The Pearl

Matthew 13:45-46 again,the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls,who,when he had found one pearl of great price,went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Is the kingdom of heaven a pearl?or is that simply a metaphor for something of great value?How might we be enriched from it,and do we have to die before benefiting in any way?A logical mind would need to know the answers to these questions,and be convinced of the truth of the answers before pursuing this “kingdom of heaven” What was Jesus really trying to convey to his listeners,and to us?If its so great of a thing,then why the sales job? philippians3:19 whose end is destruction,whose god is their belly,and whose glory is in their shame,who mind earthly things I think this verse is a partial explanation of the choices people make.The instant gratification of what we want.the illusion of fulfillment and the “easier way”,the lies of satan we’ve accepted into our belief systems telling us that our desires are to be fulfilled in worldliness and that our constant struggle for “the goal”will bring this fulfillment.when you look at it from this perspective,it seems as phony as it is.Of course the ultimate goal of satan is to prevent us from having any sort of relationship with God or experience a conversion and receiving forgivness.(mark4:12)The amazing thing to me is that intelligent people with free will would go for it.Perhaps satans most familiar lie is to convince us that this is all we can hope for or all we deserve.Caught in a tail chasing,bottomless cup filling existence designed to keep us too busy to realize how only he is being served by it and that moments of perceived fulfillment are so fleeting as to make them worthless.Or as Solomon said in Ecclesiastes,all is vanity,and a chasing after the wind. Matthew 6:33But seek ye first the kingdom of God,and his righteousness,and all these things shall be added unto you. When you subscribe to the ideology of this verse,a transformation in your life can occur.If you believe that we as a world of people were created to have fellowship with God and that there isn’t a single one of us for whom he doesn’t have a detailed plan ,in which we experience his abundant love and also find our meaning and true purpose.Seeking the kingdom means living in that purpose,having a sense of meaning in your life that is unshakable unto the end.We all face events and circumstances in our lives that can paralyze us with fear and hopelessness.Letting go and letting God is more that a quip people use.Like a child,who having a broken toy turned to God and said,”fix it” but after some time passed no repair was perceived asked God,”why” to which he replied,”my child,how can I fix it when you won’t let go of it?”So many times in my life when I’ve faced difficulties,i’ve asked God to remind me of my purpose and where it is that I belong.Watching as people and situations find their own resolutions apart from me,just doing what i’m supposed to do and letting God do his job.

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People…

People who need, People…are the luckiest people…in, the world!

Why is that? I thought that as people our happiness was somehow tied to our sense of independence and self sufficiency.  Certainly it’s true that we all must take responsibility for ourselves and our families, but at what point do we throw up a wall between us and the world full of people we pretend to not need everyday?

At what point do we subconsciously tell ourselves, I’m just afraid to let anyone know how much I need them, I’m afraid that they won’t need me back! I’m afraid they’ll take advantage of my feelings, afraid that somehow it will make me “less of a man” if they know how much I care, afraid that I’ll look like a fool, afraid of what other people might say about me and my inability to explain why I “need” people…and thats a whole lot of fear! who could be behind that? who profit’s from it? maybe it’s the “other” people in the world… They’re quite smug and self assured as they look upon the rest of us who in an attempt to get a need met (love) will sometimes crawl down a few dead end streets.

Is there anything worse than pity? being “pitiful”…perhaps believing that you’re pitiful is! I believe that it takes a whole lot more courage to crawl down a dead end street because the truth is you NEED something you believe is at the end than it does to sit on the sidelines and pity the people who are or perhaps could be wrong about it. I don’t mean pity them for being mistaken about whats at the end of that street,I mean pity them for trying…for having the courage to overcome the fear and crawl if they have to instead of living your life pretending that you’ve “got it covered” when you definitly don’t!

