Nathan showed me something really funny. He was looking at facebook stuff on his iPod and someone wrote, “Black Knight was awesome.”
I didn’t see a movie called Black Knight but I did see The Dark Knight. I thought The Dark Knight was awesome. If you haven’t seen it yet, you should. Go to your nearest IMAX theater. Go soon.
S: Matthew 17: 14-20
The Healing of a Boy with a Demon
14 When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16 I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”
17 “O unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” 18 Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment.
19 Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
O: Again, Jesus is in a position to help someone in need. A man brought his son to the disciples for help but they could not heal his son. But when the boy was taken to Jesus, the boy was healed. I think it’s interesting that the disciples asked why they were unable to heal the boy. Jesus said it was because they had so little faith. Faith in what? I thought about that for a second and looked up the definition of faith.
faith 
–noun
1.confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another’s ability.
I googled mustard seed and came across a wikipedia page about it. Evidently a mustard seed is about 1mm in diameter.
1 millimeter = 0.0393700787 inches
As I think over this passage and read what others have said, I’m learning that Jesus wasn’t necessarily concerned with the quantity of the disciples’ faith but the quality of their faith. Faith of good quality is faith without doubt. They didn’t need a lot of it, they just needed faith that was pure. My pastor tells us all the time, “Pray like it depends on God. Work like it depends on you.” In this instance, I believe no amount of work would have healed that boy. The disciples needed to pray like it truly depended on God.
A: I need to learn how to pray like it depends on God. Sometimes I throw my prayers out there hoping that God hears me and will entertain the idea, kind of like throwing darts at a dart board hoping to hit the bulls-eye. I don’t think it’s supposed to work that way. Rather, I should be relying on the Holy Spirit to lead me and honestly believe that God can do anything.
P: God, please help me to pray like it depends on you because it does. Amen.
S: Matthew 14:13-16
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
13 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.
14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”
16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
O: This is an interesting piece of scripture. Jesus heard that his friend, John the Baptist, got beheaded prior to this passage. I didn’t know that’s how John the Baptist died. I can imagine he was grieving for his friend privately. I would be sad if my friend died.
Jesus then saw the large crowd that followed him on foot from the towns. Nathan and I walked a good distance today around the National Zoo. It was hot outside and we were pretty tired by the end of our trip around the different cages and exhibits. These people probably travelled a long way to see Jesus. I can imagine they were exhausted. Interestingly, the disciples wanted to send them away. Jesus thought differently. He always put the interests of others before himself. He healed their sick and directed his disciples to give the people something to eat. He put their needs before his own.
He just lost his friend and went to heal and feed a crowd of people. He wasn’t engrossed in grieving. The scriptures don’t really talk about that here. Instead, he went on to feed five thousand people. I’m not sure I will be feeding five thousand people any time soon but this passage certainly puts things into perspective for me. 1) Sometimes unpleasant things happen. Jesus knew that. I know that. In this instance, Jesus needed to withdraw to a private place. He didn’t make a scene. He didn’t go around chatting it up with his disciples. It was a private matter for him. 2) When he saw the crowd of people, he tended to their needs. Despite his circumstance and feelings (I’m sure he was still sad about his friend the entire time), he put the interests of others before himself. He was selfless. He was generous.
A: I need to recognize that sometimes unpleasant and unexpected things will happen in my life. God doesn’t always shield me from these things. I will experience grief, loss, disappointment, etc. in this life but in those moments I think I need to withdraw and think and pray about these things privately. Also, despite my feelings, I want to be generous. Christ was generous all the time.
P: Father, please help me be generous and compassionate like you. Help me to put my circumstances aside (while dealing with these things appropriately) and serve you as you direct me. Help me to be sensitive to those times in my life where I need to put the interests of others before my own. Amen.
Today I was convicted to get back to reading my bible every day. My spiritual muscles are weak because I haven’t been working out. I’ve decided to dedicate time every evening at God’s feet (it seems I’ve become a ‘night’ person).
I’ve gotten a 1 year bible reading plan from LifeChurch.tv
This tumblr post will serve as an archive of the things I learn. At church this morning I learned about S.O.A.P.
The acronym means
S: Scripture
O: Observation
A: Application
P: Prayer
For each entry I will jot down the scriptures I will read, write down what I’ve observed, think about how I can apply it to my life, and pray that God helps me understand and apply these things in my life.
This is pretty exciting. Let’s hope I stay faithful to these entries. I think posting on this blog will help.
Oh, and I have a praise report too. Our small group is really ‘gel-ing’. Praise God! It’s nice when you can really share life with people, you know?
How cool is that? I haven’t seen my younger bro in a long time and now he’s traveling the globe with his new job. It just so happens that he’s landed in our area for the next week for training. It’s so nice to have family so close by! I love you Jimmy and am so glad we can hang out this week!
Also, I got tickets for Chicago (the band). I’m going to their concert tomorrow. I haven’t been to a concert in a really long time. It should be a blast. I’ll have to blog about that tomorrow. Stay tuned!
