THURSDAY, DAY 26 OF LENT 2025

 John 14:12-14 (CSB) states, 

¹² “Truly I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

This is, quite honestly, a passage I trip over. I absolutely do believe that Christ's followers can and do make a huge difference in the world, and that God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, gives many amazing gifts to believers, which are being used for God's glory. 

I also believe that the word translated 'greater' might mislead us - that 'more' might be a better word, with my rationale being that since Jesus returned to the Father, he sent the Holy Spirit, who can be everywhere at once, using many people simultaneously to do God's work on earth. It could also apply to the reality that we have many more years collectively and that God's miraculous works performed in the world through the power of the Holy Spirit - using humans as vessels through whom many of those miracles are made evident - would be 'more.' That would make sense to me.   

In past consideration of this passage, I have wondered if the ''whatever you ask in my name" was conditional on it being something God wanted to do, and allowed a human vessel to participate in so that person could feel used by God. 

I know God performs amazing miracles - but certainly not every time it is believed for and prayed for, so the 'whatever' throws me. Just being transparent! 

It is also worth noting since I am grappling with this again today, that verse 14 is not included in many of the manuscripts, which means it was likely added by a Scribe somewhere along the way who just wanted to reinforce the prior sentence. It doesn't change what was stated - but it is interesting to pay attention to those tidbits in our studying.

I will end with a story:

Years ago, in Montesano, when I attended the Montesano Presbyterian Church, the Lord gave me a very deep burden for a man in our church. He had just had a heart attack and I prayed diligently for him that he would be healed. A few days later the burden lifted, and I thanked God, believing that the burden lifting meant that the man was healed and would be okay. 

I was shocked to learn that at the time the burden lifted the man died. I was furious with God! I asked him, "Why did you take away the burden if he was not healed?" And God replied, "Death in this life is perfect healing."

He was right. The man was healed - just not the way I expected. Not the way I was praying for. When I feel a burden for someone I remember that lesson. I even told a friend not long ago, "I may not be the one you want praying for you, given my track record!" 

This passage leads me to a bit of a bunny trail and brings me to the bottom line of my faith. Do I trust God even when I don't understand? Yes! Do I believe he is with me through everything? Yes! Do I trust his timing? Even though I don't always appreciate it or understand it, yes! My times are in his hands. So are yours if you've placed your trust in him. We live under his care, and though we don't know the expiration date that is 'invisibly stamped on the bottom of our foot' (as I say), we can trust that God knows, and that we will not leave this earth one day sooner - and when we do have the joy of leaving we will wonder why we wanted so badly to stay!

Back on topic: I believe in God. I believe in miracles. I believe he guides, directs, and nudges us to do his will. I believe if he wants to do a miracle and chooses a human vessel to pray for it, he is the one doing the work, through the power of the Holy Spirit, and God is the one who receives the honor and glory. 

Thank you, Lord, for being a very present God in the lives of those who trust in you!

Journey to the Cross 2017, Day 9

Friday, Day 9:  Matthew 9                            

Matthew 9 is my passage for Day 9. I’m so glad I chose Matthew!  Again, so much to munch on! What the paralytic obviously wanted was physical healing but Jesus gave him so much more – and took care of the most important issue first – the forgiveness of his sins.

Next I note that in response to the man’s healing, people praised God for what Jesus did. I need to remember that – to affirm the person’s obedience to God, certainly, but to give my praise to God, not to man. And then there is Matthew. A Jew who worked for the Romans – an outcast to his own people, and merely used as a pawn by the other . . . and Jesus ‘chose’ him. Each of these moments is a lesson of who Jesus is – and I love the reminders – but my heart gravitates to the woman with the issue of blood.

Twelve long years she had suffered. Dr. Luke tells us that no one could heal her – a detail a doctor would pay attention to in relating the story.

