God’s Healing Power

May 29, 2012 in Faith | Tags: , , , , | by | Leave a comment

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by Sara Lowe, president of Faith Audio Center, an award-winning writer and marketing/public relations professional with 20+ years working at the corporate level and as an entrepreneur. She is writing a book which an agent currently is pitching to major Christian publishing houses.

I was 8 years old when my mother was sent away by two officious health department workers who insisted for the good of all that her new home be the sanitarium for tubercular patients in Beckley, WW.

The family had driven up from Huntington to our Parkersburg home (all in West Virginia) as soon as the news came. Mom, at 38, had tuberculosis. Again. Her first bout with the disease at 20 had kept her bedridden for two years.

Her parents wept, seated beside her on the couch, while my aunts and uncles shifted their stances, their glances, anxious to help but at a loss. Years ago, tuberculosis was more deadly. Mom thought she was going to Beckley to die.

I was packed off to Huntington to live with relatives. I visited Beckley once, where I stood on the sanitarium’s broad green expanse of lawn, waving to Mom’s barely discernible head behind the third story window. “Don’t bring her back,” Mom told Dad. It was too hard on her.

But my mother returned home after only four months in Beckley, after an incredible change in X-rays, after she bowed her head one day and asked God to heal her. A Methodist, she did not come from a denomination that usually dealt with healing beyond relating the Bible stories. She was simply scared, sick and willing to trust God.

After her prayer, whispered while watching a television preacher, an X-ray was taken, a regular procedure to assess lung damage. The X-ray showed not only lungs free of tuberculosis but free of the calcium deposits always left behind by the disease. One week she had tuberculosis; the next week it was as though she never had it. The doctor was shocked. A second doctor confirmed it and she came home. She never had it again.

When I was 14 I accepted Jesus as my Savior. Despite this experience, and the miracle in my mother’s life, I found it hard to believe in healing. But then something happened.

I myself faced the hospital. After hemorrhaging, the doctor wanted to do exploratory surgery.

At my mother’s request, a minister prayed with me in our home, asking the Lord to heal me. I was doubtful, but he and my mother had faith. I became well, able once again to take part in all those school activities I had been forced to give up. There was no “thinking myself well” as some scoffers insist happens when people are healed. I was too young for such mind games and too skeptical.

But I’m not skeptical anymore.

Now I know that God’s healing is a gift of love. There is no hocus-pocus about it, no necessary incantations or special healing service. A service of any kind is not needed, nor a special preacher. Just a request and a little faith.

There will always be those who stand and watch from the sidelines, analyzing, reluctant to believe.

When Peter said these words – “It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through Him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see,” (Acts 3:16) he spoke to a group that refused to believe, even though they saw a crippled beggar running and leaping. The Sanhedrin—religious leaders—wanted Peter and John jailed, punished.

Today, I am blessed. First-hand experience with God’s healing power makes it easy to accept. I have no struggle to understand. Only gratitude.

But there is another serious consideration with healing. This post is about faith and healing, that wonderful combination. But there have been times in my life when I had the same faith, the same settled expectation, and I was not healed.

Why does faith sometimes receive a No from God, regarding healing? We only need that mustard seed size. We only need to ask and we will receive. But we present it, we show the Lord that mustard seed on the palm of our hand, and nothing is changed. We remain ill. We keep the condition that wearies us. We had faith. We asked. What happened?

This is one of those questions that we can’t really answer. I know a wonderful man in the Lord who was a colleague at a prior job. Jack Norman leads a group on the web for people who live with chronic pain. He suffers. He honors the Lord anyway. He is close to the Lord, but he doesn’t know why the Lord didn’t heal him.

I don’t know why the Lord didn’t heal Jack. I wish He would. But I do know that he speaks to my life with how he lives in spite of his physical suffering. His life and loyalty to Him encourage me to remain loyal to Jesus. His faith in spite of no healing calls to me: Have faith, Sara. Trust in the Lord. With the very fact that Jack loves Jesus even though Jesus did not take away his pain, Jack is a powerful witness for the Lord.

Consider what Oswald Chambers had to say about the Lord’s goal of making us more like Jesus, when you wonder about His No’s: “God always ignores the present perfection for the ultimate perfection.”

The Big Friendly Biker

May 22, 2012 in trust | Tags: | by | 2 comments

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by Petrina Kent, a Christian Artist who loves to worship God through paint, and prophetic sound on violin; Isle of Man

Each year during the famous TT race week a friendly biker (a mechanic to one of the racers) comes to my door to buy one of my prints. Now, this biker is BIG and, well, A BIKER. He’s visited for seven or eight years now, so you might say I know him. Well, I do—a bit.

One year, he says,

“ I have an idea for a painting;  up in the hills, you see amazing landscape in front of you, AND if you look in your mirror, amazing views behind.”

NOW I’M INTERESTED

Is this not LIFE?

We have it all in front of us but what is passed remains there as part of the scene. We can either look ahead at the open road or focus on what’s behind, but it’s hard to go forward if we are looking back. I consider for a moment, then remark that I’d probably have to go on a bike to get the ‘feel of it!’

Have I just offered to go on a motorbike?

YES! — AND HE HEARD.

A year later… another visit, I’m keeping quiet now, but no…

HE REMEMBERED

No sooner said than done — on with his wife’s helmet, and we’re off.

I’M TERRIFIED

It’s a vintage BMW, cool, but enough of that. He asks where I’d like to go. (Interesting: I do have a say in this!) I want to be up the hills to see what he sees, so that I will be inspired to paint.

WE RIDE OFF

Now, I’m clinging tightly to the bar behind me convinced I will fall off. We are half way up a low-lying hill, about five minutes into the trip, when I rather lamely suggest we might stop.

IT’S A SHAME.

The biker is now looking sad. I think he wanted me to enjoy what he enjoys, to share the experience, to feel the wind in my face, to know the freedom.

HE LEAVES.

This is sad, I am sad.

I allowed fear to get hold of me; I focused on falling off! It might have been best if I’d leant into him, trusted him, and even held onto him.

For me this speaks of a life journeying with God; we need to trust Him, lean into Him, and go for it, even if we don’t yet know Him. Instead we hold back, maybe through fear, but sometimes because we have not dealt with the past. We let the past dictate our future. Issues of unresolved hurts, broken relationships and failure can all be left behind if we forgive and let God’s love heal and restore us. He has, after all, made this possible through the death of His son Jesus. Jesus died so that we might go free.

I believe God is sad if we hold back from trusting Him. Yes, we do need faith to do this as He is unseen, BUT, just as the biker came into my life bit by bit giving me an opportunity to know him, God, through Jesus, also comes alongside us to give us both a chance to know HIM, and  an invitation to follow.

Going For It, by Petrina Kent

THE CHOICE IS OURS.

He wants us to go with Him, and if we do go, I believe there is great freedom and joy, real joy.

The road might not always be smooth, but it will be a great journey — the adventure of a life spent with God.

Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. -Philippians 3:14

What adventure awaits us if we lean into God, trust Him, and go for it?


Hollie’s Eats and Sweets

May 15, 2012 in fellowship | Tags: , , | by | Leave a comment

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by Tracy Ebbert Revalee, writing for newspapers, magazines and a small circle
of friends since 1979

Monday: All are invited to meet at Hollie’s at 9:00 AM for coffee and good conversation

Acts 2:42 says of the early church, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”

When it comes to the breaking of bread, Hollie’s is where that is done in West College Corner, Indiana. “Hollie’s Eats and Sweets” is located on State Road 27, on the western edge of a village too small to be defined by a stop light. The diner has a maximum capacity of fifty-two, a daily special for $6.49 (drink included) and a towering selection of pies, muffins, cakes, rolls and turnovers. Hollie arrives before dawn to bake the goodies and then stays on to fry dozens of eggs, pounds of potatoes and stacks of pancakes for the breakfast crowd. Lunch is over and the doors closed by 2:00 PM.

