Holy Bounce-ology

By John Stallings


Recently a 33 year old man from Brooklyn, New York was distraught that he was about to be robbed for the second time in nine months, this time by two youths intent on stealing his watch and Laptop.

The man started screaming uncontrollably, “Why does this have to happen to me? Why does this always have to happen to me?” The poor guy was so upset that his nerves got the best of him and he was making so much noise about it that the muggers got nervous. The victim later told police that one of the robbers …answered “Oh please, don’t be a crazy person. This is New York. Everybody gets mugged.”

I don’t want to be flip here, because getting mugged as anyone whose ever been robbed knows all too well, is no fun. But the philosophical robber had it right. What is true on the tough streets of Brooklyn is true in this rough-and-tumble place called real life. Eventually everybody- no matter how spiritual, clever, lucky, well bred or bright -gets “mugged" in life. Real life has this way of periodically knocking our underpinnings out from underneath us…of upsetting our orderly assumptions…of messing with that idyllic script we all wrote for ourselves...of throwing our lives into upsetting chaos.

Sometime early on in our adult lives most-if-not-all-of-us write a wildly optimistic script for ourselves…a script that would have things go predictably, safely, gently and well for us.

At some point in our innocence we imagine that our lives will unfold in smooth, rational, comfortable patterns. We imagine that we’ll get the right education, find the right job, and begin building a satisfying career that will see us steadily and predictably advance in expertise, influence, and income.

We imagine that we will on cue find just the right person to fall in love with, a wonderful Christian individual, establish a happy partnership in a beautiful home with that mate, and together have God’s blessings and the right genetics to have a couple of darling, bright and precocious children and grandchildren who will do us proud by their well-rounded development into exceptional adults.

In addition to fulfillment and contentment at home and work, we likewise imagine that what lies ahead for us is a long, contented life marked by good health, good luck, heavenly blessings, good judgment, and maybe a few unpleasant surprises. Right?

Then…sooner or later…something called real life shows up and says to each of us, "HEL…LOOO!"

Few if any make it into midlife who have not been thrown at least one “cosmic sucker punch,” often when they least expected it. A marriage fails… a child dies… a car accident happens… a career derails…perhaps disease or illness comes…maybe we just find ourselves struggling to cope with a mix of vexing life difficulties. I once knew a pastor who jokingly told people that his favorite scripture was “grin and bear it.” Funny guy!

When we got our first computer there was a cute little video making the rounds with an animated girl singing the pop song “I will survive.” Just as she’s really getting into the song a big wrecking ball comes down and squashes her. Though it was really a shocking thing to see, after the initial viewing I almost burst my sides laughing. The whole thing rings so true. Maybe we won’t all get hit so hard but that’s exactly the kind of thing life is famous for. Remember the song “That’s life?”

Each of us "gets mugged" in different ways – but we all experience the painful shock to our system when some aspect of our life goes completely hay-wire, and we find ourselves struggling in ways we never remotely imagined. Perhaps one of the most essential truths of living is…over a lifetime, bad, unwanted things happen to us and all of us are eventually thrown to the mat by life.

These thoughts may trouble you at first because we’re taught that nothing happens to the child of God in a “happenstance way.” And that is true. God’s people don’t just bounce around helplessly with no rhyme or reason to their experience. Very true. So the correct idea is that- “bouncing” is a word or concept we mortals use to explain what our life experience sometimes feels like. But from God’s perspective, we’re all on a divine time-clock experiencing exactly what God intends for us. If God didn’t send it, He allowed it and will be faithful to work it all out for our good and His glory.

General George Patton said, “Success is determined by how high you bounce when you hit bottom.”

You may hit bottom when you make wrong, foolish choices, or you may hit bottom because of the wrong foolish choices of others. Failure can send you plummeting down to the depths of discouragement. When your money runs low or your health is snatched away--when depression drags you down and you can’t seem to find any hope---when you feel all alone and God feels far away-- you look around and discover you’ve hit bottom. The real issue is: how do you bounce back then?

BOWLING BALL, BASKET BALL

What would happen if you dropped a bowling ball? Would it bounce back up, or would it hit the floor with a thud? That's right; it would hit the floor and pretty much stay there. Bowling balls aren't very good at bouncing back.

Now, what would happen if you dropped a basketball? Would it bounce back up, or would it hug the floor? Right again, it would bounce right back up.

Now, why will the basketball bounce back up and the bowling ball won't? Someone might explain that the density and composition of the basketball is key to its ability to bounce. The simple fact is that the basketball is made of the right stuff and has what it takes to bounce back, the bowling ball doesn't.

God made us like that. When things aren't going too well for us we can either be the basketball or the bowling ball. We can choose to either hit the floor and stay there, or we can bounce back higher than we were before. We can do that because we’re made of the right stuff. God gave us the strength to overcome life’s downers. He gave us the ability to bounce back.

So remember this the next time you’re feeling down, sad, angry, or lonely; you can bounce back. You can do it with God’s help.

I am persuaded that because life is the way it is, a healthy measure of resilience is crucial to each of us if we are to successfully navigate spiritually and emotionally through the often unpredictable, challenging tumble of our lives. Life has taught me that resilience is a profound and saving virtue…resilience is a life stance and skill that can rescue us from bitter, poisoned, withdrawn and joyless living.

Life is tricky. That just might be the understatement of the year. Resilience is something you and I must intentionally nurture if we are going to cope in life.

We’ve observed people we know both in the public arena and in our private lives respond very differently to adversity. We all have watched as some people who become paraplegics by some terrible accident find it impossible to adapt to this loss, fold their spiritual and emotional tents and sit there immobilized in self-pitying despair because they have lost the use of their legs.

Meanwhile other, more resilient people who have experienced the exact same thing, and are outwardly no different than those who emotionally and physically collapse get right back out there, decide to make the most of a bad situation, and begin training joyfully for wheelchair marathons!

Similarly, we all know people who have gone through a painful divorce who treat their failure in love as permanent and refuse to believe they can ever be successfully and joyfully intimate with another person…while other persons more resilient at heart who have been just as deeply hurt and surprised by the collapse of a marriage, move on from their failed relationship with faith that they can and will learn from the experience, and eventually once again start seeking the kind of life-saving love and intimacy we all seek.

Likewise, we witness some people who tragically lose a beloved child or a spouse in the prime of life spend the next four decades hating God, and stewing in the unfairness of the capricious loss they have suffered…while others who experience the same loss and grief, who are again, just as deeply shattered and shaken by the shock of such loss somehow quickly and courageously begin once again to open new doors out into their worlds…by risking new, caring relationships and commitments that reconnect them in love and vulnerability.

I marveled at the resiliency of the late Superman actor Christopher Reeve. Without a lot of fuss he turned the terrible loss he suffered toward the brightest possible light, and adapted his life productively to the new possibilities his disability allowed.

Let me introduce you to my blind son-in-law, Marcus Engel. I have written about him before because he’s a very interesting individual. Though I don’t see men as women do I must admit Marcus is a tall, dark and handsome dude. To make it even more disgusting [kidding] he’s well over six feet and from Greek extraction. At age 18, Marcus was riding in a car that was t-boned by a drunk driver. Marcus lost his sight because of that accident but in the ensuing years has with infectious spirit adapted to being sightless to the extent that I can say in spite of the daily hardships and frustrations which come with blindness, leads as full, joyful and engaged a life as anyone I’ve ever met or heard of.

Today in his thirties, Marcus along with my eldest daughter, the lovely and gracious Marvelyne, and his faithful Guide dog Garrett, [Marcus’ third dog] travels the nation as a motivational speaker, speaking in schools, colleges and I suppose any venue open to him. It’s an inspiration just to be in Marcus’ presence.

Let me give you a quick antic dote to show you the depth of Marcus’ resiliency. I first heard about it on Face book. A week or so ago, Marcus had finished giving a speech at a college and was signing books. His new Guide dog Garrett, just walked off. This type of thing is almost unheard of, what with all the training the dogs go through. What I’ve learned about Guide dogs is that when they get all rigged in their “harness” they are strictly business and really pay attention only to their owner. However when you take off the harness, they are just as playful as any other dog, and probably friendlier.

Marvelyne said they located Garrett in a happy mood running up and down the halls. He had his harness on his back that Marc uses to hold on to. I’ve often marveled at the teaming an unsighted person with a dog in this way because I know a lot of people who can see who can’t handle a dog.

Non-the-less the system works. With his usual acumen, Marcus took the whole incident in stride, understanding that if human beings can have lapses in judgment and acceptable behavior, certainly a young inexperienced guide dog can.

BOUNCE-OLOGY

Isn't it encouraging realizing that God has built into all of us the innate ability to bounce back from anything that life might throw at us? In other words, we’re actually designed that way by our all-wise heavenly Father. Let that sink in; you and I were designed by God with the equipment to bounce-back from anything life shells out. Obviously Christians have this ability in spades although some don’t seem to realize how ‘bouncy” they really are.

If we fall accidentally, or are slammed to the ground by the actions of another; the harder the fall, - the higher the bounce. To further simplify it, this experience can be traced through an acronym spelled FIRE;

F-Fall
I-Impact
R-Restoration
E-Elevation

Let’s use a tennis ball as an example. If you saw in slow-motion a tennis racket hitting a tennis ball, you’d see the ball sinking into the racket and partially losing its shape because of the pressure of the strike. We could call that the “Fall.” As the “Impact” of the fall/strike unfolds, you’d see the ball leaving the racket and being thrust forward at a high rate of speed, but you’d also notice the ball as it moves through the air, thanks to the way it’s engineered, regaining its original shape. This is “restoration,” because the ball, once “bent out of shape” has now regained its original form.

Then depending on the force of the swing the ball was subjected to, and the trajectory of the strike, the ball would reach a certain height or distance. This is Elevation.
Once the ball has left the racket, and the further it moves away from the strike, built-in buoyancy assumes control. Can you see it? Praise the Lord, the harder we’re hit the higher we bounce back. I’ve been slammed so hard at times; I knew I was going to need an oxygen mask to breathe when the “elevation” came.

Any blow a Christian takes can do nothing but push them further along the path God has laid out for them. Why? Because that blow has to pass through a “divine sifter” and that sifter transforms the blow from destructive to constructive.

LIFE DOESN'T ALWAYS MOVE ALONG THE PATH WE ANTICIPATE.

MOSES

Moses is a study in bounces. He started off a basket case. By all accounts he should have been dead. He was in the equivalent of a Hebrew refugee camp. Moses was abandoned by his parents under threat of the State. The pharaoh king fearful of the sheer number of the Israeli population ordered the Hebrew midwives to kill any boy babies as soon as they were born. He of course expected this to be carried out, but Moses was spared. Moses was part of a despised minority [baby boys] so despised in fact they were victims of legalized murder.

A question arises here; why didn’t God just allow His deliverer to be born before Pharaoh decided to kill all the Hebrew male babies?Think about it this way; the lethal environment into which Moses was born provided an opportunity for a Hebrew child to be raised by the daughter of Pharaoh. The man who was going to take 2,000,000 rough-necks through a hostile desert for 40 years, meet face to face with Pharaoh as God’s spokesman & write the first five books in the Bible required a very special kind of training & the development of some unique abilities.

So God arranges a set of circumstances wherein a Hebrew mother places a perfectly healthy beautiful child into a wicker basket which would end up in the possession of the daughter of Pharaoh who raises him in a manner fitting royalty. Think about the utter improbability of a baby boy born to a hated Hebrew slave receiving grooming required to do all that God had planned for Moses. Yet it’s no problem for God because He’s sovereign.

Moses was banished to oblivion in the bleak "Desert University" for forty years until God called him one day out of a burning bush. This calling was the continuation of a life that was marked by ups & downs. We’re told that after a long life of 120 years, Moses died secure in the arms of God.He came a long way from the wicker basket & passed on in accordance with God’s timetable for him. He must have marveled as he looked back over his life & all that God had wrought through him. Before he died, Moses was still robust enough to climb Mt. Nebo in the land of Moab, a mountain that’s extremely high. He hadn’t sat on the sidelines of life & though he wasn’t perfect we are told after his departure,

--No prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.”

PAUL

Paul said,--being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ…… Phil.1:6

Paul knew what it was to be on a roller coaster ride in his life experience. He had learned to be the big dog or to be considered a complete flop. He knew how to have everything or how to have nothing. Paul could take it all in stride because he understood the sovereignty of God & had all faith that He would finish every work He started.Sometimes Paul soared to great heights & sometime he plummeted to the depths.

Listen to some of his life in his own words;

Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night & a day have I been in the deep;In journeyings often in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;In weariness, & painfulness, in watchings often, in cold & nakedness, beside those things that are without that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. --2 Cor.25-28

Paul gives us a verse of verses when he tells us;--We know that all things work together good for those who love God who are the called according to his purpose.—Romans 8:28

As Christians we believe that God holds the future in His hands.There are many times when we’ll not see the good even if it were right under our nose. We have to accept that our notion of what is good may not always square with what God calls good in His divine wisdom & infinite understanding. Sometimes life is a tapestry, a weaving, a quilt. If we look at it from the backside all we see is a confusing jumble of knots & threads & colors. It seems chaotic without rhyme or reason. We don’t always see what God’s hand is creating. But turn the tapestry over and you see the beautiful pattern.

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God who are called according to His purpose. That promise is our anchor in this troubling & confusing world. That promise is our security, our comfort, our hope.

JESUS AND “ROCKY”

Peter is one of my favorite characters in the Bible, partly because we know a great deal about him. The Greek word we know as Peter really means "rock." Call me crazy but I like to think Jesus might have called him Rocky. Jesus built His church, not as many suppose, on Peter himself, but rather on his declaration of faith that Jesus was The Christ, The Son of The Living God. In scripture we see Peter struggling with the gap between what he wanted to be, and what he was.

Through the years, the gap narrowed and Peter became the Rock, the head of the disciples, a strong, powerful leader of the church who eventually was martyred in Rome. We can see the growth in Peter through the years and his experience can serve as an example for all of us who struggle in life.When you deal with the tension-anxiety-causing gaps in your life remember Peter. When you think of Peter, think of the four Rs.

Real,
Rash,
Resilient, and
Redeemable.

Peter was authentic. People were never in doubt as to who Peter was. He told you. He lived it. Peter accepted himself and was comfortable with himself. When he failed, he admitted it. When he felt guilty, he did something about it. He didn't wallow in the guilt. Peter was refreshingly open about his imperfections and shortcomings. When you are open about where you are, when you admit to yourself and those around you that you are not what you want to be, then you are opening yourself to the possibility of change.

When you deny where you are and who you are by pretending to yourself and to the world, you are denying yourself the opportunity to do something about it. No doctor can help people get well when they deny they are sick! Why would Jesus choose a Simon Peter rather than a self-righteous Pharisee? The insufferable Pharisees couldn't admit any defects, while Peter openly displayed his, admitted his humanness, and thereby opened himself to the transforming power of Christ. Peter's defects were redeemed.

There was little pretense in Peter. Peter was real, authentic, a genuine person who took himself as he came, didn't excuse himself; and didn't look for rationalizations. He presented himself as he was. Here I am, like me or not. Peter accepted himself, and, in the accepting, found the grace and power to change. Peter was real, rash, adventurous, impulsive, impetuous, thereby lovable, thereby able to grow, and able to make changes in his life. Peter impulsively tried to walk on water like Jesus, and sunk like a rock. Is that why Jesus called him Rocky??

When the soldiers arrested Jesus, Peter impulsively, impetuously, rashly, drew his sword and cut off a man's ear. Not that we should emulate this behavior, but it shows his personality. His feelings were near the surface. He took chances. He risked. Because he risked, he made himself vulnerable, and sometimes he made mistakes, like cutting off the guard's ear. Jesus reprimanded him for that.

If our goal is to never make a mistake, you and I will never do anything. We’ll remain rigid and frigid, immovable, and thereby irredeemable. Peter was resilient. He kept bouncing back. Jesus had to reprimand him on occasion. At one point, Jesus didn’t like the advice Peter was giving him, and He told Peter, "Get thee behind me, Satan." Those were strong words but Peter didn't pout, sulk, get mad, or quit the group. He didn't say, "Jesus, take this job and shove it!" He persisted. He bounced back.

When he denied knowing Jesus to the maid in the courtyard outside the trial, and thereby, let Jesus down; when he was not there with Jesus through the trial and the crucifixion, he was filled with remorse, but unlike Judas, he didn't let his remorse drive him to suicide. Peter was resilient. He bounced back. After the crucifixion, he went to the upper room and led the group in their praying and deciding what to do next. He was filled with Holy Ghost power and in the first gospel sermon ever preached saw 3,000 souls saved.

When the women found the tomb of Jesus empty, they ran to report to Peter. Peter bounced back. He kept trying. He refused to give up. He sought to become the kind of person God was calling him to be. Peter was redeemable and there was always hope for him. Even though he disobeyed; even though he let Jesus down; even though he lied by denying he knew Jesus; even though he resorted to violence and cut off the guard's ear, in spite of Jesus' stand on non-resistance; the Lord was patient, long-suffering, and merciful.

Jesus called and kept calling, "Come, follow me." The Lord did not give up on Peter, and he became the Rock--an exemplary, Spirit-filled, powerful leader of the movement. Don't lower your expectations.

Instead, be like Peter; be real, rash, resilient, and thereby redeemable.


Keep bouncing back!


Blessings,


John

A Thanksgiving Message

By John Stallings


I once read the story of a young Canadian student in 1860 who was awakened one night by the sound of two ships colliding.

His name was Ed Spencer. He jumped out of bed, saw the situation and being a strong swimmer, jumped in and started swimming out to the rescue. Many passengers of those ships died that night but Ed’s willingness to risk his life saved seventeen of them.

Ed suffered from paralysis after that night and wasn’t able to complete his studies, basically becoming an invalid for the rest of his life. Years later, now an old man living in California, Ed was interviewed by a Los Angeles paper and asked what he recalled about the rescue. “Only this” replied Ed, “of the seventeen I saved, not one of them ever thanked me.”

Someone has said, “Of all the emotions we human beings experience, gratitude is the hardest for us to feel.”

A SIMPLE ENOUGH STORY, WITH A FAMILIAR RING

Luke 17:11-19 tells the story of ten men suffering from leprosy that Jesus healed and sent on their way. One turns back, happy and thankful to Jesus. But Jesus asks,

“Were there not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?” Can none be found to return and give Glory to God except this outsider?” Message Bible.—

This sounds so eerily familiar that it reminds us of one of our first childhood lessons; “What do say when you’re given something? Thank you. Okay, good for you.”

I often wonder when reading this story, was Jesus upset, surprised, amazed or disappointed; or maybe a combination of them all.

THERE ARE SEVERAL BOXES IN THIS STORY.

1. THE BOX OF LEPROSY.

We know enough about leprosy to know it’s a dirty disease, a horrible flesh eating sickness and no one can recover from it. In Bible days a person infected with the disease had to give up home and family and live outside the social matrix because of its contagious nature. The physical suffering was compounded by the fact that lepers were social exiles, they were forever unclean.

