Invincible

Invincible

[Moses] chose to be mistreated with God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. – Hebrews 11:25

Hebrews 12:1-4

 1 Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.

 3 Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then, you won’t become weary and give up.

 4 After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin.

1 Thessalonians 2:1-2

 1 You yourselves know, dear brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not a failure.

 2 You know how badly we had been treated at Philippi just before we came to you and how much we suffered there. Yet our God gave us the courage to declare his Good News to you boldly, in spite of great opposition.

In Greek mythology, Antaeus was the son of Poseidon, the sea god, and the Earth goddess Gaea. He compelled all strangers passing through his territory to wrestle with him. In Greek wrestling, the object was to throw your opponent to the ground and pin them. That didn’t work too well for opponents when wrestling with Antaeus.

Antaeus was invigorated and renewed whenever he touched the Earth (Gaea, his mother). If he was thrown to the ground, he became stronger. He was invincible. He always won and destroyed his opponents.

Enter Hercules. The tactics of Antaeus worked perfectly until he met Hercules. After multiple attempts, Hercules soon recognized that he could not beat Antaeus by throwing him to the ground. Hercules realized that each time he pinned Antaeus to the ground, he was energized and became more powerful. A new strategy was needed.

The solution was quite simple. Simple, that is if you’re strong enough to carry it out. Hercules grabbed Antaeus in a body lock and held them aloft above the ground until all his power had drained away. Hercules then crushed Antaeus to death.

Sadly, children of the King are repeatedly mistreated, “thrown to the ground,” and defeated. Is it possible to turn this around? Yes indeed.

Paul shows the way!

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

 9 Each time [the Lord] said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.

 10 That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

It’s all about heart, attitude, and trust. Paul responded to mistreatment by learning to rejoice in his weaknesses. Rather than being upset or angry, he accepted them as part of his training regimen as a servant of the Father. This requires a total perspective transformation from our normal fallen reactions.

That which should have defeated him only made him stronger. He was often bruised and beaten but invincible until his mission was accomplished. Down the road, he had a date with Nero’s executioners. But until then, he was fearless and was willing to suffer any hardship as a soldier of the King.

REFLECT & PRAY

The more children of the King are mistreated and respond appropriately, the stronger they become.

Father I want to embrace and hold fast to Your promise that Your grace is sufficient for me. When I am weak, I am strong! Thank You.

INSIGHT

Paul outlines the struggle with his “thorn in the flesh” in 2 Corinthians 12. We are never told precisely what the thorn was. It is not wise to speculate about what we do not know and what the Father has not revealed. Whatever it was, Paul struggled with it and asked the Father to remove it. But the Father refused his request. Why?

The Father had something entirely different in mind. The Father gave Paul greater awareness and understanding of what He was crafting in his life. The circumstances were unchanged, and the situation did not improve. The thorn was still in his life as a source of torment.

“As Paul prayed about his problem, God gave him a deeper insight into what He was doing. Paul learned that his thorn in the flesh was a gift from God. What a strange gift! There was only one thing for Paul to do: accept the gift from God and allow God to accomplish His purposes. God wanted to keep Paul from being ‘exalted above measure,’ and this was His way of accomplishing it.”

“When Paul accepted his affliction as the gift of God, this made it possible for God’s grace to go to work in his life. It was then that God spoke to Paul and gave him the assurance of His grace” (Wiersbe).

The Father did not offer any explanations. Instead, the Father gave Paul a tremendous promise, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). “We do not live on explanations; we live on promises. Our feelings change, but God’s promises never change. Promises generate faith, and faith strengthens hope” (Wiersbe). In the kingdom of God, this is the way the Father works in the lives of the children of the King.

The Father’s grace allows children of the King to rise above their circumstances, concerns, opinions, fears, suffering, and feelings.

Paul experienced a major perspective transformation. He became invincible when he realized that the Father intended for him not merely to surrender and accept his hardships but also to thank the Father for them.

For mere human beings limited by fallen DNA, this is an amazing way of looking at the trials and difficulties of life. “God’s grace enabled Paul not only to accept his afflictions but to glory in them. His suffering was not a tyrant that controlled him, but a servant that worked for him” (Wiersbe).

Tribulations and difficulties, “thorns of the flesh,” are not meant to destroy us but rather strengthen us. It all begins with an attitude of giving thanks for all of our afflictions.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

2 Corinthians 12:10 That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

As children of the King learn to do this, something totally unexpected and marvelous happens. Our weaknesses are transformed into strengths.

When children of the King are thrown to the ground and become weak, they are supernaturally strengthened and become strong!

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

© Dr. H 2022

Standing alone ∙

Standing alone ∙

Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. – Romans 5:1

Ephesians 2:8-9

 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Martin Luther was a monk, a Reverend Father in the Roman Catholic Church. He had a Master of Arts in Sacred Theology. On October 31, 1517, Luther posted his “95 Theses” on the church door in Wittenberg, Germany. They challenged several teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. The Catholic Church firmly held and taught that salvation was possible through “good works.”

Luther’s “95 Theses” set forth two central beliefs. The first and primary was that the Bible was the only authority to base Christian teaching and doctrine. Second, salvation was by faith alone and not by works. His actions sparked the Protestant Reformation. His writings changed the course of the religious and cultural history of the Western world.

In July 1520, Pope Leo X issued a papal bull that decreed that Luther’s propositions were heretical and gave Luther 120 days to recant in Rome. Luther refused to recant, and on January 3, 1521, Pope Leo excommunicated Martin Luther from the Catholic Church.

On April 17, 1521, Luther appeared before the Diet of Worms in Germany. Again he refused to recant. He stood tall; he stood alone and concluded his defense with the following declaration: “Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason (I do not accept the authority of popes and councils because they have contradicted each other), my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. So help me God. Amen.”

This has since been condensed to one simple sentence: “Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me.”

Based upon his insight and understanding of the truth of the Scriptures, Martin Luther was willing to take a dissentient position in defiance of the religious authorities of his day.  His conscience had become a willing captive to the Word of God.

He stood alone.

Many people in Scripture stood alone and defied the authority of secular and religious leaders when they went against the clear teaching of Scripture.

The story of Daniel in the lion’s den comes to mind. Darius, the ruler of Persia, had recognized Daniel’s abilities and trustworthiness. He became second-in-command under Darius. This made the other Persian officials jealous and hateful. They concocted a plot to pass an unrighteous law that no one could pray except to Darius for 30 days. They implied that Daniel went along with this decree. Daniel had done no such thing. When the law was passed, Daniel continued his daily prayers as usual. He stood alone against all of the power and authority of the Persian kingdom and its leader Darius.

Darius had the highest admiration for Daniel. He knew he had been tricked by Daniel’s envious counterparts. He was furious and tried to find a loophole to rescue Daniel, but he was trapped by the inflexibility of his own decree (Daniel 6:14). Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den to be devoured. Darius spent the night tossing and turning and fearful that his loyal, devoted servant Daniel would be destroyed. Darius prayed for Daniel in his own way – “May your God, whom you serve so faithfully, rescue you” (Daniel 6:16).

We know the rest of the story. Daniel lived and was supernaturally protected by an angel sent from the Father. However, all those who had maliciously plotted against him and their families were thrown into the lion’s den and became a feline feast.

REFLECT & PRAY

By the Scriptures alone, through the work of Christ alone, we have been saved by grace alone through faith alone.

Father thank You that You have offered me salvation, and I have accepted it. Encourage me to stand alone as so many of Your servants have faithfully done throughout the ages.

INSIGHT

Luther’s bold stand did not happen in a vacuum. For years Luther had studied and taught the book of Romans. He had struggled and wrestled with the meaning of the words “righteous” and “righteousness of God.” Luther wrote that they “struck my conscience as flashes of lightning, frightening me each time I heard them.”

Then came an amazing, miraculous discovery and awakening. He attributed his remarkable breakthrough in understanding to the work of the Holy Spirit alone.

He realized that the righteousness that Paul was speaking of is not merely the righteous character of Father God Himself. But instead, it was the righteousness that God freely gives by His grace to people who do not possess righteousness on their own. Putting it in other words, the righteousness of God is a gift of grace that the Father gives to every one of each child of the King. Luther wrote, “When I discovered that, I was born again of the Holy Ghost. And the doors of paradise swung open, and I walked through.”

