He took the cup, blessed it, and said, drink for this is my blood that will be poured out for you…
Hours later he was found in the garden, betrayed by a friend, who gave him a kiss…
They beat him and humiliated him and spat upon him and mocked him, then they nailed him to a tree, yes, he, endured all this
Why?
He knew the joy that awaited him would be worth, every nail, every stripe, every ridicule, and every thorn and piercing of his side…
Joy, unspeakable, joy!
His joy would be our strength and power, and Spirit filled with tongues of fire, He would bring salvation to every generation; the joy of the Cross was never loss…it was the beginning of new life, it was worth the cost…
He endured a body of death, rejection, hate and religious curses…WHY? Because he knew Joy would come in the morning!!!
Through the darkest night, and deepest pain, Joy waits on the other side…
Don’t give up, hold on dear friends…
In the end, God wins!
Jesus is coming…look to him!!!
~Marla Shaw O’Neill April 10, 2020
Hebrews 12:2-3 The Message (MSG)
Discipline in a Long-Distance Race
Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!
Psalm 30:5 The Message (MSG)
All you saints! Sing your hearts out to God! Thank him to his face! He gets angry once in a while, but across a lifetime there is only love. The nights of crying your eyes out give way to days of laughter.
Psalm 30:5 The Passion Translation (TPT)
I’ve learned that his anger lasts for a moment, but his loving favor lasts a lifetime![a] We may weep through the night, but at daybreak it will turn into shouts of ecstatic joy.
Footnotes:
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Psalm 30:5 The Septuagint says, “There is wrath in his anger but life in his will [promise].”
