Holy Week Devotions - 2014

As we enter into this Holy Week I invite you to devotion. The Journey from Palm Sunday to Easter Morning is filled with emotional highs and lows. We go from a day of remembering and recognition that Christ is our King to shouting “Crucify Him!” in a matter of Days.

This Holy Week I ask that you would take 5 minutes each day to reflect and center yourself on the story of Christ. I have a set of devotionals for Holy Week, Monday to Sunday, which follows Adam Hamilton’s 24 hours that changed the world. I will be posting a link via Social Media each day to the appropriate devotional and invite you to share the link with your friends and followers. This blog post will be a quick place to look for the links to each day so that you can simply tell your friends to check out www.JacobFields.org if you or they are not connected with me on Social Media.

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday
Sunday

*** These were written in 2011 ***

Get updates in your Inbox Email Address

Book Review: RE: Memos on Faith and Life by Timothy Palmer

Tim Palmer has been a friend of mine since the Fall of 2005 I have known him to be one of the most authentic and passionate individuals imaginable. His life and faith have been an example to me that I try to live up to. When I found out he was writing a book I couldn't wait to crack it open.

I had no idea what to expect.

Re: Memos on Faith and Life is truly that, a book of memos. Short Stories and poems from everyday life that cause you to stop and reflect on things that are important. Tim writes, much like he speaks, in a way that is easy to identify with on a personal level. Occasionally (yet intentionally) Tim has you wondering "where is he going with this?" and at just that moment he brings the idea full circle changing your perspective on the whole subject. 

I do not recommend buying this book to read it in a day, although of course you could do that with some ease. Instead I recommend buying this book and reading a story or two a day. Think about what is being said, pray about how the truth told in the stories can be true in your life, then use the the given lines to take notes. This is a great book to be used as a devotional and is cheap enough that you can get a group of friends together and buy 10 copies and use these stories as discussion starters. (Click Here To Get Your Copy)

My Favorite Story

Re: Jesus

I know Tim to be constant in word and deed with regard to caring for those in need. Which is something that I think we as Christians all wished we could do better on. In this story Tim gives an accounting of just one of those instances where he interacts with a man in need of assistance. Yet he frames the story in a way that makes it easier for all of us to live out love. In the spirit of Matthew 25 he replaces every instance of the man who was the least of these with the name Jesus. I am certain that you will find this story to be true, to be inspiring, and to be convicting. I have read this particular story at least 10 times already.

Holy Week - Saturday

This week is a very special week. It is the most important week on the entire Christian calendar and within this week we remember the events that changed our world forever. I always try to do something extra special this week of the year, and this year I have chosen to journey with you, through a book by Adam Hamilton. 24 Hours that Changed the World is a great book with only 7 chapters. So Each Day - Monday to Easter Sunday - I review a chapter from the book. I very much recommend that you click the link here and overnight yourself a copy so that you can join in the discussions of each chapter in the comments below.

Chapter 6 - The Crucifixion

Today, if we follow the footsteps of the disciples through the week, must have been the worst, how fitting it is that we examine the actual crucifixion today.

Hamilton points to two things about the method used and points to two common historical misconceptions about how Jesus may have suffered to the point of death. The first is to me less significant when it comes to exploring the emotions of the events that took place and that is the suggestion that Christ's feet were not one atop the other nailed to the cross but instead nailed separately on either side of the cross. This to me makes more logistical sense anyways considering the goal of crucifixion was a slow agonizing death and the nails in the feet were expected to be weight bearing so that the criminals could lift themselves to breathe and to ease the strain on their arms. So in a sense, the Romans would have wanted it to be easier for them to lift themselves up so the suffering would last longer (they kind of enjoyed that stuff).

The thing Hamilton points out that I want you to concentrate on is that there is a reason to believe that the cross was not nearly as tall as most imagery and movie scenes would seem to suggest. He says that it is likely that the vertical beam of the cross stood no more than 10 feet high with room above the criminal's head for the sign depicting the nature of his crime. This, for me, completely changes the emotions of the last 6 hours of Jesus' life. Hamilton begs us to imagine standing on a chair looking at our friends, from this vantage point it is still possible to look people in the eye. It is close enough to feel the emotion of your mother crying. It is close enough

to hear the voices of those mumbling statements of doubt. It is close enough to realize exactly what is going on as the soldiers are fighting over your clothes. As I mentioned this day, this Saturday after Good Friday and before Easter had to have been the worst day in the entire life of the disciples. Can you imagine being close enough to feel the struggle for life your Messiah went through as he prayed for those crucifying him? Can you imagine the sense of duty John must have felt when his teacher and his friend asks him to care for mother Mary? Can you imagine the sense of emptiness and defeat after Jesus Cried his last and they pierced his side? Can you imagine carrying Jesus Body into the tomb and laying down the dead corpse of the one you had believed would save the world? I am thankful that I did not have to suffer that day without the knowledge or understanding of what they would see come Sunday morning. I am thankful that I have never known a world that didn't know the best part of the story. Because in the moments of my life where I cannot see what God's plan could possibly be, in the moments of lowest hope in my life, it has to be nothing compared to laying Christ in a tomb and not knowing of the resurrection.

