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 Corinthians

Scripture Saturday~God is Faithful

12:00 AM

Saturday, November 10, 2018



Welcome to Scripture Saturday!

This coming week's memory verse is 1 Corinthians 10:13...

 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. (NIV)

 Have a blessed and precious day and week everyone!

faithful

Life's Ultimate Goal {Isaiah 40-44}

8:00 PM


What is our ultimate goal in this life? Do you know why you're here?
The answer is actually found in the chapters we were to read today. The Bible has made it abundantly clear that God created us and that we were created for His glory (Isaiah 43:7). Therefore, our ultimate purpose is simply to glorify God. But that's just the beginning...

 
Romans 9:23 puts it a bit differently, “He does this to make the riches of His glory shine even brighter on those to whom He shows mercy, who were prepared in advance for glory.” This means that if you are His and can call yourself a Christian  — if you’ve confessed with your mouth, Jesus is Lord and believed in our heart that God raised Him from the dead (Rom 10:9-10) —you are His child of mercy, prepared ahead of time to know the riches of the His glory. Can you imagine? But it gets even better,

We didn’t deserve to be chosen, or called by God. We did absolutely nothing to deserve being saved, transformed and heaven-bound! (Eph 2:8-9). It was all because of His mercy. Nothing in us ever influenced God to make it happen, and nothing could ever make Him change His mind! This is what it means to be a child of mercy. It means we can say as David said, “Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life…”(Psalm 23:6) , for there will never be a day when The Lord in His mercy does not track us down and make us a vessel of His blessing…

That very thought humbles me, but I must admit there are still days where I feel like this boat:
Barely able to keep afloat. Doing all I can to simply keep my head above the water. In fact, I shared a few weeks ago on Women in the Word that I’ve felt this way pretty much all year! Each time I thought I was beginning to get ahead and come out from all that was pressing in around me another wave would wash over me, and I was sunk again! The very next morning after I shared my woes on WitW this poster below arrived on my Facebook page to assure me that He's got this and together we are much more than conquerors! The first thing I noticed after the verse was the water --- there aren't any WAVES!


But why is it we must often become desperate for Him before God steps in to help His children? Notice Isaiah 43:1-7,

But now, thus says the Lord, your creator, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; ... Since you are precious in My sight, since you are honored and I love you... Do not fear, for I am with you...
 Isaiah 41:13, also arrived that morning and I began to wonder what exactly was The Lord trying to tell me just then.


Can you hear Him speaking to you? Does all this humble you as well?  The sad truth is when things are going well, or when I'm busy and distracted with a mounting "to-do" list, I often forget The Lord is right there with me. I forget to call on Him so we may share our day together. Did you see His heart in these verses, for one can't possible read them with out sensing God's love for His own? The answer to my question as to why He waits until I become desperate, isn't because He has moved, it's only because I've finally begun to call out to Him. I'm not proud to admit it, only being honest. 

 So I asked Him if my goal is to bring Him glory, how I could best do that and here's a few ideas I received:
•  Live right before Him, free from sin. Confessing right away when we fall short. 1John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
• Be Content with all God has already done and given us rather than longing for more. .
Paul testified, “I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am...I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:11,13).
• Give Praise to God. Psalm 50:23, “He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me.” Praise honors our Lord and one way to praise God is to give Him credit for EVERYTHING! 
 • Bear Fruit. Jesus told us in John 15:8 “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit.”Also Colossians 1:10 says, “Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work.” Good works = fruit. .”
• Pray without ceasing. (1Thesalonians 5:18) Talk to Him throughout your day, thereby including Him in everything!
• Tell others about Jesus! Share God’s Word with others, and tell them all He has done for you! We always want to talk about the ones we love so that they will love Him too!

BUT most importantly, ENJOY Him! Be filled with joy in the midst of everything going on around you! I believe that when we live to glorify God, He responds by giving us overwhelming joy! Our joy in Jesus should act as our barometer as to whether we're living to bring Him glory or not! And if there ever comes a time when there is no longer any joy, I think we only need to go back to the verses on this post and so many, many others that speak of His love for you!

Blessings!

sue


1 Samuel

Scripture Saturday ~ Sincere worship

12:00 AM

Saturday, March 3, 2018



Welcome to Scripture Saturday!

This coming week's memory verse is 1 Samuel 12:24...