And while I’m not sure what else happens at Hollie’s, it seems like whenever we’re there, we’re breaking bread and praying.

Case in point: Jane and I have been meeting a couple of times a month for nearly a decade now. Our first order of business has always been to hold hands and pray. Then we order, we talk and we eat. Sometimes we cry, and always we laugh. Although we attend the same church, sing in the same choir and study in the same Sunday School class, it is in our bread-breaking at Hollie’s when I feel the truest sense of fellowship with her.

On Mondays, four lively widows from our church lay claim to the 12-top table in the southeast corner of the restaurant. They arrive by 8:45, a feat I have only accomplished on one occasion. (I don’t do early arrivals very well.) But, for the better part of two years I have managed to get there around 9:00 AM to meet for an hour of conversation. Our male pastor and one other retired gentleman are usually the only two men at the table. The group usually numbers about ten. When breakfast arrives, we hold hands and pray, and then the conversation begins.

Verse 44 of the second chapter of Acts says, “All the believers were together and had everything in common.” In our Monday-morning fellowship, the disciplines of nursing, teaching, business management, engineering, journalism and ministry are represented. There is a thirty-year age span between our youngest and oldest group members. It would seem none of us would have anything in common.

But as we discuss this morning’s headlines, we recognize a common response to the victims of crime. As we share our personal histories, we realize that a child whose heart was broken in 1952 is no more or less tragic than one whose heart was broken in 1982. Our pastor reminds us of a Psalm that speaks the same comfort to both those children. We share a story and a pastry, and we have all things in common. We are the Church.

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Tracy’s book, View From the Rollercoaster, Unsteady Essays and Bipolar Bylines, is available at amazon.com and for Kindle.
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Tracy keeps a devotional blog as well: Lady in the Pew.

Shadow Was His Name

May 8, 2012 in Christian Living | Tags: , | by | 4 comments

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by Judy Douglass. Encourager. Through writing and speaking worldwide, Judy seeks to encourage God’s children—especially his daughters—to believe God for the more he wants to do in them and through them.

Shadow was his name. It was the right name.

Some boys attending a summer conference had found this scruffy black dog and secretly kept him for a month. When it was time for them to leave, they knocked on my door:

“Mrs. Douglass, could you find a home for Shadow?”

Ha. Ha. This time, the dog didn’t follow me home. He knocked and asked if this could be his home.

So Shadow became our dog. And he became my shadow.

He was always with me. Wherever I went in the house, I had to be careful not to step on him. If I sat down, he curled up beside me. When I went to bed, he was on the floor next to me.

He followed me everywhere.

I think that’s something like what Jesus meant when He said, “Follow me.”

Jesus used the word “follow” repeatedly:

To Simon and Andrew: “‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will send you out to fish for people.’ At once they left their nets and followed him.” (Matthew 4:19-20)

To Levi (Matthew): “‘Follow me,’ Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.” (Luke 5:27-28)

To His disciples: “Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.’” (Matthew 16:24)

Leave everything? Deny themselves? Take up a cross? Just get up and follow? I think Jesus meant a little more than a Twitter follow, and much more like a Shadow follow. Here are some definitions and synonyms for “follow”:

To go or come after; to move behind in the same direction—literally and/or philosophically; to accept as a guide or leader; to accept the authority of or give allegiance to; to conform to, comply with; to obey; to imitate or copy

When Jesus said “follow me,” he called his disciples—and us—to “do as I say and do as I do.”

