Shhh! Please Don't Tell Me a Secret!

Please don't tell me a secret. It's just so hard to keep it to myself. I have been known to give away a surprise party before the party in a careless moment of unintentionality. I may have been the kid that went into stealth mode and opened all my Christmas presents and rewrapped them unbeknownst to my mom.

So, I'm in good company with those who couldn't keep it to themselves about Jesus healing a deaf man AFTER He told them to keep it quiet. I would have been one of those, I'm sure. So, while I hope I’d do better than the guys who were healed by Jesus if I were in their situation, I can surely relate. “He ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more He ordered them not to, the more they proclaimed it.” (Mark 7:36)

There were times when it didn’t matter to Jesus if the news was publicized – all the better! But there were good reasons why He didn't want His miracles publicized some of the time. The leper couldn’t keep the good news to himself when Jesus healed him. Mark 1:45 says: “It was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly. He remained outside in deserted places.” If the broadcast of the miracle would draw people in to hear His teaching, all to the good. If the broadcast of the miracle only caused a mob scene who misunderstood His mission and purpose, it was useless. (Mark 8:36).

Jesus didn’t come to be an earthly king. He knew that the more famous He became, the more jealous those in power would become. Jesus seemed to be good at "stealth-mode". He kept the full Truth of His divine identity mostly quiet (despite the bad secret-keepers) until God’s plan of Jesus’ passion and resurrection could be realized over the events of Holy Week. We're into week two of Lent -- and I can't keep it a secret about my Savior and the price He paid for me.

We awkward secret-keepers don’t have to worry anymore. With the resurrection, we are witnesses not to just a small piece, but to the fulfillment of God’s plan of salvation. Secrecy is no longer needed. Now we can shout it from the rooftops how Jesus has healed us from our own blindness and deafness and invisible inner leprosies. It’s all too good to keep to ourselves. Whew! That’s good news for me…..and the good news I endeavor to shout from the rooftops (er…social media) every day!

At last…I don’t have to keep it a secret, but God bless those who still have to keep this Good News to themselves in many countries in our world. Lord, I pray for those in harms way because they don’t want to have to keep YOU a secret any longer!

Whatever the Mind can Conceive and Believe, it can Achieve

Napoleon Hill authored that quote. I know it's true. This blog comes from the incessant, but, I know, necessary, talk about the coronavirus. From the negative reports, the fears, concerns for the well-being of lives, there is really no place to hide. I loved these words from a pastor: “Wherever we are on earth, we have no rocket ship to escape this outcry or a home so insulated from peril of any kind, but we CAN put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6). God is our “shield”. The plague will not come to our homes; His blood on the doors of our heart shelters us from harm.” (Psalm 91)

My cousin posted this: "At last night's prayer gathering it was mentioned that the word "corona" in coronavirus means crown. This is a quote from a devotional from National Men's Ministries of The General Council of the Assemblies of God: "Health is the crown on a well man's head that only a sick person can see." Standing on the promise of Jeremiah 33:6: "Look, I will bring health and healing. I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security."

There is pure power in our thoughts. What we think about long enough, will actually come to pass – be it a fear of something or a dream of conquering and winning at something. But why is that? How is that the mere concept of something, held in the forefront of our minds, can be brought to fruition through persistent thinking about it over time? God always has an answer for questions like this.

I remember all the talk about polio and tuberculosis when I was a young child. I didn’t grasp what it was all about, but it sounded scary based on the concern in my mom and dad’s voices when I heard them talking about it and how those awful diseases had attacked some of their friends. I could tell that worry and concern had entered into my little corner of the world.

The fact is illness and disease has always been a part of our world. Blame that on the enemy of our souls who comes to “kill, steal and destroy”. Think about the awful plague of leprosy in the Bible that cruelly destoryed people’s lives and families and excommunicated them from their homes and towns. But, Jesus. All of those diseases then, and now, didn’t and don’t phase God. John 10:10 says “The thief comes to kill, steal and destroy, but I (Jesus) came to give you abundant life.” Doesn’t that bring comfort – especially when we conceive it, believe it, and achieve that abundant life?