This woman was desperate. After all, she barged into the procession as they were following Jesus on his way to heal Jairus’ daughter.  Sounds a little self-centered, actually – but her hope and her need compelled her. She had been isolated and ostracized for 12 long years. Because of her issue she couldn’t go to public worship. She was unclean. No one could even sit in the same chair she used or sleep in the same bed without risk of also becoming unclean. (Leviticus 17)

She shouldn’t have been in a crowd. That was against the rules, too, because anyone she touched became ceremonially unclean; and to make matters worse, she intended to put them – and Jesus – at risk for being unclean. She was desperate, desperate, desperate! It appears that she thought she could just sneak in from behind for a silent healing – if only she could just touch the hem of his garment! How did she know that? How many times had she stayed just far enough away from the crowd to honor ceremonial law, and watched him heal others? We aren’t told how she came to faith – but she did! It was no longer just a hope, a ‘he could if he wanted to’ belief.

Matthew just doesn’t give us the whole story – so I had to go to Luke for this one . . . .  Dr. Luke tells us that as soon as she touched his cloak she was immediately healed. But Jesus had more for her that day. He engaged her in conversation – allowed her to make a public profession of her healing – and reinstated her to society by that proclamation. She came for what she wanted. He gave her what she needed.  God’s perfect healing included the restoration of relationships, and by his making certain her healing was proclaimed she was restored to fellowship with others. I just love the model of His outrageous grace, and that he knows better than we do just what we need. 

Thank you, Lord! 

Humor for today:
A teacher came up to a little girl in her class during art and asked her what she was drawing.

She answered, “God.”

The teacher said, “Oh, honey, no one knows what God looks like.”

And the child replied, “They will when I’m through.”

Journey to the Cross 2017, Day 8

Thursday, Day 8:  Matthew 8                           

I can’t even get past the first few verses in Matthew 8 without digging deeper. Jesus came down from the mountain and large crowds followed him – but then in his path was a leper. I can see the crowds shrinking back, repelled. After all, the lepers – abandoned to the countryside away from contact with healthy humans – were required to walk around repeatedly saying, “Unclean, unclean” so people would stay away from them to avoid potential infection. But not this man. He’s not following the mores of his society. This man comes and kneels before Jesus. The Law does not allow him to come that close to people, but he came anyway. However, it was not he who reached out and touched . . . .  Oh, his words did, certainly . . .  “Jesus, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” And then Jesus touched him – a leper  –  an untouchable – and said, “I am willing. Be clean.”

In the fall of 1970, I came to Jesus as one who had ‘spiritual leprosy.’ I was ‘outside the camp,’ ostracized (it was at least partially self-imposed, but it felt like real abandonment), and as I knelt before Him, He touched me with His incredible, forgiving, cleansing love. I was the prodigal daughter. I had known Him and walked away because He let me down (or so I thought.) I mistakenly thought that His being ‘in control’ meant he was a controlling God, and that nothing bad could happen to me with Him in control. He had disappointed me. He had failed to protect me. He had let me make a huge mistake (that led to more) and I was very angry with Him – so I abandoned my faith.

My healing was not wrought as immediately as the leper’s appears to have been (though his physical healing and his social healing are two separate issues.) Mine was more like peeling away layers of an onion – until at last, I felt I was freed completely – even from the guilt of my sin. Don’t misunderstand, I am dreadfully sorry for the sins I committed and for the mistakes I made, but God has redeemed them, and I no longer feel guilt. And, of course, now I understand about ‘free will’ and that God’s being in control is not synonymous with controlling every situation in our lives. I also understand that we live in a fallen world and that bad things happen – but that the difference for us as Christians is that we can have inner peace – a peace the world cannot offer – a peace that gives us an inner calm no matter how stormy the circumstances we are living through. And I know that we see difficulty through different eyes because this world is not our long-range focus.