So what did Jesus say it looks like to follow Him? Some pretty challenging things:

Love others by laying down your life for them.  (John 15:12-13)

Don’t worry. Trust Me.  (Matthew 6:25-34)

Don’t be afraid.  (Matthew 5:36)

Give up your life for my sake.  (Mark 8:35)

Turn the other cheek; go the extra mile.  (Matthew 5:38-41)

Be completely humble and gentle.  (Ephesians 4:2)

Be holy as I am holy.  (1 Peter 1:14-16)

Seems pretty impossible. So how do we do it?

The first thing for us—if we are to truly follow Him—is to stay as close to Jesus as we can, just as Shadow never left my side.

Whenever I arrived home, Shadow wildly greeted me. I knew he wanted to be with me.

May I be that wild in my desire to be with and like Jesus.

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Judy’s book, Secrets of Success: God’s Lifelines is available at campuscrusade.com.

Rewind

May 1, 2012 in Choices | Tags: , , | by | 6 comments


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by Barry D. Phillips, author of I Planted the Seed (and Woody Squashed It).

My children silently endured hundreds of my made-up bedtime stories. Some of the stories were quite bizarre and likely caused them nightmares. Once in a while I’d fall asleep while speaking, and ridiculous gibberish would escape from my mouth as I hovered between consciousness and sleep. I still get teased over a couple of absurd phrases I incoherently uttered while falling asleep. Certain characters from my stories became bedtime favorites and made frequent appearances by request. I still remember stories from decades past, such as Robbie Raindrop and Alexander’s Magic Mirror. My three oldest children listened with rare interruptions, but Dylan, my youngest son, would stop me by saying “rewind” whenever he didn’t like the direction a story was headed. If, for instance, a ferocious wolf captured a helpless duckling, Dylan wouldn’t wait to find out what happened next. He would simply say “rewind,” and I was expected to return to an earlier point in the story and create a clever escape for the duckling.

Wouldn’t it be great if, when we find ourselves in financial or marital trouble, we could simply press a “rewind” button or say the word aloud like Dylan did, and return to a point in our lives that would permit us to take a different course? The “rewind” option would provide an easy escape from addictions, unwanted pregnancy, and avoidable accidents. My father could “rewind” to a point before he began to smoke, and he wouldn’t require oxygen twenty-four hours each day to control his severe emphysema. The “rewind” option would allow us to avoid the negative consequences of our poor judgment.

I worked for a brief time as an office manager at a cleaning company and felt pity for our employees. Most had dropped out of school. Many had criminal records. Some had serious addictions. Six dollars an hour for cleaning toilets was the consequence of quitting school, breaking the law, and ingesting harmful substances. Pauline was one such employee. She was a likeable woman with a smile damaged from meth use. She had eight children from six different men, and sadly, her children all suffer the consequences of Pauline’s poor decisions.

You cannot put all the shards of a broken glass back in place once it has been shattered. In the same way, we make some choices that are irrevocable. And because there is no “rewind” option available in real life, we watch powerlessly as the lives of people we care about are shattered by their reckless decisions. How could they not see what was coming? What clouded their judgment? The consequences of their actions seem, to us, predictable and inevitable. What could they have been thinking?

If you examine the life of William Borden, you’ll see a man who abandoned great fortune and unlimited career opportunities to become a missionary. But before he could share a single word with the Muslim Kansu people of China, he died from spinal meningitis while learning Arabic in Egypt. If I had tried to tell the story of William Borden to Dylan when he was small, he would have insisted that I “rewind” before the part about spinal meningitis. But there’s little question about William Borden’s desire; he lived without regrets and would have desired no “rewind.” Some people suggest that William Borden lived a wasted life. But it’s clear that a successful career, good health and  living “happily ever after” was not the purpose of his life. His purpose was to serve the Lord.

