Desperately Seeking Jesus: He is willing

Surprisingly, many of us are too afraid to go to Jesus.  We may feel that we’re not good enough or we may be ashamed of the sins we’ve committed.  No matter how real those feelings may be, Jesus has proven time and time again that He is willing to forgive us and accept us, no matter who we are and no matter what we’ve done.  There are many scriptures in the bible that reflects His love for us, Luke 5:12-13 is one of many.  It reads “While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy.  When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”  Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man.  “I am willing,” he said.  “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him.  Let us review this scripture.  The man was covered with leprosy.  We are covered in sins.  Out of his shame, brokenness and hopelessness he fell with his face to the ground.  We too must humble ourselves before Him and go to Him with our face to the ground.  He begged him. He pleaded his case even out of his shameful and hopeless state.  We too must plead must plead our case to Him with a true and repentant heart.  He said, ‘Lord if you are willing, you can make me clean.’  In other words, Lord, won’t you please have mercy on me.  Cleanse me.  Take away everything that is keeping me from you.  In the same way, we must say “Lord if you are willing, please forgive me of all my sins, cleanse me and make me a new creation in Christ.” Out of compassion for this poor man’s heartfelt plea, Jesus reached out, touched the man and cleaned him.  As we cry out to Him with a repentant heart we can be confident that He will have compassion on us.  Then Jesus said, ‘I am willing.’  Jesus is willing to save you from your sins.  He is willing to die for you so that whoever believes in Him may be saved,   (John 3:16) 'For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.' He is willing to love you just as you are, (John 15:13) Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.'  He is willing to forgive you, (Matt. 26:28) 'This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.' He is willing to guide you in the right path, (John 14:6) 'I am the way and the truth and the life.'  He is willing to be your friend, (John 15:15) 'I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business.  Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.'  Jesus is willing!  How about you?  Are you willing to meet Him halfway with your face to the ground, pleading for your case?  Are you covered with sins that have not been brought out to Him yet?  Are you ashamed of something you’ve done?  Do you feel broken and hopeless?  Be willing!  Go to Him and make your plea.  Say, “Lord, if you are willing you can make me clean.  Forgive me for I have sinned.”  Jesus will reach out, touch you and say "Child, I am willing.  Be clean!  You are forgiven.”  Remember the story about the lost (prodigal) son, Luke 15:11-32.  In the same way the father received the son he thought he had lost, He will receive you.  He will welcome you with open arms. He will say 'My beloved child, I have been waiting for you.'   On that day you will surely be like the psalmist who had said, "Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity.  I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the Lord'--and you forgave my sin." (psalm 32:5).  Hallelujah, for we have a patient and merciful God.  He is willing.  How about you?  God bless you all.

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Desperately Seeking Jesus: Calling out to Him

Do you call out to Jesus when things go wrong in your life, or do you pick up the phone and call as many people as you can to tell them about your problems?  Do you run to a friend right away or do you get down on your knees and call out to Jesus?  Yes it’s true, good friends are good to have, but do you turn to them before turning to Jesus?  Do you run to whatever will make you feel better?  For example, do you run to a box of chocolate, or ice cream?  Do you fill yourself with comfort food or reach out for a bottle of wine?  Perhaps you have tried drugs to numb the pain or have gone gambling hoping for a sum of money that may take your troubles away.  Maybe you have looked for someone other than your spouse to fade away your troubles.  When life gets tough, do you run to whatever will make you feel better?  Why do we run to things that will only offer us temporary relief when the Lord promises hope, joy, love and healing.  Why not call out to the one who calls us to Him?  Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matt.11:28-30)  Jesus is waiting for your call.  Have you called Him lately?  Let us read about the blind man who called out to Jesus.  Mark 10:46-52 reads, “As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (the son of Timaeus), was sitting by the roadside begging.  When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!”  Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”  Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”  So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up!  On your feet!  He’s calling you.”  Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.  “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.  The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”  “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.”  Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.  His faith rescued him because he called out and did not stop calling until the Lord answered him.  Although the people around him told him to be quiet, he did not listen.  Do you have people like that in your life?  They tell you that God will not save you.  Perhaps they say ‘You make your own luck, or your own destiny.  Maybe they mock you and your God?  Maybe they have pulled you away from God by suggesting other things that may make you feel better?  Is the world pulling you away from God and discouraging you from calling out to Jesus?  Have they convinced you that the problems you are facing in your life are hopeless?  When the people around the blind man spoken in the bible told him to be quiet, HE SHOUTED ALL THE MORE!!  When Jesus heard and saw his faith, He stopped and called him.  There will always be something or someone trying to pull you away from God and discouraging you from calling out to Jesus.  Remember the blind man spoken in the bible.  Call out to Jesus ALL THE MORE.  Call out to Him until He hears you, stops for you, and answers you.  Like a phone ringing from one end to the other, you can call out to Him and He will answer.  Seek Him desperately without ever losing faith.  God bless you all. 