Our enemy the devil is a liar, he’s also a fear monger, he would do the unspeakable things he does to achieve his goal of preventing you from knowing love, which we know as God. Who came to this world as Jesus, who showed his love for us by carrying his cross down a street of people who jeered at him and taunted him, spat on him and cursed him, eventually dying on a tree of shame.

So, why are we the “luckiest people?”

Because we have needs that can only be met thru seeking the need, and thru accepting the gift of our Fathers Love…and luckily, Jesus is waiting at the end of our road, also we’re lucky because he sent the Holy Spirit here to counsel and comfort us as we walk or crawl whichever the case may be.

I need people, because I love people, because my Father loves people, because I love the Father,because he first loved me…I think that makes us all pretty “lucky”…or at least it should, have you accepted “the love”?

Wilt Thou be made whole?

You mean, will you heal me? No, I mean will you “accept” the healing work that has already been done for you…

In John’s Gospel ( 5:6 ) Jesus has an encounter with a man at the healing waters of Bethesda. I suppose that on the surface it might seem to be an odd question to ask of a man who had been “seeking” healing for 38 years, I believe that Jesus was wondering if the man really wanted to be healed or if he was content with the wages that pity paid him.

Our acceptance of Christs death on the cross as being on our behalf is our redemption in the eyes of God.It gives us the right to be called son’s of God and restores our right relationship with God, Who, after He originally created the world and man saw it and said that it was good!

Not sick, not crippled, or anything short of perfect!

Who so loved the world,(His creation) that he gave His only Son that none should perish but have everlasting life! He said “everlasting” life, because he conquered death,and sin, and sickness. (which is itenerent death) How strange then that people would beg and plead for God to heal them, and not receive it…It just makes no sense! Unless we see it as our own satan sponsored fear and negativity that we’ve given control of our thought life,telling us the lies that prevent us from receiving Gods love and healing…essentially, we’re standing in our own way, God is willing but are we “able” to get over ourselves? Thats why so much emphasis is placed on our thoughts…it’s “the battleground” of the soul!

Throughout most of our lives we’ve been conditioned to accept attention in place of love. By our repeated exposure to our own shortcomings we come to realize our “flawedness.” One of two things typically happens to us, we over compensate by becoming “ego-maniacs” and spend our whole lives terrified that someone will see us for who we really are,or we decide that our best advantage is to be “the victim” and collect the dividends of sympathy and pity other people will hand out to us. Both options are bad,and whats worse is that they both lead to DEATH! spiritual,physical,eternal, death. This surely is’nt Gods plan for any of us, “Wilt Thou Be Made Whole?” or will you believe the deceiver who comes to kill steal and destroy? will you be satisfied with the crumbs from the table of life? or would you prefer the blessings of the Father which are health and life and joy, not just for today but into eternity? Is there some way,that for just one moment you might comprehend just how much satan has already STOLEN from you? If that does’nt cause something to well up inside you then I’m not sure what will! I pray that it might em-bolden you to walk with clenched fists right up to the door marked FEAR and with one thunderous kick come thru it into what is your real life, joy, love,and relationship,with the one and only true God!

The Blessed Atonement

No Christian should deny that through the Holy Spirit we are empowered to live holy lives or that we are given the victory over sin and death based on the atoning blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If healing was not meant to be practiced today just as it was in the early church why doesn’t it say so in Gods word? In the book of Isaiah chapter 53:5 it says “That by his stripes we are healed” That seems present tense to me. We claim that Jesus is our redeemer and yet place different conditions upon His willingness to heal our sicknesses and diseases.

We profess our faith in Him and place our eternal souls in His care, shouldn’t it also make sense to trust him right now? We have a tendency to place our own limitations on God for various reasons. We ask Gods forgiveness and receive it through our faith and acceptance of Christ’s sacrificial work on our behalf. We must also come before Him in the same faith seeking providence for any need in our lives especially our healing. God is just as willing to heal us as he is to forgive us. We have no question or reluctance to praise God for His gift of “divine health” which is freely given to us. When we see our “divine healing” as being unavailable or somehow dependent on a new or distinct choice by God we disqualify ourselves from it.

