Jesus Sighed

By Tawna Wilkinson

                                                                                                 

                                                                         JESUS SIGHED

 “And He took him aside from the multitude, put His finger in his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, He sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” (Mark 7:33, 34 NKJV)

Prior to this verse, Jesus had gone to the region of Tyre and Sidon. Having arrived there, He goes into a private home wanting “no one to know.” But, it says, “He could not be hidden.” For a Gentile woman, having a demon-possessed daughter, found out where He was and persistently begged Him to heal her; cutting short His privacy. (Mark 7:24, 25 NKJV)

Now He’s traveled back through the region of Decapolis, where previously His fame exploded where in the midst of seeking solitude and rest, the multitude pursued Him and He wound up spending the entire day healing and feeding 5000 plus people.

Now, while looking for space again, He has yet another multitude hot on His heels begging for healing. He heals. But in the midst of it, when they bring a deaf/mute to Him, He curiously “took him aside.”

Why? 

According to Matthew’s account this wasn’t the only person with a similar issue. What was different? Why the unusual treatment?

And why does Mark’s record add that after Jesus spits and puts His fingers in the man’s ears, He looks up to heaven, and sighs?

The word sigh in this passage means: to make, or be in straits; to murmur; to pray inaudibly, with the connotation of grieving or groaning. It’s the same word used when it speaks of the Spirit’s groanings in Romans 8:26:

“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”

Here’s what I think.

Jesus is tapped.

He’s dog-tired and doesn’t know how to pray for this one, even though He’s been healing many to this point. Once again, rest and the need for quiet have eluded Him.

He’s had to deal with power going out of Him during ministry; and He’s weak and speechless. And in that place, Jesus looked up to heaven, and breathed a groaning prayer: He sighed, and the man was healed.

What an encouragement!

Although I haven’t been in the place of administering healing to thousands, I have given of myself, been past tired, and in need of solitude, just to have it interrupted, time and again.

And my Jesus, being 100% human when He walked this earth doing all He did, says to me in this passage, “I completely understand weakness and the need for solitude. Keep following Me. And when you are worn out, and have no words, look to heaven, breathe a sigh, and watch what I will do.” 

The Power of Encourgament

By Kim Beach

Who doesn't like a surprise party?

Well, evidently I don't. I've been the recipient of two surprise parties in my lifetime and both times I was so determined to stay home that I almost missed my own celebrations.     

Recently some of my dear girlfriends dressed as Pirates - in honor of my favorite movies -  and threw me a Surprise Birthday / Encouragement Party. There was sushi and pirate booty, pirate punch, cannonball meatballs and even a Pirate Ship chocolate cake! The wackiness was great, the laughter healing and I'm so glad they were able to get me to my own party!

Their gifts to me that evening were simple & yet extravagant.

Their time.

Their attention.

Their love.

Then each person took time to share with me either a scripture or word that God had shown them I needed to hear; they shared what I had meant to them in their lives.

It was awesome and humbling. 

This season of our life has been long and hard and weary. There are days that getting dressed is a major victory. These ladies have stood with me, prayed for me and stood in the gap when I could no longer pray at all.

As they shared words like Determined and Listen and scriptures from Psalm 20, a balm was poured over my soul and freshness awakened within me.

New Strength ~ New Peace ~ New Energy!

Everyone needs Encouragement now and then. It doesn't have to be a Pirate Party - a card to your neighbor, an email to a friend, a text to your spouse - those words mean so much.  

Your words of love and truth can bring life and hope to a hurting heart. 

Who needs to your Words of Encouragement?  

Ask the Lord to show you - in the grocery store, in your workplace, at school,

in your own home - who needs to hear words that

bring life!

My perception of Peace

By Jen Kline

Don’t continue doing things the way we’re doing them at present, each of us doing as we wish. Until now you haven’t arrived at the goal, the resting place, the inheritance that God, your God, is giving you. But the minute you cross the Jordan River and settle into the land God, your God, is enabling you to inherit, he’ll give you rest from all your surrounding enemies. You’ll be able to settle down and live in safety. Deuteronomy 10:12 MSG

Growing up, peace was not something I operated out of in my daily life. Because of my need to prove my worth and competency, I looked for ways to keep myself busy. As I've mentioned before, it was a coping mechanism that worked for me at the time. I was too busy proving myself worthy to bother with the understanding of peace.

When I became a Christian I decided I would center my life around my faith and my relationship with Jesus. I wanted to know more about Him, learn who He was, what He left behind and why what He did was so important to my life today.

I was attracted to the concept of peace. Really? You mean you can live on this earth day to day and really have peace? A relationship with God was peaceful? They called him the PRINCE OF PEACE?!?

My curiosity drove me into lots of prayer around this subject. I loved stories from the Bible where Jesus brought the storms to a stand still. I loved how the woman at the well, while being scorned and mocked by the community, was met with peace by Jesus Christ. I was touched by those stories but had a hard time believing this kind of peace was something I could have for myself.

I remember a time when I was in my living room praying. My circumstances were difficult, I was in the midst of broken relationships and discord, finances were tough and I needed peace in my life. The Lord met me just like He met the disciples in the boat and just like He met the woman at the well. As I prayed, I could feel a wash of joy/peace over me. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before. I wasn’t anxious, I was content and I knew the Holy Spirit had met me right where I needed Him to be. It was an experience and a promise I could stand on. It built my faith in God.

In my day-to-day life I desire peace as well, but it always seems out of reach. The busyness of life can distract and keep me so wound up that the struggle for peace is real. I see it even now as the summer has arrived and I am coordinating play dates, time with my husband, kids' schedules, my own schedule, activities, vacations, grocery shopping, church events and so on.

