Hide and Seek

Do you ever try to hide from God?  Have you ever thought, OK, God, that’s enough, I am going to pull away from you, create some distance between us, so that I can be relieved from whatever God’s calling is in your life. 

I have…and still do.

I play a game of Hide and Seek with God, and just so you know, I lose every time.   How can you hide from the One who created you?  How can you hide from the very thing that has made you, you?

I was reading Psalms 139 tonight, and felt some comfort in knowing I was not alone in this game of Hide and Seek.  David, the great David, also, tried to hide from God.  Maybe he didn’t hide in the way that I hide, or you hide, but he had his own form of hiding.   He also had his own reasons for hiding as well.

We all fall short of God’s purpose for us.  We all fall short of the standards that we put on ourselves.  These are the times we need God the most, not the times to hide from him.

My hiding from God is like trying to hide from myself.  It’s impossible.  The only person who knows me better than I know me, and probably even better than I know myself, is God.   God created me, and you.  He created the universe we live in.  He gave us the air that we each breathe and put in each of us a purpose for our creation.

David says it so beautifully, in Psalms 139 1-4 (Amplified Bible) O Lord, you have searched me (thoroughly) and have known me.  You know my down sitting and my uprising; you understand my thought afar off.  You sift and search out my path and my lying down, and You are acquainted with all my ways.  For there is not a word in my tongue (still unuttered), but, behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.  

David is saying, Lord, God, you have seen all of me.  You have looked at me inwardly and outwardly and You know all that I am going to do, the good and the bad, even before I know them.   He’s telling us that God even knows our words before we are going to say them.  He knows our thoughts even before they are formed, or before the situation happens to cause them.  You know it all.  There is no hiding from you, because you have seen my days before my days were numbered. 

David goes on to say that God’s infinite knowledge is too wonderful to me; it’s high and above me, I cannot reach it. 

We struggle trying to understand our lives, and the reasons why things happen the way they do, and we will come up with conclusions or theories that work for our feeble minds, but they are never the way that God thinks.  God’s thoughts are out of reach for us.  God thinks and lives on a level that our minds can’t reach, but our hearts and spirits can. 

We can connect with God on a new level.  We don’t need to have the thoughts that God has, though I know many times I would like too, but I don’t need too.  I don’t need to understand his design for my life, but I do need to trust it.   We connect with God and have a relationship with God, through the Holy Spirit.  Jesus made the way for us to have this relationship by going to the Cross and accepting our sins.

With this sacrifice of Jesus, we now are able to not fully understand God’s ways or thinking, but we get to understand God, through the Holy Spirit.  We get to be the vessel that God uses to work through and change the lives of people around us. 

David is sure of himself and the love and affection that God has for him.  He expresses it throughout Psalms 139.  David is saying, no, I don’t understand your ways, or your thinking, but I understand that there is no hiding from them either.  I understand that you knew me before you created me in my mother’s womb.   Before breath came into our lungs, God knew us.  God knew the plans He had for you before there ever was a you.   He created you, so carefully put you together.  He formed you with precision and love.  He created you in His perfect image.

When I think about the fact that my life was planned and purposed for me, before there was a me, it does give me some peace.  It gives me a reassurance that I don’t need to know everything.  I don’t need to be the keeper of all the secrets, because I am not, or the one in control.  I don’t need to shield my sins, thoughts, or behavior from God, because He knew them before I ever did. 

And yet, He still loves me!! 

There is no darkness, no pit, no evil, no fear or shame that can hide you or keep you from God.  He’s been in all these places before you ever were.   Because of this we, and I really mean, I no longer need to hide myself from God.  He’s there hiding with me.  

To the people who are trying to hide themselves or shield themselves from God, pain or confusion with drugs, alcohol, sex or work, this isn’t possible, because He is already there.  He is sitting on that bar stool next to you.  He is standing beside you when you are doing drugs and lying beside you while you are giving a piece of yourself away.  

He is already there. 

God’s hand is on you, as David says in Psalms 139:5.  You have beset me and shut me in – behind and before, and You have laid Your hand upon me.  The hand of God is upon you.  This is the hand of protection, of love, of peace and the hand that is reaching for you, so grab it.

It’s impossible to hide from God.  It’s a futile game where you will lose every time, but I am so incredibly thankful that I lose this game every time.  I am so thankful that even though I try to hide, I can never be separated from the one who created me… perfectly, in His image. 

 

Miracles come in all ways and at all different times.

I recently was out for lunch with my mom and we went to my favorite Chinese restaurant.  During Lunch the restaurant only offers a buffet so you really are not working directly with a waiter or waitress.   We had gone to get our food and sat down to eat.  This was a very normal lunch and we had our usual conversation, so nothing out of the ordinary had happened.  

I don’t remember seeing anyone that I knew or recognized and neither did my mom.  The owner of the restaurant came over to my mom, while I was in the restroom, and told her that our bill had been paid.   Upon my return, my mom tells me this, and we begin to look around.  Now, this is not a large restaurant and we normally go here later, so we are not dealing with the lunch crowds.  By this time there was barely anyone left, so we were not able to find out who the person was who paid our bill.  

The owner had told my mom that it was someone who she had worked with at her old job but there wasn’t anyone there that we knew.  I told my mom I think this was God blessing us through an obedient believer.   