Lepers were boxed in, not only by the disease, but because of its contagious nature they were considered ritually unclean. A leper was allowed no contact with non-lepers, and that’s why, in this story, the lepers “stood at a distance” when they called out to Jesus. They stood far off like wounded animals with rags wrapped around their hands. Others had their feet wrapped up with pieces of cloth. They could stay just close enough to society to allow them to beg, as long as they cried loudly, unclean, unclean, unclean.

Think what it would be like to have leprosy. It’s hard to think about. Imagine the waiting, the hoping, wondering how long it will take and how much suffering will be experienced before death.

There was a very famous leper in the Old Testament named Naaman. His story is in 2 Kings 5.Naaman was boxed in by pride and anger and almost lost his miracle because of it. He finally dipped seven times in a muddy little river, quiet beneath his dignity, but his obedience enabled him to escape the terrible box of leprosy.

2. THE RACIAL BOX.

We are not told specifically if the non-returning lepers were Jews, but the fact that Jesus makes much of the tenth and thankful leper being a “foreigner” or Samaritan, seems to imply it. Also the fact that the Jews and Samaritans fraternize in this story is in itself an “out-of-the-box” experience. It’s also out-of-the-box for a Samaritan to be willing to come back and thank a Jewish healer.

We remember that in Jesus’ day the Jews looked down on the Samaritans. Racial prejudice is something that is still alive and well in our world. However the gospel of Christ is fundamentally incompatible with racial prejudice.

THE ISSUE IS SIN-NOT SKIN
When God sees this world he doesn’t look at skin color. All people regardless of their race, background or skin color are significant, loved, fallen and redeemable. No race has any advantage over any other race and no group is better than any other group. God doesn’t play favorites and skin color doesn’t matter to Him. Race isn’t an issue with God. “Red and yellow black and white, they are precious in His sight.”

3. THERE WAS THE GEOGRAPHICAL BOX.

We know that Jews tried to avoid traveling through Samaria, yet here is Jesus, Luke tells us, in “the region between Samaria and Galilee.” Jesus was skirting the borderlands, the in-between area that doesn’t fit neatly in any geographical box.

4. JESUS STEPPED OUTSIDE THE HEALING BOX HERE.

Read this story carefully and what do you find; Jesus usually healed with a touch, but in this case He didn’t. As a matter of fact, He didn’t pray, He didn’t pronounce their healing; He did very little except to tell the lepers to go show themselves to the priest. The priests controlled most everything in those days. This approach is indeed out of the box for Jesus.

Priests even functioned as health inspectors. As the lepers started to go at Jesus’ instruction, they noticed that their sores and wounds were drying up, and their blemishes began to disappear. With every step they took they felt stronger, younger, and more energetic. When they rounded the final turn on the way to the village, they were completely healed. It must have been an incredible walk for them.

Think of it—after all their suffering, all of the sudden at the word of a stranger, their loneliness, pain and banishment began to evaporate. In a matter of moments they all had the clean, healthy, supple skin of a baby.

Someone may say, “I don’t believe in divine healing.” That’s O.k. Healing isn’t for you anyway. Healing is for believers. If you’re sick or have a friend or relative who is, here are 101 reasons God will heal those who’ll trust Him for healing;

God said…

1) I am the Lord that healeth thee (Ex. 15:26).
2) Your days shall be one hundred and twenty years (Gen. 6:3).
3) You shall be buried in a good old age (Gen. 15:15).
4) You shall come to your grave in a full age like as a shock of corn cometh in his season (Job 5:26).
5) When I see the blood, I will pass over you and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you (Ex. 12:13).
6) I will take sickness away from the midst of you and the number of your days I will fulfill (Ex. 23: 25, 26).
7) I will not put any of the diseases you are afraid of on you, but I will take all sickness away from you (Deut. 7:15).
8) It will be well with you and your days shall be multiplied and prolonged as the days of heaven upon the earth (Deut. 11:9,21).
9) I turned the curse into a blessing unto you, because I loved you (Deut. 23:5 and Neh. 13:2).
10) I have redeemed you from every sickness and every plague (Deut. 28:61 and Gal. 3:13).
11) As your days, so shall your strength be (Deut. 33:25).
12) I have found a ransom for you, your flesh shall be fresher than a child’s and you shall return to the days of your youth (Job 33:24, 25).
13) I have healed you and brought up your soul from the grave; I have kept you alive from going down into the pit (Ps. 30:1, 2).
14) I will give you strength and bless you with peace (Ps. 29:11).
15) I will preserve you and keep you alive (Ps. 41:2).
16) I will strengthen you upon the bed of languishing; I will turn all your bed in your sickness (Ps. 41:3).
17) I am the health of your countenance and your God (Ps.43: 5).
18) No plague shall come near your dwelling (Ps. 91:10).
19) I will satisfy you with long life (Ps. 91:16).
20) I heal all your diseases (Ps. 103:3).
21) I sent My word and healed you and delivered you from your destructions (Ps.107:20).
22) You shall not die, but live, and declare My works (Ps. 118:17).
23) I heal your broken heart and bind up your wounds (Ps. 147:3).
24) The years of your life shall be many (Pr. 4:10).
25) Trusting Me brings health to your navel and marrow to your bones (Pr. 3:8).
26) My words are life to you, and health/medicine to all your flesh (Pr. 4:22).
27) (My) good report makes your bones fat (Pr. 15:30).
28) (My) pleasant words are sweet to your soul and health to your bones (Pr. 16:24).
29) My joy is your strength. A merry heart does good like a medicine (Neh. 8:10; Pr.17:22).
30) The eyes of the blind shall be opened. The eyes of them that see shall not be dim (Isa. 32:3; 35:5).
31) The ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. The ears of them that hear shall hearken (Isa. 32:3; 35:5).
32) The tongue of the dumb shall sing. The tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly (Isa. 35:6; 32:4).
33) The lame man shall leap as a hart (Isa. 35:6).
34) I will recover you and make you to live. I am ready to save you (Isa. 38:16, 20).
35) I give power to the faint. I increase strength to them that have no might (Isa. 40:29).
36) I will renew your strength. I will strengthen and help you (Isa. 40:31; 41:10).
37) To your old age and gray hairs I will carry you and I will deliver you (Isa. 46:4).
38) I bore your sickness (Isa. 53:4).
39) I carried your pains (Isa. 53:4).
40) I was put to sickness for you (Isa. 53:10).
41) With My stripes you are healed (Isa. 53:5).
42) I will heal you (Isa. 57:19).
43) Your light shall break forth as the morning and your health shall spring forth speedily (Isa. 58:8).
44) I will restore health unto you, and I will heal you of your wounds saith the Lord (Jer.30:17).
45) Behold I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure you, and will reveal unto you the abundance of peace and truth (Jer. 33:6).
46) I will bind up that which was broken and will strengthen that which was sick (Eze.34:16).
47) Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you and you shall live. And I shall put My Spirit in you and you shall live (Eze. 37:5,14).
48) Whithersoever the rivers shall come shall live. They shall be healed and everything shall live where the river comes (Eze. 47:9).
49) Seek Me and you shall live (Amos 5:4, 6).
50) I have arisen with healing in My wings (beams) (Mal. 4:2).

New Testament

51) I will, be thou clean (Mt. 8:3).
52) I took your infirmities (Mt. 8:17).
53) I bore your sicknesses (Mt. 8:17).
54) If you’re sick you need a physician. (I am the Lord your physician) (Mt. 9:12 &
55) I am moved with compassion toward the sick and I heal them (Mt. 14:14).
56) I heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease (Mt. 4:23).
57) According to your faith, be it unto you (Mt. 9:29).
58) I give you power and authority over all unclean spirits to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease (Mt. 10:1 & Lk. 9:1).
59) I heal them all (Mt. 12:15 & Heb. 13:8).
60) As many as touch Me are made perfectly whole (Mt. 14:36).
61) Healing is the children’s bread (Mt. 15:26).
62) I do all things well. I make the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak (Mk. 7:37).
63) If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believeth (Mk. 9:23; 11:23,24).
64) When hands are laid on you, you shall recover (Mk. 16:18).
65) My anointing heals the brokenhearted, and delivers the captives, recovers sight to the blind, and sets at liberty those that are bruised (Lk. 4:18; Isa. 10:27; 61:1).
66) I heal all those who have need of healing (Lk. 9:11).
67) I am not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them (Lk. 9:56).
68) Behold, I give you authority over all the enemy’s power and nothing shall by any means hurt you (Lk. 10:19).
69) Sickness is satanic bondage and you ought to be loosed today (Lk. 13:16 & II Cor.6:2).
70) In Me is life (Jn. 1:4).
71) I am the bread of life. I give you life (Jn. 6:33, 35).
72) The words I speak unto you are spirit and life (Jn. 6:63).
73) I am come that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly (Jn. 10:10).
74) I am the resurrection and the life (Jn. 11:25).
75) If you ask anything in My name, I will do it (Jn. 14:14).
76) Faith in My name makes you strong and gives you perfect soundness (Acts 3:16).
77) I stretch forth My hand to heal (Acts 4:30).
78) I, Jesus Christ, make you whole (Acts 9:34).
79) I do good and heal all that are oppressed of the devil (Acts 10:38).
80) My power causes diseases to depart from you (Acts 19:12).
81) The law of the Spirit of life in Me has made you free from the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:2).
82) The same Spirit that raised Me from the dead now lives in you and that Spirit will quicken your mortal body (Rom. 8:11).
83) Your body is a member of Me (I Cor. 6:15).
84) Your body is the temple of My Spirit and you’re to glorify Me in your body (I Cor.6:19, 20).
85) If you’ll rightly discern My body which was broken for you, and judge yourself, you’ll not be judged and you’ll not be weak, sickly or die prematurely (I Cor. 11:29-31).
86) I have set gifts of healing in My body (I Cor. 12:9).
87) My life may be made manifest in your mortal flesh (II Cor. 4:10, 11).
88) I have delivered you from death, I do deliver you, and if you trust Me I will yet deliver you (II Cor. 1:10).
89) I have given you My name and have put all things under your feet (Eph. 1:21, 22).
90) I want it to be well with you and I want you to live long on the earth. (Eph. 6:3).
91) I have delivered you from the authority of darkness (Col. 1:13).
92) I will deliver you from every evil work (II Tim. 4:18).
93) I tasted death for you. I destroyed the devil who had the power of death. I’ve delivered you from the fear of death and bondage (Heb. 2:9, 14, 15).
94) I wash your body with pure water (Heb. 10:22; Eph. 5:26).
95) Lift up the weak hands and the feeble knees. Don’t let that which is lame be turned aside but rather let Me heal it (Heb. 12:12, 13).
96) Let the elders anoint you and pray for you in My name and I will raise you up (Jas.5:14, 15).
97) Pray for one another and I will heal you (Jas. 5:16).
98) By My stripes you were healed (I Pet. 2:24).
99) My Divine power has given unto you all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of Me (II Pet. 1:3).
100) Whosoever will let him come and take of the water of life freely (Rev. 22:17).
101) Beloved, I wish above all things that you may…be in health (III Jn. 2


NINE WAYS TO SAY “NO THANKS"

What if a newspaper of that day had gone to do a story on these nine lepers who didn’t return to thank Jesus? Imagine them gathered in one room and the reporter asking for their side of this story. Let’s first talk to leper, Jim.

1. JIM, what happened to you after Jesus healed you of leprosy? Jim might reply, “Well, I guess I wanted to wait for just a little while longer to see if the cure was real and was going to last. After all, there’s a little thing called “remission” you know. And by the time I realized the healing was the real thing, Jesus was dead.

2. JACK. And how about you jack? “Well I started to wonder if I had ever had leprosy. Whatever I had was much improved so I really didn’t give it much more thought.

3. JASON. “And you Jason, why didn’t you return? “Well, I was grateful for the cure but I had to take my son to his baseball game that day. I have been so busy lately, you wouldn’t believe it. You know now-a-days, I don’t know where the time goes.” And another thing, I was very anxious to just get back to my old life, my old routine.

4. LYLE was next to speak; “I didn’t know we were supposed to return to thank Jesus. I was just following instructions. You know, Jesus told us to go and show ourselves to the priest and that’s what I did. As lepers, we’ve become so used to following orders that we really just do as we’re told. And another thing, when Jesus told us to go, our feet started to move before our minds could think about it. We lepers move, eat, sleep, and speak according to instructions with little choice in the matter.

5. TIM “Tim, can you tell us why you never returned to thank Jesus for your cure? Well, I once took a psychological behavioral test to show me what personality type I was, and would you believe, I’m a procrastinator? Yeah, that’s right, and also the test said that we procrastinators are indecisive, tentative, and I found I have a touch of ADD. Hey, look at that bird up in the sky.

6—8. THE LAST FOUR lepers were Deaf leper, who loved music, Leper-Con, he was Irish, Spotted leper; strange name I know, but his healing caused him to have an identity crisis. He’d been a leper so long he wasn’t prepared to change. He was so at home with lepers that he couldn’t readjust.

9. The ninth leper sent word that he highly resented being labeled an ingrate simply because he conformed to the traditional way of expressing his thanks; in the Temple, before the priest, just like Jesus instructed. He also wanted to go on record that he felt a sense of “entitlement” to the better things in life, and added that it was about time God answered his prayers.

10. THE LEPER WHO RETURNED TO THANK JESUS.
This former leper teaches us, by his actions, to be more spontaneous with our gratitude. Luke said that he was “praising God with a loud voice.” In fact, the ex-leper fell on his face before Jesus. He was completely carried away and beside himself with joy and happiness. He felt like dancing a jig and shouting from the housetops. He was so excited, so anxious to thank this stranger that he didn’t even take time to have his healing verified by the priest.

He didn’t show up at the interview because he was so busy telling people what Jesus had done, he didn’t feel he could spare the time. He said he was so ecstatic he wasn’t in any shape to answer questions, even a year later.

Sometimes it’s good to throw away the restraints and let yourself be carried away with gratitude and joy.

A SENSE OF URGENCY CHANGES US IN REGARDS TO PRAISE.

Most of us find it easy to stay inside the box, playing it safe and following directions until something earthshaking happens. At those times, we find it comfortable to throw off restraints. We seem more inclined to give gratitude free rein when we feel a sense of urgency. People stand up at funerals and weddings and shock others with their free-flowing expressions of love and praise.

If a person is diagnosed with cancer, they are quick to begin telling the people they love how much they love them. Now time is of the essence, so they do it, now. Most of us would agree that we shouldn’t operate like this, but being human we do.

Our lives would be much more fulfilling if we would integrate appreciation and praise, not only to God but to one another into our everyday lives. If you think I’m wrong, ask yourself, have you ever grown tired of being loved, thanked and appreciated?

HERE ARE SOME THINGS THIS STORY TEACHES US.
# God reminds us that if we don’t cultivate thankfulness, it will take more and more to make us thankful.

# Jesus would also remind us of some of the things for which HE gave thanks.

# He gave thanks for 5 loaves and 2 fishes, before He multiplied them to feed a multitude.

# He gave thanks for the bread and wine He ate with His disciples before His death, even though He said they were symbolic of His broken body and shed blood.

# He gave thanks to His father at the tomb of Lazarus, just for hearing His prayer.

# Who in your opinion would be the "lepers" in our society? Do you think Jesus would minister to them if He were on earth in a physical body? What could you and I do to reach out to these people, or should we just leave them alone?

One last thing in this story is found in Luke 17:19. Jesus told the returning leper,

“Arise and go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole.”

The returning leper received a gift the other nine missed out on.

He received “wholeness” for body, mind, soul and spirit.

Blessings,


John

Defining The Distance Between You And God

By John Stallings

And Peter followed Him afar off, even into the palace of the high priest; and sat with the servants and warmed himself at the fire. -Mark 14:54


Living for God at a distance & in a half-hearted way sets us up for internal tension.

The vitality of a real walk with God oozes out of our relationship. God doesn’t have “one style fits all” relationships. He leaves it up to us to decide what the distance we walk from Him will be. Holding God at arms length isn’t the kind of walk He wants to have with us, but He won’t force a closer one.

A prime example of this is Peter. In 2 Peter 2:20-22 Peter tells us of the real possibility of backsliding. He described it as “a dog returning to his own vomit.” Isn’t it interesting that this comes from the inspired pen of Peter? If anyone knew first hand the reality & dangers of backsliding it was he. Peter declared that he would follow Jesus no matter what. But Jesus told him that before the cock crowed three times Peter would deny Him. To prove that could never be true of him, Peter cut off the ear of Malcus, the soldier who tried to take Jesus into custody. Peter took up arms for Jesus.

Peter’s story provides us with a post-mortem if you will on backsliding. It’s the cautionary tale of a man’s downward spiral. Just to broad stroke the story of backsliding; -- it’s gradual, & some of the issues are pride, laziness, cowardice, worldliness & denial.

While Peter was warming himself at a fire somewhere in the city, a young girl pointed her finger at him & declared he was one of Jesus’ followers. Peter had a cussing-fit & told all who were interested that he didn’t even know who Jesus was. This behavior became a deeply humiliating failure for Peter. The main reason for his disappointment in himself was that Peter loved Jesus deeply. He was a leader. He was a son-of-thunder but during that week of Christ’s passion, with all the pain, violence, blood, gore & high drama, Peter had to face the fact that he was scared.

As the pressure on Jesus began to build, Peter followed further & further behind Him. We know that Peter later got his courage back & preached a great sermon on the Day of Pentecost. He ended up helping to write the New Testament, & legend tells us he refused to die like Jesus did. Peter was crucified upside down.

You’ll remember that Jesus didn’t hold Peter’s denial against him. Jesus didn’t stand in rigid judgment of how close or how far Peter was from him. And later Jesus, without any harshness allowed Peter to redeem himself by declaring three times his love for Him. Seems strange doesn’t it? Strange but true.

What’s going to be your distance from God? You will define that distance. God leaves that up to us & loves us no matter what our choice is. It matters greatly to Him what we choose but He won’t put us in lock-down or force us. He gives us options. God desires the close walk with you & me but He will let us make that choice.

Jesus set the example of the kind of relationship He wants with us when He came to where we were. He left the ivory palaces of His heavenly home & came crashing out of timelessness into time to be born of women. He lived & moved among us & had close personal relationships with people. Even in His miracles He didn’t do things on the grand scale that the miracles of the New Testament were done.

There were no walls tumbling down or seas piling up. Jesus would find a woman with disease & heal her. Or He’d find a grieving family & bring their dead back to life. He’d sit at a well & talk to a woman & totally change her life with a conversation. He was always saying, “See, I’m available to you. You can walk close to me & have just as intimate a relationship as you want, it’s up to you.” He’s shown us the kind of relationships He wants but still He lets us decide. Jesus didn’t call His disciples in a “group call,” He personally & purposefully called them one by one.

Have you ever had a friend in your life who wanted to define how close the relationship was? Friends can sometimes be very smothering. Some friends want to be every day friends. Others want to be weekly friends. I’ve known people who wanted to be so close that if you went to a movie or went to a new restaurant without them they’d have a conniption fit & say something like “What? You went without telling me? Well I’m hurt.” They can act as if you aren’t capable of going out on the town without them. You almost have to ask permission to do something without them. This can be extremely annoying. They will try to set the boundaries of the relationship by saying, “If you’re going to be my friend, stay in touch.”

