“He told them, The man they call Jesus made mud and spread it over my eyes and told me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash yourself.’ So I went and washed, and now I can see!” – John 9:11

 

 

 

A few weeks ago, a man asked me to pray for him. He said that he didn’t feel like he was close enough to Jesus and that he needed help becoming more humble. I promised him that I would pray for him. A couple of days ago, he came back to me saying that that I must not have prayed for him. I told him I kept my promise and prayed for him often. The man said that since he last saw me, his life was turned upside down. He was humiliated at work and that he felt like nothing went right for him at all. I asked him how he was handling it, to which he replied that he was praying all the time, because that was the only place left to which he could turn. I said, “Prayers answered then?” He thought a minute and said, “Well, yes I suppose, but I didn’t want it like this.”

 

 

We all face troubles in life, but how we react to those troubles makes all the difference. In the book of John, we find Jesus healing a blind man with some mud that Jesus made from dirt mixed with His spit. I’m sure that the blind man heard all of that happening. Jesus spit on the ground, made some mud, and wiped it on the man’s eyes. It’s almost adding insult to injury, in that not only is the man blind, but now some joker is putting some spit-mud on him. However, Jesus was more than just some other guy and the blind man knew it. The blind man trusted Jesus and that was what made the miracle happen. I’m certain that the blind man didn’t ask Jesus to spit and make mud to be healed with. Frankly, if it was one of us in that situation, we probably would have asked if there was a cleaner, less spit-filled way of healing us. The blind man wasn’t like that. He believed that he would be healed and that Jesus had his best interests in mind, even thought maybe it wasn’t the way the man would have chosen first. He didn’t question the methods, he just believed in the outcome.

 

 

Too often, we pray for everything to go well. We want nothing but peace in our lives with no struggles. I’m not saying that praying for good things is a bad thing, but just like a muscle, we can’t grow unless we are put under stress sometimes. You don’t become a runner without running. Just the same, you can’t have humility without being humbled. Thank God that there are some trying times, because they give us a chance to exercise those virtues of faith, hope, and charity. Like the story of the blind man, the disciples asked Jesus who sinned to make the man blind. Our Lord replied, “This happened so the power of God could be displayed in him.” It’s not the ideal situation and not something we would ask for, but if it meant being saved for all of eternity and helping other souls to become saved as well, then it was well worth it.

 

 

 

You might ask, “But isn’t there another way?”

 

 

 

God’s ways are so far above our ways, as the heavens are above the earth. I promise you that the plan that our Creator has is better than anything you or I could come up with. The Apostle Paul spoke of “a thorn in his side,” meaning Paul had some sort of medical condition or something that kept plaguing him. He asked God to take it way, to which God replied, “My grace is sufficient for you.” It is when we are weak that we are strong in Christ. If we think that we can change our own ways and live a blessed life, we are only fooling ourselves. Men and women will fail, but with God, all things are possible.

 

 

 

Jesus died on the cross to save our souls. God could have done it any way He saw fit, yet He still chose to save us through the pain and anguish of the cross. He took the punishment we couldn’t. God has a plan for our lives and it’s not for us to second guess His ways. If the blind man would have slapped Jesus’ hands away from his eyes, the blind man would still have been blind. God wants you blessed. He wants you to see the greatness of what He has in store for you. If you think, “But that’s not how I would have done it,” then get your ‘but’ out of the way of God’s plans and watch Him turn your life into something extraordinary. Trust in the Lord and He will take you higher than you could imagine.

 

 

 

God’s blessings to you.

 

 

DH

 

 

 

“He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or not, I know not: one thing I know, that, though I was blind, now I see.” – John 9:25

In the Gospel of John, Jesus and His disciples come across a man who was blind since birth. Jesus spat on the ground, made some clay, and placed it on the blind man’s eyes. Jesus then told the man to go and wash the clay off in the nearby pool of Siloam. When the man did this, he immediately began to see.

That confused me as a young boy. Jesus could have snapped His fingers or even just spoke a single word and the man would have gained his sight. So why did Christ go to the trouble of making mud and having the man go and wash himself off?

The reason is that even though the man did not cause his blindness, he needed to be a part of the solution. All of us have our sins and problems in this world. God does occasionally remove a problem from our path without our intervention, but just as any good Father, He wants us to be obedient children. If we continue to get something for nothing, we will begin to be too familiar with just having everything go well. We would become indignant if the slightest thing didn’t go perfectly the way we’d want it to.

There are many times in the Bible that God shows He wants our obedience before He blesses us. His blessings are coming our way; He’s promised health and favor to His people. That being said, He also wants us to appreciate what we get and we do that through fostering a relationship with God first, giving Him our “first fruits”.

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Mathew 6:33.

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God…” Romans 8:28

God has plentiful blessings waiting for His children, but we need to first show Him that we are ready for them.  If we show our love for God through obedience, He will in turn fill our cups abundantly.  We can’t earn God’s blessings, but we do show that we appreciate Him by trying to follow His lead. We won’t always get it right, but the point is to try.

Think of it as an investment. You won’t see a return unless you first invest something. The blind man followed Jesus’s instructions as a faith investment. It paid off for him when he gained his sight. Imagine how much your investment will pay off when you invest in your relationship with the Almighty.

So don’t just sit there hoping for change. Foster your relationship with our Savior and you will see His mighty works be made visible through your life. 

God’s blessings to you. 