In reading John 5:13 this story was brought to my mind how we were blessed by a faceless person.  In John 5:13 after Jesus had healed the paralyzed man, the Jews were asking the man, now healed, who healed him, and the man was not able to say who it was.  

Jesus had performed a miracle, and then left quickly, because it was a crowded place.  I thought that it was beautiful how Jesus healed this man in the open but left before the praise could be given to him.    Just like the man paid for our bill but left before he could receive any praise for his blessing.

I believe a lot of times we give, do things for others, or flaunt the kindness that we show to others for the glory and praise that comes after the deed.   Jesus was an example of humility when he left after healing the man.  

Jesus did not stay around for the cheers, applauding, and wonder, for the miracle that he just completed, he had done his part and moved along with his plans.  Most of us would have stayed there to receive the accolades of our deeds.   We would have stayed to puff up and inflate our egos, instead of quietly walking away.  

It says in Matthew 6:3, in the Amplified Bible, But when you give to charity, let not your left hand know what your right hand is doing.   I believe this is telling us to be a quiet giver.  Be a humble giver.  Give out of the desire that God has given to you, not for people or yourself to recognize your sacrifice and then boast about it later.   

There have been many times God has put it on my heart to do something kind for someone I don’t know, and I try as hard as I can, to complete what God has asked me to do, and to do it without receiving praise.  I am just the messenger in those situations and the Glory is God’s.   He uses people who obey him to bless his children. 

I will feel very uncomfortable if the person knows it’s me or will start to make a scene over the blessing.  I completely separate myself and my emotions in those situations.  Now, I can’t say that when I have done what God has asked me to do, that I don’t feel good, but my feeling good is not because of the deed, it’s because I was obedient to God.  

I think these two verses exemplify how we are to handle giving or blessing someone.   We should never give to gain; we are to give to bless someone else, to help a person in need and Glorify God. 

I love that! In Verse 14, it says that afterwards, Jesus found him in the Temple and said to him, see, you are well!  Jesus didn’t stick around long enough after the miracle to even see if the man was healed.  He knew that the power God has entrusted him with was sufficient to meet the needs of this man and his purpose with him, was complete, for that time.  

Jesus then proceeds to tell him, and I think it’s something we need to pay close attention too.   He says, stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.  A very bold statement and one that I would think would set you on the narrow road that leads to life, instead of the wide road he had been traveling on for thirty-eight years.   

With this statement, Jesus is informing us that we may indeed receive a miracle, blessing, or deliverance, but if we don’t change our ways, what will happen to us is worse than what our issue was before. 

Take a moment to think about this and the magnitude of this simple sentence.   

Your prayer has been answered, for whatever it is, and you go right back to the life that you lead prior to your prayer being answered.  Jesus is saying, no, that’s not an option.  You have been chosen and received a healing, the last thing you should do is return back to your old man.  You should acknowledge the transformation that has happened in your life, and allow that to change you, from the inside out.  

I think this is one of the reasons we don’t receive answers to our prayers immediately.   When you have an addiction, let’s say to drugs, and God heals you from your addiction, in a moment, I would hope that would give you the transformation that you had been praying for; to not turn back to the person you were before.   I don’t think that’s how it is though.  I think that is why God makes us sweat it out.   

I think he wants to see if we are truly dependent on him, and ready to change.  Are we really ready to walk the narrow road to life, or do we want to stay in the same lane we have been, that has led us to destruction?   Many times we want to change something, or someone, in our lives but we don’t want to do the work that comes with receiving the change.    

We want things to come easy to use, I know I do,  I want to pray and receive immediately, and when I have to wait a little longer than I want to wait, I enter into doubt, fear, and unbelief.  I begin to waiver.   God is not looking for someone who is going to waiver.  God is looking for someone who is going to commit to the transformation and stand in that as a witness to God’s ability in the world.   

It is so much easier to remain who you are than it is to say I am going to be someone different, and then actually do it.  The dedication, commitment, and fortitude, it takes to step into change and allow God to do the entire work in you is large.  It is not something to be taken lightly and unfortunately, I think we do.   

When you pray for God to use you or for change to happen in your own life, make sure that you know what you are praying for, and be ready to enter into stretching your faith like you never have before.  Be ready for the attacks on your mind from the enemy, be ready for the people around you to doubt you and stand in disagreement in your plan.   

This is why many times we are told to not share with many the plans that God has told us.  When you are in a time of trial and change you need to keep all negativity away and stay attached to the word of God, be diligent in your path.  When you allow someone to come into this pure place of God, you are allowing their energy to affect yours.   

Jesus gives us immediate miracles and miracles that come after a period of time, but are still miracles.  He will use your prayers to strengthen you in him, and in turn, then use you in someone else’s life.   

Keep in mind when going through the season of change, that God is still standing beside you, but as Jesus performed his miracles out of sight, God will too be out of sight.   Stay fastened to the word of God, stay focused on your change, and know that after your miracle has come, to choose the road that leads to life, and instead of going back, to the man you once were.

 

 

Are you being held captive in your affliction?

Have you been dealing with something that you think God should have already either healed you of or broken you free from by now?   Living everyday with a shadow of pain, sadness, depression or anxiety in your life is not the plan that God had for you, when he created you, in his perfect image.   

God didn’t create man from dirt of the ground and then blow his life into man, for us to deal with living a life crippled by affliction.  God had a perfect image in his mind for what he wanted our lives to be, but also what he wanted for our relationships with him as well.   

