JESUS VISITS
Last night we sat down to
relax a little and watch a movie. That’s when Jesus came to hang out for a
while. He does that often, not to deliver an earth-shaking message, but just to
be with us. That was right before we experienced a total blackout. After
spending a little time with Jesus, we knew we had nothing to fear.
In the dark, I felt my way
over to where we have a battery-operated light that lights up the whole room, and
I turned it on. Then I went to where our solar flashlights are, and a
battery-operated radio. Everything worked well, so we were in good shape. Going
through this fairly short experience showed us where we were prepared in this
one room and where we could improve things in the rest of the house should it
happen again.
Jesus cares about our
safety and our preparedness for blackouts, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes,
and anything else that might harm us. He watches over us to make sure we know
that He is always with us and that we will be okay if we trust Him to lead us. In
the physical realm, He even lets us test out how prepared we are and lets us
know if we need to do anything more.
Yes, Jesus likes to visit
us. He shows us in the Bible that in His resurrected body He visited with His
disciples one morning after they’d been out fishing.
“But
when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew
not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus saith unto them, ‘Children, have ye any meat?’
They answered him, ‘No’” (John 21:4-5).
Jesus showed them what to
do to end the day prosperously, and then he cooked some fish and had dinner
with them.
“Jesus
saith unto them, ‘Come and dine.’ And none of the disciples durst ask him, ‘Who
art thou?’ knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread,
and giveth them, and fish likewise” (vv. 12-13).
Jesus gave Peter some
instructions on how to be prepared to take care of the people who were
followers, but for the other disciples, Thomas, Nathanael, the sons of Zebedee
and two others who are not named, it was a time to just be with the Lord
enjoying some food and fellowship.
I love it that those two
other disciples are not even named by John. But Jesus knew their names. To
Jesus they were just as important as John or Peter. That’s just like us! Jesus
was right there eating and visiting with His disciples, regular believers just
going about their regular business of fishing. He is willing to visit us too,
if we’ll let Him.
For many years when Jane
was a teenager she would take the bus to downtown Chicago. She had a certain
route she took, going in and out of different stores. And somewhere along the
way Jesus always met her. It was always an overwhelming feeling of sweetness,
so sweet she could nearly taste it, and she knew it was the Lord. For me, when
He comes to our living room, I don’t feel the sweetness, but I feel a
supernatural peace and I can see Him, but I can also see through Him. I’m sure
He manifests differently to different people. With a minimal understanding of
quantum physics, we know that something can be in two or more places at the
same time. This is why the Bible says Jesus is seated on the right hand of God
and is in us and can visit us as a separate personage as well.
I can’t tell you why Jesus
likes to show up when Jane and I are at the end of our day relaxing and
watching a movie. We’re not doing anything religious, but He shows up just to
be with us. I remember a time several years ago when I told Him I wanted to
know Him better, but this is amazing! Maybe that was my time of Him knocking
and me opening the door.
In Revelation 3:2, Jesus
tells us: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: If any man hear my voice,
and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with
me.”
Love, Carolyn
Lots of great true-life
stories – THE BIBLE APPLIES TO THE ORDINARY AND EXTRAORDINARY DAY