What are you looking at?



This week in my bible reading I was looking at the crucifixion of Jesus.  As I was reading the account, I closed my eyes for a moment and imagined Peter and the disciples.  For 3 years, they've been doing life with Jesus.  They've seen amazing things, not only at Jesus' hands, but at their own.  They have recognized that he is the Son of God.  They've seen healings, deliverance,  and even people raised from the dead!

Suddenly they are looking at Jesus as he dies and life looks black.  

In that moment, I imagine Peter took a deep breath and thought "What the heck is going on.  I I thought for sure he was the Messiah, I mean I even said that.  I saw him shining on the mountain. Did I imagine it all? What am I gonna do now?"

Peter and the others, must have been lost, devastated, afraid. 

Several people I know are facing some pretty challenging situations, maybe you are too.  We can look at what we see and forget what God has said to us.  We look at the situation and we see nothing but defeat.

But remember what Jesus had said? Mark 8:31 (KJV)
And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

Jesus told them before hand what would happen, but they were so busy looking at the wrong thing, they forgot. They gave up and expected the worst. 

In our own situations, we need to remember what God has said to us, and we need to remember that there is life-giving, resurrection power coursing through us!   Romans 8:11 says that if the same spirit that raised Christ lives within us it will quicken (bring to life) our mortal bodies!!!

Mortal speaks of the here and now - this is not some prophetic thing for the future! It's about your body here and now! 

But more than just power for healing, if the same spirit that could raise Christ from the dead, lives in you, do you think that he can't deal with the other death-bringing things in your life?  Debt, depression, sickness, oppression, fear and so on! Of course not!  The fact that he lives in you brings life to EVERY situation you face.  

Whatever it looks like on the outside it's not over yet!  You have God's very life on the inside of you and that overcomes all the lies and deceit of the enemy.

Today, get your mind and eyes away from what you see.  Get your head buried in the word, in worship, in praying in the Spirit and look at what happened at the cross.  The devil was utterly defeated and Jesus was totally victorious, and that same Spirit that won for all eternity is now on the inside of every believer. 

You may be facing a serious trial in your life, but don't let it be what you focus on. Today take a look and remind yourself, think on, the fact the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead that lives in you! 

Happy Saturday




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Teabags and Popcorn!

Image
So, I was eating popcorn yesterday and drinking a fruit tea and I started wondering what makes a popcorn pop! (As you do). With a little help from Google, I found out that inside the kernel, the hard shell, there is a little bit of moisture and when it heats up inside, it turns to steam and as you keep heating it up, the pressure from the steam builds and builds until it cracks open the hard exterior and makes a yummy snack. And then I thought about my teabag (I do promise there will be a spiritual application to this, not just information on my food and drink habits).  The label had come off the teabag, so I didn't know exactly what flavour it was, until I poured on the boiling water and tasted it! As promised... the spiritual bit!  We are like teabags and popcorn!  This is a deep spiritual truth!  Really it is!  Read on and I'll explain why! Firstly we are like popcorn because when heated up, whatever we stir up inside us will burst out.  We're also like teabags too.  We
Read more

Take it!

Image
This week I have been thinking about the 10 spies that they sent out to view the promised land.  You probably don't remember the names of 8 of them!   The other two were of course Joshua and Caleb.    In the book of Numbers we see that Moses sent out these 10 men off to spy out the land that God had promised them.  They were to check it out and see what kind of place it was, what kind of people lived there and bring back some produce from the land. Well, if you know the story they brought back some figs, pomegranates and a bunch of grapes so big it had to be carried between two men!   It was a good land (no surprise there, seeing as God had told them it was good).  But when they got back 8 of the spies told the people "Well, it's a good land, but the people that live there included giants and all sorts of people that are really strong' I can imagine that all Israel gasped in horror or shock. Each person murmuring to his neighbour about how awful the situation was. In t
Read more

Looking back

Image
This week I was listening to a message and I was reading the verse in Luke 17:32 which simply says " Remember Lot's wife ."   This is a really interesting statement. When Jesus tells us to consider something or remember something we should pay attention. So what do we know about Lot's wife?  Not a lot really.  But what we do know is that an angel of the Lord took her by the hand to lead her out of the city before God destroyed it.  She was told to run for her life and not look back.  According to Genesis 19, she ran but she turned and look back and as a result, turned to a pillar of salt.  This short verse really spoke to me for a number of reasons.    The Apostle Paul tells us " I don’t depend on my own strength to accomplish this; however I do have one compelling focus: I forget all of the past as I fasten my heart to the future instead. "  (Phil 3:13 TPT) Since 2020, it's like we have a new category in history BC now stands for BEFORE COVID! People a
Read more