What Christians believe can not be successfully disrupted.

For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”

Romans 10:11

Life’s biggest surprises are no match for the joys found in Jesus. Life’s most disappointing and disruptive upsets cannot take away the fact that those who believe in Him are always kept securely forever by His saving grace. The world’s secularism may belittle Christian faith. Individuals who claim Christianity might make personal mistakes. But Jesus makes no mistakes. He is perfect in every way. And it is His perfect saving work that redeems souls, gives help and hope in desperate times, changes lives dramatically for the better, heals hearts, and keeps those who trust in Him forever secure!

There is not a person on this planet that is not loved by God. The cross and the empty tomb are the overwhelming expressions of this love forever! The invitation is freely given for all to know His forgiveness and life in Jesus. By faith anyone may turn from sin to a Savior Who delights to bestow “his riches on all who call on him” (Romans 10:12).

Lord Jesus,

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Romans 10:13). Thank You that in Your grace You have called me to be one who believes in You. I trust You, Lord Jesus, alone for my eternal salvation and for the life that I live right now. By Your grace I am saved, not my own feeble and tainted efforts! By Your grace I live and am healed from all the worst I have done to myself, others have done to me, and sin has damaged in me. And it is Your good news.... the grace of the gospel... that compels me to worship You, and about which I wish to talk about always!

Amen

a place at His table

When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven...”

Matthew 8:10-11

Jesus was truly amazed at the faith found in a Roman centurion who begged Him to heal his servant by just saying the word. This gentile knew and respected Jewish custom. He asked Jesus NOT to come into his home (which would have made a Jew ceremonially unclean) and instead with authority to command his servant to be healed. This faith and respect grabbed the attention of Jesus.

Jesus not only healed the paralyzed servant, but also took the opportunity to roll out an essential gospel impact He was making as He spoke in conversation about this incident with His disciples. He told them that His kingdom would see gentiles celebrating as the “people of God” in the kingdom of heaven, right alongside the patriarchs of Judaism, even as Jews who rejected the Messiah would suffer for their lack of faith and rejection (Matthew 8:12).

This God-fearing centurion brought to the forefront the central truth that makes citizens of God’s kingdom: belief in Jesus alone as Savior and Lord. This centurion had a faith that would seat Him at God’s table. And that same powerful gospel message will indeed make kingdom citizens today! It is all centered on Jesus Christ. Those who put all their trust in Him will find their seats at the joyous kingdom feast!

God sees and acts.

But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation,

that you may take it into your hands;

to you the helpless commits himself;

you have been the helper of the fatherless.

Psalm 10:14

This verse is given in answer to Psalm 10:13 which asks a questions along these lines: “Why do wicked people renounce God and convince themselves God does not hold anyone accountable for their actions?” And the answer in verse 14 simply is: “That assumption is all wrong.”

God sees everything that human beings do. And He know the motives behind what they do. What’s more, He takes action against the evil that people do, having the final authority in judgment over sin. Those who are helpless and without any means of human justice have their Defender in Almighty God.

Do you ever feel helpless? It is easy to feel so in these uncertain times. Commit your situation to a wise God Who has it all under His control. Christian, He Who has saved Your soul in Jesus will take care of you. You are not fatherless. Jesus Himself has promised: “I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you” (John 14:18).

Lord, 

You are help for the helpless and Father to the fatherless. You see what is wrong. You enact justice and call us to endure until You so act. You DO SEE! You take it into Your hands! You are indeed our trust.

Amen

God keeps His promises.

On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates...”

Genesis 15:18

God makes and keeps promises with His people. The word that the Bible uses to describe these holy promises made by a caring God is “covenant”. And this is the covenant God made with Abram: He would become the father of nations and his offspring would receive a land to live in that stretched from Egypt to the south all the way to the Euphrates river to the north.

