Can You See Me Through the Crowd?

 "Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!" The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!" - Matt 20:29-33 (NIV)

As all teenage girls growing up in the late '90s early millenium, I had an awful rediculous crush on Lil' Bow Wow when he still had the "Lil'".  My parents took me to the 2002 Orange Bowl Parade because Lil' Bow Wow would be performing. He came by on, what I remember to be, a hot red sports car. I think I had an out of body experience at that point. I ran from the stands, away from my parents, and into the crowd. I was jumping up and down screaming and trying to see Lil' Bow Wow. My mom kept pulling me to come back, but I just couldn't stop. I just needed him to see me above the crowd. Once we made eye contact and I got that wave, it was like my life was complete.

What if instead of Lil' Bow Wow, it was Jesus coming in that red hot sports car? How much more would I have done just to get Jesus to see me over the crowd?

Unfortunately, these days it feels like Jesus is the one screaming for our attention above the crowd. He is trying to pull our attention away from our noisey friends, those ratchet reality shows, haters, and even our own reckless minds. I think it sucks that Jesus has to scream so hard to get my attention sometimes. He get's louder and louder and sometimes I have to lose everything just to finally hear Him.
Unlike the two blind men in Matthew 20, I don't have to wait for Jesus to come through my town for me to hear His voice or be blessed with His healing and peace. He granted all of us a comforter, the Holy Spirit, to always be with us. But instead of us being grateful for that wonderful gift, we may find ourselves ignoring Him. Those two blind men would have done anything to have the gift I havel; The gift we have.

We all need to make a conscious decision to listen to our Spirit, jump through the crowd and the noise of every day life and run to God.

How much would you do to get to Him?

God, It's Your Turn to Wash the Dishes

Matthew 9:28 - The two blind men went right into the house that Jesus was staying and Jesus asked them, "Do you believe I can make you see?"

"Yes, Lord," said the blind men, "we do."

As a kid  my mom used to have my brother and I alternate nights to wash the dishes. Whenever I washed the dishes, 30 minutes later I would go back into the kitchen and see my mom rewashing them. So after a while I started telling my mom I wasn't going to wash the dishes any more because I knew she was just going to go right back in there and wash them. She didn't trust my dish washing abilities. Of course I still had to wash the dishes any way because my mother surely didn't spare the rod. But knowing that she was going to go back and wash them herself,  I didn't work as hard to get them clean.

And God feels the same way. When we pray to Him and ask Him to handle our situations, do we trust Him that He will take care of it. Or after we pray, do we wake up the next morning and start carrying out our self made plans to handling the situation. When you do that, God is like "Why should I help you when I know you're going to go back and do it yourself anyway?"

God is waiting for us to truly believe that He can wash the dishes and make the dirty parts clean again. His dish washing abilities, unlike my own, are superb.

He has promised that if we pray His Word and Will it will come to pass if we patiently wait. Don't pray and worry. When we start going through the motions of our plans, instead of God's plans, we negate our prayers. It is as if we never asked Him for help.

Give God a chance to show you who He is. Delete your plans and delete your lists. Allow God to do His job. He is more than able to provide and He won't hold back anything from those He loves.  If He is holding anything back, it's because He's seen your future and knows there is something better than that for you. Or He may be building your character because if you got what you were praying for right now, you wouldn't be ready for it and you would end up losing it tomorrow. Unfortunately we can't always see past our own nose to see the plans God has for us. We're blind. But come to the God that sees all things so that He can open your eyes.

Do you believe that He can make you see?

Being LOVED and Being LIKED

BEING LOVED AND BEING LIKED

There is a difference between people knowing they are loved and knowing they are liked.  It seems to me that there has always been a great desire for man to feel both loved and liked, but in Christian circles we are taught that we have to love.  Its not a choice…we just love.  We love our God and we love people.  However, even though we are supposed to love people we don’t always like them.

That’s the interesting part.  If we buy into the notion that you can “love something” but not really “like it” then what does that say about our God who is the example of love? What does that say about real love?  Is love just an emotion of tolerance?  So many Christians equate God’s love with their own view of love that it starts to form the question in their heart “If God loves me like I love people, then does God even like me?”  We have created categories that allow us to fulfill our duties to God, and still keep some form of personal preference and identity.  In reality, we are only doing the latter meaning no one person is perfect and we could all be doing more to build our relationships with Christ.

It’s so ironic to me that we have unknowingly put so much emphasis on winning God’s approval when we have had it all along.  God’s delight (or the capacity of His love and fondness of us) is not based on “sacrifices” or things we achieve (Psalm 51:16).  It is simply based on the fact that He loves us, and He likes us.  There is no difference to Him, that’s it.

We are great at saying that we “love people” but then avoid them because of some personality flaw.  We justify our actions by saying “I love them in Jesus name…but they need to get saved,” like its an excuse for us to not like them.  ”I have to love that guy, but he is so self centered, I don’t like him.”  Is that even possible?  God is our example, and if He has the capacity to love us completely and like us too then we should have that capacity as well.  God likes your quirky little laugh, and your crooked nose.  He likes your strange feet, and He even likes how you have to brush your teeth twice every night before bed.  He likes that you still have areas to grow in humility, and He delights in the fact that your love is immature, but real nonetheless.

So stop feeling like every time you mess up in your Christian walk or don’t live up to an expectation you have to spend 6 hours in probation before He forgets about what happened.  God doesn't just love you because He made a covenant that He had to…He really, really, really likes you.  So remember, you aren't just loved by God, you are liked by God too.

READ : Psalm 57: 2 | Psalm 51:16-17 | Psalm 34 | Psalm 36:7-9

Palm Readers, Psychics, Astrology, and Dooms Day

2 Kings 1:3-6 "Why are you going to Baal-zebub, the God of Ekron, to ask whether the King will recover? Is there no God in Israel?"

When a new year approaches people fervently seek out knowledge of the future year.  People may go to psychics, palm readers, and other false prophets to learn what is to come in their life. Even the "Dooms Day" theories of the world ending on December 21, 2012 were another way for humans to try to seek out information regarding the future by going to a historical calendar and scientists.  On a day-to-day basis people may seek astrology or seemingly "all knowing" friends for advise about their futures.

But God asks - Why do do we go to other people to advise us of our future? Why do we seek science and astrology for information that only God has? Do you now know a God that knows all things? Do you not trust Him?

We sinfully go to false prophets and unbelievers for advise. Doing such things shows a lack of faith in our God. If you have a question about your future, ask Him. Habakkuk, the prophet (see Book of Habakkuk in the Bible), vehemently came to God and asked Him numerous questions about things of present and things to come. He demanded answers, He waited on God, and God provided them. There should be no doubt in a believers mind that God will answer all your questions when the time is right. But some questions may be better left unanswered. For God states, "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Matthew 6:34).

Furthermore, every time you seek astrology, scientists, psychics, and other false prophets for answers you show a lack of faithfulness. And a lack of faith is a sin that requires repentence (and God is faithful to forgive). "Everything that does not come from faith is sin." (Romans 14:23b).

If you serve a God that knows all things, why would you go to anyone other than Him, or someone who is lead by His Spirit to advise you? Doing such things is just like going to false God's as the Israelites did. It's a slap in the face to God.

As you seek out answers and guidance for the new year pray to God your father. He loves you above all others and He would never lead you astray. Come to Him with all your questions and present to Him your requests. Wait patiently for His loving answer, be thankful for what He has already done, and continue to do His work.