THE HOME OF YOUR HEART

THE HOME OF YOUR HEART

‘I only ask one thing from our Lord. This is what I want, let me live in the Lord’s house all my life”(psalms 27:4).

This topic I am discussing now is purely concerned to the spiritual matters of the house here is not about the home made of stones, or wood, or straw with proper plan but it is concerned to the invisible home called the spiritual home. Just as a physical house that exists for our bodily welfare a spiritual home is also necessary to take care of our soul. We always think about a beautiful house with maximum facilities for our mortal body only. But we rarely think about the house for our soul that leads us finally to our salvation.

We some times forget that our body is mortal and our soul is immortal. With that idea in our minds, we should not give more importance to bodily things in this world. Our earthly body remains in a beautiful house where as our immortal soul will be wandering like a lonely cloud aimlessly over hills and valleys against the wishes of our God Almighty.

God has His own plan for our soul to live in peace and harmony; He does not want our soul to roam about thoughtlessly. He wants us to live with Him in His house because we are His children. We are part and parcel of our merciful God. As apostle Paul said, “ For in him we live and move, and have our being”(Acts 17:28). Since He is a spirit, He remains next to us. God Himself is our roof, walls to our house and a true foundation. He wants to be our mailing address and a reference for any thing so that we can completely depend upon Him and live peacefully.

The promise of His son is “If my people love me, they will obey my teaching. My father will love them and we will come to them and finally make our home with them”. For many people this might be a new thought, because they always take God as a deity and never to dwell with him. We might think God as a mysterious and miracle maker and not easily approachable.

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The Redemption Plan of God

When Jehovah led the children of Israel in the wilderness He stayed with them night and day. He stayed with them as a cloud during the day time and as a pillar of light during the night time. So, our merciful God never leaves us alone. And He promised this in (Mathew 28:20) “I will be with you always”. Our God is always dependable as He will provide us perpetual peace. He will be our fire of night and cloud of day. He will never desert us who believe Him with our faith.

God in heaven does not have any difference between Sunday morning or Thursday evening. We can approach Him at any time on any day with our prayer. Prayer is the only weapon by which we can become closer and more intimate with our God. He desires to talk with us always , irrespective of time and place. Some times, we may neglect and even Forget Him but He remembers us forever. Therefore through prayer, we can improve our relationship with God. Apostle Paul advised us to “pray without ceasing” , then “ be constant in prayers “ and “pray in the spirit at all times”.

David the man after God’s own heart said “ I am asking Yehovah “ for one thing to live with him in his house my whole life long. I will contemplate his beauty. I will study at his feet. That is the only quiet secure place in a noisy world.(Psalms 27: 4-5). Then what type of house of God David was looking for. That means David was yearning to be in the presence of God. He was longing to be in the house of God. He was a great poet among the Biblical writers, a great king and also a great killer.

Prayer would bring us ultimate joy. Even Jesus Christ being the son of God used to pray to His father by going to a lonely place. Through prayer we can talk with God our father face to face. Some people who are not habituated to pray might find it difficult to pray in the initial stage. Then they can mug up the Lord’s prayer and recite it as and when prayer is required. And that Lord’s prayer is as follows : Our father, who are in heaven Hallowed be thy name :.................................... ............................................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................................

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The Home Of Your Heart For thine is the kingdom and the power And the glory forever and ever ………. Amen.(Matthew 6 : 9-13)

“ Our father who is in heaven?” with these words Jesus Christ is leading and inviting us into the house of our Lord, shall all of us follow him?, Let us walk behind him, so that He will lead us into God’s living room since our hearts need a father. After sitting comfortably in the chair in our God’s living room and if we look at some of the portraits, hanging on the walls, we will certainly come across the portrait of father and son called the story of prodigal son.

This is the one of the moral stories from the New Testament called The prodigal son. According to the story , the younger son took the share of his property and went out of the house. He wandered into different places till all the money was exhausted. He suffered without food for some days. His last days were so pathetic he even began to eat bran that was given to the pigs in somebody’s house. He finally repented and decided to go back to his fathers house not as his son but as one of his servants. He offered his father not any gift nor explanation but only the smell of pigs and a rehearsal apology. So, what he said was “Father, I have sinned against God, and done wrong to you, I am no longer worthy to be called your son”.( Luke 15:21). And added, he was unworthy of his birth right.