Sometimes parents can be this way with their adult children. Have you ever seen a “smothering mother?” I think they are called “helicopter parents.” They lurk & hover close by. They will give their kids cell phones & they expect their kid to always be checking in with them. They will say things like, “what, I’m not your mother any more? You didn’t call me. You never call. I’ll be dead soon & then you’ll be sorry.” Sometimes parents will try to keep this kind of relationship even after their offspring is married. That’s when things turn squirrelly. God won’t do this to us. He wants us to realize on our own that closer is better and closer is easier, but He won’t force it. We must decide if we want our attachment to God to be a big deal in our lives or a small deal.

In 1957, I stood at the alter of my father’s church in Orlando Florida on a Sunday night in late August. The service was all about a few of us high school graduates who were leaving to go to college. I was leaving the next day for Southeastern Bible College in Lakeland Florida to study for my ministerial degree. But as I stood at the alter that night along with several others who were off to college, I was fighting a battle in my soul.

Up to now, my calling just amounted to preaching in a youth service once in a while & maybe occasionally going elsewhere to conduct a youth revival. This night was different. Now I was going to do something that would affect all of my life from now on. I was leaving the next day for Bible College & this would determine what my life’s goal would be. I was renouncing math as a major. I was renouncing music as my major. I was renouncing everything else but the ministry & that meant, by & large- pastoring, missionary work or evangelizing.

What to do, what to do? This decision would determine who I would marry & spend the rest of my life with. This decision would determine what kind of house I’d live in & the kind of car I’d drive. This decision would determine how much money I’d make & how much I’d have to someday retire on. What to do?

It was crunch time for me. I was afraid & felt guilty for being afraid. I was faced that night with the decision of just how close I wanted to be to God. After all there were options for me.

1. THERE WAS THE OPTION OF PARTIAL COMMITMENT.

I didn’t have to abandon the faith, I could just straddle the fence, maybe get a business degree (Not that there’s anything wrong with that) & preach on Sundays. After all, wouldn’t it be great to be able to preach to people & not worry about them having to pay me? I could make my own living & preach on the side.

Of course I didn’t make that decision to be partially committed & as I look back I’m happy I didn’t. In all probability God won’t call on you to make the commitment I made because it was for full time Christian service. All of our walks with Him are personal.

What was I afraid of? What are many people afraid of when it comes to total commitment to Christ? Why do we so often stiff arm God? Maybe we’re afraid God might make demands on us. We might be called to do something we don’t really want to do. But God doesn’t force people to do grievous things they’re not equipped to do or not happy about the prospects of doing. Jesus said, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Another reason some are afraid to follow too closely to Jesus is they’re afraid of what people might say about them. They’re afraid people will think they’re too caught up in religion & are in danger of being a fanatic. Maybe people will think they are involved in a Jim Jones like cult. Maybe they’re afraid they’ll start writing checks to the work of God with reckless abandon or start engaging in “destructive behavior.” They might even join the choir. What would happen then? They deduce that it would be safer to remain a spectator Christian & continue to keep a safe distance from God.

2. PEOPLE OFTEN USE THE POMP & CIRCUMSTANCE OF RELIGION TO REPLACE A CLOSE WALK WITH GOD.

All the revivals of history were periods of calling men back from institutional relationships with God to personal relationships. The Luther reformation was a move back to a personal God & a personal walk with Him. Every man is a priest. You didn’t have to go through an interloper; you could go straight to God. Up until the Reformation, Bibles were chained to the church pulpits & anyone with a Bible could be thrown in jail. People were forced to have corporate relationships with God.

The charismatic renewal that happened a few years back was a move to call the individual to a closer personal walk with God. But still there are many who want a relationship with God that will keep them out of hell & not much else. They will say in essence, “Just let me be loose about this. I might come to church once a year or I might come more often.” These folk are the ones that started the joke—“The church roof might fall in when I come next time.”

3. THEN THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO KEEP A DISTANCE BETWEEN THEMSELVES & GOD BECAUSE THEY'VE BEEN “HURT” BY THEIR CHURCH AFFILIATION IN THE PAST.

I hear about these folk on a regular basis. They got “too close” to a pastor or other Christians & something happened that disillusioned them. I am tempted to say at this point “poor baby” but I’ll resist that temptation.

To be hurt by a good man or woman undoubtedly gives us an eternal excuse to stay away from God & His church. After all, we now have to ability to point to the church & say—“Well one of the most spiritual among God’s people did me wrong. A man who stands in the pulpit & preaches hurt me personally so I have the perfect excuse not to get too close & return to religion.”

Let’s go back to Malcus, the man whose ear was cut off by Peter. Apocryphal writings tell us that Malcus in later years became a part of the Christian church. What? Do you mean to say that Malcus, the man who was brutalized & deformed by Peter’s sword later became a believer? Obviously that’s true. Wow! Malcus had the best reason to doubt & deny the Lordship of Jesus than any man ever had. One of Jesus’ closest men actually hurt him. He actually cut off his ear. Never mind the “small detail” that Jesus put Malcus’ ear back on & healed him. He now had a personal reason to testify to the "dangers of Christianity." Malcus was willing to allow Jesus to heal him that day. He could have pushed Jesus away & taken that severed ear, had it bronzed & shown it to folk for the rest of his life as exhibit A-"that Jesus crowd can really hurt a fellow." Alas, there are still some who refuse to be healed because their wounds are too precious to them.

Speaking of being hurt by Christians or hurt in the service of the lord, let me tell you about a very dedicated lady who was hurt in the service of God. While she & her preacher husband were conducting revivals under a gospel tent,her seven year old daughter took sick & died in a small backwater town. This woman was a truly committed person, but when she lost her daughter she got angry with God. She over-adjusted big time, vowing she’d never darken a church door till the day she died.

She let her husband go on alone in his tent ministry although he was hurt just as much as she was at the loss of their beautiful little girl. One day a year later, this lady had to break her vow to never enter a church again, to attend the funeral of the child of a beloved friend. As the funeral service progressed, the minister told the story of a mother sheep who refused to cross a raging stream. The Shepard needed her to join the rest of the flock so they could travel to lush green grass but the mother sheep was frightened & wouldn’t budge.

The Shepard in desperation finally got an idea. He took the sheep’s little fold & carried it across the stream & stood it on the bank on the other side. When the mother saw her baby on the other side of the stream she was finally persuaded to brave the troubled waters to join her baby. This bitter lady was smitten in her heart by the illustration. God brought it home to her that even though she couldn’t understand it all she now had a reason to endure any hardship because it was the only hope of someday seeing her baby girl again.

That day this lady was forced to define the distance between herself & God. Thankfully she chose to rededicate herself to her Lord, & humbly & closely follow Him the best she knew how, trusting that her remaining two small children would follow her example. I’m glad she did because that lady was my mother. From that day forward she guided my sister & me, encouraging us in spite of all the unanswered questions & vicissitudes of life to covet a close walk with the Lord.

I am grateful that even though I’ve made many mistakes in my life there has always been a force pulling me toward God; an inner hunger that won’t let me be content without Him.


How about you? Have you defined the distance between you & God lately?


Blessings,


John

Please-Just lock the door!

By John Stallings


I have a friend who has a beautiful house that sets on a nice piece of property. 

He has a nice family, a lovely wife and three kids. He keeps the house up very well but laughs about some of the things that still need fixing, says they give the house character. I think he’s right, and there’s not enough wrong to detract from how nice his house is. My friend’s neighborhood has changed for the worse over the last few years. It’s gotten much rougher. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not nearly as bad as some places, but suffice to say it’s just not the same place he knew a few years back. One of his neighbors down the street was mugged recently as she walked from her driveway to her porch. Another neighbor just a few blocks over from him was attacked in the middle of the night when he surprised a burglar in his house.

But what really got my friends attention was one night recently he came in late from work and went in to check on one of kids and found a man going through his little daughters dresser. Scary, right? Well the intruder escaped, the cops never caught him and my friend’s daughter sleeps with the light on now.

My friend’s home isn’t the same anymore.

He now has cameras all over the house, outside and in, and has six or eight monitors all over the place and everyone’s instructed to call him if they see anything the least bit suspicious.

My friend now has a 90-pound Rottweiler named Evil that roams around the place. Evil knows who’s supposed to be there and who’s not and Lord help anyone who’s not supposed to be there if Evil catches them.

My friend has also bought shotguns and they are positioned all over the house as well as a 357 magnum which he keeps at his bedside. My friend is well gunned and prepared for the next person who would dare to approach that house and threaten his loved ones.

BUT MY FRIEND HAS A STUPID HABIT

I know it sounds CRAZY but this friend of mine just will not lock his doors, ever. I’ve told him several times and everybody tells him that he must keep his doors locked but nothing doing, he’s old fashioned, he won’t do it. You know how elementary I can be when talking on a difficult subject and I tell my friend;

The easiest, most common sense thing he could do that wouldn’t cost him a cent would be to lock his doors.

Then I point out the obvious, that locking a door isn’t a permanent type thing, you can always only open the door for the people you want to come into the house. I tell him that he’d be better off to have saved the money spent on guns etc. and just close and lock his doors. But nooooooo my friend won’t listen; he wants those doors unlocked.

He has his arsenal.

He has his cameras.

He has his dog.

They will surely keep the bad guys away from his house; the doors will stay open.

Even as I write this I am so frustrated with my friend that I can’t see straight.

Anyone with one eye and half-sense should be able to figure out that his duty would be to use the first line of defense to protect his family and that is;

JUST LOCK THE DOOR AND LET IN ONLY THOSE WHOM YOU TRUST.

I’m SORRY!!

