EMMANUEL NOT EMMAUS
Luke 24:13-32

Frustration is defined as a feeling of dissatisfaction, often accompanied by anxiety or depression, resulting from unfulfilled needs or unresolved problems. Also, frustration can be a direct cause of distraction, discouragement and disappointment. Above all, wherever distraction has a place, discouragement and disappointment will be evident and it often leads to inability to see and hear from where there is a way to life. “Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15 So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.” (Luke 21:13-16)  After the breaking news of Christ’s resurrection, there were two of His followers traveling to Emmaus while others were scrambling and attempting to confirm the breaking news of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The two on their journey to Emmaus were consumed by the “3Ds” (distraction, discouragement, and disappointment) because of Jesus’ death. As a result of the 3Ds manifestation in them they failed to see and could not identify with Jesus. Also, they could not listen to hear and identify the voice of Jesus. What is it that has come upon you on this journey of life? What is taking the driver’s seat in your vehicle of life’s journey? Luke 24:15-16, “So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.” They could see in the physical, but they had lost sight of their Savior. They knew Jesus well, but they did not know Him well enough to identify with Him at the point of visitation after he had resurrected from where the devil could not hold Him captive. The two must have been at the point of frustration thinking their hope was gone. Are you experiencing frustration in any area of your life? Remind yourself that Jesus is not dead; He is a living God. Whenever frustration sets in, the 3Ds will take you for a ride in the wrong direction. When there is no sight or where sight becomes blurry, there will be a failure to see help whenever help is in place. At the time the two regained sight, it was time for Jesus’ departure. Luke 24:31, “Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.” Your story does not have to be like the two that were on the way to Emmaus because Emmanuel is what you are looking for and He has risen for us. If you will begin to put frustration in it’s proper place. You will begin to journey with concentration, encouragement and effective results will reign through your entire journey.
 
Prayer for today: Ask God to deliver you from every spirit of anxiety and frustration.

EXALT HIM
John 19

In Him there was no fault but He was faulted. He was excessively beaten, He was denied, He was disrespected, He was rejected by His people, He was moved around in pain without His will, He was misrepresented and His disciples withdrew themselves from Him. Above all, a minor lower rank officer stepped over his limitations during His trial. Once after His response to the high priest’s questioning, “And when He had said these things, one of the officers who stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, “Do You answer the high priest like that?” (John 18:22) The King of kings, Lord of lords could have avoided all kinds of humiliation but he wants for us to be positioned at the juncture where humiliation will not have its way over our life. Pilate founded no fault in Him when he said to the people, “…I find no fault in Him at all.39 “But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” 40 Then they all cried again, saying, “Not this Man, but Barabbas…” (John 18:38-40) Jesus was replaced for a criminal, a robber. Above all, He did not fight back but He fought on by drinking the cup of sin, pain, grief and every other undesirable punishment. Jesus carried the cross so we would be enabled to cross over. “And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, 18 where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center. (John 19:17-18) From the time of His birth in a manger where sheep reside, to the point of death in place of a criminal, He demonstrated humility. Jesus had a set mind and it was a mind of humility. His mindset made Him an overcomer, He alone is to be magnified, and He alone is to be exalted. His mindset qualified Him for it to be impossible for Him to be victim of captivity. Also, in His grave of three days He remained as Lord of lords that could not be overthrown by the grave or death. Philippians 2:5-9, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name.”
 
Prayer for today: Ask Him for the enablement of the mind of Christ in your life and He will do it if you desire it.  

BETRAYAL WITH FASHION
John 18

The time of His betrayal did not come without expectation. Jesus knew when and how it was going to be but the ones that followed Him did not know when and how they were going to betray Him. While He was in the garden with His disciples for prayer, “…He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow. 46 Then He said to them, “Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation.” The disciples that had fellowshipped with Him day and night in operating the business of the Kingdom of God failed to wait with Him in prayer. The disciples demonstrated the level of their love in obedience when they fell asleep instead waiting along with Him in prayer. Jesus began to experience a fashionable betrayal at the hands of His closest ones. Betrayal was not over with the sleeping. The Bible recorded, “And while He was still speaking, behold, a multitude; and he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss Him. 48 But Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”(Luke 22:47-48) Betrayal continued with kissing. The ones that were called, the ones that know Him betrayed Him in a different fashion; they could not give it all but they gave in to all kinds of means to sell Him cheap so He could die a costly death. Among the fashionable betrayals was that of Simon. When Jesus revealed to him how he was going to deny Him three times before the rooster crowed, Simon declared, “Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death.” The words of Jesus to Simon were true and consistent when Simon denied Jesus three times in the face of prison and death. Simon denied Him with fashion just before the cock crowed. All those who surrounded Jesus, all that knew Him and walked with Him day and night; all that ate and drank with Him in fellowship denied Him with fashion. Just as it was with His disciples then, so it is with those that claim to be His followers now. Clearly, manipulation, deception and lying, were evident in the three forms of betraying Him in the garden. As an acclaimed believer, do you have any fashionable way of betraying Him? In the eyes of Pastor of pastors, King of kings, the only One that matters, are you betraying Him in any fashionable way? See if there is any fashionable way of betraying Him in your walk; seek for mercy and He will heed your cry.
 