We all know the story about the Garden of Eden and how Eve and Adam ate of the apple and brought sin and death into people forever more.  We know this story so well we can probably tell it in our sleep, so my question is why do we continue to listen to the lies of the enemy.

If Eve wouldn’t have been tempted by the serpent (Satan) to eat off the tree of Life and, then convinced Adam to eat of the fruit, the serpent wouldn’t be able to have influence over us today.  My question is, since we all know that story so well and we can pick out the evil in this story, why can’t we pick out the evil in our own lives?  

In John 10:10, quickly becoming one of my favorite verses, it says the Thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy, so why are we surprised that we have attacks against us every day, all day.  That’s 24/7 for some of you that unsure.  The enemy doesn’t let up when you are sleeping or in the shower, nope there is not an off button on the enemy, or we would surely have shared that with each other.   

I was reading John 5:5 tonight and thought to myself, so this man was lying by the pool of Bethesda for thirty-eight years, and no one helped him, he was never capable of helping himself?  To me instead of seeing the next verse, I saw a man who was held captive in his affliction.  

I think we can all understand this to some degree.  There are irrational fears we all have and are not sure where or why they hit us with such force, but that doesn’t make them any less true.  We either know someone, or have personal understanding of panic disorders, mental disorders, fears, anxiety issues, depression issues, I am sure there are many more, I can’t think of right now.   After reading this verse, I truly wonder if most of these aren’t coming as an attack from Satan. 

Before I go any deeper, in case I have offended someone, I need you to know that I myself have battled with anxiety and depression, for most of my living years, so I am not by any means saying this is not a real issue, because I know how real it truly is.   

What I am suggesting, is that we allow the seed of thought that the enemy has given us and when we originally think it or hear it, because the enemy can use people around you to knock you down as well.  But when we hear the insult or comment directed towards us we don’t know to not accept it as truth or fact.  This gives the enemy a place to work with in our minds.   

Most of us are not raised knowing that the enemy is alive in the world and that we need to speak back to him, to keep our minds clean of garbage.  Most of us are not raised knowing who we are in Christ, so when an attack of the enemy happens we can say, Ha, devil, you can continue all you want but I know my value, and worth in God, so everything you are saying about me or to me isn’t truth.   

This just made me think of the playground riddle that kids would say.  Something about being rubber and glue and whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you.   We teach our kids that these riddles are a great way to deflect the mean words that they hear out in the world, so why don’t we take it a step farther and tell them that God is the rubber, he protects us from the evil of the world, and Satan is the glue, so when he tells you or says bad things to you it doesn’t penetrate you, it bounces off of you, and lands back on him.  

I think that we are so unaware of Satan and his purpose that we let our guards down to his fiery darts, and allow them to become weapons we use against ourselves.

Do you think the paralyzed man lying around the pool in Bethesda had a high self-image?  Do you think he knew whose he was in Christ?  I don’t.  I don’t think he knew who or whom he belonged too, that he waited for thirty-eight years to be healed of his paralysis.   I think he gave up.  I think that Satan had attacked his mind in such a way, that he gave up on healing, and possibly, on God.   

Just to refresh the story in case you don’t know.  Every year at the pool in Bethesda an Angel of the Lord was sent, at an appointed season, to stir the waters of the pool and the first person who entered into the water received a miracle of healing.  

Now, I can tell you how quickly kids move for candy, and I would think that a miraculous healing would be more desirable then candy, so are you telling me that this man in the thirty-eight years he was laying there couldn’t just tip himself into that water when the Angel of the Lord stirred it? 

I think he could have… but he gave up!    

Many of us, including myself, want to give up.  Maybe you are battling depression, anxiety, addiction, abuse, or feelings of worthlessness, and you too want to give up.  You want to say that’s enough.  I am done trying.  Every day I get up and I try and everyday I fail miserably or something along those lines.   

I am here to tell you those feelings, those words, that mindset is not your own.  You don’t feel that way about yourself.   You were not created to feel that way about yourself.  Whether you believe in God or not, you were still created in his perfect image, which means, there are no mistakes.  There are no mistakes in your creation. We can make mistakes daily, and we do, because we have free will, but that still never ever separates you from whose image you were created in. 

Those horrible things we say to ourselves, that almost seem to run on a loop in our brains 24 hours a day, seven days a week, even when you get up in the middle of the night to go to the restroom, you are still hearing the loop telling you what you are not, or how you have failed.   Those horrible words are not coming from your inner most thoughts, they are coming from Satan.  Remember Kill, Steal and Destroy.  

There are days, that even before my eyes open up to the world, I am hearing some wretched thing about myself, now that’s not me speaking to myself, I am hardly awake.   

Satan does a good job at getting you young and impressionable, then working on you day and night for years to build that seed of self-hate in your mind.  Every day we fall for it because he has made us think it’s us talking to ourselves.    

I want to take a moment to tell you, the person reading this right now, I want to tell you that you are not a mistake, you are not a sum of your mistakes, you are not a horrible person, you are not unlovable, you are not abandoned, you are not worthless, you are not ugly and you are not alone.  

Here is what you are… You are perfectly created in God’s image.  The creator of the universe, of the stars in the sky and the rivers below, created you just as you are, in his image.  

