PERSISTING IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD

All scripture is beautiful because it is God breathed.  Some scripture is melodic and rolls right off the tongue.  Some scripture is more difficult to speak.  Some scripture is easily understood.  Some scripture is only understood with prayer and revelation by God.  But, all scripture is beautiful because it was whispered by the One.

We recite scripture in our worship services, at funerals, at weddings, at anniversaries, at special events.  We memorize scripture for times of fear, anger, comfort, strength, exaltation, hope, honor,  praise.

This is such a beautiful Psalm.  But to be flat out honest, usually when these verses are recited in unison, it is just downright depressing.  Could we be any less dramatic?  Any less enthusiastic?  Anyone else feel that way?  We recite it in monotone, as slow as we can possibly go.  It is just a dirge!  We certainly don’t make it sound like the breath of God whispered to His children.

If you carefully read the words, visualize the sights and sounds of David’s time, Psalm 23 is not actually a dirge, it’s a psalm of praise!  Check this out:

I don’t know about you, but that sounds like praise to me.  That sounds like something we can call upon for comfort, for strength, for support, for blessing.  Our cup runneth over, isn’t that cause for a little praise? 

When you approach me in stillness and in trust, you are strengthened.  You need a buffer zone of silence around you in order to focus on things that are unseen.  Since I am invisible, you must  not let your senses dominate your thinking.  The curse of this age is overstimulation of the senses, which blocks out awareness of the unseen world. 

Jesus Calling, Sarah Young

When I read that the other morning during prayer time, well, it hit me like a ton of bricks.  I’ve been convicted.  Lately, I’ve been completely out of focus, and I didn’t even realize it, although if I had been vigilant I would have.  I’ve definitely been letting my senses dominate my thoughts.  I’ve been focusing on what my eyes see – images of pain, hurt, anger, sorrow, chaos, injustice, destruction, violence, masks, images that shock the mind.  I’ve been focusing on what my ears are hearing – words of hate, drama, frustration, shouts of anger, cries of sorrow, loud percussions that jolt the body. I’ve been focusing on the seen and not the unseen.  I’ve been focusing on the visible world.  Am I alone?

The Word of God tells us repeatedly to focus on what is unseen, live by faith not by our senses.  Our senses can be deceptive.  What we see, hear, touch, smell, and taste can change in perception and intensity from day-to-day.  What we have faith in though, God, never changes.  He is never deceptive, always the same, always pedal to the metal intensely calling us. 

We live in this world, so how do we stop the sensory overload that we experience?  There’s almost no place we can go that we’re don’t have reception, that we’re not assaulted by sight or sound.  Even as I sit here at 5:00 a.m. in the dark at the foot of the mountain, my senses pick up the sounds of the interstate, a sensory distraction.  Back to the question – how do we stop the sensory overload that we experience on a day-by-day, minute-by-minute basis?  Here are a few things I’m going to try that might help create a buffer zone:

            1.         Put down my cell phone – unfortunately and unnecessarily, my cell phone has become an appendage.  I have two arms, two legs and one cell phone.  It’s not really an extension of my arm, it’s much bigger, it’s its own separate appendage.  It’s a kind of drug, actually a stimulant.  It’s constantly whistling, flashing and vying for our attention, through our senses and because I’m sensory focused, it causes me anxiety, I’m constantly hitting the button. You too?

            2.         Turn off the TV – television has mastered the human senses.  I can’t walk through a room with a TV on without absorbing what’s on the screen.  I’m drawn in.  I check myself.  The room I was meant to pass through many minutes before has now become my sensory feed and I take a seat.

            3.         Turn off the radio – our senses are constantly searching for the right song, the right news, the right opinion.

These may all seem like small things, but they make me focus on me.  What I can see, what I can hear.  When I’m distracted by these things, eternity is not in my thoughts.

That is why we live by believing and not by seeing. 2 Corinthians 5:7

We need to check our focus.  Are we focusing on the seen (the world) or the unseen (eternity)?  We’ve said before, it’s hard to turn off the world.  After all, the world we’re constantly trying to escape is the world we usually run to for refuge.  Think about that.  We think the only way to treat sensory overload is with our senses, with what’s in front of us, what we can see.  Here’s the thing, we yearn within for something that cannot be satisfied by our human senses, it can only be satisfied with the promise of eternity.  That should be our focus – to use our senses to seek what we do not see.

