faith

160529After Jesus had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly, and who was ill and close to death. When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave. When they came to Jesus, they appealed to him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy of having you do this for him, for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us.” And Jesus went with them, but when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to say to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof;  therefore I did not presume to come to you. But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed.  For I also am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.”  When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, he said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health. (Luke 7:1-10, NRSV)

The faith of the centurion is something that is held up from this verse. Because he sends Jewish elders to Jesus to have Him come and heal a slave. Now the slave is a good slave and is valued highly. It isn’t just that the centurion will lose a good slave, but he actually cares for this slave. And when the centurion hears that Jesus is coming to his home he sends friends to Jesus to say, just say that the slave is healed and I know he will be healed. The centurion doesn’t go to Jesus. He is sending others to Jesus.

So is it faith in Jesus, or the fact the centurion knows the orders will be followed?

You see the problem I have with this set of verses is that if I ask for someone to be healed, made well, and they die, does that mean that my faith isn’t good enough? Or I didn’t believe enough?

This centurion had faith in those whom he ordered to do something would do it. He trusted that what was said would be done. He believed Jesus was a healer and could heal his slave.

And we can believe, trust and have that faith as well, and still not get the answer we want. Healing as we want it is not based on faith. Healing as God will do in His will is what will come in answer to prayer, and nothing more. God’s mission and ministry will be done, and this centurion showed trust in Jesus being able to heal, and a trust that was not found in anyone else at the time. And Jesus commended him for that, but that is not why He healed the slave, that was in God’s will.

Have faith in Jesus, that He is the only son of God and He came to help us see how God wants us to live.

Have trust that Jesus is always with us, and walks through our journeys with us.

Believe in all the promises, and hold fast to them. And ask for anything in the name of Jesus and if it is in the will of God it will be done for you.

a little lower

160628O LORD, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
to silence the enemy and the avenger.
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?
Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under their feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
O LORD, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
(Psalm 8, NRSV)

think about it for a moment…

God, the creator of the cosmos, made everything around us. All of the things on earth, earth, and all the microscopic things. God also created all of the stars in the heavens, and all of the wonders of space. All of the things we know exist and all the things we have yet to discover.

And with all of those things, God still cares for you.

And made you a little lower than God. We have been given dominion over the earth and all that is on it/in it. We get to be in relations with the creator of everything.

That my friends is a powerful, wonderful gift!

overcome

160627Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming; and now it is already in the world. Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.  They are from the world; therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and whoever is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. (1 John 4:1-6, NRSV)

How do you know who to listen to?

Do you listen to politicians?

Do you listen to pastors?

Do you listen to your friends?

It is hard to know who is speaking the word of God to you sometimes. As hard as we all try to follow where God is leading us, we are all human and prone to sliding now and again.

But being from God you know when something isn’t right. It is that gut feeling like something is wrong.

Many will try to lead us to turn and wander away from God, but Jesus is stronger and greater than the spirits that are in this world. He has overcome them and through Him we shall prevail. So listen to your gut, and follow after God.

bad memory…

160626Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?” Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:31-36, NRSV)

The Jews are correct they are descendants of Abraham and included in the covenant people of God, but all of them were slaves to the Egyptians. Now maybe not them, but their ancestors were, so the people of Israel were slaves.

But maybe they are doing what we all need to do.

Have you ever said, “God can’t forgive the things I’ve done.” Or “God couldn’t love me because of where I’ve been.”

We hang onto the past and allow it to wreck our present.

The past is behind us, and can not be changed, the future is in front of us and has yet to be written.

But here today, Christ has freed you and given you a life to live that proclaims His love to the world.

Are you going to look back, or live in Jesus?

wrong

160525“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning. “I have said these things to you to keep you from stumbling. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, an hour is coming when those who kill you will think that by doing so they are offering worship to God. And they will do this because they have not known the Father or me. But I have said these things to you so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you about them. “I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. (John 15:26-16:15, NRSV)

When I leave the Spirit will come. If I do not go, the Spirit will not come, and if the Spirit does not come the Spirit can not show the world it is wrong.

Wrong about sin, righteousness, and judgment. And Math!

You see the picture here is God’s math for the kingdom.

We are all made one with God in the Spirit. The Spirit brings us together and testifies to who Jesus is, and how we are united together in God.

All things will be declared to us and through us by the Spirit. And in that we are made 1.

spirit and truth

160524A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:7-24, NRSV)

Everyone who knows me will worship me in Spirit and in truth.

Not on this mountain, not in Jerusalem.

Not her or there.

But where the Spirit moves.

Worship God in Spirit and in truth and allow the Spirit to move through you to lead you to the life He has for you!

hope…

160523Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5, NRSV)

we can have peace in Jesus Christ in whom we have received grace upon grace, and in whom we are justified, even when the world seems like it is falling in around us.

We can boast only in Jesus, in the suffering we endure as He walks with us. Because suffering leads to endurance and endurance leads to character and character helps us to always hope in Him.

The only place our hope is is in Jesus, so follow Him and remember He walks with you.

guide

160522“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.  When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.  He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. (John 16:12-15, NRSV)

I can not tell you all the things you need to know because you can not handle it…

But when the guide comes, they will open up the truth for you and speak to you what they hear from the Father and show you all the things that are mine. They will help you understand what I have told you and help you to be who you can be in me.

Let the Spirit be your guide!

a clean heart

20130618-104434.jpgCreate in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
For you have no delight in sacrifice;
if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.
The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
(Psalm 51:10-17, NRSV)

Make my life be a mirror of you so the world does not see me, but sees your love through me.

Help me to allow you to use me and work through me, so I am your hands and feet.

Let my life be a beacon that calls people to you.

Do not leave me, but help me, mold me, make me more like you!

alive in the spirit

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.  So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. (Romans 8:1-17, NRSV)

We are adopted children!

For those of us who have known our parents all of our lives we don’t really get this. To have someone who is always there for you. To be able to cry out, mommy or daddy, and have some one answer. It is the most wonderful feeling in the world.

And because we have been accepted into the family of God through the Spirit and are made alive in that Spirit. Not to rely on ourselves, but to fully give ourselves to God.

So allow your Father in heaven to have control, and live in and through Him.