I remember when I first heard of this message of the account of Jesus walking on water, it was a sermon that really spoke deeply to me. Subsequently, I found a book by John Ortberg with the title, "If you want to walk on water, you've got to get out of the boat". It is a fun reading book with many spiritual principles to draw from. I will share this in another blog post.
Matthew 14:22 began with the word 'Immediately'. Something happened before Jesus made His disciples go into the boat and get before Him to the other side of the lake. Before the account of Jesus walking on water was the account of Jesus feeding the five thousand. And before these two miracles happened, Jesus had a very distressing start of the day.
Matthew 14:13 -- Jesus heard that his cousin John the Baptist had been beheaded by Herod the tetrarch, and he was very sad. He departed from that place by boat to a deserted place by Himself. He wanted some quiet time with the Lord, He wanted to lift up His soul to God the Father. But alas, when the multitudes heard that He went to that directed, they followed Him on foot from the cities.
Just imagine, these people followed Him on foot! And it's not like they were all healthy and in comfort. Each of them were carrying their burdens, their sorrows, their sicknesses, their problems, and despite knowing that Jesus withdrew Himself from the crowds, they still followed Him. Why? Perhaps they wanted to console Jesus about John, but I think they secretly or subconsciously knew that Jesus would have compassion on them.
v14 -- When Jesus saw the great multitude, He was moved with compassion for them, and started healing their sick and preaching to them. And boy was the sermon long! Because He preached until evening, and His disciples came to Him to tell Him it's getting late, better send the people into the villages and let them buy themselves food. They were signally Jesus that they were hungry. (v15)
Instead, Jesus made a great miracle of multiplying five loaves and two fishes in the disciples' hands as they distributed it to the multitude. Notice the Lord did not break the loaves and fishes Himself, but instead gave it to the disciples and the food multiplied as they gave it to the people. He wanted them to know that He is in control, for them to see that as they put their trust and faith on Him, there will always be more than enough, because He is the one who supplies, He is Jehovah-Jireh!
Now, try to picture Jesus, who has just lost a close family member who is also supposed to be His forerunner. When a forerunner has died, that means He would be next to go soon. He was in grief, but He was still in control. I believe this is recorded because God wants us to know that He truly can understand our feelings. Jesus is setting the example to us that even though we may be going through challenging times, it doesn't mean that we then switch off our compassion.
I believe it is entirely normal and human when a person goes through grief that he needs time to regain focus and strength, to let the wounds heal. I'm not saying that when we go through rough times we just numb it and tough on the journey. God understands our feelings that we need to draw ourselves away from the crowd and just be in His presence, but He also wants us not to lose the compassion in our hearts. Because deep down inside, we will still have it and find it if we do not just focus on our distress. If we don't ignore the compassion in our hearts, the Lord can use us for miracles. However, if we choose to be drowned in sadness and never rise up, we choose to let God pass us by.
Believe me, I have been through times of great grief and I know what it means to lose someone dear. And during those times, I felt like I had all the right to be emotional about anything and everything and at everyone, even though deep down I knew that I shouldn't continue to be like that. I felt like just giving up everything that I know of the Lord, because for once, it actually seemed like the Lord has failed to show up for me, but then again I also know that it is not like that. I thank God that I never gave up going to church and worship Him, be in His presence. Though at that time I didn't understand many things, and I was desperately searching for answers, but looking back, I thank God that I did not give up the softness in my heart, the part of me that responds to God time and time again. I did not give up being compassionate.
Sometimes we lose someone and people tell us, "from here on, many will come to know Christ!" It's very hard to buy that when you're in that situation, because if many are going to believe in the Lord, why not the one who has passed away? Why some have to die while others get to live eternally? Where is the fairness to that? But friends, if a farmer were to sow seeds, will every seed become a tree? Or can he guarantee the exact number of fruits the tree would yield to every seed sown? Yet, does he say then that he will not go out to reap the harvest because it is too little?
Gal 6:9 Let us do not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.
Don't lose heart. Don't lose your compassion. You'll never know how miracles will come. Jesus is the supplier of miracles.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Help My Unbelief
Got this revelation about the story of Jesus healing a boy with evil spirit.