God would keep this unconditional covenant with Abram. He would bless him with offspring. He would give the wandering nomad a home. In Abram’s experience, it would be one son (Isaac) and a burial plot that would be the start of this promise before Abram died. It would all be God’s doing. Abram just believed by faith and God saw that faith as righteousness (Genesis 15:6). The promises of God were the content of Abram’s faith. God was believed and God did the work. And God kept working generation after generation with Abram’s descendants.

Hundreds of years down the road, during Solomon’s reign, Israelite power stretched all the way to the borders here described in God’s promise to Abram. It took generations of faith, and God kept His promise made so much earlier. Abram’s offspring became numerous and prosperous. God’s people dwelt within the land He promised them. God makes promises and keeps them. And we have a new and better covenant now made by the sacrifice of Jesus that keeps all that will believe God and be credited with the righteousness of Christ today! 

King’s children do not fear.

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

Romans 8:15

I have nothing to fear as a child of God. God is my Father. He cares for me. He loves me. He keeps me as His own child, safely in His own household, secured by His love and His power.

A couple of verse from an old hymn are ringing in my soul right now:

I once was an outcast stranger on earth,

A sinner by choice and an alien by birth.

But I’ve been adopted, my name’s written down,

An heir to a mansion, a robe, and a crown.

My Father’s own Son, the Savior of men

Once wandered on earth as the poorest of them,

But now He is pleading our pardon on high

That we may be His when He comes by and by

I’m a child of the King

A child of the King:

With Jesus my Savior

I’m a child of the King.

Anxiety brings nothing helpful.

And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

Matthew 6:27

This question comes from Jesus Himself as part of His Sermon on the Mount. This sermon is the most compelling and convicting message ever preached. I read through it several times through the course of each year and it never fails to move my soul in some way. As a pastor, I have counseled people by encouraging them to go directly to Jesus to learn to live life from this sermon. And it always addresses the soul’s deep needs. It is a source of wisdom, comfort, correction, and direction.

Today the words of Jesus in this question resonate in my heart in the light of the world in lockdown as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. My part of the world is now 30 days into “stay home” orders. I’d be lying if I said I haven’t worried about a thing. I’ve caught myself in worry many times. This worry has not tended so much toward my health as much as I have worried about the long term economic impact with nearly a third of America unemployed right now and economies worldwide in free fall. It is a scary time.

But then Jesus’ question confronts my anxiety boldly. Worry WILL NOT give me anything! It actually just makes things worse. It ruins my mindset. It seizes my heart and directs it away from honest faith. It disrupts my sleep. It complicates my closest relationships. It draws me from truly worshiping and trusting God. It really shows my lack of faith and rebel heart that wants to save itself somehow. When anxiety is in control, it is a sign my heart’s priorities are way out of alignment with the life Jesus wants me to live.

Lord Jesus,

I will trust You. The God Who feeds birds and dresses up flowers will surely take care of me as I trust Him! I will seek first, not my own anxious need blown out of proportion, but instead cultivate a longing for Your kingdom to come and Your will be done even in events I have never known before. You will take care of my world because it is impossible for anxiety to take care of even the smallest portion of anything in my life! 

Amen

future stability

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day:

“Give thanks to the LORD,

call upon his name,

make known his deeds among the peoples,

proclaim that his name is exalted.”

Isaiah 12:3-4

As messed up as our world seems right now, the Bible points us to a future hope that can help us confidently trust the One Who is writing all of the story of planet earth. This passage is Isaiah is a glimpse of it. It is a song of praise, written for saints to sing about the saving rule of Jesus. In Isaiah’s prophecy Jesus is the “righteous branch” Who springs from the root of Jesse, with the Spirit of the Lord upon Him. He judges in righteousness and leads perfectly. He executes justice for all the oppressed and swiftly judges their wicked oppressors (Isaiah 11:1-5).

The results of the future rule of Jesus include a worldwide peace that reshapes the natural world into a global Eden (Isaiah 11:6-9). Israel is regathered from among all nations to rise to prominence on the world stage (Isaiah 11:10-16) as God eliminates all further threats to His covenant people. That sets up Isaiah 12 and its song of praise for the salvation brought by Jesus.

There is a day revealed clearly in the Bible when God through Christ brings final justice, judgment, and righteous order to the world. All the bad stuff and all the sad stuff will end and fade into distant memory. And humanity will know the peace we have always sought. We will joyfully worship the God Whose glorious love has brought us deep wells of salvation from which to drink through Jesus. And we will thrive and joyfully worship Him as we were made to do!

Repentance is serious.

If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword;

he has bent and readied his bow;

he has prepared for him his deadly weapons,

making his arrows fiery shafts.

Psalm 7:12-13

God takes our sin much more seriously than we do. There are dangerous consequences awaiting the person who is aware of sin, but refuses to admit it, turn from it, and turn to God’s forgiving grace in Jesus. The poetry here in this psalm shows God as a ready, muscular warrior, sharp sword drawn, bow bent with a burning arrow at the ready to launch against a rebel soul. Deadly weapons are drawn. The unrepentant soul is looking down the shaft of God’s burning arrow of judgment.

This description comes after the reminder in Psalm 7:11 that “God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.” We may feel God doesn’t see what’s wrong. That’s our miscalculation. It is a deadly one. God sees it all. He is the holy judge. And unrepentant sin must be dealt with by Him.

The good news is that for those who will repent  and trust Him, the Lord is a saving shield (Psalm 78:10). Repentance puts you in a position of protection, not punishment. God tests our minds and hearts. He forgives through His Son all who will in their hearts turn to Christ for forgiveness, finding relief from the consequences of their sins through His death and resurrection. They then seek Christ to rule over them in what they now do. The bow is unbent, the sword is sheathed, and the arrow God once had ready to launch against the sinner is then quivered as His nail scarred hands reach out and embrace the repentant sinner in complete and eternal forgiveness.

everyone a slave

I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

Romans 6:19

Scripture teaches that everybody is a slave to something. That is Paul’s point in Romans six. Either you are still enslaved to a sinful nature that leads you in consistent sinful disobedience to God, or you are a runaway slave from sin, now willfully choosing to be the slave of Christ so that through Him you can live in righteousness. This new slavery is a much better, and actually liberating lifestyle!

Everybody serves someone or something as their authority. To make that choice on in our “natural limitations” will naturally lead us into sin, impurity, and disobedience to God’s Law. And those things will all lead to death (Romans 6:21). To trust Christ, turn from sin, believe that His death and resurrection are the only solution for the sin problem in each of us, and live by faith in Him leads to God’s Spirit producing in the believer right living and holiness. That commitment ends in eternal life (Romans 6:22-23).

So my choice today is to turn my back on what my sinful self demands: selfishness, pride, greed, and lust. Instead, I will look to my Savior to find grace, humility, mercy, and hope. As those holy parts of Jesus fill my heart and thoughts, I can change to be His slave, leading me to my soul’s complete, joy filled freedom. 

Fight your exploitation!

And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”

Matthew 4:3

The devil loves to exploit vulnerabilities. He is a master at it. It is the marriage with unspoken expectations, poor communication, and dashed hopes that implodes with infidelity. It is the traumatized frontline soldier tempted to lash out in bitter anger and physical violence at the people who care the most. It is the weary parent that snaps at a son or daughter when they are only being children. And it was a hungry and exhausted Jesus Who was challenged by the tempter to turn dry desert rocks into warm fresh loaves of bread.

But Jesus did not fall for the devil’s low and inside pitch of temptation. He countered firmly with trust in God and belief that God’s Word was more sustaining than any outcome from buying the devil’s lies. He knew men lived not by bread, but by the Word of God (see His quotation of Deuteronomy 8:3 in Matthew 4:4). Jesus served notice to Satan that the Word of God sustained and Satan’s words destroyed.

