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| Look Upon The Lifted |
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Look Upon The Lifted
Yesterday, I went to the little lagoon near my apartment to spend a little time in meditation and prayer. It was kind of a cloudy day and a little chilly. As I sat watching the ducks and listening to the breeze whisper through the tree branches which hang over the waters edge, I was reminded of the verse where Jesus likens the Spirit of God to wind. I was trying hard to recall that verses' address and was doing my best to quote it verbatim. I think I got the quote pretty close to the way the KJB reads, but I was way off on it's location.
So anyway, after leaving the lagoon my mind got busy thinking on other things and my plan to come straight home and look that verse up was soon forgotten. But God.......
Today I was doing some reading in the 21st Chapter of Numbers. The Israelites had just experienced God's miraculous deliverance form slavery in Egypt. They had witnessed the ten plagues, experienced the parting of the Red Sea, and seen the pillar of cloud and fire to lead them.
Nevertheless, they began to grumble, and complain. Ornery, disobedient, and unbelieving, their behavior and their attitude finally pushed God to the point of extreme displeasure. So, he decided to punish them. His discipline came in the form of venomous snakes, from which a number of people died. This prompted Moses to intercede on their behalf pleading with God to retract the snakes lest all of the people were going to die.
The Lord responded to Moses' plea by giving him a specific set of instructions. Let's read: Then the people of Israel set out from Mount Hor, taking the road to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. But the people grew impatient with the long journey, and they began to speak against God and Moses.
“Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?” they complained. “There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this horrible manna!”
So the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many were bitten and died.
Then the people came to Moses and cried out, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lordand against you. Pray that the Lord will take away the snakes.” So Moses prayed for the people.
Then the Lord told him, “Make a replica of a poisonous snake and attach it to a pole. All who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!”
So Moses made a snake out of bronze and attached it to a pole. Then anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed! Anytime someone who had been bitten by a snake could then look up at this bronzed snake replica on the pole and the venom in his or her body would lose it's effectiveness and they would be instantly healed.
That's awesome! But what does it have to do with the Holy Spirit and with wind? Well, thanks to a religious Pharisee named Nicodemus, I now know the answer to that question.
Nicodemus went sneaking out one night to meet with Jesus and learn some of His secrets but didn't want anyone else to know about it. He desired to know more about the Kingdom after witnessing several of Jesus' miracles. Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” This went completely over Nicodemus' head because like many religious leaders, hypocrites and pharisees, he could only see and think two-dimensional. So Jesus goes on trying to find a way to describe it where that might sink in.
I'll skip a a few verses to save you some reading time but I was delighted to discover that within Jesus' explanation lies the very verse that I was just pondering on yesterday. I can assure you that I will not forget it's location again.
He said:
The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
I think it's so cool when God leads us, through His word, in sometimes a roundabout sort of way right back to some earlier question or thought we were considering. So now I know the "wind" verse is John 3:8.
But still yet, that's not what this blog is about. The real point of this blog is not that I finally figured out where the "wind" verse lives. The real point and one that really speaks to me today is a result of the way God led me here.
Well, because of my reading in Numbers 21 today, and a reference that was given in my bible, as it pertains to Moses' bronze snake, I came to the following:
See the "wind" verse still didn't register with Nicodemus so Jesus continued explaining, and even condemned him to some degree, then eventually said this:
And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.
What an awesome response by the Lord knowing that Nicodemus knew the Old Testament like the back of his hand.
So, by Jesus' own example and His use of Numbers 21:9, we could say now that:
Anyone who has been bitten by a snake can look upon Jesus and be healed!
Friends, we have all been bitten by the snake. But praise God that He cared enough about us to send His only begotten Son, knowing that He would be "Lifted Up" on that cross and that by His stripes we could be healed!
Today is Easter. And we know that Jesus isn't on that cross anymore. He's no longer in the tomb either. He is the risen and living God. Hallelujah!
Are you snake-bitten today? Is that venom still running through your veins causing death, sickness, depression, or any other demonic turmoil. Then today my friend all you have to do is accept Jesus as your Lord, keep your eyes upon Him and that poison will immediately lose it's effectiveness. You will be healed and you will have an abundance of life. You will have life eternal!
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Praise God!
Happy Easter everyone,
Michael
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| To add a comment to "Look Upon The Lifted" |
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| April 12, 2009 |
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| Good blog Michael...it is amazing how God gets ourattention and speaks to us. |
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| April 13, 2009 |
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Very good Blog :0) I Love that Christ not only knew what Nicodemus knew, but he knows the heart of every one of us- he knows each one of us on an individual basis! When he was on that cross it was really MY sin's that were on his mind and yours - each separately, not as a whole ( I think that people tend to clump it all into one lump sum... this is not so). Jesus is the lover of our souls. In order to be a lover, you need to know your mate, study them. In the sense of what they like and do not like, what are their habits (good &bad), what excites them, comforts them etc... Well you get the point- My Jesus knows all of the innermost of my being (past and present) and he knows yours too :0) He can speak to us because he does know us, and for that I am thankful. As an afterthought... I think often on how blessed we are to have such an awesome love not just LOVE US but, for those of us that have given our hearts over to him he told us that he would "go and prepare a place for us" it might be just me but.... I KNOW IT HAS TO BE AWESOME BECAUSE HE KNOWS US SO WELL!!!!! |
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| April 13, 2009 |
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Thank you Deb. It's good to see you.
Great comment Angela! - It blessed me greatly to hear you speak of Jesus being the lover of our souls, and your description thereof.
One of my most memorable times of worship, and the very first time that God touched me in a special way, removing all doubt in my heart, was while I was in the mission and singing that song, Lover of My Soul.
He most definitely does understand us and love us. This I Know |
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| April 13, 2009 |
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Then today my friend all you have to do is accept Jesus as your Lord, keep your eyes upon Him and that poison will immediately lose it's effectiveness. You will be healed and you will have an abundance of life. You will have life eternal!
Keeping our eyes on Him does lead us into abundant life...
6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
I love how you found the scripture...when God teaches us things it is usually packed with something speacial just for us and our situation...I just love that....even this past weekend I was lead to something that just rocked my socks off...when I shared it with my friends and my daughter, they just sat there with their mouth open...
Miss you, In Him, Lori |
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| April 13, 2009 |
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| Amen |
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| April 22, 2009 |
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I am really sorry I missed this one, Michael. I love the scripture you wrote about.
God bless you,
Joey |
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