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Seeing Things The Way God Does

by Wayne Cordeiro on September 25, 2020

Today's Reading:
Ezra 2,3; Luke 8

Good morning! Today is Friday, September 25th, 2020. Be sure to read “Personally Speaking” at the end!

Scripture

“Now they were all weeping and lamenting for her; but He said, ‘Stop weeping, for she has not died, but is asleep.’ And they began laughing at Him, knowing that she had died.” (Luke 8:52-53)

Observation

The story of the raising of Jairus’ daughter intrigues me. He took only Peter, James, John, and the parents into the room. The mourners had already gathered like vultures around a carcass. But Jesus saw things as what they could be … rather than as things appeared to be. He said the child is only sleeping. He gives hope. There’s yet life even though it appears bleak. Mourners and vultures go by how things appear, and when you speak hope, they laugh.

There will be two kinds of people:

  • Those who are a gas pedal; those who are a brake.Those who see problems; those who see potential.
  • Those who are persistent; those who are the pall-bearers
  • Those who say, “I can;” those who say, “I can’t.”
  • Those who say, “I must become;” and those who say, “It’s not meant to be.”

Although each of us will fall into one or the other, the good news is that we can choose! But choose wisely! Your faith, your destiny, and the measure of your ministry will be determined by it.

Application

More often than not, we are directed, not by the spirit of God, but by how we feel about the spirit of God. We don’t follow the God that is in the Bible, but rather the God we are comfortable with — and if at any time He prods us to go beyond that, we wrestle with Him as if, should we win, then it is okay to remain the way we were.

The spirit of God must be in such control that I speak on His behalf to my mind — for my mind, my perception center, is merely a tool, not a master. I must see things as God sees them, then command my mind to do the same. My mind can become like an accountant of a company who, because he writes the checks, thinks he owns the store. Paul the Apostle wrote about this dilemma: “For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! …” (Romans 7:22-24).

My inner man must be a strong second officer. This is why Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:16, “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.” And again in Ephesians 3:16, “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man.” 

Prayer

Father, may I be strengthened in my inner man as a servant to the Holy Spirit. I will take responsibility to change my mind to obey Your Word. I will bring every “thought to the obedience of Christ.” I will see things as You see them even though surrounded by vultures and deafened in the company of a chorus of mourners — I will choose to be one who sees life lingering, hope extended, potential yet untapped and more of heaven to be gained.

We have 40 days till election day. Let’s be like Joshua and Caleb over these next 40 days! They were sent to spy out the Promised Land for 40 days. 10 came back with a bad report, but 2 came back with a glowing one! 

10 said, “We can’t! There are giants in the land!” Caleb said, “We can, by all means, enter the land, for we shall surely overcome it!” God told Moses later that all 10 would never enter the land, only Caleb and Joshua because they had a “different spirit and have followed Me fully!”

40 days …. Be a Caleb and a Joshua with me! 

40 days… Be courageous and see what God has promised.

40 days … Look for what’s good and not what’s bad.

40 days … Success comes in cans …. Not in can’ts! 


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