Special Easter Post 2013

9 “Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons. 10 She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. 11 And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe.” ~ Mark 16:9-11

THE RISEN CHRIST

Faith in God; faith in Jesus is all to often determined by what we see, instead of what we do not see. Blind faith is often ridiculed and is put down as something we should never do, but it is exactly that which our Lord Jesus Christ asks us to have and to exhibit in accordance to Him. Faith, absolute, unshakable, undaunted faith is what God bestowed upon Jesus and Jesus taught to all of us. I find it very interesting and revealing of Jesus how he places this faith into Mary Magdalene and how she returns this with her instant obedience and belief in the idea that our Lord had risen. After all Mary was present at the trial of Jesus, she saw first hand the brutality bestowed upon Him, she watched him suffer while being led up the vast hill to Golgotha, she watched him be nailed to the cross, heard his cries of pain and anguish as they lifted him up to be displayed only to suffer more while trying to breathe.  Mary saw her beloved teacher forgive those who taunted Him and even witnessed the promise of salvation to one of the criminals guilty of his crimes but confessed to Jesus His faith. In fact Mary watched in horror as Jesus breathed his last, she watched as the soldiers pierced his side, and she was there when they laid him in the tomb. Out of everyone Mary Magdalene had even less of a reason to believe Jesus could have survived such a punishing death. Yet she was the first to proclaim Jesus had risen despite the fear that had gripped everyone around her and which pierced her very heart!

12 “After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country. 13 And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either.” ~ Mark 16: 12-13

The question that Mark brings to the table in this telling of Easter is simple, “How do you believe when faced with such overwhelming evidence that something isn’t true but in reality it is true… how do you have faith in the impossible?” Thus, to not have such faith as described by Jesus is to be condemned with sin. No one had faith because the scourging of Jesus was so replete that no one could have survived it. No man could have ever beared such a punishment and not confess even if they where innocent, just like Jesus.  The pain of each individual steel ball at the end of each leather strap would have forced anyone to surrender within the first strike, but Jesus took twenty lashes times two. Two soldiers or lectors, (as they where known then),  adept at this kind of torture, each man had one  cat-of-nine-tails, and each ball had tiny spikes at its ends. The lectors stripped Jesus nude, tide his hands to an upright post exposing his bare back, buttocks, and legs. Each lector took turns as they swung the cat-of-nine-tails as hard as they could,  striking Jesus all up and down his body taking pleasure with each ounce of pain they delivered. Blood and bone, clung to the ends of the balls, some flesh fell to the ground while other bits and pieces of tiny tissue was slung all about the area of this horrific scourging. From a biblical sense forty lashes is all a mortal man can take before collapsing in shock and then later dying of his wounds, so the sentence would be thirty nine lashes. In truth the severity of the scourging depended upon the disposition of those who where delivering it, so with Jesus they made him an example, thus it would be fair to say that his lashing was harsher, with more cruelty than what would be given to the run-of-the-mill criminal. So this question of Mark, “How do you believe in the face of such evidence?” is truly the question at the core of our faith, it is at the center of everyones heart and mind who has ever lived, who witnessed the birth, life, and death of Christ. How to believe in something so impossible and yet unseen is what we all wrestle with when building our faith, our believing in Jesus Christ, and when we read about His resurrection and His ascension. Blind faith is at the very core of Christ from start to finish. For Mary Magdalene there was no question because she instantly believed.

14 “Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. 15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” ~ Mark 16: 14-18

