The Morning Watch

I wrote this in 2003 after being challenged to write a poem about what Easter meant to me. 🙂 What does Easter mean to me? I asked myself one day. What is the true meaning of this holiday? The Easter bunny? The Easter eggs? The Easter chocolates too? Could there be another reason of this holiday for you? Then I remembered long ago into Sunday school, when I was just a little child sitting on a stool. The teacher told us of a day when Jesus came to die, for all the sinners of the world, “including you and I!” She told us that He came to die, to wash our sins away, that He was buried and did rise upon that blessed day! “What day was that?” I asked her. “What day did Jesus rise?” She told us it was Easter day-Oh what a glad surprise! She told us, all who trust in Him would know a blessed peace, of Jesus blood, a covering, for all eternity! And now I know that blessed peace because of Easter day, because of my dear Saviour who gave His life away! The Easter bunny, the Easter eggs, the East...

My heart resonated with this dear woman in the following story. Have you been there? Perhaps in a different way? Searching for inner peace and spiritual healing? Running to different sources of entertainment or fleeting comforts, only to be disappointed in the end? Food obsession? Drugs? Alcohol? The next relationship? Reach out and “touch Him,” by faith dear friend. His name is Jesus. He came to set the captives free! He came to save a, “wretch like me!”  Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped. And Jesus said,  “Who touched Me?” When all denied it, Peter and those with him said,  “Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’ ” But Jesus said,  “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.”  Now when the woman saw that she was...

This morning, my thoughts turned to the giver of peace. Do you know someone who is or has been in a state of torment? Perhaps yourself? Unable to be still? Full of fear and anxiety? In such a state of addiction, believing there is no way out? No hope? No future? Often I would see these people in Psychiatric wards at the hospital, or on the streets, or in other places. Jesus saw them too. He still does. "He saw me, ruined in the fall, yet loved me not withstanding all; He saved me from my lost estate, His loving-kindness, oh, how great!" ( Awake, My Soul, to Joyful Lays by Samuel Medley ) The following story is about an encounter Jesus had with such a soul, taken from Mark Chapter 5:1-20 May it bring you hope and peace this day! Then  they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes.  And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an  unclean spirit,  who had  his  dwelling among the...

My friend was cooking curry tonight. I saw that she had some mustard seeds on the counter. I got to thinking about the smallest seeds on earth. It reminded me of what Jesus said in the gospel of Matthew 17:20, "Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. Is there a mountain in your way? Do things seem impossible? You see, the question is not, “How big is your faith? But rather, “How big is your God?” “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (Jeremiah 32:27) “‘Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.” (Jeremiah 32:17)  “Got any rivers you think are uncrossable? Got any mountains, you can’t tunnel through?  God specializes in things thought impossible,  He does the things others cannot do!”🎵 

Dear friend, Have you ever earnestly prayed for something knowing that you have unconfessed sin in your heart?  The story is told, in the gospel of Mark, of a paralytic man who was in the same situation. He desperately wanted physical healing, but Jesus made him aware of his greater need first.   And again He (Jesus) entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house.  Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them.  Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.  When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”  And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in thei...