May4 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Mark:1:35-39 ALL MEN SEEK THEE - Peter leads a group of people in the pre-dawn outside Capernaum. Fame is spreading quickly and the opportunities of the new day are invigorating/intoxicating, perhaps keeping them awake; except for one thing, Jesus their miracle man is missing. There will be a great swell of people coming in from everywhere in the coming hours. People will want to be healed. People will want to be released from demons. People will want a political/religious uprising. People will want to witness miracles, but, will they want to believe in Jesus as the Son of Man? Sure all men would seek after Him, they seek after still today, what is it however that they seek of Him. Peter seeks after Jesus. What are his motives? Good I am sure but, pure? What is best? It is Peters' house that they are staying at, it is his hometown, he doesn't have to leave his wife or his front door step and the lost sheep are coming to him. I am not accusing him nor trying to read his mind, just saying He is new at this fame and miracle thing and the excitement may cloud his judgment/expectations. And the anonymous others with him, are they following Jesus or Peter? Where do they finally find Him? Where Peter's mind is racing with the many opportunities Jesus' mind is settling in worship and supplication to the Father. The settled mind seeks God's holiness, His omniscience, His righteousness, His communion, and from that reverent position receives a peaceful confident heart and direction. The faith of our Lord is not in all the opportunities to use His powers that the others might see it is in the need to maintain those powers and opportunities under will of the Father where all such blessings come. Power makes for itself plenty of opportunities, the focus of prayer makes so that the right opportunity come to light.
May18 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Mark:4:35-41 LET US PASS - Fearful and no faith tie together in this passage. This Greek "no" may also suggest the definite no, as in never or not yet faith. Intellectual consent got them into the boat. Intellectual consent assumes that everything ahead will go alright, if trouble comes up there will be time to adjust or abandon. Spiritual consent assumes that no matter what comes up against it it will be as planned, placing more faith in the master of the wind than the obvious physical tumult of the tempest. Fear is natural in either respect, it is where intellectual consent hides to when faced with something greater or more threatening/unknown comes against it's approved consent/control. Just as these men had never faced fear to this level before they had never faced faith. Note that this took place at the end of one of the most successful single days thus far of their discipleship/ministry. The faith of our Lord challenges both faith and fear to it's core and calls for some uncomfortable occassions. It rebukes not the person nor the elements but the forces stirring them toward disturbance. Peace and calm are found in the divine settling of these compulsively consuming momentums. Let us pass over to the other side!
May24 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Mark:6:30-44 GIVE YE THEM TO EAT - It is not just that Jesus took what the Disciples were able to come up with and make it to feed five thousand plus, it was when and why He did it. The Disciples had just returned from their first paired solo excursions and reported everything that had happened. Imagine the testimonies of these men! But, they were tired and needed rest. Yet five thousand other men (not counting women and children) had followed them out to the rest sight. Imagine the disappointment of these men. Did they get their rest? Little energy and barely enough food to feed themselves, what they did have Jesus was able to make more than enough for everybody. Yes. At the point where they thought they had the power to do anything settling quickly to the point of fatigue and human impossiblility, Jesus shows them who the Master still is. His strength is in divine compassion; compassion for these men, compassion for these shepherd-less crowds, compassion for fallen mankind. Divine compassion continually invigorates and supplies. The faith of our Lord is that these many men will experience this divine love from Him and come to accept the terms of it. It is not their love nor power, it is His, it is His Father's, it is the Spirit's. It is there to taste of, to sustain us, to replenish us, to be filled of, to rest assured of/in. We gather together and offer up what little we have collectively, He makes it miraculously all sufficient. Is there rest for the weary disciple and shepherd-less? Yes, in His compassion! GIVE YE THEM TO EAT.