 He looked at the world, and he saw that we were missing, you.  Your gifts and talents were to add to the world not subtract from the world.  There will never be another you… NEVER!   You are unique.  You are strong.  You are powerful.  You are beautiful.  You are valued.  You are heard.  You are loved and most importantly you are HIS! 

Don’t allow Satan to steal another day of your life!  Speak back to evil with truth.  Speak back to evil with the word of God and if all you know is God Loves Me than you say that every time you have a bad thought or feeling.  Every time you feel less than or that you can’t do something, you say the word Jesus and Angels are released to your side.  Call on your Creator and call on him often.  Speak the word of light and love over your emotions and tell them to get behind you in Jesus Name and show them who is in charge here. 

Speak to your fear, anxiety, depression, sadness, panic attacks, low self-esteem or whatever your struggle may be, speak to it and speak it out loud if you can.  Tell those emotions who your Creator is! Arm yourself with God’s light because it is not possible for Evil to exist in Light.   Stand in front of a mirror and tell yourself God Loves You!  God Loves You!  God Loves You!  Because he does. 

He sent his son to die for you and for your healing, whatever your healing may be.  He sent Jesus to die so that you can have life and have it in abundance till it overflows.  He didn’t send Jesus to die the horrible death that he died for us to be at the will of Satan.  Jesus died so we can defeat Satan because he already has!!!     

The rest of John 10:10 says… BUT I CAME (referring to Jesus) so that you may have and enjoy your life and have it to the full till it overflows!   

Don’t allow the sacrifice of death to be overshadowed by a serpent on a tree that you could crush with your foot.   Don’t give up and lay by your pool of Bethesda for thirty-eight years and wait for the Angel of the Lord to stir the water, when you can start walking in your Inheritance TODAY!

 

Appointed Seasons

Do you know that God does not work on our time frame?  Do you know that our clocks that represent a 24 hour day mean absolutely nothing to God?  God’s time is different than ours which is one of the reasons why he never delivers our victories in our time frame. 

It’s not that God can’t do it in our time frame but most of the time, I’d say 99% of the time, at least in my life, God doesn’t deliver on my clock. 

If God delivered our victories on our time frame, what would be the use in having faith?  We would know that He is going to deliver us when we ask him too, so we don’t have to believe for anything.  We don’t get to grow in our faith in Him. 

I was reading a very well-known story, one that I really like in the Bible, about the man who was by the pool in Bethesda, for 38 years, and never found his way into the healing waters of the pool.  In reading this story, after hearing it many times, one line seemed to jump right out at me, and that is John 5:3-4

Waiting for the bubbling up of the water. For an angel of the Lord went down at appointed seasons.   What really stood out to me was at appointed seasons. 

Hmm… well I know that it’s not my appointed seasons, because God rarely delivers me in my time frame, and since it was an Angel of the Lord that was stirring the waters, maybe it was the Angels appointed season. 

After thinking about that for a little bit, it occurred to me, it can’t be the Angel’s appointed season because the Angel is directed by someone to stir the waters.  I know in my heart, that this is referring to the appointed season of God, but I had to prove it by process of elimination, that I am correct.

Appointed seasons, doesn’t just represent this solitary case.  Appointed seasons is a representation of any time frame in our lives when, we are waiting, patiently on God to move.   We are either waiting for God to deliver us, for Him to send someone to deliver us, or for the manifestation of our desire to be delivered to us.  There is some kind of waiting taking place on our part. 

God sends an Angel of the Lord to stir the water.  Do you know that water is a cleansing property, that water can wash away your sins, can represent your commitment to following God, and his ways?  When we are baptized in water, we are saying to God, we commit ourselves to you Lord, and I believe in the sacrifices made for me on the cross.  So when God sends the Angel down to stir the water, He is sending the Angel to cleanse someone of their sins, and give them a fresh start.  This is their appointed Season.

I just love this phrase, appointed Season.  I love it!  To me it’s not representing any period or length of time.  Your appointed season can be anytime.  You could receive your breakthrough tomorrow or even later today, it can be at any time!  It also isn’t limiting you to a span of time.  Season, represents a period of time, but it’s not specific to a day, week, month, year or years! 

Doesn’t this just excite you!  First God sends an Angel to come stir the waters to cleanse you, and start your life fresh, not only that, he does it at the time when he knows it’s best for you.  So in his appointed time, he sends the Angel and you are given your victory and that victory may bring many other victories with it, because you have entered into a season!

I can’t help but believe that the use of the word season here is referring to a changing of life, a harvest, not just one solitary time, though that would be enough.  I think if this was considered one solitary event the word season would not have been used.  The word season signifies a period of time or extended period of time where change takes place in the weather, temperature and in nature around you, so a season can’t just be one day.

This brings hope to all of us waiting for God to deliver us into our appointed season!!   God is not a respecter of persons so what he does for one, he will do for all of us.   

I have to marvel at the significance of a statement I have never really focused on before, because I was always so caught in the rest of the story.  I have heard many sermons in person, on line and on television about this story, and never had I heard someone focus on the appointed season.  I am sure this has resonated with someone else in the world, but for the first time today, I saw the story from a different angle.

I saw this miracle not only in the healing that occurs to the man, but also in the comfort of knowing that God has an appointed season for my victory, and deliverance.   It can bring you relief and comfort knowing that there is nothing you have to do, but what God has instructed you to do. 

