Luke 5 Archives - Good Morning Girls

I have literally been sitting here for hours trying to get this post written…..

Typing words, then deleting them.

Reading and praying and reading the verses over and over again.

More typing and more deleting.

I have words in my heart that are having trouble getting out……nights like tonight tend to become early mornings for me.

You see, blogging is a struggle for me. I’m not a natural writer. Words don’t normally flow from me very easily. I struggle with them, pray over them and ask God just to speak through me.

I am only a vessel.

There is so much on my heart that I’d love to share concerning Luke chapter 5, but the biggest point I see is Jesus’s love and compassion for all the different types of people He encountered.

The leper
The paralyzed man & his friends
The Pharisees
The tax collectors

If we truly want to “Live Like Jesus”, we have to be willing to rub shoulders with people who are different from us.

We have to be willing to reach out and touch those who are hurting.

We have to extend words of encouragement and generously give hugs of compassion to those who are hurting, broken and discouraged.

I have one life to live and I want to daily give it away to whoever God chooses to place in my life for that particular day.

From the moment I took my first breath, the ticking clock of my numbered days began.

I want every day to matter.

The good days and the bad days…I want them all to matter.

I have been given this one beautiful life…….I want it to count, I want it to bring glory to God.

I want to live my life like Jesus…for Jesus.

I want to love people the way He loves people.

I want to see them the way He sees them.

I want to have the same compassion that He has for people.

I want to mourn with those who are mourning and rejoice with those who are rejoicing. (Romans 12:15)

In order to be more like Christ…..I need to go where He goes. Even if that means to the “other” side of the tracks…

I need to associate with those He associated with….

Jesus came for the hurting, the lost….am I not called to reach out to the same?

Living Like Jesus means getting out of my comfort zone.

It means, “rubbing shoulders” with those I feel I don’t have very much in common with.

It means reaching out and touching the “lepers” in my life….and realizing I have a lot in common with them.

We are all needing a touch from our Savior.

We all need to hear that He is willing…

Willing to walk this straight and narrow path with us.

Willing to help us seek His face each day.

Willing to forgive on the days that we have failed.

Willing to extend, grace, love and compassion to us just like He did to those we have read about this week.

You see, we are all infected with sin…some of us just wear the effects of our sins more visibly than others but make no mistake, we are all desperate for a touch from our Savior.

This past January I wrote my 2013 New Year resolutions down in a journal, this is what I wrote:

“I want to “Live Like Jesus” this year. By the end of 2013 I want to be more like Christ than I was at the beginning of 2013…plain and simple, that’s my resolution.”

I want to love more, love deeper and love greater.

I want to see people the way Jesus sees them. With love, compassion and understanding.

If we want to be like Jesus, we have to step out of our “circles” of comfort and step into other people’s worlds.

As a Christian, I want to live my life like Jesus lived His……fully engaged in God’s work knowing His purpose and acting on it with love and compassion.

To the leper, Jesus reached out and spoke the words, “I am willing.” He didn’t have to, Jesus could have healed the leper with His words, but Jesus knew that wouldn’t be enough…..Jesus reached out his hand and touched him, “I am willing..” Then Jesus spoke words of love and encouragement. Am I not called to do the same? Reach out, touch those who are hurting in my life and then speak words of love, compassion and healing.

My challenge for us as we strive to “Live Like Jesus” is to lovingly reach out to those who no one touches, to truly “be willing” to be Jesus’s hands and feet on this earth by being watchful of those who are discarded by others.

A few years later, Jesus will stretch out His hands….. on a cross and this time through the sacrifice of His life He said…..”I am willing” once again.

What are some ways you can say, “I am willing” in your life?

What are some ways we can “Live Like Jesus” this week as we seek to be Jesus’s hands and feet to a hurting world?

Love God Greatly!

-Angela

Luke {Week 5} From Me Sized Dreams to God Sized Dreams

What are some of your dreams?

Would you like a bigger house? More money? Maybe some quiet time and rest? How about more honor or respect?

I believe, like many of us, Peter had dreams of his own. Like most fishermen, I’m sure he had a dream of one day catching “the big one!” You know the “one” that would bring in big money and be the talk of the town.

Jesus knew Peter’s dream too.

Jesus set foot in Peter’s boat that special day thousands of years ago not only to teach a lesson for those on shore, or to bring in a super catch, but to change a heart and “cast” a new dream. A bigger dream. A better dream. A God-sized dream.

Week 5 Video

(If you can’t see the video, click here.)

1. Sometimes we just need to obey

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Simon (Peter) answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”

Peter was sure he was the expert in this category…..fishing that is. Sure he had seen Jesus heal his mother-n-law but now Jesus was entering Peter’s world of expertise… fishing, and Peter found out that he really isn’t an expert after all.

Have you allowed Jesus to enter all areas of your life? Even the ones that you feel you are an “expert” in? Jesus doesn’t just want to be involved in the “spiritual” aspects of our lives but rather ALL aspects of your life, spiritual and non-spiritual.

He wants to be involved in:

Our goals

Our parenting

Our relationships

Our finances

Our work inside and outside the home

Our dreams

Our calendar

But in order to do this, we first need to let Him into our “boats” and then obey His orders……whether we understand the plan or not. Remember, Jesus is never going to ask us to do something that is contrary to His Word or His nature.

By allowing Jesus into his boat and obeying His orders, Peter experienced something that before he could only dream about.

2. We are sinners in need of a Savior.

When we allow Jesus to enter our world, we begin to develop a personal relationship with Him by spending time reading His Word and in prayer. Jesus begins to work in our lives and as He does, we begin to realize our sins and our desperate need of a Savior.

Once Peter realized who Jesus really was (God) and who he was (a sinner), Peter was willing to leave everything and follow Jesus.

3. Exchanging our “Me” sized dreams for God sized dreams

I love how Jesus met Peter right where he was at…on Peter’s level, in Peter’s work.

Jesus knew Peter’s “me” sized dream and met it……easily.

It’s almost like He said, “Is that really all that you’ve got?”

Then Jesus exchanged Peter’s “me” sized dream for a God sized dream.

In one day Peter went from being a fisherman to being a man who “will catch men” for the Kingdom of God. I’m sure the years of training Peter had acquired through fishing prepared him for his new occupation as a “fisherman of men”.

Once Peter got a taste of what Jesus could do through his life, it ruined him! He didn’t want to go back! Peter was willing to leave EVERYTHING and FOLLOW Jesus.

What about you?

What God sized dreams is Jesus placing in your heart? Be like Peter, welcome Jesus in, obey what He is asking you to do and then be willing to take action.

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Digging Deeper Resources: For those of you who would like to dig a little deeper into our scripture for this week, I’ve provided some commentary links for you to read and share with the women in your groups.

John MacArthur

1. A Lesson from a Leper

2. A Saving Faith in a Paralyzed Man

3. Only God Forgives Sin, Part 1

4. Only God Forgives Sin, Part 2

5. Jesus Came to Call and to Save Sinners

6. The Uniqueness of the Gospel

John Piper

1. Breaking Nets, Sinking Boats and Saving Men

This week’s reading plan: