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

“I will never …” Hebrews 13:5. Deut 31: 6

How would you like to be the first person in something? Adam was the first man on the face of the earth. He was created, September 21, 4,000 BC. ^{(Traditional)} Ferdinand Magellan and his crew were the first to sail around the world from 1519-1522.  John Hancock was the first person to sign the Declaration of Independence.  The first person who set foot on the continent of Antarctica is said to be the American John Davis, a sealer, who landed there on 7 February 1821.  The first man to reach the North Pole was an engineer in the American Navy called Robert Edwin Peary, who reached the pole on April 6, 1909 along with his employee Matthew Henson.  29^th May, 1953 the first
persons to climb Mount Everest to the summit were Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay (who reached the top together) is recognized as the first time the peak was conquered. 

Chuck Yeager was the first man to break the sound barrier on 14 October 1947 in the Bell X-1.  February 20, 1962, John Glenn was the first American to orbit the earth. Do you remember Neal Armstrong? He exited the space craft, sitting on the moon’s surface and climbed down the ladder, then turned and set his left boot on the surface of the moon at 2:56 UTC July 21, 1969, the first man to set foot on the moon.  What an accomplishment!

Each of these were accomplished and verified by others and cannot change.

The first to love you was God the Father.  “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” ^{John 3:16} 

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” ^{Rom 5:8 NIV}  

Whatever crisis you are facing just now or will face shortly, remember that God has never failed ANYONE.  If he failed you, you would be the first!  Strengthen your faith because he “will never leave us nor forsake us!” And besides, He loves you too much to let you be the first!  And that cannot change!!

Just a Thought

John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the truth. . .”NIV

One of the most amazing scriptures I could ever read is the one where Jesus says, “I am the truth.”  He does not say, “I tell the truth,” which He does, but he says, “He IS the Truth!”  The very whole of Himself, body, mind, soul, and strength is TRUTH!  No term is more familiar and none more difficult of definition.  Truth stands alone.  There is no shade in truth.  There is no qualifying in Truth.  There is no hinting in Truth.  There is no such thing as “nearly” truth.  It is absolute, irrevocable, and as sure as inertia and chemical valences. 

He can be said to be accurate.  He is absolutely correct.  He is absolutely faithful. He is absolutely honest.  He is absolute justice.  He is upright.  He is absolutely factual.  He is absolutely righteous. He is veracious.  He is to be credited on His own word, because He is the Truth, and therefore can neither lie nor deceive.

I believe that our own “reasoning” gets us in a lot of trouble.  We sometimes reason that Jesus’ teachings are, pick and choose.  We can pick and choose which of the scriptures is aimed at us, for us to obey.  When in fact all of His teachings are TRUTH and one time or another in our lives we must use His teachings to give equilibrium to our own spiritual lives.  There are many things that are “legal,” but they are not right, in TRUTH’S sight, such as abortion.  It is legal, but it is wrong.  Remember you may have “legal” grounds to do what you want, but you must always ask if it is “right” and consistent with TRUTH.

When we read, (Phil 4:19) “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus,” ^NIV what goes through your mind.  If we are praying about a specific need or crisis, don’t we rationalize that He may be too busy to answer our prayer?  Do we think that He has not heard our prayer?  Do you say, “I am really nobody that God should answer?”  All of these are a slap in the face of Jesus.  HE IS TRUTH!!  He cannot lie and He will meet all the needs we have. Jesus sometimes meets our need in other ways than we expect.          I think he does this to keep us from thinking that He is working for us, rather than the other way around.  When we rely on “TRUTH,” we are never disappointed. Do you realize that God can’t learn?  He already knows everything.  Our prayer should be prayed with that in mind so that we don’t try to educate God on the issue at hand.  We should make our petition known to Him and leave it with Him, knowing that He will meet that need.  Didn’t He say He would? Why would we doubt?  Didn’t He tell us the TRUTH about the cross and resurrection, before it happened?  

