Good day dear friends.
There is power in prayer. Say that with me. There is power in prayer. Prayer is that which connects our hearts with the heart of God. Evidence? By 3:30 yesterday afternoon Bill Barber was out of ER and on his way home. Doctors are not sure what caused his fainting spell during worship. But as I shared with you all, he was joking and cutting up with all those around him in the emergency room when I got there and by 3:30 he had been released. Praise God!
We have a prayer request from one of our readers: "Kim mentioned my friend at the Easter service. She is dying of a horrible cancer. Alecia Kapustka is an incredible Christian. She is a beautiful friend, mother,wife and school principal. She was my first asst. principal, and was later my principal in Houston. In between we were just good friends. My daughter became very close to her, which makes this difficult time even more of a challenge. I am ok to hurt, but do not want her to feel what I do when I am feeling pain. I would like to ask that you please pray for Aleicia and her family. She has two young children that really need her. Her husband is nice, but not very hands on and both of her parents have passed. I need prayer to help her and my daughter deal with what is happening. I also need help in prayer that they feel peace in their hearts."
Please lift up too the needs of the world as we've lost a great leader in Pope John Paul II. Also, for those mourning, those who need healing and strength, etc., that the Lord may be with them.
Here is the study guide: Monday: Reread John 20:19-31. Very honestly, it took the Disciples three years and a weekend to finally realize all the Lord had been promising them about life and life beyond death, especially His. How would you have felt had you been Thomas? Imagine if Thomas had kept walking away from the Upper Room and his co-workers in Jesus... What then does “We walk by faith, not by sight say to you?”
Here is that text: When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." 24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin {Gk [Didymus]}), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe." 26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." 28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.
Yesterday I preached on the lectionary text of John 20:19-35, the appearance of Jesus to the 12 as they were secured in the Upper Room. Thomas was, for whatever reason, absent and missed seeing the Lord. And doesn't that hold true for us as well? Whenever we miss being in the fellowship of worship, we miss out on all the Jesus experiences. Thomas, I believe, was out trying to make sense of the events of the passion, and of the three years that he had spent with Jesus, and he must have been angry and said to himself or to whoever would listen to him, "Unless I can put my hands in his side, and my fingers in the nail wounds, I won't believe!" Jesus met his doubts, as he does ours, if we just trust.
I also mentioned that being in worship allows us to be pumped up about God and God's workings in our midst. It may be a spiritual retreat, or a Bible study, or a youth meeting, or worship service, and we hear God speaking and/or we experience God's forgiveness and peace, and we try to share that with someone at work and that person just shuts us down with "I don't have time to listen to that nonsense." Or worse. But that shouldn't extinguish the fire in us! That should just let us know we're trying to share with others what we've seen, heard, and felt from God and know that God is still with us and is blessing us. Walking by faith not by sight, is that which allows us to believe and trust even though we don't see everything (yet!).
PRAYER: God, walk with us today. Let us be about your business in all that we do. We lift up our prayers for healing and miracles in the lives of those whom we love and are praying for. Bless and restore to wholeness all who seek it today. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Have a blessed day!
e.v.
