Luke 18:15- they came for Jesus to lay hands on them and heal them.
I love this. For Luke who was a doctor, to see healing that could not be explained with science or medication must have been mind blowing. To touch the sick, the injured, the maimed the blind, the deaf, the leper, and to see healing, that would have brought him to his knees. I have seen God do some pretty crazy stuff, not yet have I seen a limb grow back but that would be awesome. The fact is that God can do these things. He does them through us, if only we have Faith and pray for the impossible. Sometimes He does not answer our big crazy request, but we have to always make space for his will, the times he does answer or times we need to remember and thank him for so that when he doesn’t answer we don’t lose our faith. Jesus used to do these healings in person, he used to do Insane healings that made no sense to the people watching, he would lay his hands on those people and you would see them be restored. Those hands that we nailed to the cross. Hands that healed were wounded because of us.
Category: encouragement
Hands part 5
Luke 23:46 says: Into your hands I trust my spirit.
Into your hands I trust. Five of the hardest words we ever say to God. I trust you Jesus. With this and all things. It makes a nice fridge magnet but do we mean it? How often do we say it? Leaving God to take over is so hard because we are doing creatures. It’s sort of like domesticating a wolf and trying to teach him that he is no longer needing to hunt and fight to survive, now you feed and protect him. God takes us out of our struggle and brokenness and cares for us, but we want to take care of ourselves because we think we know better, this reminds me of a poem:
Let Go and Let God by Laurette Burns
As children bring their broken toys,
with tears for us to mend,
I brought my broken dreams to God,
because He is my friend.
But then instead of leaving Him in
peace to work alone,
I hung around and tried to help,
with ways that were my own.
At last, I snatched it back again and cried,
“How can you be so slow?”
“My child” He said, “What could I do?
You never let it go.”
We must learn to let go, only God can control things in a way that will make them work out perfectly with His plan.
Hands part 4
Psalms 22:16 they pierced my hands and feet. A little further down it mentions lots being cast for David’s belongings. He was using a metaphor and people will try and explain what was on his mind or why this was so close to what Jesus went through.
David wrote often on the hands of God and the peace of being safe in His hands. This
Always reminds me of newborn kittens. When a kitten is first born it is so tiny it truly fits right in the palm of your hand. Too often living on a farm have we seen Barn cats abandon their kittens and will be out there trying to take care of them. They’re so tiny and trusting and they will snuggle down right in the palm of your hand and go to sleep because they know somehow they know they are safe there. So often I would sit for hours in our barn with my dog wandering around sniffing out different cat residences, he’s very friendly with cats, and I would sit there and I’d be holding a sleeping kitten. That’s us with Jesus we’re tiny and delicate like a newborn kitten lying safe within his hands. It reminds me of the song He’s got the whole world in His hands. Petra did a newer version where they said, He’s STILL got the whole world in His hands. We forget those songs from kid’s camp, those songs that told us so much about God’s character. He’s still got the whole world in His hands. In those hands that we pierced.
Hands part 2
Mark 12:36 referenced King David when David said that Lord spoke to Him, promising to keep Him at His right hand.
God often spoke of being at His right hand.
In this train of thought I looked up the importance of the right hand man. Of course this is not what God was meaning, but it brought a new perspective A website called Monster-work said the best right hand person should be as follows:
When searching for this key figure, consider the following: Trustworthiness: Look for someone with a proven track record of reliability. Complementary Skills: Your ally should possess strengths that enhance your own. Diversity of Thought: He/she should bring new ideas and perspectives.
This is very much what having God at OUR right hand is like, that is very different from being at His right hand but we will cover that in a second. God is always reliable! He is 100% trustworthy. He uses our strengths to bless His kingdom and His uses His power to bless us. He often shows us a perspective different from our own. And best of all, He is always on our side.
Now. Being at GOD’S right hand means that you are in place of honor. If God is defending you with His right hand, then He has placed you in a place of importance to Him. God’s right hand is often a metaphor for God’s power as well, He will say “I will strike them down with my right hand” < Paraphrased >
His right hand is both safe to those who love Him and dangerous to those who don’t.
Thankfully, we as His children are shielded by His powerful right hand.
Are you hurting? Turn to Jesus
Sometimes you are hurting but don’t notice it because you are busy carrying all the burdens. Take a moment and breathe and connect with your feelings. Then take those feelings and turn them over to God. When everyone is relying on you it’s easy to feel like you have to keep a brave face and hold on. But God. God never called you to be strong in yourself, He called you to be strong through Him. Take your pain, anger, fear and sorrow and place it all in His hands, then walk away. I don’t mean stop praying about it, I mean stop holding onto it like it’s your burden to hold. His yoke is easy remember? His burden is light. He is not going to give you a bunch of stuff to deal with and then walk away. God will carry you. Trust Him.
And just like that….
And just like that….
So. You go about your day totally fine. You meet some people, you smile and laugh, and then the next day hits and boom, just like that you have a cold. You were fine the day before, but somewhere along the line you were exposed to a virus and now you are sick. Your cells are fighting the virus with all they’ve got and all you can do is walk around and be host to the battle. One day the cold will leave, but not without a struggle.
Sin is like that. You are fine and go about your day, you expose yourself to some minor things but are not affected by them, then some more minor things add on and some more, until one day you look at yourself and realize you are no longer living like a Christian. But God. God is like your white blood cells, He is fighting the battle against your sin. Unlike your cold, however, you are not just a host to the battle, this battle you fight too. You walk away from sin, you spend more time with Jesus. You fight everyday with your desires and you teach yourself to have only one desire, Jesus.
It’s funny how Jesus helps us fight to get closer to Him, when He is who we are trying to draw closer to.
He battles for us even when we don’t live Him or acknowledge Him. He is our true friend.
He knows
He knows
Those battles you fight. Those problems and pains you go through that you tell no one about. Those needs, fears, desires, fallings, sicknesses, screams in the back of your mind, dark pits that circle, boxes you can’t climb out of, endless nights, days that won’t go away. All of it. Jesus is there. You may tell no one. You may never ask for help or sympathy, but He knows. It’s the moment when you feel you have been fighting alone all night long and you suddenly feel an arm around you. You look and see no one, then you realize, it’s Jesus. Those days when you felt like no one could hear or see you, but He hears and sees you. You feel like you scream alone, but He holds your hand and screams with you until your screaming is done and you feel like you will make it. He will make it so you can make it. You fall, but never hit bottom because He catches you.
No matter what. Jesus is there. In all my circumstances- But God.
Noble gases and God
Noble gases
When looking at the periodic table there are many different groups of elements. You have your highly reactive nonmetal elements you have your highly reactive metal elements you have your non-reactive and semi-reactive and the list goes on.
But all of the elements are trying to be one thing, Noble. Noble gases are the gases that are completely stable. All the other elements want to be like the noble gases. Some elements try and lose one or two electrons so they can reach the stability of the noble gases, other elements are trying to gain electrons so they can become like the noble gases. And yes people will argue that this is science and that it has to do with the pull on the electrons and that these gases don’t have a preference to be Noble, but let us set that aside for now. The noble gases, and bear with me here, remind me of God. We as people, whether we realize it or not, are always trying to be more like God. We see it in the way people continue to create, to understand, to grow to be more than what we are. Christians are always trying be more like Jesus, that’s a given. But I think all people want to reach God whether they know that’s what they are doing or not. Like the elements, it’s set into us to want to be close to our perfect creator. We all want to be perfect as God is perfect, even if we don’t realize it. But without knowing Jesus we will seek after false idols and false goals that we feel will complete us. But only Jesus can complete us. Just as the elements give away parts of themselves or try and gain parts of other elements to try and reach that stable perfection, we try and mimic other people and gain more things, or we give everything away and try to be minimal, all in a constant strive to be perfect and stable. But we can never be perfect, only God is perfect. But praise Jesus that He lives in us! Though, we can never be perfect in this world, the one who is resides within us and perfects us by His presence.
Whistle
You can be as brave as you make believe you are.
Remember that line in the King and I? I love that line, it reminds me of sound of music when she sings her way to the front door because she is afraid. Music is amazing. All creatures sing, even rocks. Don’t believe me? Well, that gets into molecular science so it may not be a well known fact.
