Blessings by Laura Story

As I was going through a challenging week, I heard this song and the Holy Spirit used it as a powerful reminder that we are only missionaries in this world. Our real homes are in Heaven, if we know the saving power of Christ.

We are blessed with many good songs to listen to, I think about the first time that I listened to "I Can Only Imagine" and in my mind, could see glimpses of what it may be like in our eternal home once our missionary work is done. We each need to practice good hospitality and invite our temporary neighbors here on earth to our real homes with our beautiful Saviour.

Read through this carefully and see what the Spirit shows you as this one helps us keep things in proper perspective. This life is but a vapor in view of eternity.

Laura Story - "Blessings"

We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It's not our home

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise

Manna from John

(ESV)John 5:8 Jesus said to him, "Get up, take up your bed, and walk." 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.
Now that day was the Sabbath. 10 So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed." 11 But he answered them, "The man who healed me, that man said to me, 'Take up your bed, and walk.' " 12 They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?" 13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you." 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.

Jesus had completely transformed this man's life. He had been paralysed for nearly 40 years and out of many that were at the pool, Jesus chose him to heal. He just spoke and his impairment vanished and he instantly had the ability to walk. It takes us months to learn or relearn to walk and Jesus spoke it into this man. Kinda reminds me of the beginning of Genesis.

But as usual the Pharisees were more interested in having their traditions of legalism fulfilled than they were to celebrate this miracle. Their focus was on the outward appearance not the change that occured. We have whole denominations and many, many churches that are seeing no life change in their congregations. Their focus is on the conforming to tradition and following rules, but Jesus was about the gracious love of God.

Would Jesus be concerned about someone who wears flip flops to church? I don't think so. He would be more concerned about drawing them to a true understanding of sin and the eternal consequences of it. Let me make it simple, no one will go to hell for wearing flip flops to church. Maybe that's not your preference and I respect that, but those kind of rules are just religion, not rightousness. Christ's love, shown through the giving of Himself as a substitute for our debt of sinfulness, is the only thing that can unite people. Religion and traditions only divide people.

True acts of rightousness (Good works) are only accomplished with the help of the Holy Spirit. I do not ever recall the Disciples being full of the Spirit and putting on closed toe shoes, or long pants, or a white shirt or.... They just lifted up their Lord's name and people responded.

For Him,
Steve

Steve Amos

Sent from my iPad

Manna from John

(ESV) John 4:39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me all that I ever did." 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world."

Most true believers have witnesses to tell them about Jesus many times before they finally believe. Many times that transition from head knowledge, provided by either a person, TV or radio, to truly believing occurs when you personally open the Word and start asking questions. The Word and the Holy Spirit work together in your life to teach you those great truths of salvation and its only then that most people truly believe. It is not an easy thing for someone to let go of self sufficiency and trust in someone else.

Be patient with someone that knows all of the answers, but has had no life change, just point them to the Word. The good thing about quoting scripture is that they can't argue with your opinion, they need to wrestle with God. Maybe this person was even baptized and a Church member for years, but that doesn't mean they are saved. Send them to read through I John and the Holy Spirit will confirm their salvation if it is really there.

The stakes are high, be bold to ask someone if they truly know Jesus as Savior and Lord.

For His beautiful name,
Steve

Steve Amos

Sent from my iPad

Manna from John

(ESV) John 4:34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.
35 "Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.

Jesus was telling the disciples that the work he was doing, witnessing to the Samaritans, was much better than any food He could eat. I have felt the same at times, when you are doing what God wants you to do, you don't worry about food and drink. It is a wonderful place to be. Jesus knew He would not parrish by waiting to eat, but some of these folks may never hear about God's grace again before they did.

He went on to tell the disciples that there was a harvest to be brought in. This would have meant far more to this agrarian culture than it means today to us. The urgency to bring in the crop meant live or death to them. It means the same today for those who die without truly believing. I pray that we each have that urgency.