He did not like to stay in his father’s house in the capacity of his second son. So he said demote me, Punish me, take my name off the mail box and my initials off family tree. I am willing to give up my place at your table. The prodigal son acted his part very well. Though the boy wanted to stop being his son the father is not willing to stop being a father. When the father found the lost son his joy knew no bounds. In his extreme happiness he even shed tears. Then the father ordered best clothes a gold ring, and shoes immediately for his son. Father also asked his servants to find out a fat calf to celebrate that happy occasion of the return of that prodigal son.

The father said , My son was dead but now he is alive again. He was lost but now he is found. This young man must have stunned at these words especially

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The Redemption Plan of God

“ My son was dead”. The child might be out of his house but he was not out of his fathers heart. He must have left the table but he never left the family. Let us not forget the heart breaking message here. We may be willing to be called ourselves the children of God. But God is always willing to call us his children. Basing on this moral story, we may conclude that God is our merciful father and we are His prodigal sons.

God is addressed by people with different names in the Bible. And the most familiar name is Father. He also likes to be called so. Even Jesus called Him father Don’t you know that I must be with my father in His house. Jesus in His prayer said Father I will give you my life. In the gospel of John alone Jesus repeated this name about 156 times. So, God loves to be called Father by us. It is beyond our understanding when Jesus called Jehovah ABBA . What is a common practice today was unheard of during the days of Jesus Christ.

“Abba” was an everyday word or homely or a word used in the family. But it is very strange no Jew was dared enough to use that word in the family. They never addressed God as Abba. And Jesus Christ also authorized His disciples to use that word Abba after Him. And also it seemed Jesus gave them a share in His sonship. Even in our Lord’s prayer the starting words are “our father” , reminds us. We are welcomed into the house of God as we have been adopted by the owner of that house. When we think about Jesus, He not only forgives us but also adopts us. It must be perhaps God’s plan to adopt whoever wish to go to Him.

He would accept us as His sons and then take us into His house and provide all our needs without our asking. After experiencing all the hospitality we feel like calling Him “Holy”. We can also call Him “King”. But when we want to touch Him or pray for our needs we must address Him “Father”.

In the Old Testament God is addressed with many names. Let us try to understand at least some of His names. If we study carefully, we can find at least eighty names mentioned in the Bible. Which were given by the Biblical heroes out of their faith. In the begging God was known as “Elohim”. It is a Hebrew

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The Home Of Your Heart word which means “a strong one or creator”. This name was repeated at lest thirty one times in the first chapter of Genesis alone. As God revealed Himself to his children, they saw in Him more than a mighty force. They saw in Him a loving “Father”, when he met them at the cross roads of their lives.

The next example is about Jacob, who came to see God as “Jehovah Raah” . which means a caring shepherd. Jacob told his family members as he was talking with God, “you had led me all my life”. This is no doubt a compliment about God. Because Jacob was a less than comparative sheep. God blessed him and finally his children were taken as God’s chosen people called Israelites. Jacob was not at all a well behaved man and a worthy candidate to the comparison of the other Biblical heroes in order to give him a good shepherd awarded yet God gave him food at the time of famine and forgiveness. If any body questions him how God was, he would simply say ‘Jehovah raah’ which means “ a caring shepherd”.

Regarding Abraham, God blessed him plentifully than all other Bible heroes. Yet he called God “Jehovah Jireh” , which means “God will provide”. Actually, his life was quite peaceful in “Ur”. But God asked him to leave that place and go to Canaan , the land of milk and honey that God promised to his descendants. When people questioned him, how he could live in that strange place, he simply answered, God will provide. Such strong faith and belief Abraham had towards God. His family members seemed to have worried about him, but he was never disturbed.

The final test of Abraham’s faith was the sacrifice of his son Isaac. One day God asked Abraham, to sacrifice his only son for Him on the Mount Morea. Without any feeling or doubt he went to the spot with all the necessary things. Then Abraham asked his son Isaac to lean on the sacrificial altar. And when he was about to cut Isaac, God asked him to stop and provided a lamb for that sacrificial purpose. Abraham did the sacrifice and saved his only begotten son from the death. That was the faith of Abraham.

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The Redemption Plan of God

So, to his credit Abraham had some titles. He was called father of many nations. He was called the father of circumcision. He was called the father of righteousness. He was called the father of faithful etc. .

When his son enquired about the lamb for the sacrifice, Abraham replied “Jehovah Jireh “. That means “God is the provider”.