Imagine if you will, the shock upon their faces, the absolute stupor they all where in. They had been told to assemble but for what reason? They where told Christ had risen but yet they did not believe for they had not seen him nor would have recognized him if they had. In fact the bible tells us that they did not believe partly out of fear, but mainly they had dismissed what He told them before His death. Had they truly believed Jesus was the son of man, to which He had openly claimed in their hearing many times perhaps their fear would have turned to wonder and excitement in the possibility that he could have been a live just as they where being told. To some degree for Peter, James, and John it was their actions after witnessing the death of Christ that is most telling, for it was these three who had more of  a cause to believe than all the the rest, Mary included. For Peter, James, and John had witnessed Jesus transfigured before their very eyes and had they understood what they saw they all three would have instantly believed in what Mary was telling them. Ironically, none of the chosen disciples believed in Jesus’s resurrection because of  the circumstances and fear surrounding His death especially Peter, James, and John. Moreover,  Peter, James, and John had a second reason to have had more faith than what they were exhibiting because after the transfiguration Jesus told them to not to tell anyone about this until after He had risen from the dead, but they all three had failed to do this, they all three failed to have absolute, unshakeable faith in the power and might of Jesus. Instead they all chose to cower in their fear and be caught up in their grief and so  Mary’s words made no sense to them. Their disbelief was so great because logically it was impossible. Their viewpoint was based upon a limited frame of reference which dictated that after the brutal death Jesus had suffered His mortal body was to damaged, beaten, and torn that He could not have been resurrected. Therefore, to look for Him ran counter to what was physically possible, (once discounting the transfiguration and after inputting the type of resurrection others like Lazarus experienced at the hand of Jesus), so what Mary was telling them they took as being absolute nonsense;

11 “But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.” ~ Luke 24:11

This element of fear was so great and had penetrated their hearts to the degree over the course of the three days after Jesus had passed that each one of them was ready and willing to give up on what Jesus had taught them and disassemble as the Romans and Pharisees had hoped. Fear had gripped them so completely they even locked the door to their dwelling for safety and rarely ventured out. They all thought the world would hate them, so the hid. The fear was real and each one of them had cause to be afraid for Jesus had warned them what their plight would be if they followed in his footsteps and it became even more real once seeing it for themselves up-close and personal;

18 “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. 19 The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. 20 Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you. 21 They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the one who sent me. 22 They would not be guilty if I had not come and spoken to them. But now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Anyone who hates me also hates my Father. 24 If I hadn’t done such miraculous signs among them that no one else could do, they would not be guilty. But as it is, they have seen everything I did, yet they still hate me and my Father. 25 This fulfills what is written in their Scriptures: ‘They hated me without cause.” ~ John 15:18-25

Therefore, the disbelief was based upon facts of the world, and not of the spirit. With God anything is possible and everything is in your reach. Mary’s belief was in some regard based upon her personal experience as a witness to Jesus’s resurrection, and it was her ears in hearing his voice that convinced her that her teacher was indeed alive. It would be this same personal experience that would finally convince a group of scared, timid,  bewildered, and even frightened men to become the great men of faith they would later become. It would take the voice of Jesus to bring them out of their collective shell’s and build them up into an unstoppable force for Christ.

HAPPY EASTER… AND GO AND SPREAD THE WORD… OUR LORD AND SAVIOR LIVES!

*For a wonderfully article of events that happened on EASTER click here: EASTER BIBLE VERSES by PAMELA ROSE WILLIAMS

God Bless and have a wonderful Easter,

Brian Keith,
Founder of Listening Faithfully

_________________________________________________


ANNOUNCES TO THE COMMUNITY OF FOLLOWER, FRIENDS, AND SUBSCRIBERS;

__________________________________________________________________________________

ANNOUNCING LISTENING FAITHFULLY ORIGINAL BOOKS!

Brian Keith

Author Brian Keith, writer and publisher of Listening Faithfully Blog offers to you his first e-book:

Listening Faithfully: The Sin Series  

THIS EASTER take some time to truly understand the stakes that fueled the mission of Jesus Christ. Step outside your comfort zone for a minute and really contemplate the gravity of Jesus Christ’s actions two thousand years ago and reflect why these actions still affect us so profoundly today. Asked your self, ” Why was Jesus in a rush to die? “Why did He put Himself in such a horrible position and then refuse to defend Himself only to end up on the cross?” Ask yourself, “What was so special about humanity that God would sacrifice His only son for us?” In these questions we have our answer in the miracle we call Christ. It is this which THE SIN SERIES delves to give a complete understanding from scripture the nature of SIN and from where it originated. We explore why Lucifer became Satan and we answer all the above questions in grant detail. Gain a real understand of  our loving and magnificent God who and what sacrifice God made for everyone of us because of sin.  For over three years running these series of blogs have intrigued and mystified all who have read them and now they can truly be yours in kindle format for the special Easter Price of $8.39.

