Today's Walk With the Lord - Temptation, More Than We Think

Good Morning,

My current read is 'The Spirituality of Jesus' by Leslie T. Hardin. In this book the author covers 9 different Spiritual Disciplines that Jesus exhibited during the years of his ministry.

One of the disciplines is avoiding temptation. While we know that Jesus was tempted by Satan after He was baptized and received the Holy Spirit, there were other temptations that He resisted.

Jesus was asked to stay in places he was popular and he chose not to. He also sent away the masses and His disciples so He could pray in solitude.

These actions were to keep Jesus away from the crowds trying to annoint him King and more importantly, to keep him focused on fulfilling his mission and the Father's will.

Temptation can come in more forms than just the lore of the flesh, and of money and material things. It can be for our time and our thoughts as well.

Something to think about.

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg
sanford@berenberg.net
www.berenberg.net

Today's Walk With The Lord - Everything Went Wrong - Just the Way The Lord Had Planned

Good Morning,

 

Earlier this week I was scheduled to be at a church service for St. Andrews day and the service started at 6 pm. I left the office shortly after 5 pm and made the run to the church. Traffic was bad as it was raining and one think led to another: the GPS kept giving me the estimated time of arrival of 5:50, 5:55, 6:00, 6:05, etc.

 

There was a train crossing a major thoroughfare at 6 PM rush hour. I knew someone, somewhere was laughing at the impact to rush hour traffic, but that day, it was no me.

 

I made a few wrong turns followed by course corrections, and ultimately, I made it to the Church by 6:15 pm.  It was pitch black with a few lights, the road glistened in the lights and I found a parking spot just at the edge of the parking lot. I then went up to the Church and hoped the service had been delayed but there was joyous singing going on.

 

I then contemplated turning around and leaving, but I did have my full Prince Charlie and Kilt on, and I was not that late.

 

So after the song ended, I walked in and found a spot behind my fellow Scottish Society members. While I missed a portion of the service, I was able to enjoy and rest and even participate.

 

Everything turned right side up from that point forward and the whole event turned into a wonderful event, just like the Lord had planned.

 

What I realized is that as things were falling apart in my eyes, that God's plan was well in the works, and it all ended just fine.

 

My perception was skewed. I kept trying to tell myself that this is okay, the Lord has my back, and it will all work out. The longer I tried to hold onto my plans and how I wanted or thought things should be, the more upset I got. When I let it go and accepted what was placed before me, it turned out even better than I had originally hoped for.

 

Praise the Lord and his God-sized plans!

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

sanford@berenberg.net

www.berenberg.net