The Protestant Reformation changed the then known European world. Once again, salvation by faith alone was known and taught. As a result, down through the years, untold myriads have entered the Father’s kingdom by faith alone.

The Five Solas have been passed down to us through the centuries. The Five Solas are five Latin phrases (or slogans). They summarize the Protestant Reformation’s basic theological principles. “Sola” is Latin meaning “alone” or “only,” and the corresponding phrases are:

Sola Fide, by faith alone.

Sola Scriptura, by Scripture alone.

Solus Christus, through Christ alone.

Sola Gratia, by grace alone.

Soli Deo Gloria, glory to God alone.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 4-16-2

© Dr. H 2022

Blind paradox ∙

Blind paradox ∙

Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” – John 9:39

John 9:35-41

 35 When Jesus heard what had happened, he found the man and asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

 36 The man answered, “Who is he, sir? I want to believe in him.”

 37 “You have seen him,” Jesus said, “and he is speaking to you!”

 38 “Yes, Lord, I believe!” the man said. And he worshiped Jesus.

 39 Then Jesus told him, “I entered this world to render judgment– to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind.”

 40 Some Pharisees who were standing nearby heard him and asked, “Are you saying we’re blind?”

 41 “If you were blind, you wouldn’t be guilty,” Jesus replied. “But you remain guilty because you claim you can see.”

Fanny Crosby was born in 1820 in Brewster, New York. The Father intended for her to experience a somewhat inverted miracle. It is just the opposite of what we would expect. Fanny had been born seeing but became blind. She became ill six weeks after birth. The family doctor was away. Another man, pretending to be a doctor, treated her by prescribing hot mustard poultices to be applied to her eyes. Her illness eventually abated, but the treatment left her blind.

However, her blindness was no limitation. Because she could see what most people are incapable of seeing. Fanny Crosby wrote more than 9,000 hymns, some of which are among the most popular of many denominations.

Her love of poetry began early. Her first verse, written at age 8, echoed her lifelong refusal to feel sorry for herself:

Oh, what a happy soul I am, although I cannot see!

I am resolved that in this world contented I will be.

How many blessings I enjoy That other people don’t.

To weep and sigh because I’m blind I cannot, and I won’t!

Fanny had an amazing capacity for memorization, and she learned vast quantities of the Scriptures by heart. Fanny memorized several chapters of the Bible each week and could quote the Pentateuch, the Gospels, Proverbs, Song of Solomon, and many of the Psalms before she was a teenager. She wrote, “The Holy Book has nurtured my entire life.”

Among her best-known hymns are: “Blessed Assurance,” “To God be the glory,” “Safe in the Arms of Jesus,” “Draw Me Nearer,” “All the Way My Savior Leads Me,” “The Bright Forever,” “Savior, More Than Life to Me,” and “Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior.” 

REFLECT & PRAY

When physical sight is lost, spiritual sight can flourish. Other human qualities and senses are often enhanced, including the ability to memorize.

Father when I think of Fanny, I am so greatly encouraged. What a delightful relationship she had with You! And because of her, our hearts can be closer to Yours.

INSIGHT

The story of the man born blind is filled with many ironies and paradoxes. People who think they see actually do not. People who know they cannot see are given the ability to see physically and spiritually. Physical sight is inadequate without spiritual sight. Becoming aware of our inadequate spiritual condition is the first step to improving it.

The religious leaders were blinded by self-interest, wanting their own way and being convinced they were right. They were not aware that they were blind and certainly could not admit it. On the contrary, they thought they could see better than anybody else.

Being in the presence of the light of Truth only increased their blindness. Sometimes too much light can be destructive, like staring into the sun. The blind beggar knew his physical need but soon became aware of his spiritual condition. Because he was open and seeking, he could see physically and spiritually. He soon realized that the most important thing he needed was to “see” the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in Him.