All of us must die eventually. Our lives are like water spilled out on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God does not just sweep life away; instead, he devises ways to bring us back when we have been separated from him. – 2 Samuel 14:14 (NLT)

If we understand that we are God’s prized possessions, we tend to think and behave differently than those around us. We are created in God’s very image. We are victorious co-heirs with Christ. Our decisions should reflect our family affiliation. We are, in fact, God’s own children. Some regretful souls may yearn for a “rewind” when they stand before the judgment throne of Christ. Is there a decision that lies before you, one that you have yet to make, that will cause you to ache for a “rewind”?

Jesus Speaks Puppy

April 24, 2012 in Prayer | Tags: , , | by | 6 comments

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God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand. 

  I’m an open book to you; 

     even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking. 

  You know when I leave and when I get back; 

     I’m never out of your sight. 

  You know everything I’m going to say 

     before I start the first sentence. 

Pslam 139:1-4, The Message 

“OK, Claire, say your prayers, “ I whispered, as I snuggled in beside my six year old completing our nightly bedtime ritual.

“Thank you, Jesus, for our day,” she began, her sweet little voice barely filling up the space in her room.

Her prayers usually began this way. With thankfulness. She thanked Jesus for anything that had made her happy that day. The sun, a movie, candy. And tonight I expected to hear, “Thank you, Jesus, for Bella.” Bella was our new puppy and Claire was captivated by her in a way that only a six year old can be. She was entranced by this fluffy little creature that bounded and barked and whimpered and loved.

“…and thank you for Bella.” she continued and then, without skipping a beat, she began to bark. Now I have learned that Claire, especially Claire, has reasons for the things she does. So even though she caught me off guard I didn’t let on. The rest of her prayer was a careful mingling of “puppy” and english.

When she finished, I opened my eyes and saw her wide, toothy grin and shining eyes staring up at me.

“What was that about?” I asked.

“Jesus understood me,” she said, “He speaks puppy.”

“OK,” I replied.

“He made puppies, Mommy. He understands them,” she went on. “He speaks their language.”

As a contemplative type, these rare and precious moments take on deeper meaning for me. My six year old had conveyed a truth, while barking, that many times eludes me. Jesus made me and he speaks my language.

That language changes, sometimes daily. It is often joy, especially in moments like these. Moments of seeing understanding shoot up from my children’s fresh faith. Recently, in a time of loss and questions, the language was sorrow. And on normal days, quiet.

But no matter what my language may be, He is fluent in them all. Even puppy.

Surprise

April 17, 2012 in trust | Tags: , , | by | 10 comments

Katie Mulder*

by Katie Mulder. Texan by birth.  Michigander by marriage.  Farmer, writer, mother.

I’ll explain why I’m hiding in the basement in just a second. Let me paint you a picture, first, so we’re all on the same page.

It’s 3pm.  I’m wearing a baseball tee and jeans, but you can’t tell because a 3-month old is strapped to my chest and chocolate covers my jeans from the birthday cake (Happy 2, Gus!) someone (not me) got into this morning.  My shirt, for once, is remarkably clean.  The infant is sleeping after an afternoon of horrific belly bubbles, so we’re not moving her even though I don’t plan on carrying her to sleep for the rest of her life.  There’s a 5 year-old running around here, too.  She’s carrying a garden bucket (inside) and a shovel (inside) while wearing a purple tutu.

Can you see us?  Great.

We’re down here because there are toys and the tv and 200 square-feet of carpeting in an otherwise wood floor house.  Wood flooring is echo-y, particularly when there is some kind of animal, bird, or dragon trapped in the wood stove pipe like today.  It is clawing and flapping and screeching for dear life to GET. OUT. Now, this would be loud for anyone drawing breath but for my 5-year old daughter, it’s excruciating.  She is falling apart with empathy and fear.  We need to leave.  It’s pouring rain outside, the birthday boy is still napping, AND the infant is attached to me… so leaving isn’t an option.  We are, like I said, in the basement.

I call my husband… at work, in the office, wearing a button-down shirt.  He listens patiently, laughs, and then tells me he’ll come home with a plan.  In 3 hours.