The next man God watched to bring to the lime light from Bible was the most insignificant fellow “Gidion” . One day , God sent His angel to Gidion with a message. He was asked by the angel to save Israelites from the cruel lands of Medianites. Because they became a constant to them. God wanted to use this common man to achieve His goal. Then Gidion made some troublesome sacrifice at the place where he meet the angel and called that place “Jehovah Shalom” which means “peace be unto you”. He thought for some time that he would die because he had seen God face to face. But God gave him confidence he would not die, as He was with him.

This example gives the idea that we can do any thing and every thing as long as God is at our back and push us forward. God will always encourage us to do that kind of impossible things possible, by putting in us confidence that leads us to improve faith on Him. Thus He gives us a wonderful gift the gift of peace at all times and on all occasions including peace of good understand. The same peace God gave to David after he showed him the giant Goliath for fighting. God gave the same peace to Saul who became Paul later by showing him the Gospel. God gave peace to Jesus Christ also by showing Him the cross. Now He gave the same peace to Gideon after he won the war and brought peace to Israel from the enemy.

And much might be said about the faithful servant of God called Moses. He carved the name of God as Jehovah Rophe . for this we can find the English translation in Exodus 15.26 as “I am the Lord Who heals you”. About one and half million Israelites followed Moses into the desert land. Their jubilation over liberation soon became their frustration, due to their condition of dehydration.

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The Home Of Your Heart These Israelites walked for a few days in that barren desert and came to a lake. The water in its appeared to be dirty, blackened bitter and dangerous.

Then Moses saw the situation that they were grumbling among themselves for water. And he cried unto God. But God showed him a tree nearby when he begged for water. He must have thrown away the tree into the water out of curiosity. The water became pure and perfect. All of them drank that water and quenched their thrust and the Almighty was glorified. In this case God Himself revealed his name I am the Lord Who heals you. He is also called Jehovah Nisei . which means the Lord is my banner. The banner in the battle field has its own importance. When the battle was going on seriously and when a soldier was left alone in helpless condition, he would raise his banner to indicate the position.

In the same way when the Amalekites attacked Israelites on their way to the promised land, Moses went up to the top of the mountain and prayed to God. The battle was in full swing. As long as Moses raised his hands, Israelites were in success. Whenever he put his hands down the Amalekites won the battle. He understood the situation. He was not an ordinary man and God was with him. He kept his hands raised continuously and the Amalekites ran away from the battle field.

After that Moses built an altar and chiseled a name of God on a stone. It is called Jehovah Nisei which means the Lord is my banner. These few names are mentioned here to understand His character. And let us see how far these names are applicable to our daily life.

1)Elohim ———— the great one creator. We can depend upon Him for any

thing in our life.

2)when you are anxious about provision, then talk to Jehovah Jireh, He will

provide you what is needed in critical conditions.

3)If the challenges are too big for you to tackle then seek the help of Jehovah

Shalom. The Lord will give you the peace.

The Lord will heal you and take care of you.

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The Redemption Plan of God

Nisei. The Lord is your banner, you can take shelter in Him.

So God is the shepherd , Who guides you., the Lord Who brings peace, in the storm, the physician who heals the sick and the banner that guides the soldier. Let us understand how God wants to reveal Himself to His blesses. Two heavy hearted disciples were on their way to Emmaus. It was the resurrection Sunday. Jesus body was still in grave. They were lamenting that Jesus would save Israel from the Roman rule and also from the taxes. Though the disciples moved with Him for three years they did not correctly understand Him and the purpose of His coming into this world. He had come to deal with the people regarding the sin and death but not to deal and force Israel from the Roman rule.

Both were wrong in their thinking, they missed the main purpose of His coming into this world and His death. That Sunday would have been the happiest day for them, had they understood the real purpose of His death and the resurrection. They did not understand the will of God. So they were in despair. God has a will for us. He said I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you, I will give you a hope and good future (Jeremiah 29.11). He is willing to receive you into His house and discuss with you certain important matters concerning eternal life or salvation etc. .

God is asking you to meet Him sit with Him and clarify all your doubts that are hiding in your heart. God has plenty of time at His disposal. You come and seek the will of God. In our prayer, if you say Thy will be done, it means we are seeking the heart of God. The word “will” means a strong desire. The study is what we can learn and what God wants us to learn. Our God is the God with open mind and with open heart. He is not the God of confusion. That is what He was doing on the road of Emmaus with the two disciples. They witnessed the process of the death of Jesus for some time and left that place with empty heads. Then they packed their bag and baggage and left that place. They headed towards Emmaus and Jesus met them on the road.

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The Home Of Your Heart

It is really wonderful that Jesus met the disciples on the same road. How does he reveal His will to us. You may be surprised at this simple process, God wants to reveal His will through the believers. Jesus spoke to women on the first Easter and in turn they spoke to us. He spoke to believers through believers. He wanted to reveal Himself and His will through the people of God.

One day God Himself reveals to you through the church. He will reveal to you through the word of God. In spite of their continuous touch with Jesus the disciples disregarded his word. It was their second mistake. They did not care to look into the Scripture . they listened to their fears only. But Jesus appeared to them after resurrection and corrected them with the Bible. He warned them that they were foolish enough in not believing what is said by the prophets in the scripture.

In the words of the prophets Jesus must suffer persecution, then He must be crucified and then on the third day He must raise from the grave. This is all written in the Bible but the disciples were not aware of it, through the words of prophets , He used scripture to reveal His will. This is the Gods will that I should raise up those who have given me (John 6.39) .

It is Gods will that you be born again that you be born not of the will of flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1.13). It is not God’s will that one little one perish.(Matthew 18.14). it is my fathers will that every one who sees the son and believes on Him at the Last day.(John 6.40). it is God’s will that all people of the world should be saved when you come across two roads you must think wisely which road would lead to the kingdom of God. His general will provides us with guidelines which help us to understand His specific will for our individual life.

The disciples at last begged Jesus to stay with them because it was already night and Jesus stayed with them. We can also understand the will of God by spending more time in his presence. The key to knowing the heart of God is by having relationship with Him, a personal relationship as God spoke to Moses through the burning bush. That does not mean all of us should go to a bush

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The Redemption Plan of God near by and wait for God to come out of that busk and speak with us. God used a fish to correct Jonah who was asked by God to go to Nineveh city with a message. But Jonah was reluctant to go to that city and planned to go to Joppa. Finally he was thrown into the sea and a fish was arranged to swallow Jonah. That does not mean all of us should go to a sea shore and wait for a fish to come out of water and swallow us. Jesus followed the disciples up to Emmaus but pretended as if He had to go to further. That does not mean Jesus was not willing to stay with people who would not invite Him at all with their hearts. Our Lord would be waiting for our invitation always.

Please remember one technical point in this context. Jesus allowed them to recognize Him only after He was properly invited to stay with them that night. There is one final way God would reveal Himself. That IS THROGH THE FIRE OF God. When they saw who He was and recognized Him. He disappeared. They felt like a fire burning in their hearts, when Jesus talked with them on the road and explained the scripture to them. They knew they had been with Him because of the fire with in them.

God reveals His will by setting a torch to your soul. He gave Jeremiah a fire for hard hearts. He gave Nehemiah a fire for a forgotten city. He set Abraham on fire for a land he had never seen. He set Isaiah on fire with a vision he could not resist. Forty years of wilderness wanderings did not douse the passion of Moses.

Jericho city could not slow Joshua and Goliath did not deter David. There was a fire burning within all of them. “What is the fire that consumes you then?.”

God walks like a torch from heart to heart warming the cold, and thawing the chilled, and stirring the ashes . He is at once a Galilean, welfare and welcome candle. He will come to purge infection and illuminate your direction. So the fire of your heart is the light of your path. And those who are without that fire will mock at it. Those who know it and these who know Jesus will understand it correctly. Therefore to meet the savior means to be set aflame. To discover His flame is to access a world like you have seen.

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The Home Of Your Heart “ And lead us not into temptation But deliver us from the evil one”.

Satan was God’s servant as long as he was allowed to remain in heaven, he was most handsome and most powerful among the Arch angels, as pride goes before one’s fall he became proud of himself for his qualifications and rebelled against God for equal rights in heaven. And to God he became like a bee in the bonnet. So, God was disgusted with his behavior and necked him out of heaven into the bottomless pit. He came to the earth with one third of the angel population. According to Bible history the population of angels is about one hundred crores. As long as he was in heaven his name was Lucifer . But the moment he was thrown out of heaven his name was changed to satan, evil, devil etc. .

Even after coming to the earth Satan continued his rebellious activities not directly on God but on his creation of people. For his revenge against God. Adam and Eve became his victims. Let us consider some of the persons in the Bible, how this satan tried to influence them by his cunning nature. God promised Sara wife of Abraham a child and that could not be fulfilled for a good number of years. In such conditions satan arranged a crib to tempt Sara against God’s promise. Yet Sara got a son Isaac, when she was about to lose all her hopes because her age. So God saves all the best to the last.

