On Christ and Healing

Matthew 12:15
[ God’s Chosen Servant ] Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. Many followed him, and he healed all their sick,…
Matthew 14:14
When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
Luke 5:15
Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses.

Jesus healed their sick. All of their sick. In each town. One-by-one. Individual-by-individual. I’m continually amazed by the heart, the commitment, the sacrifice, the unconditional love FOR EVERYONE that Jesus showed. When I think about what it must have been like to be in Jesus’ shoes, I am overwhelmed by all that he did. Jesus’ life forces me to confront my selfishness.

Remember, Jesus was God in the flesh. At any point he could have said the word, snapped his fingers, and made all of the sick, in the entire world, healthy. He was that powerful. Yet, he chose to meet all of them one-on-one. He chose to touch each one of them. He chose to interact with each person. He chose to see each person at their worst. He wanted to see the bloody, the feverish, the limp, the lame, the mute, the blind, the deaf, the dead….the utterly hopeless. Jesus wanted to feel their pain, and provide them comfort. He wanted to wipe away their tears and heal their maladies. He wanted  to see the joy return to their faces. Even in all of this, He knew some wouldn’t be grateful. He knew some would take their new found healthiness and live a life of sin. He knew that most would not follow Him and would later shout “Crucify him!”. Yet, he didn’t care, because His love ran deep.

Jesus’ example in healing the sick confronts us on so many levels. Take some time to meditate on the Lord’s heart, how will you change your life as a result?

He is Risen!!!!

‘Nuff said.

I AM....

Reblogged from ericawillis:

We went to a Good Friday service last night and we learned about a lot of symbolism from the Passover meal.

Again, I’m impressed by how Jews strive to really be reverent of God. For example, candles are lit in remembrance of God, a chair is left in case Elijah wants to join, the table is like an alter before God and everything done or eaten represents something that the Jewish people went through.

Read more… 273 more words

Awesome post from one of my good friends and a new blogger! Go Erica!!!

Because of Love: Passion Week 2012

Here we are, in the middle of passion week. Is anything been different for you this week? I started off the week with high hopes of change, but it has been much the same. I am still stressed out from work. I am still running around like a chicken with my head cutoff. I feel like, were I in Jerusalem, 2000 years ago, during the first passion week, I would have missed the significance of all the goings on because it would have been ‘business as usual.’ I guess the question for me and all of us is a simple one; ‘Do we take time to recognize the Savior?’ I asked a similar question in my sermon on Sunday (Lessons from the First Palm Sunday: http://columbiacoc.com/index.php?view=sermon&id=10063%3Alessons-from-the-first-palm-sunday&option=com_sermonspeaker&Itemid=69) when I asked; ‘Do yo recognize the Savior?” meaning his work in our lives etc. But this current question is a little different. More specifically it is: Are we taking the time to see Jesus? To feel his significance in our lives? To reflect upon Him? To be in touch with Him? Are we truly stopping the rolling tide of our lives and getting connected to the Savior? More often than not, my life is too busy. To my shame, I just don’t settle down enough to recognize Him. Promise me (more importantly promise God) that you will take the time to meet with Jesus this week. Especially this week, during this time of reflection. The Passion Week has more significance than any other period of time in the history of world so let’s resolve to not let it pass without paying some attention to main character in that week, the Savior of the World!

A Nation of Hypocrisy

I am continually amazed at the hypocrisy of our nation. The moral compass of our country is either popular opinion and/ or whatever the ’cause of the moment’ happens to be. On one hand, anything perceived to be remotely racist or sexist is jumped on by every ‘activist’ that catches wind of it. On the other hand, people curse and get drunk like it’s no big deal. Some freak out because a Christian symbol is displayed prominently, but then flaunt their ‘alternative’ lifestyle and call everyone a ‘hater’ that doesn’t accept it. Where does our nation base its beliefs? Why is it that some forms of sin are accepted and others not? Why is one Ok and not the other? This person over here is an uproar about internet bullying, but uses that same internet to view pornography. That person over there pickets “Planned Parenthood” to stop abortion, but has pre-marital sex with whoever, whenever. The hypocrisy is so blatant it is amazing God doesn’t just wipe us out immediately.  Our society constantly pushes the message to our children that ‘everybody is a winner’ and then, when they get out into the real world, they see that most of the places they work are all about winning and losing…one person wins the job, the other….wait for it….LOSES and doesn’t get the job! What? You mean I don’t get a participation medal? Perish the thought! The hypocrisy is in our entertainment too. Every other T.V. show is laced with sexual innuendo and alternative living and the people who choose these ‘lifestyle choices’ are held up as courageous and brave for not hiding it and being “themselves”. God must be grieved by how far we have fallen.

