when you will die…

In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the LORD: Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.” Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD: “Remember now, O LORD, I implore you, how I have walked before you in faithfulness with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” Hezekiah wept bitterly. Before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him: “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah prince of my people, Thus says the LORD, the God of your ancestor David: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; indeed, I will heal you; on the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD. I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.” Then Isaiah said, “Bring a lump of figs. Let them take it and apply it to the boil, so that he may recover.” Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What shall be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the LORD on the third day?” Isaiah said, “This is the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he has promised: the shadow has now advanced ten intervals; shall it retreat ten intervals?” Hezekiah answered, “It is normal for the shadow to lengthen ten intervals; rather let the shadow retreat ten intervals.” The prophet Isaiah cried to the LORD; and he brought the shadow back the ten intervals, by which the sun had declined on the dial of Ahaz. (2 Kings 20:1-11, NRSV)

What would you do if you knew when you were going to die?

Would it make a difference if it was only a day away, or 15 years away?

Would you weep and ask for healing as Hezekiah did?

Because God told Isaiah to tell Hezekiah he was going to die, and he wept and asked the Lord to heal him, and He did! He gave him 15 more years.

So what could you do with 15 years if you knew that is what you had?

Or would you be fixated on how you would die?

Do you want to know?

Would it help?

Would it be a hinderance?

Here is the things, it doesn’t matter, because we are here for a set time to do a part of the Lord’s plan, so share His love, and do not worry about when you will be with Him, just let life happen, and live in His love showering others with what you have been showered with.

what do you need to know?

After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. She then said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!” But he said to her, “Give me your son.” He took him from her bosom, carried him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging, and laid him on his own bed. He cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?” Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, let this child’s life come into him again.” The LORD listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said, “See, your son is alive.” So the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth.” (1 Kings 17:17-24, NRSV)

What do you need to know that a person is speaking for God?

This woman needed to see her son raised from the dead. She may not have know that, but after Elijah did that, she believed he was from God.

So what do you need to know a person is from God, or is speaking God’s truth?

names

When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea. Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.” So he went with him. And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.” Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’” He looked all around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?” But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. When he had entered, he said to them, “Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up! And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat. (Mark 5:21-43, NRSV)

This is two stories, or actually a story interrupted by another story.

Jarius’ daughter is the main story interrupted by the unnamed woman’s story.

Have you ever noticed that she does not have a name. She is a woman who has suffered with a flow of blood, which makes her unclean, for 12 years, and the doctors have bled her dry (pun intended) of all her money. They have not helped her, but have kept her from being a part of the community. They have held her back and kept her nameless.

But her faith…

Her trust in Jesus’ power to heal her, made her think that if she only touched the fringe of His cloak she would get what no doctor or any money could get her over the past 12 years. Restoration.

But she not only got that, but so much more.

You see she went from being the woman with the flow of blood, or unclean, to daughter!

Not only did Jesus heal her, but He restored her, and named her daughter. She is now part of the family!

Do not listen to any of the names the world gives you, but cling to the name that Jesus gives you:

Brother!

Sister!

Daughter!

Son!

Child of the Living God!

awesome deeds

By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance,
O God of our salvation;
you are the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas.
By your strength you established the mountains;
you are girded with might.
You silence the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
the tumult of the peoples.
Those who live at earth’s farthest bounds are awed by your signs;
you make the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy.
You visit the earth and water it,
you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water;
you provide the people with grain,
for so you have prepared it.
You water its furrows abundantly,
settling its ridges,
softening it with showers,
and blessing its growth.
You crown the year with your bounty;
your wagon tracks overflow with richness.
The pastures of the wilderness overflow,
the hills gird themselves with joy,
the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,
the valleys deck themselves with grain,
they shout and sing together for joy.
(Psalm 65:5-13, NRSV)

God silences the roaring seas!

God made the mountains for you to see!

God waters the earth so His creation can live!

God does everything so that you will have life and have it abundantly!

Even in the darkness and troubles of life, God is there, to calm the seas and raise the mountains, to enrich your life!

Live in the beauty He has given you!

And marvel in His awesome deeds!

