This is our Jesus

"Jesus called His disciples and said to them, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their own houses, they will faint on the way; for some of them have come from afar."  - Mark 8:1b-3

This is our Jesus. He can look at a multitude of faces but see individual hearts. The people said "No man ever spake like this man (Jn.7:46)." They were amazed at His teachings because He taught them as one having authority (Lk.4:32). They were used to hearing the words of the law that came through Moses, but when they heard Jesus, He brought them grace and truth (Jn.1:17). "Everyone spoke well of him and was amazed by the gracious words that came from his lips" (Lk. 4:22a). The grace that would tell a leper that He wanted to touch and heal him. The grace that would tenaciously defend a woman covered in shame from sin and yet would cause shame to fall on her accusers. Jesus spoke the truth that set people free from their sin, their burdens, their despair, their hopelessness. He spoke the truth that gave them peace as they'd never experienced before.

No wonder they would rather follow Jesus than eat. He was feeding a place in their soul that they did not know they hungered for until His words fell upon the tables of their heart. Some traveled from far away but their distance from home could not keep them away. They didn't have food and their stomachs demanded attention but their spirits had never had such a feast. They forsook all of life's basic necessities to follow after Jesus. 

This is our Jesus. That knows what we need before we ask Him (Matt. 6:8). And when we "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, then all of these things will be added to us (Matt. 6:33)" He saw the crowd and His heart was moved by love. He saw their individual needs and was going to meet that need. The people left Jesus after their spirit and bellies were filled to overflowing. 

"And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant 

with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus." 

1 Tim. 1:14

"The LORD of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain...And it will be said in that day, Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited; Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.” 

Isa. 25:6a, 9

"Amazing Grace"

"Honey, close your eyes."

"But why mommy?"

"So when we pray, you can shut out the world and focus on Jesus."

Once her little eyes squeezed shut, a pint-sized heart poured out gallons of blessings upon everything she held dear.

I remembered that this morning when I read Acts 9 about Saul's conversion on the way to Damascus. I wondered if that's why Jesus chose to make him blind when He confronted Saul's rampage of religious sin. Thinking himself wise and zealous in his torment of the bride of Christ, the One he truly persecuted intercepted his plans, confronted his sin, then struck him with complete blindness. The Pharisaical behemoth now needed to have someone hold his hand. He who led others down the path of dead legalism was brought to a halt and forced to sit in Light-induced darkness.

The world is now shut out from Saul's view. His only sight is what happens in his memory, the imaginations of his heart, and whatever might be played across the screen of his thoughts from God. Three days with his eyes forced closed. Verse 11 tells us "And the Lord said (to Ananias), 'Arise and go...to one called Saul of Tarsus: for, behold, he prays."Basically, "Go to this once angry madman, because look...take notice...he's praying." A broken heart is a magnet to God. Repentance is the key to unlock clarity of sight to the blind. Paul would later right in Romans 2:19-21"Are you confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness...an instructor...a teacher...with a form of knowledge and the truth of the law? You which teach another, don't you teach yourself?" He thought he saw when he was blind, but when the Light blinded him, he saw.

Even Jonah the prophet decided he didn't like God's ways of grace and mercy and had to be swallowed by darkness. It was only when he prayed, that he was spit out to proceed in a new direction.

I closed my eyes and thanked the Lord for sight. Then asked him if there was any area of blindness in my perspective that I'd brought on by my own sin. I'm still praying. He knows my heart. And if there is, then I trust He will allow the scales to fall so I can see again with a holy perspective. That's much better than having to be spewed.

Wanna close your eyes with me?

Daddy, just be a man!

As I typed away on my laptop, reverberations of monkey sounds mingled with a little girl's laughter, hovered in the background. It was "Daddy! Will you just be a man, please?!" that made me look up.

Somewhere in the midst of the pseudo-circus, my daughter had gotten tired of Daddy doing a great King Kong, Curious George, monkey something-or-other and requested authenticity. Stop acting like you're not and just be what you are.

Aren't we like that? We crave authenticity from others. Facades and veneers only go so far in relationships. It's a funny thing but oftentimes, the closer we get to another person, the more we want them to be genuine while we'll put up a wall of defense until we think it's safe for us to honestly peek out. It's the authenticity...the revelation of truth (if it's good)...that will make us feel safe.