And so, right now, let’s remember to fight temptations to our vulnerabilities. Stuck at home for God knows how much longer, we might be tempted to be angry or short with family; to indulge a lust, whether with porn, alcohol, or over-eating; to neglect paying attention to our souls through prayer, reading and reflecting on scripture, and worship. Don’t let the devil exploit current weaknesses! Stay strong in the sustaining power of the gospel. Follow the example of our Master and Savior and punch right through the devil’s lies with the truth of the Word of God!

what not to fear

Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.

Isaiah 8:12-13

Let’s face it: right now people are afraid and everything feels disrupted. Our lives are being uprooted in crucial, personal areas. The word “unprecedented” is being used most frequently to describe our days. And this makes it easy to fear. There are conspiracies of fear... fear this virus will rage uncontrolled... fear that medical care will be tested to failure... fear that economies are collapsing beyond recovery... conspiracies range from “5G wireless created the Coronavirus” to political fears that authoritarianism will destroy human liberties permanently.

But God does not call us to give in to a culture of fear. In fact, the tendency to do so is ancient. Here is God calling the prophet Isaiah to preach a message against the fear that enveloped Israel and Judah around 700BC. The call is for God’s people to reject fearful paranoia about suffering, and to honor God, fear Him in worship, and see things from God’s sovereign point of view. They were a generation that was living in unprecedented times for them. And they were called to center on God and His purposes.

Lord,

Today I trust You. I will not give in to wild fear, acting as if this is all out of Your control. I will trust that You are doing Your work. I will honor You as holy, not let fear rule in my heart, love others, and wait for You to bring peace to me. Jesus, You are the same yesterday, today, and forever. You will care for me even though I have never known times like these.

Amen

Grace Like A Shield

But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;

let them ever sing for joy,

and spread your protection over them,

that those who love your name may exult in you.

For you bless the righteous, O LORD;

you cover him with favor as with a shield.

Psalm 5:11-12

You see me, dear Father

and You call me by name;

through Jesus You’ve rescued me

from brokenness and shame.

And now I am different

by all that You’ve done...

redeemed, complete, and holy

by the merits of Your Son.

I did not deserve

the smile on Your face;

It is all a gift

of Your mercy and grace.

To Jesus I surrender,

my soul I will yield;

now I fear nothing for

Your grace is my shield.

Today is uncertain..

tomorrow’s unclear...

yet I am unworried...

Your grace is right here!

Covered by grace now

I am not afraid.

I will look to my future...

to the home Jesus made.

We need God’s Word in good times and bad times.

And there, in the presence of the people of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written.

Joshua 8:32

On Mount Ebal Joshua built an altar and led Israel to worship God Who led them both in joyous victory, and in painful judgment and defeat. The recent history behind this worship service was this: Israel defeated the mighty city of Jericho by strictly following God’s exact instructions. God brought down the walls and a powerful enemy was routed. But then Israel was defeated against the smaller city of Ai. God revealed to Joshua and the nation that this defeat was a consequence of one person’s disobedience to Him at Jericho. It is a sad and disillusioning time.

Israel then confronts the wicked Achan, the source of the disobedience, and judgment falls swiftly on his entire household as a consequence. Only after this time of judgment does God give victory over Ai. The cycles was: victory, defeat, repentance, confrontation, judgment, obedience, and finally victory again. And this leads to the worship celebration set up by Joshua on Mount Ebal. Central to that worship was paying attention to the Word of God. The text says Joshua built the altar exactly as spelled out in the law of God. The Law of Moses (probably the Ten Commandments) was carefully inscribed on the stone altar where sacrifices of praise are offered. Later, Joshua reads the entire Pentateuch to the assembled nation (Joshua 8:34-35) so that they might know and pay attention to what God has said and done for them.

The Word of God is central to believers in Jesus in good times and in hard times. We need to trust His Word. We need to receive and believe His truth. We need to worship Jesus, the Living Word! We need to pay attention to what God has said, because we are easily misled by our own desires both in victory or in suffering. Thankfully His Word is very near!

sin crouching at the door

The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

Genesis 4:6-7

The first recorded anger led to the first recorded murder. But God intervened to counsel Cain. It always amazes me that Cain just kept giving in to the domination of anger. He was upset that Abel’s sacrifice pleased God, and God literally spoke to Cain about how to worship God better. Yet anger was stronger in Cain’s heart than this direct conversation with God.