May you live a life that takes joy in knowing what they found the next day. May you live a life with the hope they did not know of on that Saturday long ago, and may you experience the reality of Christ resurrected.

Get updates in your Inbox Email Address

Holy Week - Good Friday

This week is a very special week. It is the most important week on the entire Christian calendar and within this week we remember the events that changed our world forever. I always try to do something extra special this week of the year, and this year I have chosen to journey with you through a book by Adam Hamilton. 24 Hours that Changed the World is a great book with only 7 chapters. So Each Day - Monday to Easter Sunday - I will review a chapter from the book. I very much recommend that you click the link here and overnight yourself a copy so that you can join in the discussions of each chapter in the comments below.

Chapter 5 - The Torture and Humiliation of the King

This is a difficult subject for me: flogging, beating, taunting. Of all the people in the entire world in all of history, it would be the easiest for us to point the finger at those people in that instant and say that is a sin: hitting Jesus with a whip, tearing his flesh over and over again. I am reminded of the movie Passion of Christ the scene from the movie that disturbed me the most was the flogging, it just kept going. When you got to the point of thinking that is enough it just kept going. Jesus never asked them to stop, he remained silent. In the moments of my sin is Christ there? is he standing silently waiting for me to realize how much he loves me? Does Jesus require or even ask us to stop or is his priority that we understand the lengths that he would go to show how much he loves us even in that moment. You see when I sin and realize that what I am doing is a sin and I continue in selfishness anyways, I am the one holding the whip. When it gets to the point where my actions have done so much damage the truth is that more often than not even I keep going. Jesus asks those who have received healing to "go and sin no more" yet to those who are still entrenched in their sin, like Zacheus the tax collector and like all those who inflict pain on him in the last hours of his life he never calls them to repent. Zacheus brought Jesus home with him and was compelled so much by Christ’s love that he changed his life without being asked. The Soldiers responsible for the task of torturing were surely included in those whom Jesus prayed for on the Cross "Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do" and surely they are included among the witnesses of the thunder and ground shaking and the dead being raised to life that it describes happened that afternoon. Surely their lives were changed. So what is it about God's love that without condemning us for what we are doing leads us to change?

For me, this reinforces that me changing for the better is only in response to God's love for me and not that I have to change before God will love me. This is true for all of us. Maybe you have understood a different way from people of the church, insisting that you must change your ways for God to accept you; that my friend is not the case. God loves you exactly the way you are, but thankfully he loves us so much that he will never leave us unchanged after we truly experience His love. So my question for you today is: In what ways have you experienced the Love of God? And how has that changed your life?

Get updates in your Inbox Email Address

Holy Week - Thursday

This week is a very special week. It is the most important week on the entire Christian calendar and within this week we remember the events that changed our world forever. I always try to do something extra special this week of the year, and this year I have chosen to journey with you through a book by Adam Hamilton. 24 Hours that Changed the World is a great book with only 7 chapters. So Each Day - Monday to Easter Sunday - I will review a chapter from the book. I very much recommend that you click the link here and overnight yourself a copy so that you can join in the discussions of each chapter in the comments below.

Chapter 4 - Jesus, Barabbas, and Pilate

Today's Chapter challenges me in many ways. It discusses the events of Pilate. At first, we have the accusations. There is something that happens even here that we as Christians should learn from. When hurtful and accusatory words were spoken about/ to Jesus, He did not become defensive. He did not himself become accusatory. He remained silent. This is so different from normal that a man, who had no historical problem with killing Jews, was hesitant. Something about Jesus stood out to Pilate so much that he "washed his hands" of Jesus Blood. So what is it about being calm and not defending yourself is so compelling that it would lead to this? It is just so unusual. The first thing I do, and many people I know, is to answer harsh words with harsh words. When someone speaks negatively to or about me without even thinking I react defensively often in a way that is just as petty as what is being said. In fact, this concept is so pervasive in human interactions that one of the best books on how to relate to people is almost exclusively about this subject, How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. If we are to be like Christ this is a very significant lesson.