October7 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:21:1-4 OF HER PENURY - Wouldn't it have been a nice story to hear that because of her giving that she became rich beyond measure and never again had to give a miserable two mites? It never says that. Wouldn't it have been nice if we heard that the rich men were once poor, but they gave their last two mites one time and now are extremely wealthy. It never is said about them. What if the story was that the woman continued giving all that she had each and every time and never had anything more than twenty mite at any given time? Would that change the story? The story really isn't about the widow, it is about the rich men that thought that they were really giving something special to the treasury. Are these the same men Jesus said seek to devour widow's homes? Was the widow desperate and therefore gave even to her last. Nothing like this is said. The story is really about the excess from which many tithe from verses the essential core living that few tithe from. If you strip away all the individual motives and self rationalizations and story lines it comes down to how much of yourself is really being given. God's first and foremost expects a cheerful giver. Some hearts are never cheerful about giving even in giving the excess of their abundance. Some people are cheerful down to their last two half pennies. Few rich men would ever give all that they have just as few poor men/women would give theirs. It is better to give something cheerfully than to begrudgingly give little or nothing at all. Avoid the reasoning why and for what gain, avoid settling on the max and min cost and you will be on your way to becoming a much more cheerful giver. The faith of our Lord is in the heart of the generous and cheerful giver. Salvation or reward cannot be bought, however giving from the depths of appreciation for such salvation is most encouraged.
December16 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:18:1-11 WHOM SEEK YE - The impression I take from this passage is that Father is in control of everything and Jesus is giving Himself to the Father. The officers and guards marching on the way over surely had rehearsed the situation over in their minds as they approached and were fully aware of who it was that they were coming to get. Others had been sent on the same mission other times and had come back empty handed. The pressure was on them this time. They may have been under orders to assume control of the situation, that they fell back may have been part of that plan (or not), but there was little control for them to be had. Judas may have thought that he was in control, but when the guard fell back exposing him powerless and later when the swords were drawn exposing him to danger and even later when the purse was tossed, control was found furthest from Judas' hands. The Sanhedrin thought themselves to be in control on many occasion and ended up being shown as the fool. This could easily play against them or even explode and cause the very same public rioting they most feared against. If there is any control or settling in their hands it comes directly from their understanding of prophecy oddly enough and Jesus' own words which ties us back into the Fathers control. Out walks Jesus like the shepherd before the pack of wolves, coming between the ravenous and His fold. He asks them twice who they have come after, making certain the release of the others (except for a momentary diversion from a mis-intentioned Peter). Had anyone other than the Father been in control this event would have gone much differently. So we must ask, why is it important that the Father be in full control of this? Couldn't this have played out more dynamically? kjv@Isaiah:53:10 may be our best source for an answer stating that it "pleased the LORD to bruise Him, having put Him to grief" and again "make His soul an offering for sin" and again "see His seed and prolong His days". The "arm of the LORD" is being revealed in this and the events to come. It won't be because of the success of any certain group or person or principality. These actors will play the part that they are given, they will be used as tools and Jesus will be shown as giving Himself freely and completely as sent and directed to perform the Father's ultimate long awaited for mercy. People today see the Father of the Old Testament as harsh and temperamental despite every evidence to the contrary. They point to specific instances like Abraham and Issac with horror not realizing that it was not Abraham that suffered this sacrifice it was HIM the Father. The faith of our Lord presents the Father in a whole new light, that HE is willing to do this for us and for HIS own good name, that HE loves us to this extent and price, that for all that we've mistaken and corrupted HE is still wanting to work it all out, HE will use all of HIS power and ability to make this what it best needs to be. Not only all of this, but that it was HIS plan all along. Maybe today you are part of that guard that is marching lock step to seize our Jesus away. Maybe you are the one who is turning Him/us in. Maybe you are in the elite thinking that you are doing God's work by ordering this to be done. Maybe you are just a simple fisherman at the ready with knife and sword. Regardless, you think that you are coming at this under control. Three words Jesus will have for you... "Whom seek ye?". Think about it!
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