The Bleeding Woman

This morning I have more thoughts on the Ken Gire book, “Intimate Moments with the Savior”...

Today I read about the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years (Mark 5:24-34). Ken does an amazing job of describing how this woman may have felt by the time she heard of Jesus. As Ken describes her I can feel the weight of her burdens, her emotions...and how she is now at the point of desperation. She sees that her only hope is to come to Jesus...He has healed other impossible untouchables before...perhaps she will be healed too.

So she moves through the huge crowd and touches His garment. His healing power rushes through her, changing her life. When Jesus asks who touched Him, she comes falling at His feet, confessing... Ken says that Jesus, "...sees the isolation. He sees the introspection. He sees the insecurity....God only knows how much she's suffered."

Then Ken writes, "For an intimate moment she sees only Jesus. And he sees only her....And with the tender word, 'Daughter', he gives this orphan a new home within the family of God. He gives her healing. And he gives her back her dreams."

One of the things that stands out to me in this story is how she thinks about the stories she has heard about Jesus and how He has healed so many...and she begins to think that if she comes to Him, that she will be cleansed and made whole as well...and so she comes to Jesus...

There's a key for us, I think...We must come to Jesus too...whatever our state, whatever our need, whatever our desires...Everything about us is wrapped up in Him (Acts 17:28)...

For me - I'm not bleeding to death or anything right now. I don't currently have some huge life crisis going on. But right now in my life I do have the usual daily things nipping at my heels, weighing me down, tempting me to worry, etc. For me - I STILL must come to Jesus...because big or small, all of us have things in our lives that press in on us and drag us down and cause us to lose perspective...

One of the dangers is for us to think we only need to come to Jesus in the BIG things. Yet I think the reality is that we need to come to Him in everything - at every moment! That's what I want to do. I want to practice His presence always, and I want to know in my reality - and not just in my head - that He is with me ALWAYS! (Hebrews 13:5)

My prayer for us today is that we will come to Jesus throughout the moments of our day, and that we, like the bleeding woman, will find His power surging through us, giving us life and breath, and everything we need as we reach out to touch Him. He is the great "I AM"! Oh, praise Him with me today!

MR

A Storm and New Eyes

I've been reading a book by Ken Gire called, "Intimate Moments With the Savior" and it has been wonderful. Today I read the chapter on the story, from Mark 5, of the man who was possessed by legions of demons. When he saw Jesus he ran to Him and fell on his knees in front of Him. The demons recognized Jesus as the Most High God. Then Jesus cast the demons into a nearby herd of pigs and the man was healed.

I hadn't noticed before, but this passage comes right after the story in Mark where Jesus calms the storm (Mk 4:35-41). The part in Ken Gire's meditation today that caught my attention was when he wrote:

Life for this man changed when a storm blew Jesus his way.

I'd never noticed or thought of that before...but it's true. Jesus encountered the demon-possessed man right after He calmed the storm.

Our lives have storms too. Often it is in these storms that all the unnecessary and inconsequential things get stripped away...and we begin to see what's real and what truly matters! Our lives will be changed too as we see Jesus in the storms of our lives. The interesting thing is that He is always there...He doesn't just appear after being somewhere else...Somehow, for us, the storms don't just bring Jesus to us, but rather they open our eyes to see that He was there the whole time.

Oh that we would have eyes to see Him with us always...eyes of faith.

He Himself has said, "I will never desert you nor will I ever forsake you." (Hebrews 13:5)

Let's believe Him today.
Let's believe HIM!

MR

When my anxious thoughts multiply within me...

The past week has been a whirlwind for us...One of our oldest daughters (she's a twin) left to work at camp this summer. This is the first time any of our children will be gone for more than two weeks! We have entered..."the Twilight Zone"...just kidding...but we HAVE entered a new life phase.

The verses I am working on memorizing these days are the "worry" verses from Matthew 6:25-34. The other day I read the Message version of those verses and the last verse really grabbed me...

34 "Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.

I struggle a lot with worry. My mind is always running on overdrive and I think I have one of the most creative "disaster-scenario" minds around...again, just kidding... So God has helped me many times through the years with these and other precious verses from His Word.

I don't know where I would be today if it weren't for the faithfulness and grace of God and His provision of His Word! This morning I am so thankful that God is faithful even when I am not (2 Tim 2:13)...that He brings joy to my soul when I am filled with anxiety (Ps 94:19)...that He Himself has compassion on me, as my Father, taking into account that I am dust (Ps 103:13-14)...and I could go on and on listing His magnificence!

Let's face it - there really is NONE who compare with our God! Praise Him today along with me! And rejoice in these words from Isaiah 12...

Isaiah 12

Songs of Praise

1 In that day you will say:
"I will praise you, O LORD.
Although you were angry with me,
your anger has turned away
and you have comforted me.

2 Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation."

3 With joy you will draw water
from the wells of salvation.

4 In that day you will say:
"Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name;
make known among the nations what he has done,
and proclaim that his name is exalted.

5 Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things;
let this be known to all the world.

6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion,
for great is the Holy One of Israel among you."

AMEN! Praise the LORD!