In this account of his healing, Jesus had just came down from the mountain where He and His 3 beloved disciples, Peter, James and John, had spent the night. They had the privilege of witnessing Jesus' transfiguration, but commanded by Jesus not to tell the vision to anyone until the Son of Man is risen from the dead -- because He knew He was about to go up to the cross, and that this vision would be an evidence or testimony the He is truly sent by the Father, and that He is the Son of God.
Now, as soon as they came down from the mountain and met with the other disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and the scribes disputing with them. (Mark 9:14) A man came to Him, begging Him saying, "Lord have mercy on my son, for he is epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him." (Matthew 17:15-16) Mark recorded it as "... So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it [the evil spirit] out, but they could not."
This father must have been very desperate for his son to be healed of the evil spirit. He knows very well that it was an evil spirit that caused his son to be epileptic, falling into fire and water, so he searched for the right solution -- the spiritual solution -- and he came to the right people. But to His disappointment, Jesus' disciples couldn't cast out the demon. Perhaps they have tried all night, using all kinds of ways, but they still couldn't help this boy.
And being desperate, as soon as the father saw Jesus arrive, he came to Him and related the night's incident to Him. Perhaps what he was saying was this, "Jesus, thank goodness You are here now. You see, my son is demon-possessed, and I guess only You alone can help me, because even Your disciples can't cast it out." And maybe he had this slight hint of complaining that His disciples were a useless bunch. But he couldn't offend the Lord, so he tried to relate what happened in an objective manner.
But Jesus answered him and said, "O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me."
Talk about WOW! Was Jesus talking about the father being faithless, or the disciples? Or both? Perhaps it was both. The father didn't have faith that the disciples could heal his boy, nor did the disciples had faith that the boy would be healed through them.
Then the father said, "But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." (Mark 9:22b) Did he know that Jesus can do EVERYTHING? Why then did he said ANYTHING? Obviously, he was desperately begging Jesus for help.
Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" (Mark 9:23-24)
The father was so desperate for something to happen that his level of faith had begun to decrease, and there was a mixture of faith and unbelief in his heart.
Sometimes that can happen to us. We are so desperate for something to happen, for a change, for a prayer to be answered, for God to show up, that our faith dwindles and we don't know if there was any basis for our hope. We are so desperate for God to answer us that it seemed like God was late. And suddenly we become confused. Should I really do this? Is this the will of God for me? Am I praying correctly?
Friends, let me tell you that if you're not praying stuff against God's nature and against what the Bible says, there's no such thing as a 'wrong prayer'. The father of the boy could have asked, "is it God's will for my son to be heal?" The answer is "of course!" Is it God's will for you to see your family members saved, see you living in prosperity, good career development, living in overflowing blessing? OF COURSE!
How do you keep on believing when what you have asked for is not yet here? Keep looking at faith (Jesus), keep hearing Him saying to you "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." He has already given us the remedy to help your unbelief.
Verse to Remember:
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Christ) -- Romans 10:17
In this account of his healing, Jesus had just came down from the mountain where He and His 3 beloved disciples, Peter, James and John, had spent the night. They had the privilege of witnessing Jesus' transfiguration, but commanded by Jesus not to tell the vision to anyone until the Son of Man is risen from the dead -- because He knew He was about to go up to the cross, and that this vision would be an evidence or testimony the He is truly sent by the Father, and that He is the Son of God.
Now, as soon as they came down from the mountain and met with the other disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and the scribes disputing with them. (Mark 9:14) A man came to Him, begging Him saying, "Lord have mercy on my son, for he is epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him." (Matthew 17:15-16) Mark recorded it as "... So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it [the evil spirit] out, but they could not."
This father must have been very desperate for his son to be healed of the evil spirit. He knows very well that it was an evil spirit that caused his son to be epileptic, falling into fire and water, so he searched for the right solution -- the spiritual solution -- and he came to the right people. But to His disappointment, Jesus' disciples couldn't cast out the demon. Perhaps they have tried all night, using all kinds of ways, but they still couldn't help this boy.
