Day 12

Yesterday was one of those days when I was supposed to write one of the consecration call posts for kids and my mind was totally blank. You must have had days like that when you have to do something and just can’t even start, maybe a project at school, or your piano practice. Well, I asked the Lord about it and He told me I was not to write anything that day, but to rest and wait to hear from Him. He seemed to say that even if I didn’t get one out on time for Friday that it was o.k. too. It got me thinking about how Jesus did things.

When Jesus was on earth He was never in a rush. He had time to stop and listen to people, and was not concerned about interruptions. For example look at the story of Jairus, who was an official of the synagogue, so, an IMPORTANT dude. The problem was he had a very sick daughter. He comes to Jesus and asks Him to please come to his house and heal his daughter. Now, what would we tend to do if someone important asked us to do something that we knew we could help with, for example the principal at school? We would probably drop what we are doing and run, because we want to make a good impression after all.  Now Jesus and his followers did start going to Jairus’ house, but as He did He continued to talk and listen to the people around him. While He was walking a lady who had a bleeding problem touches his cloak, and Jesus, STOPS and says, “Who touched me?”  Jesus was so aware of the people around Him that the timid touch of a hurting person was enough to make Him stop and find out about her, even if it meant waiting to go the important person’s house. By the way, she was healed as soon as she touched Jesus, after 30 years of suffering, but she also found out that Jesus loved her! In the meantime however the daughter of the important man dies, Yeah, NOW what? Well, Jesus didn’t seem at all concerned but continued on. When He did reach Jairus’s house He went in and raised her from the dead, and proved to the people that He had authority not only over sickness but over death!

(Mark 5:21-41.)

What was Jesus’ mission statement?  Well He lets us know by quoting Isaiah 61:1-2,

"The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, "to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor …to comfort all who mourn."

So what was Jesus was called to do?

1.     Preach good news,

2.     Encourage the sad or brokenhearted.

3.     To set the prisoners free. (What are things that keep people “captive”?)

4.     To comfort all who mourn.

Now do you think Jesus always felt like being around people and doing all these things? 

Let’s look at another day.

Mark 6:34: When He went ashore, He saw a great multitude, and he felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things.

If you look back in chapter 6 you will see that this was a day where Jesus had just heard about the death of his cousin John. He wanted to be alone with his friends, so had gotten on a boat to escape the crowds.  It was a bad day for him. How do you think He felt?

How would you have reacted when, you came back to shore way on the other side of the lake, and saw all those people?  I know myself I would probably have quickly gone another way and tried to sneak back without anyone noticing, and text messaged a friend to come and get me from another location. (Oh yeah, He didn’t have a cell phone.)

But no, Jesus didn’t try to sneak away.  He looked at the people with compassion. The word compassion has a HUGE meaning, it actually means that you feel another person’ pain in your gut.  Have you ever felt your heart or tummy hurt when you heard something that made you really sad? When Jesus looked at a crippled boy he would feel the limp, He would feel the loneliness of the leper, and there were times that Jesus wept.  No he could not leave the people alone.  Then at the end of the day, after teaching them and healing the sick, what did he do, he cared enough for them that he didn’t send them away hungry but fed them!

As God sent Jesus, Jesus sends us. If we want to be like Jesus, we need to make Jesus’ mission statement ours!

Today Jesus still hears and sees the cries of people and longs to reach out to them. He sees the people on the streets in our cities and in the houses with eyes of compassion. He hears when they are afraid, sees when they are happy, and knows when they are sick or hungry. He cares about the pain not only in Africa but also in Canada, and every part of the world.

The love and power of God is bigger than we have ever known.  God is so big that it didn’t matter when the sick girl died, because He knew that He could do the impossible and raise her from the dead. The boy with the 5 loaves and 2 fish saw Jesus who He was, the Son of God, and believed that Jesus could do the impossible so gave him all he had.

Jesus is looking for a boy or girl today that will say yes to Jesus, not be afraid of the crowds and offer to him all that they are and have.  He wants to multiply Himself through your life!

To do so we need to welcome the Holy Spirit into every part of our life so we have eyes to see, ears to hear and feet to run to do what is on His heart. God created you to carry the miraculous power and love of God in a life that is laid down and obedient. We have talked about that in earlier posts.  We need to learn that God is BIG enough to meet our needs and that he is extravagant enough to enjoy your parties and ice cream. He wants us to so fill our hearts with His presence and love and mercy that nothing can stop us from sharing it.   If we try to do it on our own we will get POOPED! But if you take time to listen to what is on God’s heart, and not rush about, you will be able to carry the love of God to a dying world.

If this is what is on your heart, pray with me:

Prayer:  Holy Spirit, I ask you to fill every part of my life so I have eyes to see, ears to hear and feet to run to do what is on Jesus’ heart. Give me the courage to not be afraid of the crowds of people, like the kids at school, but to use my voice to encourage people that are hurting and point them to You. Use my hands to bring healing to those that are sick and afraid. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Activity:

Take some time now and ask God what is on His heart for you to do. When he tells you do it.

In a time of prayer Josh saw this picture. In the first he saw hands that were bound. Then a light came behind the hands. The next showed the hands freed

He felt it was a picture of how Jesus wanted to set free people that were bound with sin, drugs, drinking, whatever and also prisoners.

A few weeks later Josh, 10 years old, went to a juvenile detention center, to share the Good News with the young people in jail there! You can check it out on the blog. www.kidsofthekingarise.blog.com in the Yopps heard section.