Friday Focus #42

Get Near to Jesus

There was so much power in the physical touch of Jesus as he was God in the flesh. He could touch you and heal you. He could speak to you and heal you of an ailment that has plagued you for decades. There was nothing that he couldn't heal. In Luke 6:17-19, Jesus ministered to a bunch of people. The first thing he did was he stood on a level area (verse 17). That could just be a simple way of saying so he was balanced in a place where there was not much balance to be found (mountainous or hilly area). But you can metaphorically connect it to mean when you are going to do some preaching and teaching and ministering, make sure that your life is in balance, not imbalanced. Imagine watching someone stand in an area that was unstable. You could get distracted by watching them try to keep their balance. The same way we need to keep our balance with God's word and managing what we allow in our lives from the cultures that we live in. My second point is contained in verses 18-19 which show how people from various areas knew of Jesus and wanted to hear him speak and have him heal their illnesses. Those who had unclean spirits and were troubled sought to be healed by Jesus. They wanted to be healed by him because they knew he had power. Just getting near to Jesus can be healing. You must have faith to even believe that he can heal. If they didn't believe that he could heal, would they have gotten near to him or tried to hear him speak. Get near to Jesus.

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Wednesday Wake Up #32

The Accusers

There will be people in your life, when you are doing God's will, that will tell you that you are doing the wrong thing. They will tell you what they think and hold you accountable to their views that you do not subscribe to. Many of us will take these situations and get angry and want to defend ourselves. You don't have to do that. Doing so turns the focus from you doing God's will to protecting your image. If you are doing God's will then their attacks are irrelevant. 

Take Jesus for example. Have you read the story about the man with the withered hand in Luke 6:6-11? Jesus was teaching in the synagogue on a Sabbath and the Pharisees were waiting to see if he would heal the man in the synagogue that had a withered hand. They wanted to accuse him of not doing what was right according to the law as it is written, not in the spirit of the law. The Spirit is what leads you do what is right in God's name. The "rule" or "law" says one thing and the Spirit of the law is do things with love for God and then for others. The accusers will try to tell you to follow the law (don't work on the Sabbath) and ignore the Spirit of the law (do things that honor God at all times).

We read in Matthew 5:11 "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account." That means it serves you well in God's eyes to do what is right in God's eyes as you withstand the accusers that tell you that you are not doing. When they tell you that you are wrong for something, look to God's will to validate what you do as the words of men will try to cut you down. 

 
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Acts 19: Paul's Healings and Exorcising Without Jesus

Paul's Healings and Exorcising Without Jesus

We have seen Paul uncover idols and heal people in the name of the Lord. We have seen him drive home the point of faith in Christ over Mosiac Law in terms of salvation. But in this chapter we see the Holy Spirit so infused in Paul that even Paul touching items of cloth allowed for him to have healing powers. People were being healed of sicknesses and evil spirits came out of people (Acts 19:11-12).

When seven traveling Jewish men sought to exorcise a man who had been overcome by evil spirits, they referred to the Jesus that Paul spoke of. That was their mistake, it was not the Jesus that they knew, but someone else's relationship with Jesus. The evil spirit did not know who they were but it knew Paul and Jesus. The evil spirit made the man attack the seven men and left them fleeing, naked and wounded. Many people found out about this and around the same time those who had become believers came forward to admit doing magic arts. In an attempt to rid themselves of those ways they burned their books that were altogether worth 50 thousand pieces of silver (Acts 19:13-20).

Without the Holy Spirit what can you do? You can do things on your own power. There are people who are very successful in life and do not have the Holy Spirit. They do not know Jesus. Do you see how Paul's faith in the Holy Spirit and God using him allowed for pieces of clothing and cloths to be used as healing agents as long as Paul touched them? Yet, with the 7 men that tried to exorcise an evil spirit without them having Jesus as their personal Lord became useless. See the difference? With Jesus/God/the Holy Spirit you can work wonders. Without either of them it is a wonder anything would ever work.

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Friday Focus #16

Avoiding Hurts Doesn't Help

Have you ever heard the saying "hurt people, hurt people"? It simply means that people who have been hurt and are still hurting emotionally will go about hurting other people. In essence it creates a domino effect of hurt. I get hurt by someone and then I go on and say or do something to someone else that hurts them. The cycle continues. But, I ask you, is that the life God wants from you? Does God want you to go around being hurt? Does He want you to go around hurting others? Or does God want you to heal from that emotional pain?