I know, a little out of season.  But, if we can celebrate Christmas in July, we should be able to celebrate Palm Sunday in June, right?  After all…we didn’t really get to collectively observe it this year, did we?

So, this time of year I spend a whole lot of time on my Yellow Baby.  Isn’t she a beauty — she even has lights! Anyway, During mowing season, she and I are one.  We’re connected at the seat at least six hours a week.  I love it, for real!  Mowing is relaxing to me.  It’s God time for me.  I stick my headphones on, dial up a message from the Word, pray a bit, with few distractions, except the fence, the chickens, the low hanging limbs, the rock ledge…anyhow mowing is a time when I’m least distracted and sometimes most connected.  So many messages here for me, I’ll just get to the point:

I’m not the only one mowing these days.  Farmer Steve mowed our front hay field this week.  He cut it, raked it, and rolled it.  As I was mowing the border to Poor House I noticed a funny thing.  The way the hay fell on this particular part reminded me of Palm Sunday.  I know, I’m weird.  But, just look at it.  It’s cut grass and not palm branches, nevertheless, the way it fell on the path reminded me of Palm Sunday.  Take another look.

As I’m sitting on my mower, I look at the straw and I imagined Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem, the colt he was atop walking the strawed path.  Crowds pressing near shouting to the One who came in the name of the Lord and yet, at the same time wondering:

“Who is this?”…

Matthew 21:10-11

The crowds recognized Jesus as “the prophet.”  The One they had been waiting for for all time. The One Moses had told them about. The One Isaiah had told them about. The One.

Deuteronomy 18:15

God’s plan from the very beginning was to send Jesus, Moses said so.  Jesus the prophet, but so much more.  Prophets speak messages from God.  But, Jesus is God.  He calls us to come to Him, to follow Him to join His triumphal entry into the Kingdom.  Will you be part of the procession?  Will you fold in behind Him on the strawed path?  Will you follow Jesus? Take another look at the strawed path. Close your eyes and imagine Jesus walking, crowds gathering, and you following, all the way to eternity.

The peonies are popping and boy are they gorgeous this year!  Those big, snowball looking blooms, ranging in color from white to dark pink or a mix of both, are for some reason super beautiful this Spring.  There are tons of them in town and they are in full bloom on every block.  Ours out here at the foot of the mountain are just beginning to open up.  The ants move slower out here, I guess.

I love these flowers, they remind me of my Grandma.  She used to call them pinies.  We have a row of pinies between our house and the barn that were planted by another Grandma many, many years ago.  I pass by these peonies often and their sweet smell hits you before you even get close to them.  Oh my goodness, the smell of a good peony is intoxicating.  It does something to my brain that makes me want to eat it up – I don’t, of course?

If you take your nose on a smell tour of my row of pinies, you will notice though that they all smell different.  Some smell wonderful, some smell yucky and some have no smell at all.  Have you noticed that too?  Every peony is gorgeous to look at, but they don’t all have the same smell.  On my walks in town, I can’t resist the urge to stick my nose in a piney bloom hanging over a fence and it’s a little disappointing when it has no smell.  It’s even more disappointing when it has a yucky smell.  Those gorgeous big blooms are a little deceptive, aren’t they?  They look like they’d smell delicious, not all do.  It’s deceptive.  You can’t tell the smell until you stick your nose into it.

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Gather fragrant spices—resin droplets, mollusk shell, and galbanum—and mix these fragrant spices with pure frankincense, weighed out in equal amounts.  Using the usual techniques of the incense maker, blend the spices together and sprinkle them with salt to produce a pure and holy incense.  Grind some of the mixture into a very fine powder and put it in front of the Ark of the Covenant, where I will meet with you in the Tabernacle. You must treat this incense as most holy.  Never use this formula to make this incense for yourselves. It is reserved for the LORD, and you must treat it as holy.  Anyone who makes incense like this for personal use will be cut off from the community.”  Exodus 30:34-38

Ahhh, the sweet perfume of holiness.  An aroma so sweet placed in front of the meeting place with God.  Think about that.  A pure and holy scent.  An incense so full of holiness that we can never make it for ourselves.  A fragrant formula reserved only for the Lord.  A fragrance never to be duplicated, or brought to human level lest it smell sour or have no fragrance at all.  What does holiness smell like?  A fragrant  peony, perhaps?

