In His Word 3-30-2020
One
Sabbath day Jesus went to eat dinner in the home of a leader of the Pharisees,
and the people were watching him closely. There was a man there whose arms and legs were swollen. Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in religious law, “Is
it permitted in the law to heal people on the Sabbath day, or not?" When they refused to answer, Jesus touched the sick man and
healed him and sent him away. Then he
turned to them and said, “Which of you doesn’t work on the Sabbath? If
your son or
your cow falls into a pit, don’t you rush to get him out?” Again they could not answer. Luke 14:1-6
Sometimes I just don’t know where to
begin.
Here we are going through basically rationing
our trips to the grocery store because everyone is home, and everyone is eating
food and so everyone is running out of what they eat. Plus, it is the ‘out’
that is permissible for those of us who are on shelter time. I find lines pretty much any time of the day
now.
So, this morning it was my turn to go gathering
and hunting for the things we need. I will admit I did not want to go out ‘into
the world’, as I call it, because so many people do not respect your personal
space.
Then it takes longer to shop even if
there are not a ton of people in line because we have to stay six feet from
anyone, this means we wait to entre some isles and are really cautious as we
grab our goods.
So, this morning as I get there, I see
a long outdoor line because its not open yet and I thought about just waiting
but no I found a great spot to park and then saw a few more people showing up
so I hurried to the end of the line. I got in line at the perfect spot!
I knew no one in line… not yet! But as we stood there, I could not help but
gab. I spoke to front person then rear person and while I heard the rear person
tell of a relative with cancer, I felt the need… no the overwhelming need, to
pray for her. I awkwardly asked stranger her name, then felt as if I knew the
name… never crossed paths if we did it was years between when she went to my
church and when I did.
So, I felt powerfully that I needed to
pray for cancer to be gone! Just that! Dissolved and gone! I believe that this will happen or that God
has already done it that is how powerful I felt when I told them man. Like it wasn’t
me at all, but I knew God had this orchestrated! We talked about how you had to believe things
to be truth. All this while we wait to go inside the store, standing about 6
feet apart.
I ask you this and think hard on it before
you answer. Is it okay for God to heal someone through a prayer in the store
line? Of course, we know it is true, but how many times have we thought I
should pray for that person, even done so, but never said anything because we
thought they would think we were weird? No matter the place, no matter the day,
we can pray and help someone change their life!
Some people have a hard-tight rule
against working on the Sunday in our country because they say it’s the Sabbath.
Whether it is or not is neither here nor there but what is important is that
you do what has to be done, prayer for someone in a public place where people
may stand and stare not getting it or, just maybe ‘getting it’ for the first
time in their lives. We need to pray for
people, and we need to give them that hope by letting them know why we pray,
why we trust God to do this thing, and why they too should believe!
The person I spoke with said that you
have to believe, to know that you will continue on. So we add that to our
prayers now, Lord help them believe for the healing you are doing! I like to
add, …”knock their socks off with this one Lord!” because my God loves to do
that! He loves to see the delight in our eyes when we see a miracle has
happened, or a promise was kept! Its not because He realized we needed it, but
because we realized He had already done it!
I can liken it to when we give a gift
to our children for either a birthday, or other holiday and even though we know
what the gift is, and that they will love it; we watch waiting for the package
to be opened and the delight to shine in their eyes and smiles. I believe when
we pray asking for something God gets that same delight. “Ah! She sees it! Yes!”
He says as I realize there was a prayer need. Later there will be another aha! As
the woman is found to be healed! In Jesus name!
The scripture above has been stuck on
my link to the bible online for a while I keep reading it over and over and today,
I figured out why. God chooses when someone needs to be healed, and who needs
to hear when we pray or tell them they are healed. He had a purpose in that and
if you go to Luke 14 and read through the chapter it will show you many things;
I trust you will see God has done things that you want to share! When we read and then share it good things can
happen! Be blessed today, pray for those in line around you! What a blessing to
be part of His plan. Let’s see what God does with this!
Suggested reading today? Luke 14:1-35