Jesus did not come into this world bringing judgment. Whenever people are confronted with the Lord Jesus Christ, they at once pass a judgment on themselves. How? When a spectator is in the presence of a great work of art, such as a Rembrandt painting, they either recognize and appreciate its sublime beauty or criticize it. When such a critic finds the Rembrandt lacking, the viewer is not judging the art, which is recognized as an excellent masterpiece. Instead, the art judges them and reveals their inadequacy, lack of understanding, and art appreciation.

John 3:17-19

 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

 18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.

 19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.

“Whenever people are confronted with Jesus, they at once pass a judgment on themselves. If they see in Jesus nothing to desire, nothing to admire, nothing to love, then they have condemned themselves. If they see in Jesus something to wonder at, something to respond to, something to reach out to, then they are on the way to God.”

“Those who are conscious of their own blindness, and who long to see better and to know more, are men and women whose eyes can be opened and who can be led more and more deeply into the truth.”

“Those people who think they know it all, those who do not realize that they cannot see, are men and women who are truly blind and beyond hope and help. Only those who realize their own weakness can become strong. Only those who realize their own blindness can learn to see. Only those who realize their own sin can be forgiven” (Barclay).

Human sight is limited to the physical world that we see. There is another world, a spiritual world that remains unseen most of the time. This was clearly revealed in the days of Elisha. Elisha had been hunted down and was in very dire circumstances, enemy soldiers surrounded Elisha. But the enemy was itself surrounded by unseen angelic legions who were prepared to act in his defense.

Elisha, the prophet, the seer, could see the unseen without effort. He had no reason to fear. Ordinary people do not have this luxury. Elisha prayed that his servant Gehazi could see what was unseen.

2 Kings 6:17 Then Elisha prayed, “O LORD, open his eyes and let him see!” The LORD opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.

And suddenly, the blinders were lifted, and Gehazi was enabled to see those who were always present but previously unseen, the angelic army that the Father had sent to protect them.

Fanny Crosby saw the unseen her whole life. Her delightful and beautiful hymns were motivated and informed by the work of the Spirit of God within. Her spiritual focus, spiritual insight, and informed words and melodies allow us to hear, see, and experience a taste of her vision and sweet relationship with the Father.

Blessed Assurance

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O what a foretaste of glory divine!

Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior, all the day long;

This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior, all the day long.

Perfect submission, perfect delight, visions of rapture now burst on my sight;

Angels descending bring from above echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

Perfect submission, all is at rest I in my Savior am happy and blest,

Watching and waiting, looking above, filled with His goodness, lost in His love.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 8-13-2

© Dr. H 2022

Concentrated nurturing systems

Concentrated nurturing systems

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. – Ephesians 4:11-12

1 Corinthians 12:24-27

 24 So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity.

 25 This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other.

 26 If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.

 27 All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.

Modern tech companies tend to cloister in the hubs like New York, Boston, and Silicon Valley. As a consequence of the coronavirus, tech firms began to migrate to new locations. Such places have been dubbed “wannabe innovation hubs.” They include such places as Dallas, Atlanta, and Miami. Yet, tech workers gravitate to areas with clusters of like-minded individuals. They seek conditions where they can network with other like-minded individuals. Such environments provide conditions for them to do innovative and exciting things. Such locations are called “Concentrated echo systems for nurturing innovation,” a.k.a. effective knowledge networks.

These networks are composed of unique and diverse individuals with various backgrounds, expertise, training, and experiences working together on common challenges with a common goal. In the modern tech world, “Innovation is the process of idea management” (Tim Kastelle).

“The premise that innovation prospers when ideas can serendipitously connect and recombine with other ideas when hunches can stumble across other hunches that successfully fill in their blanks may seem like an obvious truth, but the strange fact is that a great deal of the past two centuries of legal and folk wisdom about innovation has pursued the exact opposite argument, building walls between ideas, keeping them from the kind of random, serendipitous connections that exist in dreams and in the organic compounds of life . . . [in a network environment] people can concentrate on coming up with new ideas, not building fortresses around the old ones. And because these ideas can freely circulate through the infosphere, they can be refined and expanded by other minds in the network” (Where Good Ideas Come From).

