Tag Archives: mercy

My Word is LOVE

01 Thursday Jan 2015

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It’s spreading like a sudden fire in a dry forest. A one word focus for the New Year rather than a list of resolutions most of us never keep. My word of focus came without thinking twice. The word is “love.”

I choose “love” because the ones I have admired most are those who have loved best. They have understood the way of God’s love, that it is unconditional and abundant. They embrace it and let it spill onto others. They embody a joy and ease with life that tells me they know the secret to contented, purposeful living.

People who love well have an aura about them that speaks good will. They seem to move effortlessly through life, content with the simpler things, unhampered by the world’s bounty.  I see them as vessels filled with God’s love, ever ready to spill out onto the lonely, the heartbroken, the guilt-ridden, the insecure, the anxious, the frightened, the grieving, the young and the old. They truly care about all God’s creations and caring seems for them as natural as breathing.

They don’t hide behind busyness or judge anyone as being unworthy. These people have learned the joy of being fixed on God’s love and not the world about them. They don’t love for recognition or reward, but for the simple pleasure of caring.

So in 2015 my word of focus is “love.” I want to love more and better. And the best way I know to do that is to pitch my tent around the Book of Love in new ways. Read scriptures as if for the first time and think about how to implement what I am reading as an action of God’s love. It is one thing to know about God’s love and yet another to live that love. I want to do a lot more of the latter.

And we know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. –1 John 4:16 (NKJV)

Who I Really Am

14 Monday Jul 2014

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Ravi Zacharias says there are three of each of us: There is who the world thinks we are, who we think we are, and who Gods knows us to be.  I am so grateful for that last one—who God knows me to be.

One of the quickest ways for me to fall flat on my face is to state with all boldness and certainty I will never do a particular thing.  That thing might by to repeat a past mistake, it may be some way I’ve seen another fail, or it may be some wrong behavior I know can happen but cannot imagine myself ever doing.

As my life has unfolded, I’ve worked to keep my mouth tightly closed about the nevers of life, for I identify with Paul in Romans 7:18-19: For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 

Throughout life, I have by nature been a survivor. I’ve worked hard and long hours to get whatever needed to be done, done. As an adult in my 40’s, I had to put my survivor skills into action and through that time, I came to believe I could do just about anything if I had to do it, and if there was enough fire burning inside me to get it done. I also learned that I was a perfectionist and it took a while to recognize that wasn’t a good thing but a very unhealthy way to go about life. However, it was the discipline of that trait that helped me move from survivor to one who accomplished well.

But none of that matters when it comes to living in the Lord’s strength. I can determine whatever I want to determine but if the Lord is not the one who guides and supplies, all will crumble about me. I hear Paul’s struggle with right and wrong and identify with his frustration and self-disappointment.

I have learned to do this: When someone else judges me, I ask myself who I am judging. When I hear about someone else’s mistake that I think I could never do, I say there but for the grace of God go I. When I do a wrong—or repeat one—I thank God that He knows me in a way that I do not even know myself and that is the me He loves.

Hurling Stones of Accusation

02 Monday Dec 2013

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A favorite Christian musician fell and he fell hard. People forgot the richness of his ministry and rushed to pick up stones to throw. Words were hurled in his direction: ugly accusing words, self-righteous words.

Now he has returned and His love songs to God soar high just like before. His praise again leads in worship of the King in a way only the anointed of God can do.  God had the last word and it was a word of mercy and grace. It was a word of forgiveness and restoration. God isn’t about hurling stones, but redeeming the fallen. Lifting his children to new beginnings.

I picture in my mind how quickly we line up to hurl our angry stones at one who has fallen. We look past our own sins and with puffed up egos, hurl out accusations. With pride, we dust off our hands and arrogantly walk away, forgetting who we are. Forgetting that we are just like the one who fell and we stoned with our words; we are creatures of flesh that will fall time and time again.

Thanks be to God, it isn’t how the Lover of our Souls does things! He never walks away with the stone throwers, but stays behind to care for the wounded. He isn’t interested in piling on accusations, but restoring the one who fell.  God takes the side of the weak every time.

Our Lord cares for the one gone astray and He asks us to do the same. He made a choice at Calvary, and because of that choice, we can count on being lifted from our own falls. We can count on His standing beside us as we face our accusers. We can count on God’s eternal protection of mercy and grace to see us home.

Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3 If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. 4 Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, 5 for each one should carry their own load (Galatians 6:1-5 NIV).

Forgive as the Lord forgave you (Colossians 3:13 NIV).

YOU ARE MY SAFE PLACE

How God Our Father Sees Us

26 Tuesday Nov 2013

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“This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17, NAS). This is what each one of us as God’s children will hear. As “heirs to the promise” (Galatians 3:29), we share in the blessings of Jesus.

This is a lot to digest, the part of God being well pleased with me. I look at my life and see miserable failure in living the God-life. But if I take another view, I see it isn’t about the me I know, but the one God knows.

Since God has forgotten our sins and removed them “as far as the east from the east” (Psalm 103:12), we stand only in the holiness of Jesus, the One we call Savior. God the Father sees us with clothes of salvation and righteousness (Isaiah 61:10) and we are beautiful in His sight. Though a lot to get our minds around, we look like Jesus. Standing in the Savior’s garment we radiate only good things, for He is only good. And that is all the Father sees. Imagine. All that grieves us about ourselves will not be a part of our final being. We will at last be revealed as the Father sees us. We will not be confused by the ploys of Satan. We will not walk with a rock of sin in our shoe. There will be no more guilt, no more shame and all because we did one thing: we chose to believe in Jesus (John 3:16).

Perhaps the amount of detail to our garment will be reflective of all we have done in Christ’s name. It won’t be a garment of fine fabric, buttons and trim, but a different kind altogether. Our new garment will be of the little one we loved, the old person aided, the sick we attended. It will be the orphanage we helped build, the missionary we supported, the joyful surprise we prepared for a weary sojourner. The meal we cooked, the child we taught about God, the witness we gave in darkness. The stranger we made welcome, the lonely one we sat with, the one in need we walked with.  The time we spent in worship, the songs of praise to God we lifted, the words of encouragement we spoke. The times we sought and followed wisdom, the moments we forgave, the unconditional love we extended.

Those acts in the Lord’s name will be the garment that cover us, for that is the righteousness of Jesus and that is what the Father has chosen to see when He looks on us in Spirit and not in flesh (Romans 8:27).

Praises be to the One who forgives and loves us. Praises be to the One who made a way possible for us. Glory to God, for Redeemer is His name!

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Closing Thoughts on Jesus’ Healing Ministry

01 Sunday Sep 2013

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How many people did Jesus heal in His days on earth? We have the stories of just a few (I count 26 separate individuals whose stories have been written), but there are scriptures that tell us the accounts reported in the gospels were a very small number of the entirety.

In Matthew alone, there are eight references to Jesus healing multitudes of people with various diseases and afflictions. (See 4:23, 8:16, 9:35, 12:15, 13:14, 15:30, 19:2, and 21:14.)

Hear Matthew 4:23: “News about Him spread all over Syria, and people brought to Him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and He healed them.”  And Matthew 15:30 says “Great crowds came to Him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at His feet; and He healed them.”

Healing_the_Blind008 How could we possibly imagine the total sum of people healed by our Lord? He healed all who asked of Him, every single one.  The last thing the disciple John said in his gospel was this: “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written” (John 21:25). We are told about 26 specific healings. It gives us some idea of who and what our Lord healed, but I suggest it is only that—an idea.

We can’t close out without a mention of the one healing that would have been in higher number than all the rest. It was the most important healing then, and it is now. Spiritual healing. We can be sure that as bodies and minds were healed, so were souls. That which gives us quality of life is valuable, but it is spiritual healing that goes with us into all eternity.

It was faith that released the power of the Lord. Over and over we hear Him say it is faith that brings about healing. Sometimes it was the faith of the one afflicted, other times it was the faith of the one bringing the one in need to Jesus.

John Wesley said “When we have learned the process of faith for receiving healing, we have learned how to receive everything else God promises us in His Word.”

Raised from the Dead

18 Sunday Aug 2013

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Daughter of Jairus (Matthew 9:18, 23-25; Mark 5:22-24, 35-43; Luke 8:40-56)

“Then a man named Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with Him to come to his house because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying” (Luke 8:4-42 NIV).  The story is reported by three writers, but only Luke tells us the ruler’s child was his only daughter and was about 12. Because he was a physician, he would have investigated every story for details others might not have considered important. Maybe they weren’t, but they were interesting.

