verseoftheday

Mark 10:51-52 NLT "What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked.  "My Rabbi," the blind man said,  "I want to see!" And Jesus said to him, "Go, for your faith has healed you." Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus down the road. Mark 10:51-52 NLT No mud packs, or washing, or seeing people walking like trees, simply instant change.  And Bartimaeus changed.  He simply followed Jesus. Even after Jesus told him to go. He followed. Jesus recognised something that the crowd missed completely-  the faith of Bartimaeus. Mark doesn't tell us how long  Bartimaeus had been blind, or how long he had heard about, believed in, had faith in, Jesus. For some period of time these two things overlapped: Blindness, poverty, exclusion. And Faith in Jesus. Bartimaeus was able to spark, develop, grow his faith in the dark. Where does Bartimaeus story encourage my faith where it's still dark? Where things are tough? (I wonder if this is what hea...

Bartimaeus threw aside his coat, jumped up, and came to Jesus.   "What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked.  "My Rabbi," the blind man said,  "I want to see!" Mark 10:50-51 NLT Bartimaeus headed in the direction of Jesus voice.  He was blind. And he was listening. (Perhaps there's times when those of us with good eyesight could  close our eyes to all the things that we see that can distract and pull us towards, and just listen for Jesus) "What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked.  Jesus is direct.  Straight forward. And open to Bartimaeus. "What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked.  (What would my reply to Jesus be today?) Bartimaeus responds first with a postional response: "My Rabbi" = great teacher, honoured master. Bartimaeus knew who Jesus is. (Our invitation is to approach Jesus in the same way.) And then Bartimaeus just puts his request in the same simple, open, straight up way as Jesus question...

Mark 10:48-50 NLT "Be quiet!" many of the people yelled at him.  But he only shouted louder,  "Son of David, have mercy on me!"   When Jesus heard him, he stopped and said, "Tell him to come here." So they called the blind man.  "Cheer up," they said. "Come on, he's calling you!" Bartimaeus threw aside his coat, jumped up, and came to Jesus. Mark 10:48-50 NLT Bartimaeus moved from ignored to included because Jesus heard him. The crowd seemed to think that all this blind man living on the edge of society wanted was some attention.  Cheer up. Jesus has noticed you.  The crowd had missed him. Still didn't see him as worthy, worth including. "Come on, your getting the attention we're guessing is what you want". Bartimaeus who needed the permission of the crowd and the invitation of Jesus had the barriers to Jesus removed. And he jumped at the opportunity. I wonder how often I'm part of that crowd who keep Jesus to ...

Psalms 32:3, 10-11 CSB [3] When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long. ... [10]...but the one who trusts in the Lord will have faithful love surrounding him.  Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones;  shout for joy,  all you upright in heart. Psalms 32:3, 10-11 CSB David had no way of testing the brittleness or otherwise of his bones any more than I do, but what his metaphor recognises is that our behaviour, emotions,  thoughts and physical well-being are connected.  This is not some modern idea but one that was clear to David 3000 years ago...we are an embodied soul and completely connected. And his pathway forward is found in v10 - trust in our God, and then our story, our circumstances, our thoughts, emotions, bodies, our well-being is "surrounded by Unfailing Love". The redemptive strand is right here for us to cling to no matter what is in front of us today. #psalms #songs  #unfailinglove  #redemptivestra...

Sunday Psalms; Psalms 32:1, 3, 5 NLT [1] Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven,  whose sin is put out of sight! ... [3] When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. .... [5] Finally,  I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt.  I said to myself,  "I will confess my rebellion to the Lord." And you forgave me!  All my guilt is gone. Interlude Psalms 32:1, 3, 5 NLT In this song of David's the redemptive strand is found in forgiveness. Forgiveness that comes from confession. Confession that comes from the internal realisation of David's that his choices or thoughts, words, were doing not in line with how God has called him to live.  There was an internal battle going on.  And change came on the back of confession. David doesn't tell us how long it took him to get here, but to write a song about it indicates it took some time... If he's anything like me, I'm not that keen on ackn...

The one who follows instruction is on the path to life,  but the one who rejects correction goes astray. Proverbs 10:17 CSB When we look for Jesus in this Proverb he is the one who followed instruction, lived out the plan, listened to, sought out the conversations with His Heavenly Father. And that path led him to places of joy, community, miracles, healing...and disappointment, loss, grief, rejection, abuse, Court, and the Cross...and to resurrection and the fully aliveness of life with the Father... When we follow Jesus that too is our pathway. Along the way glimpses of fully aliveness, holding hope for all that we were meant to be will one day be fully revealed... #proverbs #wisdom #somethingtochewon #itsaheartthing #takethenextstep  #speaklife #fullyaliveness

Friday! Proverbs! The one who follows instruction is on the path to life,  but the one who rejects correction goes astray. Proverbs 10:17 CSB Mmm so easy this morning to see how this applies to others! But if these types of Proverbs are not weapons, but tools to inspect my own heart, I'm invited to ask where do I reject correction, direction, advice, reasoning, or reproof? Maybe it's just me who doesn't like being told what to do, where I might be missing the mark? My guess is that we all want to be on the "path to life". The word for "life" here is "chay" or "chayah", to be alive, so to be on the path to aliveness, to being fully alive! Our culture every day is pushing it's ideas about what fully aliveness is and where it's found, so I'm wondering on this chilly morning what instruction, what wisdom, what truth, our God is inviting me to step towards, to follow today, that will lead to a little more fully aliveness? What ...