Essentially, you can sit back with a cold drink and wait on God.  We can’t make God move any faster than he is going to, and we really shouldn’t.  There is a reason why God has an appointed season for our blessings.   Maybe if I would receive my blessing, before it’s ready, it would never survive the process of being perfected.  Maybe, I am not ready, and this would cause the blessing to become a thorn in my side, because I am not ready for the blessing. 

There is a freedom that comes in knowing that God has already set his appointed season for our victories.  If the blind, crippled, and paralyzed people, who laid by the pool in Bethesda (John 5:3) can wait 365 days for an Angel of the Lord to stir the water, then I can wait until God wants to walk me into my Appointed Season!!   Amen to God’s Timing!!!

 Let’s all take a moment and let ourselves off the hook of feeling like we have to work on a clock that the World says is appropriate.   There isn’t a rule book for how your life is supposed to go; there is a rule book for how we are to live our lives, but not for how the sequences of our lives should be.  There isn’t a calendar that says on this day you will do this, and by the time you are 35 you should be at this stage in life.  If that was the case, and truly the case, we would all be cookie cutter images of each other and this world would be very boring. 

We were all created for a purpose and we enter into our purpose at different times in life.  I also believe our purposes can change.  For almost 14 years I thought my purpose was one thing until God revealed to me he had another plan.   This all isn’t coming together in the time frame I want or would have liked for it to come, but it’s coming, when God knows that I can handle it, and I am ready for the responsibility that he has set for me. 

There truly is a responsibility in living in your purpose.  There is a level of faith, trust, and obedience you must reach and every person comes to that place at different times.  We need to stop allowing the world to dictate to us what our lives are to look like, to be acceptable to each other.  

Remember we are in the world, but we are not of the world.  Shake off the restrictions and labels that the world has put on you.  Smash the proverbial clock and walk the walk that Jesus has laid out for you!!  Wait for God to usher you into your Appointed Season and receive something that the world could never give you and that is God’s Timing for your life!

 

Are you plugged in to God's faith or your faith?

How wonderful it is when we ask God for a miracle and he gives it to you right away.  How much more can you ask for to stir your faith, and trust in him, then to ask and immediately receive?   I am sure you will walk around for days, weeks, months maybe even years telling everyone how you asked God for a miracle and then received your miracle right away!! 

This is a wonderful blessing that God has done to you, or for you, when you receive an answer to your prayers quickly.   But what happens in the times when God is silent?  What happens to your faith when God isn’t speaking and you aren’t receiving his miracles and signs like you had before?  What do you do?

When we are babies in Christ it is not unusual to ask God for a sign and receive it immediately.  It is not unusual to have a problem, or a question, and ask God to help you with it and go to the Bible and, there is your answer written in Black and White on the page.   You can almost start to believe or think that God is like a magic trick, whatever you ask for, and poof there it is. 

God will show off like this for a new believer, because he needs to increase their faith.  It’s like the first couple dates, you are on your best behavior, and hide the bad behaviors you have, to impress the person you are with.  This is like God.  God wants to court you too, just like at the beginning of a relationship.  God’s way of courting you is to impress you, and increase your faith, in him.  I promise you that just like a relationship, this to will pass. 

Not that God will take away his goodness from you, but that he will cause you to lean, and rely on him, while waiting for your needs to be met.  In John 4: 48 Jesus is speaking to a royal official from Capernaum whose son was home dying.  This official had heard that Jesus had returned to Cana in Galilee, the place where Jesus had performed his first miracle, in turning water into wine.   The official was very worried about his dying son, and wanted to see Jesus, to ask him to heal his son.  (First, I would like to note that this officer traveled from his town to where Jesus was, without his sick son. We will speak on this later)

Jesus responded, in what I consider to be a Jesus riddle, that we need to figure out, but he said 4:48 Jesus spoke to him and said unless you see signs and miracles happen you (people) never will believe (trust have faith) at all. 

So basically, I believe that Jesus is saying, here we go again, and not with an eye roll, someone is asking me to heal their son, but they want me to perform miracle, after miracle, and they need all these signs of my ability, to confirm who I really am, why can’t they just believe!!  

This made me think of a baby, and how a baby is attached to its mother because the mother is the source of survival, for the baby.  The mother feeds the baby, rocks the baby to sleep, and changes the baby.   The mother is constantly giving the baby reassurance that the baby will be OK, and is safe.   So what Jesus is saying is, can we please grow up a little in faith.  Why do I need to perform miracles and signs for you, to have faith in me?

In verse 4:50 Jesus answers the official, after he begs Jesus to come back with him to heal his child, who is on his death bed.  Jesus responds with Go in peace; your son will live! And the man put his trust in what Jesus said and started home. 

This takes me back to the part I asked you to notice, the official never brought his son!   Now, I am not a mother, but I would think that, if someone I loved so much, that I would travel to get them healing, was sick, I would bring them with me.  I would scoop them up, and however necessary, I’d take them to Jesus, instead of asking Jesus to come with me.  This takes more time and my loved one is very ill.   The official did not!  The official left his dying son alone, and went to find Jesus.   Also, notice that, Jesus didn’t return with him to his home in Capernaum, he simply stated, your son will live! Go in peace… and he went! 