In the case of Moses king pharaoh permitted Israel to go out of his country. When they were going he followed them with some soldiers to bring them back, satan who had been watching all that felt happy, pharaoh reached the red sea to the spot where the Israelites were about to cross the red sea. But he was shocked to see the safe crossing of the red sea by all Israel and the drowning scene of all soldiers of pharaoh and their miserable death. The Satan did not understand the power of God. Even then God’s power is more powerful than the power of king Pharaoh.

The next man to be considered was prophet Daniel. Many young and energetic men were taken as captives from Jerusalem to Babylon. Satan thought by taking all intelligent people of Jews, God was defeated and he became

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The Redemption Plan of God successful. But to his surprise Daniel enjoyed all top most positions in that kingdom next to the king . Daniel with other three young Jews Shedrack, Meshack and Abednego made the king to praise our God by saying that there was no other God greater than our God . As a matter of fact the king used Daniel for his extra-ordinary intelligence he was praised by the king and also the king praised the God of Daniel.

At every attempt satan received a rebuff and became a fool. So as satan proposed one thing God disposed another thing. Regarding Paul, when he was imprisoned, satan thought his prison life would silence the pulpit and felt happy. That was done of course, but the most wonderful thing was he could write letters to the churches of Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians. While he was in the prison.. those letters became so important in the New Testament that , some Biblical commentators said, without the letters of Apostle Paul there is no New Testament.

Apostle Peter was another example Satan tried to discredit Jesus by providing Peter to deny Him. But Satan’s plan was fired back and Peter set an example of how God’s grace can extend, “Deliver us from the evil ones”. The meaning of these words in our prayer is that we needed always the protection of God from Satan, the evil Satan.

What must be the main reason for Satan to became the trouble suitor to the people of God. He was originally one of the Arch angels not satisfied with the status he was given in heaven by God. He claimed equal position with God. He was not happy to worship God like other angels. He wished for equal throne with God. In the words of Prophet Ezekiel both Satan’s beauty and evil were unequalled among angels. The angels were asked to worship God like other human beings.

Prophet Isaiah and prophet Ezekiel both narrated the character of an angel. They said, the angel was more powerful than any other human being and more beautiful than any other human beings, Yet more foolish than any other human being who has ever lived. His pride was main reason for his down fall.

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The Home Of Your Heart Lucifer, even with his pure and perfect heart was inferior to God. All angels are inferior to God and even today Satan is the servant of God Almighty.

He was also called by some critics as “The servant of paradise”. The spirit of God which is in you undoubtedly greater than the evil which is which is in this world. But God used Satan always for this purpose, and after the work is done he was fooled and sent out. Satan was only an instrument in the hands of God to advance his activities. Let us see some examples how God is using the devil for the fulfillment of heavenly issues.

God will use Satan to refine the faithful. Apostle Paul was a Chosen author of the Bible by God. He wrote about thirteen letters which became very famous in the New Testament. The other Biblical writers worried a lot over his death, because they lost such a great man. He penned some historical documents. He healed the sick and travelled into many places in spreading the word of God. He loved Paul very much but God hated pride in him. And so He used Satan to do that. Three times I pleaded with God to take it away from me. but God said to Paul “ My grace is sufficient for you, My power is made perfect in weakness”.

Satan and his powers are simply tools in the hands of God . Of all examples, the most touching is the incident of Job. God used Satan to test the faith of Job on Him. God gave him full permission to Satan on Job but not on his body. Stan tried his best to change Job against God but in vain. Job passed this test and received double blessing from God. But Satan grumbled over in himself and said, Job would have fallen if he had been forced some pain to his body. Satan has no power to use on any body except that God gives him.

Satan tried even to control Jesus Christ at one stage. But the later simply warned him and sent away. Christ said the first century church Smyrna “Do not be afraid of what you are about, to suffer, I tell you the devil will put some of you in prison to test you and you will suffer ten days. But be faithful even if you have to die and I will give you a crown of life”. (Revelation 2.10). Jesus tells about the persecution in the church and the duration of suffering is just ten days. The out come of ten days persecution is a crown of life.

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The Redemption Plan of God

Here God used Satan as a tool to persecute a faithful. He could bear it patiently for ten days and received the award of the crown of life. God also used Satan to awaken the sleeping. About one thousand years ago, before apostle Paul another Jewish leader Soul became the first king of Israel. Unfortunately he became jealous of David the next king for his abilities. As time passed on Saul became insanely hostile to David. Now God wanted to awaken him from the fog of jealousy and looked for the unwilling service of Satan. Then an evil spirit was sent upon Saul and he prophesied in his own house.

If Soul would not drink the cup of God’s kindness , let him drink despair and cup of hell’s fury. The New Testament also gives some references, where deception is administered. Apostle Paul tried to check the church in Corinth for their tolerance towards immorality. As spoke about an adulterer in church, and then handed that man over to Satan. With that act his sinful life would have been destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.

Apostle Paul gave proper instructions to Timothy a young Evangelist. He was dealing with two disciples who had shipwrecked faith and who tried to influence other members negatively. After locating those who worshiped the creation rather than the creator, Paul said, “God left and let them do the shameful things they wanted to do. We have seen so far some examples, how God used Satan for testing and changing some people, as His personal achievements.

Though Satan plans something he has to get the permission from God “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me”.. Jesus said, this is the proof, the wolf can not get the sheep with out permission from shepherd, and the shepherd will only permit the attack, if it is worth in the long run. You intended evil against me, but you meant it for good.(Genesis 50.20). we must always remember one thing, Satan can never enter into the walls of the “Great House of God”.

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The Home Of Your Heart Following are some of the names addressed to God out of about 80 in number

1)Elohim (Hebrew) --- a strong one, or creator. This word Elohim is repeated

about 31 times in Genesis 1 chapter itself.

2)Jehovah raah---a caring shepherd.

3)Jehovah Jirrah---God will provide .

4)Jehovah raphe---I am the Lord Who heals you.

5)Jehovah Nisei---the Lord is my banner.

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FAITH CONQUERS

This is the story of a blind man by name “Bartimaeus” who succeeded in his persistent efforts to meet Jesus to get his blindness healed. This story, quoted from the 10th chapter in the book of Mark, is considered one of the best episodes from the Bible, especially with the persistence of Bartimaeus to achieve his goal. We may find qualitative and moral teachingsfrom this episode, towards our constant effort to receive any thing from our Lord. Jesus expected similar persistence among his disciples that Bartimaeus possessed. So, Jesus said, “Ask and it shall be given to you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened” (Matthew 7:7-9).

The main purpose of persistence is like teaching within the family. “James” the brother of Jesus in his typical blunt way had said, “you fight and war, yet you have not because you ask not” (James 4:2). It means, if we desire anything, we must ask God, and ask for it persistently till we get it from Him. There are two

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Faith Conquers main points to note in this context. First, whatever we desire from our Lord must be done with devotion and faith. A Hebrew author expressed a similar idea, stating that, without faith it is impossible to please God. We must therefore ask in faith and we must ask persistently. Secondly we must not ask God simply what we have in our mind. Before we ask anything, we must think whether God is willing to grant our desire. Our willingness for something and God’s willingness to grant that must coincide for any success. That is to say, we must ask God only things he likes.

Apostle Paul points out “if you abide in me (Jesus) and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will it shall be done to you”(John 15:7). Abiding in Jesus Christ requires both persistence and familiarity. We must spend more time with Jesus in prayers and meditation, so that over time, we hope to be with his will. To remain strong in faith requires persistence and in order to achieve that we must look into the story of Bartimaeus.

Bartimaeus,an Israelite, was born blind. He struggled a lot during his life but found peace in Jesus heart through undying persistence. So in our lives, God wants all of us to be like him, considered the best example for persistence and also referred to as the king of persistence for his untiring efforts.

Jesus and his disciples were on their way to Jerusalem to participate in the Passover festival. This time was very crucial for Jesus because he was entering the city where his life would be taken away from him shortly. Duringthis final week, his glorious three-year ministry would be culminated, this emotional week would change the course of human history for eternity.

Bartimaeuswas somehow known to the community of Jericho and was designated as the blind Bartimaeus. His brief account was also given by Matthew, (Matt. 20:30-34), highlighting two beggars without names. In this case the name Bartimaeus was depicted,as a concerned beggar. The meaning of this name Bartimaeus was “the son of Timeous”, and the meaning of his fathers’ name - “depicted”. Some scholars were of the opinion that the father of Bartimaeus was also blind. In those days blind people were born that way or became blind, which was considered a curse or punishment from God.

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The Redemption Plan of God

Bartimaeus had a designated permanent spot,sitting and begging on the highways. On that day Jesus was passing through that highway with his disciples, disturbed the usual day of begging for Bartimaeus. If we lose a limb or a body part due to whatever reason, we become unhappy. And if it involves our vision, no one can guess how we feel throughout our life, as we can’t see anything in this world including our kith and kin. So, to be blind is generally considered the most miserable feeling in this world.

