I
have compassion for these people.
2.
They
have already been with me three days.
3. They
have nothing to eat.
4. If
I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way.
5. They
have come a long distance.
I
decided to look at statement 4 today:
Interpretations:
I asked myself the significance of Jesus saying
'If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way?'
Jesus knew the intricate workings of the body that He created so
Jesus could assess rightly how long a person can stay without food and
not collapse. More than that, Jesus cared for the person as a whole.
Jesus did not just care for their spiritual health and let them be on
their own. No, Jesus addressed their physical health too. That was so
touching to know and put things in a new perspective for me. Jesus
always cares for the person as a whole being and not just parts of the
person. Wow!
Implications:
I saw important implications for my own life. As I reflected on this
passage, I was reminded of everything that Jesus knows about me. He
knows when I sit or stand, and I can never be far from His Spirit. He
goes before me and ahead of me and I can follow. I can do that because
Jesus loves me so much and wants to restore me as a whole person. Jesus
is not just interested in my spiritual well-being but also my physical
and emotional well-being. I know that because Jesus is the same
yesterday, today, and tomorrow. What Jesus did then, Jesus can even do
now! Wow! Thank you Jesus! I praise the Lord for that.
How Gospel Has Given Me
A Testimony Regarding W.H.O.L.E:
Years ago a friend of mine wanted me to step down from a particular
ministry because he cared for me as a whole person. He was very
concerned that I was living a life of parts separating the PHYSICAL,
EMOTIONAL, SPIRITUAL, and FINANCIAL WELL-BEING in my life. He told me
that it was his responsibility to SHEPHERD me the right away. The right
way for him was how JESUS DID IT. Jesus cared for persons as a whole and
not as parts. That's how he wanted me to approach ministry as a person
restored in wholeness but I was STUBBORN so I paid with consequences
that were very painful to me.
As I look back, the Spirit of the Lord was working in him for my
benefit. He told me that God cares for me as a whole person and not just
parts. I cared more about spiritual-well being than my own
physical, emotional, or financial well-being. He would not have that
because that is not the way of the Lord.
You see I was spending about 40-80 hrs of ministry and ignoring
other facets of my life. I was told to cut down to only 20 hrs of
ministry so I can take care of myself not to get sick as often as I was
getting sick, so I can take care of my emotional well-being to as not to
get burned out, and to take care of my financial well-being to so I
don't put myself in enormous debt.
When I look back now, he did such a favor to me but it was a
FAVOR OF THE LORD that happened in my life. If the Lord Jesus did not
care for me as a whole person, the Lord Jesus would not have sent that
person my way.
But because Jesus cared for me as a whole person, Jesus used
that person in my life abundantly. At the time, I was very upset with
that person. That person went as far as to tell me that something to the
effect: 'Ramesh, I don't care even if the ministry you are doing
completely collapses because YOU ARE MORE IMPORTANT AS A WHOLE PERSON.
There are areas in your life you really need to work on'
I believe my friend acted that way because Jesus had an
interaction with him just as Jesus had an interaction with the disciples
regarding the crowds. Jesus' interaction with the disciples went like
this:
If I send them
home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have
come a long distance.
Jesus interaction with my friend could have gone something like
this, "If I let Ramesh continue to do ministry for me, for He has been
working for me all these years, he will collapse and burn-out because he
is not in the body of believers who can support him physically,
spiritually, emotionally, or financially. He wants to do everything on
his own without being in a community of believers. I need him to belong
to a church permanently, I need him to belong to a small group where
God's Word is fed to him, I need him mentored, I need him to take care
of the body that I gave him. I want him to take care of himself as a
whole person but he has not. I cannot have him continue on that path.
Doing things for me is not as important to me as being with me as Mary
was instead of what Martha was doing. Ramesh is doing things like Martha
and I want him to do things like Mary."
"As Jesus and his disciples
were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha
opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the
Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all
the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord,
don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell
her to help me!" "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried
and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has
chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her." (Luke
10:38-42, NIV)
Wow, if that were the interaction Jesus had with me, I would too
move to action. Well, I was asked to take a sabbatical from ministry and
eventually asked to step down for my own good for the time being. I was
told STEPPING DOWN FROM MINISTRY IS FOR THE TIME BEING AND NOT
PERMANENT.
