Stretch Out Your Hand....

Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand".....(Matt 12:13)

Jesus came upon a man with a withered hand. Imagine a man whose hand was paralyzed with no ability to move. It had no life in it. Yet, Jesus, the great healer comes upon this man on the Sabbath and has compassion for him. 

However, Jesus doesn't just come upon this man and instantly heal his paralyzed limb, no, if that's all we see as we read we're missing a great point of application. 

Before Jesus heals this man, He asks him, "stretch out your hand." 

To you and I this seems like a simple request, but to this man, I'm sure it seemed like a great impossibility. His hand is withered. He has been unable to move it for who knows how many years. It would be as if you were mute and Jesus came up to you and said, "say a few words to me." Yet, this man does not doubt. The scripture tells us that he stretches out his hand it is restored completely. Had this man not exercised great faith in believing that Jesus would heal him by stretching out his hand would he have experienced the healing power of Jesus?

Jesus wants to do the same for you and me. He wants to bring healing into our lives, but we must not forget that Jesus often times wants us to exercise the faith that shows we believe that He can do that which is impossible a part from His power. 

I don't know what it is for you. I'm not sure what you're praying for in your life. Many people pray to be more patient or for more self-control. Yet, when Jesus offers them the opportunity to put their faith into practice when someone annoys them and test their patience they back down and give into their annoyance. Then, turn around and ask the Lord to just please "give me more patience."

No, this is wrong thinking that we must do away with if we're truly going to grow as Christians. Growth comes about when we put our faith into practice. as we actively apply scriptural truth to our lives. If Christ lives inside of you the power of the Holy Spirit dwells with in you. God has given you all the patience, grace and self-control that you need in Christ. It is available for you in Christ in the moment of temptation when you are tempted lack grace or patience. In order to overcome, we must CLAIM patience, grace and self-control IN THE MOMENT as OURS in Christ. Then, put it into practice. If we do, we will grow. 

Praying that God will give us more patience, grace or self-control is like beating a dead horse. Only one of you is doing the work and quite honestly, its meaningless work. When I choose to exercise the faith that I have received through Jesus Christ and claim that for my life, then I am working together with the Lord for my own personal healing. 

Stop asking God to "heal your hand." Stretch our your hand and claim the power over sin in your life available for you in Jesus Christ.

When I Gave Up on Ministry

...a smoldering wick he will not snuff out...(Matt 12:20)

It wasn't long ago when I decided I was done with ministry. It had become too burdensome, too tiring and I had convinced myself I was going to fail, so before I did, it was time to get out. I had no joy in serving. I was hanging on until the end of the ministry year so I could go on vacation, thinking a week away would be the re-charge that I needed. 

Little did I know the real problem was I had fallen away from my first love. I had become so busy doing ministry and other activities, filling my plate and time with numerous things that I had no time to rest in the Lord. I had no time to truly sit at the feet of Christ, studying the scriptures, seeking Him in prayer and solitude. 

Thankfully, Jesus, in His kindness did not snuff me out. By all accounts, He should have and just moved on to the next ready and willing soul to be used of Him. Yet, in His loving-kindness and mercy He showed me the real remedy for my defeat was not a week vacation, but the need to rest in Him. 

I remember reading a book for my masters degree on the need for quietness and solitude during this time in my life a couple of years ago. It was so convicting to me, because I recognized that I had made doing ministry for Jesus above my relationship with Him.

Soon after I made the commitment to make time for rest, to get into the word daily and set aside time for extended prayer and worship. As time went on Jesus took my smoldering wick and poured on it the life-giving oil of the Holy Spirit and soon I became a fire burning with hope, security and confidence in the Lord Jesus. 

A life set on fire for Jesus is no secret. The formula is really quite simple. 

Rest in Christ + Prayer + Time in the word of God = the power of the Holy Spirit being poured out on your life. 

I am more convinced than ever that those who are most hungry for God and most passionate for Jesus are the ones who have continually, with unwavering commitment, sat at His feet. They long to hear what the healer as to say to them. They cannot imagine life without Him. They love His word and they are devoted to prayer. 

I am no fool to think I could never become a smoldering wick again, if I were to neglect setting aside time to rest in the presence of God. 

I'm not sure where you are today. If you are a fire blazing or a smoldering wick. Know this, Jesus has the life-giving oil of the Holy Spirit that He wants to pour out into your life. If life meets you in a smoldering spot remove those obstacles that keep you from sitting at His feet. He will meet you there and in His presence you will be made new. 

Lord Jesus, I know that I am capable of deep sin. If I stray, call me back. If I neglect time with you, burn within me. Remind me of your love. If I become a smoldering wick once again Father, lead me back, by your grace to a deeper walk with you. Jesus, burn brightly in your daughter to the praise of your glorious grace and for the proclamation of your gospel. In Jesus name. Amen.

The Feeding of the 4,000

Observations from the feeding of the 4,000 in Matthew 15 

1. Jesus had COMPASSION on all the people, which spurred Him to meet a need they had.

2. Their NEED was hunger, because they hadn't eaten for three days.

3. The disciples response? Um, Jesus, where are we gonna get all that food around here?

Jesus asks His disciples, "What do YOU have?"

They have a mere seven loaves of bread and a few small fish for a crowd of well over 4,000 people.

5. Before Jesus feeds the people He GIVES THANKS for the sacrificial offering of food they are giving to the people. Jesus and His disciples did not give out of their abundance, but out of the little they had. It was barely enough food to feed themselves. It was a sacrificial gift of faith and God blessed it in great abundance.

If we are spurred with compassion towards a person or persons then our next response must be, "Lord, what shall I do?" He may ask you, "What do you have?" Then, He may show you something that would require a great sacrifice on your part, do not worry, your heavenly Father will meet your needs according to His riches in grace.

When we offer up our gift to those whom God has stirred us with compassion for we must do it with a heart of thanks, not begrudgingly or in doubt that God will be able to meet our needs.

God desires to take your little and multiply it to show off His glory. Do not hold onto your little for fear that you will not be provided for. God is faithful, if you are stirred with compassion and God shows you a need to meet for someone else, then go and meet it with a heart of thanks. He will provide for you. He is faithful and good.

Sin Most Appalling- My Own

The one persons sin I should be most appalled by is my own. 

We spend a tremendous amount of time believing someone else needs to change when the person God is most concerned about changing is the one looking back at you in the mirror. 

I am a firm believer that most relationships would be mended if we followed this simple principle and chose to believe the person who really needs to change is ourself. 

Instead of saying, "she needs to change or "if he would just change" we should say, "I need to change."

Following the Master

We often forget the key to walking with Jesus is waiting for the next step from the Master. There may be times when we are running with Jesus, step by step, following Him with vigor and life.However, we must not forget that sometimes the Master calls us to rest and in our rest, we are indeed following Jesus. 

Other times the Master may ask us to follow Him on a journey of deep suffering. It may seem uncertain, the terrain difficult, but Jesus promises to stand with us in our affliction and to never leave us. Do not flee from your affliction. Many of us will never see the deliverance of God from it, because we chose not to believe that Jesus could see us through it. 

We would be wise to remember that in the midst of our battles, following Jesus simply means to be still and watch Him fight for us. We will quickly become defeated if we choose to fight without Him or if we try to flee from the affliction. 

Following Jesus is more about patiently waiting then passionately pursuing. In our patience, we listen we discerning ears what the Master would have next for us. We dare not run ahead of Him or wait too long. We know His voice so deeply that when He does call us to the next step we rise with confidence, because we love to follow after Him.

To Be Like Joseph

Joseph could have very easily been angry with God. 

His brothers, who were terribly jealous of him, threw him in a pit, faked his death and sold him to foreigners. Not only that, but after many years of serving in the house of Potiphar, as his right hand man, he was wrongly accused of sleeping with Potiphar's wife. He was quickly thrown into prison, bound with chains and left to rot and die. I'm sure this wasn't the dream Joseph had for his life as a young boy. 

Many of us, myself included would become bitter, angry people, we would complain about our present suffering so that others might see our pain. We love it when others notice. In a twisted way it makes us feel better. It somehow puffs up our pride to have others notice our suffering and to complain about it with us. 

Yet, Joseph doesn't complain. He trusts God. It's really that simple. He trusted God so deeply that others took notice. Others knew that GOD WAS WITH JOSEPH. He lived in such a way that proclaimed the belief that God was in control. He carried himself in a way that spoke of the greatness of his God regardless of his terrible circumstances. The Bible tells us that God blessed Joseph and gave him favor, even while in prison. 

I wonder if any of us are even able to see God's favor in our lives when we face our own personal prison of injustice? If I could be honest, I focus so much on the bad circumstances that put me in the spot that I'm in, I have a hard time choosing to focus on the greatness and favor of God when my life is less than ideal. 

Forgive us Father for focusing not on your greatness, but on our suffering. We have caused ourselves to become bitter people full of complaints. We have not remembered that you are with us. You promise to never leave us or forsake us. Please help us take our eyes off our circumstances and to place them back upon you. We choose to trust you even though we cannot see the outcome. We will believe you for our deliverance as we hold fast to you, in Jesus name.

When We Feel Forgotten

God has not forgotten you. 

Many of us feel as though He has. We think to ourselves, certainly, if God loved me, He would have removed my suffering by now. God has stopped listening to our prayers, we think. Things haven't turned out the way that I have desired them, so God has chosen to be done with me. If God truly cared he wouldn't have allowed this person to die, that job to be lost or my spouse wouldn't' have left me. 

Oh, how I wish I could peek into the heavenlies. I wish I could see the Master at work, orchestrating His plan for our lives. I wish that I could see the great cloud of witnesses cheering me on saying, "Don't give up!" "Persevere!" "Fight with the Lord Jesus!"(Heb 12:1-2). I wish that I could, but I cannot. I must exercise trust and faith. I must choose to believe in the sovereignty of God, even though I do not know when God's deliverance will come. 

I truly believe that some of us were on the brink of our deliverance, but we gave up. We became wearied of the battle so we stopped fighting. Truth is, maybe we were fighting not in God's strength, but in our own. We prayed fervently for days, weeks, months or years and God didn't answer our prayer the way we wanted Him to so we stopped praying. Yet, maybe our prayers are being hindered, because of unconfessed sin or disobedience in some aspect of our lives(1 Pet 3:7, Mark 11:25). We never did stop and think that maybe God had answered our prayer, it just wasn't in the way we wanted it. God always answers prayer and we must be wise to discern His voice. 

True discernment takes a listening ear that is ready to sit in stillness before the Lord. Our culture is full of distraction and busyness. Our minds are so clouded by entertainment and demands that we have a hard time hearing from God, because we have not conditioned our minds to be free from clutter and distraction. We walk around wishing God would answer, wondering where He is, when all this time He's been shouting the answer at us. Yet, we are too busy to hear His voice. We would rather scroll through our phones, numb out our minds, be entertained by mindless games and videos instead of hearing from the living God. 

God has not forgotten you, but often, we have forgotten Him. Amidst the busyness of life, we go on, 100 mph and forget to be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him. We grow angry, we become people we don't even like, but we never pause to sit in the presence of God. The place we experience true transformation. 

Do not give up, but fight with the Lord Jesus for your deliverance. Those who have gone before you are cheering you on in the heavenlies. You cannot fight or win your battles alone. Only God can bring victory. Take up your stand in prayer, don't give up, but take your place in God's army and watch as your Captain leads you into victory in Jesus name! It may not be the victory that you expected or in the timing you would have liked, but we must trust that God knows what He's doing and He will work all things together for the purpose of His will. 

"Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for Him"- Psalm 37:7