Warriors Arise: July 21st, 2020
John 20:24-26 (NKJV) Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”
So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” 26 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!”
Jesus is so wonderful! Thomas and the rest of the disciples did not follow instructions. They did not go to Galilee to meet Jesus. The angel had sent a message to the disciples and Peter, saying He would meet them in Galilee. But God, in His amazing love sent Jesus back to the disciples who were still in Jerusalem.
There was no reason Jesus had to prove Himself. He had already appeared to a number of other people. He had appeared to the disciples who were gathered together the evening of His resurrection. Honestly, I wonder if He was expecting a huge celebration. He had told the disciples a number of times He had to be crucified, but they wouldn't believe Him. He had told the disciples a number of times He would rise again on the third day, but they weren't expecting Him. He had sent word through an angel who told the women at the tomb to tell them that He would them in Galilee, but they didn't go. Person after person came telling them, "Jesus is alive! We have seen Him! We have talked with Him! We have walked with Him. He explained Moses and the Prophets." And they still did not believe.
Jesus didn't have to prove Himself. But God, sent Jesus back to appear in the midst of His disciples. However, Thomas was not there and we find Thomas is being just as obstinate as the rest of the disciples. But God sent Jesus back again to appear to Thomas. Luke 20:26 "Jesus came"...
Jesus didn't have to prove Himself. He should have been able to send a message and the disciples follow instructions. Do you and I understand Jesus does not have to prove Himself to you or me? We should know through His Word and through our personal relationship with God when a message comes from Him. The depth of our relationship is revealed in the amount of proof we need.
Not to be too harsh on the disciples or Thomas; we all ask God to prove Himself. Some of the "greats" from history asked for proof: Moses, Gideon, Abraham, to name a few. "This can't possibly be You. You wouldn't ask me to do this, you know I am ill-equipped. You know I can't do that. You know I don't speak well. You know that really makes me nervous." etc. The fact that we would mentally say one of these responses says that we recognize God is speaking to us. These ready excuses in our mind is how we train ourselves to have a deaf ear toward God. He says something, we either do not think we can do it or don't want to do it; so we make an excuse or we think we are not the one to find someone else to do the task. Being the delegator is not a spiritual gift. We think God needs us to tell others what He wants them to do, when in fact, God was telling us.
We can trick ourselves into thinking our excuse for not being the one to do what He has told us to do, is ok because we found someone else to do it. People who are self proclaimed delegators need to be careful, because they just might be passing off onto others what God has for them. The main problem with this: if you are the one who is telling others what they need to do then you are taking the place of God speaking to them, telling them what He wants them to do. So while they are doing what God told you to do they might have difficulty in fulfilling what God is really telling them to do. The self-proclaimed delegator can be working against God. Not only did they not do what God wanted them to do but they have made themselves more important than God in someone else's life. The individual on the receiving end has two choices, 1. They can try to do what God told the other person to do and not have time to do what God has told them to do or 2. They can try to do both. I believe this is why we have people in church who serve and get burned out or they aren't really excellent at anything they are doing in the church; because they can't focus their attention to exactly what God has told them to do. Their time is split by fulfilling someone else's responsibility.
Jesus should not have had to prove Himself to "His" disciples but He did. God's love is everlasting. I do not know what He was doing in those eight days from when He appeared to the ten disciples who were gathered together until He appeared to Thomas. Since He appeared to so many on the day He came out of the grave, I think He continued to walk with people, teach people, and do the miraculous. I'm not thinking Jesus wanted the work of His Father to stop when He died on the cross. I wonder if He expected them to plan for His return, in three days. Think of how different history would have been!
Father, I ask for You speak to my heart and mind. If I am not doing what You have instructed me to do, I ask for Your indulgence; tell me again. I have been wrong to make You prove Yourself to me. I know You are the most loving, Your love never fails. I know You are the most powerful, second to none. I know You are just in all Your ways. I have heard You speaking to me, but I have practiced ignoring You. I have a deaf ear. I ask for my ears to be opened in the name of Jesus. I want to hear Your voice speaking to me. I want to hear You guide my steps each day. I ask to be in tune with what You want me to do. I want to be ready for when I am to be Your ambassador, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ and the power of the cross. I am thankful You will come when I ask. Not that it would take You any time to make Yourself known in my presence, it would take eight days but I may need eight days to position my heart and refine my hearing to be ready. I thank You that when I need You to come, You will. When I need strength, You come. When I need love to cast out fear, You come. When I have lost my way, You come. When I have turned a deaf ear, You come. When I have walked my own path, You come. I ask for You to come and minster Your truth to each one. I ask for Your truth to be revealed. I ask for Your ways to be known. So many are weighing in on the arguments for schools reopening. I ask for Your peace to come. I ask that we would be willing to seek You and not our own understanding. I ask for people to receive Your grace so we have grace to extend to others. I pray we would seek You and walk in Your ways. I ask for Your direction to be laid out before us in Jesus' name amen.
A Warrior in the Lord’s Army,
Veridee Joy
My hope is for Believers in Jesus Christ to join together each day to pray, to push back the enemy as we release God’s power here on earth against the coronavirus. The prayers will be listed each day as Warriors Arise. I will put a date with it so we can keep them straight. If you have any questions please feel free to make a comment or private message me. If you would like this to come to your email directly please go to verideehand.com and subscribe.
Comments