Listen and Believe

Matthew 20:17-19

New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)

¹⁷ Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and said to them,¹⁸ “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death ¹⁹ and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!” http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2020:17%20-19&version=NIV1984

Have you ever been speaking and wondered if anyone was listening to you?  Well, Jesus knows just what you were going through.  Right here He is telling His disciples directly that He will be crucified and that in three days He will come back to life but no one seemed to have listened to Him.

I am just as guilty, how about you?  He has told us through His word that He is in control.  He will never leave us nor forsake us, He loves us, and He will supply all our needs.  Yet when times get tough don’t we seem to gravitate to denial of those promises just like the disciples were in denial that He would actually raise from the dead? 

We think, if we would have been there we would have been hiding in the bushes at the site of the tomb waiting and watching for His great resurrection.  Yet the men were locked in a room and the women were going to visit His body at the tomb.  When Thomas heard that He had been resurrected, he doubted it saying he would have to touch Him to believe.  I think that is where the saying must have come from, “I will believe it when I see it!” 

Jesus promises that He has gone to prepare a home for those of us who believe upon Him, for those of us who live this life for Him.  Next time doubts come your way, dwell on His promises and remember that even the disciples had their doubts and they spent all their time at His feet.  Remember even more that after they witnessed His resurrected body they became such strong believers that nothing caused them fear.  Be strong in the Lord and you will surely be blessed.

I you have not yet believed in Jesus, don’t wait until you see Him or it will be too late!  Call upon His name, seek out those who you know that know Him and ask them to introduce you to their Savior.  If you aren’t sure who that might be please send me a note on my blog and I will respond. 

Seek Him, Know Him, and Serve Him.

Seeking Him with all my heart,

Sheila