Restoration and Abundant Blessings

Yesterday during our time of worship after the sermon, I felt like I heard something from the Lord concerning those who have gone through some difficult times.  The verses that I was directed to are as follows -  Jeremiah 33:6-11 NIV:

[6] “ 'Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security. [7] I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity and will rebuild them as they were before. [8] I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me. [9] Then this city will bring me renown, joy, praise and honor before all nations on earth that hear of all the good things I do for it; and they will be in awe and will tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace I provide for it.' 

[10] “This is what the Lord says: 'You say about this place, “It is a desolate waste, without people or animals.” Yet in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are deserted, inhabited by neither people nor animals, there will be heard once more [11] the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those who bring thank offerings to the house of the Lord, saying, “Give thanks to the Lord Almighty, for the Lord is good; his love endures forever.” For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were before, ' says the Lord."

We were reflecting on the Lord's presence, His indwelling Holy Spirit, and His desire to be with us.  As we were reflecting I felt led to the scriptures above and had this strong sense that the Lord wanted those of us who are living in difficult situations to have hope!  

In the scriptures above the Lord had just talked about Israel's rebellion, and disobedience being the cause of their present captivity, but that their hopes and dreams to return to their own land were going to be fulfilled by Him!  The sense I had was that the Lord was starting to put in motion processes of restoration, with the goal being rest and relationship! 

This restorative process flows out of relationship with Him! It is interesting all the "I will" statements in verses 6-8:

I (God) Will - 

Bring Health and healing to the land

Heal my people 

Let my people enjoy abundant peace and security (rest)

Bring my people back from where they are captive (freedom)

Rebuild my people and their homes/cities

Cleanse my people from their sin

Forgive my people's sin of rebellion

I love the imagery found in verse - [9] "Then this city will bring me renown, joy, praise and honor before all nations on earth that hear of all the good things I do for it; and they will be in awe and will tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace I provide for it.' "

The Lord will be so good to His people that all the nations will tremble (fear) because of the goodness of God, the very prosperity and peace He provides!  That is definitely more than just a Sunday "feel good" from going to church!   

Oh Lord, we pray that You would launch your grace, mercy, compassion and blessing and fulfill Your word in all its completeness in our lives!  Lord, bring healing and restoration especially to those in hopeless situations!  Please bring health healing, rest, freedom, abundant blessing, forgiveness and cleansing to  Your people!  Help to press into You for You are the one that will do all of this!

Amen and Amen!

Spiritual Vision Impairment

The verses for this morning come from the end of the story of Jesus healing a man who was born blind. The story is a great read, but today I am just focusng on the last few verses  - John 9:35-41 NIV:

[35] "Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 

[36] “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” 

[37] Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” 

[38] Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

[39] Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” 

[40] Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?” 

[41] Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains."

Yesterday my theme in prayer was listening to Jesus, and this morning the theme is Spiritual Blindness, so I see a bit of a pattern.  Lord, help me to see and hear!

If I were to create a definition of Spiritual blindness from these verses, it would be those who think they can see and understand God but don't have relationship with Jesus.  

It is such an interesting thing that the Pharisees and other experts of the law, knew the words so well, but completely didn't recognize the author was in their midst!  Not only that, but when Jesus pointed out that they were misinterpreting the very meaning, they wanted to kill Him!  They were so committed to their understanding that they refused to change or even consider that they might be wrong, even when confronted with signs and miracles, healings and deliverances.

As I was thinking through this I was reminded of a story about a magician named the Amazing Rudi who created a fake psychic "Carlos" and worked with 60 Minutes in Australia.  The show was a complete hoax and at the end of it, they revealed it as such, but there were people who would not believe they had been tricked.  They were so firm in their belief, and judgments that when confronted with the truth by the author of the hoax, they refused to change their minds.  In the same way, the Pharisees were so committed to their way of understanding the Law and God, that they were unwilling to change their minds.

I know that at times I  certainly have been spiritually blind, or maybe vision impaired!  Especially when I was younger in my faith, I thought I had most everything figured out, and understood exactly what God was like, based on my own experience and what I had heard from trusted teachers.  I was convinced that the beliefs of our church were representative of the complete truth, and every other church only believed part of the truth.  I was spiritually vision impaired for sure.

There are many such churches out there, denominations that teach such,  and many of our brothers and sisters that refuse to believe anything other than what they have been taught or seen themselves.  There are those that hold the Bible as the complete record of God, and anything experienced that is not specifically found in the Bible as being not of God.  We have many ways of being spiritually vision impaired, of seeing things only through the lenses of our own limited understanding and perspective.  

The Lord has been gracious to me, providing me ample opportunities to change my mind (repent) about my beliefs and perspectives.  He has been gentle and merciful, knowing that it requires a level of humility to admit my own wrongness, and He is willing to help me get to that point!  

I guess if I were to modify my definition of spiritual blindness I would add spiritual pride, as a sort of spiritual vision impairment.  We can see in part, but be convinced that we see the whole thing and understand every bit perfectly.

I am reminded of the story of the blind men who encountered an elephant and each defined the elephant by what they could touch, but none were able to describe the whole elephant.  In my spiritual walk I have realized that I have only experienced a very small portion of God, and that as such, I better keep my eyes and ears open to further understanding and opportunities for repentance!  

I am impressed more and more how true God's words through Isaiah are , “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." ( Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV).

