So, this the man did, day after day. For many years he toiled from sunup to sundown, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all his might!

Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and worn out, Feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain. Since the man was showing discouragement, the Adversary (Satan) decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the weary mind: (He will do it every time)!

You have been pushing against that rock for a long time and it hasn't moved.' Thus, he gave the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure. These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man.

Satan said, 'Why kill yourself over this? Just put in your time, giving just the minimum effort; and that will be good enough.' That's what the weary man planned to do, but decided to make it a matter of Prayer and to take his troubled thoughts to The Lord.

'Lord,' he said, 'I have labored long and hard in Your Service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that rock by half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?'

The Lord responded compassionately, “My friend, when I asked you to serve Me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all of your strength, which you have done.? Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push.

And now you come to Me with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed.

But, is that really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back shiny and brown; your hands are callused from constant pressure, your legs have become massive and hard.

Through opposition you have grown much, and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. True, you haven't moved the rock. But your calling was to be Obedient and to push and to exercise your Faith and trust in My wisdom . That you have done. Now I, my friend, will move the rock.” At times, when we hear a word from God, we tend to use our own intellect to decipher what He wants, when actually what God wants is just simple obedience and faith in Him.

By all means, exercise the Faith that moves mountains, but know that it is still God Who moves The Mountains.

When everything seems to go wrong………………….Just P.U.S.H.

When the job gets you down………………………..Just P.U.S.H.

When people don't do as you think they should……Just P.U.S.H.

When your money is 'gone' and the bills are due……Just P.U.S.H.

When people just don't understand you………………Just P.U.S.H.

P = Pray
U = Until
S = Something
H = Happens

1 Peter 3: 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.

It’s historical fact that Jesus Christ suffered. But the idea that His suffering was necessary-that He had to suffer-has often been the subject of scorn from those who have criticized and ridiculed Christianity. It’s also what sets Christianity apart.

Muslims, for example, show respect for the person of Christ, but see the cross of Christ as a stumbling block and regard the atonement as foolishness. Oxford scholar Alfred Heir called Christianity “the worst of all because it rests on the idea of a suffering Savior and a substitutionary atonement, which is intellectually contemptible and morally outrageous.”

As followers of Jesus, we embrace His cross. We sing songs like “On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame.” This divergent thinking perfectly illustrates 1 Corinthians 1:18: “The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

So why was the cross essential? Why couldn’t He have skipped the suffering and just died for us?

First John 4:10 says, “This is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the payment for our sin.” The key word is payment. The Bible explains this payment in many different ways:

He died to give us life (1 John 5:11).

He died to bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18).

He died, the righteous for the unrighteous (1 Peter 3:18).

He died for our sins (Hebrews 9:26).

He died to save us (Romans 10:9).

He died to give us eternal life (John 3:16).

It wasn’t enough for Him to die; He had to pay a debt. His payment was made to satisfy the demands of God’s anger.

Peace with God is the absence of anger. As much as God loves you, He hates your sin with a holy, burning passion beyond comprehension. The only way He could embrace you was to make someone else pay for your sins. It couldn’t be just anyone-it had to be someone perfect. Since we’re all sinners, He came Himself.

That’s the whole gospel. Hear it again for the first time: You can be forgiven and washed clean. But God couldn’t do that lightly. He couldn’t say, “Oh, I see your sin, but never mind.” Someone had to pay for our sins.

It was Jesus. He willingly suffered and died on the cross and God, somehow in His infiniteness, laid all of our sinfulness there upon His Son. “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for my fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.