Listened to me

When a moderate south wind began to blow, they thought they could achieve their purpose; so they weighed anchor and began to sail past Crete, close to the shore. But soon a violent wind, called the northeaster, rushed down from Crete. Since the ship was caught and could not be turned head-on into the wind, we gave way to it and were driven. By running under the lee of a small island called Cauda we were scarcely able to get the ship’s boat under control. After hoisting it up they took measures to undergird the ship; then, fearing that they would run on the Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor and so were driven. We were being pounded by the storm so violently that on the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard, and on the third day with their own hands they threw the ship’s tackle overboard. When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest raged, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned. Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul then stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and thereby avoided this damage and loss. I urge you now to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For last night there stood by me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before the emperor; and indeed, God has granted safety to all those who are sailing with you.’ So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. But we will have to run aground on some island.” When the fourteenth night had come, as we were drifting across the sea of Adria, about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land. So they took soundings and found twenty fathoms; a little farther on they took soundings again and found fifteen fathoms. Fearing that we might run on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come. But when the sailors tried to escape from the ship and had lowered the boat into the sea, on the pretext of putting out anchors from the bow, Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the boat and set it adrift. Just before daybreak, Paul urged all of them to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been in suspense and remaining without food, having eaten nothing. Therefore I urge you to take some food, for it will help you survive; for none of you will lose a hair from your heads.” After he had said this, he took bread; and giving thanks to God in the presence of all, he broke it and began to eat. Then all of them were encouraged and took food for themselves. (We were in all two hundred seventy-six persons in the ship.) After they had satisfied their hunger, they lightened the ship by throwing the wheat into the sea. (Acts 27:13-38, NRSV)

I told you not to…

Have you ever heard those words before. If you are a guy the answer is probably a resounding yes!

Paul told them not to sail, but they did it any way. And now they are in a really bad storm, and are afraid they will lose it all.

But Paul comforts them, “Only the ship will be lost!”

Well that’s nice what will we do then?

We won’t have our transportation, but we will all be alive. It could be worse, right, we could all die, but that won’t happen so just keep heart and follow through.

Sometimes we go down a path, that we probably shouldn’t have, but God is always with us, and sometimes there might be collateral damage.

If we only but listen…

Sometimes easier said than done!

pass them by

Jesus_Walking_on_WaterImmediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. After saying farewell to them, he went up on the mountain to pray. When evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. When he saw that they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind, he came towards them early in the morning, walking on the sea. He intended to pass them by. But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out; for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” Then he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened. (Mark 6:45-52, NRSV)

He intended to pass them by.

Even though He saw them struggling with the oars. And they were straining against the wind.

He was going to go around them to meet them on the other side.

But they saw Him. Or they saw something possibly were giving up their fight against the oars and the wind because of fear.

And He advised them it was just their master walking on the water. For they didn’t get who He really is.

And I wonder do we?

Sometimes we wish Jesus would jump in and save us, but it is in the struggle that our faith grows. It is in the darkness that His light is seen clearly.

Sometimes in order for us to grow we need to be under the impression He isn’t there, even though He is walking on the water next to us.

So do not be afraid if He is walking by, He is only helping your trust and faith in Him to grow.

stood still

When King Adoni-zedek of Jerusalem heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and had utterly destroyed it, doing to Ai and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king, and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them, he became greatly frightened, because Gibeon was a large city, like one of the royal cities, and was larger than Ai, and all its men were warriors. So King Adoni-zedek of Jerusalem sent a message to King Hoham of Hebron, to King Piram of Jarmuth, to King Japhia of Lachish, and to King Debir of Eglon, saying, “Come up and help me, and let us attack Gibeon; for it has made peace with Joshua and with the Israelites.” Then the five kings of the Amorites—the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon—gathered their forces, and went up with all their armies and camped against Gibeon, and made war against it. And the Gibeonites sent to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal, saying, “Do not abandon your servants; come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us; for all the kings of the Amorites who live in the hill country are gathered against us.” So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the fighting force with him, all the mighty warriors. The LORD said to Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have handed them over to you; not one of them shall stand before you.” So Joshua came upon them suddenly, having marched up all night from Gilgal. And the LORD threw them into a panic before Israel, who inflicted a great slaughter on them at Gibeon, chased them by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon, and struck them down as far as Azekah and Makkedah. As they fled before Israel, while they were going down the slope of Beth-horon, the LORD threw down huge stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died; there were more who died because of the hailstones than the Israelites killed with the sword. On the day when the LORD gave the Amorites over to the Israelites, Joshua spoke to the LORD; and he said in the sight of Israel, “Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and Moon, in the valley of Aijalon.” And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in mid-heaven, and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. There has been no day like it before or since, when the LORD heeded a human voice; for the LORD fought for Israel. (Joshua 10:1-14, NRSV)

Do not be afraid, even if you think you are out numbered because I am with, declares the Lord!