I call my father… to see if he had any sooner-than-three-hours pearls of wisdom.  He listens patiently, laughs, and then hangs up after a cheerful, “Good luck with that!”

I feel like most of my conversations end this way.

We can still hear the desperate fluttering from upstairs, so I turn Elmo up a bit louder.  I wonder what that poor creature is thinking.  He’s going to climb out?  It’s worth the fight?  One more try? Is he covered in soot?  Is his family missing him?  This is going to end badly on many levels.

By the time Curt comes home (wearing a huge grin), the desperate noises have been quiet for about 30 minutes.  I am exhausted on every level, and I am admitting defeat.  Curt changes into his problem-solving clothes and everyone gathers around the wood stove.  The children have forgotten their fear and are leading the charge.  We’re all-in now.  You, too.

I begin calculating the cost of therapy that will be necessary to help my children (and me) deal with this whole ordeal.

Curt empties the stovepipe.  Flakes of creosote shower down into a pail but no living or once-living creature.  So, it’s made its way into the belly of the wood stove.  Excellent.  A flashlight brings day to the back wall of the 2-foot oven… and there, clean as a whistle and calm (exhausted) as Sunday afternoon, is a bird.  A large bird and very much alive (thank you dear Lord in heaven above for all that is possible and granted).

Now, we’re excited.  You, too.  A bird!  A wild bird is IN OUR HOUSE!  And Dad, as only dads can, Dad is going to save it!  And, he does.  He simply reaches in, grabs Birdie, lets him say hello to the children, and sets it free on the back porch… where he flies away as if nothing ever happened. At all.

The End.

There are 101 life-lessons in this story, but let me just point out the one that made me cry a teeny bit:

 It all turned out ok.

 You know and I know and your grandmother knows that on any other day that bird would have died or been terribly injured and my daughter—my precious, all-feeling daughter—scarred for life.  We’d have found a shoebox and performed a funeral and gone to bed full of tears and frustration.  I was ready for it.  But, no.  Three hours of struggle and three hours of hiding and three hours of expecting and planning and thinking the worst and still:

It all turned out ok.

We’ve lost a lot of battles recently. I really needed that win.

You can know a lot about a situation.  You can be prepared in mind and spirit and experience.  You can absolutely know how this thing you’re dealing with is gonna go because you’ve been there before 100 times and 100 times it’s gone THIS WAY.  But sometimes, every once in a long while, God rewrites the ending.

And it is magical.   

And you live to see tomorrow.

Which, no doubt, will have its own surprises.

May you be surprised today, Friend.

May you be wonderfully surprised by our mysterious and sovereign God.

Philippians 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything,

but in everything,

by prayer and petition,

with thanksgiving,

present your requests to God.

Heaven is a great place …. who have you told about it?

April 14, 2012 in Heaven | Tags: , , | by | 3 comments

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by Moray McGuffie, evangelist and preacher of the Gospel based in Great Britain. Preaching, teaching and equipping the saints.

Heaven is a fantastic place that is quite beyond our imagination.  It’s eternity spent with God—the ultimate hope for Christians. Heaven has many descriptions, like:

  • The perfect unseen world
  • The dwelling place of God
  • Where Jesus sits at the right hand of God
  • It will be the dwelling place of the saints
  • The city shines like a great stone, clear as crystal
  • The streets are paved with transparent gold

In the Old Testament God used to meet His people in the tabernacle. That was where they knew He would dwell amongst them. Well when we get to heaven, there will be no need for us to go to a specific place because there, God’s Glory will be everywhere.

In heaven Satan will no longer be able to attack and torment people. There will be no remembrance of former sorrows; we are just going to experience pure joy. We will be given new names; new imperishable bodies and we will be clothed in the white robes of righteousness.

Nothing on the face of this earth can even compare to the beauty of heaven. The truth is though, many people mistakenly believe that they are going to end up in heaven one day.

