Motherhood is a Sisterhood...unrivaled by any other (except perhaps, Grandmother-hood). So if you are a mom, you are my beloved sister...
And sometimes we mama-sisters just need to be daughters...Abba's (Hebrew for Daddy) little girls.
So this Mothers' Day, let us hear these restful words of promise from our Abba:
Read MoreYears ago, I heard a sermon on the Ascension of Christ. To tell you the truth, I had never thought much of the Lord's Ascension. My focus had always been on the death, burial, and resurrection of my Lord...and the incredible benefits to me as His child and disciple. But lately I’ve been pondering anew the glory of it all and its vital importance to my own spiritual walk in this sin-cursed world.
Read MoreSeveral years ago, I came across an inspiring cartoon in my "Easter" file. I think my husband John, who had been the family reader of the Sunday funnies in years gone by, cut it out and gave it to me back in April 2001. So there in my file, this little treasure has been tucked away for all these years.
For those of you who have been following the Lenten Meditations on a branch in the Vine, this piece serves as a fitting climax during Holy Week.
Read MoreNow I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.
So goes a traditional nighttime prayer taught by American moms to their children for generations. It may seem odd to us today that there would be the mention of death in a child's prayer. But scientists say that sleep is the closest we come to death while still alive. The Greeks even had a proverb,
Sleep and death are brothers.
However, in the first century, Jewish moms taught their children a different bedtime prayer...quoting Psalm 31:
Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit.
Read MoreTetelestai!* It is finished! The death of Christ on the Cross is the HINGE of human history...and nowbefore He breathes His last breath... a cry of victory,It is finished!
What's finished? It must be something BIG,...look at what happened when Jesus died:
At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead.
Read MoreThirst is a primal need in all of us humans...more demanding even than hunger! We can go quite awhile without eating, but a very short time without drinking. Jesus on the Cross had refrained up to this point from satisfying His thirst. Instead He drank the Father's cup to the very last drop. He became sin for us...the Sinless One. Jesus took our place. Now in fulfillment of prophecy, Jesus expresses His own physical need:
After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said ( to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. John 19:28-29 ESV
Read MoreAbandoned. With no Rescuer in sight. What happens next in the unfolding drama of the crucifixion of our Lord is a mystery. Let's watch it unfold...
It is noon.
Read MoreDear woman, behold your son...behold your mother. (John 19:26)
Jesus has a special love for His own. As we've already seen with His forgiving and saving attitude in the midst of excruciating agony, His concern was not with His own suffering. Rather His attention was next drawn to His precious loved ones at the foot of His cross, His mother and His beloved disciple John.
What agony Jesus must have seen on Mary's face.
Read MoreTruly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise. Luke 23:43
Jesus seems to have a special love for lost people. I love the stories He tells in Luke 15. The first is the beloved story of the shepherd who has a hundred sheep but leaves the ninety-nine to look for the one that is lost. Then when he finds his lost one, he calls in his neighbors and friends to rejoice with him.
Read MoreChrist’s first saying from the Cross ushers us into our basic need as fallen humanity. Listen in and reflect on the amazing love and grace of our forgiving Lord …
Alexander Pope (1688-1744), English poet, once said,To err is human; to forgive, divine.
So true...but we humans more readily echo what someone else has said,
To err is human, but to get even? THAT is divine.
We struggle so, with forgiving our offenders! Perhaps that's why we are amazed and awestruck to realize that Jesus' first words from the Cross were ones of forgiveness.
Read MoreBut I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
2 Corinthians 11:3 NKJV
The simplicity that is in Christ, my word for the year, has grabbed hold of me deeply.
As I was preparing a lesson on Spiritual Warfare for our ladies’ Bible class, I was arrested by my word and verse again.
Of course, HE is the key to spiritual warfare, and setting my mind simply on HIM is the answer to every battle I face in this life. After all, HE is the One who has already won the war (Hebrews 2:14-15)!
Read MoreMy friend Penny is a walker (a very serious, fast walker, by the way). But Penny doesn't just walk for exercise, she also "walks" closely with the Lord. So when Penny shares, I listen. And when she shared about a favorite Christmas carol, it made me take notice. Why? Because while walking, Penny has been doing what this song describes.
Read MoreIf ever we needed to know God is WITH us in every possible way, it's NOW, after another year of the unanswerable "why's" of life. We struggle to make sense of all the violence, suffering, and injustice we see all around us. Though we can't know the answers, we can turn afresh to the One Who has us in the palm of His Hand. The God Who became One of us...flesh and bone and joint and sinew...who experienced every emotion possible, raw and gripping, tender and affectionate! He felt it all! And He feels our current struggle with us too!
Read More"The Good News isn't just that Jesus died for our sins. The Good News is EMMANUEL...GOD WITH US!" So declared Deb at the end of our Bible Study.
As John and I drove home that evening, we reflected on her statement. We recalled a conversation we had had years before when we were discussing what the heart of the gospel ("Good News") is. The Good News isn't just that our sins are forgiven so we can go to heaven someday (and now we just do the best we can in the meantime).
Read MoreKey Verses:
So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. Heb 4:9-11 ESV
Read Chapter 25: Entering God's Rest
1. Is your life characterized by an inner rest? What does your answer tell you about the degree to which you are trusting Christ as your life?
Read MoreDo not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21 ESV
Key Question:
Are you wholly attached to Christ or is He just "a piece of the pie"?
Read MoreKey Verse:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. Luke 10:27 ESV
Key Question:
Who is my point of reference, God or myself?
Read MoreKey Verse:
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 2 Timothy 4:6-7 ESV
Key Question:
How is God's love manifested through us?
Read MoreThe lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord. Proverbs 16:33 ESV
Key Question:
How do we know the "will of God?"
Read MoreTo him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers...My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. John 10:3-5,27 ESV
Key Question:
How do we hear God?
Read MoreJanet Renner Loyd has been a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ most of her life. Her formal education includes a degree in education from the University of Arizona and also a degree in Bible & Theology from Moody Bible Institute. For more than thirty years, she has been involved in teaching and leading women’s Bible studies, retreats, and meetings…most notably Precept upon Precept and various studies that she has personally developed. Professionally, Jan recently retired from teaching language and writing to GED and adult ESOL students.
About her life, Jan says, “The most important thing about me is my relationship with my Father God through my Lord Jesus Christ. I am forever grateful to Him for His love, mercy, and grace to me and my family and friends...and the world.”
Jan has been happily married to John Loyd for more than forty years. They have two adult, married children and five lively young grandsons.