Desperately Seeking Jesus: Making Him First

Do you value Jesus more than anything else in your life?  Do you make Him first?  Yes, it’s true that we all live busy lives, between work, school, projects, errands, family, basic daily activities, spouse/mate, etc.  We’ve become accustomed to our daily schedule.  We have somehow programmed ourselves to make certain things first in our daily lives.  It has been proven time and time again that your priorities say a lot about you.  Your priorities say a lot about what is most important to you and what you value most.  The bible points to a very good example of this in Mark: 10:17-22.  As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him.  “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  “Why do you call me good?”  Jesus answered.  “No one is good—except God alone.  You know the commandments: Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’ “  “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”  Jesus looked at him and loved him.  “One thing you lack,” he said.  “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.  Then come, follow me.”  At this the man’s face fell.  He went away sad, because he had great wealth.  How very sad.  Sadly, this also rings true for many of us.  Although this young rich man did all he should do, Jesus spotted one thing he lacked.  That one thing was essential to his worship, because Jesus knew he worshipped that one thing more than Him.  It could have been anything, but in this case his wealth was more valuable to him than anything else.  With deep sorrow, the young man turned away from Jesus.  What about you?  Is Jesus more valuable to you than anything else?  If only we would seek Him desperately, we would make Him first in everything.  We would make Him Lord of our pockets and Lord of our lives.  He would be Lord of our marriage and Lord of our children.  He would be Lord of everything.  We would make Him first every morning through prayer and meditation of His word.  We would consult with Him in prayer and in everything we do.  We would give thanks and praise Him for all blessings.  We would put His word first before our own judgment.  We would live by His word and teach others to do the same.  We would follow Him without any hesitation.  Let us all seek Him desperately and make Him first.   For we know that our worship is not in vain but it is for our own good.  After the young rich man left (spoken in the bible) Jesus had more to say concerning this matter.  Mark 10:23-30 reads; Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.”  The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”  Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”  Peter said to him, “We have left everything to follow you!”  “I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.  Heaven awaits!  God is calling us home.  Are you making Him first in your life?  Let us learn this important lesson from the rich young man and let us make Jesus first.  God bless you all. 

Desperately Seeking Jesus: Meeting Him

Are you willing to go the extreme to be with Jesus?  Going the extra mile is never easy, but are you willing to do just that for the One who gave up everything to save mankind.  He gave up Heaven to live on earth, life for death, and comfort for pain.  Are you seeking Him enough to go to the extreme?  What would that look like exactly?  Let's read about a man who went to the extreme for Jesus.  In Mark 2:3-5 reads, Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them.  Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on.  When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."  This paralytic man truly went the extra mile to be with Jesus.  Such faith is commendable, wouldn't you say?  Without a doubt, Jesus was amazed at their faith.  He was so taken by their act of faith he said, "Son, your sins are forgiven."  As if to say "You believe in me that much!!  Child, I am yours and you are mine."  If you read further along you will see that not only did Jesus forgive his sins, He also healed him.  How joyful for the one who sought Him so desperately.  How much more joyful would it be if we sought Him so desperately.  If only we were to seek Him with all our heart, we would go the extra mile to be with Jesus.  We would repent from all of our sins, spend more time with Him through prayer, forgive others, receive His word fully, and we would follow Him all the way.  Go to the extremes!  Go the extral mile!  Be with Jesus!  May we all be like that paralytic man and seek Jesus desperately.  God bless you all.

Desperately Seeking Jesus: Giving ourselves to Him

How much of ourselves do we give to the Lord?  For the most of us, we give what we feel comfortable giving.  Each day we wake up and we give all of our time and attention to the world.  Yet, we only give maybe 10-20 minutes (if even) to God.  What’s worse, we’re o.k. with it.  What if we gave more?  Do you think God would notice?  Do you think He would be pleased?  Let’s take a look at Mark 12:41-44.  Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury.  Many rich people threw in large amounts.  But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.  Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.  They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”  Now, reading this you may think that this is about money, but quite the contrary.  This is about seeking Jesus so deeply that you are willing to give all of yourself and all that you have.  How can we give to the Lord with all of our heart even out of our poverty?  Many of us have very little time to ourselves.  How much time are we willing to give to the Lord?  What sacrifices would we be willing to make in order to give our time even out of our poverty?  There are so many ways we can give to the Lord.  If only we were to seek Him with all of our heart, we would give more of ourselves, our time, our attention, our hearts, our everything.  The Lord watched the widow give out of her poverty.  He was amazed and He was pleased.  He certainly noticed.  Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all be like that poor widow?  Out of her poverty, she gave all that she had.  How about you?  Would you be willing to give all of yourself to the Lord?  Would you be willing to give yourself to the Lord as a living sacrifice?  May we all surrender ourselves fully to the Lord and may we seek Jesus desperately.  God bless you all.

Desperately Seeking Jesus: Reaching out to Him

How great is your need for Jesus?  When was the last time you reached out to Him with faith?  We say we believe, but do we really?  Some of us have been misled and swayed to other things such as drugs, alcohol, sexual affairs and other harmful addictions.  However, this is not so to those whose heart truly belong to God.  Unfortunately for the most of us, it is only when we have reached rock bottom we truly seek Him and reach out to Him.  Let's read about a woman who desperately reached out to Jesus.  Mark 5:25-34 reads; A large crowd followed and pressed around him.  And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years.  She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.  When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed."  Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.  At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him.  He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"  "You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered,  "and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?"  But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it.  Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.  He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you.  Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."  How beautiful!  How even more beautiful to the one who reached out desperately in need of Him with faith.  If only we reached out and believed!  If only we prayed and believed!  If only we followed Him and believed!  If only we surrendered and believed!  What miracles would the Lord do through us!  What testimonies would we have to give!  What power and good works would He do through us!  Oh, if only we reached out with such faith, we would undoubtedly live a victorious Christian life.  May we all reach out to Him with great faith, desperately seeking Jesus.  God bless you all.