Mark 8:25-26

Again Jesus placed His hands on the man’s eyes, and he saw distinctly. He was cured and could see everything clearly. Then He sent him home saying, “don’t even go into the village.”

Jesus and His disciples had just entered the village of Bethsaida when people brought a blind man to Jesus and begged Him to heal him. Jesus took him outside the village to heal him – outside the hustle and bustle of the town where they could meet in private. In this private place, Jesus spat upon his eyes and laid hands upon him, and the man could see a little but not clearly. He could see men, but they looked like trees walking. He could not distinguish them personally but could see their motions and their actions. Upon a second touch, however, the man could see the people clearly – recognizing their faces and distinguishing them each individually.

This way of healing was certainly a different approach to how He had healed in the past, but only Jesus knew the source of blindness in this man. Scripture does not tell us how he became blind. Had he been blind since birth? I would suspect not since he knew what a tree looked like and compared people to trees walking when he first gained a little sight. Was he blind because of sin or an injury? We simply just don’t know the source of his blindness, but Jesus did. For some reason, it would take a second touch from Jesus for this man to regain full sight.

The blind man could have become offended when Jesus spat on him. If he had, he would have not received a second touch. Instead, the man remained with Jesus until he gained full sight. Jesus didn’t leave him with partial vision; He touched him again so he could see clearly and be able to recognize people for who they really were.

Do we see people as trees walking? Do we judge them by their motions and actions, or do we have enough sight to see them as individuals made in the image and likeness of God? Are we able to see the hurt behind the faces and distinguish the soul that longs for Christ and the abundant life He came to give? Until we can see people clearly, we are still somewhat blind and in need of further healing ourselves. We need a second touch from the Savior to completely heal the source of our wounds in order to see others for who they really are – people made in the image of God who desperately need Christ.

Jesus told this man to return home and not to go back into the village. Most scholars think He didn’t want the man to draw attention to Him and draw a crowd to Him. I think Jesus’s command, however, meant more than this. He wanted the man to go home healed – to see his own family for who they really were first. At some point, the man would have to go back into the village, but at first he should take his healed sight home, where his family could experience the miracle of having him healed.

Our families need us healed as much, if not more, than we need healing ourselves. Our damaged selves put a burden on those around us. When Jesus heals and delivers us, it brings freedom to them.

Do you need a second touch from Jesus today? Do you see people as men walking, or do you see them as image bearers of God in need of a Savior? Can you have compassion for their pain, or do you simply get frustrated with their actions? If you find yourself judging and being critical far too often, you just might be seeing others as trees walking. Ask Jesus to help you see clearly. New and fresh vision can change your household and take healing even further than you ever imagined. Thank God for second touches, second chances, and second times around! Our world can change with those seconds if we will remain with Jesus until He is finished with us.

Have a blessed day!

Fight Standing Still

2 Chronicles 20:12b

For we are powerless before this vast multitude that comes to fight against us. We do not know what to do, but we look to You.

This verse was a part of Jehoshaphat’s prayer when his enemies built a huge army to try to overtake Judah and Jerusalem. He knew they were too big and too mighty for him to battle in his own strength, and the only way for him to overcome was for God to intervene. Therefore, he did what he learned to do from his youth – he cried out to God.

I find myself more and more in a state of just not knowing what to do, and I’m sure you can relate. There are times when we have no answers or ability in our own strength to overcome, and we, too, must cry out to God. While we may feel our vulnerability in such moments, we must remember that our strength comes from the LORD. When we are weak, He is strong. Some battles are simply too strong for us to fight, and when we encounter them, we would be wise to cry out to God. When we do, we find a strength beyond ourselves intervening in ways we could not see.

God’s response to Jehoshaphat’s prayer is an encouragement to each of us. In verse 17, God speaks through His servant, Jahaziel, to Jehoshaphat and the children of Israel:

“You do not have to fight this battle. Position yourselves, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD. He is with you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid or discouraged. Tomorrow, go out to face them, for the LORD is with you.