Please tell me you see what I see!!  Jesus made the statement in 4:38 not for the official, but for the people around the official.  The official was already coming in Faith!  The official took his first step of Faith, when he left his dying son at home, to find Jesus!  Jesus already knew he activated his Faith by coming and finding him.   Jesus was saying to all the people around with limited faith, why do I always have to perform miracles and signs for you to believe in me. 

Also, notice that when Jesus told the official to go, he went!  There wasn’t any begging and pleading with Jesus.  There wasn’t a royal official on his knees trying to get Jesus to come home with him, to heal his son, no, he went home.  You know why he went home?  Because he believed!  He believed that Jesus could heal his son, when he left his dying son at home to find Jesus.  He believed that Jesus had already healed his son, when he was headed home.  His faith was what was pleasing to Jesus, and what I believe, caused Jesus to heal him.  If the official would have come to Jesus with no faith, this would have gone a very different way, but because he had faith enough to leave his child, find Jesus, and then walk away, from Jesus with the belief his son would be healed, his son was healed. 

In verse 4:51 it says the officials servants met him on his way home to tell him his son lives, which is good news, you would think would cause the official to be full of joy, and happiness, which I am sure he was, but his response, was,  at what time had his son begun to get better?  At what time had his son begun to get better?  I love this question!!  I love it because, he already knows the answer!  This is why he wasn’t overcome with excitement and joy, he already knew his son was healed, and he was using this question of the time as a confirmation of the healing Jesus had done in his son!

Praise God.   The official used this as a stepping stone to get all his people in his household to believe in Jesus as well!   He asked the question about time, because he needed to confirm to himself, and the people around him, that when Jesus had told him that his son lives, that was the same time his son was healed.

Do you think that the faith it took this man to seek out Jesus was that of an immature believer in God, or a mature believer in God?  To me, this was a mature believer in God.  He asked for healing for another person off of his faith and trust in Jesus.  His faith was large, to leave his dying son home to find Jesus. 

When God leads you to the time when your faith has to be tested, and his signs and miracles lessen in your life, you have the opportunity to continue to believe, even when it doesn’t look promising.  You have the opportunity to remember the things in the past he has done for you and say, I trust God.  He is a faithful God and he will supply all of my needs. 

When you spend time with God, in his word and in his presence, you are increasing your knowledge and faith in him.  You are like a battery and recharging yourself, to face the day.    

This is very much like your cell phone.  When you take your phone off of the charger in the morning your phone is ready to go and full of power.  As you use your phone during the day it starts to lose power and possibly not work properly.  When you spend time with God you are charging your spirit and your mind, to operate in God’s power, and as you go through your day  your mind has fought off hundreds of messages, and attacks of Satan, your faith and power becomes depleted. 

This is why we are to pray without ceasing.  When we pray we are calling on the name of Jesus to help us, and keep us charged, and protected.  I know I personally have a phone charger at work, in my car, in my kitchen, in my bedroom, and in my living room, so I am covered wherever I am.   We should start thinking of praying like this.  You can pray anywhere, so start to think that praying is as important as it is to keep you phone plugged in, and do it everywhere and at any time. 

This takes the immature Christian to the mature Christian, because you are leaning on, relying in and trusting God, without needing to see his Miracles and Signs to keep you in faith.  It’s a simple and easy as staying plugged in to your power source, God.

 

Serving Jesus is infectious...

There is something about the name of Jesus that will cause you to speak about him.  It will cause you to start to share your story and experience with him, to anyone and everyone.   There is an excitement in serving the Lord.  There is an abundance of energy that comes to you when you know that God loves you and that Jesus died for you.  You have to share it.  You can’t keep that joy inside of you.

When Jesus starts to work in your life, you are slowly changed into his image, and you start to take on the personality and characteristics of God.  You might not recognize these things at first, but slowly you will see that your desires and habits will start to change.   Maybe you were someone who always went out to bars and clubs, and never felt like you were doing anything wrong, but after accepting Jesus into your life, you started to feel your desire for that type of entertainment changing.

 

I personally am a swearer, and as they say, I swore like a truck driver.  It never bothered me, I never felt convicted of it, and it was simply a part of me.   My mom would even say to me, you probably shouldn’t speak like that anymore, and I’d tell my mom, I will deal with it when God tells me to deal with it.   I have noticed, not that I have completely changed, but I have noticed that my language has started to change, as my walk with God has become deeper.  Subtle things about you will change as you exchange your desires, for the ones he has deposited into your spirit.

As you start to share your new desires and changes with the people around you, you are actually sharing information about Jesus.  This will cause their faith in God to grow.   This is why sharing your testimony is so important.   When we share what our struggles are, and how God has transformed us from who we were, into who we are today, we are encouraging the people around us to have a relationship with God, so they can have what we have.

It is so vital for people to hear your testimony.  They need to hear that not only has someone else lived a life similar to theirs, but that Jesus has healed them and made them new.  When you share what God has done in your life, whether it be something as small as changing your language, to something as big as healing you from drug addiction, you are sharing your success in the Lord.  People want to be around winners.  You instinctively want to be around people who are successful or who you deem are successful.   So sharing our success in the Lord will attract more people to you.

They will want to know what you did and how you did it, so they can do it too.  This is God’s light and glory coming off of you and God wants for us to share our success stories, as long as we aren’t the ones claiming the glory. 

Your faith will be increased, by hearing someone tell of changes that happened in their life, that are similar to your experience, and when your faith grows, your relationship and desire to know God will grow. 

