How strong if your faith?

24So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." 29Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
30At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"
31"You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?' "
32But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."

Mark 5:24-31

There's something I find very interesting about this passage. Jesus did not take credit for healing this woman. In fact, he says she did it herself. Her bleeding did stop because Jesus layed hands on her, or because his disciples prayed over her. She was healed immediately because she herself touched Jesus's clothes. Does this mean that every part of Christ (including his clothes) contained the almighty power of God? Well, I do believe that's true, but I think what Mark was trying to say in this passage is that this sick woman didn't just think that every part of Jesus was God, she knew it. She strongly believed that if she were to touch Jesus a bit of God's healing power would fall off of his robe, and into her hands. She was healed by her own faith. She knew that Christ was the Son of God, and she knew he could heal her. All she wanted was to touch a small piece of her Lord's robe, and that was it. She would no longer suffer. Can anyone else see how amazing that is?

When Jesus asked who touched him one of his disciples reacted like he was a mad man. There were tons of people all around him, and there's no doubt that all of them were trying (or succeeding) to touch him. But only one of those people were healed. What does that say about everyone else's faith? Maybe they just wanted to touch the messiah so they could tell their friends about it later. Who knows? But this one woman had enough faith in Christ to be healed by touching him. You know what else is amazing about this? Jesus felt it. He knew this woman's faith as soon as she touched him. Verse 30 says that Christ felt that power leave him. Out of the hundreds of people touching him he only felt one.

I know I shouldn't be envious of anyone, but I am envious of this woman's faith. I want to have a faith so strong that I can reach out to Jesus and be healed. I want a faith so strong that Christ himself can feel it. I always ask God for strength in my prayers, I'm sure many of you do the same. But this verse shows that the strength we are searching for is there! We just have to have the faith to reach out for it, and then one great day we will hear the voice of our Lord tell us, "Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."

The "Rock"

^{Matthew 16 : 13-20
13}When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"

¹⁴They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

¹⁵"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"

¹⁶Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ,^b]">[b] the Son of the living God."

¹⁷Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. ¹⁸And I tell you that you are Peter,^c]">[c] and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades^d]">[d] will not overcome it.^e]">[e] ¹⁹I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be^f]">[f] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be^g]">[g] loosed in heaven." ²⁰Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

I have often thought that Jesus was giving Peter a special appointment here telling him that he would be the one to build Jesus' church. And to some extent I think he was but focusing on that as many people do I think misses a key part of what Jesus was saying. First let me say that I know that Peter is very close to the word for Rock in Greek having taken classes in new testament Greek and that I do believe that Jesus was assigning Peter a particular role to play in the building of his church here on earth, just look at verse 19. But I think most people miss something from this verse, at least I know I did for a long time, and that is this; if you stop focusing on Peter as the rock and instead focus on the words Jesus spoke you get the idea that Jesus was instead saying that the rock that the church will be built on is in fact the confession of Christ as the Son of God. This is something that I think the church today misses, it is not Peter who is the Rock but rather the rock is the confession. This should be a great encouragement to all because of what Jesus says about that rock v 18"...and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." The gates of Hades will not over come it. I don't know if you have seen Lord of the Ring: Return of the King but if you have then you will know what it is I picture in this verse. In the movie the entire army of Mordor (sp) Comes out of the gates and as they swing wide Aragorn and the rest meet with an army vast beyond imagining, and definitely much bigger than the group they have brought. But Jesus says the the entire army of Hell, Satan himself and every angle cast down out of heaven with him have no power over the church or its members because of a single confession "Jesus is the Son of the Living God". That confession gives you all the protection you need. Be warned though Jesus says you will nto be overcome this implies that you will infact be attacked, in fact to me it seems that the church is attaked by the entire force of Hell not one fallen angel is left behind but all have put on thier battle gear and are marching out to meet us, with the intent to destroy us. Jesus is the Son of the Living God. Satan is smart he has been deafeated already by God and his angles and knows that he can not win by force but now focuses on us and to separate us from our protection. He does not attack heaven and its angels instead he attacks our link to God. He will try to get us to deny it, or to say that it is not true. If we allow ourselves to believe that Jesus and God himself and all of thier angles are not fighting to defend the church or that we dont matter individually to them then Satan sees his oppourtunity to separate us from the rock and destroy us. So I encourage you brothers and sisters hold firm to your faith and stand steady on the rock because the gated of Hades cannot and will not over come it or you while you still hold firm.

