Working in concert with each other, we glorify God. Next to and after each other. We’re taking the fallen stones and rubble of today’s church and each other’s lives, and we’re rebuilding … hand in hand much like Nehemiah led the Jews in rebuilding the wall and gates of Jerusalem. It took teamwork, prayer, and God’s protection. Unity of all.
Continue reading Three Keys to Rebuilding From Brokenness
Look at him! He’s walking. He’s jumping. He’s prancing around and praising God. Wait … he’s going into the temple with those men. He can’t do that; he’s unclean. Hasn’t he been lame since birth? I’ve seen him begging every day for decades. What happened?
Continue reading Walking in The Holy Spirit’s Stunning Power
Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest! Luke 19:38
Hosanna! Save now was the cry.
This King, riding a colt,
This King, descending the path of the Passover Lamb,
This King, coming in the name of the Lord,
This King, bringing salvation.
This King, weeping.
As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.” Luke 19:41-42
As the Passover Lamb was examined and proclaimed without a blemish, so was our Lord Jesus. Jesus knew no sin.
The first Passover Lamb was taken into the home of the family, and some say that the family grew fond of the lamb, treating it like a pet.
Jesus entered Jerusalem following the path of the procession of the Passover Lambs. The multitudes praised Him and honored Him as their King. He taught them daily in the temple, and they soaked up His teachings.
And yet, they did not understand that they had been visited by God. They did not understand that the Kingdom of God was in their presence.
Their cry was “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
Peace was in their presence, and they did not recognize it.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. John 14:27
Jesus give us peace with God, a peace that is not dependent on our actions or others’ actions. This peace was bought with His blood and His flesh. Jesus paid the price for our sins and wiped away all that separated us from God.
Jesus breathes His peace upon us, all we have to do is take it in and live in His peace.
Save now, O Lord. Bring Your peace that only You can bestow upon these dear readers. Fill them with Your Presence and guide them as they walk in the fullness of Your grace, Your salvation, and Your enduring love. You, O Lord, are our Peace.
Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. John 5:2-8
Thirty-eight years of sickness. We’re not told what the man’s affliction is. He sees the waters stir, someone steps into the pool and steps out seeing, leaping for joy, healed.
There he lies waiting for the waters to churn. There he lies waiting for someone else to step into the waters and be healed.
Jesus singles out this man.
“Do you want to be healed?”
What kind of question is that? He’s there at the House of Mercy, sometimes translated House of Grace. He waits. He hopes.
Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.
What kind of answer is that? There’s only one miracle for one stir of the waters. In himself, he has no hope. He sees no other way to be healed, so he gives an excuse instead of “YES!”
I’ve been there, and I’ve seen others there. I thought that I had to do something to be worthy enough to be healed. I had to manufacture enough faith to be healed of fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue.
I really wanted to be healed. I tried miracle diets, miracle supplements, risky medications, detoxifications, and all sorts of miracle cures that people sell desperate people.
I was anointed with oil, prayed for, claimed healing, and pleaded with God.
I can’t step into the healing, and I have no one who can carry me to the healing. It matters no more. I just want more of you.
That’s when Jesus singled me out of the blind, broken, sick, and deaf waiting to be healed, touched my body, and told me to walk in health.
Are you waiting for a miracle, yet, hopeless?
Father, Thank You that you single out Your children and meet them as they wait for You. In the waiting is blessing. You are our hope. Give us more of You. Abide in us and enable us to abide in You. Renew our strength, renew our spirits, and renew our bodies. What a mighty God! What a gracious God! We are so blessed that You single us out and ask if we want to be healed! Thank you.
