Why do we feel sorry for the sick?

Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?  It's a question we have all asked ourselves is it not?  But have you ever put aside your sorrow and your desire to understand God and just listened to a sick person talk?  Well if you listen with an open ear and open heart you will hear what God is doing.  Every christian who is terminally ill has always had this joyful glow around them and I am left so uplifted after talking to them because of there joy.  You see they already know what we should know and that is our God is amazingly powerful and  in control.  They know our earthly bodies are just temporary and what really matters is our heavenly bodies.  A good way to look at is our earthly bodies are like a caterpillar just waiting to transform into a beautiful butterfly that sores in the heavens.  It was not until the funeral one of the most godly women I have ever had the privilege of knowing, that I started to understand why God allows bad things to happen to good  people.  I honestly think it's because they are the only ones that can walk through that pain and still praise Jesus during it.  We need to stop looking at a christian with a terminal heart disease, cancer patient, or any other terminal ill person with sorrow and sadness and start looking at them as they see themselves; which is in the hands of a great and might creator.  Because when you think about we are all in God's hands and whether we live on earth for 36 year or 100 years it will never amount to the eternity of pure glory that a waits us when the cocoon breaks open to reveal our heavenly bodies.

Acts 7:55-56 (NKJV)

55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”

Having faith like a seed

Have you ever planted a seed and had to watch it grow for school?  If
you have, do you remember the seed asking you to give it water, or
telling you the soil you chosen was not the right kind.  Do you
remember watching the seed do anything to make it grow beside just
waiting to be watered?  I know what you are thinking "don't be silly
Paul, seeds don't talk and they don't do anything to make it
themselves grow.  You are absolutely right a seed just trusts the
person that planted it to take care of all it's needs.  In the verses
bellow the apostles are wondering why they could not cast a demon out
of a young boy.  Jesus tells the apostles if they we had the faith of
a mustard seed they would be able to move mountains.  A seed does not
worry about were it's food and water is coming from, it just chills
out and grows in the soil it was planted in.  God does not want us to
complicated life by worrying about were our next meal, our next drink,
or whether we are going to get the girl/boy of our dreams.  All God
wants us to do is chill out in the soil and just trust in He will
provide for us.

Matthew 17:18-21 (NKJV)

18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child
was cured from that very hour.

19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we
not cast it out?"

20 So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I
say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this
mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing
will be impossible for you. 21 However, this kind does not go out
except by prayer and fasting."

Don't be found sleeping

One weekend my friend's mom went on holidays. Like all good teenagers we thought it would be nice to turn her house into a fun zone. The only rule was don't break anything and no crashing the car. Let me tell you this house after a weekend looked like a bomb went off in. Also after a weekend of all nighters we had the energy of a sloth. Then Glen got the call from his mom, she was coming home in 10 minutes. Let's just say that once he hung up the phone and told us all we all moved faster then we ever have till this date. We got a 2 storey for bedroom home cleaned with time to spare.

How many of us are treating our Christian walk like a party. We do what ever we want just as long as we can clean up our mess just before Jesus comes back. Well I am sorry to tell you there will be no warning call from God. So instead of treating your walk with Christ like a party that he is not a part of, start treating it like a party that he is the chaperone to. The truth is we don't know when Jesus is coming to take us home. If you believe in Him and want Him to be part of your life then I urge you to get off the couch and start proving it.

Romans 13:11-12 (NLT)

11 This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living.

God Bless all and remember I am praying for you!

Do you live out what you know biblicly

One of my old class mates in colleges who was taking business
insurance with me. Scored extremely high in every test or exam.
However when we all got together to talk insurance he would just look
at us like we had 2 heads. I remember us looking at him didn't you
get like 99% on the last test. He would say "yeah but I don't know
what you are talking about" I remember think what is the point of
getting 99% on a test but yet not be able to talk about what you just
learnt. He eventually dropped out because he felt the material just
wasn't making sense to him. Some people who attend our churches and claim to be christian are like this as well. They score really well on the christian tests but when it comes to the piratical work or a discussion group the tank on them. Here is an example, one of my high school friends studied the bible a lot. He lead bible studies and heck even went to bible college to be a pastor. Then one day his wife left him and everything came out. Turns out all that head knowledge was not sinking into his daily life. I wont go into the details but lets just say he failed the practical and the open discussion group.

Jesus does not expect you to score perfect on everything, he knows you will not also be able to understand what every christians is saying either, but what he does expect you to do is try. He also expects you to at least be able to answer yes to this question: do you want a
personal relationship with Jesus and have live through you?.

Matthew 7:21-24 (NLT)

21 "Not everyone who calls out to me, 'Lord! Lord!' will enter the
Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in
heaven will enter. 22 On judgment day many will say to me, 'Lord!
Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and
performed many miracles in your name.' 23 But I will reply, 'I never
knew you. Get away from me, you who break God's laws.'
24 "Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a
person who builds a house on solid rock

Climbing through Trials to see God's glory

Here are some facts about Mount Everest:
- There is 66% less oxygen
- The wind can blow up to 200 mph
- The temperatures can range from -80F to 100F
- People die due to the harsh climate or from avalanches
Despite how dangerous climbing this mountain is have you ever asked yourself why people still want to climb it. Well I think that reason is because when you reach the top and look around you are left with this huge felling of amazement for how powerful God really is. You ask how can I be sure because after climbing over any various trial that God has put in your path, you are left with same felling. It's also why Paul told us in below verses to count all trails joyful, because when we are done we can look around and go "that's why God did that","Wow he is amazing".

James 1:2-3 (NKJV)

2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

God bless!

Focus on Jesus

One of my favourite things about the bible is it has how many examples
of Jesus's followers who have great faith and and yet fail at times.
Lets be honest we all fail at times to fully rely on Jesus at times of
great trouble.  Like the apostle Peter, we can be walking along in a
crisis knowing full well that Jesus is there with us and yet lose hope
and sink in our own self doubt.  When this happens you can do 2
things, the first is cry out to Jesus and ask Him to pick you up or
the second option is feel so bad that you failed Jesus that you just
stay in your self created pit of sorrow.  I have seen some of my
friends succumb to their own pit of sorrow all because they felt  so
bad for losing faith in Jesus.  The sad part is a few of them have
never admitted that they are in this pit and for that reason their
faith has never grown and unfortunately it has only gotten smaller.
So I implore you not to be that way.  If at times you lose your focus
on Jesus just cry out to Him.  You may not realize it at the time but
Jesus was with you the whole time already.

Matthew 14:26-32 (NKJV)

26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were
troubled, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out for fear.27 But
immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Be of good cheer! It is I;
do not be afraid."28 And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it is
You, command me to come to You on the water."

29 So He said, "Come." And when Peter had come down out of the boat,
he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw that the
wind was boisterous,[a] he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried
out, saying, "Lord, save me!"

31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and
said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" 32 And when
they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

Forgiveness is all the healing we need

We often ask our selves why Jesus does not heal us or people we are praying for. It's frustrating because we read about answered prayer in the bible and also hear about it from other people. Well here is my question to you, is your faith built around having God be your magic genie or is your faith built around what Jesus has already done for you? I know it is hard not to question our faith when our prayers are not being answered. However when times get hard and I start to get depressed I am reminded of the verses like the ones below. I draw comfort in knowing Jesus's forgiveness is what really matters and to me that is all the healing that I need.

Matthew 9:2-5 (NKJV)

2 Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.”

3 And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, “This Man blasphemes!”