People believe and convince themselves of all manner of things about heaven and tell themselves exactly how they are going to get there. They convince themselves that they will go there for many reasons like:

  • They went to a church
  • They come  from a Christian family
  • They were Christened as a baby
  • They were married in a church
  • Because everybody goes to heaven

The parables of Jesus tell us that He is going to separate the sheep from goats and the good from the bad fish. It will be this way because many people have made wrong choices, and have not believed the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In other parables Jesus spoke about the 10 Virgins at the wedding feast, the people who didn’t come to the banquet, the narrow and wide gate and those who put their trust in money, like the rich fool who stored up his wealth. In fact it’s not really any different today. When the time comes for judgement, there is going to be an enormous separation of those who know Jesus and those don’t.

If you know Jesus as your Lord and saviour, one day soon you are going to be there, praising God along with the multitudes, shouting HOLY HOLY HOLY IS THE LORD!
That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ~ Romans 10:9
 
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. ~ Acts 4:12
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We should not want to go to heaven on our own.

Like me I am sure that you are looking forward to heaven, but the very important point is that we shouldn’t want to be going there alone. We all know people who hope, believe or have convinced themselves that they are going to end up in heaven. They need to understand the fact that there is only one way that is sure and certain, which is through Jesus Christ. No one else—no method, works or  worldly belief system—will get anyone into heaven. It is a fact!

We need to share the gospel with those that don’t know Hesus and pray for people because the simple fact is that in general terms the lost aren’t going to be praying for themselves.

We need to ensure that we are walking right with God and we need to be living righteous and holy lives. Our lives need to be walking testimonies.

Will you be there and are you going to take people along with you?

Get

April 10, 2012 in Faith | Tags: , , | by | 6 comments

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by El LaGrew, minister of the Gospel, consultant to rural churches, incurable optimist.

Matthew 14:22-32

22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. 25 During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

29 “Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.

I grew up just a stone’s throw from Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. One of the great things about growing up there was that I got to go fishing a lot. In fact when I was a junior in high school I took off a whole summer and just went fishing. I mean the.whole.summer. It was great! But you had to be careful because storms on Lake Superior are legend. So This story about Jesus really hits home for me. In some ways, it hits home for all of us whether we have boating experience or not.

It’s as if Jesus has commanded us all to get in the boat and and do what we have been told until He comes to us. The Disciples were in the same situation. I would like to draw some observations that will benefit us all.

1) Jesus has commanded the Disciples and us to get in the boat. He did not exactly say what they were to do except to go to the other side of the lake. Faith is like that. Sometimes the Master tells us to do something we do not fully understand. Nevertheless… be obedient.

2) The journey was not smooth. A strong wind came up and was tossing the boat. It was especially hard because it was a head wind. Perseverance is a trait of a good fisherman/woman. No matter what, even if you are rowing against the wind… continue. You will surely never get to the other side if you stop. Your task is not done until you get to the other side. Keep rowing.

3) Jesus came to them. Sometimes when you feel alone and and frightened and you think you can’t make it, remember that Jesus has NOT left you alone. Just like his Disciples in that small boat Jesus knows where we are at all times and what we need. Always.

4) When our faith fails… Jesus is there to save us. Just like Peter who started sinking in the water when he tried to walk to Jesus, sometimes we find that our faith too, is weak and inadequate. It is during those times, those times of self-doubt and worry, that Jesus reaches out His hand to us and in his characteristic non-judgmental way draws us out of certain doom and places us again where it is safe.

5) The storm is calmed. Once Jesus takes us out of the situation where we have gotten ourselves in trouble—whatever the circumstance—things do not seem so bad anymore. The Scripture simply says, “…the wind stopped.” The very situation in which at first started Peter to doubt and sink was suddenly… gone. Just like some situations in our own lives.

And finally,

6) The Disciples’ response is one of worship. After Jesus shows them this miracle, they suddenly realize that Jesus is the Christ, that He does have authority over all these natural events because He is “Certainly God’s Son!”

