faith

in matt. 9:18-34, Jesus heals 4 different people: a paralyzed girl, a hemorrhaging woman, and 2 blind men. each of them seemed to have this preconceived notion of what context it would take for them to be healed. the girl's dad believed it was for Jesus to put his hand on her. the woman believed it was for her to touch his cloak. it doesn't say about the blind men, but they probably believed it was for Jesus to touch their eyes. so that's the method Jesus used! because that's what they believed! he allowed healing to take place in that context, because that's the context it took for their faith to rise up. but he says each time, "it's your faith that has healed you." in the previous chapter, the roman centurion believed all it would take was for Jesus to speak that his servant would be healed, so that's what Jesus did. he was healed, and Jesus commends his faith!

what context does it take for my faith to rise up? does it have to happen in church, at the altar? does it have to mean the laying on of hands, anointing oil, the pastor praying, older Christians praying? Jesus works thru all these methods, but really all it takes is faith. the fewer the strings i attach to a necessary context, the greater the opportunity Jesus has to do miracles! i'm praying for miracles in hamtramck!

here am i, Lord... send somebody else!

well to start, this book was not what i thought it was about. i thought it'd have something to do with isaiah, but it was actually based from the story of moses- you know, him feeling inadequate to speak, lead the people out of egypt, etc. i like how jill briscoe says, "God has only imperfect people to use, and apparently he has decided to use them!"

she starts out describing how God was preparing moses to do what he would call him to do long before moses ever even realized it! and God does that with us too. one thing i'd never thought about before is how it was so important for moses to have been brought up in pharaoh's palace! it taught him to write: w/out that skill he would never have been able to write the first 5 books of the bible! it taught him leadership skills: w/out that he would have never been able to lead a million israelites out of egypt and deal with all their issues in the desert for 40 years! even though the palace was very "worldly," it was a very necessary experience in moses' life. what's your palace training? think about what skills, traits, knowledge you've acquired from "the world" meaning schools, jobs, etc. God had a purpose for all of that knowledge and he will produce fruit from it! this really encouraged me personally because i have a lot of stuff in me that i wonder why God isn't using and how will he ever use it in the future? does anyone else ever wonder that?

another really cool thing i'd never thought about before is about israel's committment to the tabernacle. the first time they set up the tabernacle, it must've been really easy for them. because they were so excited about meeting with God, they paid close attention to every detail God gave them in how to set it up. but then they still had to wander in the desert for 40 years! sometimes they'd stay in a place for only a few days and then pack up and leave. and every time they camped at a new place, they'd have to set up the tabernacle again. it must've been really tempting sometimes to just neglect a few of the details of what God told them, considering they'd just take it down in another few days. but they didn't! (at least not that we know of.)

one other very important thing about the tabernacle was location. it had to be in the center of the israelite's camp. because it was precious to them and had valuable items, it had to be guarded. it also signified a place of priority and the center of their attention. God was in their midst! we need to set up tabernace (the word literally means "meet with God") in the center of our lives every day and guard it because it's precious! it's sacred! but how often are we tempted to neglect the details knowing we're just gonna do it the day after and the day after, etc?

this was a good book. most of it is really aimed at new christians, teaching them where to go and what to do with a committment to jesus. and i think if i were a lady in my mid-forties i would identify with her stories and examples a lot more! lol. but there are still a lot of really great lessons in this book.