I am also impressed to be aware of anyone claiming to know everything about God, for while I once had similar thoughts myself, I have been mercifully corrected.  :-)

May the Lord bless us and help us to see!

Amen!

Listen to Him!

This morning I was reading from Mark, Chapter Nine.  There are so many things to think about and reflect on in every chapter of the Gospels, its almost impossible to really reflect on a whole chapter at once. That is why I read through the chapter and then think back over it and see which bit stands out the most in my recollection.  Often times it is not the one I would think going into the chapter.  This is just one of the many ways I have learned to listen to the Lord.  The verses that stood out to me today are the following - Mark 9:2-10 NIV:

[2] "After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. [3] His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. [4] And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 

[5] Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters---one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” [6] (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.) 

[7] Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” 

[8] Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus. 

[9] As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. [10] They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what “rising from the dead” meant."

The single verse that stood out to me this morning was verse 7, specifically - "a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!"   The thought that ran through my mind when I read this was how interesting that God the Father would choose to say that last bit, of all the things He could have said!  I think this is obviously REALLY IMPORTANT! 

In looking at the other accounts of this event, we have very similar words.

Luke 9:35 NIV:  "A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.”   

Matthew 17:5 NIV:  "While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”

All three of the accounts end the Father's statement with the command to "Listen to him!"  I find it interesting that in my recollection of the different stories of the transfiguration, I remembered the first phrases, but not the last. I clearly need to get better at listening to Him.

In my reflection this morning, listening is the obvious focus!  This leads to the obvious question for those of us reading these words a couple thousand years later, "How do I listen to Jesus?" 

I am not an expert, that is for sure, but this is one of the things that I have worked on for the last 40+ years of my life, listening to Jesus.  I think it safe to say that if this was the last thing the Father said audibly about Jesus, we should probably pay attention to it.  I like to believe that if this is the Father's command, then it must be possible to listen to Jesus.  Secondly, if its possible to listen to Him then it is something I can learn to do, and even get better at it.

Listening for me includes all the following:

1) Actively taking time every day to quiet myself, focused just on my relationship with Jesus.

2) Reading Scripture and reflecting on it

3) Praying, which is really just having a conversation with Jesus, where I both speak and listen

4) Learning to discern what His voice sounds like, and the different ways He can speak

5) Reading about others who have learned to listen to Him, and how He speaks to them

6) Talking to other who follow Him, hearing how they hear the voice of the Lord in their lives

7) Working to be aware of His voice through out my day, and not just in my quiet time

8) Often reflecting at the end of the day, how I have encountered Him

9) Journalling my conversations, and interactions so that I can go back and read all that He has said to me

Each of the actions above could be broken into several sub-points, for I have discovered that listening to the Lord is a rich experience.  He speaks in so many ways, and I am working to be more attuned to each of the ways I have experienced Him speak.

This morning I am encouraged to make sure I "Listen to Him!"

Amen and Amen!

When Jesus Comes to Dinner

This morning I am reading again from Luke 11, and will spend some time reflecting on what I think is a somewhat humorous interaction between Jesus, the Pharisees and experts on the Law.  Here are the verses - Luke 11:37-46 NIV:

[37] "When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. [38] But the Pharisee was surprised when he noticed that Jesus did not first wash before the meal. 

[39] Then the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. [40] You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? [41] But now as for what is inside you---be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you. 

[42] “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone. 

[43] “Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces. 

[44] “Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which people walk over without knowing it.” 

[45] One of the experts in the law answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.” 

[46] Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them."

My first thought on reading this was that I didn't want Jesus as a dinner guest!  :-)  Lately, I have been reflecting on the interactions between Jesus and the Pharisees and other "experts".  This morning, as I was reading these "woes" I initially was thinking, 'yeah that's right give it to them good and hard!'   However after a bit more reflection, I started wondering if I have similar issues in my life, where if I asked, the Lord would point them out?  As painful as that would be, I believe my heart wants to know so that I can do a better job of reflecting the Lord in my life! 

In both verses 41 and 42 above the Lord provided clear guidance on how to change or do better.  I know I need that in my life!  I do want to do better!  I want to reflect Jesus in my life, in my actions, and most importantly in my heart!  

In reading the verses above, I sort of felt sorry for the one expert of the law who had the gumption to try and correct Jesus, saying He was insulting them too!  I guess we can see from the Lord's response how concerned He is with hurting someone's feelings!  :-)

Seriously though, the Lord does bring correction and direction, and in my experience it is much more gentle and merciful if I am willing to hear, have a teachable heart, and a humble attitude.  I do want to be able to reflect the Lord in my day to day life, and I want to do better.  The Lord is gracious, merciful, compassionate and gentle when He brings correction.  A few weeks ago I was reading about the epileptic boy the apostles couldn't heal (See Mark 9: 14-29) and the Lord pointed out something in my belief that was incorrect, and provided me the opportunity to change my thinking and belief!  It wasn't a harsh word, more of a gentle revealing of an incorrect assumption, that led to a wrong belief.  

I think the Lord is looking for those who will follow Him, and not get offended with Him.  If we look at the verses following this dinner party,  the response of the Pharisees and experts of the Law was anything but that - Luke 11:53-54 NIV:  "When Jesus went outside, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions, [54] waiting to catch him in something he might say."

Oh Lord, help us to receive and embrace Your correction!  Help us to desire to reflect You more accurately to those in our lives.

Amen!