96. A Walk With Jesus (Broken Desperation)

Jesus returns with the three from their trip and they come across a crowd arguing with the other disciples. The man Jesus was about to encounter was a mess, he was desperate, willing to give up his entire social status and worth in the community for the sake of his son. He tried getting help from others, but they were of no use, he was hopeless until Jesus arrived on the scene, he tells Jesus,

"Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not." 9:17-18

After Jesus rebukes the people they bring Him the boy who immediately convulses on the ground with seizure like activity, asking the father how long the child has been like this the father replies,

"From childhood. It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!" 9:22

I imagine the father watching over his son every where he went,the boy wouldn't be allowed to swim, or get in a boat, or sit around the fire at night, or climb trees or high places, the father must have lived each and every day with anxiety, worried about his little boy and watching over him. Jesus recognized the hopeless tone in the fathers voice and replies,

"'If You can?' All things are possible to him who believes."

Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” 9:23-24

Before the miracle-hungry crowd could arrive and further humiliate the man in his situation Jesus rebukes the spirit and has pity on the man.

Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” 9:26

How long did the boy lie there motionless? The crowd did not reply with a gasp or shock, so it must have been a while, long enough to seem like eternity. What was happening with dad? He had no where else to turn, so he turns to Jesus, and now his son was lying still, was he dead? Was it all for nothing?

Application:
Have you ever prayed that prayer? Have you ever been to tears because you believed in God but you had run out of hope. The man had doubts. And if you will be honest with yourself you will say that you too have doubts. I have doubts, moments of unbelief. How could God change my situation? How could God fix what has been broken so long? Moments where I know I have made the right decision but I don't immediately see the results. What I do see is my circumstances made worse and my concerns lying lifeless on the floor. Sometimes, not always, but certainly there are times when God is answering prayers and working miracles, but all we see is a corpse. It's ok to have doubts, it's ok to acknowledge our weakness, in fact, its more than ok, it's necessary. You can't have trust with out honesty, and if we can't be honest with God, then that's a sure sign we don't truly trust Him. We can trust Him. He is faithful and always has been, I believe that. We can trust Him. Though we may cry out with tears in our eyes I know this to be true, His joy comes with the morning.

"But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him; and he got up." 9:27

You see, we can trust Him. Don't give up. Don't stop praying.

Listen, "Before the Morning"

95. Moses and Jesus

Both Moses and Jesus had a passion for their people. Both were used by God to liberate Israel; Moses from physical bondage and Jesus from spiritual captivity. Moses spoke directly with God, wrote His law and prophesied about the coming Messiah. Jesus is God, fulfilled the law given to Moses, and fulfilled that which was prophesied about Messiah.

In Mark 9 we are able to draw out further similarities between the two. We pick up our walk with Jesus at The Transfiguration.

1 The Glorious Figure.
"Now after 6 days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them."
Mark 9:2-3

There was another time when something like this happened in the history of Israel, we find it in the book of Exodus. After spending 40 full days fasting form food and water while communicating with God…

"Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him.” Exodus 34:29-30

2 The Shekinah Glory.

In exodus 40, Moses is commanded by God to set up the tabernacle (which would later be the blue prints for David’s Temple, built by his son Solomon, and Herod’s Temple which was destroyed in 70A.D. when Jerusalem was sacked by Emperor Titus.)

“Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.” Exodus 40:34

In Mark,
“Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi (honored teacher), it is good for us to be here; let us make three tabernacles (tents), one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah." For he did not know what to answer; for they became terrified.” Mark 9:5-6

Matthews account tells us that while Peter was still speaking, before he could finish his sentence…

“Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud, "This is My beloved Son, listen to Him!" Mark 9:7

Before, it surrounded the tabernacle and God gave instructions to Moses, now it had surrounded the disciples and God gave an instruction to them.

Final Thoughts:
Place yourself in Peter’s shoes. You are with Jesus and two of your colleagues on top of a mountain. After a long hike you lay down to rest and end up dozing off (Luke 9:32), and you wake up to the sound of three men communicating about the departure of your teacher. Jesus no longer looks like himself, instead He is gloriously radiant and His clothes are exceedingly white, you’re terrified. What do you do? You turn back to your history. After being told that the kingdom of God is coming in power, and then waking up in the presence of God’s kingdom, would you not also think of building a tabernacle? The same thing your ancestors did last time they were in God’s presence?

