John 14:9 "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time?” NIV

Philip has a lot of our problems in his discourse with Jesus.  He has known Jesus for a little more than 3 years.  He must have had blinders on for some time because he didn’t recognize Jesus in connection with God the Father. “If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well.”^NIV

Have you ever told someone something and they had a mental picture that was far from what you really said?  I think the disciples were in the same boat.  They were very horizontal in their thinking.  They thought that Jesus did all those miracles by himself and the teachings of Jesus were great stories and that was all the higher their spiritual sight went.  He had raised the dead, cast out devils, healed the sick, and done those things which no one could have done who had not come from God. But, they still wanted a visible manifestation from God.

May I ask you, how long have you been a Christian?  After that long a time, do you recognize Him for who He is?  Do you know and recognize when he has intervened in your behalf?  Or do you only recognize Him when the chips are down and have to have His help? When you pray, do you know His face? Do you ever have an open ended time where you just talk to Him, as you would a neighbor next door over a cup of coffee?  Are most of our prayers petitions for something we desire?  Yes, He does say to make our petitions known and He will answer.  If that is the major part of our prayer then we have the Santa Clause view of Him,   always wanting something from Him.  If so, we are at the same learning level as the disciples.

There is the deeper life where we don’t ask God to remove the problem but we ask God to remold us in His image for the occasion.  Such as, breaking down our resistance to authority, or changing our attitude toward a person or situation, or humbling us for the Glory of God.

I am saddened when I hear people say, “The man upstairs,” referring to Jesus.  We should be saying, “Jesus is a personal friend of mine and I would appreciate it if you didn’t use His name in that way.” I would defend the honor of any friend of mine and especially the friend that is My Lord!

Do you know how he will probably answer your prayer before you pray?  Do you have, in your spiritual eyes, a glimpse of His face?  He says, “Do you really know me?”  When you pray purpose to look Him straight in the eye!!

Just a Thought

Jerry

“Surprise” is not in God’s vocabulary!

I am amazed that so many Christians believe that all their trials and troubles come as a surprise.  Like, God was asleep when this problem arose. Or, God wasn’t watching when this tragedy came on me. Or, where was God to allow this to happen to me?

Let’s get real here, folks!  God is not the God of surprises!  He just is not!  There are all these evidences that God made preparation for this or that to happen and he made provision before this or that happened.  My Grand-daughter graduated from College and it was no surprise.  She worked for four years very hard to reach the steps that went up to the stage where the certificate was given to her.  That was no surprise because she was preparing and was prepared for it.

You want Biblical evidence God prepares us before hand?  Here it is:  Didn’t God prepare the earth BEFORE He created man?  Did He not prepare Noah’s salvation BEFORE the flood?  Did He not prepare the Israelites BEFORE leaving Egypt? (food, jewelry.etc.)  Did He not prepare David BEFORE he became King? 

Let’s look at Jesus for a minute.  Where did Joseph get the money to take Jesus out of harm’s way when the King would have killed Him?  The answer is the Wise Men came and provided the money, again a preparation BEFORE the time.  Jesus also prepared His disciples when taking them to Jerusalem for Passover.  He prepared them for what was going to take place.  It should have been no surprise to them. Five chapters in the book of John were at the last supper and they were taught what was going to happen and how they were to respond, BEFORE it happened.

Now, let’s talk about us today.  If you have been paying attention to the preceding small trials, in your life, that took place BEFORE the big trial, you would have known it was coming and been prepared.  Our problem is that we don’t give God the glory for bringing us through the small trials, the small hurts, the small temptations.  Remember when Scripture said that the little Foxes spoil the vine? ^{Song 2:15} “the little foxes that ruin the vineyards…”^NIV

If we are to be successful in our Christian walk we must acknowledge that God is always preparing us for the big tests.  Those times when we are overwhelmed are because we have not acknowledged God’s preparation trials we have come through.  We all want to find a plateau with no problems and no trials.  Where everything is planned and executed by us for easy going.  This will probably surprise you – THERE IS NO SUCH PLACE!!!!

Anyway, the lessons and the tests are to prepare us for our day of Graduation.  I sure want to be prepared, don’t you?

Just a thougth

Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. Prov 16:24. NIV

During grade school, about the 4^th grade, all we children were out for recess.  We were running and playing and just letting off a lot of steam.  After being cooped up in the class room for a couple of hours we needed to let off some steam.  As children will sometimes be we were as care free as we could possibly be.  We were playing tag, baseball, kickball, swinging on the swing and sliding on the slides and back and forth on the teeter totter. All of a sudden there was tragedy.  One of the boys fell down in the gravel and scuffed his knee and it began to bleed.  The boy was screaming because of the pain and the sight of blood.

The nurse was called and she came with her lunch box first aid kit and knelt down by the boy who was crying very loudly and had both hands covering the wound on his knee.  Blood came through his fingers and it looked like it was pretty bad.  The nurse tried to get the boy to let loose of his knee so she could put some healing ointment disinfectant and a bandage on it.  But, he refused instead he held it as tight as he could screaming that it was too painful for her to touch it. 

Finally, the teacher took hold of the boy and pulled his hands away so first aid could be performed.  What a sight.  I don’t think that I will ever forget how he stopped crying when the nurse put the ointment on the wound and it soothed the hurt and made it feel much better.

I wonder if that is the picture of us.  How many times have we been hurt and we hold on to the hurt instead of letting our Heavenly Father put on the healing ointment that will make it feel better.  Like all hurts, it takes time to heal, but there is one who can make the pain go away if we will just let go!

I’ve known people who held on to their hurts for many years, never giving God the opportunity to heal.  They become “deformed” in their spiritual lives because they refused to let God make them stronger and more mature.

If I were sitting in front of you, looking you squire in the eye, and I asked you what hurt are you holding, what would you reveal to me?  Would it be that someone had hurt you with an untruth?  Would it be that someone hurt your feelings a long time ago?  Would it be trouble between you and a family member?

Jesus hurt more that anyone of us ever will.  He did it just for you and for me.  But on the cross He let it go.  He said, “Father, forgive them they know not what they do!” 

Will you let go today?  God only wants to heal and make you stronger, but, He needs your co-operation!  Just let go.

Just a thought