Just a thought.

Mark 10:17-23

How does money rate in your life?  Is it very important, (thinking constantly of money or how to get money, or money problems, or how much we don’t have)? In our greedy society, we have game shows that give hundreds of dollars to millions of dollars to contestants that answer a puzzle or answer some trivial question.  We are sold the idea that having money will solve all our problems and it should be easy to get.  Then the question is how much will it take?

Some time ago a company that I worked for sent me on a business trip.  I was to keep receipts and then turn them in for reimbursement. This particular trip there was $1,000 in receipts turned in.  I handed them to the manager and left the office. The manager declared that he never received them.  At that time in my life we were not making even minimum wage.  $1,000 is a lot of money, not only then but now also.

I requested the payment several times before they told me that they couldn’t pay without the receipts.  They asked me if I had a duplicate copy of each receipt.  Of course, I didn’t and so therein lies the dilemma.

For several days that turned into weeks and then into a couple of months, I would wake in the night and the first thing that came to mind was that $1,000!  Throughout each day I would have that money on my mind.  I regret that I had the usual thoughts that anyone else would have, such as, a stick in their eye, go in and stomp on their foot, burn the building down, etc.  Of course I was not going to do that, but it seemed to take over my thought at any time.

Solution: After a couple of months of this torturing myself with these thoughts, I came to realize that my new Christian life was going nowhere.  No peace, no joy, just the constant thought of that $1,000.

One night I woke and prayed from the deep of my heart, “Lord, I give that $1,000 dollars to you.  You collect it if you want to.  As a matter of fact if they decide to send it to me I promise that I will send it back!  I don’t want it, it belongs to you to either forget it or collect it.  But, as for my part I don’t want anything to do with it. IT IS YOURS!!!!

I never missed another night’s sleep over it and it faded ever so peacefully out of my mind.

Several times in my life since, I have had to do the same thing in order to keep peace in my soul.  When my money was stolen, three other times, I gave it to God to collect so I could forget it and not have the storms in my heart.  I thank God for the lesson learned and applied.  A right relationship and peace with my Lord is all I need.

I’m so sorry that rich young man didn’t learn the lesson, I learned, that day with Jesus.  Instead he went away sorrowful.

Just a thought

Mark 6:38-52. 38 "How many loaves do you have?" NIV

It was a beautiful spring day, and the grass was green on that hillside.  The people had been asked to form ranks of fifties and hundreds.  (The word prasia: translated ranks, means a garden plot).  It must have looked a lot like a very large colorful garden with all the colors of the garments those people were wearing, the reds, blues, and yellows. 

John says it was a small boy that had the basket with 5 loaves and two fish in it. Jesus took it and blessed it and handed each disciple one basket with bread and fish in each. Each disciple took the basket handed him and began to distribute to the people and every time they reached in their basket they came up with bread and fish.  Each disciple reached in his basket more than 450 times and each time there was the same amount left in the basket.

The thing that amazes me is that there was no one commenting on the never ending supply of food.  The disciples did not shout hallelujah!  No one even said, “Praise God”!! The people most certainly watched the food coming their way and the same small basket seemed to always have the amount needed for each person.  The people waiting were wondering if there would be enough by the time it was their turn to receive a portion.  Once the disciples started doling out food they did not stop!  They just kept on going down the line one person after another.  Yet, silence!!!  HOW CAN THIS BE??

How often do we witness a miracle and don’t even recognize it as a miracle? How often does the Hand of God move in our lives and we don’t even see Him at work? How much do we miss because we are not looking for it? God still moves in the lives of His people but how often do His people even recognize what He is doing? The great miracle that was being performed right before their eyes as the 5,000 plus people were getting their fill, and they all missed it.

⁵²for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened. ^NIV

I pray that we will not have hearts that are so hard we do not recognize our miracles as they happen, right before our eyes!

Just a thought.