Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this new day. He is the Christ in every crisis. He is in control of all of our times. Have you ever heard the saying, “Life is what happens when you’re making other plans”? Often we have the course of our lives all mapped out - what we want or what we plan to do - and then life happens and our course is changed. Sometimes, if we remain bent on what we have mapped out, never looking up, life can just pass us by or overwhelm us. If we truly live and experience life, we soon discover we cannot control life, that it never goes quite as planned, and that there are plenty of surprises along the way.
Even in the Bible things of this nature happened. Jesus had His course mapped out, planning to go to heal Jairus’ daughter ( Mark 5). Then life happened. The woman with the hemorrhage came in and His plans changed a bit. He had to pause on his way to the healing to take care of this woman who suffered from hemorrhages for twelve years. As a Jew she was considered unclean. She was segregated from all that was holy in order to keep her from defiling it with her uncleanness. She was suffering not just physically, but socially and spiritually as well.
Then, after twelve long years of this, Jesus came by and she was healed. For twelve years she suffered indignity and isolation, not to mention the physical discomfort of her condition! Why did God let her suffer for so long? You would think that the Son of God would have better timing than that! It would be logical to think that it would have been better if Jesus had arrived 11 years, 11 months and 3 weeks earlier and saved her years of pain and anguish. Wasn’t Jesus just a little late? No!
The Bible tells us that this woman had heard of Jesus and that she took it upon herself to touch his cloak so that she could be healed. This was a bold act. She was unclean. What would people say? What would they do if she touched the Holy Rabbi? He might rebuke her. The crowd might stone her. She reached out to Jesus anyway. This was a desperate act of faith by a desperate woman. Jesus was not late. He was right on time - God’s time (KAIROS). If Jesus had come any earlier she would not have been ready to take the chance she took. She would not have been ready to make that leap of faith, to take a chance on further ridicule and death on the belief that Jesus could heal her. When Jesus found her He said, "Your faith has made you well." Because Jesus came when he did, and not a day sooner, this woman was able to step out in faith. Because she stepped out in faith she was healed.
Meanwhile, the second person in our story, Jairus, was waiting. Jesus had been on a mission to Jairus’ house to heal his daughter when the woman with the hemorrhage disturbed the “plan”. One can almost sense the impatience and anxiety Jairus must have been going through during this time. Anyone who has ever had a sick child…no matter how old or young the child may be… knows how a parents heart aches when a child is sick. Jairus' daughter was sick, even to the point of dying. Jairus had heard of this new teacher named Jesus who healed the sick. So, as fast as he could, he ran to find this Jesus. Even though leaders of the Synagogue were not supposed to believe in charismatic prophets like Jesus, and even though it would look bad on his social resume to be seen with Jesus, he went.
When Jairus found Jesus he pleaded for Him to come quickly or his daughter would die. Jesus agreed to see her and they took off down the road. However, when Jairus looked back Jesus was just standing there with the crowd, and
before they could get Jesus moving again Jairus’ friends arrived with the news, "Your daughter is dead. It's too late." One can imagine the rage that welled up in Jairus, but before Jairus could put his rage into words Jesus reached out to him and said, "Do not fear, only believe." Jesus then went to the child, and took her hand and said, "Little girl, get up!" Then she stood up and began to walk, and they were all amazed.
The good news of the gospel is that no matter how “bad” the timing may seem to our eyes, Jesus is never late! He has perfect timing…God’s timing. Whatever is happening in your life, know that Jesus is there.
In Christ,
Brown
http://youtu.be/VAJ4y48MLXM
PRAYER CONFERENCE:
Union Center United Methodist Church:
128 Maple Drive, Endicott, New York 13760
PRAYER CONFERENCE:
Friday October 14 through Sunday October 16, 2011
Need hope?
Need a reason to continue?
Need joy?
Need peace?
Need an answer?
Need rest?
" COME TO JESUS AND LIVE "
Need NEED LIFE?No matter what you need…
JESUS says “Call to Me & I will Answer!”
~ Jeremiah 33:3
Join us for a weekend of Hope, Joy, Peace & Life!!
Friday Oct. 14 – 6:00 pm: Opening session at Union Center UMC with Kelly Johnson from Two By Two Ministries
Saturday Oct. 15:
9 am – Noon at Union Center UMC: Open Prayer Time: A refreshing time of personal prayer and community prayer for any storm you’ve weathered. Prayer teams available to pray with those who desire it.
12.PM Feeding ministry at the First United Methodist Church. Endicott. Co-coordinator: Lynn Roenbarker.
5:30pm – Community Dinner at Endicott First Methodist
6:30pm – Worship service with Kelly Johnson at Endicott First Methodist.
Sunday Oct. 16 – 8:30 & 11:00 am at Union Center UMC– Join us for morning worship with guest speaker Kelly Johnson.
***Please note our two locations for these events***
Union Center United Methodist Church is located at 128 Maple Dr. Endicott
Endicott First Methodist is located at 53 McKinley Ave. Endicott
For information please call 607-748-6329-748-1358 or 427-4359
If you are unable to come but have a need you’d like to have us pray for, please email it to umcgospel@aol.com or you can mail it to the Union Center UMC address listed above attn: Prayer Team
We praise the Lord for the following who will be leaders in the Prayer conference:
Kelly Johnson from Memphis, TN.
Sunita and Andy from Washington, DC
Rob and Jenn from Washington, DC
Melanie from Baltimore
Laureen from Binghamton
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment