“My Lord and My God!” 4-9-10

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I believe You and I believe in You. You are worthy of my trust, my heart, and my life. And by the same grace You’ve given me to trust You, You give me the grace to entrust myself and my day to Your care and Your will. ... “But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in His hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in His side, I will not believe’ ” (John 20:24-25). Thomas was one of the twelve—one of the ones who heard You teach and preach the coming of the kingdom of God and demonstrate it in the power of God every day for three and a half years. He saw the sick healed, lepers cleansed, sinners forgiven, and the dead raised. But he could not believe the good news of Your resurrection. Or at least, he refused to believe it except on his own terms. Looking at his lack of faith, we call him “doubting Thomas” and to this day, we mock others for their lack of faith in anything by calling them a “doubting Thomas.” But why was Thomas different from the other twelve? Was it because he was more scientific, more skeptical, more left-brained, more stubborn, more thick-headed or hard-hearted than the others? No, according to Your Word, Thomas “was not with them when Jesus came” (v. 20:24). He had not had a personal encounter with the Living Christ. He was not willing to take anyone’s word for it that Your resurrection was true. Information, knowledge, correct doctrine, peer pressure, even eye-witness accounts of those who had seen You and experienced You themselves was not enough. He needed his own encounter. The same may have been true for any one of the twelve who had not been there the first time You came to let them see You resurrected and alive. So You let Thomas wrestle with his doubts for a week (v. 20:26). It seems You could have come to him any day, but You didn’t. It seems You could have immediately put to rest all his questions and doubts, allowed him to be calm and settled, comfortable in the truth he could see with his own eyes and feel with his own hands, able to get a good night’s sleep free from all his skepticism and stubbornness. But You didn’t. You let him simmer in the stew of his doubts. Why? You teach us much in times of waiting. You focus our thinking in the times of questioning. You lift our eyes and our hearts above the things of this world in the longing to experience You. You draw us close to You with the hungering and thirsting to encounter You. And You humble us to remember that You alone are God and You alone will determine the time and place of our experiences and encounters on Your terms, not ours. Even when You did come to Thomas and offered him Your hands and side to touch and feel, he never did. He just declared with all his heart, “My Lord and my God!” In the moment of his personal encounter with the Living Christ, all his terms and conditions of his faith and his relationship with You vanished in the glory of Your Presence (v. 20:27-28). In fact, his words are the highest declaration of faith in Your Divine Identity as God in all the Bible. Thomas’ faith became sight in his own personal encounter with You. So it was for the others as well. The same is true for most of us. True faith is more than knowing about You, it’s knowing You. True faith seems to require a personal encounter—it seems to be so much more a matter of the heart than a matter of the mind, though both are necessary. But it is Your way, always in Your timing for Your purposes, to allow us the grace of a personal encounter with You. Ours may not be like Thomas and the first disciples who literally saw You with their own eyes. But we can each have our personal encounter and experience Your Presence in our lives. Those encounters come in many ways, but each way comes in the time and means of Your choosing—not on our terms, but on Yours. But when we do have our encounter with You, we are “blessed” with Your gift of faith to believe (v. 20:29). Thank You, Lord Jesus, for every experience and every encounter with You along the journey of my life. I hunger and thirst for more. I long to live every day looking you’re your Presence in the moments of my day. Thank You for the grace You’ve given me to believe. I have not yet seen Your hands and side, but by the grace of Your mercy and love, I have personally encountered You so many ways, so many times. I believe and I am blessed. And like Thomas, I declare You are my Lord and my God. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, please come join us for two Messiah Ministries events coming up in Lexington, Kentucky in April, as well as The Fountain, our monthly citywide gathering for prayer, praise, and healing worship always at 7 pm on the 3rd Friday Night of every month: April 10, 2010 Day of Prayer and Fasting we're calling "Breaking the Silence--Restoring the Voice of Women in the Church" based upon Acts 2:17-18. Laura Beach and I will be leading in prayer along with various worship leaders throughout the day. April 28-May 1, 2010 "The Fountain School of Spiritual Ministry, Level 2." Please contact Marilyn, our Messiah Ministries Director of Ministries for more information: DirOfMinistries@aol.com 859-317-1591 The Fountain School of Spiritual Ministry, Level 2 A focused time of teaching, mentoring, discipleship, personal ministry, equipping, worshipping and prayer led by Tommy Hays and a Messiah Ministries teaching team of experienced prayer ministers. We will continue to study and experience a Biblical perspective of the ministry of healing and wholeness of spirit, soul and body, and apply the foundational principles of the Kingdom of God for prayer ministry. The course combines dynamic classroom teaching in a small group setting with personal hands-on experience as students receive personal ministry and are guided in ministry for others. Level 2 gives deeper experience, opportunity, and practice in healing ministry. For more information or to Register for The Fountain School of Spiritual Ministry: Information/RegisterSchoolOfMinistryLevel2 Subscribe by email to Tommy Hays at Messiah Ministries: MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" To order my books and our ministry resources or contribute on-line: www.messiah-ministries.org 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY