Positioning for a miracle?
Lessons from Hannah & others whom Jesus healed.

How many years do you think Hannah was barren?  One clue we have is in verse 7 of 1 Samuel:

This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat.

10 years?
15 years?
20 years?

Another clue is there was enough time for her rival Peninnah to have many sons and daughters,
​1 Samuel 1:

4 Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. 5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb.

The account of Hannah's suffering reveals it took a toll.  She became emotionally distressed and embittered, 

1 Samuel 1:10- And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore.

It's reasonable to assume Hannah had an extended season of waiting.  A season that seriously tried her soul, made her especially sorrowful during annual worship feasts, and caused her to reject the kindness of her husband.  

Maybe you relate.

Are you in a season of waiting that is deeply affecting your worship, your closest relationships?  Do you need healing?  What is or who is a thorn in your side during the waiting?

What did Hannah do?  How did she position?  What did she say to God?  How can we glean wisdom and hope from her account?  

In the 2nd episode of my new podcast (Knowing Jesus with Gina), I'm looking at Hannah, and also noticing similar details in a majority of healing miracles from Jesus.  

What can you learn?  Are you to reposition?  What things can you open up to that you've not tried before?  How can you soften and open up to the LORD, to deepen in trust and His love?  

I pray that you listen to the episode.  Try taking notes.  Try pausing to write down  interactive questions that I present to you.  Have your bible.  Become familiar with the her story.  Go beyond what I present to you, and read the full account of Hannah in 1 Samuel 1 and 2:1-10.  

And notice the New Testament healings of Jesus.  We're to observe that what she did is also found in the behavior and words of others who received miracles from Jesus.  You'll hear me review some of them.  I counted 34 instances within 23 miracles of common behaviors and actions of the one receiving the miracle.

Be wise, slow down, pursue, and position the way they did.  

Hebrews 11:6- But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

I'll keep going with the healing theme in the next episode!

Have you thought about the fact that some of the most painful things Christ endured happened to His face?

Would you ever slap your parent?  Spit in their face?  Has anyone ever spit in your face?  Has anyone ever blindfolded you and beaten you and mocked you?  

Matthew 22:67-68 Then they spit in His face and struck Him. Others slapped Him and said, “Prophesy to us, Christ! Who hit You?”

The WORD of God repeatedly calls for us to seek His face.

Psalm 27: 7-9 Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice, And be gracious to me and answer me. When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You, “Your face, O LORD, I shall seek.”  Do not hide Your face from me, Do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; Do not abandon me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation!…

Psalm 105:4- Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face continually.

Being able to see God’s face is blessing not accessible via any other religions!  

❤️ Christ is the only God who put on flesh so we could know God’s face; and not be afraid when gazing upon Him!  
​ 
When in the presence of God, looking at His face, we are to be without fear of punishment and unashamed of our humble and vulnerable reliance upon Him for our salvation.  

He willingly laid Himself down!  Now we have the PRIVILEGE of drawing close to God to talk, whisper, weep, confess, sing, gaze upon, and focus on Him and him alone!     
 
This is the heart of the first commandment which says, “You shall have no other gods before me.”  The literal translation of Exodus 20:3 in original Hebrew is- No other god powers will exist for you “upon my face” or “in My presence”.   

No other powers will exist when we are so consumed with gazing upon the face of Jesus!!!!!!!   

So as we consider His suffering... is it any wonder there is such abuse of His face in His walk to the cross?

Do you think that spitting in Christ's face is one of the most obviously disrespectful things that happened to Him?

What part(s) of His walk to the cross makes you wince in disgust or horror?  I wince in thinking that He was beaten repeatedly over the head.

Can you imagine beating your parent over the head?

It's horrifying to consider!!!

Yet this is what happened to our precious and Holy Savior!

What meditation will be fresh in your spirit to maybe share with a family member or a friend on Easter?  How can you help someone understand the cost of Christ's suffering?  

❓ Maybe ask them, "Can you ever imagine blindfolding and then beating (y)our parent(s) over the head while mocking and spitting upon them?"  

🤔. Shock value might open the door for a challenging conversation about Jesus' suffering that they can connect with.

Otherwise, it is upon this Good Friday that we can take a bit of time to remember the Messiah’s walk to the cross.  Enter the difficult moments.  Look at Jesus' face as he suffered and took upon himself the full wrath of God. 
 
