I have always loved the story of Bartimaeus the blind man who called out to Jesus as Jesus was passing by. You can find the account in Mark 10:46-52.

I was first introduced to this passage by my youth pastor, Dean Woodward, many years ago. I can still see him telling the story reinacting Bartimaeus crying out to Jesus “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” I loved the way Dean would tell about the disciples trying to hush Bartimaeus and then the way they changed their tune when Jesus stopped to address Bartimaus. They went from rebuking Bartimaeus to encouraging him! “Take heart. Get up; [Jesus] is calling you.”

While in college at Columbia International University I was assigned a word study for the words “all the more” found in verse 48. Sounds like a strange word study, but I loved it! This phrase is used several times in Scripture. It is used here to describe Bartimaeus’ response when rebuked, he cried out to Jesus “all the more”. It is used when the crowd is asked by Pilate if he should release Jesus “and they cried out all the more Crucify him!” (Matthew 27:23) In Romans 5:20 we are told, “where sin increased, grace abounded ALL THE MORE”! What an amazing picture!

So I came to this passage last week already loving it and by no surprise God showed me a new adoration Brian and I are currently reading Sacred Rhythms by Ruth Haley Barton together. Last week we worked through chapter one individually and then had a great date night discussion! The chapter was on desires and it lead us to Bartimaeus. Here is a blind man sitting on the side of the road who decides to cry out to Jesus for help. I love the way he does so “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Bartimaeus asks for mercy. He asks to receive that which he does not deserve, he knows his own sin, his own brokeness and the fact that before the Lord he needs mercy. Bartimaeus does not give up when told by others to be quiet! Oh, no! He cries out all the more! Then Jesus calls to him, and asks him the most beautiful question “What do you want me to do for you?”

Barton writes “Jesus himself routinely asked people questions that helped them to get in touch with their desire and name it in his presence. He often brought focus and clarity to his interactions with those who were spiritually hungry by asking them, “What do you want? What do you want me to do for you?”"

Bartimaeus has a precious gift, Jesus is asking him “what do you want me to do for you?”, and he responds with a deeply personal request. “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.”

Barton challenged her readers to answer this question “what do you want Jesus to do for you?”. As I sat and pondered this I was struck by Bartimaeus’ personal request. He asked for something in his own life. He was honest about his deep desire to see. There is a balance in our prayers, we should not always be coming with our own needs in mind. We should ultimately be deeply burdened with the very glory of God increasing in this world. I agree and feel this strongly, but I was also deeply moved by the fact that Jesus wants to know the deep personal desires I have in life! Tears came to my eyes as I answered the question “I want you to bless my family Lord!” I don’t mean “Lord, give me lots of money and stuff and make everything perfect.” What I do mean is “Make your face shine upon us! Help us to be the godly parents you desire. Bless us with a close relationship with our children. Guide us in wisdom. Bless us with your presence. Bless us with you Lord!!”

I think Bartimaeus was brave! I think he was beautiful! And even more so I think Jesus was a blessing to Bartimaeus as a result. Ponder anew what the Almighty can do! My new adoration for Mark 10:46-52

Well, I am seeking to re-start regular blogging for ministry, personal musings, family life, and more. So to get back started I am thinking that I will share a page from the journal…in fact as I read over my journal, I think I will take selections on a regular basis and share what is appropriate and helpful here.  So here is a thought from just the other day.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes,that it may bear more fruit.” (John 15.1)

I was reading this passage (read the whole passage now) and meditating on the imagery and pondering the abiding concept…when something really jumped out at me, and this is what I wrote down:

2/26/2009

Love – Abide – Fruit – Joy – Obey – Ask

Vine + Branches = Fruit – Pruining = More Fruit + Asking Receiving
or
Vine – Branches = no Fruit = Throw Away – Withers – Burned Up

My focus must be on abiding in Christ, living in Him, dwelling in Him, trusting in Him, existing in Him, clinging in Him, falling in Him, placing all of who I am in Him… Living with the reality that without him I can do nothing; Not giving in to the facade or mirage of our world that calls on human power, thought, and effort to accomplish. 

I must also allow and recognize His pruning…ouch…wait I liked that relationship…ouch…I needed that ministry…ouch…why did you cut that off, it was so fruitful…Oh, you are going to bring MORE fruit??…Right there where you cut??…I don’t see how God, you just cut it off!

I’m scared God, but I ask in your name Jesus for greater fruit, for deeper love in you and deeper love of others, for stronger support in abiding…to produce fruit that will not be mistaken for anything else than from you to bring others to worship you fully, to experience complete love, to enter into the fullness of total freedom through Christ alone.

You are most glorified by the greatest amount of fruit that is possible to come from my life, and I have maximum joy with abounding fruit.

But my single focus and pursuit is abiding in you Christ!

How He answers (part 2) (see here for part 1)

Well I probably should not have indicated a day that the audio lesson would be up.  You know how life goes, you can not always do what you think you can.  So it is Thursday and not Tuesday

I enjoyed teaching and hope it is an encouragement to those who listen.

To download, click here, to listen streaming just click on the play button below.

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In the winter and spring Study & Share will be going through Colossians and I will be teaching a few times.  I look forward to learning personally from this book as I dive in

Tomorrow I will be teaching my final lesson on prayer at Study & Share. I hope to be able to put up the audio file tomorrow evening. So check back tomorrow if you would like to listen.

The topic of the lesson is: How He Answers

In a couple of weeks I will have the opportunity to teach on prayer again, and the topic will be “How He Answers”. Since the book we are using jumps from passage to passage there is not a specific passage of Scripture that I am to teach from. So that leaves me with seeking the Lord and the passage He lays on my heart. I am not sure on that area yet, but what I have been pondering is how to discuss when God answers our prayers with “no”. I personally know several people who have prayed very good things that you would think the Lord would long to answer with a yes and He did not. How does one handle that? How does one wrap their mind around and all knowing, all good God who does things differently than what we think is good? So that is rolling around in my head these days.

In Beth Moore’s book David, that I said I have been using for my personal time with the Lord, I found an encouraging approach to this subject. On day 80 Beth talks about a difficult event in David’s life when God responds differently than we would expect. She gives these two thoughts we sould consider when in these sittuations: 1. We do not know everything about the situation 2. We need to remember what we do know to be true about God. These seem simple enough to say and hard to actually do when faced with the hard stuff. It is true we do not know everything about every situation, even though we can think that we do. We can never know all the rippeling effects of things we ask of the Lord in our lives and in others! It is also true that we have to remember what we do know about the Lord. God describes himself over and over as being faithful, true, steadfast, holy, gracious, and merciful to name a few. In times when we do not understand what is going on we must cling to what we do know of God revealed to us in His word. That brings me back to one of my favorite things to think on – how thankful I am that we have the written word of God. It truly is amazing! We do not have to guess about God’s character!!! We can trust who He is and therefore find strength to live with His “no”s.

So ponder with me this wonderful, mysterious thing we have in prayer and answered prayer as well. I am looking forward to what the Lord will teach me as I prepare for this next lesson.

Have a great week trusting the one who knows it all and is faithful and true

Well yesterday I went to bed at 8:15 pm and was asleep by 9:00!!  I was not feeling well to say the least, I think I am battling a sinus infection.  Therefore, I did not get my post up on Monday so officially it is Mandy’s Tuesday

Last week was my week to teach at Study and Share and I was excited about the things the Lord encouraged and challenged me with on prayer.  Below you will find the audio file of my lesson that you may listen to if you wish.

To download, click here, to listen streaming just click on the play button below.

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As I explained last week my thoughts have been on prayer recently since Johnny Miller is preaching a series on prayer at Calvary Church and we are studying it as well in Study and Share (the Ladies Bible study). Tomorrow I will be teaching and it has been exciting to learn and be encouraged this week in the things I have read and pondered. I will wait to share these items and the podcast of the lesson until next week.

Today I decided to carve out a good amount of time and pray and while doing so I began to thank the Lord for His precious gifts to me. My thoughts turned to His word and what a joy it is to read and study. I am overwhelmed by the gift of getting to go to Columbia International University and study there! It was there that I was able to grasp a better understanding of the Bible, both in the entire story line and in it’s individual parts. Now I do not consider myself to be an expert!! I just rejoice in the chance to study more about the Bible, to be able to feel comfortable with it as if it were a good treasured old friend who I love to sit and talk with. Now it is not really the Bible I am doing this with but it’s author! And so in the gift of studying the Bible I found the true gift of getting to know God better. Through his revealed word He shows himself and offers me and you the opportunity to soak Him in.

In Jeremiah 15:16 it reads “Your words were found and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and a delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts.” For Jeremiah, God’s word was a joy and a delight, he equates them with food; amazing! The Bible is like a refreshing cold Coke with jump start caffeine on a hot day, a warm cup of coffee to get you going in the morning, a needed cup of hot tea to sooth a soar throat and a required dose of penicillin to get rid of an infection. What a treasure, and what a thing to be thankful for. So join me this week in thanking the Lord for His word; which draws us in and leads us straight to Him. May He be our joy and delight!