I’ll tell you who the really courageous people are, it is those who stand up for what is right and call out what is wrong. It is those who say “enough is enough!” Those who demonstrate real bravery are the ones who are open about their sins AND REPENT OF THEM. The bravest of them all are those who stand on God’s word and make it their moral compass despite the popular opinion of the hour. So many ‘progressive thinkers’ say the bible and it’s commands are ‘out-dated and out-of-touch’. REALLY? They have such conviction, yet have never really tried to follow it. Which side will you choose? The wide road of popular belief, and ultimately leads to destruction, or the narrow road of righteousness, the road that leads to eternal life!

2 Timothy 4:2-4

New International Version 1984

² Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. ³ For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. ⁴ They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

Matthew 7:13-14

New International Version 1984

¹³ “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴ But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

The World Is Not My Home

‘This World is not my home, I’m just a passin’ through…’

The words of this old song are working their way through my mind today. They are dodging the worries, ducking the fears, and doing the old bob-and-weave around the doubts that are plaguing me today. This is day 16 of March. A month that has been riddled with sickness, tiredness, and sick-and-tiredness. I feel worn out and I have nothing to show for it. I have missed work, missed quiet times, and prayed more sleepy, groggy prayers than I care to mention. I’m trying to be faithful, but it’s hard. I heard my daughter fell and hit her head today. It’s not serious, but it’s another thing. I’m awaiting the test results to see if I have diabetes. Sigh. My world feels….sluggish. I am so tired, but have to be here, have to be there, have to this, gotta do that. This too shall pass and their is lessons in all of this, even if it is just a test of perseverance, I know it is for a reason.

In the midst of this, I just heard that an acquaintance of ours lost her fiance recently. Their story was like getting hit with a wrecking ball right in the chest. She is so young to be a virtual widow. Death seems to be so much more real to me lately. Death can lose it’s sting when no one close to you has been affected by it. But, when it is re-announces its presence, it carries a bitter taste and leaves a hallow feeling.

What does all of this have to do with each other? I don’t know. If a psychologist saw this, they would declare me depressed and they’d be right. But, it has a benefit to me. It makes me long for heaven. The place where there are no more tears, no more death, and no more pain. The place where God is ever present. The place of soulful rest. The place above all places…both literally and figuratively. I can’t wait to go….

Revelation 21

The New Jerusalem

¹ Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. ² I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

⁵ He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

⁶ He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. ⁷ He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. ⁸ But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

⁹ One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” ¹⁰ And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. ¹¹ It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. ¹² It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. ¹³There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. ¹⁴ The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

¹⁵ The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. ¹⁶ The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia^[a] in length, and as wide and high as it is long. ¹⁷ He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits^[b] thick,^[c] by man’s measurement, which the angel was using. ¹⁸ The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. ¹⁹ The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, ²⁰ the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.^[d] 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.

²² I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. ²³ The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. ²⁴ The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. ²⁵ On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. ²⁶ The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. ²⁷ Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Hardship is Hard and Trials are Trying

Wow, what a rough couple of weeks. I haven’t been super close to God lately and we have been put through some trials. It is easy to see that these trials have the aim and getting us closer to Him and my hope is that the end result will be as such. Problem is, I have kind of shut down this time around. Normally, I struggle emotionally, feeling a sense of abandonment that I have to work through. This time was much more different. I prayed quite a bit, I read daily, but neither of these spiritual exercises connected me to Lord. My heart was not very engaged and I am not totally sure why. I feel like I was just trying to ride it out. Like my heart was convinced that ‘This too shall pass’. It really hasn’t ‘passed’ though. I still feel ‘opposed’ at work and although the sickness that has riddled my family is slowly going away, my heart is still burdened.

Why? Did God do something wrong? No way. But I did. I wasted an opportunity. I wasted a chance for my faith to grow. I had an opportunity to get even closer to God and to push through, even when I didn’t want to emotionally. What good is it to go through trials if you don’t let them carry out their task to grow you?

James 1:2-4

² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,^[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

 

Consider it pure joy, because trials bring spiritual growth….growth that is real, substantial, and maturing. Growth that isn’t marked by how many consecutive quiet times you had but rather by measures of heart strength. It’s never too late to learn your lessons, and I am praying that God will give me grace on this one…grace to learn after the fact.

