And Jesus departed from there, and came near to the sea of Galilee; and went up into a mountain, and sat down there.
And great multitudes came to him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus’ feet; and he healed them:
Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel. (Matthew 15:29-31)
And great multitudes came to him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus’ feet; and he healed them:
Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel. (Matthew 15:29-31)
No wonder we never see the miraculous, or amazing things happening in our daily walk No wonder our churches are more like hospitals of terminal cases of people that need constant counselling and pep-talks to keep them going another day. No wonder the world is not interested in where we go or what we do in our little meetings and hymn-sandwich gatherings.
No wonder pastors would rather do Bible stories than lay hands on the sick and troubled, and see them restored to health and peace. No wonder preachers repeat old messages and talk about the exploits of former generations, but never come with God-imparted inspiration and words of knowledge to their people.
No wonder the presence and fear of God is no longer felt or evidenced in our assemblies and church programmes. We would sooner write a year's programme for our news-sheet than seek the Lord and wait for him to come and meet with us week by week with fresh and living anointing. If he was to turn up at the church on Sundays, what might happen? Theories and theological niceties have nothing to do with the reality of 'God with us'. As Gideon said, 'If God is with us, then where be the miracles?'
No wonder our lives are filled with troubles and sorrows and a multitude of other anxieties and concerns.
We never take any time to come away from our routines and busy lives and sit down with God. We try to sort ourselves out and sort out everyone else's problems by our own intrigue and cleverness, and having failed, we then ask others for advice and occasionally to pray for us, in the hope that they may be a bit more spiritual than we ourselves are.
We wake up in the morning and busy ourselves with all the mundane things that occupy our thinking from the start, and pile into the following hours of worldly activities and chatter with so many as we must meet with; but Jesus is up the mountain, sitting, waiting for us to come to him.
We would sooner take people to a doctor's surgery or a mental health expert, than climb the hill to God and talk with him. We would sooner read a magazine or newspaper than make the effort to go out and sit down with Jesus.
We would sooner take people to a doctor's surgery or a mental health expert, than climb the hill to God and talk with him. We would sooner read a magazine or newspaper than make the effort to go out and sit down with Jesus.
'Come now, (God says), and let us reason together.' (Isaiah 1:18) Come and sit down with him who knows all things, whose hands heal and deliver, whose power breaks every chain and shackle, whose love can mend the most broken of hearts; whose blood can cleanse every stain and make the most wretched sinner clean and whole.
But the seat where Jesus sits is empty, because we have no time to meet him in the morning, nor in the evening, but hope he might come to church next Sunday. Well, he probably will not, because only those who seek him early will find him.
What that means is that those who put him first in their lives, in their thinking, in their plans, in their business, in their breathing and living, those, and those alone, will find where he is waiting to meet with them. He has a time when we can meet with him, and he waits for us to come to him, but he is not mocked nor taken for granted. He is not on our timetable nor social media network schedule. He calls us to come to where he is.
His river of living waters and blessing does not get diverted to suit our demands or lifestyles. We have to come to where the river of life is flowing if we would be filled with all the fulness of God. If we cannot forsake all to find him, then we are but 'religious' robots programmed to follow ritual and habits, but never living in the experience and wonder of life in the Spirit. If we do not come to where he is when he invites us, then he may well be gone when we eventually decide we have a few minutes to spare for him. Then we will have to seek him with earnestness and humbleness of heart: "Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!" (so cried Job: Job 23:3)
What that means is that those who put him first in their lives, in their thinking, in their plans, in their business, in their breathing and living, those, and those alone, will find where he is waiting to meet with them. He has a time when we can meet with him, and he waits for us to come to him, but he is not mocked nor taken for granted. He is not on our timetable nor social media network schedule. He calls us to come to where he is.
His river of living waters and blessing does not get diverted to suit our demands or lifestyles. We have to come to where the river of life is flowing if we would be filled with all the fulness of God. If we cannot forsake all to find him, then we are but 'religious' robots programmed to follow ritual and habits, but never living in the experience and wonder of life in the Spirit. If we do not come to where he is when he invites us, then he may well be gone when we eventually decide we have a few minutes to spare for him. Then we will have to seek him with earnestness and humbleness of heart: "Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!" (so cried Job: Job 23:3)
He says, 'And you will seek me, and you will find me, when you will search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, says the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity.' (Jeremiah 29:3-14).
You do not need a church programme filled with worldly and carnal activities for people to be attracted to, and hopefully inspire them to come and join. You just need to have Jesus come: and he, his presence, his light, his majesty and glory will draw all men to himself. We try everything we can to get people to attend, but we never seem to understand that it is not by might, nor by power, neither by our plans and programmes and worldly mentalities that anything of any worth will ever happen. Let the world keep the world and its worldly wisdom. It has no place in the church, neither can add anything of spiritual value to it.
It is only, and I repeat, ONLY, by God's Spirit that anything of any use or spiritual worth will ever happen; and that will only ever come about by prayer that meets with God on the bench where he is waiting. Everything else is but carnal activities that avail nothing in the kingdom of God except to deceive us and make us think that we are doing 'our best'.
It is only, and I repeat, ONLY, by God's Spirit that anything of any use or spiritual worth will ever happen; and that will only ever come about by prayer that meets with God on the bench where he is waiting. Everything else is but carnal activities that avail nothing in the kingdom of God except to deceive us and make us think that we are doing 'our best'.
What has been has been, and is of no help or use to us now. We need a new touch from God, a fresh visitation from on high, a brand new encounter with the Holy Spirit, or we have nothing more than a 'habit' of faith, but not life-changing faith that impacts the world and revolutionizes our meetings together with God.
Without Him, we can do nothing. He waits for us to come to him and talk together.
JGM 2019 Telling it like it is