Jesus never lived a second of His life outside of truth. He never pretended to be something He was not. His Presence exposed the facade of the Pharisees and He openly called them super clean death containers; an appearance of purity and holiness on the outside but filthy, corrosive death on the inside. If Christ lives in us, and Jesus is the Truth (Jn.14:6), then He will want us to walk, speak, live, worship, and love in honesty at all times (Jn.4:24, Ep.4:15, Ex.20:16, Pro.12:22, etc).

Progress in our relationship with the Lord requires that we are honest with Him and others. It starts by making unashamed eye contact with Him in prayer and then continuing in honest, unhindered fellowship with Him continually. The ability to be completely transparent with a Savior that knows us thoroughly and loves us continually, is that truth Jesus speaks of that sets us free (Jn.8:32).We will never be free unless we walk in truth. Never.

Look at Jesus. Look at the cross. Look at the price He paid for our freedom from sin. All truth with dying love.

So may the truth of God, that speaks of the love of God, set you free in God, so that we may walk in truth before others. And may your genuineness with others, display Jesus and His love, so that walls fall and authenticity rolls out the red carpet of salvation for all who need the Lord. Or even, those who know the Lord, but have not walked in freedom since they have not walked in truth.

Now say that three times fast.

Do You Have Your Pilot's License?

"I know, O LORD, that a man's way is not in himself, Nor is it in a man who walks to direct his [own] steps." Jer. 10:23

 I don't remember which flight I was on, nor where I was going, when I looked up from the magazine I was reading to see a pilot fast asleep in the row ahead of me. What would  YOUR first thought be? Yeah, mine too. I thought "Wow, I'm sure his hand is totally numb from that awkward position."

Ok, so maybe yours were more along the line of, "I wonder who's flying the plane?" or "Praise the Lord for the auto pilot button," or something along the obvious. But while I tossed around all kinds of one-liners in my head for self-amusement, the Lord interrupted my thoughts and said "Shannon, I'd like you to be like this pilot." 

He began to speak to me about how I wanted to take over the "cockpit" of my life and navigate where I was going, control the speed or pace of my circumstances, as well as determining the final destination of my current trial. I was experiencing a lot of painful turbulence in my life and just like the sudden drop that comes with hitting a massive air pocket, I did NOT like the sense of losing control. I didn't realize, but the Lord did, that I was fearful of a devastating crash.

But as the verse says...it isn't in us, by nature, with our finite, limited-range, obstructed and myopic view of life, to know the best path for us to take. The Lord definitely was not behind the old bumper sticker that read "God is my Co-Pilot." Instead, He repeats Himself throughout the Bible, with verses like Prov. 3:5, 6 "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding, In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths." Psalm 32:8 "I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go: I will guide you with my eye."

The best position for any of us is like this pilot...completely at rest knowing the Lord is in control. Trust only knows how to produce rest. Trust...lean...pray and acknowledge...then rest as He directs the course.
           Even through storm clouds.
                                                      Even through turbulence. 

"Then they are glad because they are quiet; So He guides them to their desired haven." 

Psalm 107:30

Note To Self, "The Lord is Here"

As I looked into the mirror while brushing my teeth, the bags under my eyes looked like a luggage set.

Socks off and PJ's on, I slid across the terrain of our king-size bed and wrapped my arm around my husbands ribs. Then, like the start of an old-time movie reel, my thoughts began to splash across the screen of my mind. Replays of the events of the day quickly led to heart-breaking news from a phone call I'd received. Then the video switched to display every worst-case scenario based on that phone call. I quickly grabbed hold of those thoughts and began to cry out to the Lord, "This is too much for me Lord. Please pour out your grace and mercy for this trial...it's just too much."

As Scott pulled up the sheets around his chin, I started to ask him, "Honey, could you please ask the Lord..." to which I heard a familiar voice interrupting my thoughts, "I'm right here. Why are you asking him to talk to Me?"

The sudden realization that Jesus was closer to me than my husband and the absurdity that I would ask anyone else to be a mediator for me made me smile. I said "Sorry" to the Lord and "Never mind" to Scott. Then proceeded to pray until I fell asleep.

The Lord didn't answer or speak again that night concerning the things in my heart. He didn't need to. But somewhere during the day, in the midst of my hurt, how easily I'd forgotten the reality of His Presence. The promise of His nearness. The tender reassurance that He draws close to the broken-hearted. His ear is open to our cry.

"He shall call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him." Ps.91:15 

May you rest in the comfort that there is no one on the earth closer or more loving than your Jesus.