WHAT DO I REALLY NEED TO MINISTER? Mark 6: 8 -9"Don't think you need a lot of extra equipment for ministry. You are the equipment. No special appeals for funds. Keep it simple.
WHAT IS MY RESPONSE WHEN I AM OVERLOOKED? Mark 6:11 "If you're not welcomed, not listened to, quietly withdraw. Don't make a scene. Shrug your shoulders and be on your way." C. S. Lewis' 8th chapter of Mere Christianity was the teacher's lesson plan yesterday...the real test of pride in my life is my response when friends and family don't listen to us and push us away---when we are rejected. God so showed up for me in that chapter yesterday in the midst of being overlooked this week.
WHAT HOPE DO I HAVE TO MINISTER IN MY OWN MESS? Mark 6: 12 -13 With joyful urgency, the fledgling disciples sent the demons packing and brought wellness. I love it! Gives me hope in my own mess that I can send a few demons on their way!
DO PEOPLE WANT MORE OF HIM BECAUSE OF ME? Mark 6:20 Something in John kept pulling Herod back to Jesus.
DO YOU KNOW THAT HIS HEART BREAKS FOR YOU? Mark 6:34 - At the sight of them, his heart broke—like sheep with no shepherd they were. He went right to work teaching them. 6:38---five loaves and two fish. 6:50---take Courage...it's Me...don't be afraid in midst of your storms. HE knows our frame and His Heart breaks for us as we wrestle through storms and needs.
IS YOUR HEART IN THE RIGHT PLACE? Then rejoice today no matter how hard you may fall or how much you don't know what your next step is---it's not fatal. Mark 7:7 "These people make a big show of saying the right thing, but their heart isn't in it...it's what comes out of a person that pollutes: obscenities, lusts, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, depravity, deceptive dealings, carousing, mean looks, slander, arrogance, foolishness." Make your heart right with your God this moment---that's all you have anyway---this moment.
I'm at Kerbey Lane. When I read Mark 6:34, I just began to weep in my booth---right when the waitress attentively noticed I had spilled the hot sauce all over me. I tried to hide my crocodile tears but she was all over it, asking me what was wrong and how she could help. I told her that in the world we have all kinds of trials but that I had faith cause God doesn't deliver us from every problem we have, but He is good! Now she had tears in her eyes. She was the sweetest thing. Came back a dozen times to talk with me. Maybe she saw something in me that will draw her to God? Even in the midst of my being a mess. I mean, how many customers cry all over their dinner? Really! Told her I was looking for a full-time job---she's a high school counselor full-time. She said she wanted to help me...so encouraging that God would use someone when I've been kind of displaced from so many of my good friends.
ReplyDeleteWeeping with you, Bev.
ReplyDeleteIt's been a hard day. But a good day. Had my tires rotated. Washed my car with my very own hands. Changed out some flower pots with some new pansies.
I brought inside my palms that have been under my porch. I'm a little scared I might have brought in a lizard with them. Or granddaddy longlegs. I'm all girly-girl when it comes to things like that.
Abba Daddy, we draw near to You this day. Yes, You call us daughter. Yes, You know our name. Yes, You hear and see all our tears and all our shortcomings. Daddy in heaven, reach down and touch us this day with more grace. Provide a job for Bev that meets her needs and her wants. Bless Bob with the calling You have on his life. I pray that right now You would be active in their lives. And in mine. More of You, Lord, more of You. Let Your Passion run through our veins. We abide. In You. In Jesus Name. Amen.
Some words that popped out of today’s reading:
ReplyDeleteThey tripped over what little they knew about him. . . And they never got any further.” What trips me up about Jesus? Even in our passage today, something trips me up and causes me to stagnate--telling the woman children and dogs come first…Where do I believe Jesus is putting me off on the back burner?
“Jesus wasn't able to do much of anything there—he laid hands on a few sick people and healed them, that's all. He couldn't get over their stubbornness.” Where is my hard heart preventing Jesus from acting? So much unbelief, Lord. Help my unbelief.