If we are living in fear about the flu, the coronavirus, cancer, the common cold, heart failure, a pimple or acne, then we better, sooner than later, start getting our thinking right. Go back to that beginning thought “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” I hear people saying all the time “I think I’m catching a cold.” But, when we talk that talk, we aren’t aligning ourselves with the truth of God's Word. "For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.( 2 Timothy 1:7). God says: “Him I will keep in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Me!” (Isaiah 26:3). Proverbs 23:7 “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” There is a remedy for going rogue in our thinking. The Bible makes it clear that our thinking and our hearts are linked together. What we think, affects our heart, soul and body. Likewise, the condition of our heart, soul and body affects our thinking.

The coronavirus is showing us what we should have known all along: we are mortals in desperate need of God. We need God’s protection in the present and His saving grace for eternity. One way God wants to redeem this pandemic is by using it to turn us to Himself. We need to pray for the sick – those around the world and even here in the U.S. This unprecedented threat is an unprecedented opportunity for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let’s point others to Jesus – the Great Healer Who changes not. “He is the same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). I am one of those who has been healed by His miracle-working power. I’m proof positive that there is nothing to fear because Jesus is still here!

Thanksgiving Starts With “Thank You”!

Happy Thanksgiving to All of My Wonderful Facebook Friends and Family. THANK YOU for your encouragement to me and being a bright light that brightens our world with God’s love.

The turkey will soon be in the oven and all the other delicacies will be readied that go along with my family's celebration of this wonderful holiday. THANK YOU, God, for my family! Notice I'm capitalizing "THANK YOU" today! As a child, did you get a tap on your shoulder by a parent when you received a gift, and you heard them whisper "Say, thank you!" Were you one of those parents that had to remind your children to say “Thank you”? Oh, but what pride and joy our parents had when they heard us and we heard our children, out of grateful hearts say "THANK YOU!"....and meant it! I challenge you to think of two more beautiful words.

It’s easy for all of us to breeze through life without stopping to say "Thank you." Whether we’re facing a clerk at the store, a restaurant employee or family member, we can move on quickly instead of pausing to give thanks and show appreciation.

Apparently people moved along quickly in the Bible, too. Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem when ten men, who had leprosy standing far away, called out to Him for mercy. He told them to go and show themselves to the priests. he priest was the one who could issue a life-giving letter of release that indicated they were disease-free and could return to their homes and public life. As they obeyed Jesus’ orders to go, they were healed of their leprosy. Imagine their joy as they saw their skin repair itself and look like new again -- impossible apart from God’s power!

But, only one of the 10 returned and thanked Jesus: “when he saw he was healed, he came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked Him — and he was a Samaritan” (Luke 17:15-16). Jesus completely and wonderfully changed 10 lives, but only one came back to say “thank you”.

The nine Jewish men didn’t return to acknowledge the Giver. The most unlikely to return — the Samaritan who knew the least about God — was the one to receive not only a physical healing, but a spiritual one. Jesus said to him in verse 19, “Rise and go; your faith has made you whole.” The power of God cleansed him outwardly in his body AND cleansed him inwardly from sin when he returned to give thanks. Gratitude paved the way for a double blessing: healing for body and soul.

Gratitude also paves the way to blessing in our bodies and souls.
As we celebrate this national day of Thanksgiving, may we learn from those 10 men. May we purposely pause, look that one in the eyes who served us, gave us of themselves in some way or blessed us with something -- and say “THANK YOU!”

Most of all may we ask God for forgiveness for not saying “Thank You.” May we repent of focusing on the things we don’t have, instead of the blessings He has given us. May we be like the one who returned to express gratitude. Thank you, Father God, for saving us, forgiving us, and providing for our needs each day! Thank YOU, Lord, for your goodness and mercy that follows us all the days of our lives. Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!