WAIT
'Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous...' Psalm 27:14 NLT
It’s in looking back that we realise:
(1) God had something better in mind for us.
(2) We weren’t mature enough at that point to handle what we were asking Him for.
We think we’re ready, but God knows when we are. Scripture often commands us to ‘wait on the Lord’. Learning to wait is a test of maturity. John MacArthur writes: ‘People find it difficult with life if they can’t instantly gratify every desire. They want to eliminate every discomfort, difficulty, injustice or deprivation instantly. Scripture responds with two revolutionary concepts: heavenly mindedness and delayed gratification.’ Waiting forces us to accept that we’re not in control. It humbles us in ways we need to be humbled. Consider the trapeze artist: for a split second, which must feel like an eternity, he or she is suspended in nothingness. They can’t go back, and it’s too soon to feel the grasp of the one who’ll catch them. They must wait in absolute trust. You may be at that same point in your life right now. You’ve let go of what God called you to let go of, but you can’t feel His hand catching you yet. Moses waited eighty years for a ministry that lasted forty years: two–thirds of his life was spent getting ready! Jesus spent thirty years preparing for a ministry that would last three–and–a–half years. From God’s perspective, your life isn’t measured by its length, but by its effectiveness and its impact for His Kingdom. So wait, and keep a good attitude while you’re doing it. God won’t disappoint you.
EINSTEIN AND JESUS
Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world.” —John 8:12
We remember Albert Einstein for more than his disheveled hair, big eyes, and witty charm. We know him as the genius and physicist who changed the way we see the world. His famous formula of E=mc2 revolutionized scientific thought and brought us into the nuclear age. Through his “Special Theory of Relativity” he reasoned that since everything in the universe is in motion, all knowledge is a matter of perspective. He believed that the speed of light is the only constant by which we can measure space, time, or physical mass.
Long before Einstein, Jesus talked about the role of light in understanding our world, but from a different perspective. To support His claim to be the Light of the World (John8:12), Jesus healed a man who had been blind from birth (9:6). When the Pharisees accused Christ of being a sinner, this grateful man said, “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see” (v. 25).
While Einstein’s ideas would later be proven difficult to test, Jesus’ claims can be tested. We can spend time with Jesus in the Gospels. We can invite Him into our daily routine. We can see for ourselves that He can change our perspective on everything.
Lord Jesus, You are the one constant in this chaotic world. Thank You for being the one true Light that the darkness can never extinguish.
Only as we walk in Christ’s light can we live in His love
GIVE THANKS DAILY
There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. - Luke 17:11-18
Relatively few people who receive the goodness of the Lord return to give Him thanks for what He has done. That does not keep the Lord from doing what is right for us. He healed all ten of these lepers according to their request - not just the one who was thankful. However, there was only one out of the ten that was made "whole."
The Lord desires that we prosper in spirit, soul, and body. He wants us to be whole - not just healed. Part of the reason God meets our physical needs is to prove to us His willingness and ability to meet our emotional and spiritual needs. The Lord is concerned about our temporal needs (Mt. 6:30), but He is even more concerned about our eternal needs. All of these lepers needed physical healing and the Lord was moved with compassion and met their need.
He was also desiring to meet their spiritual needs, but only one out of the ten came back for that.
Being unthankful is always a sign that self is exalting itself above God. A selfless person can be content with very little. A self-centered person cannot be satisfied. Thankfulness is a sign of humility and cultivating a life of thankfulness will help keep "self" in its proper place.
Thankfulness to the Lord for what He is and what He has done is a very important part of the Christian life. One of the many benefits of thanksgiving and praise is that they keep us from being "self" oriented.
Giving thanks is a totally unselfish action and is a key to relationship with the Father that makes us "whole" and not just "healed
CROWNED WITH GOODNESS ....
You crown the year with Your bounty and goodness... - Psalm 65:11, AMP
The Lord has crowned your year with bounty and goodness! That means there is an abundant supply for whatever you may need—spiritually, physically, emotionally and financially. He has also set up a system so that you can access all of His blessings. It’s the system of seedtime and harvest. If you have a need in your life, step into God’s system by sowing a seed.
For example, if you’re lonely and need friends, sow a seed by being a friend to someone. If you have a financial need, pray and ask the Lord where you should sow a financial seed. The Bible says to give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over. The more you sow, the more you will reap. That’s God crowning your year with bounty and goodness!
MOVE YOUR MOUNTAINS
And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.” So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.” MARK 11:21–23
Like many believers, you may have heard the teaching on mountain-moving faith based on Mark 11:22–23. I don’t know about you, but it always intrigued me: Why did Jesus curse the fig tree before He taught on mountain-moving faith?
One day, the Holy Spirit opened my eyes. The first time fig leaves are mentioned in the Bible, they speak of self-righteousness—after Adam sinned, he covered himself with fig leaves. Adam’s covering was a bloodless one, and without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins (Hebrews 9:22). That’s why God had to clothe him with animal skin instead, which meant the shedding of innocent blood. One speaks of righteousness by works, while the other speaks of righteousness by the shed blood of the Lamb.
So the fig tree here is a picture of self-righteousness. And what Jesus was saying is that before your faith can flow like a river, you have to curse (or get rid of) self-righteousness in your life and embrace His gift of righteousness!
Beloved, keep believing, meditating on and declaring that you are righteous in Christ apart from your works. This revelation is what causes faith for every breakthrough you need to rise effortlessly in your heart, and the mountains in your life to move!
POWER FROM JESUS’ BODY TO YOURS
Matthew 26:26 - …“Take, eat; this is My body.”
Can you imagine the Lord sick, nursing a cold or fever while He walked on earth? No, our Lord Jesus was never sick! He was vibrant, full of life and full of health. When He told His disciples, “Take, eat; this is My body”, they could practically visualize what it meant because they had lived and walked with this Man. They had seen people without hands or feet made whole when they touched His body. (Matthew 15:30–31)
Even His clothes were soaked with His health! A woman who had a bleeding condition for 12 years—no doctor could cure her—was healed immediately when she touched the hem of His garment. If the hem of His garment was soaked with His health, vibrancy, energy and divine radiance, how much more His body!
You know, some of the most encouraging verses in the Gospels are these: “And as many as touched Him were made well” (Mark 6:56), for “power went out from Him and healed them all”. (Luke 6:19) I love those verses! That is our Jesus!
The Bible says that they put sick people along the streets, and Jesus walked around, touched them and healed them. Now, you see movie stars doing this: They run here and there, they slap their fans’ hands, but nobody gets healed. But wherever Jesus walked, whoever He touched, He healed. Picture this: A trail of people. Those in front of Jesus are lying down, but those behind Him whom He has touched are leaping with joy and following Him! That is how Jesus healed the sick.
So that night, when He said, “Take, eat; this is My body,” as He broke the bread and gave it to His disciples to eat, they knew what it meant. They were probably thinking, “We are going to ingest His health into our bodies! Hallelujah!”
That is what you must believe when you partake of the Holy Communion. It is not just a ritual or symbolic act. No, you must believe that He is the true bread from heaven who took your cancer, diabetes and heart disease, so that you can have His supernatural health! And when you eat of His broken body with this revelation, you will have life in abundance and the health of the Lord!
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