And being desperate, as soon as the father saw Jesus arrive, he came to Him and related the night's incident to Him. Perhaps what he was saying was this, "Jesus, thank goodness You are here now. You see, my son is demon-possessed, and I guess only You alone can help me, because even Your disciples can't cast it out." And maybe he had this slight hint of complaining that His disciples were a useless bunch. But he couldn't offend the Lord, so he tried to relate what happened in an objective manner.
But Jesus answered him and said, "O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me."
Talk about WOW! Was Jesus talking about the father being faithless, or the disciples? Or both? Perhaps it was both. The father didn't have faith that the disciples could heal his boy, nor did the disciples had faith that the boy would be healed through them.
Then the father said, "But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." (Mark 9:22b) Did he know that Jesus can do EVERYTHING? Why then did he said ANYTHING? Obviously, he was desperately begging Jesus for help.
Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" (Mark 9:23-24)
The father was so desperate for something to happen that his level of faith had begun to decrease, and there was a mixture of faith and unbelief in his heart.
Sometimes that can happen to us. We are so desperate for something to happen, for a change, for a prayer to be answered, for God to show up, that our faith dwindles and we don't know if there was any basis for our hope. We are so desperate for God to answer us that it seemed like God was late. And suddenly we become confused. Should I really do this? Is this the will of God for me? Am I praying correctly?
Friends, let me tell you that if you're not praying stuff against God's nature and against what the Bible says, there's no such thing as a 'wrong prayer'. The father of the boy could have asked, "is it God's will for my son to be heal?" The answer is "of course!" Is it God's will for you to see your family members saved, see you living in prosperity, good career development, living in overflowing blessing? OF COURSE!
How do you keep on believing when what you have asked for is not yet here? Keep looking at faith (Jesus), keep hearing Him saying to you "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." He has already given us the remedy to help your unbelief.
Verse to Remember:
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Christ) -- Romans 10:17
Monday, January 11, 2010
Trip to Ipoh
It's the 11th hour, and I'm sitting here writing this when I have other writing assignments to work on, feeling like I don't have enough time. I know it's been a while since I last updated a post, but here it is, I've got to start somewhere to get it going again...
I got myself a freelance writing job for a property magazine and I'm supposed to do write-ups for them, reviewing buildings, properties, projects and all kinds of stuff that you can categorise as property. It's not exactly like how I thought it would be -- it's pretty complicated... For starters, it doesn't pay well, or so many people think, which got me thinking too, and got me thinking, why didn't I think about this before? Bro says I'm just lacking of experience. I wish I knew how to handle this and not be ignorant about things, but well, experience is experience, and it needs you to go and get it... For once, I actually felt that writing wasn't my kind of thing anymore, that I don't think it's what I want to do or should do... I don't know...
To tell the story of the title, I have to thank 2 people: Cally and Chrysler. And thank God for friends. They drove me all the way back to Ipoh to interview a client and get information for my assignment (which is underpaid). Really really super thank them and thank God for such friends and bro & sis-in-Christ. It was a good trip, good weather, nice people that I met with and gave me scores of details about their development project.
It's called The Haven -- like how I named one of the family mansions in one of my stories (Catherine a.k.a. The Golden Locket). For the first time in my life as an Ipoh girl, I found out that there is such a beautiful place in my hometown, and it's only about 10 minutes' drive from my own house! Will upload a pix on the spot when I can...
Anyways, this old uncle who is the director of this developer company was really passionate about his work. He explained extensively about every detail of the project, from the tiles to the railings, to the trademarked swimming pool shaped like a seahorse, to the scenic pond, to the lush green all around and the natural habitat at that spot, to the eco-friendliness of the whole project, etc etc etc... I can almost see a spark in his eyes -- such was his passion. And thank God, he is slow in explaining, so I had ample time to scribble my notes.
