my way

Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the LORD had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” So Naaman went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. And the king of Aram said, “Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.” He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments. He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.” But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.” So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house. Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.” But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, “I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?” He turned and went away in a rage. But his servants approached and said to him, “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean. (2 Kings 5:1-14, NRSV)

Did you see how many people were upset in this story, or got mad because it wasn’t their way or the way they expected it to be?

The king of Israel was upset and tore his clothing when he was asked to heal Naaman.

Naaman was upset Elisha didn’t come out to see him.

Naaman was upset because the rivers of his land are greater than the waters he was told to go wash in.

If it isn’t my way, then it isn’t right.

How easy is it to do what God tells us?

Sometime as easy as going to the Jordan river and washing seven times. But we want it our way.

Well, God’s kingdom is God’s kingdom and not Burger King. And trust me His way is way better than having it your way!

Great and small…

They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him. Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.” (Mark 9:30-37, NRSV)

This is an interesting passage.

Jesus just told the disciples a second time what is going to happen to Him, yet no one takes him aside, maybe they remember what He did to Peter! But also none of them asks any questions or comments at all. They continue on their way…

Then Jesus asks them what they were talking about…

They were working out their escape plan…

Because it says after Jesus told them what He did, “But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.” They were afraid.

And when we get afraid we do strange things. We look out for #1, ourselves.

Small fears or great fears have a way of paralyzing us or causing us to look for our escape plan.

The disciples didn’t understand what Jesus was saying, or maybe they did and if they are going to kill Him, what will they do to us, so if we think about this another way, maybe we can just work through this…

You see fears are what we make of them.

This picture of Yoda comes from The Empire Strikes Back where he sends Luke into the Dark Side tree. He tells Luke to leave his weapons, as he will not need them, they only thing he will find in there is what he takes with him.

Fear can control us. But if we can open our hearts and lives to Jesus as a child trusts, then the kingdom will be opened to us in ways we can not possibly imagine.

If we can leave our fears behind, God will take us places only He can imagine.

If we can leave our fears behind, we will open the kingdom, not only for ourselves, but to the world around us.

So what is your fear, and how will you allow Him to help you over it?

delivered

Save me, O God, by your name,
and vindicate me by your might.
Hear my prayer, O God;
give ear to the words of my mouth.
For the insolent have risen against me,
the ruthless seek my life;
they do not set God before them.
But surely, God is my helper;
the Lord is the upholder of my life.
He will repay my enemies for their evil.
In your faithfulness, put an end to them.
With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you;
I will give thanks to your name, O LORD, for it is good.
For he has delivered me from every trouble,
and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.
(Psalm 54, NRSV)

I will give thanks to the Lord for He has delivered me from trouble, not because I was never headed the wrong direction, but because He listened to my cries and my prayers and helped me in my time of need.

He bent His ear to my supplications and helped me overcome the trials that were too much for me on my own.

He listened, and heard my need.

He came to my help.

He delivered me!

cast

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering. And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the power forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 5:6-11, NRSV)

Humble yourself under God.

Acknowledge you are not in control, and follow His commands.

In doing this, you free yourself to cast all of your cares in Him. And you can do this because He cares for you.

He will never leave you nor forsake you, for He cares for you.

You are a sheep of His redeeming, a lamb of His fold.

Cast your burdens, concerns and cares upon Him and allow Him to have His way in your life!

Doing good

Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil. (1 Peter 3:13-17, NRSV)

Who will harm you if you are doing good?

Have you ever helped some one and just left behind in the dirt?

But you see here is the thing, we are called to be salt and light.

We are called to give up our coat, and to walk a mile in the others shoes, so that we can show forth His love to the world.

Not so we can be treated right, or fairly, or anything.

We are to show His love because He called us to.

So follow after Hi and know that your reward is in heaven, and keep showing His love.

Cross-eyed

April 16Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as children—“My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, or lose heart when you are punished by him; for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves, and chastises every child whom he accepts.” Endure trials for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as children; for what child is there whom a parent does not discipline? If you do not have that discipline in which all children share, then you are illegitimate and not his children. Moreover, we had human parents to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not be even more willing to be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share his holiness. Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. (Hebrews 12:1-13, NRSV)

This passage describes what Jesus endured for us.

He could have stepped out of this at any point being He was/is God, but He didn’t.

He is the one we should fix ours eyes upon and look to and follow.

That is how I learned Hebrews 12:2 Fix your eyes upon Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith! He is the one that made our faith and He is the one that perfected it. He is the one we should see, and if you do not see Him, then you need to refocus your self!

So be cross-eyed, and always look upon Jesus!

Rubbish!

Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind; and if you think differently about anything, this too God will reveal to you. Only let us hold fast to what we have attained. (Philippians 3:7-16, NRSV)

This passage is wonderful and a part of a great book.

But here Paul tells the Philippians to press on in life and not let the stuff around them take hold of them and keep them from God.

Paul said that he has suffered the loss of all things and has regarded them as “rubbish”. At least the NRSV says rubbish, the KJV says dung… The word in the Greek is σκύβαλα (skubala). It means dung, filth, refuse. But its derivation is uncertain according to my Greek dictionary. This si probably because this is the only time this word is used in all of the Bible and it is hardly used, if at all, in other Greek literature. I was taught this was probably a street term used by Paul to make a point. All things are shit next to the saving power of Christ!

You see we can press on towards the goal of obtaining the gift of eternal life, forgetting everything that is behind us, because really what does all of this matter. If we are pressing on towards God and the life that Jesus has for us, all of life is nothing compared to the immeasurable joy we will have in Him.

So press on! Knowing He will always be with you.