Where the rubber meets the road
March 30th, 2006
Leslie
Mark 9:29 (NIV) He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.” (and fasting KJV)
Peter, James and John had the chance to go up a high mountain with Jesus where they were all alone, and Peter said,”it is good for us to be here…” (Mark 9:5) I enjoy those mountain top experiences where I am tucked away in fellowship with the Lord and other believers. I know that times like that fulfill some of my cravings for heaven. However, it is not heaven until it is heaven… I realize further on in Mark, that Jesus brought the disciples down off of the mountain into the crowd. I know that Jesus wants me to be ready to be used by Him, and that my time on earth is to bring Jesus to the crowd… not to keep Him all to myself on the mountaintop. I can see in this passage that Jesus was seeking fellowship with His Father. The other disciples were not able to perform a miracle while Jesus was on the mountain.(Mark 9:18) I realize that we can not be ready in the valley if we do not seek fellowship with Jesus on the mountaintop.
Lord, Thank You for the mountain top experiences. I pray that I will be a woman after your own heart, to seek the Father… and that I will be ready down off the mountain to serve you. Thank You Lord for these glimpses of heaven and fellowship.
Please share with me (us) a way that Jesus meets you while you are seeking Him, or a time that Jesus went with you into the crowd…Does it make a difference in your service with Him if you are prayed up? Where in your life is the rubber meeting the road? It is a blessing to hear how the Lord is working.
March 30th, 2006 at 1:19 pm
As I read what you shared I got to thinking about how what a cyle I am in regarding ministry. I have found that as I serve and enjoy the joy that comes from that, I am led right back in to another mountaintop experience before very much time has passed at all. It’s all apart of that process of being in close communion with my Lord. Isn’t that a lot of what a mountaitop experience is, anyway…being so close to Him that I can see His hand in evrything that is happening to me?
March 30th, 2006 at 6:15 pm
Heidi, Thank you for putting into words what is in my heart. If I do not see Jesus around me, it’s because I am the one lost in the crowd. The joy of the Lord is my strength.
March 30th, 2006 at 10:26 pm
First off, thanks a bunch for this insight Leslie. You must be a real treat for your bible study. Jesus speaks with me when I am seeking Him in many ways. Sometimes it comes as an urge to look at a certain verse, book, or chapter. Others it is a conversation I over hear or am involved in. Yet still, it could just simply the way the wind blows, brings back a memory, which leads to a thought, which leads to the Word. I guess generally with me, I always get pointed back to the Word.
March 31st, 2006 at 6:14 am
In Mark 9:17, a man brings his demon-possesed son to Jesus for healing.
In verse 19, Jesus seems frustrated at the people continually seeking to see another miracle of healing from Him, as if thinking that if they see just the right miracle, they will finally be convinced to believe.
Then in verse 23, Jesus turns the situation around when He says “If you (Jesus) can?… Everything is possible for him who believes.”
I am challenged to continually remember that whatever power I need will be made available to me at the time that God desires me to be able to use it… if only I believe.
“Everything IS possible for him who believes.” Lord, I do believe! Help me to overcome my unbelief!
March 31st, 2006 at 5:56 pm
Dear Michael,
It is nice to hear that we can get healed through believing isn’t it? (Of course through God’s timing too.). I had a privilege to read a book titled, “The Holy Spirit” by Billy Graham. In this book, he said, “It is not the gift of healing that heals people. It is God who heals people. Also, it is by Faith that Jesus healed the blind, paralytic etc…” (Paraphrase). So I really believe that “Faith” can bring healing & power to our lives. (through the Holy Spirit).
Richard