Sadly, stepping down gave me more hurt than it should have
helped me. I was a wanderer in the wilderness going from church to
church without finding a home. Eventually, the Lord Jesus led me to a
friend of mine who was also a friend of the person who let me go.
As I look back, I believe that's how God works in His Kingdom.
He will prune us back to greater strength and use us again. Praise the
Lord.
The person Jesus led me to is his servant Pastor Hugo and he
took me in to not only to care for my spiritual well-being but care for
me as a whole person.
Even though I was not involved in his church, he cared enough to
want to meet with me to mentor me. I still remember the first email I
got from him. That happened years ago when he was thinking about how I
was doing. You see, Pastor Hugo had spoken at a ministry I was part of
but I had to leave.
Now after all these years, I am so thankful to the Lord Jesus
**teary** that he is my pastor and I belong to the church the Lord Jesus
wanted me to belong to. I have been going faithfully to Pittsburgh
Chinese Church Oakland-Oakland International Fellowship for awhile now.
I am also a member of the church, former cell group leader, and OIF
Librarian. I am part of a community where I feel loved and taken care
of. I used to do ministry, ministry, and ministry but now even as I
serve, I am ministered too. I did not have that years ago and my friend
knew that was not healthy.
Now I have a church life at PCCO- Oakland International
Fellowship community.
Now I have mentors (Pastor Hugo, Pastor Ed, Pastor Bucknell,
Edwin, and Marie)
Now I have been part of a cell group for a long time, for our
church is cell-based and have been blessed so much by those who have
cared for me physically tending my wounds of the body (Antonio Chen just
did that when I injured my leg on Saturday), emotionally tending the
wounds of the heart (Pastor Hugo helped tremendously), financially
tending the wounds of debt (Edwin helped tremendously), and spiritually
tending the wounds of wrong doctrine (Pastor Hugo, Pastor Ed, and Pastor
Bucknell) as the Spirit of the Lord works in their lives to help
me. Praise the Lord for all those that have been helping me. I will keep
writing names if I mention all of them here.
I am reminded of Jesus' words when Jesus began His ministry.
Jesus said, "The Spirit of the Lord is on
me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has
sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for
the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's
favor." (Luke 4:18-19, NIV)
It has been such a blessing as I write this to you. This would
not have been possible if the Lord Jesus did not speak to Paul Hassell
for my own growth as a whole person. Just as Jesus did not involve just
one person but all the disciples to help the crowds, Jesus involved more
than Paul in my life at that time. Chloe Papke, Fred Bailey, and Tom
Grosh were extremely involved in my life and growth. They wanted to see
me grow in Christ as a whole person too and not separate my life into
parts.
This day as I write to you, Pastor Hugo, Pastor Ed, Pastor
Bucknell (a missionary who worships at our church), Edwin, Marie, etc
all want to see me grow in Christ as a whole person. I am really touched
how the Lord Jesus uses people in our lives for our own benefit.
I am reminded that the crowds were with Jesus 3 days and learned
a lot from Jesus and had their spirits fed with spiritual food to be
reach out to so they can reach out to others but if they had
collapsed on the way, all their time with Jesus would not have helped
anyone.
In the same way, I can be growing spiritually in areas of my
life but ignoring other areas and I won't be a help to anyone
effectively. God can use us in our weaknesses and most of the time He
does to reveal His power in us and through us but He wants us to take
care of ourselves as whole. I praise the Lord for that.
Right now, I can use your prayers in certain areas of my life
that have been difficult which the Lord Jesus wants me to deal with in
the context of community instead of alone. For that I am very thankful.
It is all JESUS BY HIS SAVING GRACE SO THAT I CAN LIVE BY GRACE FOR HIS
HONOR AND GLORY.
There are days I go through small conflicts and extensive
conflicts with my mentors but Jesus is showing me that having conflict
is not a sin but how the conflict is handled makes it a sin. I was
reminded yesterday about how Paul Hassell had all of us working under
his leadership to read a book on PEACEMAKING. I need to pick that book
from our church library and read it again. It is by Ken Sade (Sp??).