His motivation in sacrifice and worship was clearly to please himself and not God. And the wild beast of sin in Cain’s anger did more than crouch at the door... it took over his thoughts and actions, ending in the murder of his brother Abel in a jealous rage. Sin ruled him as Cain disobeyed the warning of the Word of God.

Emotions can dominate us if we brood on them. And if we refuse to pay full attention to the Word of God we can be overwhelmed in sinful emotion and do the things we’d never thought we would. The Bible does not teach us that emotions are neutral. They show where are hearts are. And only God, through His Word and Holy Spirit can change our hearts.

why this Friday is “good”

It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Romans 4:24-25

Today is Good Friday... the day to contemplate the sacrifice of Jesus for us... Jesus Who, as this passage reminds us, was delivered over for our sins. And it is the outcome of all of Christ’s death as the apostle Paul teaches us here that makes us as Christians look upon Jesus in a special way today. We consider His mocking, beating, humiliation, and death and we believe it to be to our benefit. We dare to call this Friday good.

It is good that we have a Savior Who willingly gave Himself for us. It is good that we have a God Who would deliver up His Son to the death that He died for us. It is good that our sins were born by Jesus on that cross. And it is good to know that through His death on our behalf, which was very real, our salvation in turn is very real. And it is good to know this is not the end of the story.

Today Christians will look upon Jesus as He bore our sins. We will reflect on His gift of love. We will mourn that a holy God must die for us. We will look at His cross, not in pity, but in thankful worship for His amazing grace. And we will hold on to that somber worship until we rejoice together on Resurrection Sunday!

You can’t stop God.

But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead.”

Matthew 2:19-20

The devil wanted to destroy the work of Jesus before it could even be started. When King Herod heard from visiting wise men that a new king had been born in Bethlehem, he issued a horrible order. He sent a death squad to Bethlehem where all boys under 2 years of age were then systematically murdered. But God protected Jesus, warning Joseph in a dream to flee to Egypt. Then, later, after the death of the crazy ruler Herod, Joseph was told to return to Israel.

Jesus was born to die on a cross, and not at the hands of an insane tyrant. He would give His life. It would not be taken. And so, God kept the gospel story safe even as an evil world conspired against it. Evil always opposes the life and work of Jesus. And it will until the time when He returns to finally rule this world in holiness and peace. We can always expect circumstances to challenge the task of spreading the good news that Jesus died and rose again to bring true eternal life to all who will believe.

Christians need not fear the evil that is in this world. God protects His saving work. This present crisis is a great example. The gospel thrives in a new way with churches proclaiming it publicly like never before. This virus forced us into public proclamation via the internet. A sickness that is part of the curse on this world has become a motivation to boldly share Jesus as broadly as possible. We cannot cloister in our buildings. We now share Jesus in the public square to any who will listen. We freely declare peace and power in Jesus! Nothing stops God’s saving work... not politics, not human power, not disease, not death, and not the decree of man. May the gospel move forward this Holy Week like never before!

cleansed and pardoned

Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD:

though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be as white as snow;

though they are red like crimson,

they shall become like wool.

Isaiah 1:18

God was making an offer to bring full pardon to His people with this call for them to consider repentance. They carried on their hands the blood of broken lives and disobedience to God’s law. As a nation they had rebelled against God (Isaiah 1:2), dealt corruptly with one another (Isaiah 1:4), participated in fake, showy, pretentious religion (1:11-15), defied justice, oppressed the powerless for personal gain, and denied justice to orphans and widows (Isaiah 1:17).

Nevertheless, God was offering to cleanse His people of their guilt of all this if they would only turn away from these motivations and actions and willingly obey His covenant with them (Isaiah 1:19). God offers mercy and grace, even to the most persistent sinners. Israel did not deserve this offer of forgiveness. They earned judgment, but God was ready to bring mercy if they would just reasonably repent.