When Jesus gets to the ruler’s house, He finds the grieving has begun. Funeral music is playing via piped instruments and the crowd of people in and around the house is noisy. The custom of that day was to grieve the dead by loud, woeful cries, continuing until they could emit no more than a sob. This would have been the noise of the crowd.

Jesus tells the crowd that the child is not dead, only sleeping. They laugh at Him and He sends them away, allowing only the little girl’s parents and three disciples, Peter, James, and John, to go with Him to where the child’s body lay. How did He come to just these five? Perhaps He was surrounding Himself with only those of strongest expectation. Certainly the parents were desperate for their child’s restoration and Jesus had compassion for them. The disciples chosen were the three Jesus was closest to, and He needed them to see His power, for soon they would be sent forth to heal in His name.

Scripture says Jesus took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up” (Luke 8:54)! Dr. J. Vernon McGee, preacher, teacher, and author, said those words could be translated “Little lamb, wake up.” (See Thru the Bible, notes on Luke 8:54, page 284.) That sounds like the way Jesus would speak to a child, doesn’t it? Full of love and compassion for a little one. Verse 55 says “Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up.”

The royal official’s son in Capernaum (John 4:46-53), the son of a widow in Nain (Luke 7:11-17), Lazarus (John 11:1-6, 11-44)

There were three other reports given us of Jesus raising the dead to life. Of all, Lazarus is probably the most familiar and the most spectacular because he had been in the grave for four days (John 11:17). This would mean a decaying body with a horrific stench.  It must have been a frightening thing for the family, even knowing of Jesus’ past miracles, to think of what would be revealed when the grave was opened. But Jesus was God! Four days in the grave to Him was no more than a child’s scraped knee. So after thanking God the Father for hearing Him, Jesus commands Lazarus to come out. And Lazarus, dead and buried for four days, walks out of the grave and goes home. (See vv 41-44).

Would these four restorations from death be the only ones that happened? I doubt it. I suspect these are only representative of many.  We know Jesus healed many more than were reported for Luke 4:40 says “At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them.”  And Mark 1:34 says “and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons . . .” In final support that we know only a little of His miracles, John said this in his gospel (21:25): “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”

We will not know all the miracles our Lord did until we reach heaven. And as the gospel song goes, “Won’t it be wonderful there?”

All scriptures are from New International Version (NIV).

Deaf and Mute Man

10 Saturday Aug 2013

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Mark 7:32-37

“Again He went out from the region of Tyre, and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of Decapolis. They brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they implored Him to lay His hand on him” (Mark 7:31-32 NAS).

Jesus_the_Healer005When this story takes place, Jesus has already healed many and word has quickly spread. People who had seen or heard of His miracles must have talked about them constantly. Surely there was not a day that went by that they were not discussed and marveled over. Can you imagine what it would mean to be in need of healing and hear that there was one who was able to heal every need, no matter how long-standing or serious? That there was nothing impossible with this man named Jesus? He could touch a person or simply speak a word, and people were made whole.

I like the way the New Living Translation (NLT) words Mark 7:33: “Jesus led him away from the crowd so they could be alone. He put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then, spitting on his own fingers, he touched the man’s tongue.” I like the NLT version because it makes it very clear that Jesus wanted to be alone with the man, to get him away from all distractions so he could focus on the One who would heal him. Think about the noise of the crowd and their shuffling for space to get a clear view of what was sure to be another miracle.  Since the man could not hear, he would have to be very centered on Jesus to understand what was happening. And Jesus had more for him than bodily healing and He didn’t want the deaf and dumb man to miss it. He had the greatest gift of all–healing for his soul.

This healing involved more outward actions than usual.  He may have put his fingers in the man’s ears to let him know what was about to happen—that He was going to open them. He may have touched the man’s tongue with His sacred saliva to indicate power would leave His body and flow into the man’s body. Whatever His reasons, we can agree with The Pulpit Commentary: “We may be assured that, in the case before us, these signs used by our Lord were intended to awaken the afflicted man’s faith, and to stir up in him the lively expectation of a blessing.”

There was one other case of healing where the healing was of one both deaf and dumb (or mute). It was of a demon-possessed boy, told in Mark 9:14-29. In verse 25, it says this: “When Jesus saw that the crowd of onlookers was growing, He rebuked the evil spirit. ‘Listen, you spirit that makes this boy unable to hear and speak,’ He said. ‘I command you to come out of this child and never enter him again’” (NLT)!  This was one of the many healings of demon possession and that topic will have separate coverage.

