Our Approach

We want to start sharing our Thursday devotions with you.  We hope that this will give you a place to come every Thursday to commune with and grow closer to God.  We also want to give you another way to partner with our ministry in what we're studying and learning.  May this be a tool to draw us all closer to our creator and our savior.

Our Approach

After finishing everything Jesus said on the mountain side, He is going to display His deity in an even greater display. At this point, Jesus has been performing miracles in proximity to His actions.  Jesus was at the party when the water was turned to wine.  Jesus cast a demon out of a man in the temple while He was teaching there. He touched a leper and healed him. He healed a paralytic in the same house. The list goes on and on. But what Jesus is about to do, is going to display his sovereignty as God. Jesus is going to heal, mend, and restore a person who is miles away.

Luk 7:1                  After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum.

Luk 7:2                  Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him.

Luk 7:3                  When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant.

This is an important point. This is a Roman official. This is a man who is a part of ruling over the Jews. At this time, Israel is held captive by the Roman Empire. This official does not come to Jesus in person likely because of the circumstances. The centurion instead decides to send Jews in hopes that Christ will respond to them because they are fellow Jews. This centurion is desperate and is trying to be as gentle and careful with this approach as possible. Yet he still approaches.

There is something to be learned here. Do you ever feel like you are in no circumstance to approach God? Do you feel like you have screwed up, or have taken for granted everything God has given and done for you? Do you find yourself in a place where approaching God seems like the last thing possible because of who you are, and what you’ve done?

Here is the glorious truth for us; Christ has bridged that gap. He has reconciled us to God so that we may approach Him with courage and hope. The important thing for us is that we do approach Him because when we approach Him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to heal us.

Luk 7:4                  And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, "He is worthy to have you do this for him,

Luk 7:5                  for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue."

Again, the religious have no respect or understanding that Christ is God and that man is entitled to nothing. They have no idea who they are talking to, and if they do, they don’t see that they are sinful and condemned. This is an age old problem. So often we have no concept of who God is or what man deserves.

Luk 7:6                  And Jesus went with them.

At this point, the centurion would have been better off going by himself. But despite what these Jews believe and have said, Christ shows more grace. Christ shows grace here that they do not deserve. He shows grace while they are at their worst. What a God of love we serve. Jesus is willing to work through the circumstances to reach through to the faithful. This we can find our hope in.

Though the city of Juarez and Mexico is being dominated by fear, violence, and evil; we can have faith that God will still reach through the circumstances to show grace to the undeserving and healing to those who are faithful. Thank Christ and ask Him for help to have faith in His goodness to the world.       

Luk 7:6                  And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, ‘Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.

Luk 7:7                  Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed.’

From the centurion’s statement, we now see deeper into his heart. Not only does he show respect for the circumstances of the Roman occupation over Israel, but he realizes who Jesus is in relationship to himself. As a Roman to a Jew, the centurion has every right to demand Jesus to appear before him. But as a man to God, he has no right to demand anything but to humbly bow before the mercy of an almighty God. Faith, fear, and love for God was coming from the least likely of people and it is going to be beautiful to Christ.

Luk 7:8                  For I too am a man set 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 servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."

Luk 7:9                  When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him,

This word in Greek means a “wonderful admiration”.  This is the kind of faith that we should strive for.  This is the kind of faith that God Himself finds beautiful, wonderful, and glorifying.  When is the last time you had faith like this?  Do you believe in your heart that Christ is over all and is the master of everything?  Do you believe that He is ready to answer your cry for help?  Do you know that Christ can do anything?  If He willed it, if he spoke it, Juarez could be changed in a second.  We could have 500 registrations for families to receive homes today.  He could heal your pain.  He could heal your marriage.  He could change the world.  Do you approach God this way?  Or do you pray knowing that what you ask will probably never happen?  Let us touch the heart of our Creator and Redeemer.

Luk 7:9                  When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith."

Luk 7:10                And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.

Many of us have been in the church or around the church for awhile.  We have experienced how people pray and how people act toward God.  To approach God as people who have not been spiritually desensitized by a lifetime of religion is a beautiful thing.  Growing up in church and being a “Christian” our whole lives many times makes us feel entitled to have God hear us because we have done our time and we have followed the rules.  In all actuality God owes us nothing, and we should not feel entitled for Him to hear us.  Rather, we should approach Him delicately, humbly, and hopeful, knowing that the only reason we can stand before Him is because of what He has done.  When He hears us and answers us, it will only be because of His great love and mercy and nothing we have done.  We can have courage (not entitlement) because of who He is and what He has done is perfect and will last forever.

We have probably prayed for hundreds of things where we felt like God didn’t show up. 

“Which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” Matt 7:9-11

Just because we think we know what we need when we pray, doesn’t necessarily mean it will benefit us and glorify Him. God will never grant us a request that will harm us and put Himself to shame. Have faith that he can do whatever you ask for and trust in His supreme wisdom.

Pray humbly and believe boldly, knowing that your requests are being made to the creator of heaven and Earth, who holds both in the palm of His hands.