Good morning my son,
Good morning my daughter,
This has been an interesting day so
far. I woke up early, as always and sought the Lord.
Luke 6:6-11
“On another Sabbath he went into the
synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was
shriveled. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking
for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if
he would heal on the Sabbath. But Jesus knew what they were thinking
and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in
front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there.
Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you,
which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save
life or to destroy it?
He looked around at them all, and then
said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand
was completely restored. But they were furious and began to discuss
with one another what they might do to Jesus.”
Okay, about now you are probably
thinking that with such a long passage, this is going to be one of
the longer of the posts. However, let me assure you it will not (at
least I don't think so, LOL). See there were only a couple of words
that leaped out at me:
“He looked around at them all, and
then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He
did so, and his hand was completely restored.”
See I had a simple question for the
Lord today – what am I supposed to do?
He had already showed me several
scriptures before as to what was to be, and what he was going to do.
This should always be your first inquiry – God where do you stand
on a particular matter. I asked specifically concerning my health.
I know what the doctors have said. But I wanted to know what He
said. And He spoke to me as to what HE was going to do as to my
health. If you know me well enough you know by now that I am just
enough of a fool (or a wise man depending upon your beliefs) to
believe God when He says something. Especially, when He makes it
very plain. He answered rather directly (Read Isaiah chapter 38).
But then I wanted to know what I must do. He gave me two
instructions, the first I will not elaborate on here for it wasn't
concerning my health (God often tells us more than we ask – an
AWESOME God we serve!). But the second . . . well that is what this
Got Word is about.
In the words that leaped out at me I
see several things.
- Jesus speaks to the man directly.
- Jesus gives a command which is, to the man, impossible to do – stretch a shriveled arm out.
- The man does what he was told to do.
- Jesus heals the man.
May I elaborate:
- Jesus speaks to the man directly.
There were a number of persons in the
crowd that probably had illness and disease. There may, in fact,
have been another with a shriveled arm. But Jesus spoke to this one.
His words were for this one not to another. They were specific to
him. This is important. Why? Because God deals with us
individually, even when we are found in a collective mass. He
was in a crowd, but God called him forward and dealt with him
specifically and individually; i.e., God has a specific word for
you and for me for each area in our lives that need to be healed.
Many heard the words of Jesus that day,
but one HEARD the word as to himself. You can go to the church and
hear the word of God preached, but what is most important is that you
hear the word AS TO YOURSELF. What God is saying specifically to
you. His word of healing directed towards you. And rest assured
that HE has a specific word for you. Listen for your circumstance,
your hurt, your “shriveled arm.” Listen for His word for you.
- Jesus gives a command which is, to the man, impossible to do – stretch a shriveled arm out.
The work of God is often done in
partnership with you in doing the impossible BUT for God. His
partnership with you will always require of you to do that which is
impossible for you to do by yourself. So God says to me to step out
and eat xyz, and do xyz exercise. I don't want to eat xyz, nor do I
believe that it is possible for me to do so as I do not have the
funds to make such a shift in diet, plus this must be done in
conjunction with my doing xyz exercise and God, you know, my body
screams to high heaven when I just attempt to do xyz exercise. Both
requirements are impossibilities. Not to mention, don't you know for
me to do this, to even attempt to do this I risk failure big time.
And by failure I mean PUBLIC failure!
Hey you know the condition of my heart,
my arteries, my veins, my diabetes, etc. For me to attempt to do
this AT YOUR WORD if it doesn't happen . . . well some might think I
am not a part of you. Or I did not hear clearly from you. Or worst
. . . I did hear but I did not have enough faith (we will talk about
this “enough” faith thing another time, suffice it to sum it up
my opinion, which I think is biblically based, in one word
“PHEWEY!”). Or perhaps, even worst . . . they will think that
YOU could not do the work! YOU! Do you really want to risk your
reputation on my fickle minded, feeble hearted, whimpy effort to do
what you said do? Me? Remember its me you are talking about? The
one who has screwed up over and over again. Me.
Or is it you? See here is a truth that
you must get down deep inside. Yes God is willing to risk His
reputation on our obedience to Him. He does this publicly so
that He can do just that! You and I are not the only ones who
realize we have been “screw-ups from the ground up.” He does
too! And so does everyone else. So, when we are victorious who will
get the glory? He will! If you could do it yourself He wouldn't get
the glory! So here and accept the command!
- The man does what he was told to do.
Ah here is where the rubber meets the
road. We must DO what he said do, no matter how incredulous,
unbelievable, seemingly impossible it appears to us to be! We must
be obedient to God's command. Charles
Stanley says to “Obey God and leave the consequences up to Him.”
So here we must do as the Nike commercial slogan use to be “Just Do
It!”
I
have found during the years that when I speak a lot about what God
has said to do, I often begin to think and act like I had already
done it, when indeed all that I had done was talk about it. If it
had been me in the story there probably would have been a break in
the story between the command and the doing. I would have gone and
told everyone, this is what God told me to do. I can hear myself
telling just how great and Awesome God is that He would so direct
me. Isn't it neat that God speaks so clearly. Wow! Hopefully
somewhere along my travels someone might notice and point out to me
that I left Jesus in the temple waiting, that I still had the
shriveled arm, that with all the rejoicing that God spoke to me, yes
to me – sinner that I am, screw-up, etc. - I still had NOT DONE
what He said!
I am
reminded of a little saying I heard recently, “when all is said and
done, more is said than is done.” LOL
Don't
do a “Murphy” and talk about it! Just Do It! Do what the Lord
commands you to do!
- Jesus heals the man.
Funny
thing is, the healing does not occur until the man attempts, in
obedience to Jesus's command to him, the impossible. In partnership
with God, in the presence of all the persons right there in the
temple the man does what he was told to do.
Are
you shy? Are you afraid? Do you not want to be embarrassed? Do you
not want to look or sound like a fool? Do you think they will laugh
at you?
All
of these are important questions. But the answer to only one
question should control your action, and God's response.
Do
you REALLY want to be whole?
In
otherwords . . . have you hurt long enough? Are you tired of the
tears and the pain? Are you tired of hiding out and being fake to
yourself and others? Are you tired of the shell of a person you may
have become because you refuse to hear the word directed to you and
to partner with God and just do it? Have you bled enough? Do you
REALLY, REALLY want to be healed?
Then
if you do want to be whole, to be healed, you will hear His word to
you, today you will accept His orders, you will then do what He says
to do . . . to completion . . . and you will experience His healing.
You
may have gotten used to working with a shriveled arm, with the pain
and illness of the situation you are in. But that is NOT what God
desires for you or for me. He desires that we experience the joy of
living a life of wholeness . . . just how much more fuller our life
will be with an arm that is whole.
Are
you ready?
Ask
God about that area that is hurting now. Hear and accept His word
about it. Hear His command to action. Do that thing He is
commanding you to do which seems impossible for you without Him. And
experience the healing He has always intended for you.
I am
stretching out my shriveled arm, right now!
Love yah,
dad
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