Truth is Truth

I really have no idea who I am going to vote for in the next election. Honestly, it always feels like the decision comes down to the lesser of two evils. I am already sick of the debates and mudslinging, but I know it is far from over. One thing that is interesting in this pre-election season so far is the controversy surrounding one of the GOP candidates, Rick Santorum. I don’t know his platform yet, but what he talks about in the article below is right on…so why is the truth being scoffed at? I heard a guy on sports talk radio today, referencing Santorum’s remarks, scoff at the notion that Satan is real. Perhaps it is because of the context of speech or more than likely because of the messenger, but what he said it spot on. I don’t know Rick Santorum and I don’t know enough about him yet to know if he is a good candidate to lead our country, but we shouldn’t dismiss the truth in what he said. More people need to hear about the true war, the war that has claimed more lives than any other…the real war to end all wars. The spiritual war he speaks of in the end of the article is as real as it gets. Sometimes it doesn’t matter who says it…Truth is truth.

Santorum defends 2008 speech about Satan’s sights on U.S. – Chicago Sun-Times.

 

The Implications of My Thoughts Burden My Presence

One of my best friends lost his dad this week. Another of my friends will lose his mom soon. Still another will lose her dad even sooner. I feel haunted by death. Not my own death. That I look forward to. Being with Jesus all the time, not having to face pain and uncertainty. Walking the streets of gold, beyond the crystal sea. I can’t wait. But rather I am haunted by the deaths of the lost. The prospect of losing my loved ones who have not decided to follow the Lord, crushes my heart. I have tried to help them and I will continue to try, but what if they never respond? What if they miss out on the grace of God? I can’t bear the thought of such things. Within this week, I have swung back and forth between depression and apathy, sadness and faithfulness, hopelessness and fear, sullenness and joy. The roller coaster of emotions is tiring, but the implications of my thoughts burden my presence. What ifs become overwhelming. When faith is fleeting, doubt is succeeding.

It is times like this that I have to cling to the Lord. He provides comfort, yet lets me deal with the reality of the fragile nature of human life. He holds me close to relieve my fears, but let’s me see and feel the desperate situation that befalls us all. It is a strange and beautiful dichotomy. It’s all too much for me to handle, yet that seems to be the point. My overwhelmed soul can go to none other than the Lord, but when it is not overwhelmed it tends to stray. The hurts pull me closer than the blessings, although the purpose of the blessings is to capture my heart.

All this rambling is clearing my mind. It’s therapy for my heart, medicine for my soul. I still feel sickened from the salve of worldliness that I too often make my first choice. The majestic elixir of my daddy in heaven, soothes so much better, but the taste of truth sometimes outweighs the immense benefits of the cure. I don’t know why this cycle of nothingness seems better in the short-term, why I don’t just dive for his embrace right off the bat. I am grateful beyond words that my Lord doesn’t crush me for my faulty thinking though. Instead, he waits patiently for me, knowing I will eventually find my way. In the wake of heartache, I always seem to find my way back to his always open arms; the arms that hold me tight…

Psalm 62

1 My soul finds rest in God alone;
my salvation comes from him.
2 He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

3 How long will you assault a man?
Would all of you throw him down—
this leaning wall, this tottering fence?
4 They fully intend to topple him
from his lofty place;
they take delight in lies.
With their mouths they bless,
but in their hearts they curse.
Selah
5 Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;
my hope comes from him.
6 He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
7 My salvation and my honor depend on God[a];
he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
8 Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge.
Selah
9 Lowborn men are but a breath,
the highborn are but a lie;
if weighed on a balance, they are nothing;
together they are only a breath.
10 Do not trust in extortion
or take pride in stolen goods;
though your riches increase,
do not set your heart on them.

11 One thing God has spoken,
two things have I heard:
that you, O God, are strong,
12 and that you, O Lord, are loving.
Surely you will reward each person
according to what he has done.

Take That Satan!

The below article gives me a boost in my faith:

Victoria’s Secret model, Kylie Bisutti, quits for religion | abc7.com.

Kylie Bisutti had her dream job, one she wanted to for most of her life. She is a  beautiful woman who could make millions of dollars flaunting her body. But she quit. She quit because she was convicted by God’s word. Bisutti said, in a recent interview with ‘Good Morning America’, that the turning point for her was when her 8 year niece told her that ‘I think I am going to stop eating so that I can look like you.’ Bisutti said it ‘broke her heart’ and really made her decide to follow the conviction she was already feeling. She said she wants to ‘honor God with her body and ‘save it for her husband only.’ It would be easy to be critical of her decision because there are a list of sins that come along with her choice to be a Victoria’s Secret model in the first place. But, the fact that she is giving it up now, for the Lord, is AWESOME! And I say, ‘Take that Satan!’ If only others had to courage to give up treasures in this world for the sake of the Lord, this world would be so much better off. By the way (in the picture below)….Jesus wins…easily!