John 14

Well today has been a long day for me! I can honestly say that I have been looking forward to reading my Bible though. There have been nights where I am so absolutely tired that I don't want to read it, but I'm always glad that I do afterwards! It was a big turning point for me to see that I was looking forward to hearing what God had to say. I also was listening to Kim Walker while I was riding my exercise bike tonight. For those of you who haven't ever heard her, you should try it out. She has excellent praise songs and while I was riding I found myself with my eyes closed and the tears began to fall. I felt like I was surrounded by God's presence. At that moment I wasn't thinking about my legs feeling so numb that they seemed like limp noodles. I was only focusing on God and it really was amazing. I'm beginning to feel like I am getting closer to where I was in my relationship with God a few years back and I am very pleased with that. This blog has held me accountable.

I know that I talk about how great the readings are every night but tonight's was really good to me because of the subject matter that I am going to talk about. There were two portions of this chapter that stood out to me. Jesus spoke a lot about miracles in chapter 14. Two common verses that people use while praying for healing for people are verses 13 and 14. I've been guilty of praying them before myself. It says, "and whatever you ask in my name, I will do this, in order that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it."
Now this is interesting because it makes me wonder how many people actually ask for something to be done in Jesus name? How many people actually believe with their whole heart that God is going to heal the person they are praying for? My son, Lane, has an immune disorder. I have prayed and prayed and begged God to heal him from this disorder. I went through a time of denial where I didn't believe he was "that sick" and then I went through a time of panic where I cried every time someone mentioned it to me. It was an awful time for me and even though I was praying for healing, I had not completely given it to God. I'd like to be able to sit here now and say things are different, but that's a work in progress for me. It's hard to just believe without a shadow of a doubt that God is going to bring healing when we are seeing the opposite things happen on a daily basis. I don't know how people who have cancer can be so positive and uplifting when they are dying and basically hanging on to hope that their treatments will work. It takes a strong person to deal with those sicknesses.

I also know that God brings about healing so that he can be glorified. This means we should be wary of people who say they come in Jesus name, but yet they don't glorify Jesus when a healing takes place. Anyone who glorifies their own self or draws attention to what "they" have done is not coming in the name of Jesus. When we see men and women who proclaim the name of Jesus Christ but yet they don't live it, speak it, preach it, or walk it, then we need to run the other way. There are so many pastors out there that are looking to make money off of Christian men and women. This is why God gave us his word. He knew that we, at some point, would need to read it for ourselves and not just follow men blindly.

The last portion of my post tonight is about Jesus telling his disciples that he was giving them peace and he was LEAVING it there with them. Peace. Just think about that word for about ten seconds...okay...few more...yeah peace! I have no idea what that is! I really do because God has given me peace about certain situations before but it wasn't given to me until I had actively sought after him for many days. I believe the disciples were afraid and confused. Even though they had spent all of this time with Jesus, the crucifixion was such a horrible thing that their human minds could not wrap around it. This was something that couldn't be understood by human minds and that is why Jesus told them he was leaving peace with them. He meant that yes he was leaving, but they would never be alone. As long as we all depend on God on a daily basis and ask him for help, then he will give is the peace we need to get through our day to day situations. Praying you all!