What do You feel?

What do You feel?

by David Brenneman 

"Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭9:36‭-‬37‬.

Where does your heart go when you consider other people?  Jesus showed that people are indeed the treasure of Heaven.  

Either on your own, things permitted by Jesus or through Satan's schemes...the nature of sin is to put yourself first in your life.  Many times we're reminded of how selfish we are and it hits home. Other times it bounces off of us.  

We read in the book of Genesis of how people were before the Great Flood.  We read the words of Jesus saying that in the days of His return it will be like the days of Noah.  The thoughts and intentions of mankind would be evil continually.  In the letters to Timothy, Paul wrote of people who would be lovers of self.  Self-centered people.  Know of any?  You probably do. 

Jesus's ministry is, was, and always will be about people.  Not about possessions or possibilities of personal advancement.  Not about things that are of this world in most cases. The Spirit protects the Word of God from being usurped by both sinful mankind and Satan's schemes.  The Spirit causes growth in the lives of Believers in Jesus Christ. The Spirit's about the Father’s business just as Jesus was when living on this Earth.  The Spirit's ministry is about people.  

In the life of the Believer, our hearts ought to be growing into that same place. That same concern for others. 

It's really difficult at times to keep praying and not losing heart.  Some people we run up against are certainly, with all clarity from our vantage point, living in darkness.  They want something or someone but keep looking within the darkness rather than to the light of Jesus Christ.  Obstinate people who insist on shoving everything else into that cross shaped hole in their hearts. Yet the Spirit doesn't give up. So why are we?  

Yes, we will know people by their fruits...that doesn't and should not cause us to give up praying for them.  The Spirit can and absolutely does go wherever we cannot in the lives of those alive in this world. 

I have seen it and know this to be true. 

Satan's is wanting you to lose heart.  

Satan's wants you to be so self-oriented that you are willingly blinding your own eyes to the work of God in yourself and others around you.

Are your spiritual eyes open?  Are you using them when you look at others?

Read the Gospels of just what moved the heart of Christ Jesus. Do those things move you?  

Yes, you may indeed have some of the most difficult, perhaps evil, people in your life. Take them to the Throne of God in Christ Jesus.  Read the books of the Old Testament.  Evil kings happened yet none could stop the plans of God.  When Daniel prayed in earnestness he indeed was heard, not just for his words but for his sincerity of heart.

People are all that will leave this world. The unbelieving to an eventual eternity in the Lake of Fire and the Believer's to an eternity in the presence of Jesus Christ. 

Take another look at that passage.  Jesus describes the people.  That description is just as valid for people today. 

We have the most knowledge possible at our fingertips and yet wisdom is perishing daily.  Knowledge without Godly wisdom is dead.  

The truth is Jesus IS returning some day and the first to know will be the dead in Christ.  Receiving glorified physical bodies.  Those that are alive and remain who are saved get their own glorified bodies and we all leave this Earth until the judgments of God are completed.  

We're all still here because of what God has said that was true long ago is true today. He isn't willing that any should perish but that all would come to Him for salvation.  

We are to be witnesses.  Living witnesses to show a selfish world that there IS a still better way.  That there is still hope to be had.  

Jesus's love letters to you are your Bible.  Have you read it lately? 

His concerns are for your good always, are you at all considering that?

He causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.  

Don't look at your circumstances.  Look instead to the One who's always looking out for you.

If Daniel looked only at the lion’s as the rest of the world would, the story would have ended there as him being their dinner.  His trust was in His God.  Whether or not his life would end there he did not know.  He did know that he would not give up on believing that God had a plan. 

God has a plan for you.  But are you going to listen?  Are you going to let go of you long enough to begin to understand as it's revealed to you by the Spirit?  Are you going to indeed store up treasure in Heaven where moth and rust cannot destroy?  All your worldly possessions and desires are doomed to perish with time.  They will stay here should God call you home.

What do you feel about the things of God?

What do you feel towards others?

Seriously, I pray for those who persecute me. I pray for those whom I know have a lifetime of rejection of Jesus Christ.  I pray for those who might possibly have their lives turned to Jesus by this blog.  I am firmly convinced that as long as anyone has the God-given breath of life, there IS hope that they might be saved.  People are who Jesus was here for.  People. 

What do you feel?  Does what concerns Jesus matter to you?  

You have no idea what God will do with your prayers.  But if left unsaid, He can do nothing.  Think long and hard about that statement.  God does nothing but by the prayers of His people.  

Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.  Pray without ceasing. 

Standing on the promises that cannot fail.

When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,By the living Word of God I shall prevail, Standing on the promises of God.

Check your heart...is it feeling anything that Jesus showed us He felt?

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus...look full at His wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. 

All NASB 1995 and NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission. (C) Lockman Foundation.