Also available this Easter the phenomenal oppertunity to own your very own copy of  The Passion Of The Christ Definitive Edition by Mel Gibson now on sale for $2.99. Click  here for instant download. 

51uQ5WShYmL._SL210_

As a gift for visiting Listening Faithfully and helping our children succeed through the gift of supporting computer literacy I give to you a free kindle bible. Click here for the instant Download.

414p3LBC1AL

All proceed from the purchase  of Listening Faithfully: Sin Series ebook and The Passion of the Christ, and / or any purchase of the Listening Faithfully Store covering thousands of Movies, Books, Bibles, and the Kindle Fire HD all go to help fund Our Annual Scholarship Program: Helping to support inner city Computer Literacy, we give children technology advantage.  (JUST ONE PURCHASE OF A Kindle Fire HD 7″, Dolby Audio, Dual-Band Wi-Fi, 16 GB –  for $199.00 helps to support two children to receive $50.00 COMPUTER LITERACY SCHOLARSHIPS. Or One purchase of the Drobo 5N 5-Bay NAS Storage Array, Gigabit Ethernet for $568.99 helps to support eleven children to receive $50.00 COMPUTER LITERACY SCHOLARSHIPS.)

Or you can donate any amount to support the cause by clicking the FLATTR button BELOW here and support creators directly on services you use 

________________________________________________________________

BECOME PART OF OUR EZ MONEY NETWORK!

READ THE REVIEW! THEN JOIN TODAY!


 

 

 

 

Reflection 6: What You Can Expect From Life: According to Faith; pt 6

20 He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” ~ Matthew 17:20

Faith in most of our minds is this mystical,  magical, and even almost other worldly supernatural power that only certain people have in abundance. We read about awesome acts of  faith helping the condemned to survive when anyone else would have perished. We find stories of people who thank God for their recovery claiming it was their faith that pulled them through and we feel they are out of our league.  We in our minds dismiss these people and their stories because we feel that, “we the normal person” is not somehow worthy of this high honor bestowed on just a select few. Well, the truth is that “Yes”, there are some of us who hold onto faith in every aspects of their lives and “Yes”, faith is ingrained into their DNA. “YES”, miracles do happen to some of us because of their faith in God but, “NO!” they are not magically blessed and the rest of humanity is less fortunate.  The truth is God gave all of us the power to believe, and it is this power which we must surrender too in order to have true faith in God. Faith equals trust, trust equals belief, and like a circle bending back upon itself belief equals love. Because “Love” is “God” and those who love God also trust God, again, we find that this equals faith which equals trust. People who choose to live their lives in this manner exhibit characteristics that scare the rest of us because they seemingly have something that we don’t.  People of faith seem to possess absolute resolve in all the trials and tribulations that is placed in their way on a daily basis and seem to handle it better with more fortitude and with greater grace than the normal person could ever muster. But this I tell you is also an illusion, because even though we see something on the out side, the pain and turmoil still has its grip on the inside. We all have the same weakness that which is sin. We all sin, we all fall to sin in our daily lives, it’s just that some of us handle sin better because of their faith, because they trust in God for his promise of forgiveness of their sins. If there was anything which took root in the Roman world after the death and resurrection of Jesus it would have to be this one simple fact that more Romans needed faith in something more real than what they where being offered and Christianity gave them this anchor as it still does for all of us today.  So the simple fact is as Jesus had stated so brilliantly, faith is so powerful because it is show in your actions trust in the word of God. This builds belief in God and in that there is nothing which you cannot do or accomplish even move mountains.

“For we walk by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7

How many times have you been told to, “Have Faith.” ? What does this really mean? I had one of my students tell me flat out when I told him to have faith, “Why should we have faith?” Obviously this was coming from frustration, but I assured him it will all work in the end. Did it? “Yes! it did.” It always works out in the end. God makes sure things that go wrong in our lives according to us, He can and will fix. But how do we have faith when we don’t know the plan? This and so many other questions rest assured will be the road block to your faith if you let it. But, if you don’t and you let go and let God then your faith is multiplied by infinity and with that kind of faith there is nothing you cannot do.

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8

Faith is a journey, it is a real hand-in-hand walk with our creator. It is the constant listening, or listening faithfully in faith that we all share in common as we only have one God. No one can ignore the sin in our heart as surely as we cannot ignore the path we are all called to take, the journey called faith in God.

