Take Jesus at His Word

In John's Gospel, after Jesus' encounter with the woman at the well, He returned to Cana in Galilee. An Official came to Jesus and pleaded for Him to heal his sick and dying son. Cana is a good twelve miles from Capernaum, the home of the Royal Official. After climbing the foothills and mountains into Cana the man begged Jesus to come and heal his son. Jesus then says: "Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders, you will never believe." The man makes an impassioned plea, "Sir, come down before my child dies." Jesus responds to this hurting father, "You may go. Your son will live." Now notice what the scriptures says in verse fifty about this man. "The man took Jesus as his word and departed."

When your life gets blindsided by sickness, disease, heartache and the prospect of loosing someone you dearly love, then you are often very willing to make any trek to find Jesus. Once found you may want Him to come with you to solve your problem and ease your fears. Jesus has such authority, He need not travel to the site of your suffering. He simply exercises the authority the Father gave to Him. He speaks and thing happens. That is the active powerful grace of God at work on your behalf.

Notice however that the Official has to do something also. He has to believe by faith in order to recognize the power of God. He has to take Jesus at His word and go back to this place of responsibility. Where are you today? What do you need Jesus to do by grace in your life? Are you willing to take Him at His word? Are you willing to go back to your place of responsibility knowing that all authority belongs to Him? Ephesians 1:18-23 speaks of the authority and power that are under the feet of Jesus at this very moment. When we ask Him to move according to His will, then at some point we need to turn around and take Jesus at His word and go forward with our lives. As one who knows how paralyzing fear and grief can be, it is a great reminder that after we ask, seek and knock, our work is far from done. We then need to take Jesus at His word and depart to finish living the life for which He cherishes, protects, guides and provides.

Take Jesus at His word!
Ed Litton

Open Minded?

When Jesus met with His disciples following the resurrection Luke tells us that he ate broiled fish. Let that taste swirl in your mind for a moment. I wonder if the white flakey fish was douched in butter and Tony Chachere's? This tidbit of information reveals a unique quality to the body post resurrection. It brings joy to know that in our resurrected experience we will be able to eat. That is however, not the main thrust of this passage in chapter twenty four. Verse 45 says; "Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures." I do not dare suggest that I fully understand this, but what a thought. He opens minds so that His disciples can understand the Scripture concerning Himself.
Paul prays for the "eyes of our hearts" to be opened. We need open eyes and open minds to the Word of God. Our very understanding of God's word is predicated upon the work of the Holy Spirit of God. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would lead us into all truth. This is a vital part of the grace of God working daily in the life of the disciple. Pray for an open mind in your relationship to the Word. Pray for open eyes to see, understand and perceive what God is doing in our world. He is moving and we can live much of our lives with closed eyes and closed minds if we do not pray such prayers.

Eph. 1:18-19 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength,