He bled out on that cross that we might be brought out from the sickness and slavery of sin.  Not even the devil and the demonic can take that forgiveness and freedom from us.  Blood is the currency of heaven, and it gives us ownership here and there when we by faith receive it for our lives.  All we have to do is believe what His blood did for us.

Kitchen Table Devotions

“The Cross”

Day 14

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, ²⁰ and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Colossians 1:19-20

On the cross, Jesus reconciled ALL things to Himself.  That’s what the Bible says!  On and through the cross Jesus brought all things back into harmony with Him.  This included ALL things here and in heaven.  Now it’s our choice to live wrecked or reconciled in this world.  There’s nothing left for Jesus to do but come back but there’s something for us to do.  We must choose to live in the hope and harmony of the cross.  It’s all been done; we just need to receive it in Jesus’ name.  Let His word be our way of thinking and talking.  The devil might say it’s his, but Jesus says it’s ours.  Don’t live that hopeless, helpless, hapless life of this world.  We’ve got Jesus, we don’t have to.

Kitchen Table Devotions

“The Cross”

Day 13

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, ²⁰ and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Colossians 1:19-20

A cross without blood is without power and a cross without death is without victory & deliverance.  Jesus didn’t come to give us a piece of heaven but the peace of all heaven.  Let the word work your thinking.  Jesus held nothing back but gave His all to have it all.  So, we don’t have to share a single thing with hell, not any part of our heart, our head, or the here and now.  The devil has nothing on us or in us, without us giving him something to chew on.  Jesus gave us His all so that we could have all that is His.  If you’ve given the devil something to chew on, tell him to give it back in Jesus’ name.

Kitchen Table Devotions

“The Cross”

Day 12

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, ²⁰ and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Colossians 1:19-20 A cross without a cause is just a casualty in life.  Jesus’ death was not a casualty of bold faith but a choice of great love.   The love of God brings us the pleasures of God.  The One who had created all things (Col 1:16) had come to restore all things.  Man had elected the devil; Jesus came to establish a deliverer.  The love of God is the pleasure of God and love might not be the absence of pain but the purpose of pain.  Love goes where lust can’t and love gives what lust won’t, the pleasure of God which is our forgiveness, freedom, and fulfillment

Kitchen Table Devotions

“The Cross”

Day 11

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, ²⁰ and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Colossians 1:19-20

A cross without a body has no purpose and a cross without blood has no power.  Jesus put all of both on the cross for us.  God didn’t give just a piece of Himself but the whole so that we could have all He is and has for us.  Crosses are meant for the whole, not just a piece of the sacrifice.  A cross completes its cause with the whole, and when God or we give the whole there is power released for the all.  Jesus set the example.  Jesus gave His whole so that we could have His all and when we surrender our whole life, we give Him all of us and the is peace.