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SCRIPTURE:
"They
came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus
to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the
village. When he had spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him,
Jesus asked, "Do you see anything?" He
looked up and said, "I see people; they look like trees walking around."
Once more Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Then his eyes were
opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. Jesus
sent him home, saying, "Don't go into the village." (Mark 8:22-26, NIV)
OBSERVATION:
I asked myself what was Jesus' interaction with
the blind man?
Jesus took the blind man by the hand.
Jesus led him outside the village.
Jesus had spit on the man's eyes.
Jesus put his hands on him.
Jesus asked, "Do you see anything?"
INTERPRETATION:
I decided to look at
the first two statements and asked
myself the significance of Jesus taking the blind man by the hand and
leading him outside the village?
Jesus got personally INVOLVED in the life of the blind man to
take care of his needs. Jesus could have told the people to bring the
blind man outside the village but Jesus personally took him outside the
village. Being personally INVOLVED in a person's life also means getting
to know more about that person. I believe Jesus wanted to spend private
time with the blind man by himself while they walked outside the
village. It shows Jesus' compassion towards the blind man and interest
in the life of the blind man.
IMPLICATIONS:
I saw important implications for my own life. Seeing Jesus
being personally INVOLVED in the life of the blind man sets an example
for me to be personally INVOLVED in the lives of others whether they are
blind or not. Jesus took genuine interest in the blind man after some
people brought him to Jesus. I need to take genuine interest in the
divine appointments the Lord Jesus sends my way. I need to be more
INVOLVED in the lives of the people, the Lord places in my path. Being
INVOLVED means spending time with them and meeting their needs as I can.
Many times that means spending time alone with them too outside the
regular sphere of influence.
GOSPEL GIVES TESTIMONY
REGARDING I.N.V.O.L.V.E.D:
Yesterday, Asian InterVarsity Pitt was having a hangout at the Cathedral
Lawn to have a personal care of INVOLVEMENT in the lives of students who
came. I was there and was praying for the Lord Jesus to draw people
there. After praying, I saw a student planning to go home and asked her
if she could help us form a team of 3 each because we were one short.
She was a stranger that the Lord led me to who joined us to play
Ultimate Frisbee. Then, Andrea and Jason got INVOLVED in her life making
her feel loved and cared for. More students joined later and eventually,
we had a 6 on 6 ultimate frisbee game. It started with few people
wanting to be INVOLVED in the lives of others to make time to have a
hangout. It was not a superficial INVOLVEMENT but a desire to know more
about the ones we met. Later, we all went to Dave & Andy's for ice cream
to form a mini-community. The point being is when we personally get
INVOLVEMENT in other people's lives for their benefit, amazing things
start to happen just as Jesus got INVOLVED in the life of the blind man.
On Wednesday, I had come to Common Ground to meet with other brothers
and sisters in the Lord. I was going to sit all the way in the back with
few brothers because I did not want to interrupt an all girls circle
that was in one corner but one of the students called my name and said,
"Ramesh, come sit with us if you don't mind being surrounded by an all
girl's circle." It did not bother me so I sat there among 15-20 girls
and few of us shared about our lives. It was a personal interaction that
slowly built new friendships because one student decided to get INVOLVED
in having a personal interaction with me. I thank the Lord for my
friend who did not hesitate to invite me there.
More than anything, just as Jesus got personally INVOLVED in the life
of the blind man, Jesus is personally INVOLVED in my life. It started at
the Cross of Calvary to JUSTIFY ME BY HIS GRACE. I was justified from
sin. Jesus did not stop there but started SANCTIFYING ME BY HIS GRACE.
It is a process in my life that Jesus is still INVOLVED in. To do that,
He is using mostly, HIS WORD, HIS SPIRIT, and HIS COMMUNITY.
I don't know about you but it does feel special to have others be
INVOLVED in my life because they care for my benefit. Right now, I am
blessed to have my mom and brothers involved in my life even to this
day. Also, I am so thankful how Jesus has been using His Word, His
Spirit, and His community to reach me.
I was never consistent going to church until Pastor Bucknell got
personally INVOLVED in my life to show me the important of being
part of a church. Later, that carried over with Pastor Hugo who is
personally involved in my life even to this day. I am supposed to meet
him later for our one-one discipleship/mentoring meeting.
When others invest in my life, it makes me want to invest in other
people's lives and get INVOLVED to make their life happy and joyful. It
happened that way too because when Kevin Leibach, an InterVarsity staff
worker got INVOLVED in my life, all my plans changed. Now, I wanted to
go on staff with InterVarsity and impact students the way, he impacted
my life by God's grace. It is God's intervention through other people
that makes an impact in my life.
