Who Was Jesus Looking For?

"And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of disease among the people."  Matthew 4:23

As Jesus began His ministry, He walked the dusty shores of Galilee, calling fishermen like Peter, Andrew, James and John. He healed a leper who dared approach Him. He welcomed a paralytic who was lowered through a hole in the roof to see Him!

He even invited Matthew, a despised tax collector, to be His disciple. These were not random encounters -- they were intentional invitations, not to important scholars and leaders, but to the ordinary people, some who were often rejected and forgotten. Invisible.

How about you? Ever feel alone and alienated from "the important group"?

No one expected you to sit with the "cool kids" at lunch? That nobody ever saved you a seat for you? That you were never a part of the "in" group? Always "outside"?

Does it seem that Jesus usually chose those kinds of people to build His kingdom?

It does seem that way to me...and I am forever grateful.

When Jesus noticed people, when He called them, it seems He was not deterred by their weakness. Actually, it appears He was drawn to it! He doesn't wait for us to be strong and confident. He steps into our pain, heals and restores and then sends us out with a purpose. In a world where status determines influence, Jesus flipped the model. The broken became His messengers!

Jesus' actions remind us that ministry doesn't begin with perfection - it begins with surrender! We bring our imperfections to Him and He greets us with healing and restoration. If He can use fishermen, tax collectors, lepers and paralytics, He can use us, too!

He still walks into the lives of the outcasts and invisible and ordinary people today. He does it through us! Ask Him to open your eyes and show you someone who needs to see Him! And then show that person Jesus!

I Hardly Recognize the World

Father,

I hardly recognize this world anymore. I see so many heartless and hopeless people.

Everything seems so broken.

Was it always like this and I just didn't notice? Were there always
so many hurting people?

I must not have been paying enough attention...forgive me...please give me the gift and challenge of seeing people as You see them - people who need to know Your unconditional never-giving-up always-available love.

Please show me today how I can help be a part of the 
solution to the problems in this broken world.

Please let love and restoration start and blossom in my heart today.

Amen

Can I still say "God, I love you! "?

Sometimes things are just "Not OK".

                 And sometimes things are truly dreadful.

Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:19-20: "Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

He repeats this theme often in his letters to the early churches. 

And Jesus gave thanks, even when on His way to Gethsemane.

Praise God and thank Him for everything! we are told.

Job had more bad news than any of us could ever imagine. But, he says, "Though He slay me, yet I will trust in Him" (Job 13:15).

Daniel's friends, when facing the fiery furnace, assured King Nebuchadnezzar, "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from Your Majesty's hand. But even if He does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up" (Daniel 3:17-18).

Even if He does not.....we will still worship Him only...

Habakkuk expressed it this way in his praise song: "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vine, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior (Habakkuk 3:17-18).

Even though....yet I will....

There's a story about  Arthur Blessitt that I love to recall.

Remember him? He is the Christian preacher who has carried a large heavy cross around the world --  literally,  he has taken the cross to every country and Guinness Book of World Records awards him with making the longest walk ever! 

Well, once he was in northern Israel at the beginning of the rainy season. It was cold. He was exhausted. There was no place to put his cross and he had no shelter or food or dry clothes. Finally he found an empty park bench at a bus stop. He lay down. Then it began to rain harder.

He looked at the rain and commanded, "Stop in the name of Jesus!"

What happened? A large flash of lightning and crashing thunder. The rain poured harder than ever!

And Arthur just looked up a the sky and proclaimed, "God, I love you!"

Sounds like Job and Daniel's friends, and Habakkuk.......

                    but does it sound like me?

PS Arthur Blessitt died about 6 months ago, January, 2025).

Feeling Outcast? Invisible?

 "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people."

                                                              Matthew 4:23

As Jesus began His ministry, He didn't start by going to schools and choosing scholars or to fine government buildings and asking for important dignitaries. 

Instead, He walked the dusty shores of Galilee, calling for fishermen like Peter, Andrew, James and John. He healed a leper who dared to approach Him. He welcomed a paralytic who was lowered through a hole in the roof so he could see Jesus. He even invited Matthew, a despised tax collector, to be His disciple.

These weren't just random encounters -- they were intentional invitations to the rejected and forgotten, to the invisible laborers supporting their families in Galilee.

It appears Jesus chose ordinary people to build His kingdom. People who were not well-known and not applauded by the people around them.

Ever feel like you didn't belong to the "important group"? Like you were so ordinary no one even noticed you? That you were practically invisible? No one expected you to have lunch with the "cool kids" at their table? No one saved you a seat. You just sort of "blended in."

Does it seem to you that these were the kind of people Jesus specifically wanted to use to build His kingdom? He sought these people out. It seems to me that that was who He was searching for. And I am forever grateful!

Each encounter shows us that Jesus isn't deterred by our weaknesses. He's drawn to them. He doesn't wait for us to be accomplished and confident -- He steps into our pain, heals and restores and then sends us forward with purpose and in His power.

In our world where status so often dictates influence, Jesus flipped the model. The broken and troubled became His messengers. (Actually, who better?)

Do you think your pain and past disqualifies you from serving Him? Maybe you should think again!

Ministry, to Jesus, does not begin with perfection -- it begins with surrender. When we bring our imperfections to Him, He greet us with healing and direction. If he could use lepers, paralytics, simple fishermen, and tax collectors - He can use us!

And remember, He still walks into the lives of outcasts today, only now, He does it through us! It is our body He is using for His ministry!

Look around you. Ask God to open your eyes - Who is invisible to the world? Who is weak and ordinary?  Search for them as Jesus did and then...show them Jesus!

God Is Our Refuge

 "The LORD is my rock, my fortress, my God is my Rock in whom I take refuge" (Psalm18).

A true story about a lumberman --

   A tender-hearted man who loved all God's creatures and had the job of cutting down trees and harvesting the lumber --

One day he began cutting down a tree. He saw a bird fly to the top of the tree with a sprig in her mouth. He worried because she was obviously building a nest. So he began pounding the side of the tree with the back of his axe. The tree trembled and the bird flew away. 

He was relieved until he saw her fly to the next tree. That was a tree he had to cut down, too. So he hammered it hard and she flew away with a sprig in her mouth! She flew to a third tree and he hammered at it till she flew away. This time she didn't fly to anther tree -- she flew to a great rock on a stoney cliff. She gently placed the sprig and flew away for another and began building her nest on the rock!

He was so relieved -- he stopped to pray,

thanking God for directing His special creature to the safety of the rock to build her nest!

Isn't that what God has done for us? He directs us to the stability of the Rock! On Christ the solid rock we stand... He is our fortress...our refuge!

We are always safe with Him!