Mark 1:29-31
And immediately Jesus left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 Now Simon's mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. 31 And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
Matthew 4:4
Jesus answered, it is written:
"Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
that proceeds,out of the mouth of God."
Scriptures are viewed how the Word of God is delivered. The Big Picture. And then, usually, we find one verse and hang on. Equally short - we face the challenge of what are we doing with today? That's the same challenge being given a verse of Scripture and finding what to do with the Verse.
Jesus left the Synagogue. Temple. Church. Place of Holiness and went out into the world.
We are expected to be part of life. And not allow God to leave what people see in us. Martin Luther and James, the Brother of Jesus, have differences - James says if we don't have Works, we have no faith. Martin Luther lived during the time of Indulgences and this meant Pay. Pay your way into Grace. Where the Spirit is - there is Freedom. There will be days to give back, The Spirit of God creates the opportunity and we feel God ask us. No one is expected to perform for Salvation. Believe and then confess with your mouth.
Now we've done something the Spirit of God does easily - we've traveled two thousand years back to James and then 500 years back to Martin Luther and found today. We've search holiness and remarkable lives and found a Hope for today.
Quickly Jesus determined where He was going. Immediately. Something we value and love about today's speed of living. Jesus would blend in well. Very often when we face something in life - we feel it drags on and on. Down. Up. Over. Like the present year. And then like Jesus, we find we are so busy getting one thing done or another and we are there. Jesus was moving in the opportunities God was providing.
Jesus immediately encounters LIFE. Peter and his family tell Jesus, with James and John, - immediately - they have fever within the household. There is not going to be Penicillin offered this week. Not for 1940 years. Jesus is informed because He is endangering His Life. The Family does not wish to be anything other than transparent. Very, very probably most guests would offer sympathy as they departed - understandably.
Jesus does what God does - Jesus is putting His Hand immediately where Care is needed. And the Goal Jesus has isn't to buy grace and favor, to do admirable works. The action Jesus gives Raises up a woman, an elderly woman.
Jesus doesn't march in and tell everyone He is here to Raise Women. Jesus simply finds He will treat all people with His Love. And do for each soul, what God would Favor and Bless us all with. Jesus never carried a Banner about Anything. Unless we consider the Cross is a message of Profound Love and Overcoming. To end only - Death. To provide only - Life.
Jesus knew that very day He was facing Death to help.
In many ways. One doesn't just go into a bed chamber of an elderly woman. Even if you are bringing 4 men with you. Jesus was very new to Capernaum. He could have been facing screeching. Peter's Mother-in-Law had the finest house in Capernaum. Placed on the Sea. Plaster on the walls. Next Door to the Center of the Town's Community - The Synagogue.
Jesus changed this house of Peter's forever. Written Histories tell us the house would continue for 400 more years as the Pilgrimage to see where Jesus lived as an adult. A House Church where visitors wrote on the walls about their travel and Love.
The People who would know Jesus would wish to give Jesus a Blessing. And it wasn't purchase Grace, only pure Grace.
This has been a few weeks to consider God and The House. The Shape and Condition of our lives and the community that holds us - The Nation.
I would believe that all of us, no matter if you are Republican or Democrat, peaceful, protester or angry and out of normal boundaries - would believe the Nation is falling down. I'd believe we all have the conviction we would see us all - Rise.
When Jesus taught, He generally sat down in Public. Jesus knew He would be part of life forever; and He didn't intend to expel effort unnecessary. Jesus expected God to do the work. Sustainable Energy.
Kindness is sustainable. Love is sustainable. Raising one another up is sustainable.
War is a season. Peace is enduring. Works of darkness fade away.
The Light Shines.
Let's take hold of Martin Luther King's Dream holds on to the Word of God. Love comes from the heart. Let's not lose the meaning of the Police standing with Martin Luther King. Let's rise to Live this every day.
