What He puts in you, will work!

Scripture Reference Luke 10:33-34 “But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.”

Here is our “certain man”; me, you, all of us on this road of life.  We have fallen, been beaten and mortally wounded by our sins.  And along comes a man, from a different country and place.  However not only does He have compassion upon us, which we know Jesus does, but let’s look closer at what the Spirit is trying to show us here.

The Bible says, “He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine”.  Jesus starts to administer to our wounds, right in the place where we are.  This eliminates the excuse that, “we have to clean ourselves up before coming to the LORD”, type of thinking.  The oil and the wine show us how He pours into us the things that will begin our healing process: Our church attendance, our daily prayer and study of His Word, our filling with the Holy Ghost.  We need these things to start and continue the healing process.

 

You notice He “bound up his wounds” after pouring in the oil and wine.  This shows us that Jesus considered the road we would have to travel.  Knowing it would be rough, He makes sure what He put in us to heal us will stay in us.  Like a slow release cold medicine, it will continue to give us life-saving doses all through the night, but we must also continue to receive our daily portion.

Are you wounded by life?  Has that divorce left you hemorrhaging?  Does the pain of a lost job still have you vexed?  Are you still a viper, ready to bite someone’s head off if they look at you wrong or cut you off in traffic? Then let Jesus come to you.  He wants to pour into you His oil and wine.  Read your bible daily, and make sure you get your prayer time in.  Attend church.  Do whatever it takes to get it into you.  For what He puts into you, will work!

Will you be heard or ignored?

Scripture Reference Matthew 10:46-48 “And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging.  And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.   And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me.”

We have all heard this story before.  Blind Bartimaeus sits by the highway side, begging.  Has our familiarity caused us to become complacent?

Blind Bartimaeus represents all of us, yes ALL of us.  We sit on the side of the highway of life.  This is shown in our “luke-warm” pursuit of Christ.  We find ourselves begging.  This is found in our complaining that nothing is going right, how we talk about there is nothing good about life, all the problems we say we have, and all the ills of the world.  Have you ever sat by complaining about a problem, but never doing anything about it?  I am sure you have: I have.

Yes we know that Jesus heals the man of his blindness.  We know that he is thankful and then follows Jesus in “the Way”.  But is that all the Spirit is trying to teach us here?  Only to follow Jesus once we have received our sight?

Let’s look at this more closely.  The man who sat begging, for he was disappointed in his condition and therefore he slumped into a false sense of reality that there was no way out, nor continued to believe there was a  way to change the circumstances around him, but rather to just go with the tides of life as they passed him by.  But then he hears of Jesus, and His power.  He senses Jesus is drawing near to him, and for the first time, he cries out to Jesus, “thou Son of David, have mercy on me!”

You see, Blind Bartimaeus takes full advantage of the opportunity that Christ is ever present and near.  He calls out to Him and asks Him to change his situation. The people, however, admonish him to be quiet.  Funny how when we  really seek Jesus with our whole heart, in full desperation for Him, knowing He is the only one who can help and save us, that people always become offended and want us to keep quiet.  Have you ever cried out to Him and people told you, that you were crazy and to be quiet, or they say, “I don’t want to hear any more talk about…”  But I would rather keep calling out to Jesus as he did, then to be ignored by my critics. 

Jesus, being the life-giving lover of our souls, that He is, restores the man’s present condition to one of ability, able-ness, and action.  Blind Bartimaeus, only through Christ, receives his ability to see, thus making him able to correct any wrongs in his life and the life of those around him.  And this is his action, or faith put in place, knowing that Jesus is the Most High God, and nothing is impossible for Him.

We must come to a point that we realize just how close Jesus is to us.  Call out to Him about our deplorable situations, instead of crying towards one another (begging).  And then by faith, realize as He is healing us, He can also heal, that which is around us, and make us, our families, our communities and our land whole again.

When’s the last time you cried out to Jesus?  I would rather cry out to Him, and have people tell me to be quiet and try to silence me, than be ignored by the world.  At least they noticed me

The church and the law cant do it

Scripture Reference Luke 10:31-33 “And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And like wise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.  But a certain man as He journeyed, came to where he was: and when He saw him, He had compassion on him”

We revisit our “certain man”.  He has been attacked by the vicissitudes of life, and been “wounded and left half dead”.  The attack is over.  The beating has stopped.  But yet he is still not safe.  Put yourself in his shoes.  There you are on the side of the road, you have been attacked, wounded, and left bleeding.  That’s the way some of life’s ups and downs leave us.  A divorce can leave you wounded, and half dead. The death of a family member can leave you wounded, and half dead.  The loss of a job, can leave you wounded and half dead.  And there you lie on the side of the road, bleeding. 