Application:
“’This is My beloved Son, listen to Him!’ “All at once they looked around and saw no one with them anymore, except Jesus alone. Mark 9:7-8

In every moment we are always one breath closer to eternity. And as we pass from life to life we, as the disciples did, will find ourselves looking around and seeing no one except Jesus alone. But, “Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.’” Now is the time for careful examination of ourselves by asking the question… Are we listening to Him?

94. A Walk With Jesus (Unashamed)

Then He called the crowd to Him along with His disciples and said: "If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His Father's glory with the holy angels."
Mark 8:34-38

As you know, it has been a while since I have written any blog concerning the things of Jesus. There are those moments when searching the scriptures that your heart comes across a passage that stops you in your tracks. This passage was one of those for me. Upon reading it I had no words to share, so i didn't. I did not feel it was appropriate to share anything i did not see as true in my own life, I see it becoming true now. Though i am still on the journey i would like to share my path with you.

Authenticity and integrity stem from a single branch, which is the will and desire to be honest and to lack superficiality.
To be authentic as defined by Random House Dictionary is this: Authentic, genuine, real, all these share the sense of actuality and lack of falsehood or misrepresentation. To be an authentic believer would then be to not misrepresent the kingdom or Jesus Christ. We all know the many ways we can do that so I won't expound negatively. Rather, positively, do we represent Jesus in character and in our conduct? Are we acting like Christians (which means "little-Christ")? Or are we sharing a cheapened, watered down gospel, one that does not demand change or sacrifice, one that never produces fruit? This calls for an authentic relationship with Him. This calls for us to be real and to give our lives for the service of His kingdom.

Integrity is such, honesty in the inner most part. The act of lying is in itself deceitful, and is often self-deceiving. We call them "little white lies" when we refer to dishonesty that is not directly damaging, and when we hurt someones feelings we say "I was just kidding." We often forget that a half truth is really a full lie. I do not believe we give integrity the full respect it deserves. I can name the times when I have acted out of dishonesty, and I can recall the times I lost the respect and trust of the one that mattered most to me. But this ought not to be the life of the Christian, we need to be people of integrity. Jesus said of Himself, "I am the way, the TRUTH and the life." And if we are to represent Jesus accurately our lives need to be ones of truth in the secret places.

This is impossible alone, and it is a journey with Christ. Integrity and authenticity do not come over night, but must be slowly worked at. It all starts in one place, submission and obedience to Christ. In His words it is the denial of ones own selfish desires and the willingness to follow and believe His ways on His terms. I met a man this weekend while eating with a dear friend, he said things about Jesus that upset me, things that were true, but misrepresented. Truths that he twisted and distorted to validate his rude behavior turning them into half-truths. My point is this, if you don't know Jesus you can't be like Jesus. At best we too will end up twisting the scripture to meet our own agendas. This is not Jesus' way, this is not the authentic Christian life we should be striving for. So brothers and sisters, be not condemned by this message if it leaves you sick in your stomach. Rather reflect on those emotions, repent and begin today walking with integrity as we learn to walk with Jesus.

93. A Walk With Jesus (Things of Men)

He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
Mark 8:31-32

Now before we jump the gun, attacking Peter, let us walk in Peters shoes. Peter had just told Jesus by revelation from God that he knew who Jesus was, the Christ the Son of Yahweh. And in response Jesus said He must be killed?! No! would say Peter, Heaven forbid it! They were at the peak of their ministry, they were healing the sick and raising the dead, things were happening that had never happened before, the kingdom was coming and coming soon! What was this non-sense about suffering and being killed? ... I think had we been apart of 12 we too would have thought things very similar...

But when Jesus turned and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" He said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
8:33

Not that Peter was Satan or possessed by Satan, but that his focus had been on the here, the now. Peter was not looking ahead for you or I, he was not paying attention to redemptive history, he was caught in the moment and had lost sight of what mattered.

