Last night at an amazing worship service a pastor spoke a remarkable word from Matthew 8 about the leper that Jesus healed. The pastor described how lepers were outcasts, avoided, rejected, & ignored; how leprosy was violently contagious, severely painful, disgusting & anyone who merely touched a leper could catch the disease. In the story, the leper came & knelt before Jesus & said, "Lord, if you are willing... you can make me clean." Jesus reached out & touched the man & said, "I am willing. Be clean!" & immediately the man was cleansed of his leprosy (Matthew 8). The hope & faith that mark the Lepers request snagged my heart.
I realized over the past few years, I have asked God so many times to help me with my past, but so many times fear & bitterness have found their way back. Coming from a background of sexual, physical, & emotional abuse, poverty, a broken home, & having a learning disability- being set free from circumstances I have faced in my life hasn't always been the easiest task. As I stood there, I admitted to God I was at a loss as to what to do anymore- I knew the right words & what the Bible said to do, but couldn't understand why my efforts hadn't stuck? The pastor offered an altar call for those who wanted to be freed from whatever was holding them back from being what God had created them to be. I wasn't moving- I already know the answer, I already know what I need to do I thought to myself, I just need to do better. The pastor spoke again & said if there is anyone in here who just doesn't know how to let go of whats happened to you in your past then come! I stood still, resistant. I wasn't even sure what exactly to ask prayer for but then the Lord revealed it to me. He showed me I deal with insecurity over my circumstances, fear of inferiority, fear of being used & abused, & fear of being looked down upon because I come from what I do & have been through what I have. So I stood there with clinched fists & tears filling my eyes and asked God wholeheartedly, "Lord, if you are willing... you can make me clean." Im not sure what happened in my heart but for the first time I truly believed God could really free me. So I decided I would go to the altar & asked God to use this prayer time to do a work in my heart & off to the altar I went. I told the woman that was there exactly what God had shown me I struggled with & told her I wanted to be set free. As she prayed freedom over me to be loosed from my fear of where I come from & what I've been through, tears began to stream down my face. She rebuked the condemnation & words of death from others, she prayed freedom over me & proclaimed how Jesus' blood is enough! She affirmed my testimony & how strong it was & that God has put something inside of me to help girls facing the same things I have. She rebuked the lies & the fears & anointed me with words of blessing that in Christ I am free! When I got home last night I journaled to God until around 5:30 in the morning about everything that had happened. I talked to Him about everything I had experienced at church that night, everything that has taken place in my life in the last three years, & where I am now & I asked God to show me how to continue to walk all this out. How do I live unbound? I asked God to give me a word, an example, & a hope that I can cling to when my fears try to get the best of me. And today, as I pondered how does one balance trusting people & trusting God- the core issue of my insecurity- I stumbled upon the anointed little phrase: What Would Jesus Do & He gave me this word on how to overcome circumstances:
Seek this day to serve whomever is in your life- even those you fear & dislike- & love them like Jesus would. Do not worry about the outcome- what people may think of you, or how they may respond- for the opposite of faith is fear & Jesus loved with a perfect love. But what does that mean? Simply put, He loved without fear. What God did with His love was of no concern to him, He simply denied Himself & loved others. He entrusted His whole self to God, not out of task but out of trust. Out of the purest & most beautifully confident belief that God would not forsake Him, Jesus believed God would USE His service & love amidst the persecution, pain, abandonment, betrayal, & rejection He was facing- even to the point of death- to bring about the most glorious kingdom accomplishment of all time: the cross & resurrection.