And the heavenes opened

^{Matthew 3 :16-17
"16}As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. ¹⁷And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."


"And the heavens opened up" I have always had a hard time imagining thing scene from Matthew. I mean what does it look like to have the heavens opened up. I think the picture here does that sentence an injustice. I think what really happened was that the people who where there got a glimpse of heaven that day. I think that God that day was there to watch his son begin the path of his destiny the plan he had for his son was finally beginning. And God couldn't have been more happy about it. For those of you who are fathers think of watching your son (or daughter) succeed at a sporting event, or you catch them doing a good deed without knowing anybody is watching. Whatever it is you know the feeling of pride that builds up inside of you until you cannot contain it any longer. For those of you who are sons and daughters think of the look on your fathers face after you have just succeeded. You can see the pride and the joy he has in you. Those feelings are only pale comparisons to what took place between God the perfect father and Jesus the perfect son. Because no matter how good we are or how hard we try we will never be the perfect child that Jesus was or the perfect Father that God is.

Even so. We yearn for that look from our fathers, or to be able to have that pride in our children. How much more then should we crave and long for the same from Our true Father in God. No matter how good ( or terrible ) your dad was. And no matter how proud (or disappointed) you are in your children. We can all have the Perfect love of our father in heaven because while we are still not perfect he has already sent his son as the atoning sacrifice of our sins, So that once and for all we can be taken into the family of God and be called his sons. And even more that one day we can hear his voice saying about us "this is my son, whom I love, and with whom I am well pleased" Oh how I long for that day, and I am sure that you do too. All we have to do is ask, Ask him what his plan is for us and then listen,
listen to what he has to say. Then do it. This is all he asks. Yes it will be tough, yes it may be completely opposite of your plans but If we want to hear the voice of our father ,one day, say " This is the one in whom I am pleased" then we must be open and willing to wreck our lives ( in mans terms) for him, because he has already done it for us by sacrificing his Son for our sins.

Honey to my Soul ( Borrowed from Joe White )

One morning at 4:30 AM in my insanity I decided to get up and run twenty-six miles. Now, I'm an old football guy… worse still, a lineman where running is a punishment.

Twenty-six miles in Texas is one thing; twenty-six miles in the Ozark mountains is nuts! One angry Doberman at mile one and one abusive German shepherd at mile fourteen kept me pumped with adrenaline until somehow I stumbled to the finish (at a 9:00 speaking event at our Kamps). Why do old guys do things like that? Who knows!

One thing I'll never forget about that morning, besides the pain and the dogs, was how thirsty I was. I couldn't stop to get a drink or my legs would have cramped and there was no one out on the road to pass out the Gatorade (again, not good planning!). My body was thirsty! I was dying (literally) for a drink of something!

Crazy as it sounds, my soul gets thirstier than that for God… a lot thirstier!

With all the pressures of college life surrounding you, I wonder if your soul gets dry like mine.

When I was twenty something, and just coming out of a major valley in my life, a guy gave me a challenge (that I accepted) that has poured cool water, Gatorade and PowerAde into my heart ever since. His challenge has made my bad days better days and my good days- amazing days. A day has never passed that I don’t get a drink from this bottomless well.

He simply said, "Hide God's Word in your heart and meditate on it day and night."

As a pre-med student in college, I struggled with memory work. I couldn't imagine enjoying memorizing for pleasure!

How wrong I was.

I'm ADDICTED!!!

Lately I've been hiding Psalms 32 in my heart. Talk about Gatorade! I think through it when I feel down, when I wake up at 2:00 am and can’t go back to sleep and when I wake up and face the day.

It's like a spiritual bath.

"How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered!
How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit!
When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away ,Through my groaning all day long.
For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah.
I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"; And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.
Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found; Surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him.
You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.
I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.
Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, Whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check, Otherwise they will not come near to you.
Many are the sorrows of the wicked, But he who trusts in the LORD, loving kindness shall surround him.
Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous ones; And shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart."