God is the same today, offering a forgiving mercy and a full pardon to all those who repent of sin and trust in Jesus (Romans 10:9-13)! It is not earned nor deserved. It is a gift to the undeserving. It is freely offered us in Christ... a grace greater than all the wrong we have done (Romans 5:15-17). Our sins put us at enmity with God, but Christ will put us into friendship with God (Romans 5:10-11). And that is why Christians rejoice in the cross and empty tomb! This proves our free pardon. The gospel accomplished this on the cross and the truth echoes joyfully in the empty stone tomb: Jesus has released us from the bondage of sin and death! Our sins are cleansed! Our salvation is here! We believe!

good news for a broken world

...concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord...

Romans 1:3-4

The person and life of Jesus is good news in a broken world. When the apostle Paul set out to write to Christians in Rome about the gospel of Christ which he longed to preach to them in person, he began in this introduction to root the gospel in two realities about Jesus: 1) He really lived as a person with a real family and background (descended from David), and 2) He really was God’s Son Who defeated death in His resurrection from the dead.

On those two facts rest all the hope and firm assurance of every Christian. This week, as we celebrate Holy Week, somberly reflecting on His sacrifice this Friday and wildly rejoicing in His resurrection life on Sunday, we will worship a real, historic, risen, and powerful Lord! It really happened and it really is good news!

Jesus is the good news in a broken world. He is the life that reverses the curse of death. Where we are powerless, He is powerful! Where we are broken, He is perfect! Where we are troubled, He is peace! Believe in Jesus! Believe this good news, my soul!

Come, Lord Jesus!

The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

Revelation 22:17

Your church longs for You to return Lord Jesus! We know that the Day when You do so will put an end to all sin and suffering. You will set this miserable world right and rule us in grace and peace. This is what our hearts truly desire.

Yet You want right now to offer that all those in need, all those thirsting for meaning and soul renewal might first come to You to freely receive the water of life and be clean and new. You long to fill souls with this peace that only You can bring. And so Your church keeps telling this good news so that others may know You. This is truth: Jesus died for our sins, He was buried, and He rose again from the dead so that we might have peace with God. Oh Jesus, keep drawing people in Your mercy to believe this!

Come Lord Jesus! Come into thirsty souls and quench them. Come Lord Jesus! Return again and restore us, our Lord and our God!

Amen

hanging on to future hope

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.

Revelation 21:4

What comfort Christian future hope brings at a time such as this! Humanity always lives with the reality of our mortality... with pain, sickness, death and our emotional turmoil of dread, mourning, tears, and crying. But when God remakes this world and Jesus restores all of creation to God’s original design, freed from sin’s curse, these heartaches will all vanish to become only recollections!

But until then there will be tears and crying. Until then sickness, pain, and death must be mourned. Why? We must grieve what is wrong. We know this is not the kind of world we were made for! We feel it very intensely now! It calls us to consider that God offers so much more. A sin-marred world is being redeemed in Jesus, one day to be totally remade by Him!

The time is coming when all the things we now grieve over... all the things that hurt and destroy... ALL of them will become “former things”. Death will be a memory of a long ago bad age. Death itself will be a defeated plague. And eternity rolls forward in a beautiful world remade glorious, filled with the presence of God. Those who repent of sin, and follow Jesus hold onto the future hope that our present pains will indeed by distant memories... swallowed up in the eternal life and pleasures of being with our Creator, taking in His glorious new universe, and living as we were always made to live.

Do Not Disbelieve

Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

John 20:26-28

alone, afraid

locked away

confused, astounded

disciples prayed

bold, empowered

in that hour

Jesus came to them

so they wouldn’t cower

questions and doubts

were brought out

Jesus knew, Jesus cared

and turned them about

Son of God

beat death’s odds

instilling faith again

“My Lord and my God!”

doubt and fear

can’t stay here

when Jesus reigns

that much is clear

struggling to believe

He is doing good in me

I must believe my Lord

enduring grace to receive