Another difference for us as Christians is that we can learn amazing lessons through times of trial. In 2000, after going through a series of challenges culminating with a plethora of issues precipitated by having an oophorectomy, I learned firsthand that God deserves our praise and worship no matter what our circumstances.

In the difficult months that followed that surgery – including being in the throes of trying to handle all of the issues related to being executrix for my stepmother’s will, her lawyer committing suicide, and having to start all over again with another attorney – and being in the midst of building and moving, which meant no longer having my 30-years-long church support network available to me – some days all my journal stated was HELP! in very large print. But, like Peter, I knew there was nowhere else to go. I knew that because I had tried life without Jesus – and my resolve after coming back to faith was total commitment. When people say “God will never give you more than you can handle” I think, ‘They haven’t been where I have been.’ But I do know this: He will never give me more than HE can handle – and I know He is smack dab in the middle of it going through it with me, whatever the ‘it’ is. It is a wonderful assurance! That’s the most amazing thing: He walks with us through every painful step – as well as the joyous ones. It isn’t about feeling. It’s about faith. He says He will be with us – and He is. No matter what.

As for redeeming the bad – He has. There are others who have walked away from God because of their own terrible circumstances who have believed one of Satan’s most insidious lies: that God can’t or won’t love them anymore. They believe in Him, but they have been told that ‘once they have put their hand to the plow and turned back, they are no longer worthy’ and they take that to mean that He won’t accept them – so they live outside the gate, ostracized. A few years ago God placed me in the right place at the right time to be able to be the one who could share my story with one woman who needed to hear it. Her immediate response was, “Well, no offense, but if God can forgive you, then He can forgive me.” No offense was taken – just pure joy in seeing God redeem the bad that had happened to me, turning it to joy in seeing someone else restored to a right relationship with Him – and then later to see her be instrumental in passing that on to others….

And just an aside - for those who believe and misuse that bit about ‘putting our hand to the plow’ NONE of us are worthy to begin with. But – when God forgives with extravagant grace, what a testimony to His amazing love. His amazing, extravagant grace is why I call myself ‘A child of God’s grace.’ I am.

Just after going through the worst of that terribly tough time beginning early in 2000, God gave me a chorus to a calypso beat. These are the words:

I don’t deserve your love. I don’t deserve the life you have reserved for me.
I don’t deserve your love. I don’t deserve the grace you give to set me free.
I don’t deserve that you, the Son of God, died on the cross for me.
I don’t deserve your love, but thank you, Lord, that you give it to me, so freely.
I don’t deserve your love, but thank you, Lord, that you give it to me.

Not everyone agrees with me – or with the sentiment expressed in this chorus – but that’s O K. I know that what I deserved was death – as in the ‘eternal separation from God’ death – but He didn’t agree. Oh, how beautiful the song of the Redeemed.

When Jesus healed this particular leper, he told him not to go talk about it – but to go do what was required by law. If you want to read the extensive process that involved, you’ll find it in Leviticus 14:2-32. What touches me about that, is that Jesus wanted the testimony to be proclaimed to the Priests. They were the ones who knew the prophecies of the Old Testament. If they were paying attention they would have recognized Him as the Messiah. Few did, apparently.

So – I read the whole chapter – but that’s my tidbit for today. Blessings!


Humor for today:
Following an unresolved argument a man and wife were giving each other the silent treatment. At bedtime the man realized that because he was prone to sleeping through his alarm, he would need his wife to wake him up at 5 a m the next morning for a long-anticipated fishing trip with his buddies. He had to meet them in the designated location by 5:30 a m or be left behind. Not wanting to be the first to break the silence, he left a note pinned to her pillow – where she obviously couldn’t miss it – written in large letters: ‘PLEASE WAKE ME UP AT 5 A M.”

The next morning the man awoke to find he had slept through his alarm and missed his trip. He was furious, and was about to go find out why his wife hadn’t awakened him when he discovered a note pinned to his pillow that stated, “IT’S 5 A M - WAKE UP!”