Another one that's been quenching my soul lately is Psalms 145. What a rush it gives my spirit when I meditate on it!
"I will extol You, my God, O King, And I will bless Your name forever and ever.

Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever and ever.

Great is the LORD, and highly to be praised, And His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts.

On the glorious splendor of Your majesty And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate.

Men shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts, And I will tell of Your greatness.

They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness And will shout joyfully of Your righteousness.

The LORD is gracious and merciful; Slow to anger and great in loving kindness.

The LORD is good to all, And His mercies are over all His works.
All Your works shall give thanks to You, O LORD, And Your godly ones shall bless You.

They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom And talk of Your power;
To make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts And the glory of the majesty of Your kingdom.

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And Your dominion endures throughout all generations.

The LORD sustains all who fall And raises up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look to You, And You give them their food in due time.
You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing.

The LORD is righteous in all His ways And kind in all His deeds.

The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth.

He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them.

The LORD keeps all who love Him, But all the wicked He will destroy.
My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD, And all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever."

Psalms 1 promises (and this is a God promise) that if we meditate on God's Word day and night, He will bless us in everything we do. We will not get crushed in different circumstances and we will prosper in whatever we do.

"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.

But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers."

That's a huge promise and has given me an amazing marriage, four "best friend" kids, a professional life that has been indescribably fulfilling and countless blessing throughout my life.

If I could give you one gift, this would be it!

(It just "beats the sap" out of running with Dobermans and German Shepherds.)


borrowed from Joe White at Kanakuk Kamps
Kanakuk Kamps
1353 Lake Shore Dr
Branson, MO 65616

The Splinter in your Mind

Matthew ch27:32-ch28, Mark ch15-ch16, Luke ch23-ch24, Romans 3:21-26 Romans 8:1-10
A battle is raging all around. You can’t always see it, you can’t always hear it, but you can always feel it. There is knowledge in your heart that something bigger than your self is going all around you, but you just can’t figure out what it is. As Morpheus said to Neo in The Matrix

“I know exactly what you mean. Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about?”

Do you know what I am talking about? Do you know that every day a battle is waged and that every day before you a battle was fought and that every day from now until the end of time there will be casualties in this war? This is not a war over oil or land but a war for our very souls. We are now being held captive and we don’t even realize it. In fact we are so oblivious that the chains have already been stripped away the doors unlocked and the guards unarmed and yet we still sit in our prison. It is as if Neo destroyed the machines that created and maintained the matrix but no one left. They could if they wanted to, but they just sit there instead unwilling to venture out into a new a better world where they are truly free.
God has put the “splinter in your mind” to guide you to him Jesus has won the battle freed our souls and all we have to do is walk out of the cage. Satan will do everything he can to stop that from happening though. We have the power over him now and can command him to leave us but he will do everything in his power to distract and detract us from our power because he is afraid of us Like the Pharaoh and the Israelites Satan will distract us with work and business, with pain and suffering, he does not want us to realize our power because if we do he loses because we have the power through Jesus Christ our Lord to crush him, and to leave nothing, not even rubble of his kingdom behind. Realize your power pray that God show you the power he has given to you and take a chance, use your power, Fight, Win. Be Victorious.

A Story to live

²⁴Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. ²⁵But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. ²⁶When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

²⁷"The owner's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?'

²⁸" 'An enemy did this,' he replied.
"The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'

²⁹" 'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. ³⁰Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.' "

Jesus often taught by telling stories, many times using them to describe the kingdom heaven but unfortunately he did not always explain them and so many of the people he spoke to did not understand the parable above had to be explained to the disciples a few verses later. And isn't that still our problem we do not understand the story the bible tells us or the one we are living. And that is exactly what Satan wants he wants to live in ignorance of the great story we are a part of now he wants us to think that we are insignificant, because if we are insignificant in this story then we should just stay out of the way and not get involved. In reality however the complete opposite is true we are the major characters of the story. If we don't understand the story though then we can not know our part or how to play it. So today ask god for guidance and wisdom to understand the story ask him to explain it to you as his disciples did and then listen for the answer. Because once you understand the story and know your role in it you begin to live as who you were meant to be.

³⁶Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."

³⁷He answered, "The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. ³⁸The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, ³⁹and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

⁴⁰"As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. ⁴¹The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. ⁴²They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.