DH

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness” – Galatians 5:22

In Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he speaks of the “fruits of the Holy Spirit.” Love, joy, peace, and faithfulness just to name a few. He also makes a contrast of the works of the flesh versus the gifts of the Spirit.

The point the Apostle Paul was trying to make is just like Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew. “By their fruits, you shall know them.” And again Jesus saying in the Gospel of John, “They shall know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Being a Christian is not easy. It goes against the ways of this world. The world tells you to look out for number one. Your flesh screams at you to feed its desires. When you give in to those base desires, it feels good only for a little bit. You soon need more and more to fill that void inside of yourself. You can’t physically do enough to keep your urges in check.

By contrast, Christ teaches you to have compassion for others and to put the greater good over your own self interests. You are to be happy, but not at the expense of the true joy that comes from a life lived in service of others. You will seek less for the lusts and greed of right now, but instead reach for a forever kind of love.

When you accept Jesus into your heart, the Holy Spirit starts blessing you with those fruit that Paul spoke of. It is easier to feel joy in the midst of trials. It’s easier to be faithful to your spouse. It’s easier to feel compassion towards those who are in need of a helping hand.

Indeed, by their fruits, you shall know a true follower of Christ. And the more time you spend with our Savior, the more fruit you will produce. It’s easy for a tree to bring forth fruit when it is planted by the river of living water that is Christ Jesus. Its life is everlasting and its fruit is inexhaustible.

Drink from the river of Christ and watch the fruit of the Holy Spirit grow in your life.

God’s blessings to you. 

DH

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” – John 14:27

 

 

The other day, I heard a man say, “God doesn’t give with both hands. It’s never something for nothing.” That simple phrase he used showed an attitude that is all too common, especially in today’s world. There are comments like, “Nothing is truly free today, not even God’s mercy” and “Work hard and maybe you will get something good from God in return.”  My friends, there is nothing that could be further from the truth.

 

 

The Bible says that God had you in mind before the creation of the world. We are His children. He knows our positives and our negatives, but He loves us and blesses us anyway. In His infinite knowledge, He knew what you would need before you ever needed it and set those circumstances in motion long ago. They aren’t dependent on anything you do, it’s all because God loves you. I’ve heard people tell stories about times in their lives that were “too coincidental” or “a lucky break.” The other day I read a story about a baby who fell from a third story apartment balcony only to land on a mattress that some moving people where loading into a truck. You can call it luck, fate, karma, or any number of things, but in reality, it is God and His desire to abundantly bless His children.

 

 

The book of Judges says that Samson fought and killed a thousand men with the jawbone of a donkey. It wasn’t something that he carried around with him just in case he needed to kill some bad guys. It was there because God provides what we need. That’s not saying that you will get all that you ever want, but you will get all that you need to accomplish His will for your life. It was no coincidence that the dead donkey was there for Samson, it was God’s providence. Samson was anointed with strengths and abilities that, when coupled with something as average as a donkey’s jawbone, became an unstoppable force. That is God blessing with both hands. God takes His ‘super’ in one hand and our ‘natural’ in the other to make something super-natural.

 

 

In the book of John, Jesus and His disciples were walking along the road when they saw a blind man. The disciples asked Jesus why a man had been born blind. They asked if it was because of either the man’s sins or the sins of the man’s parents. Jesus said that the man was born blind so that the glory of God could be shown through him. Blindness was not the ideal situation by far, but without bad circumstances, there would be no need for miracles. Jesus spat on the ground to make some muddy clay, then He wiped the clay onto the blind man’s eyes and told him to go wash it off in the nearby pool of Siloam. When the man washed off the clay, immediately sight was given to him. It wasn’t the pool that gave him the sight and it wasn’t even the muddy clay, it was Jesus.

 

 

That brings me to another point. The blind man in that story was being blessed by Christ before he was obedient. Jesus made the clay and placed it on the man’s eyes, then He told the blind man to go wash it off in the pool. The blind man was not a good Christian before that day. In fact, he didn’t even know who Jesus was until that time. This demonstrates one of the main points of being a Christian, in that you are not saved by your works, but through faith in Jesus and His finished work on the cross. He didn’t say that the man would be healed because he fasted and attended church three times a week. Jesus didn’t even say the man was sinless, He only said that the man wasn’t blind because of sin. The blind man was blessed first, but the blessings showed forth when the blind man was obedient to Jesus. Jesus paid attention to the man’s needs and created the miracle, then the man listened to Jesus and that is when he was given sight. In short, God was handing out great blessings, but it was up to the man whether or not he wanted to receive them.

 

 

God is not interested in what you can do for Him. He is more interested in what you will allow Him to do for you. God knows the plans and blessings He has for you, but it is up to you whether you receive them or not. This is not saying that God isn’t trying to bless us, but God loves us enough to allow us to make decisions for ourselves. A love that is forced is no love at all. We can choose a momentary sinful pleasure or we can choose a joy that will last for all of eternity. When we sin, we are building up a wall between God and ourselves. Sin by sin, brick by brick, we are separating ourselves from the love and abundant blessings that God has. But Jesus hung on a cross that is tall enough to see over those walls that we build. He’s there with both hands stretched forth, waiting for us to accept Him into our hearts and lives.

 

 

Jesus didn’t just pay for a few of our sins, He has paid all of our debts in full. He blessed us with both hands and He has the nail holes to prove it.

 

 

God’s blessings to you.

 

 

DH