By now you know that I don’t really have a friend this stupid.

But you know what? We have a Nation that is armed to the teeth and that’s good. We have enough nuclear explosives to destroy the world several times over. We have smart weapons that just to hear them described takes your breath away. But what sense does it make for us to have all this if our “Achilles heel” is going to be a mule train ambling over Canada’s or Mexico’s porous borders laden with poisonous WMD or suitcase bombs? By now we all have heard that the 19 Islamic terrorist’s who hit us on 9/11 had between them 67 different driver’s licenses. Can it be true what one man said, that a nuclear attack will be mandatory before we ever “lock the door.”? Has America’s safety really become a “tombstone industry.”?

We’ve got the dog, the guns and the cameras, but for some reason that escapes, me they refuse to lock our doors.

YOU MAY ASK IF I WOULD LIKE AMERICA TO ISOLATE ITSELF AND NOT LET ANYONE ELSE IN. A THOUSAND TIMES NO!!

Listen carefully;

We can always open the doors to let in whomever we want to come in.

But instead, we leave our borders open risking our safety simply because we wont do the first, most simple thing we could do to protect our security. Obviously I’m no expert. I really didn’t need to tell you that did I ?

Some say politics is why we keep the doors open, maybe so. That’s too deep for me. Some say we need the cheap labor of the people who come in illegally because not enough of our citizenry will do mundane work. Maybe so. Some say we should build a wall. I don’t know about that either. But if we are smart enough to send men to the moon along with a car to drive around up there, aren’t we smart enough to come up with a plan to keep people bent on doing us harm from waltzing through our doors?

NOTE TO OUR LEADERS. PLEASE LOCK THE DOOR!

GOD BLESS AMERICA!!

John Stallings

Assumicide, Relationship Killer

By John Stallings


“Never assume anything.”

We've all heard that sage piece of advice.

Let’s look at some definitions of the word assume;

“To draw conclusions on the basis of tiny scraps of evidence. To take for granted, without proof; to suppose as a fact, to take arbitrarily or tentatively; the act of anticipating something before hand - before the proper time & natural order.

“Jumping to conclusions” & “prejudging”-to me are as good as any definition.

Now, what does the word ASSUMICIDE mean? “Assumicide is when we make false assumptions about others, portraying them in the worst possible light, with the end being damage to if not destruction of a relationship.” "When your assumptions lead to dire consequences that could lead to your potential demise, you commit assumicide."

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made hasty assumptions in my marriage, my parenting & even in my ministry. However I can tell you almost exactly how many times it’s been done to me. I’m quite good at remembering such things. Or should I say, I’m quite bad about it. I keep track of those things. It’s amazing how easy it is for me to assume someone has it in for me.

I was talking to a minister friend one time [a very successful pastor of a large church.] I drew all my deepest thinking together with perhaps as good a verbal flourish as I’ve ever had & said, -“You know, it’s easy to let your imagination run wild & think you hear something in a person’s voice or actions telling you they’re mad at you when nothing of the sort is really true.” My friends answer? -“Yes John, but what if it’s true & they really are mad at you?” I think my friends have been part of my problem. Kidding!

Assumptions.

Everyone knows that sooner or later, friends we assumed would be ours for life will break their word, marriages end in divorce, children move away & never call us, the company lays us off, doctors can’t cure us, our investments disappear, our dreams are shattered, the best-layed plans go astray, other Christians disappoint us, & very often we disappoint ourselves. Our assumptions are proven wrong time & again & if sooner or later we don’t come to grips with this -we’re doomed to be unhappier tomorrow than we are today.

Dr. Jerome Frank at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore talks about Our assumptive world. His thought is that we all make certain assumptions about life. Deep down we believe that if we do certain things, others will treat us in a certain way. We assume that we have earned certain things out of life. If those assumptions aren’t met, we’re disappointed. There’s a strong correlation between good mental health & having assumptions that match reality. And there’s a high correlation between misplaced assumptions & a variety of emotional problems, including depression.

Put simply, we are disillusioned when things don’t go the way we assumed they were going to go. Wrong assumptions lead to disappointment & disappointment leads to despair. Are you still with me? Is a little light being punched in as to why we should—“Never assume anything?”

RISKY ASSUMPTIONS

Have you ever seen a lady with a protruding stomach & blurted out, “oh, when’s your baby due,” & learned too late that she wasn’t expecting? I’ve done it several times in my life & I pray merciful God will never let me do it again.

Several years ago we saw a young lady whom we hadn’t seen in over two years. I should have realized that a baby isn’t the lone reason for a woman to have a bump in her mid-section, but nooooo. I forged ahead & “went off the proverbial cliff,” asking about due dates while Juda & the rest of the folk in the group stood in slack-jawed amazement.

The young woman’s ever reddening face & the throat clearing that seized the others present finally told me what I’d done. Then I added insult to injury by trying to back-peddle & explain my way out of it. This made it worse & finally my wife whispered, “quit digging, it’s getting worse & worse.” I survived but as I said, I pray I’ll never make that assumption again, especially when a young woman’s involved. It’s dangerous & ill-advised, you can take it from me.

There’s a true story from France. A woman was dining alone. She ordered some soup & while waiting for it to arrive she went to the restroom. When she came back she was horrified to find a man sitting in her seat & eating her soup. She didn’t know how to respond so she sat across from the man at the table & just stared daggers at him. He just stared back & kept eating. After he finished he ordered a main meal & asked for two plates. When it arrived he had one plate & gave the other one to the woman. They ate in confused silence. The woman then ordered coffee & went to the restroom again. When she came back, the man was gone….& so was her purse. She screamed out, “thief, thief.” Several people chased the man down the street & tackled him. They dragged him back to the restaurant & just as they did, the woman saw a table at the restaurant with no one sitting at it. It had a bowl of cold soup & you guessed it, there was her purse. It turned out that when she first came back from the restroom, she sat down at the wrong table.

Assumptions are dangerous.

Assumptions have a way of making the part of the horse that goes over the fence last out of you, me & everyone. Assumptions are the termites of relationships, & they erode the very fabric of trust & good will in a relationship. We should see our assumptions as our window to the world. If we scrub them off occasionally, it’s surprising how much more light will come in.

Assumptions. We make them all the time. Assumptions that cause us to judge & most of all misjudge people.

They didn’t call back so they must not want to talk to me.
The church is so unfriendly.
I think she’s trying to ignore me.
He’s such a hypocrite.
I don’t like him & I don’t know why, I just don’t like him.
I’ll bet they’re sleeping together.
They don’t hire people like me.
She’s so full of herself.
Someday he’ll find himself, & he’ll certainly be disappointed.


IT SEEMS WE’RE HARD-WIRED TO ASSUME SOME THINGS

When we’re watching a movie, I’ll try to figure out the plot of the movie & guess where it’s going & what’s going to happen to get there. This of course annoys my wife. As much as I love to try to figure it out, the best movies are the ones where I’m totally wrong.

I have long had a problem with thinking that every actor who is about six foot tall with dark hair is Henry Fonda. Juda tries to tell me it isn't Fonda but I won't listen. Sorry...it's Fonda!! Sometimes I'm wrong and John Wayne wins.

In writing this blog, I pray for guidance in the topics I write about. I always ask myself, “Do people need this information? Will this information help them?” Having been a pastor/evangelist for many years, I know people are interested in messages that will help them in their daily lives. Many times we can assume people have knowledge they don’t possess. I don’t know where I heard it but I like this little truism; “Never underestimate a congregation’s intelligence, but never overestimate their knowledge.” A pastor makes a false assumption if he preaches as if everyone in the congregation is a professing believer.

SAUL’S ASSUMPTIONS IN THE ANOINTING OF DAVID.

Saul was king of Israel for many years. You will remember that there was a time when Saul was waiting for Samuel to come to offer a sacrifice. When Samuel didn’t show up to offer his priestly duties, Saul took matters into his own hands & offered a sacrifice unto God.

Saul was unqualified to do so, & from that moment the kingdom was pronounced to be taken from him.

One thing I think every spiritual leader should be aware of is a principle we get from Baseball. If some of the ministers we’ve seen fall from grace in the last 25 years had understood this principle, I can’t help but think things would have been different. Here’s the principle; when a player, especially a pitcher, gets wobbly, the coach will go out to have a talk with him. If the player can convince the coach that he’s o.k., the coach will leave him in the game. But at that moment the coach will put his next best pitchers in the bull-pin & start warming them up. All the while the wobbly pitcher is proceeding; he hears the “warm-up” pitchers in the bull-pin. God wants to see us all succeed in our work for Him but we should always be keenly aware that if we fall or fail to do what he has called us to do; He’ll find someone else to fill our place.

Think back to the late 1980s. I won’t call names but you probably remember the big names in evangelism who “bit-the-dust” during a relatively short period of time. I must admit it had me beyond concerned. But look what happened. God raised up others who’d been “warming up” working faithfully & hitherto basically “second-stringers” who God quickly pressed into service.

In hearing God’s desire for the next king, Samuel heard he would be-a man after God’s own heart. He trusts the next man will be a tremendous step-up for the people. When you know God’s desired man is just around the corner & will soon be arriving, your sense of anticipation builds & abounds. Samuel probably starts to wonder what this new man is all about & how he’ll be different from Saul. I suspect that his mind would begin to fill in a few blanks & make a few assumptions of what this new king would look like.

In 1 Samuel 16 we find the story of Samuel being told by God to go to Jesse’s house & the next king of Israel would one of Jesse’s sons. Samuel assumes King Saul would find out & be angry. He assumes Saul will try to kill him. Samuel assumes that since Saul was tall, the next king would be tall too. However God doesn’t have a cut & dried way of doing things. Samuel also assumed that the “oldest son” rule would apply in this case so he feels Eliab, who was the oldest was the safest choice. Even though Samuel had walked with God for many years, on this occasion he seems to be as much in the dark as David was.