MR

The Beginning of Wisdom

This morning I was reading in Job 26 and 28. In chapter 26 Job tells of some of the wonders of God and then in the last verse says:

14 And these are but the outer fringe of his works;
how faint the whisper we hear of him!
Who then can understand the thunder of his power?"

The awesome things we see and know of God now are but the outer fringes - the edges - of His ways!

Then I went on to read Job 28. In the 1st 11 verses he talks about how man searches out the treasures of the earth...but then in verse 12, he switches gears and asks the question: "But where can wisdom be found? Where does understanding dwell?" And for the remainder of the chapter he says that you cannot find it just anywhere and it's worth cannot be compared to anything we know.

But in the last verse (28) he says:

"And he said to man,
'The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,
and to shun evil is understanding.' "

My study Bible defines "fear" as having "respect and reverence for God and to be in awe of His majesty and power." Another way I've heard "fear" described is to have a right view of who God is and who I am in relation to Him. I believe our pride is what gets in the way of us seeing God for who He really is. I love the way Steven Curtis Chapman sums it up in his song "God Is God" from the album "Declaration". The chorus says:

God is God and I am not
I can only see a part of the picture He’s painting
God is God and I am man
So I’ll never understand it all
For only God is God

God is God and I am NOT! :) I think that says it all right there! :) The entire song is so good that I am putting all the words at the end of this entry for you. My prayer for you today is that God begins to open your eyes to His majesty and magnificence...and that your heart's response will be to love and worship Him more!

God Is God (SCC)

And the pain falls like a curtain
On the things I once called certain
And I have to say the words I fear the most
I just don’t know

And the questions without answers
Come and paralyze the dancer
So I stand here on the stage afraid to move
Afraid to fall, oh, but fall I must
On this truth that my life has been formed from the dust

God is God and I am not
I can only see a part of the picture He’s painting
God is God and I am man
So I’ll never understand it all
For only God is God

And the sky begins to thunder
And I’m filled with awe and wonder
‘Til the only burning question that remains
Is who am I

Can I form a single mountain
Take the stars in hand and count them
Can I even take a breath without God giving it to me
He is first and last before all that has been
Beyond all that will pass

Oh, how great are the riches of His wisdom and knowledge
How unsearchable for to Him and through
Him and from Him are all things

So let us worship before the throne
Of the One who is worthy of worship alone

God bless you today!

MR

Our Indescribable God

Today's Proverbs 31 devotional dwelt on our incredibly indescribable God. Here's the link to today's devotional entitled "Completely Indescribable": http://proverbs31devotions.blogspot.com/2007/05/completely-indescribable.html. It reminds me of my blog entry from May 10 on the hugeness of God. Enjoy it today!

MR

This morning I read the "My Utmost..." reading for today entitled, "Having God's 'Unreasonable' Faith". The key verse was:

Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you —Matthew 6:33

So I opened my Bible to the passage and saw it was the last verse in the section on worry (Mt 6:25-33)...and I decided I needed to apply myself to memorizing it once and for all! So I'm working on it. :)

But there were also some really great and challenging quotes by Oswald Chambers, who says...

". . . do not worry about your life. . ." ( Matthew 6:25 ). Our Lord pointed out that from His standpoint it is absolutely unreasonable for us to be anxious, worrying about how we will live.

Have you ever thought that it was unreasonable to be anxious? I never have...and that was a challenging thought to me... Then he adds:

Jesus did teach that His disciple must make his relationship with God the dominating focus of his life, and to be cautiously carefree about everything else in comparison to that.

I want my relationship with God to be the dominating focus of my life...but I confess that I still struggle - daily - with that worry thing... So today I started praying that God would help me to catch myself as soon as I was in the grips of worry and then to immediately come to Him, as He tells us to do in Philippians 4:6-8...

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I realize that this isn't a once-for-all action, but rather something I will probably need to do many times within a day...for the rest of my life...and that's okay. Our spiritual lives are a process...and God is transforming us into the image of His Son! What a faithful covenant-God we love! Praise Him with me! And come to Him often...He loves to hear your voice!

MR

Our Peace...

I was looking at an older Proverbs 31 Devotional recently from December of last year (Here it is for you to read: http://proverbs31devotions.blogspot.com/2006/12/hope-for-anxious-heart.html ). As a result I have reflected over the past week on the topic of peace - the peace we have in Christ. I won't repeat what the Proverbs 31 writer said - just read the devotional for yourself and be encouraged by her reminders.

I have a number of favorite peace verses and one of them is Ephesians 2:14-16 (NIV):

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.

Peace doesn't come from having the things we want or from having everything in our lives going smoothly and according to our plans...True peace comes from Jesus Himself. As the verse says: He Himself is our peace!

I also love it that the peace He gives us is not like the world's "peace"...

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:27)

We don't have to be troubled or afraid because HE gives us His peace. We don't have to strive for it or go looking for it - He GIVES it! And not as the world gives its so-called peace - which is often contingent upon circumstances. With our God we get peace that passes all comprehension (Phil 4:7), peace that is freely given (John 14:27), peace that IS Jesus Christ Himself (Eph. 2:14)!

My prayer for us today is that we would believe Him to be our peace and that we would lift our hearts to praise Him!

MR