Were both situations caused by evil spirits? I don’t think so. Scripture says Jesus spoke to a spirit in the child–a demonic possession. There was nothing in the first  healing that indicates it was anything but a physical abnormality. He simply touched the man’s ears and tongue and he was healed.

Writing about the man deaf and dumb reminds me of a personal experience. Quite a few years ago, I served as the church director for the Exceptional Department, a ministry for mentally challenged adults. Most of the men and women lived in group homes with house parents and the house-mother from a home called one day saying one of the women there, Margie, wanted to talk with me about Jesus. The Holy Spirit was moving through the Exceptional Department, as one and then another wanted to profess faith in Jesus and be baptized. Now Margie was asking for that same thing. I knew Margie’s father was still alive so I asked the house-mother what he thought about this. She said she had talked with him and he very much wanted Margie to have this chance to talk to me about her understanding of Jesus. Margie wasn’t deaf, but she did suffer from a speech impairment so severe I could hardly understand a word she said. This caused me great concern on how we would communicate. Certainly, I prayed about our coming time together, but when I got to the house, I asked Margie if Sandy could meet with us and help me if there was anything I couldn’t understand. Sandy had just a mild disability and she was a favorite friend of Margie’s. Margie quickly nodded her head that it would be fine for her to join us.  However, on that day, Jesus opened my ears just like He did the man of Mark 7:32. For I understood perfectly every word Margie said, and there in her room, she gave her heart to the Lord. That was a day I stood on holy ground.

Woman with High Fever

04 Sunday Aug 2013

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Here we have the report of Simon Peter’s mother-in-law being very ill with a fever. If her fever had been a simple one, I don’t think Luke, a physician, would have bothered to record it as one of Jesus’ healings. Luke defined the fever as a high one (v38). That this woman’s fever was also reported by Matthew and Mark, supports that her fever was serious and not responding to other attempts of intervention. The New Living Translation of Luke 4:38 says “After leaving the synagogue that day, Jesus went to Simon’s home, where he found Simon’s mother-in-law very sick with a high fever. ‘Please heal her,’ everyone begged.” Note again that this was a Sabbath healing, which the Pharisees taught was forbidden because it was work. But Jesus came to fulfill the law and the law was to do good when and where good was needed.

When my daughter was four or five, she had hallucinations from a high fever. I remember Kristi giggling, saying she saw pigs on my nose. High fevers can be common in small children and they should not go untreated, but high fever in an adult is far more serious. High fever in an adult is over 104 F or a fever of 102 F for more than two days. Left untreated for an extended time, brain damage can occur. So here we have a woman in dire need of healing and Jesus provided that. “Standing at her bedside, he rebuked the fever, and it left her. And she got up at once and prepared a meal for them” (v39 NLT).

I love that extra punch the Lord gives His healings. This woman could have been deemed healed by an immediate cooling of body temperature. Perhaps she was thrashing about in misery or unable to think and speak clearly, and that went away. But verse 38 says Simon’s mother-in-law “got up at once and prepared a meal for them.”  She was infused with immediate strength and clarity of mind. That is the excitement of the Lord’s healing!

There is also a lesson for us in how the healed woman responded. She served. When we receive a great blessing from the Lord, our first thought should be of service, too.

Clark’s Commentary on the Bible (see note on Matthew 8:14-17) says “as soon as Peter began to follow Christ, his family began to benefit by it” (see note on Matthew 8:14-17). Clark says “One person full of faith and prayer may be the means of drawing down innumerable blessings on his family and acquaintance.”

Jes_heals_Peter's_Mth-in-law_C-427Courtesy of Ultimate Bible Picture Collection

Man with Withered Hand

28 Sunday Jul 2013

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I once heard a missionary tell of watching an arm grow back due to a new believer’s faith. It happened in a country where faith was new and pure. When they came to believe in God, they believed every word of the Bible along with it. Faith like this provides a means for miracles that few of us know anything about.

I try to imagine what it would be like to see such a miracle; the one sure thing I know is I believe it happened just as the missionary said. I believe not just based on her reputation, but that Hebrews 13:8 tells us that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. We have the promise of nothing changing with Him. He is as able and willing today as in Bible times. How I would love to have the uncomplicated faith of those natives that believe without a single doubt!