You will start to desire to spend more time with God and know his word and to seek his face.   It’s almost like a merry go round.  You hear about God, you start to seek God, and your mustard seed of Faith grows.  Now, you step out in God, and have your own experience in God, and your faith continues to grow, but what happens now, is you now have a personally testimony, you have a personal triumph with God that you can share.  This has taken your faith to a personal level.   

Just like in John 3:42 when the Samaritan woman came back to her people, and told all about Jesus and how he knew all about her life without having met her before.  She proclaimed that Jesus was the Messiah, and she stirred the faith in the people she spoke to from her experience.   When they sought out Jesus, and heard him speak, and saw with their own eyes, their faith grew to be personal.  They were now carrying their own personal experience with Jesus and that makes their faith stronger, internally.

Like I said earlier this is like a merry go round.  Someone sees you on the merry go round, it looks like fun, they decide they want to try it, and it goes on and on.  When they hear you speak of your experience and how much fun it was, it entices them to try it out, and when they do they now have their own story to tell. 

Jesus wants us to share with everyone the personal relationship and experiences we have had with him.  He wants you, to allow him, to change you, and build you up in his ways so that the people around you, will see the changes in you and want what you have. 

This is also why God wants to bless you.  No one wants to serve a God that is not good to them.  You don’t want to work for a boss that treats you poorly, and it’s the same with God.   You want to serve a God that is just, fair, truthful, trustworthy, righteous, long suffering and faithful.  You want to serve a God that loves you, and will lead you in the ways that are best for your life.   This is your God.  When you experience all of the attributes of God you are proud to serve him and proud to say I serve a God who has changed my life, for the better, and I want you to serve him too.

God wants us to be like the Samaritan woman at the well, and have a personal experience with him, and go and share his goodness, love, grace and mercy with all of the people.  Our job as people, who have personal relationships with God, is to not be stingy with our relationship with him, but to speak boldly, and proudly, about the God we serve.  He wants to make serving him contagious!!  

 

 

Is your faith prepared for the boundless gift God has for you?

God does not hold out on blessing you or sharing himself with you.  God wants to rain blessings over you but you have to have an attitude of believing and receiving for those things to come to pass. 

In John 3:34 it says,  for since he whom God has sent speaks the words of God, God does not give him his spirit sparingly or by measure, but boundless is the gift God makes of his spirit. 

What this is telling us is that God is never going to give you something in part.  God will never say to you I am giving this to you and only give you a little bit of it.   You will be gifted upon your measure of Faith.  If you only have Faith for the small things in life, the everyday things, than God will be able to only go that far with you with your gifts. 

God will never string something over your head and say here this is yours now believe for it, if he doesn’t know you have the ability to believe for it.  We are the ones who are blocking our blessings.  We are the ones who stop the plans that God has.   Oh, ye of little faith.   That’s us, not God.

When God speaks to you that’s like money in the bank.  That’s like someone writing out a check to you without filling in the dollar amount because the account is limitless.  The account is bound by how much you are able to believe for. 

I know in John 3:34 that John was speaking to his disciples on how he was called to serve and prepare the world for Jesus, but this statement revealed something different to me.

When we have been promised something from God and God cannot lie, which we see in John 3:33, why then do we still battle internally with the promise?  

I have been dealing with a relationship that ended very abruptly and have been in such confusion over this relationship that it has manifested itself in other things in my life.  I have been praying for him and for restoration of our relationship, if that is God’s will.   During my time of meditation I will sometimes hear from God and I believe that God has revealed to me some plans he has for this relationship.  Now, from the human eye this relationship has ended, but I need to remember that God’s view point is expansive and mine is limited. 

God is the Alpha and the Omega.  He is the beginning and the end.  He has revealed things to me that I never wanted in my life and as time is going by he is bringing those things forth and changing my desires for life. 

So when I was reading John 3:34 I was stuck on this verse.  I knew there was something here for me to see and learn.  Something meant to change me, or at least start the process of changing me.  I wrote in my Bible you shall know them by their fruit and I read and re-read the verse and I feel like what this verse is saying to me is, God will not give you in part.

He will not say here is half of a house now go get the other half.  He won’t give you a promise or vision for your life without giving you the ability to achieve the promise of vision.

What I am learning is that God will deposit a dream into your heart and he will begin preparing you for it even when it doesn’t seem like it’s possible at all.  God will start to ask you to do some of the craziest things in preparation for your deliverance.   He is asking you to do these things because he wants to see if you believe him and if you will obey him.  He needs to see your obedience to his word and promise so that he can start to move things around to bring forth his promise.

A check and balance system that God has installed is what fruit are you producing from the promise God has given you?  Meaning, if you hear from God and it is truly God, and not the voice of yourself or the enemy you should be able to match that up against God’s word and the Fruit you receive. 

God has instructed me to start writing to prepare me for my purpose in life and he has been preparing me for this for a couple years but I didn’t realize it.  I started having a desire to write and read more.  I’ve been finding myself wanting to spend more time with God and his word than doing anything else.  When I write something I will share it with a small selected few and the response I receive is always favorable.  This to me is saying I am producing good fruit. 

The writing isn’t a struggle for me to do, and when I don’t do it I actually feel like there is something missing in my day.  It is bringing me closer to God and deepening my relationship with him, which in turn is changing me from the inside out.   This is being reflected in the music I listen to, the language I use and what I spend my free time doing.   The subtle changes are God’s way of saying to me you are on the right track.