There is only one man in History that trusted God with every single thing & in doing so showed the world that this one way- trusting the God of Israel, the Great I AM, Yaweh-is the best & only way to not just live life but to have life & have it abundantly. Yet, this one man had no advantage either, no reason to trust God for such things, no glimmer of hope in the world around him to believe something so magnificent & righteous & good could come of his life. Jesus came from a broken home, & grew up around the rumors & insults of others. He was ridiculed & accused for being a suspected product of adultery- forced to live under the pretenses assumed by others, though none were true. He was poor- born in a manger- & the bible says he was not beautiful to look at. How did this man become the savior of the world? Was it because He is God? But isn't He also fully man? Though the God-head is three in one, Jesus- the God-Man & man of circumstances, experienced every temptation & pain known to man, including the ability to doubt. Underprivileged, underestimated, misunderstood, judged, rejected & abandoned-He had no reason to ever believe God would make Him a king. Yet Jesus trusted in His heavenly Father. God sent Him to be the fulfillment of a purpose that He set in motion at the beginning of time & what was Jesus' work described as? He came serving, not looking to be served, He came loving, not looking to be loved back in return. But how did Jesus do that amidst his circumstances- HOW did He fulfill His purpose? He came believing, not placing any stock in the things the world said would hold him back & placed His faith in God. When the rumors isolated him, He trusted God. When the roar of the mockers got louder, He trusted God. When the opinions of his friends in their abandonment of him got realer, He trusted God. When the pain of the jagged whips & glass tore into his back & onlookers scoffed & laughed, He trusted God. When he approached Mount Gilgotha where He knew He was soon to be brutally crucified naked before the public, He trusted God. When nails were being driven into his flesh, pinning his body to a crucifix, & was hoisted up to hang before the world under a label for a crime He didnt even commit, He trusted God. And as he hung there, after enduring all of this- a messed up childhood, betrayed by the very men he taught, mentored, & loved, ridiculed & condemned by the holiest people & said to be worse than Barnabas, the murderer, having suffered radical injustice by the government- brutally beaten & crucified for a crime he didn't even committ- with his dying breath he still said to God, "I commend my spirit to thee," aka: I entrust myself to you, God. How beautiful is it that the man who trusted God more than anyone in all time & to the deepest, purest, most sincere degree possible while enduring every hardship known to man, even death, was raised to life, seated at the right hand of God, & became King, Savior of humanity.
As I think on these things I wonder- Can you imagine if Jesus had paid any attention or authority to His circumstances? But He did not- He did not even count them circumstances! Not once in the Bible does Jesus say anything about how bad He had it, yet He had it the worst! Thus, if Jesus counted His circumstances not- then why do I?
God showed me that it is not that we are never to trust people, but that we are to trust Him- the One who is bringing these people in our lives. It is by trusting in His sovereignty that we can truly love, serve, & ultimately be USED by Him, for through faith in Him, because of the magnitude of His sovereignty & good & perfect will, the magnitude of every threatening circumstance dissipates. I want to live like this- with my eyes fixed on my sovereign God, placing my full and complete trust in Him. And may we all!
Your relationship with God has to have trust- sincere, genuine, deep trust. It's like a quote I saw on Pinterest the other day that said: "A relationship without trust is like a car without gas- you can stay in it all you want, but it isn't going anywhere." God wants to do crazy marvelous things in your life, but if you do not trust Him, you will never leave the spot you are in right now. So when asked the question, WWJD? I can respond with, "Trust God,"because that's what He did! Trusting in God was the vehicle through which Jesus served & loved humanity to the degree He did. I want to be just like Jesus & love & serve just like He did. We can do that by placing our wholehearted faith in Him, & seeking this day to serve others- even those we fear & dislike-& love them like Jesus would. WWJD? Trust God. You can too!
"Don't let anyone look down upon you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity."- 1 Timothy 4:12
"Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."- 2 Corinthians 12:8-10
"For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."- Ephesians 2:10
"Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright."- Psalm 20:6-8
"Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” -John 11:40
"Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are His dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us & offered Himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God."- Ephesians 5:1-2
"And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said,“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!”- Luke 23:45-47
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| This Week's Recommended Download: Alive (Mary Magdalene) by Natalie Grant! Awesome song- one of my absolute favorites- & is inspired by the story of the redeemed life of Mary Magdalene! Find it & download it ASAP! |
Have a beautiful & blessed week! <3 Jessica K. Haas
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