Faith Filled
If God appeared to you in a way you didn't expect, would you recognize Him?
When Jesus had come down from the mountain, great crowds followed him; and there was a leper who came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.” He stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I do choose. Be made clean!” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, appealing to him and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible distress.” And he said to him, “I will come and cure him.” The centurion answered, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.” When Jesus heard him, he was amazed and said to those who followed him, “Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you according to your faith.” And the servant was healed in that hour. When Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever; he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she got up and began to serve him. That evening they brought to him many who were possessed with demons; and he cast out the spirits with a word, and cured all who were sick. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah, “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.” - Matthew 8:1-17
The centurion was not one of the chosen. Nor was the Syrophoenician woman, nor the woman at the well. None were the ones who inherited the faith from the fathers of the religion. Yet all were cured, helped or saved.
What was it that they were able to see that others could not?
The centurion had heard of Jesus before he met him, and he believed that Jesus had authority from God.
Jesus didn't need to prove anything to him.
Maybe that's how it works. Some of us just know we are in the presence of God, and we use that moment to benefit those we love and care about.
Maybe it is something inside us that guides us to God because we are already faith filled.
If we believe God is with us, we will be given the ability to find Him, to hear Him call us out of our darkness, to recognize Him.
Think of it this way.
Jesus came to show us God in us. By being one of us, he showed us we can find God in anyone, if we choose to.
So, maybe, we have to believe that God truly loves us and will never abandon us.
And He will send one of His own to help us when we call.
More to come...