How about you? Where are you in your faith journey? Have you even started by asking Jesus into your heart? I would encourage you to do it today. Right now. Even while life’s storms are raging all around you. There is no better time.

And how about you, Christian? Has your faith been weak? Get out of the Boat! Reach out to Jesus today. Take His hand. And just like Jesus said, “Surely I am with you, even to the end of the age.”

Blessings, all!

Shadow of the Cross

April 3, 2012 in Christian Living | Tags: , , | by | 1 comment

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by Kristi Huseby, friend of God, aspiring writer, proud mom.

Growing up in a Christian family, I learned at an early age that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins.  I was taught that I was a sinner and Jesus was my Savior.  In Sunday school class, when the teacher would ask a question I knew that if I said “Jesus” for the answer, it was a pretty safe bet that I’d be right. As a teenager, I would sing the song “Jesus is the Answer,” and firmly believed that He was!

Jesus’ death on the cross became something I knew and believed, but it didn’t really impact the way I lived.

He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion. ~ Philippians 2:5-8, The Message

I knew this truth of Scripture but continued to harbor jealousy, pride, and worry in my heart.  For me, the fact that Jesus died for my sins was head knowledge—I believed it was true—but it was not “heart living.”

It wasn’t until years later that I began to comprehend how Jesus’ death should impact my life. What Jesus did for me on an old rugged cross should cast a shadow over everything in my life!

Think about it. The God who created the universe and calls the stars by name, who holds galaxies in place and formed man in His image came to this earth, made Himself poor and took on human form so that He could die in our place—yours and mine. What more could He do to prove His love for us?

Slowly God chipped away at the walls of my heart and I began to understand what it really meant to live in the light of His Salvation. I began to see my sin the way God sees it. Sin separates. It puts a wedge between us and God, and there is no discrepancy—in God’s eyes, all sin is the same.

God let me see that my jealousy at its core was saying, God, what you’ve given is not good enough for me. My worry at its core was saying, God, I can’t trust you. I’m not sure you can handle this, so I’ll do it, thank you very much. My pride at its core was saying, I’m better than You God.

Then I began to reflect on Jesus’ incredible sacrifice for me and ask the question:  Am I living my life in such a way that it cheapens the price Christ paid for me?  I had to admit that when I am jealous, greedy or prideful and allow that sin to control my life it’s as if I am blatantly spitting on the cross. I’m living as if Jesus’ sacrifice on my behalf has no meaning in my life. When I allow fear, anxiety and worry to overtake me, I am really saying, Even though you made the greatest sacrifice of all for me, I can’t trust that you have my best interests at heart. When I am unwilling to let go of the guilt of my sin, I’m really saying, Your death on the cross isn’t great enough for my sin. I need to help You and pay penance by carrying around this guilt.

As believers, the Cross ought to influence everything we do, everything we say, and everything that we are. When we struggle with guilt or worry, we need to look back to the cross. When we are tired and weary, we need to look back to the cross. When we are discouraged and empty, we need to look back to the cross and remember the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich. ~ 2 Corinthians 8:9, NIV

The Cross should cast a shadow on everything—the way we live each day, our motivations; it should compel us to radical obedience and complete surrender.

weekly writers’ challenge winners (tweet!)

  • Avis Ward @EEOCenter, "As fresh as the newly born again soul." Announced via Twitter 2 months ago
  • Brett Wilkes, "As bumpy as the driveway of a disorganized watermelon farmer." Announced via Twitter 3 months ago
  • Dawn Adkins: "As mad as an uninsured mental patient." Announced via Twitter 3 months ago
  • Rick Stassi @emanatingjoy As fleeting as the ungodly life. Announced via Twitter 5 months ago
  • Laura Tehrune, "As cold as the frozen flagpole I licked at recess." Announced via Twitter 5 months ago