Day 28 - I'm hungry.

Jesus walks through walls - Luke 24:13-53

The adventure begins. The disciples finally understand and believe that Jesus is not dead, that He conquered death, and that He is God. They finally believe, and now they're ready to start the rest of their lives, for Jesus' death was validated by His resurrection. Dying for our sins wasn't enough, He also had to conquer death. 

One thing I love about this passage, too, is how the disciples and men Jesus met on the road couldn't see that it was Jesus until their eyes were opened, their hearts made ready to receive the truth. Jesus doesn't tell us everything, we don't get to know all the details. Sometimes we can't see what's going on, understand the circumstances of our lives or why things happen, but we have to trust that Jesus knows best! It will be revealed to us in time, or maybe not, but either way, Jesus is good and He knows what's going on, so we can follow Him knowing He won't lead us astray. 

Q&A:::

-Sometimes we struggle with seeing God's hand in our lives. What "sign" would you ask God to do in your life to show He is active and cares about your relationship with Him?

It depends on the circumstance. Sometimes I've just asked for doors to be opened or closed, to hear something, see something, usually more ambiguous things. I've never asked for a "please drop a purple and blue flower down infront of my feet right now if you are there." I think that is testing God. There's a fine line between asking for a sign to be directed with and testing God by demanding that He shove something under our noses. Faith has to be part of it, we can ask, but He doesn't have to answer the way we've asked Him to. He always answers, though, in some respect, He's always there, we just have to open our eyes and ears and minds and hearts to actually perceive, not just to see what we want to see, but see what He wants us to see. 

-Jesus said He was hungry. How does the humanity of Jesus draw you closer to Him? In what ways do you struggle to believe that Jesus truly understands your humanity?

Jesus walked on this earth, was tested and tried, struggled and died. He was so perfectly human and so perfectly God at the same time. This really does connect Him to us, He's personable, approachable, comfortable, a friend and father. I've never really struggled to believe that He can understand my humanity, I know He knows everything and thus understands my struggles and pains. 

-Why do you think Jesus needed to recount with the disciples all the reasons He needed to suffer and die?

Because they clearly did not understand it yet. They were still blind to the fact that He was God, that He had to die, that it was prophesied and He was fulfilling the Old Testament. They needed the information put very straightforwardly in front of them, they weren't able to put the pieces together. And I think we all need that! It's so easy to be blind to the truth that's staring us in the face, so easy to turn our brains off to the things we don't want to see, don't want to understand, or just refuse to put together. 

-God is the one who needs to open our minds to understand. How does the truth affect what you ask for in prayer?

It definitely changes my prayers. Instead of just praying for myself or my own desires it allows me to pray for God's desires to be manifested in my life. For His heart to become my heart, for me to change to be there person He wants me to be rather than just being who I feel like I should be. Knowing who He is changes everything because He becomes the center instead of the focus being on me, me, me. 

-What do you need to praise, rejoice, and thank God for?

Everything! Seriously, though. That's been something I"ve been trying to work on - thanking God for everything. Not just "finding the silver lining," but trusting that everything can and will be used for the glory of God, that He will use bad things for His good. It's really great, just being able to look at life from His lens and see so many areas He has blessed me. I don't think we realize how much He has done for us, because we're so used to looking at things through the world's lenses. Instead of thanking God for blessing us with scholarships, we pat ourselves on the back for working so hard in school and being recognized for good grades. Yes, we worked hard, but who gave us the intelligence, the diligence to get those good grades? Yeah, that's right, Jesus! He has done so much, He is always watching out for us, and He should be praised for that care constantly. 

-Who do you need to pray for or tell about this wonderful news?

 Everyone! Can I keep just giving incredibly generic answers and skirt the real issues? Hah. Anyways. Yeah, as I've said before, this is definitely an area I need to grow in - telling the wonderful news. I love Jesus, and I talk about it all the time...with other Christians, on Twitter, and on my blog. This wonderful news sharing needs to become something I do more in "real life" with the people who really need to hear, because that's why we're still on this earth. After we come to know Jesus, why don't we just go directly go Heaven? I mean that's where we'll end up eventually, right? Why not go there right away before we can sin anymore? Because we still have a job to do, to go out and be ambassadors, to be Jesus' disciples, and share the wonderful news, by living radically different lives for Him, for His glory, not for our own.

-What do we learn about Jesus here?

As usual - He's beyond amazing! But in addition to that, we learn that He understands that we are often very simple and don't understand what's going on. And He still love us even though we close our hearts, eyes, ears, and minds to Him and His truth. He tells us what's going on, reveals to us what we need to know to continue in the faith. He understands us, even if we don't understand Him.