Bartimaeus understood the great commotion around him was due to the arrival of Jesus. At that time, among the variouskinds of people gathered there, some commented that Jesus was a God. Some believed he would bring political freedom to Israel from the Romans. And some shouted against Jesus in a hateful manner. Bartimaeus also shouted. He zealously cried out to Jesus, not to be denied by Him from his desperate condition.

“How did Bartimaeus address Jesus”? He shouted “Jesus the son of David, have mercy on me.”By referring to Jesus as the “Son of David” a clear-cut Messianic term, he correctly demonstratedhis thoughts. H must have come to this understanding through his abundant faith in God. The ministry of Jesus proclaimed Him as the Messiah of Israel. Many people didn’t believe this proclamation, but among those who believed Him, Bartimaeus was one.

Wherever Jesus went, he also had enemies. So when Bartimaeus was shouting at Jesus, some people in the crowd warned him to refrain from doing so, and charged him to hold his tongue. There were three kinds of people in the crowd with different opinions about Christ. The first type who believed the words of Bartimaeus when he called Jesus “Son of David”, but his shouting had disturbed their peace. The second type of people, who didn’t believe that Jesus was the Messiah, as they seemed to have heard it for the first time. The third type had faith in Jesus, and believed that Jesus would be made king of Israel, and that he should not be associated with common society.

The constant shouting of Bartimaeus irritated the first type in the crowd described above. When some tried their best to silence him to control him, he

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Faith Conquers defiantly began to shout louder than before.He never seemed to care for their obstructionism, and appeared to say - “the more you tell me to shut up, the more I am going to shout”. Until that time, the blind beggar was shouting for alms, but this time he was straining more, as the gift of healing his blindness by Jesus was more precious than any thing for him, and incomparable in any capacity to his regular alms. Therefore he was constantly shouting “Jesus, the son of David, have mercy on me”.

He had confidence that Jesus was capable of restoring his vision because of his faith towards the Messiah. He was right in his sayings about Jesus, and was appealing to Jesus to take up his case to heal his blindness. Many walking people shouting other things stopped moving in surprise. Jesus picked up this lone man from a thousand screaming voices. Some were screaming for healing, some for their devotion towards him, and some hauling at him in derision.But the voice of Bartimaeus was sincere and coated with purity, devotion and longing. His persistence in pursuing Jesus was really wonderful and persuasive enough to induce the king of the universe to stop walking. Jesus, undoubtedly an expert in dealing with this kind of situations appropriately, heard Bartimaeus and commanded him to come closer.

It is certainly fascinating to see that Jesus, who was about to change the history of the world within a week by his crucifixion, would actually spare some time to meet the needs of poor people like the honest beggar Bartimaeus. He had a pure and perfect heart. His heart and soul were filled with strong faith and belief, the kind that easily touched the heart of God.

The blind beggar’s faith based persistence was more effective probably due to his blindness. Everything came to a standstill when Jesus stopped and the murmuring went on. We must guess whether the blind beggar was responsible for the hubbub. Jesus also might not have called Bartimaeus directly, but must have sent some one towards him. At that time it seemed there were many blind people gathered there, hoping for some miracle to take place, so Bartimaeus had every reason to “Be of good comfort”.

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The Redemption Plan of God

When the divine directive order had come to Bartimaeus saying, “Rise He calls thee” - with these words, one can understand what must have been in the mind of the beggar. We are not sure how long he knew Jesus, but we can be sure of one thing that he was a staunch believer in Jesus. And now all that he heard about Jesus, all that he believed, and all that he trusted through his faith would be revealed to him soon. The beggar was in darkness until then, and now he was going to see the light of the world.

Bartimaeus wished to meet the light of the world (Jesus)face to face. He threw away his garment(shawl), probably to free himself. That shawl appeared to be an expensive one and someone might come out of the crowd and claim that one. The people around him also gave him the way. As he was a blind man there is a very possibility to lose his way. And finally Bartimaeus met Jesus. It was a Messianic meeting, a wonderful success in his life. He boldly crossed the crowd to meet the Messiah of Israel. It was the culmination of the blind beggar’s wasted dark life.

Bartimaeus was shouting before the Lord. He said “Son of David, have mercy on me”. Then Jesus summoned the blind beggar that showed He was really interested to show mercy upon the beggar. Jesus being omniscient what the beggar wanted, he would have given him. But it was the habit of Jesus to question the people that meet him. He knew what we need before we ask him. Jesus is our loving Lord. He likes to meet his children and talk to them. He wants to have relationship with us forever and that relationship involves love and communion. Jesus always loves us even if we don’t love Him. He wants us to spend some time in prayer and meditation.

