He has risen

By his wounds we are healed.

Things I've Learnt - Dry Bones Coming to Life

How to be an encourager.

Things I've Learnt - Dry Bones Coming to Life

If we only believe that God can do anything, we will try to press him into our agenda. What we think is best. If we only believe that God does what is best, we will not bother to believe for his miraculous power and we'll miss out on moving mountains. But if we believe with all our heart that Jesus will do more than we could ever imagine and also that Jesus will always do what is best for us and his kingdom, then our prayers are answered, and mountains end up in the sea

By this point in Jesus' ministry, there were a lot of critics in the mob. Some were religious leaders who were jealous of Jesus. Others were ordinary people who were not satisfied with Jesus' trajectory. To Jesus, the crowd was typical of this generation of Jews. They completely lacked faith in him. But according to Jesus, the size of your faith doesn't matter. What matters is whether it's placed in the authority of Jesus and doesn't waver. Small but steady faith in the authority and power of Jesus

Jesus was, even while in human flesh, completely dominant over the forces of nature. Imagine him waltzing over the top of the raging water to help out his friends stuck in a boat in the storm. Jesus blows my mind. I take heart in the fact that the disciples who had just seen Jesus feed 5000 plus people from 5 bread rolls and two sardines, felt the same way. They were terrified. They had no idea what was going on.

Overcoming Familiarity

But just because Jesus' hometown marvelled at his wisdom and power, didn't mean that they believed in him. In fact, their familiarity with Jesus and his family seemed to be their major barrier to faith. They were impressed by his teaching and reputation, but they couldn't get around his local roots. His family was as ordinary as everyone else in town. How could Jesus be anyone special.

This woman would just not give up. The woman employed every tool at her disposal. She kept crying out so that she could not be ignored. She used the Jewish title, "Son of David," for Jesus showing that she understood his Messianic role. She humbly knelt before Jesus in obeisance and called him "Lord." She parried his seeming dismissive words with the theological insight that God's intention was also to bless the Gentiles (the dogs that eat the crumbs). This was a persistent and insightful and godly Canaanite woman and Jesus knew it. He marvelled at her great faith in him. He could not resist it. And he miraculously healed her daughter.