Now, if the writing was something that I labored over and made me stressed and panicked and there weren’t any positive confirmations from the people around you this could be an example of bad fruit.   This doesn’t always mean that you didn’t hear from God but I would strongly suggest taking it to prayer and spending time with God to get a clear view on what you are supposed to be doing.  Maybe there is a slight change to what you are doing that is blocking the process from you and stealing your peace from the process. 

We are instructed to always step out in Faith and see what happens.  God will always meet you after you take the step but you will be able to tell internally and by your fruit if your step was the correct one to make or not.

What we need to focus on and keep close to our hearts is that God does not give his spirit sparingly or by measure but boundless is the gift God makes of his spirit.  

God will always give you more than you need and deserve and he will always over deliver.  When we put our faith and trust in whom it needs to be placed in, which are God and not man, we are able to receive the gift of his spirit.  

God’s spirit is with you everywhere you go, which means you can call on him whenever you need him and know that he is showing up full force and ready to help you anytime you need him!

look inside a person to find their true beauty

Many times in our lives we will come across people that we perceive to be less than we are or in a different stage of life than we are.  A lot of times we are quick to discard these people based off of age, race, religion or even economic status but if we are living the life that Jesus has caused us to live we will no longer see people from their outer shell but we will see them through the eyes of God. 

 

When Jesus was at the well with the Samaritan woman and asked her to get him a drink of water, her response to him was why are you speaking to me?  Why are you a Jew speaking to me a Samaritan woman?  Basically, don’t you know that you are not allowed to speak to me because your status is higher than mine?  Not only are you a man but you are a Jewish man and I am but a lowly Samaritan woman.

I think the way Jesus answered her was perfect and something that we can put to use in our lives today.  Jesus responded to her, and I am paraphrasing with this, but basically, if you knew who it was you are speaking to you would be asking me for what I have to quench your thirst and not your human thirst but your spiritual thirst.  Your thirst to know God and to have a closer relationship with the Father. 

You would know that you are standing in the presence of a King and beg of me to help you.  It didn’t take long for her to see that she needed what Jesus was offering her and quickly she asked him for his living water.  She was asking Jesus to be her salvation and save her from herself.   

In today’s world most of us would never take the time to even listen to someone standing by a building asking for help, let alone actually help him.  We have become very focused on the outer shell of people that we allow that to stop us from seeing the beauty inside of them.  We are so focused on ourselves that we thirst daily, a thirst that can never be quenched, from any drink we can find.  I believe this is why we have become so hard hearted towards one another.   If we would drink the water, the living water, that is what Jesus has to offer, the hardening of our hearts would start to soften and we would begin to see and feel people’s pain around us. 

The other day I was at the grocery store and there were only a few registers open but the store was fairly busy and as I waited in line for the girl to scan my items an older man came and waited in line behind me.  Normally, I see someone who only has a few items and I let them go in front of me but he had come after I was already being rung up.  As the girl was checking me out I had a nudge inside my spirit telling me to pay for his crossword puzzles.  I started the internal conversation with God saying, how can you ask me to do this, I don’t know him. 

As she was giving me my total I heard myself say I’d like to pay for his book, as well.  The man who was probably in his seventies had a look of astonishment on his face and the cashier was also confused and said, you want to pay for his items?  I said yes, I would like to buy his book for him.   He kindly looked at me and said I am getting two books and I said well I’d like to pay for both of them.  He thanked me and I responded with you are welcome, and I had a good feeling because I obeyed God and stepped out. 

Now, I should probably tell you that when I go to the grocery store I look a mess.  I am not a fashion, girly girl.  I am a jeans, t-shirt, hair in a ponytail no make-up girl, so imagine what he probably thought when he heard me ask to buy his books for him.  I am sure first he was shocked that I wanted to do so and he might have thought, well she doesn’t look like she can pay for her own items let alone mine.   He could have told me no based on my appearance but he didn’t and I was able to fulfill the request God had put in my heart. 

I am telling this story not for glory for myself but to tell you that we should stop looking at the people around us and qualifying them and see them as God sees them, as his people.  I am not a rich person but I am also not poor but if you would have judged me on my appearance at the grocery store you might think that I am a poor person and how wrong would he have been.   

God has given us an outer body to house our soul and spirit but we are not to judge each other by our outer body, we are to look at the person’s soul and react to that. 

We are to be the sharer of God’s Living Water in the world so that the people around us will never have to thirst again but have their thirst quenched.  I am hoping that the young cashier and the older man saw God that day through me.  I hope that they both had a moment and were able to receive the blessing and not the act.  I was only doing my job in being obedient to the task that God has placed on my heart. 

 

If we would all start to be obedient to the calling of God on our lives we would no longer live for ourselves and deny others.  We would look at every person we come across as if they were as valuable as we believe ourselves to be, because they are.  There is not hierarchy with God.  We are all his children and he has called us to love each other because he first loved us.

Next time you see someone that is different than you or you perceive to be in worse shape than you are, remember the Samaritan woman, and Jesus at the well, and know that we are all a Samaritan woman in the eyes of God.  We all fall short of God’s Glory and yet we are redeemed and made right in the eyes of God.  We should be sharing the gift that we so freely receive everyday with the people around us instead of allowing them to be thirsty!