What would Jesus do?

What would Jesus do?
We hear this question a lot.
Well maybe not so much of late but a few years ago this question was hanging on the wrist of every young person of the Christian faith in the land, and some not so young.

It's raining outside and I have nothing to do but think.
I suppose I could just think of nothing because that is one of the talents that we males have but that seems a bit of a waste of time.
I suppose I could contemplate the latest Facebook thought 'Good thinking demands periods when we have no idea what other people are thinking'. (Alain de Botton) but frankly I have enough trouble knowing what I'm thinking let alone even trying to have any understanding of what other people are thinking. I have no idea.
Yes there was a time when I thought I had some understanding of what the significant people in my life were thinking but that is gone now. I don't know.
So I just think what would Jesus do?
I've spent every spare hour I have had over the last week re-designing the website for Cambodia WTL Incorporated and I wonder what would Jesus do? Would Jesus use the internet? Would Jesus have a Facebook page? Would He be on Twitter or Linkedin? Was my effort a waste of time? We have had a fairly mediocre website for nearly a year now and I have no real idea whether it has made any impact or even whether anyone has looked at it. One thing I do know is that, sadly as our missional activities need to be funded and therefore the primary purpose of our website is to provide information that encourages people to give, not one cent has been contributed from the website and so I contemplate that fact and everything around it and I ask, would Jesus have had a website... what would Jesus do?
And then there is my own personal stuff...sorry to talk about my own personal stuff but I guess it's my blog and you don't have to read it.
I am at a crossroads in my life. In the past year I have had three separate and entirely unrelated people talk to me about my direction touching on one particular area of my life and it has put me in a quandary. I am not talking of a direction as in my 'walk' with God, I am talking of a physical change which impacts not only me but also my family. I ask God and He says, 'Trust Me'. I want Him to say, 'Go...' or 'Do...' but He doesn't, He just says, 'Trust Me'. So I think what would Jesus do?
In the midst of this God is leading me on a path that is both exciting and scary. Now I am talking about my personal 'walk' with God. This path is not scary to the point that I wouldn't step on it but scary in that the pursuit of it could even have significant impact on my relationships within the circles in which I move. Confused? Yep, me too! I ask God and He says, 'Trust Me'. But let me tell you that I will trust Him and I am walking this path. I should also tell you, I guess, that I recently visited a church and the speaker had prepared a message that spoke into this just for me. I'm not sure what the other couple of thousand people were doing there because God sent that speaker for me so that was good. But still I contemplate it all and I think, what would Jesus do?
A question for you...do you think Jesus ever experienced disappointment? I don't think I have ever had a period of my life when I have experienced so much disappointment. Significant people in my life have disappointed me and this in the midst of all the other stuff going on. Jesus was  tempted, constantly criticised and often tested so I guess He experienced disappointment. I guess He was also overlooked and ignored by many so can I expect anything different? Please understand I hold no anger or malice but it is hard not to feel the disappointment even when I am so thankful for those few who faithfully stand with me. So I feel it because I'm human and I think, what would Jesus do? (He was human too.)
And then as I think about that I wonder whether or not I should allow disappointment to be a factor in whether or not I do or go and I think; did Jesus allow disappointment to influence where He went or how He moved? When the people of Nazareth, His home town, rejected Him was this the factor that influenced Him to move on to Capernaum? And isn't it interesting that when He arrived in Capernaum He healed a demon-possessed man (no mean feat!)  and then went to Simon's house where many were healed right to the very setting of the sun (Luke 4, if you want to read of it yourself). And so I contemplate that and I think what would Jesus do?
I even think of my future and the future of my family as the two are absolutely intertwined and I wonder what am I to do? You see I am seriously un-prepared for retirement, for 'old age', for the 'twilight' years. I could worry about it, maybe I should, but rather I just hear the words, 'trust Me' and I think what would Jesus do? I guess Jesus had no need to contemplate His retirement plan as He knew His path and was set upon it but in my life every second TV advertisement admonishes me to consider my retirement and my level of preparedness and my hand goes immediately to the remote to find an ad more palatable to me. So even though Jesus had no need for superannuation I think if He were me, what would He do?
Even as I write this I hear a voice say, 'Trust Me'. Booming out comes the words 'Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight'. (Proverbs 3: 5, 6)

I have a friend who I like and respect a lot even though I never see her and I asked her to pray.
She is faithful and so I know she prayed.