“Don't think you need a lot of extra equipment for this. You are the equipment. No special appeals for funds. Keep it simple.” Jesus is enough. "Five [loaves]" they said, "plus two fish." Use what you have…you are the equipment…keep it simple. Jesus makes it enough.
“Be content”, “with joyful urgency, knowing ” that life can be radically different.” Help us to be satisfied, to have a joyful urgency in how we approach each day to live radically different lives in You, Lord.
"unwilling to lose face with his guests, he caved in.” Caring too much what others think causes me cave.
“Come off by yourselves; let's take a break and get a little rest." The busyness of life is not what He calls us to.
“At the sight of them, his heart broke—like sheep with no shepherd they were. He went right to work teaching them.” And “Jesus was quick to comfort them…” Lord, give us Your compassionate urgency with which You approached Your calling.
"Courage! It's me. Don't be afraid." Is that You, Jesus, working right here in the middle of this storm? Help me to fix my eyes on You and be brave.
“let them touch the edge of his coat—that's all. And whoever touched him became well.” Just one touch, Lord. You know how desperate we are for healing.
“going through the motions of a ritual hand-washing” and “These people make a big show of “saying the right thing, but their heart isn't in it.”There is too much standard practice in my life, going through the motions. Awaken me, Lord to see You are doing a new thing.
"It's what comes out of a person that pollutes” Guard my mouth, Father, against harsh words, against negativity, against all that defiles. Cleanse my heart to store up Your compassion and forgiveness, encouragement and love. And out of the overflowing bounty that You supply, let that be the place from which my mouth speaks.
"He's done it all and done it well.” Amen and amen.
He hears. He sees. He heals eyes and ears. He stores up tears, sweet sisters. His heart breaks for us. Not sure what He's doing in your lives, but I am sure He's doing something. Stripping away the dross-dross that we think is important. He has you set apart for something bigger, Bev and Deborah. You both are on my heart today. He's there in the storm, saying "Courage. It's me."
ReplyDelete"Jesus wasn't able to do much of anything there—he laid hands on a few sick people and healed them, that's all. He couldn't get over their stubbornness. He left and made a circuit of the other villages, teaching."
ReplyDeleteStubbornness, unbelief...brought very limited healing in Christ's hometown. I get the feeling there was some jealously underneath this stubbornness. Probably some cynicism. Sometimes despair keeps us from feeling hope.
I know there had to be people there with needs that required a miracle. But they were captive to their own obnoxious and sanctimonious thought processes.
They never got to see him restore sight to a blind person.
They stopped their ears to the hard things he was teaching.
They watched his back as he walked away from them. They couldn't "see" his holiness. They killed belief and settled for missing his anointing. They saw the boy in the man's body, instead of God in his body.
His time was on God's time clock. He increased after John the Baptist decreased. God's timeline gave a tiny window of opportunity to know Christ and His power.
These people missed His Glory. They may not have crucified Him, but they rejected Him just the same.
I've found in my life that sometimes it IS the one's you live with that have the hardest time with your faith. And it's not because your a hypocrite. It's usually more about their feeling conviction over sin in their own lives, and not wanting to change. So then, they have to discredit you and your faith.
I don't understand this at all. But I've sure experienced it in my own life.
We are the equipment. The Spirit is the Power. But stubbornness can stop miracles.
Bev, you are a beautiful mess! Hot sauce, crocodile tears and a testimony of the goodness of God even when times are hard. Well done, daughter of God. Rest in Jesus.
ReplyDeleteAnnette, thank you for reminding me to fix my eyes on Jesus.
Love all of you pearls.
They tripped over what little they knew about him. Oooohhh! Annette, what verse was that??
ReplyDeleteMark 6:3 - But in the next breath they were cutting him down: "He's just a carpenter—Mary's boy. We've known him since he was a kid. We know his brothers, James, Justus, Jude, and Simon, and his sisters. Who does he think he is?" They tripped over what little they knew about him and fell, sprawling. And they never got any further.
ReplyDeleteSorry I didn't give the references today. Powerful words in these last few days of our readings!