Restore

Only God can take the most broken pieces, the most broken things, the most broken women, the most broken possibilities into something special, good and redemptive 

And so it was thought

The word of God is astounding; it has the power to cause what is not seen, to be seen. It speaks life, enters into our minds, and changes something and everything. The word of God gives us new energy, and allows us to run for miles and miles with a new focus and a new direction. God is in the business of renewing us and extending us to higher heights. To be renewed means to cause something to go back to its original condition; God’s original intention. Have you ever thought that your situation is way too deep for redemption? Or your case is beyond restoration? Do you feel so lifeless, that nothing can ever change your situation? Well, God is more than you can ever imagine! You’ve got to believe it! Your situation is ripe for change and He is the change maker!! The Lord has a way of arriving after your crisis has completely manifested! He arrives at the end of the end, and when all options have exhausted, and the situation is way beyond dead; and has essentially perished and spoiled (or so it seems). We see a short phrase in Luke 3:23 of the story of Jesus and his father – “or so it was thought”. The expression is significant because it shows how easily and somewhat unknowingly, people can think one thing of a situation, but in reality, it’s quite different (especially in God’s eyes). You know how you drive on the road or the freeway and you see a dead squirrel, bird or whatever; and you find yourself swerving away from it, so you don’t get tainted by it…or the dead skin does not get on your car (think about this). Of course you do this, because it stinks, and/or its messy everywhere. You might actually say out loud “that is nasty!” Well, God will often allow something to die, in order to allow something greater to come forth. Think about it, if Lazarus didn’t die, then resurrection wouldn’t have been manifested; if the blind man wasn’t blind, then his healing wouldn’t have been significant; if the red sea wasn’t there, then the miraculous parting of the sea wouldn’t have been glorifying. God arrives when the situation is good and dead! Even to the point that the situation has a smell to it. The smell only shows that death is approaching or is in the works. And let’s face it, smells are not appealing to us; we are human. We tend to walk away from people that smell and we – in the name of leaving them up to God – give up on them, and we do not want to be associated with them. Or if you are the dead one, you tend to give up on yourself when you get an aroma of your own smell, and you completely forget what you are made of and who you are made in the image of…and you willingly surrender and call it quits. For us, the smell might signify the end of the end, it might mean that our situation has gone too far for help; it could also mean that we have run out of options and our only answer is death or surrendering to the dark side. Or so it is thought……. The wonderful news is that the Lord does not like tombs and smells do not deter Him. He didn’t stay in one, and won’t allow His children to stay in it either. We remember the work He did for Lazarus (John 11). When He came to Lazarus, Lazarus was good and dead. And the people were sure of it! As a matter of fact, when it was brought to Jesus’ attention that Lazarus was sick, Jesus responded that his sickness will not bring him to death. To top it off, Jesus stayed a few more days away from Lazarus. Have you ever thought that God should have arrived to your situation sooner? Of course! It would be easier for us to understand because sooner would make the situation more predictable and it would suit us better; but God never works on our schedule. He arrives on time!!! The other part of this puzzle is that you and I play different roles in this. You might be waiting on God to do something BIG in your life, and get you out of the situation that you are in. Or you might know someone that is going through a tough hopeless situation. You may be the one that drives past the dead / stinky mess and want nothing to do with it. You might be the one that cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel for your life; actually, you might be waiting for death to overtake you. None of us are exempt from this. When the Lord was about to resurrect Lazarus, He asked the people around to roll away the stone. He then resurrected Lazarus. And then He asked the people to loosen Lazarus and let Him go. ISN’T THAT AMAZING?!?!?!?! Will you be available for the rolling of the stone on someone else’s life? Will you be willing to walk out of the tomb when your stone is rolled away? We need to stop dwelling on the dead things and actually move on from them! We need to stop thinking the “and so it was thought” thoughts that we have. We need to remove those limitations from our thinking. God is here to heal and resurrect us, and it’s our choice to work with Him. He wants to take us out of the emotional realm and remove the boundaries that we have placed on ourselves, and the ones we have placed on others. Only God can walk into a dead place and bring life out of it. Do not give up, stay encouraged and believe that God can do it! Adapted from Pastor Patrick's Sermon 12/5/10. http://www.shilohchurch.com

Not like trees

There was a blind man that had been blind for quite sometime. One day, he happened to be in the midst of a man, who could possibly help him with his problem. Some believed that the man could help this blind man. As a matter of fact, others around begged him to help the blind man. Although everyone was probably looking for an outward display of a miracle, instead this man led the blind man outside the town......and then he spat on the blind man's eyes. Miraculously, the blind man was able to see but not quite clearly. When asked what he saw, he explained his vision as "I see men, as trees, walking". This was not good enough. The man then placed his hands on the not-so-blind man's eyes again and asked him to look up one more time and explain what he saw. Now, his sight was completely restored, and he saw men, as men. This story is recorded in Mark 8:22-26. Great story! I heard a very simple message today (regarding this scripture) and I was really challenged. Well, it showed me something that I/we easily and comfortably overlook. And that is - the way God sees people vs the way we see people. We often see people as trees, and we know that this is NOT the way God sees them. In fact, we get so burdened with our own perspectives, agendas, justifications, selfish thoughts that we are not able to see lost souls as nothing more than trees. Keep in mind that lost souls are not only the unchurched or the unsaved. Lost souls are people like you and I...people that are only familiar with traumatic lives, people going through difficulties of life, people dealing with diverse trials, people that are not able to make any decisions in life, people that are stagnant between their past and their future, people that are just trying to make it, people that are not able to navigate through their every day life, people that you and I actually know....etc. I really believe that God wants to restore my vision in respect to how I see people. I want to see people the way God sees them, not the way I see them or what I think they look like. I don't want to have to go through the lesson again, I want to get it the first time around! I believe that the blind man's first response had a judgmental edge to it....because I know I do that sometimes. When I see people, I immediately judge them by what I remember of them or whatever mindset I am in at the time. This is selfish and IT IS NOT God's way. How am I going to reach people if I keep this type of attitude, right? God always looks at us with the heart of a father, with compassion, grace and mercy. And I am forever grateful to Him for it. If He looked at me with the lens of all the things that I have done wrong, then I wouldn't have a chance. And neither would you! I pray for us ladies, that we allow God to restore or renew our vision, so we can see people the way He does. “People only see what they are prepared to see.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson