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

Chronicles

The Importance of Mighty Friends {1 Chronicles 10:1-12:40}

12:00 AM


A true friend is one who is walking in, when everyone else is walking out.”
Martin Luther

In our reading today Saul has died and David is made king over all of Israel. It was a long journey for David from shepherd boy to regent, and a journey he couldn’t have made without the help of many along the way. In Psalm 89:20-21 God says, “I have found David My servant; with My holy oil I have anointed him, with whom My hand will be established; My arm will also strengthen him.” God strengthened David in part by sending strong, noble, and faithful men to surround him. 

God never asks us to go it alone. He knows the plans He has for us. Wonderful, glorious plans. And He will send helpers to us to accomplish those plans. Just like He did with David, God will send both believers and nonbelievers into our lives to strengthen, support, challenge, guide, protect, encourage, and love us. From Jonathon, the son of David’s greatest enemy, to men who would eagerly give their lives for their king, God provided mighty friends to help David fulfill what the Lord intended. 

Chapters 11 and 12 are filled with name after name of men who came to the aid of David. Men who were sent by God. Men who performed great acts of valor and showed unwavering loyalty to help bring David victory over his enemies. Men like Amasai. “Then the Spirit came upon Amasai, chief of the Thirty, and he said, 'We are yours, O David! We are with you, O son of Jesse! Success, success to you, and success to those who help you, for your God will help you.'" And the Bible goes on to say, "Day after day men came to help David, until he had a great army, like the army of God." (v. 12:22)

These great friendships were not lost on David. When three brave men broke through the camp of the Philistines just to bring David a drink from the well in Bethlehem, instead of drinking the water, “he poured it out to the Lord” (v. 11:18) David understood the value of the sacrifice these men were willing to take on his behalf and wanted to thank the Lord for the blood they were willing to shed. Can you imagine being the type of friend that would lay down your life for another, or having a friend that would do the same? As believers we do have a friend like that....Jesus Christ.

Jesus shed His precious blood and gave His life for us; His friends. In John 15:13-15 He says, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” Because of the friend we have in Jesus and His example, shouldn’t we want to be that same kind of friend to others? To extend the same grace and love described by the Apostle Paul? “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:7-8)

Life can be hard, and at times lonely. But God never intends our walk with Him to be one of solitude. We all need the love and support of godly friends. I’ve heard it said that if you can count your true friends on the fingers of one hand, you are blessed. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 reminds us, “Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can revisit him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.” My prayer for you today is that God will bless you and send you a mighty friend if you need one, and send you out as a mighty friend to be a blessing to another.

Friendship

We grow closer to each other
When we're closer to the Lord,
The common faith that we share
Binds our hearts in one accord

For friendships last a life time
When built on Jesus Christ,
Throughout each different season,
We find we are in life

Friends are there through times of grief
And times when hope is gone,
Always there with encouragement
So we can carry on

So thank the Lord for giving you
A true and faithful friend,
To laugh with you, and cry with you,
On whom you can depend

For friends will stay no matter what,
Giving you support
And together your hearts truly unite
With the love of the Lord.
By M.S.Lownde