Jesus, my Friend and Friend of Sinners. Friend to all.

Jesus said to His disciples: 

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”
John 15:12‭-‬15 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.15.12-15.NIV

Jesus was the ultimate example of pure friendship. His disciples weren’t just His followers or students, nor were they just servants and Him- the Master in fact He took it upon Himself to serve them. If you love someone, whether it’s a friendship, marriage or family relationship or school or work relationship- you seek out ways to help serve and care for others just as Jesus did. 

Let’s think about Jesus’s beloved besties here: We got a list of the 12 disciples “the crew” or “the squad” if you may. And of those 12, Jesus had 3 inner circle “ride or die” type of friends Peter, James and John. Some say Jesus greatest miracle was still have close reliable friendships in his 30s. They are hard to find and keep the older you get sometimes. Jesus had other friends besides the chosen students of His: the female disciples such as Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Susana the ones who found the empty tomb! Then there’s Mary, Martha and Lazarus of Bethany. Also, His own biological immediate family, remember Jesus was Mary’s firstborn her and Joseph had many more children (approximately 6) after baby Jesus including James (James the Just), Joseph Jr. (Joses), Simon, and Judas known as Jude, he also had sisters but they were not named (Matthew 13:55). Jesus was and in indeed unlike anyone else, but He was and is the most approachable, gentle, humble, loving and perfect individual to ever walk this earth. Those He loves, (all of us) He loves with passion and unconditionally. He still does.

Jesus, friend of sinners. That is something He is often referred to. He was never afraid to befriend and reach out to the outcast, broken, left out misfits of society. Some of these people were outcasts because of circumstances beyond their control like sickness and disease and some were outcasts because of bad reputations like harlots and tax collectors. He is a restorer and mender of brokenness and a healer of all emotional, spiritual and physical sicknesses and diseases. Like I said unconditional and without limits, He had boundaries just like we need to but loving others to show them the way, teach them about the Kingdom of God. To seek and save the lost.

Jesus did all things: teach, lead, challenged leaders and anyone with hard questions that opened not only their minds but their hearts, heal the sick, perform amazing miracles, delivered people out their own bondage and vices, cast out demons, he served meals, he cooked, he fished, he built things, he read, he spent quiet time alone in prayer with the Father, he taught and lead by example, he loved and gave His life for His friends. Let’s live and be like Jesus. He is still alive and would love to be your best friend, if you just let Him in.

Love in friendship and grace,

Heather H. Carnley

“What a Friend we have in Jesus”

What a friend we have in Jesus
All our sins and griefs to bear
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer

Oh, what peace we often forfeit
Oh, what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged
Take it to the Lord in prayer

Can we find a friend so faithful
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness
Take it to the Lord in prayer

Jehovah Rapha: The God Who Heals

We hear Jesus called by many names Prince of Peace, Son of God and Son of Man, the Messiah, Jeshua, Savior, Rabbi, Teacher, Prophet. God is also called by many different names especially in the Old Testament Hebrew language: El Shaddai (God Almighty), Abba (Father), Yahweh, and Jehovah to name a few ( I encourage you to look them up along with their meanings) they all reflect different parts and attributes of His character. This week, we are going to reflect and ponder upon one very particular name Jehovah Rapha, Healer  or “The God who Heals” and Jesus Christ, the Son is often referred to as “The Great Physician”. This week we will take a look at a few instances in the New Testament when Jesus healed the so-called incurable diseases that doctors could not solve or fix.

Here is a list of the healing and curing that Jesus did recorded in the New Testament Gospels:

• Jesus touched and healed Peter’s mother-in-law of a high fever (Mark 1:30-31).
• Jesus healed the Roman Soldier (centurion’s) servant who was very sick (Matthew 8:5-13).
• Jesus healed the paralytic and made him walk (Matthew 9:1-8).
• Jesus healed an outcast “unclean” leper (Mark 1:40-45)
• Jesus cured a woman of an issue of blood (Luke 8:43-48).
• Jesus healed a paralyzed man at the pool called Bethesda (John 5:1-9).
• Jesus loosened/fixed the tongue of a man who could not speak since birth (Matthew 9:32-33).
• Jesus restored a withered, crippled hand (Matthew 12:10-13).
• Jesus cured a man born deaf and mute (Mark 7:31-37).
• Jesus healed a woman from Canaan (Matthew 15:22-28).
• Jesus healed a woman who had been afflicted with serious debilitating pain for eighteen years (Luke 13:10-17).
• Jesus cured a man of “dropsy”/dangerous swelling and infection(Luke 14:1-4).
• Jesus cleansed and healed ten lepers of their contagious disease that left them outcastsof society.  (Luke 17:11-19).
• Several instances he healed many (at least 4) people born blind! John 9:1-38, Mark 8:22-26, Matthew 9:27-31.
• Jesus restored and fixed the ear of the high priest’s servant that Peter cut off! (Luke 22:50-51).
• We often think of healing as curing illnesses and diseases, or better yet fixing what is wrong Jesus also healed people plagued and tormented by demons (Mark 1:23-28, Matthew 12:22, Matthew 17:14-21)
• Jesus also raised more than Lazarus from the dead: Jesus raised the widow’s son from the dead (Luke 7:11-18).Jesus raised the ruler’s daughter from the dead (Matthew 9:18-26).Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-46).Jesus rose from the dead (Luke 24:5-6).

What ails, torments or plagues you today? Whether it is healing of a sickness in your body from the cold/flu or something as long term as cancer or organ failure, a disease with no known reasons or cures, constant pain or aches throughout your physical body. Or an affliction or heaviness in your mind and spirit that has crushed your heart beyond restoration or so you think…the Jesus I know can make the impossible possible and cure the incurable. When all resources and doctors and earthly research for answers had been exhausted, hope came in the form of Jesus. Yes, He was able to physically touch those around Him and heal them, but what about us today? He can’t lay hands on us, but that’s what disciples are called to do. As followers we are called to continue His work not our own but through the power of the Holy Spirit, we pray for each other in times of illness and affliction. What kind of miracle and healing touch do you need today?

My prayer for you today: Dear Lord, thank You for making me fearfully and wonderfully made in Your image. You created my body, and You never ever fiber and cell of how I function and live. You are the Life Giver. You are the Creator. You alone are the Great Physician that has all the answers to the mysteries of all that ails Your children. Lord, help me to make choices and decisions that take care of my temple, the body the houses my soul and where you dwell in my heart. Protect my body, guard and cleanse my heart and mind of anything toxic, hurtful or negative and not healthy. Heal my broken spirit. In Your all powerful name. Amen

With full faith in miracles, Heather H. Carnley