In this chapter Hamilton also clearly communicates the idea of Substitution. Substitution is the belief that Christ who was sinless took the place of the sinners on the cross that we may be saved from sin and death and brought back into relationship with God. This belief means that the death Jesus Died was intended for me, and for you. The way that this is highlighted almost makes me jealous of Barabbas on that day. He was the first to experience the realization that Christ took his place on the cross when Pilate released him to the crowd while shouting to Crucify Jesus. Can you imagine a beaten and bloody Christ, standing silent across from you about to be lead to and nailed on a cross to die and you who have been guilty of murder (all sin is equal in the eyes of God) are being set free? Can you imagine looking into his eyes knowing that you should be in his place?

Can you imagine the reassuring look he might give back saying "don't feel guilty I choose to take this that you might live to know a God who LOVES YOU."

If we can put ourselves in Barabbas' place in that instance how would our lives change?

Get updates in your Inbox Email Address

Holy Week - Tuesday

This week is a very special week. It is the most important week on the entire Christian calendar and within this week we remember the events that changed our world forever. I always try to do something extra special this week of the year, and this year I have chosen to journey with you through a book by Adam Hamilton. 24 Hours that Changed the World is a great book with only 7 chapters. So Each Day - Yesterday to Easter Sunday - I will review a chapter from the book. I very much recommend that you click the link here and overnight yourself a copy so that you can join in the discussions of each chapter in the comments below.

Chapter 2 - The Garden of Gethsemane

We start off by being reminded that there was quite a walk from the meal to the place of prayer that night.

So for today's devotion, I want to encourage you to find a place outdoors, possibly in a park or even a church prayer garden to reflect on some of the things that Hamilton brings up in this chapter.

The garden is pointed out to be a bit of a parallel in the gospel of John to remind us of another thing that happened in the garden as Adam and Eve choose not to be obedient to God when they ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Christ is clearly sad about the things that he knows are going to happen. Through all the events that take place in that 24-hour window this is where he shows the most emotion. He takes the time to be alone, keeping his friends nearby and throws himself on the ground crying out to God even to the point of sweat like blood. I want you to think about the things that we know looking back that he knew looking forward. I want you to think about how he told God what he wanted, but in the end, he submits himself by saying "not my will but your's God." I want you to know that it is okay to cry to God in times of pain or even anger, God surely is big enough to handle you being upset with him. I encourage you also then to move forward from your feelings in obedience to God.

I want you to put yourself in the place of the disciples that fell asleep, trying so hard and knowing that you keep letting him down. (Yet remember he still loved them enough to bear the cross and rise again)

I want you to put yourself in the place of Jesus, knowing that everyone whom you trust will let you down at one point or another yet we should still choose to love and serve them.

Stay for a while in whatever place you have chosen to pray and as you leave that place pray "just as the disciples left you there alone in the hands of your accusers, I too am leaving this place for my own selfishness. Forgive me, and never leave me" Then trust that He will and He Won't! (He will forgive you, he will never leave you)

Get updates in your Inbox Email Address

Holy Week - Monday

This week is a very special week. It is the most important week on the entire Christian calendar and within this week we remember the events that changed our world forever. I always try to do something extra special this week of the year, and this year I have chosen to journey with you through a book by Adam Hamilton. 24 Hours that Changed the World is a great book with only 7 chapters. So Each Day - Today to Easter Sunday - I will review a chapter from the book. 

Chapter 1 - The Last Supper

When reflecting on the last supper Adam Hamilton does a fantastic job of describing the historical setting, background, and timeline of the events that happened during those hours.

Any time we look at this meal there are questions that we should ask of ourselves and things that we should humbly accept. The first of these things is the controversy of the statement Christ makes "one of you will betray me."  We often want to think that surely it is not I that would betray Christ, just as many of those in the room with him had. The reality is that we can personally identify with the experience of each disciple that night. Some of us are overcome with greed and feel as if continuing to fight for Christ in this time and place is a losing battle so we might as well cash in while we can, and we find ourselves with the blood on our hands from 30 pieces of silver. Some of us are overcome with fear as we see the pain and difficulty associated with admitting a relationship with Jesus, and we find ourselves in the place of Peter denying that we know him. Some of us feel like we try and try and try so hard but we just cannot continue with the discipline and focus it takes to follow Christ and we find ourselves asleep in the Garden. We find ourselves confused and questioning the Power of Christ in our own lives and find ourselves saying nothing and wondering the same as those who pass by the cross mocking Jesus saying if you are the Messiah the just come down from the cross and we will believe. We seem to want just a little more and a little more proof. 

The reality is not just that we can identify with the one who betrayed or the one who denied Jesus, the reality is that everyone in that room left Christ alone. Everyone turned their back. Each of us does the same. May we not continue to hide in shame of what we have done but realize that even after Christ knew what was going to happen, He still shared a meal with his friends. He still washed their feet. He still gave his life to overcome death for them. Even though he knows the deepest darkest parts of your soul, He Still Loves You to Death. 

  

Get updates in your Inbox Email Address