Samuel got the word from God that none of Jesse’s sons he’d seen so far is the one God wants him to anoint to be the next king. He asked Jesse if he had any other sons. Jesse said that he did have one more son but he was out keeping the sheep. When David was brought in sure enough he wasn’t very tall but he was a handsome dude. God spoke to Samuel letting him know this was the man & Samuel immediately anointed him to be the future king of Israel.

Isn’t it amazing how God so often chooses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise? Another amazing thing to me is how God can use the small moments of life, moments you & I may not even remember, to totally change the course of our lives.

I have three daughters who have families of their own, which makes me a grandpa. Isn’t that a brilliant deduction on my part? The other day I was talking on the phone to my eldest daughter & as an aside, she started telling me some ways I had been an inspiration to her as she grew up. I can’t even recall doing & saying many of the things she remembers that inspired her. I’m sure she was correct because the things she mentioned sounded a lot like me. My point is, if I were to be asked what I felt were my strongest points as a parent, I would no doubt come up with totally different things than my daughters remember.

Apparently I was inspiring in ways I never knew. To me they were such small things & small moments; I would never have placed them high on the list of my “parenting skills.” It will be the same for all of us. We just have to work as hard as we can doing what we feel is the right thing & leave all the rest to God. Such a moment was this moment in Samuel's life, when he poured the anointing oil over little David’s head. This fellow would someday be king over Israel in a reign that lasted 40 years.

God surprises us. Surprises are big with our God. Many times, God’s Will surprises us. He’s the God of interruptions & He’s the God of the unexpected. He looks at the heart while the rest of us are busy looking at outward appearances. He looks at motivations. If we assume anything, we should just assume that if hang around on this planet very long, God is going to surprise us.

WE CAN AVOID ASSUMICIDE

I had to smile a while back when I filled in for a dear pastor friend of mine who was called away unexpectedly. Over the years we’ve spoken at this church many times & the good folk know us well. As soon as one of the church ushers saw me come in, I heard him speak to another usher to be sure & get Brother Stallings a bottle of water & place it near the pulpit. Since we’d arrived a little early I stood around & talked with the brethren, telling them how much I appreciated their faithfulness to do things that might seem unimportant but in reality are very important.

One of the men said something to the effect that drinking water is one of the best things we can do for our health & we had a nearly fifteen minute conversation about drinking water.

I got to thinking about this & how these men assumed I was a person who drinks lots of water. The truth is, nothing could be further from the truth. I’m not a big consumer of water though I realize how good it is for us. As a rule I don’t drink nearly enough water. I don’t even like the taste [or lack of taste] of water. I do like water when it’s turned into tea or lemon aide, but that’s just me.

As I thought about it, I realized that the only time these men saw me was in church, & I use water when I speak or sing to combat the pesky “dry mouth.” I guess that must be for us “dry preachers.”

Now in this case, the case of drinking water, I guess I came off looking like a wise man for drinking lots of water. These men had assumed that I was a water drinker. But is that really true? Not hardly.

Some people who only see me at church might assume that I always wear a coat & tie, but those who see me on a day-to-day basis know that’s not the case. I hate ties. Friend we have to be careful not to jump to conclusions, make quick judgments & commit ASSUMICIDE when we don’t know all the facts.

The Jews during Jesus’ lifetime did just that in regards to Him. They were ready to arrest & condemn him in his early ministry. Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews who’d come to Him by night was a voice of reason in the council. He asked the august group of scholars-“Does our law judge a man before it hears him & knows what he’s doing? [John 7:51.]

How many married people commit assumicide every day & end their unions assuming things that aren’t true?

How many churches commit assumicide & are torn asunder because someone assumed they knew all there was to know about a situation?

A woman known for her incessant gossiping told the folks at church that she’d seen brother so-and-sos truck at sister so-and- sos house a lot lately & this was unequivocal proof that an affair was going on. The accused man heard about it so the next night he sneaked his truck in front of her house & left it there all night long.

How many former Christians are no longer walking with the Lord because they became bitter at something God “allowed to happen” & they committed spiritual assumicide over it?

Let us who name the name of Christ, not be too quick to judge & condemn others without knowing all the facts.

Here are a few more helpful hints;

Don't entertain 3rd party nonsense--Its true name is g-o-s-s-i-p!!
Don't react to what you think--react to what you k-n-o-w!!
Don't let issues linger. If you really want clarification-go directly to the person & ask!!

THE B-ATTITUDES

Jesus' main teaching thrust seems to be about shooting down many of our natural assumptions.

Look at The Sermon on the Mount. Everything we take for granted about success & power is turned on its head. Everything we assume about winners & losers is flip-flopped. When he speaks about Blessings, even if its about suffering He says ;

"Congratulations."

Congratulations to the restless,

Congratulations to the merciful rather than the powerful.

Congratulations to the pure in heart rather than the clever schemers.

Congratulations to the peacemakers instead of the fighters.

Jesus commends the unlikely ones & promises them mercy, comfort & the entire earth. You will be called the children of God & ultimately you'll see God.

Contrary to what this world assumes, when we suffer & think we can never get up again, we still have Him & we still have the Kingdom of God.


Congratulations, indeed.


Blessings,


John

The disciple Jesus liked best

By John Stallings



The most amazing truth we can ponder as human beings is the boundless love of God. I remember a song we used to hear a lot when I was a kid—“The love of God.” It was beautiful & it talked about the measureless, all- encompassing love that God has for each & every one of us. I don’t think there’s any question that His love for all mankind is the most magnetic & fathomless truth we can contemplate. I’m sure you also remember the little chorus we used to sing in Sunday school,…… “Yes Jesus loves me, the Bible tells me so.”

We know Jesus loves us all the same, but that thought is a little more theological than I’m thinking right now. I’m not trivializing God’s love; quite the contrary. What a wonderful reality that God loves all six-billion people on this planet. One of the first verses we learned was John 3:16, For God so loved the world…. That’s a theological given. It’s not difficult for us to feel loved by God & we understand that nothing can separate us from His love.

If you’re a parent you know that you love every one of your children the same. In the rule book for parents, rule number one is, you don’t love one of your children more than the other. If you have adopted children you love them equally as much as your paternal offspring.

Having said that, wouldn’t it be fantastic to know that Jesus not only loved you but genuinely liked you too? You know what I mean. I mean if we were physically, bodily hanging-out with Jesus would He actually like us; like our personality, enjoy our company? Interesting concept don’t you think? How would it feel to know that besides being loved by God, there’s something about you that makes Him smile when you walk in the room. After all, Jesus had His human side & there were things that He especially liked & disliked.

I guess the best way to find out if Jesus would really like us would be to find out whom He liked best out of His twelve disciples. I’m going to tell you who I think Jesus liked best & then I’ll tell you why I believe it.

First, let’s talk about the two greatest men in the New Testament. I believe that would be Paul & Peter. Let’s chase that idea a bit. Paul wrote much of the New Testament & I believe I can safely say he was the greatest Christian who ever lived. Paul spoke several languages & was highly educated. It’s not a stretch to say his was one of the most, if not the most dramatic conversions to Christ of any person in history. Paul sat at the feet of the great teachers of his day & though it’s believed he was small of stature, he was a mental & spiritual giant. Paul’s life was about great accomplishments. He was a great writer, teacher, church planter & missionary. Yes indeed, Paul was a towering figure in Christian history.

But really, Paul couldn’t be in the running for Jesus’ favorite person because he didn’t know Jesus in that personal way. He came along a little later. If Paul or someone like him were to be the person Jesus liked most, I’d be somewhat discouraged because he’s kind of “out of my league.” Lets be frank; most of us would be hard pressed to match Paul’s great testimony of salvation, plus his gifts, abilities & contributions to the cause of Christ. If Paul were in the running as the person Jesus liked best, if it would take being that type of monumental –multi-talented man to be liked by Jesus, (and trust me, I’m not trying to be humble here) I’m afraid I’d wouldn’t have even been considered.

But Peter? Well he’s a different story. I guess by now you’ve guessed that it’s Peter of whom I speak, as the disciple Jesus liked the best. Now, how can I back that up? We get a big clue when Jesus rose from the dead & the women came to His tomb to anoint His body. They met an angel who told them;--Go tell His disciples & Peter that He goeth before you into Galilee. Mark 16:7. Even after Peter had so failed Jesus in his denial of Him, Jesus still not only loved him, Peter was genuinely special to Him. Peter was the point man that you often had to talk to first before you talked to Jesus. And Jesus was always talking to Peter, explaining things & interacting with him.

One thing we know Peter didn’t have that would have endeared him to Jesus & that was a great intellect. If he was Jesus’ favorite it wasn’t because he was especially smart. Peter holds the absolute record for doing & saying the most untutored things of all twelve disciples put together. He was impetuous, he was loud, he was crass, he was a hot-head & had a penchant for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. Also, although Peter did finally shape-up, putting aside Judas, he holds the dubious distinction of having the worst melt-down on record when the pressure was put on him during the arrest of Jesus. He flatly denied he ever knew Jesus. So his loyalty & his intellect couldn’t have been why Jesus liked him best. As a matter of fact Peter didn’t possess any of the qualities that we’d generally look for if we were looking for the person Jesus liked best. You’d think a quieter more self-possessed & tranquil person would have held that distinction.

Peter was always messing up the beautiful moments Jesus was experiencing. Remember the incident on the Mount of Transfiguration? Jesus took Peter James & John with Him & Moses & Elijah came down & made an appearance. Peter got so beside himself that he started talking about building three tabernacles for Jesus, Moses & Elijah & just staying there to bask in the glory of the experience. Jesus had to put a “wet blanket” on Peter’s idea, because the need was down in the valley, down where the hurting people were.