I hope I got all I need to write this very long piece, which brings me back to the crux of the matter -- why am I doing this? Why the hassle at a dirt cheap rate? Am I like what they say, being exploited? I really don't know. What I do know is that I really give thanks that I'm still in one piece and I have not placed myself in a position to endanger myself. Because initially, the magazine people wanted me to go with their ex-colleague, who is a guy of dunno how old. Well, they didn't tell me I was to go with this guy (whom I have never met, a total stranger) when they first introduced this piece of assignment to me. They just asked me if I could go to Ipoh, and that someone would go with me, and that all the expenses will be borne by the publisher. And they also didn't tell me that for this project, I was to write like 25 - 30 pages. (All this at the dirt cheap rate? Go figure!) And they also didn't tell me I was to submit it in a week's time, on top of the given 3 assignments.
If experiences come this way, I give thanks, because now I really know that there are times that my judgements fail me and I could easily place myself in a disadvantageous position. If experiences have to come by this way... I have nothing to say, except that I have acted recklessly and foolishly. To say that desperation has pushed me this far, maybe. To say that I lack discretion or I am just ignorant, perhaps very much truthful. But what I am to do about this situation, I have yet to come to a conclusion.
But I shall have to move on. And to move on, I shall welcome a new day by closing this present one. Lord, Your goodness and mercies are new every morning.
I got myself a freelance writing job for a property magazine and I'm supposed to do write-ups for them, reviewing buildings, properties, projects and all kinds of stuff that you can categorise as property. It's not exactly like how I thought it would be -- it's pretty complicated... For starters, it doesn't pay well, or so many people think, which got me thinking too, and got me thinking, why didn't I think about this before? Bro says I'm just lacking of experience. I wish I knew how to handle this and not be ignorant about things, but well, experience is experience, and it needs you to go and get it... For once, I actually felt that writing wasn't my kind of thing anymore, that I don't think it's what I want to do or should do... I don't know...
To tell the story of the title, I have to thank 2 people: Cally and Chrysler. And thank God for friends. They drove me all the way back to Ipoh to interview a client and get information for my assignment (which is underpaid). Really really super thank them and thank God for such friends and bro & sis-in-Christ. It was a good trip, good weather, nice people that I met with and gave me scores of details about their development project.
It's called The Haven -- like how I named one of the family mansions in one of my stories (Catherine a.k.a. The Golden Locket). For the first time in my life as an Ipoh girl, I found out that there is such a beautiful place in my hometown, and it's only about 10 minutes' drive from my own house! Will upload a pix on the spot when I can...
Anyways, this old uncle who is the director of this developer company was really passionate about his work. He explained extensively about every detail of the project, from the tiles to the railings, to the trademarked swimming pool shaped like a seahorse, to the scenic pond, to the lush green all around and the natural habitat at that spot, to the eco-friendliness of the whole project, etc etc etc... I can almost see a spark in his eyes -- such was his passion. And thank God, he is slow in explaining, so I had ample time to scribble my notes.
I hope I got all I need to write this very long piece, which brings me back to the crux of the matter -- why am I doing this? Why the hassle at a dirt cheap rate? Am I like what they say, being exploited? I really don't know. What I do know is that I really give thanks that I'm still in one piece and I have not placed myself in a position to endanger myself. Because initially, the magazine people wanted me to go with their ex-colleague, who is a guy of dunno how old. Well, they didn't tell me I was to go with this guy (whom I have never met, a total stranger) when they first introduced this piece of assignment to me. They just asked me if I could go to Ipoh, and that someone would go with me, and that all the expenses will be borne by the publisher. And they also didn't tell me that for this project, I was to write like 25 - 30 pages. (All this at the dirt cheap rate? Go figure!) And they also didn't tell me I was to submit it in a week's time, on top of the given 3 assignments.
If experiences come this way, I give thanks, because now I really know that there are times that my judgements fail me and I could easily place myself in a disadvantageous position. If experiences have to come by this way... I have nothing to say, except that I have acted recklessly and foolishly. To say that desperation has pushed me this far, maybe. To say that I lack discretion or I am just ignorant, perhaps very much truthful. But what I am to do about this situation, I have yet to come to a conclusion.
But I shall have to move on. And to move on, I shall welcome a new day by closing this present one. Lord, Your goodness and mercies are new every morning.
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