I think.
I am not perfect and still mess up but I thank Jesus that He
never abandons me but wants to restore me as a whole person everyday as
I am covered in His precious cleansing blood having righteousness that
is not my own but from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself who bought it for
me by His blood. I will not be refunded so I will always belong to
Christ and for that I am so overwhelmed and thankful.
There have been times I wanted to leave the church for selfish
reasons but time after time, the Lord Jesus has not left me leave
because He has a plan for my life and wants to work in my life through
PCCO-OIF.
I ask you now dear friend, how is your
whole life compared to its parts?
Dear friend, your whole life is a sum of its parts (baby, juvenile,
adult, young adult, middle-aged, elderly) and Jesus cares for you as a
whole. All the things that Jesus will allow in your life are so you can
be whole. Everything that Jesus does in our lives is because Jesus sees
the WHOLE picture. Jesus sees what must be done now in your lives as a
COLLEGE STUDENT so you can be where He wants you to be at later on in
life. It is the same way in every stage of life because Jesus wants to
move us to the next level and make us whole.
Jesus does not want us to be stuck in parts because a part by
itself is no good unless it is part of a whole.
That's why too as a believer in Christ and follower of Christ,
it is not enough just to read the Bible and pray to the Lord
instead of being involved in a church community/ fellowship community.
Jesus is all about restoring community and having fellowship
within a community for that is how we all have been created.
Think about it friend when God created Adam, Adam had a
relationship with God and yet God did not want man to be alone.
How can he be alone if God was with him?
Because God was seeing the bigger picture and God meant in a
human community relationship so God created Eve for Adam.
From God's interaction with Adam & Eve, we see a community being
developed but we also see the pains that occur in a community but that
does not make having community nullified. On the contrary, it is to work
through conflict too.
Sometimes that conflict can burn bridges so community can be
separated. That's what happened between God and Man. You see we were
made to be in community with God and each other but when man rebelled
against God and went his own way, he lost being part of a whole and
suffered in the parts. It is sin that came into the world and put enmity
between God and Man.
But thanks be to God for His love for us that God sent Jesus
Christ into this world to restore community. Jesus became the Head and
we were asked to be the Body, the church of believers. A body cannot
function without the head to be whole so we as believers in the body of
Christ need to totally depend on Christ to be whole.
It starts with Christ working in our lives to redeem us which
will be explained more later.
"Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as
instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those
who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your
body to him as instruments of righteousness." (Romans 6:13, NIV)
"Just as each of
us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the
same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each
member belongs to all the others." (Romans 12:4-5, NIV)
"The body is a unit, though it is made up of
many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it
is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one
body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one
Spirit to drink." (1 Corinthians 12:11-13, NIV)
"Now the body is not made up of one part but of
many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong
to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.
And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to
the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If
the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the
whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact
God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he
wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be?
As it is, there are many parts, but one body" (1 Corinthians 12:14-18,
NIV)
"If one part suffers, every part suffers with
it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now
you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it." (1
Corinthians 12:26-27, NIV)
I don't know how your whole life is compared to its parts
but this I know, Jesus cares about you as a whole person just as Jesus
cared about the crowds, and about me. Jesus created all the parts of our
being so they can work together in unison as a whole. Jesus did that for
a reason. It was for our benefit because of His love for us.
Friend, Jesus loves you so much that I want you to reflect on
these words regarding Jesus' affection towards you:
"O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my
thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are
familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it
completely, O LORD. You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your
hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me
to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your
presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my
bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if
I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will
guide me, your right hand will hold me fast..... For you created my
inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you
because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I
know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in
the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were
written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious
to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to
count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake,
I am still with you." (Psalm 139:1-10, 13-18, NIV)
That's how much Jesus loves you and cares for you as a whole
person. Yes, friend Jesus is always thinking about you and watching
everything that concerns you. Jesus cares for you as a whole person.
Because Jesus cares for you as a whole person Jesus did something no one
ever will do for the entire humanity.