I wonder how many times Jesus would rebuke me the same; too many more than I would like to know. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." It is there that we continue in our thoughts, consumed with the concerns of daily life? The cares of this life are great, I share in the worries and heartache of it all at times. But where is my heart when swept away by the information that addresses me in the most inconvenient of times? If it is not firmly placed in the knowledge of God than it is certainly prone to much wandering. And when my mind wanders away from the love of Christ so too will my heart; and when my heart follows, it is sure to be accompanied by my actions. How do you stop such madness? At the roots of course.

Most practically speaking, read the word of God, treating it as the words of God. Fill your mind with healthy material that will strengthen and encourage you and give you things to constantly consider. Then pray that God makes you observant to obey what you had previously read. Then we can keep our mind focused on the things of God and the things of men will slip through our fingers like unwanted dirty water.

Pray i do the same,

92. Discipline Equals Discipleship

Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Ephesians 5:1-2

Consider for yourselves this, The Ironman Triathlon is a 2.4 mile swim, followed by a 112 mile bike, ending with a 26 mile 385 yard run to the finish line. The athletes take months to prepare or this event, controlling their food intake and beverage consumption, maintaining their cardio on a daily basis while being sure they sleep adequately to allow their bodies rest. This takes dedication on a level boarding with insanity. This cannot be done without Discipline! Anyone deciding to run this race would be a fool to watch TV all day while drinking soda and eating potato chips, than expecting to compete and even finish!

So let me ask you this, is that how you treat your soul?

Sadly, i believe there is a time when we all treat our souls with such laziness coupled with empty enthusiasm. Lethargic and untrained, we allow ourselves to be undisciplined in the things that matter, namely the things that draw us closer to God. Where we face the biggest challenge is this; life is not predictable. Life will not warn you before your heart is left broken in pieces on the floor. Sin will not fight fairly and will always fail to mention the consequences should you be deceived. Temptation will never attack your areas of strength or wait for a time that is convenient for you. Unlike the Ironman, we are never sure when the issues of life will present themselves; for that we must always be on our guard.

It is the monotonous, everyday activities that prepare us for the extraordinary challenges that will eventually present themselves. If we wait until the challenges arise we will never be prepared. Paul said that he beat his body into submission so that when he was finished preaching, he himself would not be disqualified (a). The most influential men in my life have never been the big talkers; those who have most challenged my character have been men of disciplined life's who truly walk the walk and let their actions speak for themselves.

Do we live up to that reputation? or have we allowed ourselves to becomes complacent? If so, get up and get into the word of God.

I, therefore, urge you brothers and sisters, in the knowledge that we are, this day, a new creation in Christ; discipline yourselves in the priorities of God and run the race with perseverance.

(a) 1 Corinthians 9:27

91. Guide My Heart!

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts."
Psalm 139:23

"Lord You have my heart, and I will search for Yours"
Martin Smith

Lord You have my heart, I know this because I gave it to You. Responding to Your affectionate call I returned to You the heart You own and now hold ever so carefully in Your arms. And I will continue to search for Yours, for there is no place I would rather be. The heart is deceptive, who can know it? But You know it, I have no secrets from You, no hidden places that You have not seen, no corners that You have not searched; You know me well Lord, for that my trust is in You. Therefore that is where I long to be--the place where You are. And I will continue in my search for You until I am in the place Your love poors out. When You move I will follow You, when You stop I will rest with You, and when there is silence I will wait for You. Grant me this Lord, wisdom. Wisdom to know the difference between You and my flesh, Widom to know where You are moving and where You are not. I ask not for secret knowledge of Your doing or Your will, I ask rather for practicle wisdom to discern between right and wrong, then to act accordingly. I want to be in Your will to be blessed by You my loving Father, I want to know that what I am doing is good and pleasing to You. I know this, that when I am obedient to the things that You have already shown me (eg. The commands in The Bible) and I am walking in the power of Your Spirit, depending on You for all things, than I ought to have no concern, for than it is that I am in Your will, then it shall be that the doors open or close according to Your good plans for me. I know not what tomorrow will bring, but should it bring one thing, this I request; guard my heart and keep me from stubbling. The rest of my worries are but shadows of irrelavancy when compared to the necessary desire to serve You all the day long.

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12:2