My faith journey has been one built up over forty years of  constant reading and asking questions to clergy and people I loved and respected. I finally came face-to-face with all my sin and troubles which had broken me to the point I could n’t stand myself and it was then I saw the clearest I saw the path and heard, really heard God calling my name to walk hand-in-hand with him. I had to hit the bottom of the barrel to find God, to find His mercy, His love, and His devotion that He so freely had given to me which had been before me for ever in plan view. It was that I simply could not see past myself, I was blind with pride, drunk with lust of this world I could not see God. I will not lie, my faith journey has been the hardest journey I have ever had to endure.  I have been tested in every way, shape, and form, every obstacle has been planted with deep roots in front of me, it seems that once I over come the obstacle another is already in the first ones place. Each new test become harder to beat, testing me in new more uncomfortable ways always forcing me to step outside my comfort zone and think outside of the box. But in all these trials and tribulations God has allowed to happen in my life, I have never wavered and in my faith has become stronger and stronger just like Jesus promised. “HAVE FAITH.” Is more than just a saying that makes most people cringe with fear and anxiety, it is the calling card of love sent straight to you from God himself. It is a commandment for the faithful to uphold, always and forever. The best part about it is I know I am never alone in my trials and tribulations that life beats me down with. Because I am on this journey, I am assured that God is with me, right beside me, holding my hand through every part especially the worst parts always giving me strength and resolve.

Without faith there is no hope, and without hope their is only depression and despair. You can expect to fail for sure with that formula. Added to that you are not pleasing God. The actions of those who feel no hope is to rob others of their hope, to pull others down into their sorrow and pity.  All of which is against God and against what He has commanded. God does not reward bad behavior, but rather there is hope in the reward of trust and love He holds for us for he gave his only son.

The one question that always comes to my mind at Easter is really when you thinking about it, when you remember the love of God; His grace that He so freely gives to all man kind is simple in retrospect, “How much more faith in God did Jesus exhibit in His last hour here on Earth as He suffered and died on the cross? How much more faith did Jesus demonstrate than anyone of us in any hour of trouble we face in comparison to being crucified ” Jesus’s stated mission according to the four Gospels of the New Testament was that He had to die for our sins. Jesus had told the Pharisees that He would be seated at the right hand of God. Clearly this was the reward for sacrificing himself for all mankind? But what if Jesus had misplaced His faith in God, what then? Certainly Jesus had thought this in the garden as he prayed before His arrest. Surely Satan had tempted Jesus with this doubt in the Desert. Had it not been for Jesus’s resurrection on the third day we all would be left without faith, without hope, without the trust in God we all so desperately need. We know Jesus was who he said He was, His father is God, and we know beyond doubt the power of Faith by His example and obedience which “Yes” pleased God immensely. Jesus’s faith in God was absolute, unwavering, and never ending. It is this we celebrate at Easter, and it is this truly gives man hope, faith, and love.

“And Jesus answered saith unto them, ‘Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in hid heart , but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.”  Mark 11:22-23

Happy Easter Everyone.

Amen

If you liked this Reflection on FAITH please leave a comment. Also please LIKE and SHARE this post with others.

Brian Keith

Your invited to stay in contact with me!

EMAIL: listeningfaithfullyblog@gmail.com

Facebook 

HELP SUPPORT LISTENING FAITHFULLY BLOG BY MAKING ALL YOUR ONLINE PURCHASES THROUGH OUR WEB STORE!  CLICK HERE.  As a special token of appreciation please accept a free downloadable gift from me to you: FREE BIBLE

While  at our Online store powered by AMAZN.com please consider being one the 20 special supporters of Listening Faithfully and purchase a Kindle Fire today. One Kindle Fire supports one child for this Summers Technology Team Course at Ascension Catholic School.  Become a supporter of inner city literacy today!

If your into marketing like I am then you need to generate leads period. So for visiting Listening Faithfully please click the following link and get your very own FREE LEADS GENERATING SYSTEM FOR FREE   – FOREVER TODAY! Click Here to claim your free FREE LEADS GENERATING SYSTEM! 

God Bless,

Brian Keith