Jesus went to the cross and died for your sins. Jesus took upon
Himself the sin of the world to redeem the world from this deadly virus
so He can make us whole.
No matter where you have been or what you have done, know that
you are loved by Jesus. If you were the only one alive Jesus would have
still died for you and shed His precious cleansing blood for you to give
you His righteousness.
"It is by grace we are saved through faith
and it is a gift of God so that none could boast."
There is nothing to boast about because there is nothing you or
I can do that will make us right with God except acknowledging what
Jesus did for us. All our good works we think we do are not really good
without Christ in our lives. With Christ the good works we do are a
result of His Spirit working in us and through us. Otherwise they just
become filthy rags to the Lord.
"All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like
a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away." (Isaiah 64:6, NIV)
Yes friend, our sin sweeps us away and hold us bondage. But
thanks be to God while we were yet sinners, Jesus Christ died for our
sin to restore you and me. You can be restored to the Lord as you
depend on Him and ask Him to be the Lord of your life and make you
whole.
Remember Jesus already knows what you are going through and
whatever He allows to happen, it is also for a reason. Don't give up but
come to the table of the Lord and receive His forgiveness and grace for
your life right now.
This is the time of Salvation! Don't wait for some other time.
You are being spoken to right now and God wants to work in your life.
Allow Him to and come as you are. Come to the fountain of blessing and
find healing in Jesus' name for all who call upon the Name of the Lord
will be saved.
"This righteousness from God comes through
faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his
blood. " (Romans 3:22-25, NIV)
"You see, at just the right time, when we were
still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone
die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly
dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we
were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified
by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through
him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him
through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled,
shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also
rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now
received reconciliation." (Romans 5:6-11, NIV)
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of
God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23,
NIV)
"What, then,
shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against
us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how
will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?"
(Romans 8:31-32, NIV)
"But what does it say? "The word is
near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of
faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is
Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you
will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are
justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As
the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to
shame." For there is no difference between Jew and
Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on
him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be
saved."(Romans 10:8-13, NIV)
May you come to experience your life as a whole instead of
different parts as you rest in the Lord Jesus Christ and allow Him to
take care of you.
"Whole Healing's Our Lord's Engagement! (W.H.O.L.E)/"How
is your W.H.O.L.E. life compared to its parts?"
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank you so much for loving us and dying for our sin.
Thanks for shedding your precious blood on the cross to redeem us and to
give us eternal life. Thanks for coming back to life to save us. I love
you Jesus and need you Jesus. I need you in my life. I have made a mess
of things and you in your grace and mercy show so much love to me when I
don't deserve it at all. Thanks so much Jesus. Thank you for caring for
people as a whole and for caring for me too. Thanks for using your
servants like Paul, Chloe, Fred, and Tom in my life and for servants you
will use in people's lives. Sometimes Lord, the servants you send to us,
we don't accept and become very rebellious. I have been guilty of that
and I am so sorry Lord Jesus. I still struggle many times with
rebellious attitude that only you can take away. Help me Jesus and
please help us all. We thank you Great are you Lord and most worthy of
praise in the City of our God, the most Holy place as the song goes. You
are the joy of the earth and we can find our joy in you. We can find
humility and courage in you Jesus. I need you Lord. Thanks for using
your servants in my life right now such as my mom, Pastor Hugo, Pastor
Ed, Pastor Bucknell, Edwin & Marie to impact areas of my own growth.
Help others who need to grow for we all need to grow more and more in
you. I face growing pains and need your strength. Thanks so much Jesus!
Thank you for hearing my prayer and answering me. In Your Name I Pray
Jesus! Amen!
May
you experience the POWER OF CHRIST'S RESURRECTION this day, and give Him
the LOCKED areas of your life too so you can experience His PEACE as you
become an ACTOR in the film called LIFE being directed by your DIRECTOR,
JESUS CHRIST who comes to give JOY and PEACE.
You
don't have to be locked away anymore for Christ is here to free you and
give you peace to live out your actions.
How
do you look at GODISNOWHERE?
