John 20:19 – 31
Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when
the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews,
came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his
hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father
hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on
them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye
remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are
retained. But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when
Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print
of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand
into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days again his disciples
were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and
stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach
hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust
it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and
said unto him, My Lord and my God.
When Jesus steps into the
room the first thing he offers is peace, second he breaths on them and fills
them with the Holy Ghost. To me this is so amazing, the breath of God gave Adam
life in the garden, and now just the breath of God can fill each of us with
peace, joy, and that wonderful sweet Holy Ghost. He gives it to us freely; all
we need to do is believe.
In these scriptures Thomas
wanted God to prove to him that Jesus had risen, for he had seen Jesus beaten,
carry that ole’ heavy cross up to the place where he laid down and big old
rusty nails were put into his hands and feet. He saw Jesus suffer a long and
painful death on that lonely hill and when they pierced his side the blood and
water flowed. He, like many of us, we want to see physical proof. Before Thomas
could believe he had to touch him, this is what some of us do over certain
circumstances, we want to touch the miracle before we can believe it is
possible.
Many of us have all heard and
know the scripture that gives us the meaning of faith; it clearly states this
by saying Now faith is… (Hebrews 11:1). It’s these three small words that when
used, it can move mountains; sometimes the mountain is physical but many times
it’s emotional. We are saying God can do it for you but we forget that means
for ourselves too. In John 20 the verses 29 & 31 the gospel goes on to explain, Jesus is no longer
speaking to the disciples but he is speaking to the people of today and as we
read or hear these words:
Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. …these
are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God;
and that believing ye might have life through his name.
The word says (Romans 12:3
…according as God has dealt to every man the measure of
faith), we are given this which is how we can believe in the above
scripture that Jesus was speaking to every person born in the world after his
death and have not seen him as the disciples did and yet we believe he is. As a
child our mother’s teach us that her love for us does not waiver. She
encourages us to be the best man or woman we can be, to stand on our own feet,
to know that even when we mess up or stumble; her love for us will grow
stronger and this cycle continues with each generation. A mother’s love is so
precious and powerful and only thing that is stronger is the love of Jesus.
Jesus
has a love for each of us that is so strong and we know that he is always there.
Our faith begins as we kneel down at the altar of God and ask for his
forgiveness of our sins, it will continue on throughout our lives as long as we
trust in the Lord.
Our faith is tested regularly. In I Peter 1:7 it
says That the trial of your faith,
being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with
fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus
Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet
believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: …even the
salvation of your souls. Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and
searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
The more our faith grows,
the more it is tested and the more we use our faith the more it will grow. It
says in the word that (I Peter 2:4, If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. To whom coming,
as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and
precious, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy
priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ) we are chosen by God and are precious to
him. We should continuously be growing in faith, in the word, and acceptable to
God.
I hope I have been able to put into words and paint the picture
what I felt the Lord wanted me to give to you today. For Jesus is so precious
to me and you. We are on the greatest journey of our lives and there is so much
to lose if we chose not to pursue after Jesus. Let us come together in one mind
and one spirit and know that through our faith we can change the world.
Written by: Karen ReNee