Our acceptance of the gift of healing is just as much based in our faith as is our salvation. There is no salvation without repentance and no true repentance without “re-birth” or change in our hearts. Accepting Christ as our savior means we acknowledge our need of redemption and that we have forsaken any other means than Christ to accomplish it.

Do we trust too much when we say “You Jesus Christ are my only savior and I will have no other than you” Why should trusting in God for our healing be any different? Proverbs 3:5-8 says “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes;fear the Lord,and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel,and marrow to thy bones.” I think it’s critical to understand from this verse what it means by “directing our paths.” We have no basis for limiting how God see’s fit to provide our needs, sometimes that can mean hearing Him tell us to go see a doctor.

I earnestly desire that the world would catch sight of the greatness of our Lord! In order for that to be accomplished we must first sink so that He might rise, sit down before he can stand up! We are utterly dependent on His grace which enables us to be justified to cry out to Him”Abba Father” and know that he hears. Knowing also that He is the perfect father who is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

That in seeking first the kingdom of heaven we will find that all good things are added unto us. Not only does He provide for our daily needs, he provides us with divine healing,health and life! With the faith of a little child and a simple promise “I will never leave you,nor forsake you” all of our walls fall down. We are the bottleneck preventing God from blessing our lives through His Spirit. If we find ourselves in the position of attempting to explain why our ministries aren’t accompanied by “signs and wonders” Let us not be so insolent toward God as to attribute it to His will…but to our shortcomings

What are these “shortcomings” that prevent us from experiencing the blessings of God?

Pride: It’s very difficult for God to bless us if we think we “are” God, or if we try to put ourselves in his place in our lives. Believing that we are in control or that we can handle “the world” doesn’t work. Pride is often a cover up for our insecurities which are based in our awareness of the “poor effect” of our worldly remedies. We have great difficulty defending our continued reliance on them or in putting them aside in favor of Gods ways.

We should never let our “spiritual pride” limit the way’s that God can “love on us.” Money isn’t evil,but the love of it is! Medicine’s aren’t evil either,but the love of them is just as evil. There’s a balance to be struck and a legalistic attitude to be avoided. God truly can use any circumstances to bless us, it’s amazing to me that God would provide our redemption through Christ and include in that atonement our healing. But also love us so much that He would be willing to use medicine’s and give doctors wisdom to heal us as well. It’s difficult to understand the love that is represented by Jesus’ coming to earth from glory to lay down His life for us. Even more difficult for me is to hold onto my pride knowing it.

Unforgiveness: In Matthews gospel it gives us the example of how our unforgiveness compels God to anger. “And his master was angry,and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due him.” Who or what are our torturers? Sickness and disease? Anxiety and worry? Depression and condemnation? addictions? These are but a few of our “demons.” Holding unforgiveness in our hearts prevents Gods spirit from moving when we ask.

We need to be motivated by our desire to know God, asking God to change us and being compelled to forgive everyone in our lives who has wronged us. Mark 6:12-13 says “So they went out and preached that people should repent, and they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.”

Fear: The primary tool our enemy uses to keep us in bondage. It’s closely related to mis-trust often rising out of our relationship with our earthly father. Each of us will face thousands of decisions in our lives, it’s the choice of where we invest our trust that will determine who is the “sponsor” of our thought’s.

Our hearts and minds are a battlefield, Christ understood this perfectly. Thats why He made such a point of stressing that we should sanctify our hearts and gaurd our thought’s, and most importantly…Fear not!

unbelief: Jesus encountered unbelief when He came to Nazereth. There was an atmosphere of unbelief based in the familiarity they had with who they thought Jesus was, we have the same problem today. We believe in our power and control, we see ourselves as our own gods in many ways. In our hearts we know the definite limits of our facade and in our mis-understanding of God we project those limits onto Him.