Jesus was ready to bless the blind beggar, but questioned him in a casual manner. He asked the beggar “What do you want me to do for you”? There was something going on in the crowd. Many people simply heard the name of Jesus, but they didn’t know who he was. They were going to see his actions, also in regard to the blind beggar through a miracle. The second point is that Jesus was going to teach the crowd somethingmore important as all were his children. As

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Faith Conquers every one was important to Jesus in some way, Jesus was more important to all of us. The third point was concerning to Jesus himself and his child Bartimaeus - what he would do to him, as within a week, Jesus was going to be crucified for him and for all of us.

The blind beggar was seeking vision from Jesus. So he loudly said, “Lord, might I receive my sight”. The original word that Bartimaeus used for the Lord was “Rabbani” which means “My great one”. The word Rabbani was among the most honorablevocabulary in those days and the blind beggar used that word freely. This man knew from the beginning that Jesus was capable of giving him sight. Jesus also announced in the beginning of His ministry that He came to do many things, and healing the sick was one of them.

The spirit of the Lord was with Him. The Lord also anointed Him into the world to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the broken hearted, andrestore sight to the blind. The remarkable faith of Bartimaeus brought him two gifts, though he was seeking just the restoration of his vision. After granting both gifts, Jesus said, “Go your way, your faith has made you heal”. It is fascinating to note here, Jesus practically spoke nothing about his granting of sight. But he had stressed more for he was made “whole”. This is another way of saying that his soul had been saved from hell. The beggar didn’t come for redemption, butfor healing his sight. His virtuous devotion and unbounded faith brought him salvation. And by this, God made him the citizen of eternity. Bartimaeus precious life was responsible for his two valuable gifts, the sight as well as salvation.

What he was seeking all the time became reality. The actual physical healing was different from the inner reality, which Jesus said that Bartimaeus had been made “whole”. This reference was perhaps understood by only a limited number of people from that crowd. However, every one must have understood the significance of restoring the sight because, such miracles could be done only by the Messiah. Jesus banished blindness from Bartimaeus.

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The Redemption Plan of God

Jesus made perfect, the healing of the blindness of Bartimaeus. There was no effort, no error, or ineffectiveness, when the creator of the universe did that. The work of God is perfect. Whoever comes to Jesus for any need, He will help him and accept him as his child and this is proved in the case of Bartimaeus.

He became grateful to the Lord for the reward he received. Let us study the verse again. The original phrase by Jesus in this context was, “Go your way”. This is another way of saying by Jesus,”Go in Peace”. Instead, Jesus could have told him “Everything you have asked me to do for you I have done and more. Now go your way in peace, you are completely healed”. It was not the intention of Jesus to say it like that in order to get rid ofthe people, but to make sure he had completed the work of healing. It was His way of telling him “All is well”.

Finally Bartimaeus was healed. He got his eyesight. He expressed his gratitude to Jesus for this reward. But there were many more waiting anxiously with the hope they too would be healed like Bartimaeus. If they were successful, they would go back to their places and tell their friends and relatives about the miracles of Jesus and so on. Though Bartimaeus was healed, he didn’t want to leave that place, because he was in the presence of the Messiah. In this short story, we are given the vision of a man in full worship mode, we understood someone whose persistence was driven by his wonderful faith.

This Galilean was not a simple magicianwho performed a variety of miracles, but also a savior of humanity and the Lord of all. There was no doubt that the immutable faith of Bartimaeus had brought Jesus to that highway from Jericho city.

It was his faith that prompted him to cry out to Jesus. It was his faith that did not allow him to remain silent. It was his spotless faith that brought him physical healing and spiritual salvation. And finally it was his unchangeable faith that carried him along to Jerusalem, praising and worshipping the Messiah as he went.

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Faith Conquers

Persistence in Christian life is not persistence for salvation. But as true Christians we can be persistent to our benefits from our God. If we desire anything from our Lord, we must keep asking for it persistently. We must always be in touch with God and keep communion with Him. This, we learnt from the story of Bartimaeus. Jesus was very much impressed by the character of Bartimaeus and wished to spend a little time with him. Jesus considered him his beloved and faithful child. So God wants us to live the livable life filled with persistence.

God wants us to be persistent in our prayers. We must spend more time in prayers because through prayers only we can become close to God. We can have direct contact with God. Persistence in us is a perfect spiritual two way street between Jesus and us. This is the moral we can learn from the story of Bartimaeus, the blind beggar.

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