"The Lord needs it!"
- Mar 27
- 5 min read
The Palm Sunday story is told year after year of Jesus riding a donkey into His nation’s seat of power. What if we allowed Him to do the same again today into our hearts and lives?
We’re Easter people of faith. But, are there areas of our life untouched, or inconsistent with our faith? Simply, areas where we haven’t said YES to Him being LORD?
As Christians, we’re called to worship Him. However, we must realise that before a worship of words there has to be a release, a confession that Jesus is Lord over all things.
"The Lord needs it!" (v34).
“Over every thought, over every word, May my life reflect the beauty of my Lord, 'Cause you mean more to me than any earthly thing.” Really?
“The Lord needs it!” that’s how it started that first Palm Sunday.
Is that how it starts for us today, for the whole of our story? Or, is your relationship with the Lord more of a routine, going along with the crowd, so to speak?
Is the worship given to Jesus just a part of life, when it’s convenient, and not a priority to life, defining all that you do?
“It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That’s the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in worship” (John 4:23-24).
Jesus needs to come into our stories again as LORD! Hear the call again today, "The Lord needs it!" – the Lord needs you!
I wonder, do you see the need to obey Him at all costs and have an availability and surrender to God's purposes, or is it just going to be another Palm Sunday moment?
We can’t just be Palm Sunday followers and have Jesus ‘king for a day!’
The crowds had seen Jesus’ ministry, His miracles, heard His teaching, now they were placing their hope, their future in Him. They cried out, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.” But was it ‘AT ALL COSTS’?
If Jesus came, really came into the stories of our lives today, how would you feel? What would it mean? This crowd on Palm Sunday made Jesus relevant for a day, just a few hours, a few fleeting moments.
“The Lord needs it!”
Interestingly, in the Greek it literally means, 'The Lord of it has need'. Imagine allowing Jesus into your story again and hearing 'the Lord of You needs YOU!'
Perhaps for the first time He becomes Lord! However, status quo may prevail (again) and you continue to mingle with the crowds (church on a Sunday) and allow the demands to go unheard!
I wonder, is there anything that I ‘have’ that the Lord ‘needs’? Will I give it?
Max Lucado made some insightful comments: "Each of us has something – maybe not a donkey, but a talent, time, resources, prayer – that, when placed in God’s hands, can move His kingdom down the road."
Serving the Lord must mean untying our talents, our time and our treasures, and giving them to Him! Just imagine this being a picture of us today!
What are we holding onto or holding back? What do we need to be released from? Is it our own projects, that power and those plans? Untie them, let them go!
What "burdens" do you need to be released from? Is it pride, fear, or is it a past mistake that’s keeping you "tied up" and unavailable for His service?
Maybe like so many, you’re tethered to the fence of "someday” but not today!
We have a choice to make today! Is He Lord of all!
William Barclay said, “It may well be that the world is denied miracle after miracle and triumph after triumph because we will not bring to Christ what we have and what we are. If, we would lay ourselves on the altar of service of Jesus Christ, there is no saying what Christ could do with us.”
“The Lord of it has need!” By sending for the donkey, Jesus was going public, declaring to Israel that He was the long-awaited Messiah King.
Notice that it’s the call to His disciples, then to the owner, to present Him to their world, first through availability and then surrender before going to the crowds. That will always be the order.
How many times has Jesus longed to come into your life, wanting to go public? Perhaps showing up in that fall-out with a neighbour, or in that place of a broken relationship, or a place of unforgiveness. That part of your life only you (and Jesus) know about, but where He needs to be Lord!
A.W. Tozer sums it up well when he said, "The reason why many are still troubled, still seeking, still making little forward progress is because they haven't yet come to the end of themselves. We're... interfering with God's work within us."
Then the 'Palm Sunday' crowd celebrated for a day, Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. For a moment they recognised what all this meant. That’s why they laid their coats on the ground before Him, identifying with Him and waving their palm branches.
Here’s the test – how much of your life does Jesus control after the Sunday service into the following week? Are there areas of our life where we still live as godlessly as we like Monday through to Saturday, and then turn up on Sunday content for Him to be KING for a DAY and claim His mercy and love?
What does Jesus see that’s getting in the way of Him being Lord?
Jesus was King that first Palm Sunday, but did He have a kingdom? Or did He just end up with a church that has lost its distinctiveness and is no longer relevant?
Today, let’s start by listening and responding to Him as King of kings, and Lord of lords, and realise He has first claim on our lives and that of His church. Then let us be prepared for change!
You see, I believe following Jesus means going beyond ‘Palm Sunday’ Christianity.
Do you have passion for Jesus today? Not just as palm wavers, not even crowd followers or Sunday worshippers, but people with a passion for Jesus where He is Lord of ALL?
Take some time out and worship Him.
There’s always a decision needed when Jesus turns up. Why? Because He is Lord and His coming will always mean the seizing of ‘my kingdom’ for the sake of His! But, you must always remember, when the LORD does show up and seeks to move in on someone's life, He will always come with expressions of grace and overwhelming love - and such have no limits!
Today is a call to reconsider our allegiances. Who or what are we following? Who or what claims us? Who or what has priority over everything?
How are you going to respond?
Your Majesty, I can but bow; I lay my all before You now
In royal robes I don't deserve; I live to serve Your Majesty.
John Piper says, “But whatever you do, find the God-centred, Christ-exalting, Bible-saturated passion of your life, and find your way to say it and live for it and die for it. And you will make a difference that lasts. You will not waste your life.”
Listen again to His call on your life – 'I the Lord Need You!'
Wow, this is challenging, the Lord needing me! This has led to soul searching those things I am holding onto that needs to be surrendered so there is more of Jesus and less of me so that He can use me for to serve Him in the ways He has already planned.