Draw Near and Be Healed

Thistlebend Quiet eMoment

by Laurie Aker

Focus Scripture: Luke 6:17-19 ESV

17 And he came down with them and stood on a level place,
with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people
from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, 
18 who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. 
And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 
19 And all the crowd sought to touch him,
for power came out from him and healed them all.
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Do you realize how dependent you need to be
on Jesus for everything?

Where else can you go?
For healing?
For comfort?
For your salvation?

We are all such self-reliant people, aren’t we?

In his book
What is the Gospel, Greg Gilbert wrote:
“We are convinced of our own self-sufficiency,
and we resent any insinuation that we are what we are
because of somebody else’s intervention.
Think of how you would feel if someone said
about your job or something else you value,
‘Yeah, you didn’t earn that.
You only have it because somebody gave it to you.’
This is exactly the case when it comes to our salvation before God.
It is given to us as a gift of grace
and we don’t contribute anything at all–
not our own righteousness,
not our own payment for our sins,
and certainly not any good works
that balance the account. (Galatians 2:16).”

Do these statements surprise you?

TAKING GOD’S WORD TO HEART

We all are much more self-reliant than we realize.
We are so sophisticated.
So 21st century.
We think, “Jesus can’t be all that we need.”

But whether we acknowledge it or not,
we are utterly dependent upon God and His Son, Jesus Christ,
and the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Apart from Him we can do nothing!

You must put all of your hope in Him.
You must abide in Him.
You must draw near to Him and rely completely on Him.

Will you lay down your ways and your self-reliance?
Will you draw near to Him?
Will you look to Him for everything?
Will you go to Him to receive His power for your need?
Draw near to Jesus.
Bring your hurts, your needs,
and your impossibilities to Him.
Ask Him to heal you.
Ask Him to bring His power to bear in your weakness.

MEDITATE or MEMORIZE

Write out the following passage from Luke 6 and recite it 3 times.
Take it with you throughout the day.

18 who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. 
And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 
19 And all the crowd sought to touch him,
for power came out from him and healed them all.

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, I draw near to you.
Help me see my utter dependance on you.
Be my everything.

In His hands for His glory,

Laurie
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God as Searching Shepherd

by Dottie Ryan

Through this study we are learning that God loves us.  And this is so necessary for us to know and even experience if we are to follow Him — to fall in love again with Him.  When God called us to Himself, it was just like when He chose the Israelites to be His people; it wasn’t because of anything they had done.  It was in spite of what they had done and for demonstration of His glory.  He showed His faithfulness to tend His sheep and take them the course best suited for them and their safety — albeit long, windy, and difficult at times.  He led them.  They just needed to know He could be trusted that they (and we) would “not want” along the way. His reputation, so to speak, was at stake (for His namesake). As Deuteronomy 7:7-9 (NIV) tells us

The LORD did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath He swore to your forefathers that He brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh King of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commands.

He loved Israel and swore to their forefathers that he would bring them out of slavery and into the Promised Land.  And He cared for them each step of the way like sheep, going ahead of them so no danger would befall them and taking them the course where clean water would be found because He knew they were also thirsty.  For His glory.

As I was reading further into Phillip Keller’s A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, I began to be more thankful that He is deliberately guiding you and me through these valleys and winding paths up to greener pastures and being very careful to take you and me on the path necessary to nourish and strengthen our faith, although at times it may not “feel” like it.  He is tenderly nurturing and caring for us as only a good shepherd would do for his flock of sheep.  The following portions of the book struck me as I read them, and led me to more fully see Psalm 63 as more than just words.  Keller writes:

In caring for his sheep, the good shepherd, the careful manager, will from time to time make a careful examination of each individual sheep.  The picture is a very poignant one. As each animal comes out of the corral and through the gate, it is stopped by the shepherd’s outstretched rod.  He opens the fleece with the rod: he runs his skillful hands over the body; he feels for any sign of trouble; he examines the sheep with care to see that all is well. This is a most searching process entailing every intimate detail.  It is, too, a comfort to the sheep, for only in this way can its hidden problems be laid bare before the shepherd.