1 Peter 4:1- Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,

If you try, it's not hard to imagine His face feeling the disgusting spit of mockers as it landed and dripped down.  Especially with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can work up in ourselves seeing his face writhing in pain as it was repeatedly struck with a reed, perhaps a nose broken or a cheek bone split from blows, a head pierced with thorns, blood dripping down, blurring his vision.  We can imagine the sounds of his cries from the repeated blows to his head; and his ears taking in the sounds of it all, especially public mocking.  His beard pulled out, his mouth dried with his tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth, no water to quench desperate thirst, only his own blood to swallow.    

Isaiah 53:3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
    a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
    he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted. 

​Matthew 27: 27-31 Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s residence and gathered the whole cohort around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe  around him, and after braiding a crown of thorns, they put it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand, and kneeling down before him, they mocked him: “Hail, king of the Jews!” They  spat on him and took the staff and struck him repeatedly on the head. When they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes back on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

As the Good Shepherd was struck, his sheep scattered (John 10:11, Zechariah 13;7, Matthew 26:31).

While at the time of his crucifixion his followers scattered, that no longer has to be true.  

Now that we know death did not hold him, we can stay with him in that walk and look at His glorious face!  We can whisper sweet things to him and praise him!  His face is the place to undo our own words of mocking and unbelief that has reached his ears.  His grace is sufficient! 

May you be willing to meditate on aspects of Christ’s suffering.  May you be willing to admit you are one of multitude who put him on the cross, Romans 5:8.  Walk with him to the cross, see the depth of His love.  Let your heart be softened by breaking as an eye-witness, share in his grief, grieve with Him and then celebrate His glory displayed in the face of the risen Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:6- For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ. 

✨. BLESSINGS BE UPON YOU AND YOURS AS YOU CELEBRATE THE RESURRECTION LIFE OF JESUS!  

LUKE 24:6-7- He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’

The ARGUMENT- JESUS NEVER DECLARED HIMSELF TO BE GOD IN THE SCRIPTURES...

✅ TRUE
OR
❌ FALSE?

If true, do you know how to prove Jesus never declared Himself as God?  

If you have confidence in the Bible, you can easily prove it as false.  You can push back on anyone who says that Jesus never declared to be God in the scriptures.  You gently push back and say, "Prove it."  They will most likely stumble over themselves or point to some false teacher like Bart Ehrman.  They will not have strong argument.  They will not be able to prove it, because the scriptures don't support their lie!  

You can prove their lie as false if you know the scriptures!

We must approach the Bible as ancient Eastern text.   We must read it in context of those ancient times and cultural relevance of those times.  

You can only do that with the help and guidance of the Spirit of truth... promised to those who humble themselves like little children.  

John 14:26- But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

In fact, the very first words Jesus preached were a declaration of Him as King bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to earth! 

When Jesus used the word "gospel" or "good news", he was saying... "turn from worshipping Caesar as the gift given... I am the son who was born, I am the King of All, the gift that brings peace to all the world..."

That one word "gospel" was only used for the worship of Caesar Augustus.  It was a false gospel, and Jesus called it out right away!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
“The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe in the Gospel.”- Mark 1:15
 
What time has come?  How is the kingdom of God near?  Repent and believe the Gospel?
 
Mark 1:14 clearly says he began his ministry by preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.  
 
Do you think it wild that Romans, Greeks, and Jews would have immediately recognized the word “Gospel” before Jesus?  It's pretty clever of God to have that word as common language BEFORE He began preaching!  
 
- Gospel- (Greek #2098 Bible lexicon) - euaggelion: Gospel, Good News
 
Here is THE GOSPEL OF CAESAR AUGUSTUS- verified by archaeological discovery of an ancient Priene calendar inscription found from 6BC-.

‘It seemed good to the Greeks of Asia, in the opinion of the high priest Apollonius of Menophilus Azanitus: “Since Providence, which has ordered all things and is deeply interested in our life, has set in most perfect order by giving us Augustus, whom she filled with virtue that he might benefit humankind, sending him as a savior, both for us and for our descendants, that he might end war and arrange all things, and since he, Caesar, by his appearance (excelled even our anticipations), surpassing all previous benefactors, and not even leaving to posterity any hope of surpassing what he has done, and since the birthday of the god Augustus was the beginning [arxen] of the good tidings [evangelion] for the world that came by reason of him,” which Asia resolved in Smyrna.’- https://read-scripture.com/mark-1-1-and-priene-inscription/
 
Note the false gospel- Providence is feminized… “whom she filled with virtue…”

Providence sends a savior, i.e Augustus.  

