July 11 – Hear Him, He Knows

“And when Jesus came to the ruler’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, he said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose.” – Matthew 9:23-25 (ESV)

Jesus traveled around the Israel during his time of ministry.  He was incessantly consumed doing what he had come from heaven to do. After preaching His sermon to the crowds teaching the difference between the Kingdom of God and the system of legalism from official Jewish rulers. We can read of Jesus healing all who would come to him of all diseases. One of the ‘all’ was a synagogue official who’s young daughter was near death. She succumbed to the illness and died before Jesus could get to her. But Jesus knew what He about to make happen. For Jesus the little unconscious girl laying on her bed was nothing more than ‘asleep.’ At that time and in that culture, the mourners appear and walling commencing immediately after one dies. A loud disorderly atmosphere created by mourners intended to demonstrate the level of sorrow and grief. Wealthy families might hire professionals to crank up the commotion to make up for sorrow that did not even exist. Jesus is laughed at and mocked when he tells the noisemakers to exit the house because the girl was only asleep. Moments later when Jesus has restored her physical life, the mockers are amazed.    

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November 25 – Thanksgiving Day (USA)

“He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!” Psalm 107:20-21 (ESV) 

Needing to be ‘healed’ or ‘delivered’ from something destructive happens. Some have experienced God’s benevolent grace and love this way. All of us have had serious needs from time to time where we felt the need for deliverance or healing. We have reason therefore to be thankful to God. No one is without something that they have thanksgiving for. This day we celebrated Thanksgiving Day in the USA. Our brothers and sisters north in Canada, celebrated Thanksgiving on the second Monday of October. Whenever we pause for a national day of thanksgiving, it is good to remember and keep in mind the reason we do that. We all have reasons to make every day a day of Thanksgiving.  Today's verses provide examples of reasons for giving thanks to the Lord. He is certainly worthy of our thanks. He has done so much for each of us. He has loved us and because of His great love. He offered His Son and He went to the cross for us. He has brought us into His family. Even if we are not with our physical family let's be thankful that God has brought us into His family.

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April 11 – He Was Wounded, We Are Healed

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” – 1 Peter 2:24 (ESV)

It is during this time of the years that we increase our focus on the resurrection of Jesus Christ because it is Easter.  After the Passion Week (Palm Sunday-Easter), How much do we think about Christ’s resurrection?  Doesn’t it diminish for the rest of the year?* We know, however, that the Resurrection Day, falling on the first day of the week is the reason the disciples and apostles began the practice of meeting for worship, teaching and fellowship. In the first century, every first day of the week was a time to remember. Christ’s death and then resurrection is the why of following the Way of Jesus. Our promise today from Peter is that we have been given by Jesus, eternal life and saved from death because Christ paid our penalty and defeated death for us. Why not follow the early example of the believers and make that the center of our weekly worship?  Worship happens in a community of believers as often and as regular as is possible. We need each other to remind all that we meet on Sundays mostly because the disciples set the pattern for us the first Sundays after Christ ascended into heaven.  

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*The Easter date floats on our calendar. Each year it is marked on the First Day of the week between March 22 (very infrequent) and April 25 (also infrequent).     

Easter is always on Sunday, but it moves around more than other holidays. 

Easter as early as March 22 is very rare. The last time it happened was 1818, and the next time will be 2285. Easter last fell on the latest date in 1943, and will again in 2038. Next year it's April 20.

How the date is determined sounds simple but is pretty complex. Generally, Easter is observed on the Sunday following the first full moon in the Northern Hemisphere, or the first full moon after the vernal equinox March 20.

In depth explanation of how the Easter Date is calculated:  http://assa.org.au/edm 

March 21 – Looking For Faith

“Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.” Matthew 15:28 (ESV)

When Jesus was here on earth people came to him asking for help in many different ways. It is quite clear what Jesus would look for before He took action. He would know if they had faith to receive what they asked for. Jesus was talking to a Canaanite woman whose daughter needed to be healed of demon-possession. At the end of our verse we read that the daughter was healed right at that very moment that Jesus said “Be it done” to the woman. What Jesus told this woman makes it very clear what He was looking for before He healed the daughter. He was looking for faith in the heart of the mother. Although she was a Gentile and not a member of God's chosen people, Jesus responded to her faith. He calls her faith “great” and used his power to produce immediate results. When we seek help from Jesus in our prayers, He looks for faith in us too.  If we have the faith, he will respond – that is a promise.  

February 7 – Truly Thankful

“Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; ... Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?””  Luke 17:15, 17-18 (ESV)

We are considering today an incident during the ministry of our Lord Jesus when he was here on earth. Luke records the time Jesus healed ten leprous men.  They had asked Jesus for mercy and healing and he instructed them to go and show themselves to the priest.  All showed faith and were cured, but only one stopped to praise God and to thank Jesus for his cure. 
It is clear from the questions asked by Jesus that he expected all ten to give God praise. We can learn from this what God expects from us when He helps us in so many ways. When we receive God's help our response is to give Him the glory He deserves and thank Him. It is true that God does want us to pray to Him and to look to Him for help and to depend on Him every day. And He promises to respond just as he did for these ten diseased men.  When He does, let's not forget to be thankful to Him. It is good for us to always, every day to express our thanks and praise for all that He has done for us. 

April 5

“Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.”  Matthew 15:28 (NIV)

Jesus was speaking to a Canaanite woman who had come to ask that her daughter be healed by Jesus. Note what Jesus said about her faith. Sometimes we are apt to think that our faith is great or that someone else has great faith. But here it was Jesus who said it. Isn’t that what is really important? It’s how our Lord evaluates our faith. So let’s not use human measurements of our faith.  Just trust God, His greatness, His power, His love and His concern for us. Then we can let Him measure our faith.