Concentrated echo systems for nurturing are not new. The Father employed this concept in the New Testament when He launched the church. Local churches are intended to be nurturing centers where unique and diverse individuals with various backgrounds, experiences, and spiritual gifts work together with a common goal: to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12).

REFLECT & PRAY

“The tests we face in life’s journey are not to reveal our weaknesses but to help us discover our inner strengths. We can only know how strong we are when we strive and thrive beyond the challenges we face” (Kemi Sogunle).

Father you had such a remarkable idea to create an environment where spiritual maturity and growth are the byproducts of children of the King working together in love. It is so sad that this potentiality is often unrealized. Every day is a new day. Encourage the members of the body of Christ, the church, to lovingly work together.

INSIGHT

All children of the King are given spiritual gifts to nurture one another. The body of Christ is a concentrated echo system designed to be an innovative, creative, transformative network of individuals. They are to support and nourish one another, encouraging growth, development, stability, and permanence.

The body of Christ was designed to be a source of comfort, consolation, understanding, and knowledge that promotes growth leading to maturity and security.

Regrettably, throughout the past two millennia, the children of the King, and those merely associated with His Son’s name, the Lord Jesus Christ, built walls and not bridges. They are divided and often dreadfully separated. They defend the past, right or wrong, and build fortresses to protect and idealize what has come before.

The word of God does not need to be protected. “The Word of God is like a lion. You don’t have to defend a lion. All you have to do is let the lion loose, and the lion will defend itself” (Charles Spurgeon).

However, human-made ideas, doctrines, and traditions often require fortresses to protect them. This is the environment the Lord Jesus Christ entered in the first century. Religious leaders of His day had built a “fence around the Torah.” The learned rabbis meant well. Their writings consisted of ideas and teachings developed and passed on by people, not the Father. These teachings were meant to safeguard the law of God from being violated. They were not seen as additions or subtractions but rather as aids in understanding and protecting the integrity of the Mosaic law itself.

The idea of building a fence around the Torah is found in the early writings of Rabbinic Judaism dating from about 20 A.D. One section is called the Pirke Avot, The Sayings of the Fathers. It stated that “Moses received the Torah from Sinai and committed it to Joshua, and Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the Prophets, and the Prophets to the Men of the Great Assembly. They said three things: Be deliberate in judgment, raise up many disciples, and make a fence around the Torah.”

“The Torah is conceived as a garden and its precepts as precious plants. Such a garden is fenced round for the purpose of obviating willful or even unintended damage. Likewise, the precepts of the Torah were to be ‘fenced’ round with additional inhibitions that should have the effect of preserving the original commandments from trespass” (Israelstam).

The Lord Jesus Christ disagreed. He stated unequivocally that human-made laws did not protect the law of God; they invalidated it.

Mark 7:13 You cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition.

The Lord Jesus Christ kept the law of God perfectly. Yet, He demonstrated that the law of God was often in conflict with the rules made by people. He went out of His way to stir things up. He intentionally violated the rules that people made. The religious leaders of His day were stunned. Time and time again, they were furious because He did not keep their human traditions, particularly their Sabbath Rest laws which were not part of the Mosaic law.

To be an innovative, creative, nurturing system for all children of the King, the body of Christ must focus on God and lay aside human traditions, doctrines, practices, and socialization. And instead, focus on graciously living out the principles of Scripture set forth by the prophets and the apostles.

1 Corinthians 12:24 So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity.

The Greek word translated as put together, composed, or blended “ is sugkerannumi. Sugkerannumi has the sense of assembling a unified whole by mixing or combining different parts. Sugkerannumi comes from sun – together or with, and kerannumi – to mix. Thus, it means intermingle, mix, blend, unite, or combine. Here it signifies unifying a diverse group of individual members into one functioning spiritual body, the body of Christ.

Ephesians 4:15-16

 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.

 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

For the body of Christ to be healthy, vibrant, mature, and nurturing, it must grow up into Christ who is the head. Things that divide and separate need to be acknowledged, addressed, forgiven in love, and laid aside. The individual members must work in a coordinated fashion, full of love, growing to maturity.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

© Dr. H 2022

Preoccupation limits seeing ∙

Preoccupation limits seeing ∙

She turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. – John 20:14

John 20:13-16

 13 “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her. “Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”

 14 She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him.

 15 “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?” She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”

 16 “Mary!” Jesus said. She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).