I, the Lord, am the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God.  You must therefore be holy because I am holy.  1 Peter 1:16

Ahhh, the sweet perfume of holiness – not a suggestion, not a request, but a command.  Holiness, not because of who we are, but because of who He is. An aroma so sweet presented at the altar of our Lord.  An aroma that says we are set apart, no longer influenced by sin.  A fragrance produced by total devotion to God to be used for His special purposes.   A pungenceness so strong that you can’t tell where it is coming from – you can  smell it without visualizing the source.  We are to exude holiness.  It’s not a suggestion or a request, but a command.  Do we smell different?  Do we stink from sin?  Are we smell-less because of complacency, are we too comfortable?  Do we smell as if we are set apart or do we smell like everyone else?  God is close enough to tell.  How do we smell?  Like a fragrant  peony, perhaps?

We live in the country, down a lane, off a main road.  We have a couple of outbuildings and the side of one faces the main road.  About a year ago we built a cross out of scraps in our yard, strung some tiny lights on it and hung it on the side of that building.  My husband strung this ever so long extension cord, yep, bright orange, from the garage, across a side building and then around to the cross.  And there was light!

I love that cross.  It’s a comfort cross for me – home, peace, hope.  The way to and through the cross for Jesus was anything but comfort.  In three seasons you can see this cross on the building from the main road.  I hope passersby find it comforting, thought provoking, or at least notice it.  Yesterday morning, while out walking one of the many four legged loves of my life, I noticed that the cross was nearly hidden by blooming trees and branches.  The cross was barely visible.  In fact, if you didn’t know it was there, you might miss it.  It made me think…

Do I miss the Cross?  Is the Cross hidden?  Do I hide from the Cross?  Has it been hidden for so long that I have forgotten it?  Forgotten that my sin was on that cross?  Forgotten that I’m the reason for the Cross?  Forgotten that my sin was nailed to that cross?  I do miss the Cross.  At times, I do hide from the Cross.

While studying 1 Peter the other day, I stumbled onto Isaiah 49:16.

Amen!  That’s about all you can really say to that.  What  else can you say when the God of the universe has carved my name on the palm of His hand?  He said “I will remember you.”  My name engraved on His hand.   Firmly fixed – never to be forgotten.  Even when I forget Him.  Even when I hide from Him in my sin, He remembers me.  Even me.  He remembers me, sees my brokenness, sees me in disobedience, in ruin; yet still, my name is chiseled into His hand.

Seven hundred years later, we are told the same thing, at the Cross.  Jesus remembered us at the Cross.   With outstretched hands our names were etched with a nail onto His hands.  Jesus will never forget us.   He has the scars to remind Him.  Remember, Thomas saw them.  They are there.  Those scars permanently affix my name on Christ’s hands.  My name written with nails.  I am pardoned by that writing. Wow. Intense.  The message is that sometimes the Cross is hidden from us.  We either choose to hide from it, we choose to allow other things to get in the way, or we simply forget the Cross.  God does not forget us.  Jesus does not forget us.  Lest we forget.

Today’s blog is a repost from my very first official blog from June 1, 2018. I think this time of year people are frantically trying to get plants in the ground in between rain showers. Last night, that’s what we were doing. Slowly but surely we’re trying to build a perennial garden — you know, add a few each year. Since I’m not very good at tending the flower garden, that’s the best kind for me — tend free. One of those perennial’s that has taken hold and flourished are my Irises, or some older timers call them Flags.

Irises have really heavy stalks and blooms, they tend to slowly bend down so the other day I tied them together to a piece of lattice to the right of them for support. I noticed last night that part of my white wooden lattice is now deep royal purple. It’s beautiful. You see, whatever the bloom touches is permanently stained purple. It reminded me that the stains of my sins have been washed away and replaced with the stain of royalty, I’m marked as a child of the King. You too?

June 1, 2018 –

I love Irises.  They are so regal.  So stately.  The thick green stem that extends skyward is so smooth and straight.  Waving these big, funny, beautiful, bubbly, bearded blooms back and forth.  Irises come in a variety of colors but the ones in my yard are purple, deep purple.  The color of royalty.  I look at the iris blooms as they wave back and forth in the breeze and they remind me of the billowy robe of royalty worn by my Jesus.  Jesus the Royal.  His Majesty.  Jesus the King.