One thing avoiding hurt does is it can eat at us. It can gnaw away at who we have become in Christ and slowly evolve us into someone else that has seemingly forgotten what Christ means to us. When carrying a hurt we can overeat, drink alcohol in excess, use drugs, even go on shopping sprees. All of these things (and others) can serve as band aids to the hurt that we feel when we think of that person, that time frame in our personal history or what was done/said that hurt us. When you break a bone, you don't put a band aid on it, you get surgery if necessary or at least a cast. But a band aid to a major problem does nothing. God wants you to stop putting band aids on your hurts. God wants us to come to Him for all things. We see that truth in Matthew 9:20-22. The woman who had had a monthly flow for 12 years believed that if she just barely touched Jesus's clothes that she could be healed. He acknowledged her when she touched his clothes and told her that her faith has made her well. Jesus wants us to reach out to him when we are hurt emotionally or sick physically. 

Tell God what is going on with you. Tell Him about what happened. You can complain to God. He can take it. He wants to hear from you the same way you want to hear from your own children (if you have them) if they have some hurt in their life. God wants to comfort us and heal our broken hearts (Psalm 147:3). Write down what bothers you. Put it in a journal if need be. For things in the past, try to remember that they are not still happening to you. Stop reliving that hurt too. Be around people who encourage you to do and be what God wants from you. Thinking about it often or all the time doesn't help to heal you which means you cannot be who you need to be for God's Kingdom. Be well, be with God.

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Acts 14: Unbelievers, Healing and Humility

Unbelievers, Healing and Humility

Unbelievers can really cause some trouble. Their unbelief and hard hearts can stir up those who are seeking. Unbelievers can be cynical and overlook truth and proof due to their personal issues, not because what they do not believe in is not true. The unbelievers here in verse 2-6 were Jewish poisoned the minds of the Gentiles and turned them against the brothers Barnabas and Paul. But, Barnabas and Paul found out about and fled and continued preaching the gospel. I love the dedication here. I think many would find it easy to say "if I keep hitting these roadblocks, then it isn't meant to be." When you are doing God's will, it isn't about what the naysayers and haters say.

Being in God's will can also allow you to heal those that are sick and disabled. In verses 8-10 we see that man who had never been able to walk was commanded to stand by Paul's voice and the man was healed. Once again, the Holy Spirit has healing power. It isn't just physical. If you have ever had the Holy Spirit work through your life in restoring a relationship or helping you through a personal problem, then you too know of the Holy Spirit's power and have a testimony to tell.

But, sometimes people get things twisted and confused. We see good things people do and we begin to worship them or make false idols (see Exodus 32). In verses 11-18, when the crowds saw what Paul had done with healing the man, they began to refer to them as gods and wanted to offer a sacrifice to them. When Barnabas and Paul heard about this they stopped them and showed them that they were also men and need not be worshiped. Barnabas and Paul could have used that time and gotten the glory like Herod wanted, but they chose the humble route.

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Mark 1- Fulfilling the Prophecy

Fulfilling the Prophecy 

Mark 1 gives us a condensed version of several chapters in the book of Matthew and other gospels as well. While the Book of Mark is known to not give any credit to a specific author, it is credited to be written by Mark the Evangelist who was a close associate of the Apostle (disciple) Peter. You remember Peter? Peter was one of Jesus' disciples and is the same one that denied he knew Jesus (three time before the rooster crows).

In reading through this chapter a couple of things jumped out to me that I wanted to point out.

First, for some this is silly and not needed to be pointed out, but for others this is their first time seeing and understanding this. The arrival of Jesus and details of his life were written before he was ever born...like YEARS before he was ever born. In verses 2-3 it is pointed out that the prophecy of Jesus is unfolding. The words in Mark are quoted from Isaiah 40 to point out that the prophecy is being fulfilled. This was not some random guy who did cool stuff, but God in the flesh sent to unite us with God by being sacrificed for our sins (even the ones we don't think are a big deal)

In Mark 1:40-45 Jesus shows his heart to a leper and heals him. I saw in the NIV the word used to describe how Jesus saw the leper was indignant- NIV. Indignant means showing anger for perceived unfair treatment. Also, the NLT describes his heart as being full of compassion- NLT. A third version (English Standard Version) is Jesus having pity- ESV on the leper. The point is, how is your heart when you see injustices in the world? The sick? The poor? The wrongfully imprisoned? The homeless? Jesus did not look at the leper and tell him what he did wrong in life that led to leprosy, but he healed him. He saw the need and he met it.

It is time for us to see the needs and meet them. Orphans. Battered women. Children's Hospitals. Homeless. Convalescent homes. Can you pick something to meet a need? Now is the time.

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