When Jesus wanted to wash Peter’s feet, Peter threw a fit & refused to let Him do it, telling Him there was no way that was going to happen. When Jesus explained to him that if He didn’t wash Peter’s feet he would have no part with Him, then Peter readjusted & told Jesus He could go ahead & wash his hands & head also. I can almost hear Jesus saying, “Peter, now back off & let this be what it is, an occasion for washing feet.”

Another great moment Peter sullied was in the garden when Jesus had prepared Himself to be arrested by the authorities, thus beginning His Passion. This was the real reason He came, to die for all humanity. But what did Peter do? He fumed & fussed around & somehow produced a sword, (there’s no telling how he got that sword) & cut off Malcus’ ear. Now, beside dealing with the stress of the sell-out by Judas & being taken into custody, He’s got to clean up the mess Peter made & heal Malcus’ ear.

Earlier when Jesus was trying to explain that this time would surely come, Peter rebuked Him, saying he would never let it happen. Can you imagine a man actually taking God behind the bushes & scolding Him, telling Him in essence that what He was saying was preposterous & way off course? Jesus had to give Peter a “smack-down,” telling him “get thee behind me Satan.” This then was Peter. Over & over he exhibited his lack of understanding of Jesus’ mission. To put it bluntly, Peter wasn’t all that spiritually fine-tuned & often just got it wrong.

Neither was the special relationship Jesus & Peter had based on a long history together. The first record we have of them meeting was when Jesus saw Peter fishing one day & called him to be a disciple. They weren’t playmates from childhood. Have you ever had the experience of being with a friend you’d known for a number of years & felt maybe you were their best friend, or perhaps your friendship was the longest running friendship? Then another person came on the scene & as they talked you realized that this person’s connection with your friend predated your friendship with them? The more they talked the more it dawned on you that though you were very good friends, the other person had known your friend much longer than you had. Not that you were any less a good friend, it was just that you now realized that you didn’t know this person as well as you thought you did & your friendship didn’t have the deep texture or history the other friend had. There was no way you could turn back the clock & know you friend during all the years before you met.

Peter’s friendship with Jesus wasn’t based on past history; it was what it was on the basis of what was happening between them in the moment. Having presented all these negatives, there had to be something Jesus liked about Peter. The first thing that causes me to feel Peter was best liked by Jesus is;

HE SHOWED UP

Peter was just always around. He was present. He’s in the big middle of almost all the stories told in the four gospels. Peter’s name is mentioned more times in the four gospels than all the other eleven disciples put together. The reason he was mentioned so much was that he was always there. He was always hanging around. And isn’t that one of the prerequisites for success in life, to show up. Someone has said that ninety per-cent of life is just showing up. That’s stage one to anything we do in life—show-up. If we are no-shows, nothing happens. We can go on to the other steps then, but job one is showing up. Peter always showed-up.

I remember someone commenting to my father one time about my call to the ministry & how proud he must have been when I made the decision to follow in his footsteps. Dad’s answer was something like; “well, you know I never encouraged Johnny to follow in my footsteps. He chose it for himself. Every time I looked around, he was there asking questions, picking my brain, & trying to get a little more knowledge. What you see in my son isn’t my doing; it was totally his decision & his choice.” And that was very true. There was a burning desire in my heart to work for the Lord which neither of my parents stoked or tried to cultivate, outside of encouraging me to be a Christian. Whatever else I wanted to do was strictly up to me & my initiative.

Pastors know that relationships will often grow with certain people within the congregation that they didn’t really initiate. There is often someone who has a special liking for their pastor & they gravitate toward him & his family. It’s not that the pastor has chosen them. That person has chosen to be closer than others in the church.

If you’re a parent & or a grandparent, you’ll know that often for no reason you can explain, one of the children will chose to be closer to you, to get to know you better than the others. As a parent you have absolutely no power over that. They child chooses you, not the other way around. It’s just that they’re always there. You turn around & there they are, wanting to make the trip to the store with you; asking questions about your childhood, wanting you to show them how to bait a hook. One day you wake up to realize you feel closer to one than the other (God forbid that we would love one more than the other.) What was happening was an individual was choosing to be close to you & you weren’t about to close them out.

The second thing Peter did that made Jesus like him was;

HE SPOKE UP

Peter didn’t hesitate to speak when he felt like it. He wasn’t intimidated by anyone. Even though he loved & revered Jesus deeply, Peter didn’t close down when he faced Jesus. Quite the contrary, he was often “in His face,” asking for explanations & clarifications. Did Jesus resent him? No! Jesus loved it. You can see it in their interactions.

Forgive me for pointing out the obvious but conversations are very much a two way street. Jesus loved conversations & He had many with His disciples, especially Peter. Have you ever played tennis? What if you were playing tennis & all at once the person you were playing with just reached out & grabbed the ball? You might reach & get another tennis ball & send it back but if the person on the other side of the net kept holding the ball & not hitting it back the game would be over. Tennis is a game where the players hit the ball back & forth, hopefully across the net.

It’s the same in conversation. People must stay with it, both contributing to the activity. God loves these conversations with us. The reason Jesus liked Peter was He enjoyed the authenticity of the man. Peter was a body in motion but he was correctable & malleable. Jesus could straighten him out because he was a work in progress. But he was in progress. No one could ever accuse Peter of being lethargic. God can steer us & correct us but He can’t do it unless we animated in some way. The third reason Jesus liked Peter was that;

HE ACTED ON HIS FEELINGS

To put it succinctly, Peter showed-up, spoke-up & acted-out.
Many times the actions he took weren’t exactly right but again, Jesus would step in & correct him.

There’s a short snippet of a story in Matthew 14 where all three of these characteristics of Peter are in full play. The disciples were in a boat in the midst of a storm & Jesus came to them walking on the water. In His usual custom He told the disciples –“Be of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid.”
When you read that story, you would think that Peter was the only one in the boat though we’re told all the disciples were on board. But Peter was the only one speaking or doing anything. However, Peters proclivity for saying the wrong thing is alive & well on this occasion. What does he do? He opens his mouth & says the most impudent thing a man could have possibly have said at such a time. Peter offers up to Jesus a test of His Godhood by saying—“Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto you on the water.”

Of course I wouldn’t have had the grace for Peter that Jesus had, but if I’d been Jesus I think I would have said—“Hey, knot- head, who else have you seen walking on the water lately? What part of “It is I” don’t you understand? Is there anyone else in that boat who wants to join me out here, not you Peter, sit down before you fall down.”

But what does Jesus say to Peter? COME! Isn’t that beautiful? COME! Do you think Jesus was in any way aggravated with Peter because of this? No!! He loved it! He loved it because He knew it was authentic. The proof of that is that Peter didn’t say-“O.K. I was just kidding, James get out of the boat & walk to Jesus.” Peter didn’t say “Let me think it over & I’ll get back to you Jesus.” No, Peter got out of that boat & started walking to Jesus. We know the story how Peter got distracted & started to sink but Jesus reached out & caught him by the hand. If I’m reading right, Peter walked back to the boat with Jesus.

In case you think I’m being a little tough on Peter, let me say that though Peter had his failings, he wasn’t a failure. After he was filled with the Spirit & grounded, under his leadership & preaching the Church spread in Jerusalem, Judea, & Samaria, & then to Antioch & Rome. Peter then died a martyr’s death for His Lord. Why then did the scriptures record all his failings? I believe it’s to show us that Peter’s ultimate achievements were not his alone but gifts from God.

I also believe it’s for our encouragement that we are shown this all too human man who cannot trust himself but learns how to trust God. By the grace of God a man who in so many ways seems a failure becomes a success & the stumbling block is turned into a foundation stone.

We like Peter have our failings. We fail to understand God’s purposes as we ought & maybe we fail in being the kind of witness we ought to be for Christ. We’ve all had our Peter moments; moments of faith quakes & faith quirks. Maybe we’ve even been paralyzed by fear & when it came time for us to step into the gap & be like Jesus we lost our grip on God; times when our humanity overshadows everything in our lives of any depth.

Of course Jesus wasn’t blind to the problems of Peter. But He saw his heart. Because of His love for Peter he pardoned his cowardice & the fact that he had a problem staying awake at the right times but wanted to fight at the wrong times. Peter had lots of zeal but little carry-through. Sound familiar? Because of Jesus’ affection for Peter He saw past His weaknesses & worked with his strengths. At the right moment Jesus even gave Peter an opportunity to erase the guilt of his earlier denial that he knew Him.

I think I see pattern in the life of Peter that you & I can follow & in so doing we can please the heart of God. We can be present & we can show up in whatever way that might apply. I strongly believe in the ministry of showing up. Just about everything good that’s ever happened to me happened because I showed up. Some people have all kinds of spiritual gifts but they’re never there when needed. They never show up.

Then we can speak up. We hear so much about not talking too much that sometimes we’re silent when we should be speaking. I know prayer isn’t just chattering to God, giving Him no time to speak, but conversely it isn’t just silence with no engagement on our part. Prayer is communication with our heavenly Father. I believe He wants us to talk to Him.

When was your last Peter moment? Jesus knows all about it. He understands our times of reluctance, our times of abject fear, our times of defeat, even our times of rejecting his love. He accepts our apologies, dismisses the charges, exonerates our actions, purges our cowardice, wipes our slate clean & forgives all our Peter moments & keeps challenging us by appealing to the potential He knows we have.

He beckons us to demonstrate our love for Him as he did His good friend Peter by saying,


Peter, feed my sheep.



Blessings,


John