Do we recognize His Royalty?  Do we think about Jesus being a King?  The King?  Do we treat Jesus as The King?  Do we honor Jesus as The King?  Do we honor Jesus as Our King?  Jesus the High Priest?

How we recognize Jesus tells us a lot about ourselves.   Do we need to look at Him differently?  Do we need to look at ourselves differently?

One of the best words in the Bible — “chosen.”  We are a chosen generation, a chosen people!  Chosen by God before time began.  Chosen by Him to come out of the darkness and into the light.  Chosen by Him to shrug off the cloak of darkness we have been wearing and wrap up in the royal robe of His light.  You see Jesus is the royal high priest. 

It’s a stark contrast to visualize ourselves standing before Jesus in his beautiful royal robe, and us standing before Him with our torn and tattered garb.  Satan would like us to archive that picture and save it forever.  Living life in the darkness, feeling afraid, unworthy, unskilled, uncommitted, undone, unloved, un, un, un would be Satan’s desire.

Our acceptance of Jesus as our Savior and King, and our acknowledgement of our sin and His sacrifice that pardoned us, land us right smackdab in the middle of the kingdom of priests, right in the middle of God’s holy nation.  Out of the darkness and into the bright light.  Is there any better place to be?

Every Spring, people trudge through the woods with their eye to the ground sporting a sack or a bucket in which to store these treasurers. They grow in the woods when the ground begins to warm. A true sign of Spring – Morels. Mushroom hunting is a yearly event. I say event as some take Morel hunting very seriously. Funny thing about Morels is you either love them or hate them. Dredge them in flour, fry them in butter and I’m a lover. As tasty as Morels are, not all mushrooms are edible, some are deadly and you’ve got to know the difference between the two. Did you know mushrooms are a member of the fungi family? Sounds gross, doesn’t it, fungus cannot be good for you. Technically, mushrooms are the fruit of the fungus – calling fungus fruit doesn’t make it sound any more appetizing, does it?

One thing I learned is that fungi is 90% of living things in forests and 50% of living things in farmland. Another thing I learned is that yeast and mold are mentioned right beside mushrooms as fungi. Weird huh? They are not in the same category but nevertheless they are all listed in the fungi kingdom. They all have their good qualities – think Morels for mushrooms, penicillin for mold and leaven for bread – and they all have their bad qualities – think poisonous mushrooms, inhaling black mold and tummy trouble from too much yeast. The thing about fungi is that no matter what form it comes in it quickly spreads. Mushrooms have spores that are dispersed by wind, water or animals, making more mushrooms. We all know how quickly mold grows, and yeast can completely permeate its surroundings.

Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

1 Corinthians 5:6-8 – KJV

That verse six is quite a tongue twister, isn’t it? Yeast is a symbol for sin, and here Brother Paul is talking about allowing sin to exist in the Church. To drill that down a bit, let’s look at where sin in the Church starts – with us individual Church people. Ouch, sorry! Sin is not a word we hear very much about and we’re okay not hearing much about it, right? But, Jesus died for our sins, so it is something we must take a look at. Why? Because it has an impact on absolutely everything around us. We think sin only affects the sinner, the individual, us, but that’s simply not true. You’ve heard folks say “you’re only hurting yourself” and that’s just never a true statement. Our sin touches everything we touch and since our lives are intertwined with others, our sin, in one way or another, touches everything or everyone we touch, directly or indirectly. We will never be sinless, only the Passover Lamb was sinless and He died so we could be sinless, but that doesn’t give us permission to sin. It’s not a pass.

Remember, when we came to Christ, we became a new creation, the old creation fell away. Sin lost its grip on us. We are no longer bound by sin. Hallelujah! It doesn’t mean we won’t sin, it means we are not slaves to sin. It means Jesus has broken our bondage to sin. Hallelujah! With God’s help, we need to look inward and identify the sin in our life – you know, that yeast that spreads. Ouch, sorry! Just as Moses told the Israelites preparing for the Exodus to sweep the yeast from their homes, we need to do the same. But sometimes, looking for the sin in our lives is hard to see, isn’t it? I mean it’s always easier to see the sin in someone else’s life before our own, right?

Biologist Joe Lacefield said: “Morels are pretty camouflaged. You have to develop an eye for it. You have to key in on what you’re looking for. It definitely takes experience.”

