Jesus had the inner 12 friends whom we call his disciples and for some reason he paid closer attention to Peter and prepared him to lead the others when he leaves. Talk about succession planning!
When Jesus died, the bible records that on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and discovered that the stone had been rolled away, she naturally ran to the leader that Jesus had appointed and reported what she saw. Is it not amazing that Peter was not the one who is checking up on Jesus, having been with him and witnessed all sorts of events, the voice from heaven, the transfiguration and the prayer sessions that Jesus made sure he saw? Yet, not only did he deny Jesus when push came to shove, he moved on with his old life right away. Not believing one word that Jesus told him.
Mary’s report must have surprised and shocked him so he left to confirm for himself. What happened when he saw that Jesus’ body was no longer in the tomb was the most shocking for me. John 20 vs. 10, “Then the disciples went away again to their own homes”. Jesus tried to get them off their homes while He was with them. He told them that if they want to follow Him, they must deny those family ties and focus on the mission with Him. How quickly that fell by the way side!
The bible records that Mary stayed back there. NO matter what critics say about this woman, she was one person who understood the mission of Jesus and one person who believed what Jesus said. She was not about to give up on her Lord yet.
What does Peter make of all these? He said to the group that Jesus had given him charge over “I am going fishing”… meaning “I am returning to my old ways, my old profession. “I am not sure I understand this Jesus anymore. It must be over now. The guy is dead and even His body has disappeared. Let me return to the life I know”.
The bible records that the others followed him immediately without any persuasion and that they went fishing and caught nothing. What a waste of time!!! They caught nothing. How many man hours that was… fully wasted. Peter is no different from me and all of us. We hear God speak to us and give us charge and instructions and somehow, along the way we take one or two steps and some challenges show up and we quickly retrace our steps backwards. Once God has asked you to move on to something else, do yourself a favour…do not return to the old job, old profession, old way of life… God has closed that chapter of your life. He has relocated you. If you do, you will be like Peter and the rest of the disciples that went fishing when Jesus had said… you shall no longer do this but will be “fishers of men”. They did not say No and that was an agreement.
With God an agreement stands except He changes it.
Can you imagine if Abraham went back to Ur in Chaldeans after God had said “Move”? He could have gone back when he was faced with Egypt and the loss of his beautiful wife and so many other challenges… he understood that God had relocated him and there was no going back.
Friday, June 25, 2010
“It is well” – 2 King 4 vs. 23
“It is well” the woman told her husband. My first thought upon reading this verse is does the man not know that his son is dead. Chances are he does not know. He knew one thing though; the child was sick and should be taken to the mother. The mother must know what to do and truly she knew what to do. Only the child dies instead. She should have screamed out and started wailing after all, her son and her only child just died in her arms. But NO it was not time for crying, wailing or seeking for sympathy. She was not going to accept what God has not given – a dead son. God gave her son when she did not even ask and the gift of God cannot suddenly be with repentance. How can God just change His mind when the bible says that His gifts are without repentance and that He does not change His mind??
She decided to seek God and she took off to see the man of God. It was not the right time to go and see the man God as it was not the new moon or the Sabbath. It is not Sunday morning neither is it the time for prayer meeting. But her son is dead. She just knows that God needs to be “confronted” concerning her situation and nothing is going to stop her from trying to reach God. And “it does not matter” she told her husband…”God will still hear me even though it is neither the season of the new moon nor Sabbath”. What a faith!!!
She could have said to the husband “do you not understand? Our son is dead and you are concerned about new moon and Sabbath” It was not the time for a fight and it was not the time for vain argument to try and convince people on why you have to take certain steps. It was simply the time to act… to see your God and to ‘confront’ Him.
Several times in our lives, we know what God has said concerning us. We know the gift He has given us and yet the enemy comes to play with our minds to tell us that the healing is not real and how the sickness is back or will be back and we even start looking for the symptoms that are not there.
Like the Shunamite woman, we need to stop the enemy in his tracks by going back to God and saying, No way!!! The gift of God is without repentance.
It is very interesting what happened between this woman and the man of God. Elisha sent his servant with his authority and gave him instructions but the woman would not accept that. She told Elisha plainly, you really must come… this calls for your attention personally. She will not give up. She knows first hand what is needed to bring her son back to life and she will stop at nothing until God answers her.
I do not know what situation you have in your life but one thing is sure. God’s word concerning you is without repentance. I tell myself the same thing… God is not going to change His mind concerning me. Hold unto Him with in faith and obedience and see the dead things in your life come back to life and the seemingly hopeless situations turned around. We can move the hand of God… Elisha got up and went with the Shunamite woman and restored her son to life.
She decided to seek God and she took off to see the man of God. It was not the right time to go and see the man God as it was not the new moon or the Sabbath. It is not Sunday morning neither is it the time for prayer meeting. But her son is dead. She just knows that God needs to be “confronted” concerning her situation and nothing is going to stop her from trying to reach God. And “it does not matter” she told her husband…”God will still hear me even though it is neither the season of the new moon nor Sabbath”. What a faith!!!
She could have said to the husband “do you not understand? Our son is dead and you are concerned about new moon and Sabbath” It was not the time for a fight and it was not the time for vain argument to try and convince people on why you have to take certain steps. It was simply the time to act… to see your God and to ‘confront’ Him.
Several times in our lives, we know what God has said concerning us. We know the gift He has given us and yet the enemy comes to play with our minds to tell us that the healing is not real and how the sickness is back or will be back and we even start looking for the symptoms that are not there.
Like the Shunamite woman, we need to stop the enemy in his tracks by going back to God and saying, No way!!! The gift of God is without repentance.
It is very interesting what happened between this woman and the man of God. Elisha sent his servant with his authority and gave him instructions but the woman would not accept that. She told Elisha plainly, you really must come… this calls for your attention personally. She will not give up. She knows first hand what is needed to bring her son back to life and she will stop at nothing until God answers her.
I do not know what situation you have in your life but one thing is sure. God’s word concerning you is without repentance. I tell myself the same thing… God is not going to change His mind concerning me. Hold unto Him with in faith and obedience and see the dead things in your life come back to life and the seemingly hopeless situations turned around. We can move the hand of God… Elisha got up and went with the Shunamite woman and restored her son to life.
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