How can one not fear?

When you know that the Lord, God is on your side, and because when He tells you to tell the sun to stand still and it does!

God will be with you, in your time of need and will answer your prayers, and will send you to do great things for Him, just listen and be ready!

What can God do?

The LORD said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so that they may know that I will be with you as I was with Moses. You are the one who shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, ‘When you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’” Joshua then said to the Israelites, “Draw near and hear the words of the LORD your God.” Joshua said, “By this you shall know that among you is the living God who without fail will drive out from before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites: the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is going to pass before you into the Jordan. So now select twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. When the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan flowing from above shall be cut off; they shall stand in a single heap.” When the people set out from their tents to cross over the Jordan, the priests bearing the ark of the covenant were in front of the people. Now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest. So when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the edge of the water, the waters flowing from above stood still, rising up in a single heap far off at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, while those flowing toward the sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea, were wholly cut off. Then the people crossed over opposite Jericho. While all Israel were crossing over on dry ground, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, until the entire nation finished crossing over the Jordan. (Joshua 3:7-17, NRSV)

Sometimes it is hard to believe the stories we read in the Bible.

Moses parted the Sea of Reeds and here the Jordan River stops flowing to allow the people of God to cross the river on dry ground.

It is hard to believe, because science tells us it can’t happen, and we haven’t seen it so it is just not possible.

Yet seeing isn’t believing. I saw David Copperfield make the Statue of Liberty disappear. But I saw it, doesn’t mean it really disappeared.

So why can we not just accept that God can do whatever He wants. As the one who created the universe and set everything in motion, can He not bend the laws that keep all of this world moving forward?

God will do whatever He needs to do to keep His people where He needs them to be. Not happy, but moving forward in His mission.

So sometimes we just have to step out on faith and believe in the unbelievable!

stand firm

When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the minds of Pharaoh and his officials were changed toward the people, and they said, “What have we done, letting Israel leave our service?” So he had his chariot made ready, and took his army with him; he took six hundred picked chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt and he pursued the Israelites, who were going out boldly. The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, his chariot drivers and his army; they overtook them camped by the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon. As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked back, and there were the Egyptians advancing on them. In great fear the Israelites cried out to the LORD. They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” But Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the LORD will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.” Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward. But you lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the Israelites may go into the sea on dry ground. Then I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and so I will gain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots, and his chariot drivers. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gained glory for myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his chariot drivers.” The angel of God who was going before the Israelite army moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them. It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. And so the cloud was there with the darkness, and it lit up the night; one did not come near the other all night. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided. (Exodus 14:5-21, NRSV)

Have you ever started something you felt God had led you to, and half way through it you wonder why you are there?

Things would have been so much better had we just stayed where we were.

Several times in my life, I followed God to places and ministries, and at times I felt, “What have I done?”

I wondered what I had done to my family and what was going to happen.

And in the end it all worked out. We can not bail out on God half way through something. God is in it with us for the long haul and we have to be too.

We can not bail when the going gets tough. We have to hunker down and hold on.

God did not promise that following Him would be easy or make our lives have no trouble.

He did promise to never leave us nor forsake us. He promised to always walk with us and to be a light for our feet and a lamp for the path.

So stand firm in God, knowing He is standing firm with you!

What happened to the others?

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mark 4:35-41, NRSV)

We read this section of mark and we are immediatley drawn to the power Jesus shows in stilling the storm.

He gets up from His sleep and says Peace! Be Still! and everything calms down around Him.

Now don’t get me wrong, it is something to be fixed upon.

But…

“And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him.”

What happened to the other boats?

Did they make it across before the storm hit?

Did they get taken under during the storm?

Were they still there in the midst of the storm, and then everything was still, without explaination?

Or did they see Jesus still the sea?

Who then is this?

Even those who were not in His boat were saved! So why do we yet lack faith?