F. F. Bosworth in his book, Christ the Healer, quoted John Wesley (page 178) as saying “The prayer of faith and process of healing in the Church was lost through unbelief. Prayers now are more often for the stricken individual to bear the illness with patience and fortitude.”

Every time we doubt, we move a step away from receiving the very thing we ask of Him.

Man with withered hand (Matthew 12:9-14)
“A man was there who had a withered hand. And they (Pharisees) asked Jesus, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” so that they could accuse him” (v10).

This man was in the temple to hear Jesus teach. His hand was deformed and Jesus took notice. The man probably had no use of it at all. When the Pharisees saw that Jesus noticed him, knowing He could heal the man, they immediately questioned Jesus about the law, hoping to find a reason to accuse Him of doing wrong. Jesus responded: “Would not any one of you, if he had one sheep that fell into a pit on the Sabbath, take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. Then he said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out and it was restored, as healthy as the other. But the Pharisees went out and plotted against him, as to how they could assassinate him.” (vv11-14). It is difficult to understand how anyone could be angry about a miraculous healing, but the Pharisees knew they were being challenged.

Jesus performed seven healings on the Sabbath: This man with the withered hand, the lame man by the Pool of Bethesda, Peter’s mother-in-law with a fever, a man born blind, the woman bent over, a man with dropsy, and a man who was demon possessed. Each time, the Pharisees angrily accused Him of wrong doing because it didn’t conform with the law as they understood and taught it. Repeatedly, Jesus tried to show them that good was to be done on the Sabbath or any other day when someone was in need. They tested Him on the letter of the law, but He tested them on the heart of the law. And they failed the test.

The Pharisees were letting pride get in their way. They were pompous and unyielding. To go against their teaching was to attack their self-importance. Here was the Living Word of God right in their midst and they were so filled with arrogance and superiority, they couldn’t see Him.

Does it not give us pause to ask what blinders we may have on when we fail to act in the mercy of the Lord?

Scripture references used are from the New English Translation.

Healing of the Blind

14 Sunday Jul 2013

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healing blind

(Matthew 9:27-31; Mark 8:22-25; Mark 10:46-52; Luke 18:35-43; John 9)

We depend on our senses to help us through life. Only through loss can we understand the extent of their importance. The blind depend greatly on touch as a means of getting around and understanding what something is or looks like.  Because they are void of sight, their sense of hearing becomes heightened as they depend on it more than the sighted do to navigate through life.

The two blind men of Matthew 9 couldn’t see the one who healed, but they realized who He was by listening to what others were saying—their sense of hearing was determinedly engaged. They had heard how Isaiah had said the Messiah would open the eyes of the blind and unstop the ears of the deaf (see Isaiah 35:5). These men, though unable to see, knew who the one standing among them was. They called Him by the messianic title, Son of David, and Jesus said to them, “According to your faith will it be done to you” (v 29).

Bartemaeus , the blind beggar of Mark 10, also called out to the Son of David, asking for His mercy. And Jesus said “your faith has made you well” (v52). What Jesus has for us to see doesn’t require physical sight; it requires seeing Him with our heart—our faith. Just as Bartemaeus received what he needed through his faith, we receive what we need through ours. Whatever our darkness, faith in Jesus can dispel it.

In Mark 8’s account of a blind man being healed, the healing was not instantaneous, but gradual. After the first touch, the man could see something, but he couldn’t see clearly. So Jesus touched his eyes a second time to bring about complete restoration. Ours is not a God of partial blessing, but complete. We may, at first, get only a glimpse of what the Lord has for us; through continued faith, we will eventually receive what we believe He has promised. What Jesus begins, He will always finish.

The healing of blindness in John 9 takes on the question of who had sinned to cause the man’s blindness, the man or his parents. The Jewish people made connections between suffering and sin, so the question was typical of current opinion. But Jesus’ response gets to a higher level; He didn’t deal with what caused the blindness, whether it was by sin or not; rather, He healed the man to illuminate the power of Christ and to bring glory to God. Here is a lesson about salvation: Jesus is interested in making us whole, not focusing on our sin. He is always concerned about the greater good than pointing out someone’s faults to the satisfaction of man.

Each of these blind men received physical and spiritual healing. It is the latter that truly sets us free.