 Only fear the LORD (with awe and profound reverence) and serve Him faithfully with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you.
(Amplified version)
Have a blessed and precious day and week everyone!

faithful

The Message of The Mighty Angel {Revelations 10}

8:00 PM

Revelation 9 left off with the sounding of the sixth of seven trumpets, which ushers in the end of all things, but now, instead of the seventh trumpet sounding, there is a pause until Revelation 11:15, which could demonstrate once more for us, God’s mercy in allowing more opportunity for repentance.

The theme of this chapter appears to declare God’s intention to take possession of the earth—both the land and sea—and to fulfill all the many prophetic promises found in the Scriptures which point to God establishing His kingdom on earth.

Before we begin however, I want to remind you once more that this Book of Revelations is one of the most mysterious books in the Bible! None of us will know the exact meaning of all that’s here,  but that’s not a reason for not reading it, for John wrote, “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near” (Rev 1:3). John only asks us to read and keep what’s written in it. A day is coming when God will bring this all to life before our eyes, but for now, those who dig and act upon what we read will be blessed! So let’s pull out what we can in chapter 10 and get set to worship Him once more!

Another mighty angel:
The description of this angel has significant similarities to that of deity, so much so, that some commentators believe this is a picture of Christ Jesus, but not all believe it’s Him.

Coming down from heaven:
This phrase probably means that some angels normally reside in heaven only. Perhaps this angel is one of the seven “presence angels” which stand before God ( Rev. 8:2) and which were given the seven trumpets. Later, another angel, not called mighty, but having great authority, will come down from heaven to announce the impending fall of Babylon in Rev. 18:1-2. And the angel who binds Satan also is said to come down from heaven in Rev. 20:1ff.

Clothed with a cloud:
Clouds generally depict deity and authority; the divine presence of God. In Exodus a cloud filled the Tabernacle which depicted God’s presence within it. And we also know Jesus will be coming back on the clouds (Mt.26:64)

A rainbow was on his head:
This is the only angel to be described as having a rainbow on his head. This passage is probably where artist got the idea to use halos to depict holiness in religious artworks, but here, the rainbow is a reminder of God’s covenant with Noah (Gen. 9:11-17)

His face was like the sun:
This angel has a radiant countenance like the angel which Daniel saw in Dan. 10:6. This also could be another reason some theologian may believe this is Christ Jesus.

His feet like pillars of fire:
His burning feet speak of judgment. And the placement of his feet; one on the land and one on the sea, speaks of the power to conquers both land and sea. This angel has come to pass judgement on the earth and the nations (Isa. 63:3-6; Rev. 14:19-20).

So much of what’s depicted here in this section of Revelation reminded me of the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. And I wonder, though I can’t prove it, if the angel’s legs were to remind Israel of the pillar of fire and cloud that gave both guidance and  protection as they journeyed to the promise land. ( Ex.13:21-22; 14:19,24)

A.R.Farrer in his book, The Revelation of St. John the Divine  believes the rainbow is to remind us of God’s promise through Noah, the pillar of fire is God’s presence in the wilderness, and the scroll reminds us of the tablets of stone! All of these point back to Israel’s journey to the promise land. I loved that idea!

When he cried out, seven thunders uttered their voices:
This relates to the same idea of the thunderous voice of God in Psalm 29. John begins to write down what he has heard, but is not permitted to, therefore we know that there are still things hidden from us at this time.

The angel raised up his hand to heaven and swore by Him who lives forever and ever: The mighty angel gives a solemn oath declaring that the end is irrevocably set in motion and there is absolutely no turning back.

John then writes, Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, "Go, take the little scroll which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth. So I went to the angel and said to him, "Give me the little book." And he said to me, "Take and eat it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth." - Rev 10:8-9

John is then commanded to prophesy to the whole world; not just believers; to some (believers) it will be sweet, but to those perishing it will be bitter. I believe John’s orders here are also for us as well.
I was reminded of the verse in 2 Peter when we see a pause between the sixth and seventh trumpets! The mighty angel has told us the end is set, but there is still a pause, and John is commanded to share all He has learned with all men!  Notice 2Peter 3:9 seems to fit here, “The Lord does not delay [as though He were unable to act] and is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is [extraordinarily] patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

The angel has declared that the end of time has been set in motion and nothing can keep it from all coming about just as God has planned! Though, while there is still time we need to be about our Father’s business in telling others of the things we’re sure of! To some it will be bitter, but to others it will be sweet! May we each be found faithful to His Word when this prophecy become reality!