Rooting out the sin in our lives is kind of like looking for Morels. We must first identify the fungi. We have to key in on what we’re looking for in order to sweep it out of the house. But, we cannot do that if we don’t first pick up the broom.

Do you see these twisted trees?  They are in the woods by our house.  They fascinate me.  We have tiny little forests of these twisted trees.  I sometimes stand and stare at them for a minute (if they were people I’d be considered rude) trying to figure out how they got that way.  Was something in their way and they had to grow around it?  Why do they grow in groups like that?  Is it a certain species of tree?  What caused the twisting?  Is the twisting contagious?  Is it a nutrient problem?  Is the soil bad?  Some of you may already know the answer to these questions and actually wonder why I wonder about my forest of twisted trees.  I’m just weird.  Anyway, I’ve done a little research.  I’m no arborist, so I found no good answer.

My research found lots of twisted trees, but not many that exactly matched mine.  I’m pretty sure they are not the mysterious twisted trees of Poland for obvious reasons – we’re not in Poland.  They’re not the Saskatchewan trees for obvious reasons – we’ve not seen a Big Foot.  So what kind of trees are they?  I’ve come to the conclusion they are just what they look like, twisted trees.  They started out growing normally, you can see that from the trunk, but somewhere in their growth they started turning, started twisting, started wringing.  But the most interesting things about these trees is that because of the twisting, the roping, they eventually all point downward and they break off right above the twist.  For some reason, they just can’t get straightened out.  Is it a genetic flaw?  Is it because once the twisting begins, they can’t get untwisted?  Is it because of the trees around them?  Who knows, one can only surmise.  Why would you even care, you ask?  Because I think part of practicing the presence of God is looking for Him in absolutely everything He created and asking —  Is there a lesson to learn from Him?  A change to be made in me?    When I look at the twisted trees, I think, yes.

Could this mini forest of twisted trees be an illustration of how our lives are sometimes?  We get twisted, turned around, gnarled, tied up in knots, and that always leads us to point in the wrong direction, right?  I know this is strange thinking, but I hope you see where I’m coming from. Think about your life.  Are there times you have felt like the twisted trees?  All wrung out, twisted up so tight you’re heading in the wrong direction and ready to break off?  Me too. So how exactly do we get straightened out?  There’s only One Way…

Come…

Incline…

Seek…

Call…

Turn…

Isaiah 55

Wednesday Read Isaiah 55.  Make a list of all the verbs – the action words – that God tells us to do.  Beside each word note how we are to put each into practice.

Thursday Read Isaiah 55.  Make a list of all God’s promises if we put our list of action words into action.

Friday Read Isaiah 55.  Read from a different version today.  Make a note of what we are to turn from and what we are to turn to.  The only way we can untwist something that is twisted so tight that it can cause breakage is to turn it back.  What has us so twisted that we feel about to break?  Instead of continuing to turn to that which is causing us to be twisted, we must turn away from that which is causing us to be twisted.  How do we put that in action in our daily lives? 

Saturday Read Matthew 13:1-23.  So, do we get twisted up because of our soil?  Four soils, four responses to God’s message.  Which one are you?  Which one do you want to be?  Which soil should we be?

Sunday Spend some time in praise and prayer today.  Praise God for the power to untwist our lives and pray God’s power on the untwisting of our lives.

Monday Read Mark 4:35-41.  When the waves of life are crashing around us, do we rely on Jesus to keep His promises and calm the waves, or do we automatically twist into knots and only rely on Him when we’re about to break?  Do we need to change our reaction to the storms of life?  It may be difficult, but it is certainly doable, with the Holy Spirit’s power.

Tuesday Read Acts 3:12-26.  Our twisting may be a result of sin.  It could be our sin or another’s sin.  It could be our sin or our reaction to sin in our life or another’s.  Verse 19 tells us what to do – you may have that on your list from Monday.  Verse 20 tells us the result of that action.

We have been washing our hands a bunch more lately, right?  I was washing my hands at work the other day for the umpteenth time with soap and water and had an interesting discovery…as I stood in front of the white basin with hot water running, massaging the antibacterial soap into my hands while singing Country Roads or Stayin’ Alive, hmmm, I noticed that no matter how many times I wash my hands in a day, they are always dirty.  When I rinse my hands after scrubbing them, the water is always brown, every time, even just a tinge.  Now I’m not a dirtaphobe, I mean I can eat breakfast while mucking a stall, but the dirty basin was striking to me.  You see, I have been washing my hands in the sink about 15 times a day, they shouldn’t be that dirty, right?