If something doesn’t stop the hemorrhaging soon, you will die. If something doesn’t stem the pain, you may never be able to get up on your feet.  You wonder, “Is this it?”  Then you hear footsteps!  But you can’t relax.  The last footsteps you heard coming, attacked you, beat you and left you bleeding.  “Is that thing coming back”, you wonder?  You ever been hurt then when something good comes along you’re scared to even look at it?

You find out its religion.  The “church”.  It comes, it does as most “church” folks do.  It looks at you, and says, “That’s a mess you got going on over there.”  And passes you by on the other side.  Never giving you what you need.

Then you hear again more footsteps.  This time it’s a Levite: the “law”.  Surely the law can help right a wrong.  Yet, the law falls short too.  And can merely pass us by on the other side, only agreeing with religion that we are a true mess.

The third time you hear footsteps, your hopes are dashed.  For after all, the church wouldn’t help, the law couldn’t help, and you still lay on the side of the road, with nothing to stop you’re your hemorrhaging.  But the Bible says that a certain Samaritan, someone from a different land: for we know that our “certain man” is more than likely a Jew, coming from Jerusalem.  Samaritans and Jews don’t associate.  But look what this certain Samaritan does.  He has compassion on us, comes to us, binds us up, and takes us to safety.  Look at Jesus here, how He will come for you, have compassion on you, bind you up, and take you to safety to be with Him.

You see we need to stop placing our trust in man, hoping in the law, and start realizing that it is only Jesus who can save us, heal us and make us whole again.  Are you looking to Jesus, or are you looking to man?

Jesus says, “Come to me, you broken one.  And I will give you peace: for my yoke is easy and my burden light.  Come to me, and I will give you peace!”

Wounded and Half Dead

Scripture Reference Luke 10:30 “And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.”

We revisit this text to point out some Spiritual Truths.  Have you ever encountered a situation that came out of nowhere, it wounded you, left you hemorrhaging and half dead?  Such is the case of our “certain man” in our text.  He has come under attack, been wounded, and left half dead.  What is that situation in your life that has attacked you, wounded you, and left you have dead?  Maybe it’s that divorce, or maybe the loss of a job, loved one, or the betrayal of a friend?  Either way, there you lay, on the road, hemorrhaging and dying: unable to move, or even to cry for help or to even let someone know that you in fact need help.  And if something doesn’t happen soon to abort the bleeding, you will surely die.  Such is the case of this “certain man”.

The text says he also was “stripped of his raiment”.  This points to your dignity, your credit, and your reputation.  The enemy tries to take your dignity so you won’t, in the face of scorn and shame, get up and get back into proper alignment with God.  The enemy tries to take your credit, meaning your good name, so that others will say, “if you knew him/her, they really are not all that”.   Your good name precedes you and your wear it everywhere you go.  The enemy tries to take your reputation of being a “goody-two-shoes”.  This is the trying to make everyone think we are ok and good when in reality we all fall short and need Jesus our Savior to come and rescue us from all our affliction and trouble.  Not one of us is any better than the other. 

Because of the fall from grace that we have suffered in the Garden of Eden, and given we are born into a state of sin, we are wounded in our everyday comings and goings by the enemy who desires to steal, kill and destroy us.  We are part of the Kingdom of Heaven, but the Bible is clear, “the kingdom of heaven suffers violence” (Matt 11:12). 

It is time for us to get our wounded, bleeding and half dead self’s to Christ.  He is the only one that can restore us and make us whole again.

If you desire to stop the hemorrhaging pray this prayer.  Jesus, My LORD, and King, I worship You, and submit myself to Your will.  I confess that I am a sinner and I ask You that You come into my life, heal me, and stop the bleeding in my life that causes me to be pulled away from you and in Your love reunite me with Your grace and mercy restoring me to everlasting communion with you, now and forever more!

A certain man….fell

Scripture Reference Luke 10:30 “And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.”

We know this passage well.  Jesus is teaching us how to really love people.  It’s not easy.  We say we love God, but in actuality most of us love the “idea of God”.  We are told to love people, however we see their flaws, and then we become judgmental and condescending, forgetting that 1) we have flaws also, and 2) that if it were not for the LORD, yet there we would be also.  It’s easy to love perfectness, hard to love faults.  But Jesus is saying we MUST love the un-loveable.

