Jesus stands ready to help us, but His help is contingent on our absolute, total obedience to His Word, whether or not we agree with it or understand it.
In some way, God requires more than our intellectual faith – He requires our total trust as demonstrated by our obedience to His Word in order to release the miracle. Jesus gave sight to a man born blind, but in order to receive it he had to trust and obey by going to the pool of Siloam to wash. (John 9:1-7) Jesus gave strength to a paralyzed man who had been lying on his pallet for thirty-eight years, but he had to trust and obey by getting up and picking up his mat before he could walk. (John 5:1-9) Jesus healed a man with a withered hand, but before it could be straightened, the man had to trust and obey by stretching it out. (Luke 6:6-10)
What miracle are you waiting to receive? Could it be that God also is waiting – waiting for you to simply trust and obey?
Has your entire life been a series of struggles? Have you been . . .
More sick than well?
More defeated than successful?
More tired than rested?
More empty than satisfied?
More sad than happy?
Do you feel defeated because after a lifetime of struggle, all you have to look forward to is death and a cold grave? Look up! . . .
Regardless of our circumstances or condition, we can look forward with hope as we glimpse Heaven, My Father’s House, which is being prepared as an eternal home for you and for me!
“Do not let your hearts be troubled” is a command you and I are to obey! Deliberately calming ourselves is a choice we are to make in the face of shocking setbacks,
catastrophic circumstances,
abrupt accidents,
irritating interruptions,
devastating dissension,
agonizing addiction,
frequent failures,
all of which cause us to be terrified of the consequences and repercussions. In the midst of the swirling, cloying fog of fear, Jesus commands, “Stop it!”
How in the world is it possible to obey a command that involves so much of our emotional feelings? Our obedience begins with a choice to stop being afraid, followed by a decision to start trusting God.
Christ “made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!” (Phil. 2:7-8) How awesome to consider that the Creator of the universe, unbound in time and space for all eternity, chose to be bound
by a woman’s womb for nine months,
by the body of a man that knew weariness and hunger,
by a Roman cross, with His hands and feet pinned by spikes,
by a borrowed tomb . . .
Why? So that you and I might be set free from the problems that threaten to bind us and keep us from fulfilling God’s intended purpose for our lives.
Praise God! We can be free, truly free at last, from all that binds us, because the One Who is gloriously eternal, unbound by time and space, was willing to be bound!
