faithful

Fervent Faith {Mark 2}

9:50 AM

Today's Scripture Passage: Mark 2


Have you ever desired something so bad, it haunted you?

Life would be perfect if only _____ (you can fill in the blank). And the enemy seems to know what our greatest desires are, for he seems to always be right there to discourage us; "It will never happen." He knows if he can keep us discouraged, he can keep us from praying, and doing all we can to bring our desires to reality!






The Book of Mark is called the Gospel of action, and Mark 2 opens with exciting news - Jesus is back in town! He's just down the street at the house of Peter’s relative.

But before going further in this passage (Mark 2:1-5) there are two observations that jumped out right away:
  1. This man was paralyzed - he wasn't able to help himself. (v. 3) There was no way he could get to Jesus by himself. Do you know people who are not able to help themselves?
  2.  He had friends that would stop at nothing to get him to Jesus. (v. 4) Are you that kind of friend?
    Faith is seeing light with your heart when all others see darkness. 
"Then they came, bringing a paralytic to Him, who had been picked up and was being carried by four men. And when they could not get him to a place in front of Jesus because of the throng, they dug through the roof above Him; and when they had scooped out an opening, they let down the quilt or mat upon which the paralyzed man lay." (Mark 2:3-4)
Have you ever had such determination? I'm sure there were people there attempting to discourage the men! Who cuts a hole in another man's roof?
I had to stop and wonder if I would be so willing to bring another to Jesus.
Which was when the Lord reminded me that I had been once. It was back almost 20 years ago now. My father had such a hard heart and wanted nothing to do with God or His Son. In fact, he'd leave the room if anyone decided to start talking about God. 


And so I kept on praying for years asking the Lord if one day He would give me a chance to share with my dad about Jesus and my hope of salvation, and I believed He would since God is faithful even when I'm not. 

One night after we were all sleeping I received a call from my mom. My father had gone to the hospital for a regular test, but something had gone terribly wrong and his heart had stopped right there during the procedure. The doctors were able to resuscitate, but he remained in a medically induced comma and it didn't look like he would recover. 

With all the confidence in the world, I told my mother emphatically that he would most certainly wake up, because The Lord had promised me a conversation with my dad before he died, and I hung up the phone and planed to travel back to NH to wait for him to wake. 

I was there over a week and things were not looking good, yet every time I would pray the Lord would assure me He would wake him up, but as soon as I lifted my head reality would hit until finally the doctors gave us no hope and recommended we turn off life support and let him go... and so we did... and he woke up! Still the doctors gave us no hope and told us he'd pass in the night. 

That night The Lord woke me at 3:30 am with such a fervency to pray and pray HARD! The next morning when I finally got a hold of my mother by phone she told me that the hospital had called her at that exact time and told her she should come, but he probably would already be gone by the time she got there. When she arrived, he had revived again and he never went back down. The medical staff all attributed it to nothing short of a miracle, and exactly one week (7 days) after they had turned off my father's life support I got to introduce him to Jesus! 
He's home with Him now waiting on the rest of us.
BUT here's what I want you to take with you:
"And when Jesus saw the men's faith [their confidence in God through Him], He said to the paralyzed man, Son, your sins are forgiven [you] and put away [that is, the penalty is remitted, the sense of guilt removed, and you are made upright and in right standing with God]." (Mark 2:5 emphasis mine)
It was the faith of the men that moved Jesus to act, to heal and to forgive his sins! Not the man's faith.

James 5:16b says, "The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]."

Beloved, don't let the enemy, others, or circumstances discourage you. Take them to Jesus! Especially those who can't take themselves!

Blessings, 

Sue

1 Peter

Keep Fervent in Your Love {1 Peter 4}

12:00 AM


Monday Nov. 13, Keep Fervent in Your Love {1 Peter 4}



Some people mistakenly believe that being a Christian gives you a “get out of jail free card” when it comes to the trials of life. Adversity is a result of living in a fallen world, and believers aren’t immune from the pain of suffering. In this chapter Peter tells us that as Christians not only are we not to be surprised when facing persecution, we are to rejoice when we suffer for our faith.

“Therefore since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.” (vs. 1-2) No one knows more about suffering than Jesus. Not only did He suffer physically with beatings, torture and crucifixion, He also suffered the pain of betrayal, sorrow, and anguish. Yet He endured all of that willingly, obediently, and out of His love for us. And out of our love for Him and His gift to us of salvation, we also are to be willing and obedient in living to fulfill the will of God. No longer continuing in our former lustful ways of the world but instead pursuing lives of holiness, following the example set by our Lord.

But leading such lives isn’t easy. There is tremendous pressure from the world around us to be the same as we were before we received Jesus as our Savior. “They are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you.” (v. 4) Those who aren’t  followers of Jesus find it hard to understand why we would want to lead our life for anyone other than ourselves. They want us to do as they do. And when we don’t, we become targets of their ridicule and scorn. But Peter tells us that those same unbelievers, “will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.” (v. 5) One day they will stand before the throne of God and give an account of their lives to the Almighty, who will judge both those who are living and who have been long dead. No one will escape. But until that time we are to, “be of sound judgement and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer” (v. 7) And we are called respond to those who persecute us the same way we respond to fellow believers....in love.

“Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.” (v. 8) Here Peter isn’t telling us that loving others earns God’s forgiveness. We know that our sins are paid for by Jesus’ death on the cross, and forgiveness for sin 
comes only through trusting in Him. Instead it means that even Christians are sinners who fail and need forgiveness daily. And in remembering that we can love each when hurt, we can forgive each other when wronged, and we can build each other up when we fall. Love makes it possible for us to be, “hospitable to one another without complaint”, using our God given gifts and talents to serve one another and lead others to the Lord, so “in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (v. 11)




Peter goes on to warn that trouble will indeed come into our lives, so we shouldn’t be taken by surprise when it does. “Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you.” (v. 12) Some people are thrown off guard when they suffer thinking that since God is in complete control of all things, He should stop adversity from entering our lives. But God uses trials to test His people, to deepen our relationship with Him, and to display His glory to the world. Not all suffering is testing, but regardless for the reason God wants us to be steadfast and holy throughout it all. 

Not only are we to expect trouble, we are to rejoice when we are persecuted for Christ’s sake, and find joy in the opportunity to share in His sufferings. “to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.” ( v. 13) When we face persecution because of our faith in Jesus, we can find great joy knowing that one day Jesus will be revealed in all of His glory, and we too will be revealed as His very own. For Peter reminds us that, “if you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.” (v. 14) Suffering hurts. There are no two ways about it. And when we are knee deep in pain it can be hard to find the blessing. But when we are hated for following Jesus, we can comfort and joy knowing that God has chosen to glorify Himself through us, bless us, and love us. All because we belong to His Son!