And when He SAW their faith

Have you ever thought that tenacity, strategy, determination, ingenuity, thinking outside the box could be characteristics that are very appealing to the Lord. In fact could this be so pleasing to the Lord that He could possibly say, "My child since you have shown me your heart of tenacity and ingenuity in thinking outside of the box and beyond the normal/natural scope of things and have shown a sense of determination I am going to grant to you the desires of your heart."

I was thinking about this the other day after reading about Christ Jesus healing the man with palsy in (Luke 5:18-25) And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him. And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.

Did You catch that? When Jesus saw their faith He said, "Man, thy sins are forgiven thee." The men showed their trust and confidence in Jesus by being ingeniously determined to get their friend to Him. The men did what they felt they had to do for their friend and then Jesus took it from there.

Have you heard the old saying, "There's more than one way to skin a cat?" No offense cat lovers, I love cats myself, so don't get your panties in a tuft. These men were determined to come up with a strategic way to get their friend to Jesus so that he could be healed and they were dramatically successful in their conquest. Because of their faith and ingenuity, this man so far, has been spiritually healed (his sins have been forgiven).

We must go a little further because this man's physical healing is about to be granted by Christ Jesus as well. And the Scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone? But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts? Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk?
But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up they couch, and go into thine house. And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that wheron he lay, and departed to his house, glorifying God.

Isn't Jesus cool? The Son of man (Jesus Christ) has not only the power upon earth to forgive sins He also has the power upon earth to heal the body. I can just see the Scribes and Pharisees now, standing there with their mouths agape in total amazement and perplexity.

This account in scripture was a reminder to me by the Holy Spirit that we can possibly stop short of seeing the physical miracles in our lives because we limit our vision of hope. We can look at circumstances as hopeless and get tunnel vision which then causes us to lose our faith/determination and thus we can overlook the one possible way that will birth a miracle. The men had hopes that if they couldn't get their friend through the crowd then they would go over the crowd. They were tenacious, determined and strategic. I can just see Jesus smiling as if to say, "That's my boys! and I am proud of them for showing determination in their quest to get to me and having confidence in me."

If it seems as though it is impossible to get to Jesus because circumstances are blocking the way ,then we must look up and go over them. This is where Faith comes in. Circumstances should never stop us from our pursuit and appointed destination which is Jesus. Jesus is our Hope and He is our Answer both now and forever!

May we all be honest with ourselves and ask this question, "Am I looking up and going over the circumstances in life and trusting in Jesus or have I stopped short by looking at the overwhelming crowds of circumstances in front of me and think that all is hopeless?

Tenacity will take you up and over

Have you ever thought that tenacity, strategy, determination, ingenuity, thinking outside the box could be characteristics that are very appealing to the Lord. In fact could this be so pleasing to the Lord that He could possibly say, "My child since you have shown me your heart of tenacity and ingenuity in thinking outside of the box and beyond the normal/natural scope of things and have shown a sense of determination I am going to grant to you the desires of your heart."

I was thinking about this the other day after reading about Christ Jesus healing the man with palsy in (Luke 5:18-25) And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him. And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.

Did You catch that? When Jesus saw their faith He said, "Man, thy sins are forgiven thee." The men showed their trust and confidence in Jesus by being ingeniously determined to get their friend to Him. The men did what they felt they had to do for their friend and then Jesus took it from there.

Have you heard the old saying, "There's more than one way to skin a cat?" No offense cat lovers, I love cats myself, so don't get your panties in a tuft. These men were determined to come up with a strategic way to get their friend to Jesus so that he could be healed and they were dramatically successful in their conquest. Because of their faith and ingenuity, this man so far, has been spiritually healed (his sins have been forgiven).

We must go a little further because this man's physical healing is about to be granted by Christ Jesus as well. And the Scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone? But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts? Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk?

But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up they couch, and go into thine house. And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that wheron he lay, and departed to his house, glorifying God.

Isn't Jesus cool? The Son of man (Jesus Christ) has not only the power upon earth to forgive sins which is spiritual but He also has the power upon earth to heal the body which of course is physical. I can just see the Scribes and Pharisees now, standing there with their mouths agape in total amazement and perplexity.

This story was a subtle reminder to me by the Holy Spirit that we can possibly stop short of seeing the physical miracles in our lives because we limit our vision of hope. We can look at circumstances as hopeless and get tunnel vision which then causes us to lose our faith/determination and thus we can overlook the one possible way that will birth a miracle. The men had hopes that if they couldn't get their friend through the crowd then they would go over the crowd. They were tenacious, determined and strategic. I can just see Jesus smiling as if to say, "That's my boys! and I am so proud of them for showing so much determination in their quest to get to me and having confidence in me."

If it seems as though it is impossible to get to Jesus because circumstances are blocking the way ,then we must look up and go over them. Circumstances should never stop us from our pursuit and appointed destination which is Jesus. Jesus is our Hope and He is our Answer both now and forever!

May we all be honest with ourselves and ask this question, "Am I looking up and going over the circumstances in life and trusting in Jesus or have I stopped short by looking at the overwhelming crowds of circumstances in front of me and think that all is hopeless?

Ask, Seek, Knock

Matthew 7: 8-11 (8) For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

(9) Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

(10) Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

(11) If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

Our Heavenly Father is faithful in providing for His children. Whether we have a financial need, a spiritual need or a physical need God will always provide.
His Word says: But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (Phil. 4:19).

According to the above scriptures in (Mt. 7:8-11) it seems to me that it is just a matter of asking, seeking and knocking. I like to think of it this way: Believe that when you ask something of your Heavenly Father you will receive, trust that when you seek Him you will find Him, and have faith that when you knock the door shall be opened unto you.

I would like to share with you a testimony of what I would consider a miraculous provision by God in our life. A few years ago we received a shut off notice in the mail from the electric company. All the monies that we had in our account was fifty dollars. Not nearly enough to pay our electric bill. We have made it a habit to daily check our accounts just in case of some mathematical errors by us or even the bank. And with all the fees now-a-days you just never know when they are going to withdraw monies- Ugh! For a week we did this and there was the balance of fifty dollars every time. We had about a week left now before our electric was going to be shut off. I had decided that this time I wasn't going to fret or worry about it. If the electric got shut off then it got shut off because there wasn't a thing we could do about it. God knew and we knew that we hadn't been negligent with our monies. So I continued to believe, trust and have faith that God was in control. After all, He has said that He would take care of our need. So that was final and I stood with my faith in my Heavenly Father!
About five days prior to our electric being shut off we looked at our account once again and would you believe it, our balance said $550. We thought, "Oh my goodness! How in the world did that get in there?" There was no record of a deposit. How can this be? We waited until the day before our electric bill was going to be shut off before we touched the money, because we wanted to make sure that it wasn't a glitch in the system or a bank mistake. Normally if it's a glitch in the system or a mistake by the bank they catch it and get it fixed pretty quick. Four days had gone by now and there set the $550 still in our balance.
What did we do, you may ask? Well, we thanked our Heavenly Father (the Great Mathematician) for His miraculous provision for us and used it to pay our electric bill. And we even had a little extra left over. We were so grateful that we couldn't stop praising God and thanking Him for providing for us. We still praise Him and thank Him even today in believing, trusting and having faith that He will continually provide for us.
I know that there are other miraculous testimonies out there about how Your Heavenly Father has provided for you. I would love to hear them, so please feel free to share them. As God's children share and testify of the blessings of their Heavenly Father in their life it will cause our faith to grow in Him.