Collection of prayers by Martin Luther King Jr
Thou, Dear God: Prayers that Open Hearts and Spirits
edited by Lewis V. Baldwin, Beacon Press, 2012
Holy God. We pray that your Holy Spirit remind us all that you show no partiality with regards to nationality, race, ethnicity, or gender, and to do so is to go against your great commandment of love toward one another.
Isaiah 40:3-5
A voice of one calling: “Prepare the way for the LORD in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert. 4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill made low; the uneven ground will become smooth, and the rugged land a plain.
5 And the glory of the LORD will be revealed,
and all humanity
together will see it.
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
Thou Eternal God, out of whose absolute power and infinite intelligence the whole universe has come into being, we humbly confess that we have not loved thee with our hearts, souls and minds, and we have not loved our neighbors as Christ loved us. We have all too often lived by our own selfish impulses rather than by the life of sacrificial love as revealed by Christ. We often give in order to receive. We love our friends and hate our enemies. We go the first mile but dare not travel the second. We forgive but dare not forget. And so as we look within ourselves, we are confronted with the appalling fact that the history of our lives is the history of an eternal revolt against you. But thou, O
God, have mercy upon us. Forgive us for what we could have been but failed to be. Give us the intelligence to know your will. Give us the courage to do your will. Give us the devotion to love your will. In the name and spirit of Jesus, we pray. Amen.
***
God, help us as individuals and as a world to hear it now before it is too late: "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and God's justice and all these other things shall be added unto you."
***
God grant that as we go out and face life with all of its decisions, as we face the bitter cup which we will inevitably face from day to day, God grant that we will learn this one thing and that is, to make the transition from "this cup" to "nevertheless."
***
O God, we thank you for the fact that you have inspired men and women in all nations and in all cultures. We call you different names: some call you Allah; some call you Elohim; some call you Jehovah; some call you Brahma; some call you the Unmoved Mover. But we know that these are all names for one and the same God.
Grant that we will follow you and become so committed to your way and your kingdom that we will be able to establish in our lives and in this world a brother and sisterhood, that we will be able to establish here a kingdom of understanding, where men and women will live together as brothers and sisters and respect the dignity and worth of every human being. In the name and spirit of Jesus. Amen.
***
God, give us strength of body to keep walking for freedom. God, give us strength to remain nonviolent, even though we may face death.
***
God, grant that we wage the struggle with dignity and discipline. May all who suffer oppression in this world reject the self-defeating method of retaliatory violence and choose the method that seeks to redeem.
***
God, remove all bitterness from my heart and give me the strength and courage to face any disaster that comes my way.
***
O God, make us willing to do your will, come what may. Increase the number of persons of good will and moral sensitivity.
Give us renewed confidence in nonviolence and the way of love as taught by Christ. Amen.
***
Eternal God, out of whose mind this great cosmic universe, we bless you.
Help us to seek that which is high, noble and good. Help us in the moment of difficult decision. Help us to work with renewed vigor for a warless world, a better distribution of wealth, and a brother/sisterhood that transcends race or color.
***
God, we thank you for the inspiration of Jesus.
Grant that we will love you with all our hearts, souls, and minds, and love our neighbors as we love ourselves, even our enemy neighbors.
And we ask you, God, in these days of emotional tension, when the problems of the world are gigantic in extent and chaotic in detail, to be with us in our going out and our coming in, in our rising up and in our lying down, in our moments of joy and in our moments of sorrow, until the day when there shall be no sunset and no dawn. Amen.
***
O God, we thank you for the lives of great saints and prophets in the past, who have revealed to us that we can stand up amid the problems and difficulties and trials of life and not give in.
We thank you for our foreparents, who've given us something in the midst of the darkness of exploitation and oppression to keep going.
Grant that we will go on with the proper faith and the proper determination of will, so that we will be able to make a creative contribution to this world.
In the name and spirit of Jesus we pray. Amen.
♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †
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