The next time life hits you out of nowhere and threatens you with armies of pending defeat and destruction, cry out to God. The enemy will whisper in your ear with the question, “What are you going to do about this?” Your response should be to position yourself, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD. Let Him fight the battle for you. He is greater than your enemy, and He has the power to defeat him. Find your strength in Him, and trust Him to fight for you. God responds to faith, and nothing exhibits faith more than a heart at rest from trusting in Him. The enemy would much rather fight you than to fight God. Don’t give him that opportunity.

Have a blessed day!

Psalm 119:89-90

LORD, Your word is forever; it is firmly fixed in heaven. Your faithfulness is for all generations; You established the earth, and it stands firm.

With all the instability we are experiencing in our world right now, I find great comfort in knowing that God’s word is firmly fixed in heaven. His faithfulness to His word is as firm to us as it was to Abraham. While things around us may shake and even shatter, we can depend upon the stability of God’s word and His unfailing love for us to never change.

In the face of increasing evil, we may become tempted to lose heart in God’s faithfulness toward us. Indeed, we live in a day when evil appears to flourish and is often defended while Christianity is ridiculed and condemned. God’s word, however, hasn’t changed, and He has promised that it will not return to Him void but will accomplish all it was sent to do. Society may have changed, but God hasn’t. He hears our cries, and He stands by His word. His is as faithful to us today as He was to those in biblical times. His word is not outdated but has withstood the test of time and will continue to stand when the facades our culture has built crumble from a lack of substance.

Place your hope firmly in the faithfulness of God and His unchanging word today. His word is forever, and this world is not. Just as He was faithful to Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David and many more, so He will be faithful to you. Count on the word that is fully fixed in heaven and the only true security we have. God created you, redeemed you, predestined you, and called you. Make Him the solid rock upon which you stand. You may stumble, but you will not fall!

Have a blessed day!

Isaiah 40:10

See, the Lord GOD comes with strength, and His power establishes His rule. His reward is with Him, and His gifts accompany Him.

Revelation 22:12

“Look! I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me to repay each person according to what he has done.”

True success, which is God’s reward, comes with His presence. Please understand this foundational principle of our faith: Prosperity without the presence of God has the power to destroy you! Moses understood this principle well from his personal encounters with Yaweh. When the children of Israel grieved God in the wilderness, He gave them an offer to take the Promised Land without Him. Moses, however, would not move ahead without God, according to Exodus 33:15.

Now read verse 16 carefully to see the reason Moses would not move ahead of God to take the promise:

How will it be known that I and Your people have found favor in Your sight unless You go with us? I and Your people will be distinguished by this from all the other people on the face of the earth.

Jehoshaphat understood that true success comes from God. In addition to building a strong military defense for the nation, Jehoshaphat commissioned his very best men to teach the people the word of God so they would know the power of God’s presence. By teaching them the book of instruction, he created a spiritual defense for the people which would keep them from succumbing to the temptation of seeking prosperity on their own terms without God, as the northern kingdom had done. The result of Jehoshaphat’s educational system is found in 2 Chronicles 17:10:

The terror of the LORD was on all the kingdoms of the lands that surrounded Judah, so they didn’t fight against Jehoshaphat.

God’s presence dwelt with Judah and Jehoshaphat because they sought Him. The nation’s strong military defense and apparent spiritual defense cast the fear of God upon the surrounding nations as they recognized something different about them – something supernatural that claimed the nation as special and blessed by an Almighty God who ruled in their favor. Enemy nations dared not attack what they knew would destroy them!

Look back at Moses for a moment to see how his plea for God’s presence to follow the nation of Israel into the Promised Land progressed. God honored Moses’s request and cut a covenant with Him. Exodus 34:10 records the promise of this covenant:

And the LORD responded: “Look, I am making a covenant. I will perform wonders in the presence of all your people that have never been done in all the earth or in any nation. All the people you live among will see the LORD’s work, for what I am doing with you is awe-inspiring.

With God’s presence comes a reward that is so great it is awe-inspiring! Note Merriam Webster’s definition of awe:

An emotion variously combining dread, veneration, and wonder that is inspired by authority or by the sacred or sublime.