To this day, because of that experience no matter how many degrees,
majors, and minors I have, I love to be INVOLVED in the lives of
students bringing them the Gospel of Jesus Christ and sharing Christ's
love with them as long as the Lord Jesus has me here. My motivational
verse that the Lord Jesus gave me is from Acts 20:24:
"Life is worth nothing unless I use it to do the
work assigned me by the Lord Jesus, the work of telling others about
God's mighty goodness and love!" (Acts 20:24, NIV)
I praise the Lord for all those the Lord Jesus placed in my life to
mentor me because they wanted to be INVOLVED in my life as Jesus
personally got INVOLVED in the life of the blind man as people brought
him to Jesus.
There have been so many that Jesus has used to be INVOLVED in my life
and so many the Lord Jesus still uses to be INVOLVED in my life. I am
going to share the names of few who still make an impact in my life even
though many times it has been painful because INVOLVEMENT IN LOVE does
not let us go our own way and do our own thing, if it is detrimental to
us.
Jesus has used Pastor Andrew Gill, Pastor Hugo, Pastor Bucknell,
Pastor Ed, Paul Hassell, Chloe Papke, Tom Grosh, Abdou Cole, Keith
Bauman, former members of Potter's Clay, Living Acts, etc to be mostly
INVOLVED in my life for my benefit.
Age does not matter for a young person can be personally involved in
the life of an older person or vice versa when they are led by the Holy
Spirit who empowers them. I learned there is a right way to be INVOLVED
in a person's life and a wrong way.
Knowing how much Jesus is INVOLVED in my life, makes me want to be
INVOLVED in other people's lives for their benefit. I praise the Lord!
I ask you now dear friend, whose life does
Jesus want you to be involved in?
Dear friend, Jesus showed me how much He cares even for one individual.
Jesus cared for the blind man so much that Jesus personally led him by
the hand outside the village. Jesus could have healed him then and there
but I believe Jesus wanted to be personally INVOLVED in the life of the
blind man. We to should take the opportunity to be personally INVOLVED
in the life of others.
This reminds me of the Living Acts cell group time we had where
Kristen led from the Book of Philippians 2 regarding Timothy &
Epaphroditus. Paul wrote about how Timothy and Epaphroditus did not seek
the interests of their own but the interests of Jesus Christ.
Timothy and Epaphroditus learned from the example of Jesus and so
should we. Timothy and Epaphroditus were involved in the lives of others
to emulate Jesus Christ and we can too with the Lord's help. Both of
them were a big help to Paul while he was in prison.
More than anything being INVOLVED in a person's life should help the
person grow stronger in the Lord Jesus in their faith. When people know
they are cared for and that care is a result of a person's own
relationship with Christ than sooner or later, they would want that
relationship with Christ too because they have experienced what Christ's
INVOLVEMENT in a person's life has done for them.
We may not necessarily take a blind man by the hand who is physically
blind but we all are called to take those who are spiritually blind and
lead them to Jesus in a personally way.
Friend, all of us at one time or another were spiritually blind but
thanks be to God that God in His mercy placed people in our lives who
became INVOLVED in our lives to lead us to Christ. Sometimes it is
instantaneous and sometimes it is a process. The key is when we INVOLVE
ourselves to lead others to Christ in a personal way, we are helping
take away their spiritual blindness.
Spiritual blindness had been caused by sin that marred humanity's
relationship with the Creator. God loved us so much that God wanted to
have that personal relationship with us so He came as God-incarnate in
Christ Jesus to become our Deliverance by being INVOLVED in our lives to
the point of death when He went to the cross, shed His precious
cleansing blood to wash away our sins, was buried, and came back to life
on the third day to save. That is exciting to know that Jesus did that for us to rescue us from
spiritual blindness and become our Light of the world to cover over our
darkness.
This means Jesus wants to be personally INVOLVED in our lives. We
need to let Jesus take us by the hand and lead us because that is Jesus'
main purpose to lead us to Him and grow in Him using others in our
lives.
We need Jesus' INVOLVEMENT in our lives before we can INVOLVE
ourselves faithfully and effectively in the lives of others. It is
amazing when Jesus is INVOLVED in our lives and that excites us to be
INVOLVED in the lives of others to meet their needs, the difference it
makes in their own lives and also ours. May we follow the example
of Jesus to be INVOLVED in the
lives of others.