Hoping I’d have a day filled with peace, I’ve often felt disappointed, defeated and frustrated at the fact that my day included things I was not actually prepared for at all. My needs were not being met, random stuff would come out of left field, people would say things that caught me off guard, my health and my schedule would all disrupt my pursuit of peace and I would think… you promised me peace Lord… where is it? Why do I not live out of this place of peace?  

 "Behold, I will gather them out of all the lands to which I have driven them in My anger, in My wrath and in great indignation; and I will bring them back to this place and make them dwell in safety. "They shall be my people, and I will be their God;” Jeremiah 32:37-38

I’ve come to realize that I need a paradigm shift. Peace can thrive in safety and security and I'm realizing that's what I need, but am missing, in my daily life. I need tools to help me understand how to create a safe space to feel what I need, to be present in my relationships, my life, circumstances and feelings. Safe places where I can be real. Safe places where it’s OK to say what I’m thinking and feeling (even if what I’m thinking and saying is negative) without condemnation or judgment.

Being present and honest with who I am is what God desires for my day to day.  It is in our intimacy with God where the Holy Spirit can move in our hearts. Safety, to me, is about being able to choose what I need for me. I value being able to name where I am at and be vulnerable in my relationships and vulnerable with God. If the only thing I can control is me, then I need to “go there” with myself and seek God while I trust in his unending promises of love, security and safety.

As you go about your week and you feel frustrated that the peace has not come, give yourself a safe place to actually let yourself feel what you need. Allow yourself to look inward… seeking the answers to the things that come up. When you get in that space and name what actually is happening, peace comes… and thrives within this safe, secure, vulnerable place between you and the Lord. Receive the gift of safety and security.

What, do you find, keeps you from being in this vulnerable and safe place?

Needs

By Megan Danquah

Did you know that you were created with needs? Needs of many kinds. Our bodies have need for food, water, exercise and sleep. Those are some of our physical needs. What about emotional needs? Have you ever stopped to consider what emotional needs you have? As women, I can guarantee you that you are in touch with the emotional needs of your husband, children, friends. What about yourself? What are YOUR emotional needs?

Growing up a Christian, it was always a given that I had physical needs. After all, I knew that if I didn’t eat, drink, move and sleep that eventually I would die. Therefore, I knew how to take care of my needs in that area and placed meeting those needs as a priority every single day. My physical needs were satiated. On the other hand, I was literally starved emotionally for lack of recognizing and getting my emotional needs met. The emphasis of the message I was hearing was not centered on the importance of taking time to myself to recharge, finding time to pursue things that brought me life, or even the deeper needs of hearing that I was enough. As humans, we need to know that we are loved, that we belong, that we have immeasurable value and worth. We need to know that what we think, our opinions, our likes and dislikes, our personality are all important. We need to know that we are enough. Period. 

I’ve noticed that in church, we hear a lot about how God meets our emotional needs and that is absolutely true. Because we live in a world full of sin, God is the only perfect being who can meet our emotional needs and we can rest in that fully. There is another side to all this, however. The main, God-given role of our parents in our childhood was to actually show us what God is like! Their job was to “be” God to us because, as children, that is literally how we perceive our parents. They were to show us what a loving God was like: how He meets our needs physically but also emotionally.  

But let’s face it: how many of us transitioned into adulthood with a perfect view of who God is based solely on how our parents raised us? I have yet to meet one person who fits that criteria. Our parents did the best they could and yet, because of the sin problem again, they weren’t able to give us the fullest that God had in mind. So we are left emotionally deficient and without a true understanding of the goodness of God.  

The reason I use parents as an example of meeting emotional needs is because I want to challenge us. It was (and still is!) God’s intention that other people were placed on earth to help meet the deep emotional needs that we have, not just God. (After all, God recognized that there was no suitable “helper” for Adam on earth, none that could fulfill him and meet his needs like another human and so he gave Eve to Adam for that purpose.) People aren’t perfect, for sure, and many of us have been deeply wounded by people who were close to us. As a result, it can be really hard for us to trust anyone around us with our emotional needs because the sting of the pain is very real.  

I want to say that there is hope for you! Hope for you to be able to heal from those emotional wounds from your childhood and/or adulthood and begin to see some of the unique people that God has placed in your life right now who could be there to meet some emotional needs for you. God doesn’t want any of us to be starved emotionally. As I have spent several years in a counselors office, doing the hard work of healing wounds, I am starting to recognize the importance of the people around me. Not everyone, but a few handpicked people that are safe for me to be vulnerable with and communicate the needs that I have so that I can get them met. I have three in my life right now who I know that I can be completely honest with and they will champion me and will do what they can to meet the needs I present because we have talked about that as a part of our relationship.  

It is not only permissible but necessary, woman of God, to recognize and seek out getting your emotional needs met, in order for you to live at the highest capacity that God saw from the beginning of time for your life! Wherever you are at right now, I encourage you to start with one small step today to see those needs getting met. That could mean picking up the phone or meeting for coffee with a friend that you already know is safe and taking a step of vulnerability with them. It could mean having a few awkward and uncomfortable talks with your spouse to let them see what’s inside of you, or it could mean that you may see that one of your needs is some counseling and therapy to help you move forward (it is the best and most loving thing I have done for myself in the past two years!). But please, PLEASE don’t go another day ignoring the beautiful and valuable needs that lie inside of you because a bright, new day lies just around the corner for you, holding the possibility of living fulfilled in such a way that you never could have imagined!