Begging for Life

"There was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum.  When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death."  John 4: 46-47

The royal official is another "outsider" most likely from the Roman government who comes to Jesus seeking his intervention.  He is not part of religious Jewish society but comes seeking Jesus to heal his son anyway.  Somewhere he must have heard about Jesus' compassion acts of healing for the sick, so he came seeking the same for his son.  At some point, the seed was sown and when this man had the opportunity he sought Jesus for his sons healing.  Jesus only spoke the words and the son lived. 

"He himself believed and his household."  The harvest that day was a Roman household who before receiving back their son only knew Jesus from afar.  That day they knew him personally. 

Father, I ask that any who only know you from afar would take the step of asking you for personal knowledge of you in their lives. 

Blessings

 

Jesus Felt Compassion

Matthew 9:35 - 38    Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of sickness.  Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.  Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.  Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest".


This month we are focusing on sowing spiritual seeds and the following harvest.  Sowing spiritual seeds can take place in many forms and since this blog focuses on prayer, of course, we consider prayer one of the most loving gifts we have to offer someone.  Prayer  enters the spiritual realm and allows us to battle with God for that person. 

God is able to take  the spiritual seeds scattered by his people and water them with the Holy Spirit to bring someone to the place of wanting life in Him.  We really don't know how this happens, it is one of the mysteries of God.  We do know He gives everyone the opportunity to choose to know him; the offer is for all.   

Jesus had compassion and the multitudes followed him.  Pray that the Lord of the harvest will provide you the privilege of offering up prayers and words of hope to someone in distress. 


Father, we pray that you will help us see the one person who needs our prayers and support the most.  Help us offer seeds of hope that you can use to bring this person to a place of rest in you.  


Blessings

The Provisions of God

"Give us this day our daily bread.  Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.  For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions."  Matthew 6: 11, 14 - 15

These verses of the Lord's prayer speak to us about total dependency upon God.  Whether it is for physical or spiritual nourishment we are totally dependent upon God for our sustenance each day.  Can we feed our physical bodies without the God-given provisions of earth, seed or rain?  Can we sustain a Spirit-filled life without our Lord first providing the way and revealing himself to us?? 

Our Lord's gracious presence is available daily; we have only to ask him for our needs to be filled.  The Israelites received manna from heaven while wandering in the desert; we too can ask for and receive the Lords daily provisions.  Trust and believe that your God will provide when you ask and trust his work on your behalf.  

Pondering this verse brings about questions of why there are those who have their needs met and those who go hungry or are homeless.  When considering all scriptural instructions given to believers we might interpret this verse to mean, "Give us this day our daily bread so that we can share with other who are in need."  (Matthew 25: 35-40)  Jesus instructed believers to care for the poor, widows and orphans by sharing the provisions He has given to us.  Believers are to show and lead the poor, oppressed, and unbelieving world to the Lords love and compassion so that they can know and depend on him themselves.  This is our privilege and our duty. 

As we move on to the Lords' words regarding forgiveness we bring along our dependency on God.  Jesus instructs us to ask for the forgiveness of our debts AS we also forgive those who are indebted to us.  Many scholars and translators interpret this verse to mean, 'forgive us our sin as we forgive those who sin against us'.  This verse is very humbling to Christians and keeps us from believing that because we know the Father we are entitled to believe that we are better than others.  We do not have the right to hold on to grievances we have with others because they don't "deserve" forgiveness or that we can keep someone coming back over and over to ask for forgiveness.  Jesus very clearly instructs us that as we are willing to practice forgiveness then we will be forgiven.  (Psalm 24: 1-6)

Jesus displayed true forgiveness to us when on the cross he prayed for his persecutors by asking the Father to forgive them.  (Luke 23: 34) Do we dare hold on to grievances with others when our Lord chose to forgive those who crucified him?  Our acceptance of Gods' work to reconcile us to him by Christs death on the cross is the provision that allows us to approach him.  We can approach God in the righteousness of Christ because He provided the way for us to come to him forgiven and free of our debt of sin.  (2 Corinthians 5: 18-21)

Our God is immense and full of light.  Let's ask the Lord to provide our daily needs and forgive us of our unholy ways.  Let's ask the Lord to help us see where we need to forgive and ask him to forgive us for holding on to grievances rather than act with compassion toward a world without hope.

Father - we seek you for our needs today.  Help us to embrace you with our whole heart.  We want to know and give forgiveness from you.  Help us to acknowledge our dependence on you and share with others the hope that only comes from our relationship with you. 

Blessings in your walk,
Carol

Be Still and Know

Good morning prayers.  So sorry for the lack of activity on the blog, this is an exciting week for us.  We are attending our first event with the prayer beads and of course have lots of last minute details to firm up. 

This morning I was prompted to blog on the phrase Be still and know that I am God.  What exactly does it mean to know that He is God?  Maybe it is that the character of God does not change in times of great challenge and great joy.  There are many characteristics of God that we are familiar with but God is revealed in all of scripture in many ways that don't readily come to mind.  Scripture teaches that God is All-Powerful, All Knowing, All Caring, Exalted in the Heavens but it also teaches He is our shepherd, our nurturer, our justice, our hope, our provider, creator, gate to eternal life, light in the darkness......shall I go on??  There are references to God that are high and lofty and remind us of his kingly status, then there are references that make Him personal and present, and available to our everyday lives.    Psalm 46 starts out with the exclamation God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble; therefore we will not fear.   Let's call on the God who wants to personally touch us with compassion for our daily lives and ask him to open our hearts and minds to accept His nature of love toward us. 

Psalm 46:10
 “Be still, and know that I am God;
   I will be exalted among the nations,
   I will be exalted in the earth.”

Father,
Draw us to a time of being still with you.  Bring peace to our hearts and open our minds to contemplate and rely on a characteristic of your nature that is new to our experience with you.  Thank you that we can know you more fully through scripture.  I pray that as we meditate on these thoughts today that you would reveal yourself to us in very specific ways to strengthen our hearts and our faith. 
In Jesus' name. 

Blessings,
Carol