This is what I get from her...

'I've been praying but I have to tell you I've never been asked to do this before and much as I do deeply desire for God to give me words of knowledge for others like this, I'm not sure that I've heard anything specifically for you yet. So, in the meantime, let me share with you a couple of thoughts that I always tell my kids - kinda like a life motto we live by. In Jeremiah 29:11, God says "I know the plans I have for you, plans to give you a future and a hope......" What I love about this verse is that even when we don't know what the future holds or which direction to take, God KNOWS. Then He tells us in Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths". So, we need to pray about every decision we have to make (acknowledge the Lord in all our ways) and then we need to move ahead IN FAITH, that God will do what He has promised, and that is - He WILL direct our paths. I know that there are times to wait on the Lord, but I also believe He directs us as we make our decisions prayerfully and that sometimes we need to just get on with life TRUSTING that He is directing us. So, it works like this. Pray about everything. Then go ahead and do what you think best TRUSTING that the Lord is directing you in all your decision making INTO the plans that He has for you, the plans that He KNOWS about.
Apart from that, this morning I have been reading Genesis 7-9 and 2 Peter 3. Another great way that God leads us is through the peace that He gives. 2 Peter 3:14 says "Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless." A devotional thought I read said, "My fear made peace elusive, but it finally came when I got alone, read the Psalms and prayed. Yes, I could trust God" '.
 

So there we have it...God says 'Trust Me'.
What would Jesus do?
What would you do?

If you think you know what Jesus would do then you can make a comment if you like!
Or if you would rather not do that publicly then you can email me.

I stood and cheered...with tears in my eyes

Today I am thinking of a link someone shared on Facebook yesterday from You Tube. If I can work out how I will share the link below.

As I watched the link I found myself standing and cheering with tears in my eyes. Why? Was it for the joy in the healed woman? Yes. Was it for a miracle that we don’t see every day? Probably. There were undoubtedly lots of reasons that I stood and cheered.

Today I am thinking that we may accept that God is interested in the big issues (He obviously was interested in the healed woman’s issue; it doesn’t get much bigger than Stage 4 Bone Cancer, right?) but is He interested in me? Is He considerate of my little issue? Does He see me?

You see the main reason I stood and cheered with tears in my eyes was for a Jesus who lives and is interested in me (and you) and cares.

I want to share a couple of little stories.

Recently I was in Cambodia. It is my privilege to often go to that country and share the love and grace of God in Jesus Christ. We hold ‘celebrations’ where we share with the people. We share food (their food, not ours, which we provide), we share conversation, we share fellowship, we share the same ground or table, we share care and interest and love, we share Jesus, we always offer prayer and people come forward to receive from a Jesus they hardly know but who they have just received.

At one place a man came forward for prayer. He could hardly walk. I prayed. I am no great pray-er, I merely thanked God that He heard me (that’s what Jesus did at the tomb of Lazarus; He always hears the quietest whisper) and received the abundant healing grace of God on the man’s behalf. He danced away swivelling his hips like Elvis! Elvis lives; he’s in Cambodia!

At another place a man came forward for prayer. He couldn’t bend his little finger. His little pinkie was as stiff as a board. I prayed same as before. He walked away practicing his new found mobility in his little pinkie.

I could tell you of the deaf boy who hears at Rokakong or the elderly woman who puked up a mass as Jesus expelled a tumour from her chest at Kampong Spue (appropriate name, don’t you think?)

One time a woman pastor came to me and asked for prayer. She had cholera. I prayed. She walked away. One year later I saw the woman again. In usual 'western’ fashion I ‘beat around the bush’ trying to find out whether Jesus had healed her that day.
She did not understand my evasive questioning and eventually I just said, “Remember I prayed with you? Did God heal you?”
Her answer?
She said, “Of course”.
I laughed. I think Jesus laughed too!

What is the point? Friends, Jesus loves you. He cares for you. He is interested in the big issues, yes but He is interested in your little issues too. He knows you in all points. He knows the things you need healing for. He knows the things that challenge you. He died for them all. He bore them all. There is now no condemnation for you. Receive Him. Don’t be deceived He isn’t interested in your little pinkie. Jesus cares. Take it too Him.

Here’s the link...

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8KApDn4pm0

Watch it and cheer and then take your ‘stuff’ to Him.

This is the day of favour.

This is the day of receiving.