31 Day Daily Devotional SERIES for the Garden of the Heart: DAY 14

 DAY 14

And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, 

there they crucified him, and the malefactors, 

one on the right hand, and the other on the left.

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, 

saying,  

Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? 

that is to say,

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Luke 23:43/Matthew 27:43

  

Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, 

and he said to his disciples,  

Sit here, while I go over there and pray.

Then he said to them,  

My soul is very sorrowful, even to death;  

remain here, and watch with me.

And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, 

saying,  

My Father, if it be possible,

 let this cup pass from me; nevertheless,  

not as I will, but as you will.

And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. 

And he said to Peter,  

So, could you not watch with me one hour?  

Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed,  

My Father, 

 if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.

And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 

So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. 

And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: 

and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood 

falling down to the ground.

Matthew 26:36,38-40,42-44,Luke 22:44 ESV

DAILY REMINDER

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, 

and have not LOVE, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, 

and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, 

and have not LOVE, I am nothing. 

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not LOVE, it profiteth me nothing.

LOVE suffereth long, and is kind; 

LOVE envieth not; 

LOVE vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 

Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, 

is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 

And now abideth faith, hope, LOVE, these three; 

but the greatest of these is LOVE.

 And from Jesus Christ, ....Unto him that loved us, 

and washed us from our sins in his own blood,...

1 Corinthians 13:1-5,13/Revelation 1:5

 

"The human heart longs for sympathy in suffering....He staggered to

the place where He had left His companions. But He finds them asleep....
Turning away, Jesus sought again His retreat, and fell prostrate, overcome by the horror of a great darkness. 

The humanity of the Son of God trembled in that trying. The awful moment had come--that moment which was to decide the destiny of the world.  

The fate of humanity trembled in the balance. 

Christ might even now refuse to drink the cup apportioned to guilty man. It was not yet too late.
The words fall tremblingly from the pale lips of Jesus, O My Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done. Matthew 26:42

By these sleeping disciples is represented a sleeping church, when the day of visitation is nigh.

--Pretended grace from natural goodness, 

--fancied grace from priestly hands, 

--or imaginary grace from outward ceremonies will never serve the true saint of God; he knows that the Lord would not be pleased with rivers of such oil.

He goes to the olive-press of Gethsemane,

and draws his supplies from Him

who was crushed therein.  

The oil of gospel grace is pure and free from lees and dregs, and hence the light which is fed thereon is clear and bright.

Our churches are the Savior's golden candelabra, 

and if they are to be lights in this dark world, they must have much holy oil."

E.G.W./Charles Spurgeon 

 

 CLOSING THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. 

And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; 

and he sat down among the ashes. 

Then said his wife unto him, 

Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die. 

But he said unto her, 

Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. 

What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, 

and shall we not receive evil? 

In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place; for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him. 

And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, 

and knew him not, 

they lifted up their voice, 

and wept.

Job 2:7-12