I’m reminded of the beginning of the study when we prayed Psalm 139 and asked the Lord to search our heart to see if there is any wicked way in us–and lead us to the way of understanding.  Keller, in referring to the examination a good shepherd does to each sheep in his flock, says: “This is what was meant in Psalm 139:23-24.” He says, “If we will allow it, if we will submit to it, God, by His Word will search us…He will get below the surface, behind the front of our old self-life and expose things that need to be made right. This is a process for which we need not shrink.  It is not something to avoid.  It is done in concern and compassion for our welfare. The Great Shepherd of our souls has our best interests at heart when He so searches us.” So I wonder if the Shepherd has been searching you with his rod or his hand to shine light on things/attitudes/wrong beliefs in your life that might be harmful to you.  If so, do you see them as love and tender care? Are you drawing even closer? Or are you shrinking back? Do not fear. He is a tender Shepherd. His rod and His staff…well, they comfort you! Rest in this.

 

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Fix It?

by Angie Thomas

I struggled one morning to make my morning appointment with God.  I stumbled out of bed to my rocking chair and sat half-awake staring at my Bible thinking, “I don’t really want to read this.”  My heart felt hard and my faith was lacking.  As a result, I was feeling weary.  The intimacy and comfort I longed to have with God was not there.  I prayed and confessed my lack of enthusiasm to the Lord and asked Him to revive my heart.

As I began reading Romans 8 as a part of our study, this truth penetrated my heart, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God…” (vv. 14-16). God lovingly showed me in that moment I had slipped back into living as a slave and not a son, dominated by fear and condemnation instead of acceptance and grace.

You see, I am a recovering perfectionist, a performer, a worker, and I had slipped back into my old way of trying to “fix” my sin.  I had been struggling for several days with the conviction of a situation I had not handled in a Christ-like way and also of several other sins I felt the Holy Spirit revealing to me.  Instead of turning to Jesus and confessing my sin and weakness and asking Him to change my heart and help me walk forward in repentance, I had been trying to justify my actions to God and figure out a way to “fix” the problems.  The result… I felt defeated, exhausted, and distant from the Lord.  My way was clearly not working.

While there was a part of me that was so relieved by the reminder that I am nurtured and cared for as God’s child, my pride was wounded at having to confess my dependency and need for God as my Father.  Shouldn’t I be inching closer to being an “adult” Christian, more mature in my walk, able to handle these sins that so easily entangle me? The enemy was whispering, “You’re a failure. You’ll always keep messing up.”

I was confronted with the realization that I was still a disobedient child and a dumb sheep, when I was wanting to be growing as a disciple.

Then the Lord reminded me of a passage in Isaiah 53:7 that describes Jesus as a lamb, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.” If Jesus lived His life as a humble sheep, why should I expect to live any differently? Jesus also modeled so beautifully the life of a son/child with His Heavenly Father.  He talked about how He did nothing of His own accord (John 5:19), but only what was the will of His Father (John 6:38).

It is evident that my theology needed adjustment.  I will always be a sheep and a child even as I grow in maturity as an apprentice/learner and as a disciple.   Dependency on Jesus does not mean immaturity or failure.  In fact, it is how we walk by the Spirit.

The “try harder” mentality must be kicked to the curb.  We will never attain righteousness by trying or working in our own strength.  That does not mean we do not apply effort or earnestly seek the Lord, but we must rest in the promise of Philippians 2:12-13: “ Therefore, my beloved…. work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Friends, it is God alone who can work faith and repentance in our hearts as we trust in Him.  The difference may seem like a nuance in your mind, mere semantics, but I can assure you in reality it is not.  It is the difference between walking in freedom and victory over sin and feeling burdened and overwhelmed.

If the difference is still not clear to you, cry out to Him and ask Him to reveal these truths to your heart.  He will show you where you are still performing and rule-keeping instead of walking by His grace and confessing your sin.  I loved this quote from the Sonship Study: “What a joy to know our needs are a window to God, not an obstacle that makes him disgusted with us.”

Let us cling to the truth in Hebrews 4:15-16: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

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