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You are here: Home / Archives for Faith

Fear Not 365 – Only Believe (Mark 5:36)

January 10, 2017 by ChristianHolinessDaily Leave a Comment


One never knows when tragedy will strike; it usually arrives without warning. 20 years ago, I was at work on a slow, rainy day, staring out the window at a parade of first responder vehicles racing down the highway. Little did I know they were headed toward an auto accident six miles down the road, one in which my wife had been hit head-on. 

Jairus had no warning when tragedy struck his house (Mark 5). He was a man of some importance, a ruler in the synagogue, which is more or less like the chief administrator at the church. Life had been good to him. He was prosperous.  He had a family. What could go wrong?

For most people, though, something usually does go wrong. Jairus’s daughter fell ill, very ill. He was desperate. This girl was the love of his life, his reason to live, as any daughter is for any good father. She was obviously dying and there was nothing that any doctor could do for her. 

Then, Jesus arrived on the shores of his town. He begged Jesus to heal her, and Jesus immediately headed to his house, followed by a throng of people. On the way there, though, Jesus stopped. 

“Who touched me?” said Jesus. 

Jairus panicked. His daughter was deathly ill. There was no time to waste. He must have thought Jesus crazy, for He was surrounded by hundreds of people, each vying for His attention, yet the Master had asked who touched Him?

In his mind, Jairus screams, “Come, hurry, Jesus. There’s no time for this…” Only the dignity of his position prevents him from grabbing the Master by the arm and dragging him to his daughter’s side. 

No sooner does Jesus bless and heal the woman that had touched Him, than Jairus sees his servants rushing into the crowd. They need not speak. He could tell by their expressions that his daughter had passed. 

When the servants did speak and confirm his deepest fears, he lost it. Tears welled in his eyes. His lips quivered. His hands shook. His heart sank. Death had called on his home, and taken his daughter. Oh, that he could take her place. If only the woman hadn’t distracted the Master. If only… 

The Master, though, had heard the servants and took pity on Jairus. “Do not be afraid. Only believe.”

Jairus heard those words and looked into the eyes of the Master and saw not death, rather he saw eyes full of life, light and love. What he felt as he did so compelled him to believe. For when Jesus spoke, the ruler of the synagogue understood this: no one loved his daughter more than he, except the Master. And, at that very moment, Jairus knew that whatever he found when he arrived home, all would be well because his home was in the hands of the living God. 

Oh, that I had understood the lessons of Mark 5 twenty years ago, when the sheriff called my office and asked me to meet him at the scene of my wife’s accident. I would have saved myself a world of grief had I trusted in God like Jairus.

So long as we listen to the words of Jesus, keep our eyes on Him, and invite Him into our home, all will be well. No matter what tragedy strikes, it is but a small bump in an eternal road; God will provide us the strength to endure whatever besets us. “Do not be afraid. Only believe.”

Filed Under: Daily Walk with Christ, Faith, Fear Not Tagged With: believe, death, faith, fear

Change of Plans…

August 24, 2016 by ChristianHolinessDaily Leave a Comment


Bad enough that he was a Samaritan, an outsider, shunned, looked down upon, the dregs of society, lowest of the low. More than that, he was a leper. 

Levitical law separated the leper from the rest of society; lepers lived at a distance, never again to touch their loved ones, or to speak with them intimately. Never again could they hug their children or kiss their spouse. 

Leprosy is highly contagious, and is spread by skin contact and through water droplets, like a cough or sneeze or a runny nose. Leprosy attacks the central nervous system, but its symptoms appear as tumors and disfigurement of the flesh and bone. Fingers twist in unnatural ways; hands become claws, and arms and legs become useless over time. The life of a leper is a painful and sad. 

Lepers suffered so greatly that people in the time of Jesus naturally assumed that the afflicted must be paying for some terrible sin. And, why wouldn’t they think that? Two thousand years later, many of us still believe that way, to some extent. 

It was near the end of His ministry when Jesus, passing through an unnamed village between Samaria and Jerusalem, was called on by ten such lepers. In keeping with the Law, they called from a distance.  “Master, have mercy on us!”

His answer may seem strange to us, but that is only because we don’t live under the Law. “Go, and show yourselves to the priests.” Before a leper could rejoin society, he or she must have been certified to be free of the disease by a priest. 

The Bible doesn’t say for sure, but I imagine an expression or two of doubt on the faces of the lepers, and perhaps a few questions amongst them. Still, they obeyed Him. 

And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

– Luke 17:19

The healing must have been slow and progressive, rather than instantaneous. Before the lepers arrived at the Temple or synagogue, they found themselves healed. One of them – just one – was so grateful that he turned back to thank Jesus before he had made it to see the priest. 

So grateful was he that he fell at the Master’s feet and worshipped Him. 

“Didn’t I heal 10 people?” said Jesus. Of course, He knew the answer. “Where are the other 9? Only one has found it in his heart to return and praise God, and He is a Samaritan.” Christ once again reminded His followers that their prejudice against their neighbors is simply wrong. 

“Get up, He tells the Samaritan. “Arise and go your way. Your faith has made you whole.”

The leper’s mission had changed. Before turning around to express his gratitude to Jesus, his mission had been to go see the priests. Now, healed and made whole, he received new inductions from Christ… to go his own way.  

“You are made whole.”

And, here’s my point. Those who experience a real encounter with Christ are made whole, spiritually whole; theirs lives are renewed and made complete and they simply cannot continue to go on living like they once had. They are compelled to follow Jesus. Their missions change. Christ directs them in a different direction. They receive a change of plans. Theirs hearts have changed. Their entire lives change. 

Have you been made whole? If not, you only need ask. Fall at His feet and praise Jesus. Ask Him to change Your heart. Your life will change. Forever. 

Filed Under: Daily Walk with Christ, Faith Tagged With: changed life, healed, made whole, transformation, whole

THE SELF WE WERE INTENDED TO BE

August 18, 2016 by ChristianHolinessDaily Leave a Comment


Our lives here on earth pale in comparison to what we were intended to be. Our lives are corrupted by sin, detoured by our own free-will, and perhaps even tortured by devils. The life of the rare saint, one who is entirely striving to please God, reveals but a glimmer of the life that is in store for us after this life. 

There’s an old joke about a Sunday school teacher who asks her students if they want to go to heaven. Everyone raise their hands but little Tommy. The teacher asks why he doesn’t want to go to heaven, he responds, “I do. I just thought you meant right now.”

Most of my life, I felt that way. I wanted to go to heaven, but not yet. When I was a child, my Sunday school teacher was also my first and second grade school teacher, Mrs. Alice Ada Orrell. I thought she was ancient, but she was only about 60. She taught nearly 20 more years after teaching me. She played piano when called upon, organized Vacation Bible School, and was always ready to testify when given the opportunity. I remember many times she testified that she was ready to “go home.” She meant that if she were to die that very day, she would be happy, for the life that awaited her on the other side would be far superior to this life, weighed down by the burdens and cares of this world. 

I didn’t understand that then. I do now. I am ready. I am ready end the battle against sin and death. I am ready to be done with health issues. I am sick of the struggle of wondering where my next meal is coming from, and wondering if I will make enough money to pay my bills next month. I am sick of the aches and pains of an aging and abused body. I am ready to go home, and ready to be the person God intended me to be. 

That’s not to say that I will be discontent to stick around until God calls me home, even if it is many years in the future. My prayer is for God to continue to sanctify me, lead me into holiness, and allow me to continue to feel His presence on a daily basis. Still, I let Him know that I am ready. 

The Apostle Peter tells us that Christ has prepared us a new life in heaven…

according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 

1 Peter 1:3-5

Are you ready? We never know when we will be called home. 

Filed Under: Daily Walk with Christ, Faith Tagged With: afterlife, death, Heaven, life after death, sanctification

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