Time To Reconcile

Do you keep your check book reconciled to the monthly bank statement? Are you content with it just being close or do you work it out to the penny? Do you even bother with? What about your beliefs? Do you check them regularly? Are you content with them just being close? Do you bother with it?

A few years ago I decided it was time for a major overhaul with my beliefs. My Christian life did not match up with the life I read about in the Bible. It was close, but somewhere I had missed something. So, I decided to back up and take a closer look at things I used to just blow by to see if I could find what I had missed.

In years past, with my preconceived ideas, I would have passed right by this passage at the beginning of Luke 9. “When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick”.

There are three references to power associated with some type of healing and one associated with preaching. This is a perfect example of what I mean when I say my life does not match up with the Bible. It is like I have chosen to live out of balance.

Isn’t the world, and even the church, not in desperate need of this power? Aren’t there just too many people who without it will not be helped? Are we content to just preach the kingdom to people when we have been given authority to bring the kingdom into their lives? Has He taken the authority back or is He waiting on us to take hold of it? It is time to reconcile these thoughts.

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Lake House

From the lighter side: written for a couple who’s lake house we spent the summer in while renovating it.

He cut a spot by the water’s edge
gave tranquil for its name;
those whose path would lead them there,
they will not leave the same.

The soothing sound that water makes
as it laps against the shore,
and the settling as you look across
that somehow helps restore.

The hustle fades as time is spent,
cares, they drift away;
in its place is a slowing down
and a compelling urge to stay.

Praise is due to two I think
for this setting that we see;
first the One who made it all
for our serenity.

And then the one who’s lake-house draws
us to these tranquil frames,
by removing all distractions
so we will not leave the same.

For if the lake-house has the things
that satisfy our whims,
the tranquil wonders might miss our eye
as things distract and dim.

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A Mother Cries

A mother cries, ‘Oh Lord my son’;
there is no hope but Thee.
I beg of You, please spare him Lord,
in this my painful plea.

O church rise up and fight the fight,
join in a mother’s cry.
Lay hold the hem and don’t let go;
don’t quit before you try.

A mother cries, lone voice is heard;
she’s weak against the foe.
Whose heart is moved to lend a hand?
Who’ll stand to make him go?

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The Desperate Need for Power

 
There are two stories in Luke 8, that in spite of trying to move on from, more and more application keeps bringing me back.  The stories . . . the demon possessed man and the woman with the issue of blood.

In both stories, each had been in their situations for a long time, and neither they nor anyone else had been able to bring about the help or change that was needed.

Luke points out that the demon possessed man was ‘driven by the demon into solitary places’.  I thought it was interesting after he had pointed out several times before that Jesus often withdrew to solitary places to pray.  It occurred to me that God draws us to solitary places for our strength while Satan drives us into them for our destruction.

In regard to the woman with the issue of blood, Luke points out that the crowds were pressing against Jesus so much that they were about to ‘crush him’; which would mean they were touching Him.  But when she touched Him, power went out from Him.  I have been wrestling with this question for weeks, ‘Is my pressing through to touch Him causing power to go out from Him’? 

There are things in each of our lives that neither we nor anyone else has been able to change.  Whether with ourselves personally, our spouse, or a family member or friend, there are some things that only He can change.  The question I keep asking myself is this, ‘Should I not be pressing through to bring about that change?’, and if I am not, ‘Am I just part of the crowd?’

Have we sold the Lord short in what He is able to do?  Have we come to believe that He no longer intends to exorcise His power?  In the absence of this power, has the church fallen back on reform and put Christianity’s stamp on it?  Isn’t that still just reform?

Jesus did not work with the demon possessed man for 3 years; He healed him.  Immediately he was in his right mind.  He didn’t tell the woman with the issue of blood which doctor to go see; He healed her. 

I have lately been continually reminded of situation after situation that is helpless without the touch of God’s power.  I am challenged by these 2 stories and motivated by the one’s before me to become one through which His power can flow.

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