Awe is the term to which we most commonly refer as “the fear of God.” When people can see God at work in our lives and not our own flesh, we have been blessed with true success! The work God wants to do in my life and in yours is nothing less than awe-inspiring, but His presence must go with us! If we try to move into His promise for us in our own flesh or our own strength, a greater flesh will seek to destroy it. If we are moving forward in the power and presence of Almighty God, however, no demon in hell can stop it because of the reverential fear that accompanies us! We are most certainly distinguishable from the other people and nations around us when we operate in the presence of God!

Be determined to seek the presence of God daily and not tempted by the desire of the flesh to move ahead of Him. God is doing an awe-inspiring work in you, and you want every bit of Him – not the thing He promises – to be your focus. His reward is with Him, and when you have Him, you have it all!

Have a blessed day!

1 Peter 5:10

Now the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will personally restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little.

If you are like me, you are probably thinking that you should be extremely grounded by now. At times, it seems like the suffering never ends in some areas. The truth is, however, that after a while, our suffering ceases as God restores, strengthens, establishes, and supports us through difficulties. While our victory is quite often a process, I dare say most of us can look back on places where we came through things and didn’t realize we had come through until we could look back and see how God had worked on our behalf to take us from one place to another.

We live in an age of instant gratification. We are impressed with overnight successes and often expect our victories to be immediate or sudden. While God may grant us sudden favor, much of life is experienced by gaining ground one step at a time until our victory is complete. Every day presents us with another step to take toward claiming the ground God has promised us. We must be willing to take the step, even if it seems small.

The things we suffer are no match for the grace of God. He will use all things together for our good and His glory. We need only to trust Him through whatever struggles we encounter. He is not glorified in our struggle but in our triumph. As Peter explains, God will personally restore, establish, strengthen, and support us to gain the ground He is giving us. Hold on, keep taking one step at a time, and trust God to work where you can’t. Your race isn’t over until you benefit and He is glorified.

Have a blessed day!

Romans 16:20

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

Paul praised the church at Rome for the report of their godly behavior. He warned them about people who would twist the doctrines of the church for their own means and advised them not to participate in division. By adhering to the gospel of Christ, God would give them peace. This God of peace would soon crush the work of Satan under their feet, causing grace to abound.

Satan has a way of disturbing us, whether by planting threatening thoughts in our minds or by the actions of others. Taking every thought and offense captive and submitting it to the work of the cross will keep our hearts at peace, knowing He died for these things, too. When we surrender to Him, God gives us the peace we need to overcome and crushes Satan under our feet in the process.

I know I’ve caved to threatening thoughts and offenses far too many times to count, and the only way to truly find peace is to take the matter to God in light of the cross. He has the final say in every matter, and we can trust Him with the outcome. When I give Him my mess, He takes over and gives me peace in return. I get the better end of that exchange, which is always defined as grace.

The Message Bible gives a most inspiring translation of the last part of this verse: Enjoy the best of Jesus! I encourage you to enjoy the best of Jesus today as you submit your cares to Him and simply rely upon His grace. The Devil would like nothing more than to steal your joy and cause you to miss the pleasure of serving Christ. He came to give us life in abundance, and it is time we started living in that abundance. May peace and joy be with you today as you enjoy the best He has for you.

Have a blessed day!

Isaiah 54:6-8

“For the LORD has called you, like a wife deserted and wounded in spirit, a wife of one’s youth when she is rejected,” says your God. “I deserted you for a brief moment, but I will take you back with great compassion. In a surge of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but I will have compassion on you with everlasting love,” says the LORD your Redeemer.

God called us when we were wounded in spirit – in the midst of our pain. We didn’t have to get our act together before He would approve us. He found us in our ugly state and called us then, knowing full well our weaknesses, failures, and rebellion. Yet, He called us anyway.

Our failures define us only if we let them. God does not define us by our failures; He identifies us by our calling. While He may seem to reject us for a moment in an act of discipline, He returns to us with great compassion to lead us into the calling He has for us. He never gives up on us! He never abandons us! Our success always has and always will depend upon His grace.