Here’s another observation in hand washing – in between hand washings, I use hand sanitizer at least every hour, that’s supposed to clean hands too, but when I put my hands under the faucet and turn on the hot water and lather up with soap, the water is always brown, even just a tinge.  The hand sanitizer might kill the germs but it doesn’t remove the dirt, sanitizing doesn’t mean you’re clean.

Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,  “When a man shall have a rising in his body’s skin, or a scab, or a bright spot, and it becomes in the skin of his body the plague of leprosy, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest, or to one of his sons, the priests:  and the priest shall examine the plague in the skin of the body: and if the hair in the plague has turned white, and the appearance of the plague is deeper than the body’s skin, it is the plague of leprosy; and the priest shall examine him, and pronounce him unclean. Leviticus 13:1-3

Unclean.  Sounds harsh, doesn’t it?  I mean who can help the diseases the body contracts?  Leprosy in Biblical times was a word used for many different contagious conditions and was quite alarming.   Lepers were separated from their communities until they were considered by the community Priest to be healed, or clean.  It sounds so harsh and unloving but those actions were for the protection and health of the entire community.  Reasonable but disturbing.  Those diseases for which there was no cure could not be brought into their communities.

One of the diseases which requires one to be made clean, you know, one of those diseases that is contagious and has no cure, one of those diseases synonymous with leprosy in the Bible, is sin.  Ouch!  I’m a leper.  How about you?  It may not look the same today as it did in Biblical times although it is always active, causes great illness and symptoms, and is more deadly than any earthbound leprosy.  Unclean is unclean. No amount of washing or sanitizing on our part can rid  us of the leprosy of sin.  But my friends, there is a cure!

It happened as he was on his way to Jerusalem, that he was passing along the borders of Samaria and Galilee.  As he entered into a certain village, ten men who were lepers met him, who stood at a distance.  They lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” Luke 17:11-12

Oh, couldn’t we all use the mercy of Jesus?  What is mercy?  Mercy is God’s attitude toward those in distress.  Who’s in distress?  Because we live in a fallen world, because we are sinful, because we are lepers, we are in distress.  The skin disease of leprosy actually destroys the nerve endings  in a body.  People with leprosy would often times unknowingly damage their fingers and toes. Again, sin is not so different.  Oft times our sin causes damage in our lives and the lives of others and we don’t even realize it.  The only cure for our distress is God’s mercy.   God’s mercy upon us that came through the grace of His Son.  Grace that can only come from Jesus.  His mercy makes the basin clean and by His abundant grace our sins are washed away, there’s no dirt in the sink, not even a tinge.

Wednesday Read Luke 17:11-19.  The lepers stood at a distance because they were unclean.  Do we stand at a distance from Jesus because we feel unclean?  Do we fail to approach Him?  Do we cry out for mercy?  Why don’t we? Maybe it’s because we don’t believe?  Maybe it’s because we don’t feel like we need mercy?  Maybe it’s because we don’t feel like we deserve mercy? 

Thursday Read Luke 17:11-19.  With a look from Jesus the lepers were freed.  Freed from the disease.  Free to reenter society.  Free to get back to life.  Free from the power of the disease.  The same is true for us.  With a look from Jesus we can be freed of our leprosy.  Free from the power of sin in our lives.

Friday Read Luke 17:11-19.   Jesus told the lepers to go show themselves to the priest, the only one who could declare them clean.  Look at Hebrews 4:14-16.  Who’s our great high priest.  When will we receive his mercy and his grace…when we need it.  He’s always there.

Saturday Read Leviticus Chapter 13.  The diagnosis of leprosy.  Read about leprosy in Biblical times.  How is this applied to spiritual leprosy?

Sunday Read Leviticus Chapter 14.  The cleansing of leprosy.  How is the cleansing of leprosy applied to our spiritual cleansing?

Monday Read Luke 17:11-19.  It’s interesting, check out when the lepers were healed.  Jesus healed the lepers “as they went.”  He didn’t heal them and then send them to the priest.  He didn’t make them wait until they were healed. Jesus healed them along the way. In what ways does He heal us as we go?  Are the effects of His healing always instantaneous in our lives?