Make a list in your mind of all the creatures and other organics which make a type of music.
I can list geodes, dogs, dolphins, birds and seashells off of the top of my head. I’m sure you can list a whole bunch of others.
I would like to focus on wolves at this moment. Canines sing many reasons. When they are sad, or lost, or frightened or simply because they want to. People are like that. We sing for all reasons too. God loves song. Look at how often He speaks of singing. The biggest book of the Bible is mostly songs. God loves to hear us sing. Singing is such a release. It takes your emotions and let’s them out. That is why worship is so important. It’s singing to the Lord. Expressing our emotions in a raw amd open way. I heard once that singing in the Spirit has become a rare thing. We don’t hear it so much anymore and I’ve listened and have noticed how true that is. But when someone is blessed to sing in the language of Heaven it’s like… everything. It sounds like a balm to the soul.
We tend to hold it all inside and keep our emotions to ourselves. But we shouldn’t do that. We need to be discerning about who we share our emotions with, but we can always, openly share them with God.
So the next time you don’t know what to say, open your heart up to sing. Maybe God will even give you song. You will never know if you don’t try.
Hell will not prevail against you
Jesus said in one of his sermons during his final days that the gates of hell would not prevail against Peter, or against the church which was built on him.
Now. Can anyone tell me how Peter died?
Exactly. He was hung upside-down on a cross. Yep.
What did Jesus say? Not that Peter wouldn’t die. Not that he wouldn’t suffer. But that hell would not prevail against him.
After everything Peter did and everything he went through in his denying of Jesus and then meeting him again on the beach all those days later. I wonder what was going through Peter’s head? I wonder if Peter needed to be reminded that hell would not Prevail against him, that his mistake was not the end of his connection to Jesus. Because it was the devil causing Peter to fear which made him deny his Jesus three times. That day the Gates of Hell tried to prevail. But Jesus reassured Peter that the gates of hell would not Prevail against him. They knocked him around and caused him to sin, but they did not win. If only that had come to Peter’s mind before he denied Jesus. Yet in the end Jesus’s prophecy came true, as they always do, and Peter never lost the war aginst hell. Judas ate at the supper but so did Peter. Judas sinned against Jesus and so did Peter. But Peter was the only one of the two of them who fully repented and turned his life around and went back 100% to serving Jesus. That was Peter’s redeeming quality. The moment he fell on his knees before his Lord and friend and declared never again God will I deny you.
Now some will say that Jesus wasn’t talking about actual hell he was talking about that place of execution and religious ceremony of the Romans. They claim that this place was referred to by the Romans as the gates of hell. Some claim when Jesus said the Gates of Hell will not Prevail against you he was talking about this place. I for one do not believe at all that he was talking about that and not actual hell. My Bible which is a study Bible does bring up the gates of hell in the Roman culture later on in a different thing Jesus was talking about. However in this circumstance the study Bible does not ever suggest that Jesus wasn’t talking about the very real hell to which we are all fighting against every day. Now setting that aside and going forward in what we believe in Jesus actually meant. Jesus said the Gates of Hell will not Prevail against you. He was talking to Peter but he was also talking about the church. Too often does it look like hell is getting a foothold within the church. Too often does it look like we are losing ground and the devil is winning. But Jesus told us that the gates of hell would not Prevail against us. He told us that he was always with us. He told us that where he is evil cannot abide. He told us that he walked into hell took the keys from the Devil and now through Jesus we have the freedom to have our bonds loosed. He can take those keys and we can raise our chain hands to him and he will unlock our Fetters and set us free. Christ did not die in vain and he stands in the biggest Gap there is protecting us from the Devil. Jesus never said you were so powerful that you can go out into this world without Him and the Gates of Hell would never Prevail against you. The Gates of Hell will not Prevail against us because Jesus walks with us, he is there holding us guarding us. Like the Cub who runs under the feet of the Lion we are safe from the jackals and the crocodiles and the wild beasts that would hunt us and kill us. Because our Lord Jesus Christ is a great Lion of Judah and he protects us.
We may feel like we are losing ground. We may feel like that person we pray for will never be saved. We may feel like the titans are too large for us to fight. But Jesus is on our side.
Carried in the cross 