11/7/2022 0 Comments What pcmark 10 tells meBut he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. "Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. He was given a thorn in his flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment him. Our prayers are contingent upon God's higher will for our lives which we may not know now. Sometimes our wants, our desires, are superseded by higher needs. Yet Jesus qualified this want by a higher want - to fulfill God's will for his life and purpose as Savior. None of us want to have to drink that cup of pain. Yet all of us have to suffer pain and eventually all of us have to die. As a man in the prime of life he did not want to have to suffer a painful and horrible death and bear the sins of the world. Yet not as I will, but as you will." A second time he prayed, "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done." He prayed a third time, saying the same thing (Matthew 26:39,42,44). ![]() In the Garden of Gethsemane he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Wanting something does not mean that we will always get it. Not everyone got what they wanted even though they were encouraged to pray for healing and other needs. What about you? Bartimaeus wanted to be able to see - to be healed of his blindness. #What pcmark 10 tells me full#Nurture in me the fruit of the Spirit so that my life would be full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." I want to be more loving, more joyful, more at peace, more patient, more kind, more good, more faithful, more gentle, more self-controlled. "What do you want me to do for you?" What would you say? As I reflect upon that question for myself I am led to answer: "I want to be spiritually mature in Christ. We see so much unhappiness, so many complaints, so much suffering, so much illness and disability, so much darkness and so many self-inflicted wounds. We long for love to conquer loneliness, for joy to overcome sorrow, and for peace to calm conflict. We despair when we see the hatred and cruelty of so many in the world and the suffering they cause. We face divided loyalties in our relationships. We are troubled by the national mood and the turbulence of politics. We are having to deal with the problems of our family members. We are confronted with declining health of ourselves or our loved ones. ![]() We cannot see through the fog of life's daily challenges to satisfactory conclusions. So many of us have questions, doubts, uncertainties, and fears, that we would like to have resolved. How would you answer the question of Jesus? "What do you want me to do for you?" What insight do you need to know? What blind spot do you have? What intrigues you about Jesus? What pressing need do you have in your life now? If Jesus were passing by, what would you say if he asked you, "What do you want me to do for you?" In a sense, on both occasions the answer to the question, "What do you want?" was being able to see - see who Jesus was as the Revealer of God and as the Lamb who would take away the sin of the world. They wanted to be healed and be able to see. They were curious about Jesus and intrigued by John the Baptist calling him "the Lamb of God." The second was outside Jericho when Bartimaeus and another blind man called out to Jesus, as the Son of God, to have mercy on them. Twice it is recorded in the Gospels that Jesus asked, "What do you want?" (John 1:38) "What do you want me to do for you?" (Matt.20:32 Mk.10:51 Lk.18:41) The first was when John and Andrew were directed to Jesus by John the Baptist and they followed him. QUESTIONS JESUS ASKED: What do you want me to do for you? - Mark 10:46-52
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