<html><head></head><body><div><div><div><div><br></div>Mark 14;29-31<div><br></div><div><b>29. &nbsp;Peter said to him, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.”</b></div><div><b>30. &nbsp;And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I say to you, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.”</b></div><div><b>31. &nbsp;But he said, vehemently, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And they all said the same.</b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div>Our vows of faithfulness and all our good intentions, whereby we earnestly seek&nbsp;to faithfully&nbsp;love God,&nbsp;doing good to our neighbor, are never perfectly kept. &nbsp;Many of us live with great guilt and sorrow over a lifetime of failures to be faithful. &nbsp;We wither in horror at the remembrance&nbsp;of how we have harmed others and denied our Lord in thought, word, and deed.</div><div><br></div><div>Is it not wonderful and divinely amazing, that our Lord Jesus knowing all our failures, sins, and betrayals which we will commit against Him&nbsp;throughout our faltering lives, still&nbsp;He&nbsp;goes to the cross for us.</div><div><br></div><div>Truly, His love is greater than our sin, His love is stronger than death itself.</div><div><br></div><div>Our sinfulness and all our sins, every one of them, does not stop Jesus from going to the cross for us.</div><div>He knows the power of His death and resurrection will ultimately deliver us from the bodies of death in which we now must live. &nbsp;His blood cleanses us&nbsp;and washes us whiter than snow. &nbsp;His resurrection clothes us with His very&nbsp;own self, His own righteousness. &nbsp;By the grace of God alone, we stand before Him&nbsp;as His&nbsp;spotless perfected Bride.</div><div><br></div><div><i>“For the joy that was set before Him, </i>(Jesus)<i>&nbsp;endured the cross, despising the&nbsp;shame, and is seated at the throne of God.”</i>&nbsp;(Hebrews 12;2)</div><div><br></div><div>We are that <i>“joy, set before Him”. &nbsp;</i>As He suffered the unimaginable torments of hell for us on the cross, the faith of Jesus beheld you and me, perfected and set free from all the powers of sin at work in&nbsp;our old&nbsp;sin-nature.</div><div>Jesus saw us as we are in Him, His spotless Bride. &nbsp;He saw our future and refused the just temptation to give up on us. &nbsp;It was what He knew was coming for us, that gave Him power to endure the cross, despising the shame.</div><div><br></div><div>As we by faith walk in the Spirit, walk by the Spirit, we too in some small measure are able to partake of His divine nature, deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Jesus. &nbsp;For the very love of God has been gifted into us, poured into our hearts:</div><div><br></div><div><i>“Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, we have obtain access to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our suffering, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God‘s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy&nbsp;Spirit who has been given to us. While we were helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. Why, one will hardly die for a righteous man—&nbsp;though perhaps for a good man, one will dare even to die. But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. &nbsp;Since, therefore, we are now justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.&nbsp; Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received our reconciliation.”</i></div><div><i></i>(Romans 5;1-11)</div><div><br></div><div>The <i>“joy, set before Jesus” </i>we, by faith, also partake of. &nbsp;We by faith see ourselves as who we are becoming,</div><div>a people set apart in holiness for God to be One with. &nbsp;This vision, this faith&nbsp;is for us to escape into in the midst of&nbsp;our sufferings and shame.</div><div><br></div><div>Prayer: &nbsp;Merciful Father, You gave Jesus the ‘place of escape’, (it was the joy filled&nbsp;vision of His Bride the Church, cleansed and perfected),&nbsp;<span>e</span><span>ven as he suffered on the cross. &nbsp;Grant us that same vision&nbsp;of who we really are in Him.&nbsp;&nbsp;His sufferings has made us to be cleansed and perfected,&nbsp;in Him, so that we too may endure our present temptations,&nbsp;sufferings, and shame. &nbsp;Bless us Father to rejoice with Jesus&nbsp;in our sufferings, for You have made us to truly live&nbsp;in Him, One with Him. &nbsp;In Jesus we pray, Amen.</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>Love,</span></div><div><span>Dad/Baba/Eric</span></div><div><span>Grandpa Pickle Pastor</span></div><div><span>“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word. &nbsp;God’s Word is our habitation, and we are His.”</span></div><div><br></div><div><br><br><div><a href="https://mail.onelink.me/107872968?pid=nativeplacement&amp;c=Global_Acquisition_YMktg_315_Internal_EmailSignature&amp;af_sub1=Acquisition&amp;af_sub2=Global_YMktg&amp;af_sub3=&amp;af_sub4=100000604&amp;af_sub5=EmailSignature__Static_" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a><br></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>


Mark 14;29-31
29.  Peter said to him, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.”30.  And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I say to you, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.”31.  But he said, vehemently, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And they all said the same.
Our vows of faithfulness and all our good intentions, whereby we earnestly seek to faithfully love God, doing good to our neighbor, are never perfectly kept.  Many of us live with great guilt and sorrow over a lifetime of failures to be faithful.  We wither in horror at the remembrance of how we have harmed others and denied our Lord in thought, word, and deed.
Is it not wonderful and divinely amazing, that our Lord Jesus knowing all our failures, sins, and betrayals which we will commit against Him throughout our faltering lives, still He goes to the cross for us.
Truly, His love is greater than our sin, His love is stronger than death itself.
Our sinfulness and all our sins, every one of them, does not stop Jesus from going to the cross for us.He knows the power of His death and resurrection will ultimately deliver us from the bodies of death in which we now must live.  His blood cleanses us and washes us whiter than snow.  His resurrection clothes us with His very own self, His own righteousness.  By the grace of God alone, we stand before Him as His spotless perfected Bride.
“For the joy that was set before Him, (Jesus) endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12;2)
We are that “joy, set before Him”.  As He suffered the unimaginable torments of hell for us on the cross, the faith of Jesus beheld you and me, perfected and set free from all the powers of sin at work in our old sin-nature.Jesus saw us as we are in Him, His spotless Bride.  He saw our future and refused the just temptation to give up on us.  It was what He knew was coming for us, that gave Him power to endure the cross, despising the shame.
As we by faith walk in the Spirit, walk by the Spirit, we too in some small measure are able to partake of His divine nature, deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Jesus.  For the very love of God has been gifted into us, poured into our hearts:
“Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, we have obtain access to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our suffering, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God‘s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. While we were helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. Why, one will hardly die for a righteous man— though perhaps for a good man, one will dare even to die. But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Since, therefore, we are now justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.  Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received our reconciliation.”(Romans 5;1-11)
The “joy, set before Jesus” we, by faith, also partake of.  We by faith see ourselves as who we are becoming,a people set apart in holiness for God to be One with.  This vision, this faith is for us to escape into in the midst of our sufferings and shame.
Prayer:  Merciful Father, You gave Jesus the ‘place of escape’, (it was the joy filled vision of His Bride the Church, cleansed and perfected), even as he suffered on the cross.  Grant us that same vision of who we really are in Him.  His sufferings has made us to be cleansed and perfected, in Him, so that we too may endure our present temptations, sufferings, and shame.  Bless us Father to rejoice with Jesus in our sufferings, for You have made us to truly live in Him, One with Him.  In Jesus we pray, Amen.
Love,Dad/Baba/EricGrandpa Pickle Pastor“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word.  God’s Word is our habitation, and we are His.”


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