Warriors Arise: May 30th, 2020
"Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him." Luke 24:13-16
A lot can happen in one day. Keeping things in time perspective, this happened on "that same day" as when Mary Magdalene, Mary, and Solame went to the tomb to anoint Jesus' body for burial, but found the tomb with no dead body. An angel tells them Jesus is alive. They rush to tell the disciples. Peter and John run to the tomb. Mary follows behind them. Peter and John marvel and go home. Mary remains weeping outside the tomb, looks in the tomb and sees two more angels. They converse. She turns around and Jesus is standing in front of her. Mary is distraught and doesn't recognize Jesus until He calls her name. Jesus gives her a new message to deliver to His disciples. She delivers the message and they still do not believe.
Wait, there is more. Jesus isn't wasting any time. On "that same day," Jesus joined two men who were talking of the things that had happened. I so wonder what Jesus was thinking while they were discussing everything. If I knew Jesus was physically joining me in my Bible study, small group or Sunday School class, I would say a whole lot less and yield the floor to Him.
While Mary had been weeping and trying to rationalize everything that had gone on in the last couple of days; these two men were conversing and reasoning. While Mary's heart was shattered; their minds were shattered. Neither of them could make sense of what had happened, how did things go so wrong!
As humans we have the ability to reason in our own mind. It is something we do when we can't get things to come together or find a solution to the problem. However, sometimes we can talk too much and get no where and other times we can use our reasoning and get no where. The main problem with reasoning in our own minds about a God-ordained moment/event is that we have to be outside of our natural reasoning to understand what happening.
God-ordained Jesus to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins. God knew Jesus would have to die. The Old Testament prophets prophesied all Jesus was going to suffer even before the He was crucified on the cross. The Pharisees and Sadducees had read the Scripture but they didn't want to believe it because they reasoned in their own minds that Jesus needed to come as the earthly kings they had seen in the land, ruling over them. When we reason in our own minds we focus on what we want and not on how things really are or how God has told us they will be.
God speaks to us all of the time. You and I hear more than we think. We hear what God is telling us, but we reason in our own minds before what God says has time to take root and grow. We will cancel it out in a split second because our minds cannot wrap around what God has said. He desires for us to know but we don't really want to know. Knowing makes us responsible for doing. If we don't know what God said, then we don't have to do what God said. This is how our mind operates. We hear God, but we aren't listening.
When I was pre-teen and teenager my Mother could call from the other room and ask me to do something but I learned to block her voice. When I was young I would respond quickly, then I entered the pre-teen years and would call back, "Can't this wait til there is a commercial?" or "I'm in the middle of something can I get to it later?" Then she would call again and I would be frustrated because I forgot to do what she said when there was a commercial or before I started a new project. This forced her to have to call again. In my teenage years I got really good at not even hearing my Mother call. I totally blocked out when she called my name and asked me to do something. I might have had my moments of responding but they were few and far between. I developed a deaf ear to my Mother's call.
We do the same thing to God. No one can come to God without hearing Him. For believers in Jesus Christ we have all heard God speak to us. It could have been audible, but most have felt His love enter their hearts or a tugging from within to draw near to God. Depending on how our relationship with God developed, some never learned to listen for His voice again. It could be years before we decide to fully walk with the Lord, taking our place in expanding His kingdom here on earth. Some never get to that point; because we never learned to listen for God to lead us. Others developed their relationships with God, listening to His voice, and actively following as He speaks. The more we get involved with our personal own life-making decisions without God, the more we are responding to God, "There will be an intermission in my life in a moment, can't I listen then?" or "Can't this wait til I'm done with what I am doing?" This leads to frustration with God for interrupting what we had planned, just so He can talk to us. Seems audacious and it is; but it is how we act in our relationship with God. We don't say those things out loud, but our thoughts happen so quickly that we don't realize we have given God a line. We've put Him on hold while we continue to do what we are doing.
Reasoning in our own mind, can be a dangerous thing. We must ask the Father to open our ears so we can hear and open our eyes so we can see. A number of times in the Old and New Testaments, God, the prophets and Jesus say, "Let him who has ears, hear and those who have eyes, see." When we read that Jesus has said this to people He has been teaching and to His disciples who often heard Him, we should wonder why He thinks they are not hearing? Why they aren't seeing?
This is convicts me. I want to hear what God is saying. I want there to be evidence in my life that I have listened and responded to what God said. God is gracious to us all. At times I have felt the voice of God is silent. I spend time with Him and ask for my ears to be opened and my eyes to see. I don't want to guess how the God-thing is supposed to be done; because I know that if I will ask, He will give instructions. I want to see where God is at work and join Him, just like Jesus did. I am not Jesus but In Ephesians 5:1 we are told to imitate Christ, as dear children. To imitate Christ and live in the power of defeating the enemy I must see what God is doing and join Him.
Father, You are incredible. You wait for us to call upon You. You wait for us to ask to be involved in what You are doing. You talk to me and I don't even listen. I put You on hold. I make decisions without You. Many of those decisions need Your guidance. I need Your insight to fully walk in what You have put in front of me to do. I ask for You to open my ears. I don't just want to hear You but I want to listen to You. I want to stop what I am doing and listen to You when You speak. My mind can only comprehend what I have an understanding of. I ask to have the mind of Christ and to make decisions based on what You have said. I ask for You to clean my ears, adjust my hearing and speak to me. I ask that I be ready to listen, to make time for You to speak to me. I ask that I be ready to put aside what I am doing and listen to You. Our government officials are having to make some really difficult decisions. I ask for You to open their ears. I ask for You to speak to each one. I ask for each one to have a willing heart, an open mind, and ears that recognize Your voice. I ask for each government official to submit their thoughts and reasonings before the throne of God. The coronavirus is beyond our understanding. We have no vaccine nor a cure. The only way we will have one, is if our researchers are listening to You. I ask for each researcher to see this in beyond their comprehension. I ask for each researcher to turn their thoughts to You, open their ears to hear, and follow as You lead them to the cure and vaccine in Jesus' name. If they will not listen I ask for You to rid the land and human race of the coronavirus. I ask for You to step in where we have failed to listen to You. I ask for You to say the word and the coronavirus die 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.
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