I Put You There

Is Easter this Sunday? Well, the youth at my local church is having a revival week-of-prayer this week. Last night we talked about the moment when Jesus was brought to Pilate. The message was very profound to me.

Matthew 27:21,22
"The governor answered and said unto them, Which of the two will I release unto you? They said, Barabas. Pilate said unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all said unto him, Let him be crucified."

The two choices seem so obvious to us, don't you think? Really, why would one pick Barabas over Jesus? Why choose to condemn the friend that in the past had healed them and was once sought to be the new hope for the whole nation? Ohh those evil people, that ungrateful crowd... if only I was there, in that moment of time, I surely would know who to defend.

Well, the moment had passed. The dust from all the crowds had settled. Barabas was released. The nails were driven, Jesus was put on the cross. But little we know, we are actually still there. Yes you and I, the governor of our private lives, are faced with the same question... "What shall I do with this Jesus which is called Christ?"

When temptations come, don't sometimes the right choice seems so obvious to us? But yet what causes us to fall? In that moment of time, when the will to do the right this is wrestling against flesh, that question essentially presents itself, Oh What shall I do with this Jesus which is called Christ? How does the story unfold in your own private lives... did your crowd end up choosing Jesus over Barabas? Oh how familiar we are of His mercy, how acquainted we are with His goodness. As were the people who witnessed and experienced first hand of His healing, we know this Man, we know Him first hand. Yet why do we still forsake Him?

Whatever it is you are struggling with in your private lives, pray to our Father in Heaven for strength and deliverance. Yes we have reserves of angels from heaven eager to console us during times of trouble. We have the Holy Spirit to help defeat this flesh. Because choosing between Barabas and Jesus can be quite a struggle for this fallen self.



"I Put You There" (The Pilate Song)
This choice is haunting me
I never thought i'd see this moment come to pass
I thought innocence would last

The crowd has called your name
And though I find no blame I sentenced you to die
But still i questioned why

And now i see you on that cross
On that hill so far away
And though i said my hands i washed
My aching heart would say

Chorus
I put you there, there on that cross my words have nailed you
You wore the purple robe i gave You
I see the crown of thorns I made You
I put You there, I put you there

Second Verse
Like sheep we've gone astray
We've travelled our on way
Down a dark and lonely road while shouldering alone

As Pilate brought you shame
I'm guilty of the same each moment i abide
In sinfulness and pride

The healing of my broken heart
Is the measure of your grace
And every tear and every scar
You have suffered in my place

Chorus
I put you there, there on that cross my words have nailed you
You wore the purple robe i gave You
Wearing that crown of thorns I made You
I put You there, I put you there

Orion Nebula

"In one of the most detailed astronomical images ever produced, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured an unprecedented look at the Orion Nebula. This extensive study

took 105 Hubble orbits to complete. All imaging instruments aboard the telescope were

used simultaneously to study Orion. The advanced Camera mosaic covers approximately the apparent angular size of the full moon."

Ellen White writes that Jesus will come back to earth through this nebula. In the book

Early Writing, she writes, "Dark, heavy clouds came up and clashed against each other.

The atmosphere parted and rolled back; then we could look up through the open space

in Orion, whence came the voice of God. The Holy City will come down through that open space. I saw that the powers of earth are now being shaken and that events come in

order. War, and rumors of war, sword, famine, and pestilence are first to shake the

powers of earth, then the voice of God will shake the sun, moon, and the stars, and this

earth also." EW 41

"Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call

on the Lord out of a pure heart" 2Tim 2:22

Stain

I hear the Savior say, thy strength indeed is small

Child of weakness watch and pray

Find in Me thine all in all.

Jesus paid it All

All to Him i owe

Sin had left a crimson stain

He washed it white as snow

(Jesus Paid it All, SDA Hymn #184)

........

"Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart." II Timothy 2:22

My Sole Provider

So this is where I live now, Hinsdale, IL. God has been so generous to me all my life. But not until recently, that I could see more of the glimpses of Him leading the way in my life. My sole Provider. I do not know how to describe it. He directs ways to an open door, He creates detours away from closed roads. When my wretched-self make 'unnecessary turns' (ohh too many turns), the moment I ask Him to lead me back to the right path, he shows the best route home. What more lies in my future? My prayer tonight is for the Lord to take this short life of mine and lead me home.

"What is a man, that Thou should magnify him? and that Thou should set thine heart upon him? And that Thou should visit him every morning, and try him every moment?"

-Job 7:17,18

"For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow"

-Job 8:9