We cannot get where God is calling us by our own merit or our own strength. The very attempt to do such is sin, and God will quickly show us we can’t. He who called us is faithful, and He will propel us into our destiny with love, compassion, and a method that only He can contrive. He is a good, good Father who gives good gifts to His children, and we should believe nothing less of Him. Every good and perfect gift comes from Him, and He withholds no good thing from us. He is working all things together for our good and His glory. Trust in His goodness today, and rest in the love of a compassionate Father who wants your success even more than you do. He is God, and He will do it!

Have a blessed day!

Isaiah 54:4-5

“Do not be afraid, for you will not be put to shame; don’t be humiliated, for you will not be disgraced. For you will forget the shame of your youth, and you will no longer remember the disgrace of your widowhood. For your husband is your Maker – His name is Yahweh of Hosts – and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth.

Israel’s sin had led her into Egyptian and Assyrian oppression, and Zion (Judah) was sent into Babylonian exile. God did not forsake her permanently. He eventually called her out of captivity and claimed her as His own bride in the form of a nation and later in the form of a church through Jesus Christ. He continues to call us out of our own personal captivity and into His marvelous light as His own possession. We are His.

God calls us out of captivity to restore us. Even though we may deserve the consequences of our sin, He doesn’t leave us there to rot. He calls us out as His bride – His cherished one. He fights for us, defends us, exalts us, and brings us to a place where we can forget the pain, shame, and disgrace of our sin. He claims us – demands or takes rightful ownership of us and maintains us.

If you think God cannot or will not use you again, you are still wandering in captivity. He is calling you out today. Do not be afraid or humiliated; God will fight any accusation or judgment that comes against you. You are His, and He desires to bless you and use you in His kingdom. You are worthy because of what Christ has done for you. You have a beautiful inheritance as His bride, and you don’t belong in the trash heap of the world. God has not forsaken you; He has claimed you. Run toward Him in love and devotion, and know the Lord of all the earth calls you His own. Rejoice today because you are His!

Have a blessed day!

Isaiah 54:4-5

“Do not be afraid, for you will not be put to shame; don’t be humiliated, for you will not be disgraced. For you will forget the shame of your youth, and you will no longer remember the disgrace of your widowhood. For your husband is your Maker – His name is Yahweh of Hosts – and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth.

Israel’s sin had led her into Egyptian and Assyrian oppression, and Zion (Judah) was sent into Babylonian exile. God did not forsake her permanently. He eventually called her out of captivity and claimed her as His own bride in the form of a nation and later in the form of a church through Jesus Christ. He continues to call us out of our own personal captivity and into His marvelous light as His own possession. We are His.

God calls us out of captivity to restore us. Even though we may deserve the consequences of our sin, He doesn’t leave us there to rot. He calls us out as His bride – His cherished one. He fights for us, defends us, exalts us, and brings us to a place where we can forget the pain, shame, and disgrace of our sin. He claims us – demands or takes rightful ownership of us and maintains us.

If you think God cannot or will not use you again, you are still wandering in captivity. He is calling you out today. Do not be afraid or humiliated; God will fight any accusation or judgment that comes against you. You are His, and He desires to bless you and use you in His kingdom. You are worthy because of what Christ has done for you. You have a beautiful inheritance as His bride, and you don’t belong in the trash heap of the world. God has not forsaken you; He has claimed you. Run toward Him in love and devotion, and know the Lord of all the earth calls you His own. Rejoice today because you are His!

Have a blessed day!

Matthew 16:25

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life because of Me will find it.

When we lay our own needs aside to meet the needs of others, God works through us. If we focus upon meeting our own needs, we will meet face to face with failure and disappointment. I believe this is true because we can’t fully meet the real need inside of us; only God can do that. Therefore, when we turn our needs over to Him and begin serving Him by meeting the needs of others, He, in turn, meets our needs through it.

God gave us an example in Jesus Christ. Jesus laid His life down for us as the sacrifice we needed. When He did, God accepted the sacrifice and raised Him to life again – glorified! When we lay our lives down to serve Him, He accepts our sacrifice and raises us to new life, too. That is the power of the resurrection working in us.

I encourage you to lose your life today. Find some real needs and meet them.  The more you are able to help meet real needs, the more God will use you and open doors for you. Your service to the local church and community matters. God will meet all of your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Amen!

Have a blessed day!