For Him,
Steve

Steve Amos

Sent from my iPad

Manna from John

(ESV) John 4:23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

After the discussion that the place of worship was going to be irrelevant, Jesus is telling the Samaritan woman that there would be a higher standard for worship coming soon. As it was, if you went and sacrificed in Jerusalem for the Jews, you were ceremonially good. There was no spiritual necessity, because you can't measure spirituality or write a law for it, only on doing or not doing things and the Jews even added hundreds of additional rules that the Pharisees followed.

Worshiping in spirit and truth is not an option, Jesus told her "must". Humans tend to either do things mechanically, ie without spirit or out of tradition, ie no truth. We have to assess pur situation at every oportunity. I have worshiped traveling 80 miles per hour down the interstate and not worshiped while "worship" music was playing in church on Sunday. Worship is out of the overflow of out hearts, is your spiritual cup full or empty? Not emotional cup, spiritual cup. Do you realize what justice should have done for you? Yes, a date with the lake of fire. Do you know what grace is? It is getting something that you do not deserve, everlasting life with God in heaven. Not following rules, God loves us and provided Jesus for us. God had Jesus killed, not the Jews. Why?? He wants to walk with us in the garden, just like He did with Adam before the fall and fellowship with us....unbelievable!

Reflect on this gift and truely worship Him today,
Steve

Steve Amos

Sent from my iPad

Manna from John

(ESV) John 4:10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." 11 The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock." 13 Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." 15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water."

Jesus was clearly offering her a spiritual gift, but the Samaritan woman was only looking to fulfil a physical need. Boy don't we do the same things today. We hear blessings from God's word and think beautiful houses, we hear about riches and think a big bank account....Jesus ministry was a gift of Himself for our failings and He deserved nothing that He received.

Why do we feel like we deserve the worlds comfort when we are no longer of this world? The only riches that we can amass are ones we will only receive in Heaven. I loose this perspective so often, I love stuff like everyone else. We forget that EVERYTHING that we have is a gift of God and we did nothing to deserve it. Whether we have much or little, God's real desire is to bless us spiritually and we did NOTHING to deserve that, either.

Praise Him for all of the good things and seek His spiritual blessings!
Steve

Steve Amos

Sent from my iPad

Manna from John

I had this ready to send yesterday morning and my Ipad had a technical issue (crashed) I didn't think that Apple products did that??? Anyway I have been thinking about the verses over the last day and have a little different angle.

 

(ESV) John 4:7　A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." ⁸(For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) ⁹The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

 

Jesus was radical in every part of His ministry. First He was walking through Samaria, which Jews generally did not do. Many times they would walk miles out of the way in order to keep from walking through there. Secondly, Rabbis did not talk to women at all, whether Jew or Gentile. Jesus had also apparently sent His disciples into town to buy food, Samaritan food, which would have been unclean for Jews.

 

Jesus spend a lot of time ministering to people that contemporary religious leaders wouldn't even be seen with. I believe that we have lost that aspect in today's religious circles, to many times we are Pharisees instead of being little Christs. Let each of us look to minister to someone that a religious zealot would just ignore.

 

I pray you have a blessed Lord"s Day,

Steve

Manna from John

(ESV) John 4:6 Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well.

I love these little glimpses of Christ's humanity. Too many times we see Jesus as being superhuman, but His flesh was made just like ours. When He walked a long distance, He got tired and thirsty. For me, that puts the cross in a much different light. Although he had the nature of God, his flesh was just as weak as ours. He had to be scared and no one wants to die, but He knew it was coming. His nature allowed Him to overcome the flesh to do what no one else could do.

One of my favorite verses is 2 Timothy 1:7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. 

We each need the Holy Spirit to overcome the weakness of our flesh. Jesus did to the point of allowing Himself to die, we only have to ask for help and yield to the Spirit.

I hope you have a Blessed weekend!

Steve