Relationship II

‘He looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy’ Luke 17:14.

I was chatting with a young man who had a bad experience with his earthly father. And he was telling me that he cannot relate with God as a Father. Every time he tries to relate with God as a father, he finds that he has resentments. All the issues he has with his earthly father begin to play out in his relationship with God. I had to take him through a whole teaching on God as a father. He was almost crying. God is better than your earthly father. Regardless of whether your earthly father has misbehaved or not, God is better than your earthly father. A lot of people go to church but they have no relationship with Jesus. Some go to church just because they were brought up that way. For some it is so that guilty conscience will not kill them through out the week. They come to church so that just in case anything happens it would not be because they did not come to church. Some come to church just so that they can tick that off their to do list. Today you need to establish a relationship with Jesus. The lepers said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” It is on the platter of relationship that you bring your request before Jesus the Master, Jesus our Father, Jesus our Friend, and Jesus our Brother. There are some reading this now wondering – how I can say Jesus friend? He is!

‘He looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy’ Luke 17:14. You see many times God will ask you to behave as of you already have what you are yet to receive. Jesus told the lepers to go and show themselves to the priest. In the Jewish culture, lepers are ostracized. They cannot go to where people are. When they are cleansed [or healed], they will go and show themselves to the priest. The priests were their medical doctors/examiner. It is the priest that will examine the leper and certify him okay. But for the leper to get to the priest, he must pass through the midst of people. So if a leper comes without being cleansed, they can stone him to death. They still had the leprosy and Jesus said to them ‘go and show yourself to the priest’. Just imagine them saying to each other “what if we get stoned?” Perhaps but they went, they obeyed.

Prayer:  Father, help me come before You daily knowing You as Father and trusting Your heart for me as a Father, in Jesus Name.