Now I See

Notes from Fred:

Sunday was, as predicted, a “Red Letter Day” for our Meadowlake Family – our Worship Center was filled, and the air was filled with excitement, as we returned from the first week of our Journey to Wellness, our Walk to Jerusalem. It was wonderful to hear story after story of our members (of every age) of new starts to Wellness of Mind, Body, and Spirit…

Perhaps most encouraging was how many of you shared with me how your entire family was not only walking or exercising together, but also reading the Bible and praying together! We are already seeing how this Ministry is bringing us together and transforming us….

Now I See

On Sunday, we began our Journey to Wellness with the first Scripture to guide our Walk to Jerusalem – guiding us to see that we will only be made well in Mind, Body, and Spirit if we choose to Walk by Faith, by what we see in Jesus, instead of walking by sight, what we see in the world; and that, in order to Walk by Faith, we need to let Jesus heal some blindness in our lives that keeps us from being the person that he wants us to be. (2 Corinthians 5:7)

In summary:

1. Each week, our Walk to Jerusalem is guided by a Guiding Word from God. The first week is guided by His Word that calls us to make a choice before we begin – To Walk by Faith or by sight! Paul offers us this choice as a response to the members of the church in Corinth whose lives are looking like all of the other secular lives in that city, to urge them and us to live Christlike lives.
2. We asked two questions about Paul’s choice, the answers to which show us how to live those lives. The First Question is this: What does it mean to Walk by Faith? The answer: To live in every part of our lives with trust in Jesus, his promises, and his power! For the word Paul uses for “faith” is the same word Jesus uses in the Gospels, when so many came to him asking to be healed – and he responded, “Your faith in me,” meaning your trust in my promise and power to heal you, “has made you well.”
3. This is how we Walk by Faith, trusting in his promises, and his power to make them come true – If we pray in his name, God will give us what is good; If we will listen to and be guided by his words, we will receive his Abundant Life of love, joy, peace, and more… the essence of Wellness….
4. This is the solution that the little girl discovered, when her father cut up a picture of the world from a magazine for her to put together like a puzzle. She shocked him by completing it in less than 15  minutes. Her explanation: “I discovered a picture of Jesus on the other side, and once I could see the face of Jesus, the world had been put together.” If we will look at Jesus in living our lives, our lives will also be put together.
5. So many reject Jesus’ promise to trust in him as “blind faith.” But this faith is not blind – it’s power has been proven over and over again: By the people who witness in the Bible; by my experiences that I have shared with you; by the experiences you share with me; by your unanimous show of hands last week, testifying to how Jesus has taken unsolvable problems from you, given you peace, and a way forward….
6. This is the experience of Ralph, the formerly homeless man who has become a friend of Linda and Larry Dwyer. His life is being made well by prayer and by being guided by God’s Word – offered to him by Linda and Larry. Now Ralph sees for the first time in a long time what can happen if we Walk by Faith. Faith is not blind, it opens our eyes to what happens when we open our lives to trust in the promises and power of Jesus!
7. But so often we stop Walking in Faith, slow down in our walk, walk in only short bursts. So Paul offers us an insight to inspire us to keep walking – shown by the answer to our Second Question: What are the consequences of walking by Faith or by sight? The answer: If we Walk by Faith, we will be blessed by what we see in Jesus; If we walk by sight, we will suffer by what we see in the world! For to walk by sight means to live by what we see, by the way of the world.
8. We see the choice of blessing or suffering by comparing what we see in Jesus with what we see in the world: Love v. anger; peace v. stress; patience v. impatience; generosity v. greed; simple living v. things-driven living; addiction to Jesus v. addiction to alcohol and drugs – the list goes on….This is the choice that we make when we decide to Walk by Faith or by sight.
9. But we not only make this choice for ourselves. Our choices affect the lives of the 51 children and 21 Youth entrusted to our care in our families and in this Family. The consequences will flow for them, as they have for a young man that I met recently. He has many God-given abilities, but he has (so far) squandered them by choosing marijuana and beer instead of Jesus, because he sees in the world that drugs are cool, and that Jesus is not; he does nothing in school, because this is what he sees his friends do. He has chosen to walk by sight, and now he sees the consequences….
10. The most important thing that we can do for our children and Youth is to Walk by Faith, setting an example; and to surround them by friends who want to Walk by Faith. It’s the best chance they have to see how we are blessed when we walk by what we see in Jesus – to make that choice for themselves and receive his blessing.
11. But in order to be able to Walk by Faith, we have to let Jesus do a miracle for us – to heal some blindness in us that is not his way. For Jesus reveals in the Gospels that, if there is something in our lives that is not his way, then we are walking by the way of the world, and we are blind to his way. Jesus offers to heal our blindness through the story of Bartimaeus. His story is too long to repeat here (hear it on our website), but the critical moment is when Jesus asks Bartimaeus, “What do you want?” He answers: “I want to see!” Jesus says, “By your faith you are healed.” Bartimaeus’ eyes are opened, he sees Jesus, and he is so overjoyed by receiving his sight, that he follows Jesus – all the way to Jerusalem.
12. Jesus offers to do the same for us. Before you begin to walk on your Journey to Wellness, let Jesus heal you of whatever in you is blind to his way – then you will be ready to follow with trust in his promises and power – and Walk by Faith, by what you see, what Jesus has enabled you to see, in him!

Connection for the Week: Spend time comparing what you see in the world to what you see in Jesus; decide to Walk by Faith, guided by what you see in him; as you begin, ask Jesus to heal some blindness in your life that is not his way; and begin to experience his blessings as you begin to walk with him, his blessings that will make you well.