Augustus is for them and their descendants to be worshiped as god.

On the birth of Augustus, he was to be known as the “beginning of the good tidings” (beginning of the gospel) for the whole world.

It was used to announce military victories of Caesar Augustus also!  The King was to be worshipped as Victor!!!

OBSERVE:  👀 That is a lot to be said and understood by the masses, just by using one word- GOSPEL.

Meditate upon that.  Get it inside you.  Share it with doubters.  Before Jesus, 1st century hearers knew the Gospel as worship of a King!  It was royal declaration of Caesar Augustus as god and good news for the whole world.
 
Yet, here comes Jesus starting His ministry boldly declaring that He was the real Gospel!  
 
Jesus' first words to "...repent and believe the Gospel" was His bold declaration to turn from the false gospel of Augustus to the true gospel of Himself!  He was announcing he was the King bringing His heavenly kingdom.  Jesus was boldly declaring that He was the Son given who had come to bring peace on earth to all! 
 
Mark (Book of Mark), intentionally and boldly starts his gospel the same way Jesus started his preaching, declaring Jesus' royalty and heavenly victory as Messiah and Son of God.  
 
Mark 1:1- The beginning of the good news (gospel) about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God,

Point unbelievers to that scripture and Mark 1:15 and explain to them that Jesus declared Himself as God right out of the gate.  As did His disciple Mark.   
 
Mark starting his gospel that way would have been understood as bold declarations AGAINST the Roman empire. This is believed to be why Mark was dragged through the streets of Egypt shortly after releasing his gospel account!  He died a terrible death!  He didn't succumb to death in the first public dragging through the streets, but was dragged again the following day and died!  Who would endure this unless they experienced the resurrected Savior?  

When you know the cultural details of the day, the words of Jesus and the accounts of His life come alive in powerful ways!

These are the hidden details that treasure hunters seek and find!

Mark and Matthew and John were very clear who Jesus was as God, and to their deaths... proclaimed Him that way!

Don't believe lazy doubters who have never scrutinized scripture with the help of the Holy Spirit.  Never give in to those who casually say- "Jesus never declared Himself to be God in the bible".  

FALSSSSSSSSSSE!!! 
 
The full Gospel is that Jesus' birth was a royal birth through a virgin named Mary who was impregnated by the Holy Spirit. Christ was the Son who was given as the perfect sacrifice and atonement for sin.  He was the good news for all who call upon His Name.  He is Peace and Forgiveness for all men who believe.  He was the gift sent from God who suffered and paid for your sin and mine, dying a shameful death on the cross! He willingly gave Himself as payment for all of your mistakes so that you can stand perfect before God the Father and be welcomed into Heaven! It’s Good News that His Father didn’t abandon Him to the grave, but instead, exerted His power and raised Him from the dead.  Jesus ascended to His heavenly throne, to be permanently installed as King of Heaven and earth.  He was given power, authority, and glory that all people of all nations and languages would worship Him as God, Daniel 7:13-14.  His Kingdom is now an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion one that will never pass away.  He will reign and rule forever and those who call upon His Name as Savior will experience His eternal life and joy forever!  Amen! 
 
So be clear... the "Gospel" of Jesus trumps Caesar’s fake gospel by a long shot, by incalculable strata.  Jesus was, is, always will be God.  Caesar, just a man.  Jesus, was the child born with the government resting on his shoulders.  

Caesar Augustus, just a man who had to call for a census to count the people, Luke 2:1.  

Whereas Jesus can weigh the mountains on the scales and calculate the dust of the earth in a measure, Isaiah 40:12.  

Caesar wouldn't be able to accurately count the dust fallen in a square inch! 

The scripture can be scrutinized!  Who can you share this with?  Who doubts that Jesus clearly declared Himself as God in the scriptures?  Who doubts the Word of God as infallible?  Talk about the Word as true!  Defend the Gospels!

Thank you to those who are giving!  Jesus is taking me month-to-month!  He is so faithful!  Even though I lost my largest donor, He is rescuing me!  May great favor and blessing be upon those giving!  I walk by faith!  All the ministry I do is freely given!  Pay it forward and seed into this ministry of the Spirit!  Many people I minister to are without resources, like young adults or women on the brink of life!  I'm still preaching and teaching 2x per month at 2 women's shelters!  I'm led by the Spirit!  Thank you to those who pray for me and for giving cheerfully!  You can donate by clicking on my Donate page!