The Confidence of His Presence

  September  2008    Word of Life Ministries Newsletter 

Do we have the confidence of His presence in our daily life?  Do we believe that He is here with us today in Spirit, just as must as He was with His disciples in the flesh?  I think one of the reasons why it’s hard for us to believe that the Lord is with us is because we cannot see Him.

One of Jesus’ disciples called Thomas felt the same way.  He said except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. 

So when it comes down to it, because we cannot see Him with our eyes, or touch him with our hands as Thomas wanted to, we have a hard time accepting that He is just as present and working in our lives today as He was back then. But we know the Bible tells us that we walk by faith and not by sight.  That is the confidence that we have in Him today.

Jesus then came again and stood in the midst of his disciples, and this time Thomas was there.  And Jesus said unto Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are they that have not seen me and yet have believed.  So our faith must stand in the confidence of His presence in our life.

The Bible tells after Christ rose from the dead, that He appeared to many of His disciples.  I think the Bible is very precise in describing the events as they took place, and I would like to share with you three of these instances, three different scenarios, and maybe we can learn something from them.

• John 20: 11-18 and Mary stood without at the sepulcher weeping; and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulcher, and seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain.  And they said unto her, Woman, why weepest thou?  She saith unto them, because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. 

And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.  Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou?  Whom seekest thou?  She, supposing him to be the gardener saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.  Jesus saith unto her, Mary.  She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.  And Jesus said unto her, Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father:  but go instead to my brothers and tell them, I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.  Mary went to the disciples with the news, “I have seen the Lord!”  And she told them that he had said these things unto her.

• John 21: 4-5, 7, 15-17 early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but once again the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.  He called out to them, “Friends haven’t you any fish?” Then the disciple John said to Peter, “It is the Lord!”  As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It’s the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off while he was fishing) and jumped into the water. .

And then when they had finished eating Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of Jonas, do you truly love me more that these”?  “Yes Lord, “he said, “You know that I love you.”  Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” 

• Luke 24:13, 15-21, 30-31 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, and as they walked together they talked about all the things which had happened.  And Jesus himself came up and walked along side with them, and once again they were kept from recognizing him.  And He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along, and are so sad”?  They stood still, their faces downcast. 

One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?”  “What things?” Jesus asked.   “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied.  “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people.  The chief priest and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him;  but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel”. . .When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 

Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him. Jesus knew the things that these disciples were dealing with, and when He came to them, He asked them certain questions that got right down to the root of why they were hurting. These questions led to their eyes being opened, and their hope and their confidence was restored.

All these disciples were struggling and hurting, and Jesus purposely came to them to meet their need.  Each of them had now witnessed Christ and His resurrection and could see the risen Lord as never before. Each one had a specific need that required a specific solution, the Lord Himself.

First there was Mary Magdalene, whom Jesus had delivered from seven demons.  Try to imagine how she must have felt.  Jesus was dead, or at least so she thought.  She was so discouraged, all she could do was to weep and cry.  As her sandals flapped along the dusty little path to Jesus’ tomb, she relived what she had experienced.  She remembered the Lord at the time of her conversion, the love He showed her.  All she could think about was the last time she was close to Him, and now she will never see Him again.

Mary had completely relied upon Christ, the visible Jesus, the personal Christ.  She was a close follower of Jesus, and she loved Him.  But now, her experiences with Christ were memories, and she became totally broken.  She was overwhelmed with grief and sorrow. Sad and depressed she felt as if all hope was gone. 

What changed Mary’s life, what stopped the grieving and the sorrow was that she suddenly realized He was alive.  He was there standing right in front of her.  Her experience with the risen Lord was no longer past tense but a present realization.  Her depression dissolved in the confidence of His presence.

Jesus cares about you and me today, just as much as he cared about Mary.  He knows the things that we struggle with in our life.  He cares when our hearts are broken, when we grieve the loss of those we love.  He feels the hurts and the sadness that we feel.  He knows when we become discouraged and depressed. He hears our cries, He see's each tear that falls.

God sent Christ into the world to heal the brokenhearted, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.  That is the reason Jesus appeared to Mary, and He will reveal Himself to us in our time of need too.  Our experience with the Lord must be in the confidence of His presence.  The Bible tells us not to throw away our confidence in the Lord. He is not dead, He is not somewhere lying in a tomb, and He has not left us alone.  The Bible says that He is always with us, even unto the end of the world.  That means He is still with us today!

Have you ever given much thought to why Jesus willingly went to the cross, why he suffered all the things that He did, and bled and died for us?

(2 Corinthians 8:9)  Though He was rich, yet for our sake he became poor that we through his poverty might be made rich.  He came to give us life, and to give it more abundantly. In the amplified Bible it says it this way, “He came to give life in abundance, to the full, till it overflows”.  King David said in the book of Psalms, “Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life”.  

He bore our grief's, and carried our sorrows that we through His sorrows might be made glad.  He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, that by His stripes we are healed today. (Isaiah 53:5)  He bore all those things for you and me.

We begin to get a glimpse of the risen Saviour, the Living Christ as we look at the cross, and see the empty tomb.  Our confidence and our hope begins to come alive in us as we see the Christ who lives, and is not dead.  Today, when we look at Christ, we see Jesus who was crucified and conquers death, sin, sickness, poverty, and steps out of the grave.  No longer a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief and sickness, but a living and triumphant Son of God, no longer the Christ who was dead, but the Christ who is alive forevermore.

Now Peter had his own unique emotional need after Jesus was crucified. Peter had promised the Lord saying, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you”.  But not long after that, the Bible tells that he began to curse and swear, saying, I know not the man.  Not once but three times peter denied the Lord, and immediately the cock crew, and Peter remembered the Lords words and went out and wept bitterly.

But on that day that John spotted Jesus on the shore after His resurrection, Peter jumped out of the boat, into the water and swam as fast as he could to meet Him.  The guilt and shame that Peter had carried had vanished in the confidence of the Lords presence.  

He wanted to make things right because he had a present realization that the Lord was there.  And we need to have a present realization today to know that the Lord is here with us. Is there anything in our lives that we need to make right with Jesus?  Will we run to meet Him as Peter did?

And finally, there were the emotional depths of disappointment.  Two disciples traveling to Emmaus told Jesus, whom they didn’t recognize, that they “had hoped; that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel”.  They had longed for Him to be something other that what He apparently was, when Jesus’ death had signaled the end of their dream of deliverance.  His friends tumbled into disappointment and disillusionment. 

Yet again, Jesus’ presence melted away the emotional pain the men were feeling.  When they realized that Jesus was alive and their redemption was at hand, it changed their disappointment to excitement.  In the confidence of His presence Lost hope is restored by the resurrected Lord.

What confidence we have, what blessed assurance to know that in our times of need or struggles, that He cares and knows just what we are going through.  It’s in those times that He will come to us and reveal Himself to us, and like His followers before us, we too can have the confidence of His presence with us in our life.

         Rev. James A. Lewis                                                        Word of Life Ministries

  Hand in Hand Publications September 2008

I am very proud to welcome back to Hand in Hand Publications, as this months Guest Writer, my wife Jody Lewis from Ohio.  This month Jody shares with us a very timely and important message entitled, "Alone with God".  Written by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of God is speaking to us today in the midst of our very hectic lifestyle.

Jesus and various others in the Bible took the time to get alone with God.  They needed to get alone with God, and we too need to have that time alone with our Heavenly Father. 

I would like to invite you to take a moment and read more on Jody's message by clicking on this Hand in Hand Publications link, I know you will be blessed!    

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