Matthew 16:15-16 "Who do you say that I Am?" A very familiar voice over the past three years, Simon Peter, replies, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." These disciples had walked and witnessed 1,000 days with Jesus. They were there when lepers became new, when the blind saw their faces first, when hope against all hope vanished and the dead sat up, when demons flew headlong into pigs, when deceased sons awakened in the arms of their moms, when steel locks fell off of prison bars, when headless bodies were buried, when little lifeless darling girls jumped up to play. No Doubts. Humbled Hearts. Overflowing with Reasons Within. Hope-filled Voices fell on the hallowed Son of Man's ears. "You are God!" Wonder how He felt? 2000 years plus 1000 days later, it's January filled with carpools and casseroles and carpet cleaning. What will He hear us whisper and wonder? Will He hear your sweet voice this day, "You are My Christ, Oh Son of the Living God." Kneel where you are and answer His question in ways only you can. Best Answers?---The way we live and love and suffer.
1 Peter 3:15
15but(A) in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy,(B) always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and(C) respect,
I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
ReplyDeleteWe know how the story ends, but verses like this remind us of the ending. Amidst sickness, disease, death and disaster - we are assured the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church.
Bev, I thought about your question, "Who is He to me?"
ReplyDeleteAnd what started easing through my thoughts was Psalm 23.
As I'm memorizing Romans 10:8-10 MSG, I am learning to say...
He is my Master.
"You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man."
ReplyDeleteThis is hard to put into words. Last week, I purposed to pray through several strongholds in "Praying God's Word" by Beth Moore. Interceding for my family and speaking my battle outloud.
It was late in the evening. And the verse prayers were powerful and spoken in faith.
The next morning, I woke to a whisper in my spirit. "Don't hinder My work."
Instantly, I was convicted that I was more concerned with my own pain, than the work God is patiently doing in my life and the lives of my loved ones.
I hope that I am right in praying "Thy will be done." And just resting in God's plan right now.
How powerful His Word is. Peter rebuked Christ. I feel like I was actually doing the same thing.
Michele, how did your hospital visit to Rod's dad go? He must be in a lot of pain with 3 major breaks. Oooh! Praying for you guys! Love, Bev
ReplyDeleteDeborah, I read Paradise Lost or at least started it with my English class today and your post reminded me of Milton's beautiful wisdom that Patience showed up and spoke to him in his world of blindness. Sounds like Patience showed up for you. Loved your story of God pressing close to you. He must increase and we all must decrease. Thanks for sharing, as always! Your writing is profound and piercing and steeping in Patience.
ReplyDeleteThank You Annette, oh Tongue of a Ready Writer---that is so you. Psalm 45:1.
ReplyDeleteI learn something from every comment here because you guys are "living letters" to me. A letter from Christ, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the Living God, not on tablets but on my human heart. 2 Cor. 3:3
I think Deborah is a beautiful writer like in the Ann Voskamp camp!
I'm teaching Paradise LOST today and I have LOST some students. The complex syntax is based on Latin grammar and so difficult to understand. Suffering makes you desperate to listen to even epic poems you don't quite get. These teens have been through so little suffering (at least some have). Milton became blind mid-life and felt his uselessness. I became jobless, homeless, late life and feel my uselessness. SONNET XIX by Milton, lines 7-12 so give light in my darkness. "Does God exact day labor, light denied? ... God does not need either man's work or his own gifts; who best bear his mild yoke, they serve Him best." And so we read in our Bibles today that it's a little child, a mild yoke---that attitude serves Him best. That's the greatest in His Kingdom---not accomplishment or achievement, not status or success.
ReplyDeleteSigned: Considering how I am spending my darkness over here---looking for the humility of a child.
Bev,
ReplyDeleteIt is a longing to know Him in such desperate brokenness. I've sat here reading quotes about brokenness and tears are dripping down my face.
The one that really speaks the deepest to me is this one by G. K. Chesterton:
"Happy is he who still loves something he loved in the nursery: He has not been broken in two by time; he is not two men, but one, and he has saved not only his soul but his life."
I apply that to the fact that Christ saved my soul...my wretched soul.
But in the quote above, I'm feeling the gratitude of how Christ has saved my LIFE, too.
I think about others who don't know this God..."I AM." I could not speak the things I speak, if not for Him.
I could not walk the daily path, if not for Him.
I could not open His Word and find hope there, if not for Him.
He has saved my LIFE...
Like a little child in the nursery, I cry when I hurt, or I am hungry, or I am uncomfortable. Even afraid.
And He comes.