I spent last weekend in prison. I was a member of a team from the Jubilee Prison Ministry, that goes in to prisons for three days to talk to the inmates about Jesus and what it means to be a Christian. While I was there, I gave a talk on forgiveness: In the middle of the talk I gave a personal testimony from life as it relates to forgiveness. My testimony went like this:
When I was a young man, about 20, I met my future wife and I asked her to marry me. She said, ‘Yes!’ Neither one of us had any money, but we had love, so it was OK. Pretty quick we had two sons, and then one daughter. My wife and I grew up together while raising our kids. Finally, I got a better job. I was making $125.00 per day. We thought we’d died and gone to heaven. Oh, I had to spend a lot of time working away from home; three weeks away and then one weekend at home. There was a lot of stress, but we both thought it was worth the sacrifice. This sort of work went on, for 6 or 7 years, over and over, till one day, when we’d been married about 10 years, I found out my wife was having an affair with another man. At the time our kids were 10, 9 and 3. At the time I thought it was all her fault, but I’d forgive her and forget about it, if she’d just come back. Well, eventually she came back, after a long separation. But you know what’s crazy? Throughout that hard time in our lives, I never even considered all the way I contributed to that event. Like never being home when my wife needed help. Or when she wasn’t feeling good, or the kids were sick, and she had to deal with it all by herself. Probably the worst is that after she got the kids down, when she finally went to bed, she was all alone. She needed someone to love her, to hold her; to be with her. Here I am 30 or 40 years later, and I’m just now realizing all the ways I failed to love, honor and cherish my wife; all the ways I wronged her; all the ways I harmed her. I’m a sinner and I desperately need forgiveness. Continue reading
The question for today is: Can a believer in Jesus trust God for the healing (inside or outside) of another person? The answer (or at least one answer) is found in Mark 2:1-12, where it tells the story of four men who brought their paralyzed friend to Jesus to be healed. When they got to His house, they couldn’t even get in the door, so they went up on the roof, cut a hole, and lowered the guy down into the room, right beside Jesus. Then verse 5 says, “Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ ” When the Pharisees condemned Him for forgiving sins, denying His authority, He said, “I’ll prove that I have the authority to forgive sins.” He turned to the man and said, “Stand up, get your mat and go home.” Miraculous healing.
Last weekend we went to First United Methodist Church in Newton, Texas. The kids at John Wesley UMC, from grades 6-12, did a weekend mission trip. We built a wheelchair ramp, and did a good deal of mowing and cleanup for several people in the community. We had a Vacation Bible School for 49 kids. We worked in the Food Pantry (and Clothing Shop) of Newton, stocking and sorting. We had entertainment: A Youth Rally on Friday night, with live music, games, toys and free tee-shirts; and a movie for all ages on Saturday night, on the lawn in front of the Church, an animated feature called “Inside-Out”. Popcorn, candy and drinks for all!
“Be ye kind one to the other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another …” Eph 4:28-32
Discipline is one of the ‘fruits of the Spirit’, as in Galatians 5:22-23. But there it’s called ‘self-control.’ Discipline (as in self-control) is extolled as a virtue, almost without equal. If you can be self-disciplined, then you can achieve almost any goal known to man. Wars are won by armies who have the most self-disciplined soldiers, from top to bottom. Their officers not only give good orders, but their troops respond well to orders, and they always fulfill their orders. Of such are great men and great events made.
Romans 8:1-4: “1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not follow their sinful nature, but follow the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the sinful nature, God, by sending His own Son . . . condemned the sin of the sinful nature, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not follow our sinful nature but follow the Spirit.”
Romans 12:1 says, “I beg you, brothers and sisters, to present you bodies as a living sacrifice ….”
In Luke 4:14-21; Luke says, “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed Me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’ [Isaiah 61:1-2] Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’ ”
James 5:14-15, 18: 14 “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. . . .18 The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”
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