Tuesday Read Luke 17:11-19.   Praise God, I’m healed!  Is that ever our response?  When Jesus has shown us mercy and grace and broken us from the bondage of sin and it’s consequences?  Do we then go to Him, fall at His feet, and praise Him?  What happened when the leper did so?  Jesus told Him he was not only healed from leprosy but He was healed from sin!  Praise always strengthens our faith!

I was driving home from work the other day and I had to smile. The world has come to a screeching halt and people are flipping out. We’ve gone from 100 miles an hour, every hour, to creeping, at best. I wonder if the Lord looks down on His children – that’s us – and says oh my youngins, and He smiles. We know full well that our God is not a God who is sitting on the throne laughing at the state of the world. He’s not saying haha, you got what you deserve. He’s not saying you should have, you could have, if you would have.

We know that when life is going smoothly and when life is in calamity, in every circumstance, our God is looking down with tender eyes, with a gentle heart and with pom poms in hand cheering us on. He’s saying – hey guys, I love you, I’m in charge, come over here, nestle right here under my arm. I will give you rest. I will give you what you need. I will give you hope. I will give you… I will give you…I will give you…Just come to me.

You see those are His promises and we know that God always keeps His promises. This is how it works. He makes a promise…He keeps His promise. He makes a promise…He keeps a promise. He makes a promise…He keeps a promise. He committed to us and when we commit to Him all those promises are fulfilled in our lives. Do we believe that? God makes a promise. We believe that promise. He fulfills that promise in our life. Easy-peasy, right? Maybe.

But, if you possibly can, have pity on us and help us.” “‘If I possibly can!'” replied Jesus; “why, everything is possible to him who believes.” Immediately the father cried out, “I do believe: strengthen my weak faith.”
Mark 9:22-23

Have you ever felt like this dude? Jesus, if you possibly can? Are you relating to this father or are you thinking to yourself this dude just didn’t’ know Jesus. How could he doubt Jesus? Come on for real? He must be a weakling in the faith. Before we go getting all Phariseeical and offering the should ofs, let’s be honest. We’ve all felt that way at one time or another, though we may not have said it out loud. How do I know that? Because, Jesus is the only perfect. There are times when our faith is just as imperfect as this worried father. Think about your life, I’m sure there are times you can relate to how this father feels. Maybe your child hasn’t been demon-possessed, but aren’t there other things in our lives that cause us to question, even unintentionally – Jesus, if you could possibly help us…

Here’s the thing, God does not demand us to have perfect faith. He knows we need help with our unbelief. He knows our faith needs strengthened. He accepts our faith, as small as a mustard seed and continues to work in our lives. As we continue to focus growing our relationship with Jesus, He helps our unbelief, strengthens our weak faith, helps us not to doubt. Through His power in our lives, through our surrender to Him, He gradually changes our unbelief, our doubt, our weak faith, bit by bit into a more perfect faith. You see, faith is complete, humble dependence on Him and obedience to His will.

Wednesday
Read Mark 9:14-29. Write down all the red-letters. Make a list of all of Jesus’s statements, one right after another. Do you get a sense of the whole story, just in the red letters? This story could be your story, right? Read the list of red-letters you made. Think about an occurrence or situation in your life and fill in the back story.

Thursday
Read Mark 9:29. What is the key to unlocking our faith? Evaluate your prayer life. Do you spend much time in prayer? Do you ask the Lord to fill you with faith and power?

Friday
Read Luke 17:1-10. Do you feel the same way the disciples did? What is more important, the amount of faith you have or the authenticity, or realness, of your faith?

Saturday
Read Romans Chapter 4 about the faith of Abraham. This faith is not just for Abraham and his children, but this kind of faith is for Abraham’s children’s children, for us today, and for those children of tomorrow. Focus on verses 20-24. Make notes about Abraham’s faith. How can we use Abraham’s faith as an example?

Sunday
Read Psalm 86. David’s faith grew in times of trouble because he knew the character of God. David prayed to God. God responded. David’s faith grew.

Monday
Read 1 Corinthians 1:8. Write down the promises. Read Philippians 1:6. Growth. God promises that He will complete the work He started in us. Look back over your life with Christ. Do you see those completions of His good works in your life, those growths?

Tuesday
Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come. His grace has brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home. Spend time in prayer today thanking God for keeping His promises, thanking God for planting a mustard seed within, thanking God for using His power to grow the seed of faith in our lives and perfecting our faith in and through Him. Amen.