One
of my pastors, Pastor Hugo shared this example this past Sunday at the
RESURRECTION DAY SERVICE in the combined worship service of Pittsburgh
Chinese Church-Oakland & Oakland International Fellowship:
If
you look at it as GOD IS NO WHERE, you will still be lost in your sin
and be in bondage locked away in your sins and problems finding no
peace.
But
as my pastor spoke to the congregation and spoke to me, I am here to
tell you that GOD IS NOW HERE.
Yes,
friend God is alive and wants to bring a transformation in your life
through the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ for He paid the penalty on
the cross to rescue you and me and came back to life to save us and live
with us.
Yes,
friend that is exciting to know that we can experience HIS SAVING GRACE
& LIVING GRACE.
When
we mess up, we can go to Jesus with our shortcomings and He will forgive
us and restore us to Him and we will find peace in Him.
"Therefore, if
anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has
come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ
and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the
world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he
has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore
Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.
We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him
who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God." (Colossians 5:17-21, NIV)
"For the wages
of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord." (Romans 6:23, NIV)
"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the
light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his
Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive
ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all
unrighteousness." (1 John 1:7-9, NIV)
Friend, we need Jesus because we have been separated from God due to our
sin. Because of our sin, Jesus had to pay the price to become our bridge
so we can reach God now not of our own good works but because of the
finished work of Christ, the Lord on the cross.
"For it is by grace you have been saved,
through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not
by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9, NIV)
May
you come to know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Personal Savior becoming
His offspring so you can spend Eternity with Him. He is waiting for you.
Come as you are. Please do not reject the gift of God.
If
you would like to invite Jesus Christ into your heart and make Him a
daily part of your life, you can this very moment. You will never be
alone. You can claim God's promises for you in the Bible and see them
come true, before your eyes, in His wonderful timing. You don't have to
wait for a special time to come to the Lord. You can come right now as
you pray this prayer, meaning it in your heart and finding your new
identity in Christ Jesus.
Make this your prayer. Don’t let
the enemy deceive you into thinking you need all the answers before
coming to Christ. Let me just assure you though you may not have all the
answers right now before coming to Jesus, He will answer them slowly.
Yes, He will for I know our Redeemer will! Amen!
Make this your prayer. Don’t let the enemy deceive you into thinking
you need all the answers before coming to Christ. Let me just assure you
though you may not have all the answers right now before coming to
Jesus, He will answer them slowly. Yes, He will for I know our Redeemer
will! Amen!
Prayer:
Jesus, I thank you for being the Bread of Life. You are the Living Bread
of my life. Thank you for coming from Heaven and giving your life for
the life of the world. You sacrificed yourself for humanity. Thank you
Lord when we eat of you symbolically making you part of our life,
digesting what you teach us by following you, we can be living
Eternally, and the fruit that comes will reflect and resemble your life.
I want that Father God. I want that Lord Jesus! I want that Holy Spirit!
I know of a lot of people who partake of Holy Communion where the bread
represents your body broken for their sin and the juice represents your
blood shed for their sin. When we partake of Holy Communion, we are
reminded that we are remembering you. I want to remember you always Lord
Jesus. But for me to remember you always, I need to know you and
acknowledge everything you said you are. So right now I acknowledge that
you are my Lord and Personal Savior who died and rose again to give me
life from sin. So right now, I come to you and say how sorry I am for my
sin and living a life on my own. I repent of my sin and ask you to
forgive me of my sin with your cleansing blood which I accept. Wash me
and I will be clean from this infection of sin. Come Lord Jesus and
please become part of my life as you live in me and I will live for you.
I thank you Jesus for coming into my heart and making my heart your
home. Thank you for living in me Jesus and I will live for you and serve
you the rest of the days of my life. I do need your Spirit to reside in
me and work in me and through me so I surrender all that I am and will
be to you. Whatever your will is for me, please give me the strength and
willingness to bear it and rejoice in you. Thank you so much Jesus. I
thank you Jesus for becoming my Lord and Personal Savior. I thank you
Jesus you have heard my prayer and have answered me. I thank you that I
am your child Oh God. I thank you for becoming my only Way to Eternal
Life. In Your Name I Pray Jesus! Amen!
