"THEY PUT THEM AT HIS FEET"

Matthew 15: 29 Jesus went on from there and walked beside the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain and sat down there. 30 And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them, 31 so that the crowd wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.

In light of this passage, I have been thinking (and praying for) the various people in my church family who had/have serious illnesses.

The Holy Spirit has impressed upon me this thought: The bringing of the sick and diseased to Jesus was an act of worship. These phrases caused me to see it this way:

1. "great crowds came to him, bringing with them"

• Do we not bring to the Lord, not just our sick, but, all things that we can do nothing about. Worship recognizes the One with whom nothing is impossible. Worship confesses our helplessness and His great power to, save, heal, change the course of events, etc.
  

1. "and they put them at his feet"

• Is this not a recognizable act of worship. We lay things at Jesus' feet all the time. I have prayed and heard others pray, "Lord we lay this - whatever - at your feet."
  

1. "the crowd wondered, when they saw"

• Is not worship a time of wonder and awe at the mighty majesty of the Lord. We see him high and lifted up in all his mighty deeds.
  

1. "And they glorified the God of Israel"

• And now they respond in the only way that would be appropriate, they glorified God.

Is there anything too hard for the Lord to do? Don't hesitate, bring those hard things and place them at his feet. Then be prepared to wonder and and glorify the Lord of Israel!

IMPLORING FAITH!

Matthew 14:36 “and implored him (Jesus) that they might only touch the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.”

What kind of faith only implores “that they might only touch the fringe of his garment” in order to be healed? Apparently the kind that receives the fruit of imploring! Matthew confirms this as he records, “as many as touched it were made well.”

It truly is amazing that such a simple imploring request should reap such wonderful results.

Lord Jesus, I pray that you would grant the same healing to all who implore “that they might only touch the fringe of (your) garment”. Thank You Lord!

HAVE YOU HEARD OR DONE ANY GOOD BOASTING LATELY?

Psalm 24:2 My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad.

Usually the word boasting conjures up images of the proud and arrogant, but in this context it is not something to be rejected. Why? Because of the object of the boast! If my soul boasts in my accomplishments what do I have? If God’s word is any indication, what I am boasting in is “filthy rags”. If I boast in my position in this life what do I have? It means nothing since all are under the judgment of God, both the rich and the poor.

Even a Christian has nothing to boast about in his or herself. As Paul says in scripture, For what do we have that has not already been given to us. He also said this (paraphase), who am I, who are you, but those who sow and water. But God gives the increase! Everything in this life owes itself to One being and to Him alone.

But now, what if I boast in the Lord? Now that is a different story. Why? As I said before, because of the object of my boast! He is worthy of all boasting, He created me, I live, move, and have my being because of Him, He chose me before the foundations of the world, He died for me, He lives and intercedes for me, the list could go on and on!

The Psalmists makes clear by his choice of words that his soul boasts "IN THE LORD".

And in the second portion he speaks of the humble, “let the humble hear and be glad.” Humble people are the opposite of the prideful and arrogant. They are the only ones who hear and are glad when the Lord is being boasted about.

Have you listened to some good boasting lately? Have you done any good boasting lately?

O YE OF LITTLE FAITH!

Matthew 14:28 “And Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water."

Peter asks; “if it is you” do this.

He asks not out of strong faith. In fact it reminds me of Gideon who put the Lord to the test with the fleece. But while I am not sure that I would recommend Peter’s questioning way, I have observed that one, the Lord did not rebuke him for doing so, and two Peter did not sit quietly idle. No one else was saying anything. And Peter was the only one who was asked to come out and walk on the water with Him.

His weak, and in fact lack of faith, continued and is recorded, But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, "Lord, save me." Jesus (did not hesitate but) immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" Jesus, instead of a strong rebuke, makes a mild rebuking observation (“O you of little faith”) and asks a stinging question (“why did you doubt?”).

O brothers and sisters let us not fail in our faith, leaving ourselves open to the Lord's rebuking observations and His stinging questions. But rather let each with grains of mustard seeds move mountains, for the glory of the Lord, for his glorious kingdom's advancement!

TAKE TIME TO PRAY!

Matthew 14:23 “And after he (Jesus) had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone …”

“He (Jesus) had dismissed the crowds” – How can I do this by way of application? What in my life do I need to “dismiss”, for a time, in order for prayer to have the priority that Jesus placed on it.

Jesus after having spent a day with the crowds went “by himself to pray”. It caused me to ask, after I have spent a day working should I spend some time on the “mountain”, by myself, to pray? And, if so, how long do I spend in prayer? Where would be a place that I could, in a practical sense, call my “mountain”?

It appears, from the text, that he spent some significant amount of time in prayer. “When evening came, he was there alone …” He started in the daylight and ended in the evening.
How long should I pray?

Another interesting fact is, the text emphasizes spent the time isolated from others: “he went up…by himself to pray” and “When evening came, he was…alone…” How important is it that I spend time alone, with God?

Bottom line: TAKE TIME TO PRAY!

“Thy righteousness is in heaven.”

I was recently skimming through my copy of an allegory by John Bunyan – The Holy War. It has many great pictures of the life of the believer and also the final return and rescue of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

My copy of this book has an biographical sketch of John Bunyan. For a portion of his life he was tormented and tempted by the enemy. It was very overwhelming for him. It was in the midst of one of these attacks, when he seemed hopelessly lost, that the following quote from this sketch reads,

This experience was about the last of his misery. A voice seemed to say to him, quoting from the First Epistle of John, “This sin is not unto death.” This brought comfort to him, and then came the words, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love.” When renewed doubts came to assail him as to whether the blood of Christ was adequate for saving his wicked soul, suddenly the words sounded in his heart, “He is able.” “Methought this word “able” was spoke aloud unto me – it showed a great word – it seemed to be writ in great letters.” One day as he was passing into a field suddenly this sentence came powerfully into his soul, “Thy righteousness is in heaven.”

“Now did my chains fall off my legs indeed; I was loosened from my afflictions and irons; my temptations also fled away. . . ‘Twas glorious to me to see His exaltation, and the worth and prevalency of all His benefits; and that because now I could look from myself to Him, and would reckon that all those graces that now were green on me were yet like those cracked groats and fourpence-half-pennies that rich men carry in their purses, when their gold is in their trunks at home! In Christ my Lord and Saviour. Now Christ was all; all my righteousness, all my sanctification and all my redemption. Now could I see myself in heaven and earth at once. In heaven by my Christ, by my Head, by my righteousness and life, though on earth by body or person. Now I saw Christ Jesus was looked upon of God; and should also be looked upon as that common or public Person in whom all the whole body of His elect are always to be considered and reckoned; that we fulfilled the law by Him, died by Him, rose from the dead by Him, got the victory over sin, death, the devil, and hell by Him.” Bunyan’s times of torment were over. His soul entered upon a peace which was hardly ever afterwards to be disturbed. He had suffered great torments of mind and soul; now with the peace of God flooding his heart he was soon to experience physical suffering in a serious illness, and shortly after this a long, hard, heartbreaking imprisonment which, however, did never rob him of peace and joy in the gospel.