The text tells us that a certain man: who is that certain man?  Me, you, any one of us, went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell.  Look at the symbolism here.  The Jericho road was a long, winding, descending road that drops over 3600 feet, and was known to have thieves and bandits lurking at every turn, ready to stab you, to kill you, and to rob you of your “wealth”.  Wealth: your dignity, your uprightness, your holiness, your “priestly” garment the LORD has put on you as His child.  This man went down…and fell; so he started down a dangerous path and it caught up with him.  You ever start off down a road in life that you knew was bad for you, then out of nowhere something leaped out and attacked you, wounded you and left you for dead?  Such is the case in all of our lives.  When we start to pull away from God, we fall; we are wounded when we get outside of His providential care; something attacks us and we end up wounded and left for dead.  That is the sin in our life.  The rebellious tendency we have to not listen, wait patiently, and obey our Heavenly Father.  For we are drawn away by the things of this world:  1 John 2:16 says, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”

If you are tired of going down and falling, being wounded, and left for dead, maybe we should stop going down the “Jericho road” in the first place? Stop being drawn away by our own desires: going after what WE want, and not what GOD wants. And the next time we become condescending about other people’s fall, maybe we should think about our own fall and how if it were not for the LORD, who was on our side, there we would be also, falling right with them.

What are you prepared to do? Pt 1

Scripture Reference Luke 1:38 “And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the LORD; be it unto me according to thy word.  And the angel departed from her.”

We pick up our text as Mary has been visited by the angel of the LORD, Gabriel.  She has just been told that she is highly favored by God and that she will be with the child of the Most High God.  Most people would say, “What an honor it must have been to be her.”  But let’s examine this a bit more closely.

In biblical days the woman was given in marriage to a man, and she was to be a virgin.  Even Mary says in vs. 34, “how shall this be, seeing I know not a man?”  In those days, sex before marriage was not only forbidden, but would result in death by stoning.  So Mary’s “blessing” that we acclaim her to be so honored to have, put her in danger of losing her life and suffering a violent death for doing the will of God.    What is a blessing in the Spirit could mean death to her in the natural.  Are you willing to lay down everything you have planned out for your life, "Mary" (or you "Joseph")?  But without reservation, or second thought to her own personal well-being and safety, she says, “be it unto me according to thy word.”

What do you do when God comes in and asks you to give up every plan that you have made for your life?  What do you do when God interrupts you and requires something of you that could cause you death in the natural?  Do we think about what our friends would say, what people will think, or how we will look to the neighbors?  Or do we say, “behold, LORD, your servant; be it unto me according to thy word.”

The next time you hear God saying, return to that marriage, love that person that wronged you and forgive that person as I have forgiven you, or even do not as everyone else is doing but follow my commandments even when its not the popular thing to do; can we remember that when God gets ready to do something great in your life, He first asks you to give up all that YOU planned, and step out in faith in HIM!

What are you prepared to do?

Are you casting your NETS or your NET? Pt 2

Scripture Reference Luke 5:4-6 “Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink.”
We learned previously that Simon, Peter, being wearied and tired of trying, reluctantly let down a single net to receive a blessing that Jesus said to cast his NETS at to receive all that was about to fill his store house.  We know that he did not “throw enough” at the blessing to take it all in.  Is the Spirit only teaching us that we need to give it our all when it comes to God’s word in our lives, or is it trying to reach a deeper point? 
Yes, even though Peter did not do as he was told, and did it reluctantly at that, and we know that he began to lose some of the blessing as the net broke.  But before you go criticizing Peter; look at what he had already put into place.
Peter had positioned around himself, men that he could trust.  Men that he could work with.  Men that could stand in the gap and help him not only contain the blessing, but also they received some of the blessing also.
Have you positioned those key people in your life that you know you can call upon and they will be there?  Not just in word, but REALLY be there?  For those are the ones who will help you reel in your blessing, and the ones who will be able to rejoice in the blessing with you?

Are you casting your NETS or your NET? pt 1

Scripture Reference Luke 5:4-5 “Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net”
Yes you know the story, Simon, who was called Peter, listened to Jesus and took in a load of fish.  However is the Spirit merely only teaching us to listen to Jesus’ words, or it is trying to take us to a deeper truth and revelation in the Spirit and show us our ways before God?
Quite clearly they had been fishing all night long, they were tired, they were discouraged from having toiled all night and catching nothing.  You can even hear it in Peter’s response to Jesus’ command.  “Master, we have toiled ALL night (were tired and ready to go home) and we have taken nothing (and you want me to do this yet again?)  You can almost feel the reluctancy in Peter’s voice transcending even through text and the dispensation of time.  So what does he do?  Like most of us, he gives it a last, half-hearted effort, just to be able to say, “I did what you said to do”, but his heart was not in it.  You can tell this for Peter let’s down the net: singular.
However Jesus told him clearly to, “let down your NETS for a draught.”  Jesus told him to cast all he had at the blessing that he was about to receive.  As we move further into the text, we see that since Peter only let down one net, the bible records in verse 6 that, “And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake.”  You see, had Peter truly been obedient and cast ALL that he had at the blessing that was about to be given unto him, he would not have ran the risk of losing some of the blessing because of the net breaking.
I ask you to think, what in your life has Jesus told you to cast your NETS at to receive a draught?  And are you casting your NET and losing some of the blessing God has in store for you?