making bread #2 (matthew 4:3-4)

alone
&
hungry...
to hate-filled eyes
You looked vulnerable.

You needed bread.
food.
after 40 days
even an old crust
would do.

hatred
blinds even the most clever
of thinkers.
satan
was no exception.

"make bread,"
he said, "You can do this."
"You should do this to
prove
You are YaHWeH's Son."

so
You proved Yourself to be the
ONLY
BEGOTTEN Son of YaHWeH
by NOT making bread...
by relying on God's words
for food.

the stones were
safe
for another day.

crazy #1 (Isaiah 42:1-7)

crazy Jesus…
coming
to us with no defense
against
the hatred, the anger
we had for You,
Lord.

You knew us inside
& out…
so
what possessed You
to come to us armed
only
with faithfulness?
with love?
with grace?
with YaHWeH’s invisible Spirit?

what possessed You,
Lord?
were You crazy
like they said?
crazy
to obey YaHWeH’s call?
crazy
to find the weakest of us
to hold & to heal?

were You crazy,
Lord?

if so,
why aren’t we?

the devil & me #1 (James 2:19)

me
and the devil
have something
in common…
we both
believe
in Your existence,
Lord.

the devil knows
Who
You are…
in fact, he is named
satan
precisely
because he knows Your true
identity,
and
he has NOT been able to
trust.

the devil does not trust
You
with running Your
cosmos…

just like me
sometimes.

anything

Our God
can do anything...

and He does.
every day.

it's called grace...
am i right,
Lord?

Mercy (& Faith) #9 (Luke 8:9-14)

mercy
notices
the small things...
the little people...

mercy
honors the weak
people...
the over-looked
ones
by shouting
forgiveness into the
face of blind
hatred & contempt

mercy believes
that You notice
all this...
am i right,
Lord?

Mercy (& Faith) #8 (Luke 8:9-14)

mercy
can breed faith
in those who
receive it...but
not always.

yet...mercy
never grows without
faith
to sink its
roots into...

is this why
You told us
that if we show mercy
we will receive it
from you, Lord?

is this why
You taught us to pray
"forgive us our sins
in the same way
we forgive those
who sin against us,"
Lord?

Mercy #7

mercy
honors desperation
along with the faith
born in that dark crucible.

we fool ourselves when we see
faith & mercy
as being born in a palace
worthy of heaven’s
glory…

in Your heart You carried
all mercy
so when You heard:
“Remember me,
when You come into
Your kingdom,”
You recognized the
desperate faith
that was beginning to grow
in the dying thief.

You did remember him…
isn’t that right,
Lord?

is he with You now?

Mercy #6 (Luke 8:9-14)

mercy
burns huge mountains of
faith
like a jet burns fuel
on take-off…

You told us
to withhold revenge
to deal in kindness
to bend our own backs
so that others might be served…

THEN You showed us
how to do mercy
by the life You led…
by the blood You shed…
even
in the anger You showed.

always You depended on
Your Abba’s protection
even
when He withheld it.

what is it that You
know that we don't,
Lord?

Mercy #5 (Luke 8:9-14)

to offer mercy
takes enormous
faith…

to dole out forgiveness…
to NOT
punish those who
deserve it
requires a reckless faith...
kinda like stepping out
of the boat onto the
water...
to meet You.

is it true that
we meet You
each time
we walk toward mercy,
Lord?

Mercy #4 (Luke 8:9-14)

receiving mercy
means that we must trust
the one
who
offers it.

to give mercy
by definition means
that we must offer
to an untrustworthy person
the precious gift
of the one thing they
do not deserve...
a clean start...
a re-do...
a reboot.

is that why
there is so little
real mercy given out...
and received,
Lord?

Mercy #3 (Luke 8:9-14)

what makes
mercy
so hard to receive
is that
we know what we
deserve…
we can’t believe that any
sane person
would forgive us for free…
with no strings
attached

there MUST be a catch…
right?

are we really
that mis-trusting,
Lord?

Mercy #2 (Luke 8:9-14)

what makes
mercy
so hard to give out
is that it can
only
go to those
who do not deserve it
and
those who will most likely not
appreciate it.

isn’t that right,
Lord?

Mercy #1 (Luke 8:9-14)

mercy
is what we need…

mercy
is what we are afraid
to ask for
feeling we might
be turned down

mercy
is very hard to give out
since
you usually get nothing
in return…

isn’t that right,
Lord?

Self Rescue #1 (Psalm 49:7)

we love to believe
we have
the power
the control
the intelligence to
solve
our own life
like some puzzle
struggling on its own
to come together.

but
who has
ever
been rescued from
any real danger
by their own effort
without You working
it out first,
Lord?