Prayer for today: O Lord, search me and see if there is any way that I am betraying you. Do not withhold your mercy from me o Lord.

KEEPING DISTANCE
Luke 22:54-63

As an acclaimed believer in the Living Word of God, have you been reducing or increasing in keeping your distance to the living Word of God? Keeping your distance away from the Living Word of God will keep you away from standing in Him. Inability to stand in the Word will cause you to fall and deny Him. Peter saw and heard it all in his walk with the Lord Jesus Christ yet, he entered into a big stumble. Keeping distance from the Living Word of God is an indirect request of a believer’s life by the Satan. Luke 22:31, “And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.” Jesus revealed the purpose and program of Satan for the life of Simon. Jesus gave Peter the details, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me.” (Luke 22:34) Jesus warned Peter ahead of time but Peter could not avoid denying Jesus. Indeed and in truth Peter denied Jesus not once but three times just as the Lord revealed. Peter spent time with Jesus, he was a man that witnessed the miracles of Jesus and yet Peter denied Jesus. The warning and stumbling of Peter demonstrates that the race of life is only by grace. It will take only the grace of God to keep a believer from stumbling where stumbling is eminent. If a man like Peter could deny Jesus, what will happen to believers of today when challenges show up? Peter’s denial had a gradual process and it was not sudden. Luke 22:54, “Having arrested Him, they led Him and brought Him into the high priest’s house. But Peter followed at a distance.” Peter’s denial started at the point when he began to follow Jesus at distance. As a believer, are you experiencing any life challenges that are threatening and intimidating o your well being? It is not the time to keep distance but the time to take a stand by keeping closer to the Living Word of God. At every time or in every situation that you choose to follow the Living Word of God at distance, you have taken a deliberate step into a big fall in the race of life. Today, do not let your situation or your challenges dictate how or when you will spend time in the Living Word of God. If you will turn to the pages of the Scripture, then you will eliminate distance and be able to maintain your stand and not fall in the race of life. The Word of God is True and Amen. 
 
Prayer for today:Ask God to deliver you from every force that causes man to take a distance position in walking with Him.

JUDAS
Luke 22:1-6

Jesus declared in John 10:10, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” The thief that Jesus was talking about was active then and is still active and alive today. Jesus was not talking about imaginary thief but the thief that is moving around and looking for one to devour, regardless of that one’s stand in the Lord. The thief is actively active more than ever before. Two things a thief will put in place before his strike are: A thief will not announce time or the way he will take in his attempt to strike. Secondly, when a thief comes, he will have a need for an entrance into the ground of his strike. In order for thief to gain an entrance, an opening will have to be in place or he will create the opening if you allow him. That thief is the Satan himself. When the thief visited the disciples of Jesus, he was looking for whom to use in selling Jesus. In Judas, the thief was able to locate an opening that granted him entrance for his agenda, Luke 22:3, “Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve.” Satan was able to enter Judas because there was an opening for him in Judas. Judas, a disciple of Jesus, left himself opened for Satan. Are you having any opening that Satan could enter into? It does not matter who you are or how long you have been following Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior, when the thief locates an opening, he will hesitate to operate from your inside until you loose your number among those that are called. The effect of Satan’s gaining entrance into Judas is stated in Luke 22:4, “So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them.” Satan’s entrance caused Judas to go out of the Way into his own way. The entrance gained by the thief made Judas to step outside of the Way into the way that seems right to him. There is only one way that leads to life and every other ways, including the one that seems right to you does not have life to offer but death. Proverb 14:12, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” Judas took to his own way and he conferred with Satan and his agents on how he was going to betray the one and only Master of all masters. Are you seriously paying attention to your self so that there will be no any conscious or unconscious opening that will give a place for the thief? Stay close and not walk outside of the Way He will lead you into life.

Prayer for today: Ask for God’s presence to fill every opening in your life.