They were blind. Dark is all they saw. However, there was nothing wrong with their hearing. They knew that Jesus, the Healer, was near. So they shouted their cry for mercy. I have shared my journey about learning the value of praying for mercy. I have found that a cry for mercy is more important than a cry for God to do a certain thing. Too many times our specific requests come out more like commands. A cry for mercy allows God to shape His answer to our greatest need.

Playing with I can’t is as dangerous as playing with fire. Can’t rehearses the wrong information. Can’t often sets up false boundaries. Can’t paralyzes, shortchanges, and destroys possibility. Jesus encountered a person who lived with I can’t too long (John 5:1-9) Jesus was in Jerusalem for a Feast Day. He and his disciples probably entered by the Sheep Gate which meant they walked past the Bethesda Pool. Bethesda means House of Mercy. But there wasn’t much mercy at the

What Jesus does when you ask for His anything is more than you could think to ask. Find new hope in the sweet surrender to His unbounded res

Come with me to the edge of Jericho where Jesus had attracted a large crowd again. Most don’t see the furrowed brows of Jesus. He is just a few days away from Jerusalem and the week that will change history forever. Two blind men are sitting beside the road, their open hands hoping someone will put a coin in them. Their lives depend on begging. They have no other way to sustain themselves. They hear crowd noise and turn a hopeful ear toward the group. This will be a good

How can a two-letter word take down your faith? How can something so small demoralize you, capture you, and leave you chained to everything you don’t want to be true? That’s the question in today’s story. Read Luke 5:12-16 He came with an obvious problem, easy for all to see. He was a leper. He lived in the shadows, at a distance from the normal ebb and flow of life. He was required to announce his disease so people could get out of the way to prevent contamination. He

No prayer is more desperate than a prayer for healing, whether for yourself or for someone you love. I’ve prayed for healing for our Lisa from the first diagnosis through all the complicated, life threatening and life altering diagnoses that followed. But no prayer gave me more peace than the one I share with you here. It’s where I start any prayer for healing because it helps me start at the right place. You probably missed it when you read the very familiar story of Mary

As soon as the guide pointed to the excavated and fenced off hollow and named it, my heart pounded with awe. Pool of Bethesda. While its name meant house of mercy, there was no mercy for the infirm and invalids who waited here beside the Temple. They waited for an angel to ripple the water. They who waited for healing that would not come. I knew the story of the man on the mat who embraced all the reasons he would never walk away whole and healed. Underdog. Outcast. His