Preoccupation with sorrow and disappointment is a mental merry-go-round. People get stuck in a rut and are unable to escape from it. It is easy to get consumed with the micro minutia of everyday life. Often, our ability to see becomes limited to what is immediately before us, and we become distracted. We cannot see the forest for the trees. We lose sight of the bigger picture of what’s really important. In light of this, could it be that our greatest fear should be the fear of succeeding at things in life that do not really matter?

So often, our ability to see is diminished and clouded because of our fixation and self-reflection. So it was with Mary. She failed to see and recognize the Lord Jesus Christ due to her grief, self-reflection, and preoccupation. We see only what we have the inward power of seeing (Westcott).

“From ancient times, the core idea of the soul is the capacity to integrate different functions into a single being or into a single person. The soul is what holds us all together: what connects our will and our minds and our bodies and connects us to God.”

“A healthy soul is whole and integrated. It is connected to God. A person with a healthy soul is at peace with God, with himself, and with other people. When the soul is understood and attended to, we can be liberated from hurry, preoccupation, unsatisfied desires, and chronic discontent” (John Ortberg).

After the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early. The stone rolled away, the tomb was empty, and His body was gone (John 20:1-2). She ran to get Peter and John. When the three of them returned, the tomb was empty (John 20:3-10). Grief-stricken, Mary waited outside in her grief (John 20:11). When Jesus Christ appeared, “she did not recognize that it was Jesus” (John 20:14). Instead, she thought that He was the gardener (John 20:15).

How is it even possible that Mary could not recognize the Lord Jesus Christ after she had spent so much time with Him? Her expectation colored her perception. She anticipated finding a tomb with the stone covering the entrance. Behind the stone would be a corpse. However, he was standing right in front of her. He was alive! He

How was she able to finally recognize Him? At the very moment the Lord Jesus Christ spoke her name, “Mary,” something suddenly clicked. She knew it was Him. Down through the millennia, when someone hears their name spoken by the Father or the Lord Jesus Christ, people recall the voice. Many of us remember the sound of our mother’s voice. We can never forget. Undoubtedly, that’s how it was with the Lord Jesus Christ and Mary.

REFLECT & PRAY

How often do we only see what we only want to see? Daily events, preoccupation, and the vicissitudes of life often obscure what the Father is trying to reveal to us.

Father give me discernment to see the Lord Jesus Christ with the eyes of my heart. Enable me to discern Your guidance and recognize whatever You desire to teach me.

INSIGHT

How do treasury agents learn to detect counterfeit money? You would think the answer is simple, study counterfeit money to become aware of its characteristics. But in fact, it is just the opposite.

Treasury agents become very, very familiar with the characteristics of real money. One treasury agent summarizes the approach with the phrase, “touch, tilt, look at, look through.”

And so it is with the children of the King. The more we get to know the real thing, the real Lord Jesus Christ, the more we develop protective discernment against counterfeits.

This does not happen overnight. It takes practice, determination, and experience.

Hebrews 5:14 Those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

We should expect to see the Lord Jesus Christ and hear His voice as we walk through life. The more familiar and acquainted we become with Him, the more we see Him.

In the Gospel of John, some outsiders, probably Gentiles, came to worship. They had undoubtedly heard the stories about the Lord Jesus Christ, and they were excited to meet and spend time with Him. They came to Philip.

John 12:21 “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

If you wish to see the Lord Jesus Christ, pray for the eyes of your heart to be enlightened. This is Paul’s prayer for every child of the King.

Ephesians 1:18-19

 18 I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called – his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.

 19 I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him.

It is common for people as they age to have cataract surgery. Over the years, their vision has become blurred and even discolored. Modern medical science has made the procedure quick and easy, and very safe, one done by the hands of an excellent eye surgeon. Our spiritual eyes are often blurred, and our spiritual eyesight is significantly diminished. Paul prays that the Father will perform spiritual surgery in order to sharpen our spiritual eyes.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 4-07-2

© Dr. H 2022