"Immanuel Now Valiantly Offers Love Very
Enthusiastically Daily!" (I.N.V.O.L.V.E.D)/"Whose life does Jesus
want you to be I.N.V.O.L.V.E.D in?"
Prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus, thank you so much for taking the blind man by the hand
and leading him outside the village. Oh Lord, when some people brought
you the blind man and begged you to touch him, you personally took
interest in the blind man. You not only touched him but led him by the
hand outside the village. Thank you for taking interest in the blind man
and you take interest in us too. I love you Lord. Help us to emulate
your example and be interested in the lives of others to be involved in
their lives to benefit them. Oh Lord more than anything we need you to
be involved in our own lives first before we can be involved in the
lives of others. We thank you for that opportunity Lord. We trust in you
Lord. Thank you for hearing my prayer and answering me. In Your Name I
Pray Jesus! Amen!
May you experience the POWER OF
CHRIST'S RESURRECTION this day, and give Him the LOCKED areas of your
life too so you can experience His PEACE as you become an ACTOR in the
film called LIFE being directed by your DIRECTOR, JESUS CHRIST who comes
to give JOY and PEACE.
You
don't have to be locked away anymore for Christ is here to free you and
give you peace to live out your actions.
How do you look at GODISNOWHERE?
One
of my pastors, Pastor Hugo shared this example this past Sunday at the
RESURRECTION DAY SERVICE in the combined worship service of Pittsburgh
Chinese Church-Oakland & Oakland International Fellowship:
If
you look at it as GOD IS NO WHERE, you will still be lost in your sin
and be in bondage locked away in your sins and problems finding no
peace.
But
as my pastor spoke to the congregation and spoke to me, I am here to
tell you that GOD IS NOW HERE.
Yes,
friend God is alive and wants to bring a transformation in your life
through the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ for He paid the penalty on
the cross to rescue you and me and came back to life to save us and live
with us.
Yes,
friend that is exciting to know that we can experience HIS SAVING GRACE
& LIVING GRACE.
When
we mess up, we can go to Jesus with our shortcomings and He will forgive
us and restore us to Him and we will find peace in Him.
"Therefore, if
anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has
come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ
and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the
world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he
has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore
Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.
We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him
who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God." (Colossians 5:17-21, NIV)
"For the wages
of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord." (Romans 6:23, NIV)
"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the
light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his
Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive
ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all
unrighteousness." (1 John 1:7-9, NIV)
Friend, we need Jesus because we have been separated from God due to our
sin. Because of our sin, Jesus had to pay the price to become our bridge
so we can reach God now not of our own good works but because of the
finished work of Christ, the Lord on the cross.
"For it is by grace you have been saved,
through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not
by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9, NIV)
Come to Jesus as you are and pray this prayer to accept Jesus as your
Lord and Personal Savior. He will transform your life around! Praise the
Lord! You don't have to have all the answers! You can come as you are!
Prayer:
Jesus, I thank you for being the BREAD of Life. You are the Living BREAD
of my life. Thank you for coming from Heaven and giving your life for
the life of the world. You sacrificed yourself for humanity. Thank you
Lord when we eat of you symbolically making you part of our life,
digesting what you teach us by following you, we can be living
Eternally, and the fruit that comes will reflect and resemble your life.
I want that Father God. I want that Lord Jesus! I want that Holy Spirit!
I know of a lot of people who partake of Holy Communion where the BREAD
represents your body broken for their sin and the juice represents your
blood shed for their sin. When we partake of Holy Communion, we are
reminded that we are remembering you. I want to remember you always Lord
Jesus. But for me to remember you always, I need to know you and
acknowledge everything you said you are. So right now I acknowledge that
you are my Lord and Personal Savior who died and rose again to give me
life from sin. So right now, I come to you and say how sorry I am for my
sin and living a life on my own. I repent of my sin and ask you to
forgive me of my sin with your cleansing blood which I accept. Wash me
and I will be clean from this infection of sin. Come Lord Jesus and
please become part of my life as you live in me and I will live for you.
I thank you Jesus for coming into my heart and making my heart your
home. Thank you for living in me Jesus and I will live for you and serve
you the rest of the days of my life. I do need your Spirit to reside in
me and work in me and through me so I surrender all that I am and will
be to you. Whatever your will is for me, please give me the strength and
willingness to bear it and rejoice in you. Thank you so much Jesus. I
thank you Jesus for becoming my Lord and Personal Savior. I thank you
Jesus you have heard my prayer and have answered me. I thank you that I
am your child Oh God. I thank you for becoming my only Way to Eternal
Life. In Your Name I Pray Jesus! Amen!
