12 January 2011

12 January 2011

Psalm 119:1-24; Isa. 41:1-16; Eph. 2:1-10; Mark 1:29-45

Here the nation sees prophetically what it means to wait upon the Lord. They will hear Him say to them, “Fear not” and they will see themselves as the favored nation who will be feared. Do we see the church as triumphant or is the church in our day in the west in a certain amount of fear? We have the Lord behind us and before us, at our side in all that we undertake in His Name and yet often we shrink in fear before the world. Our trust is intended to be in Him. What we are able to accomplish on our own is nothing as compared to what we are able to do with Him. Too often we forget that the battle belongs to the Lord and we join the Israelites as they send spies into the promised Land and tremble in fear that we are as nothing in the eyes of those who oppose us and we are, but He is great and mighty. We have the promise of His presence so long as we are doing the work He has given us to do, let us not be afraid, let us encourage one another to love and good deeds in His Name.

We see Jesus doing amazing acts of healing in this passage and because He does, people come to Him, seeking Him out, believing in His power to change their lives. Even a leper does what lepers weren’t supposed to do, approaching Him, drawing near. Lepers were required to shout “Unclean” when someone approached so that the other was not contaminated and therefore unable to draw near to God in worship but this man comes close to Jesus and kneels before Him to be cleansed by Him. Jesus told the disciples that they would do greater works, and they did! Peter and John worked miracles of healing as did Paul and through history the church has seen many incredible things done through ordinary people working in the power of the Holy Spirit and yet we do not move in that power always. We neglect the gift and the power that makes us different and we depend on our cleverness and our words when we need more of Him.

We are not looking for salvation, we have received it by grace through faith. Now we are to move out into ministry and mission to the world, preaching the Good News to all. We didn’t get this salvation by works, rather, Paul says we are God’s workmanship. That little phrase really bothers me because if I am to reveal God’s glory by being His masterpiece, I have a long way to go. I hinder the work of God in and through my life by sin and by failing to be dedicated to two things, allowing Him to work His way in me and by “following too much the devices and desires of my own heart.” If I am to truly be God’s workmanship, revealing what kind of craftsman He is, I need to think about change. If I am to do the works He has prepared for me to walk in, I need more of Him and less of me.

With my whole heart I will seek you;
let me not wander from your commandments!

In the way of your testimonies I will delight
as much as in all riches.
I will meditate on your precepts
and fix my eyes on your ways.
I will delight in your statutes;
I will not forget your word.