situation. On one occasion, I prayed for God to give her a good report from the doctor. He provided that good report. She lightened up and started to smile and laugh a bit with me over the months. People were amazed by our rapport. Well, there were good and bad days for her until she was in a truly desperate situation. Her medical bills continued to stack-up, her husband was unemployed and has not found work. She was looking for another job with increased pay and benefits. There were no calls from employers. Do you know what you would do in a desperate situation?
I asked if she prayed to the Lord about her situation. She replied that she spoke to the Lord daily. I replied, “let us pray as this is a desperate situation and let’s ask the Lord to intervene.” She quickly agreed. “But first let’s renew your relationship with the Lord.” She again agreed. We prayed the sinner's prayer together out loud. I prayed a blessing over her and her husband. Her red, angry face, brightened. Tears of joy came to my eyes. I knew she had positioned herself for a blessing of the Lord. I told her, “stand on what we asked of the Lord; do not waiver in your faith, not for a moment.”
She was the angriest person in the place, and was humble enough to say “God, I’m desperate.” “I need your help.” “Nothing I’m doing is working.”
The Jezebel spirit bound, office people had no concept of this. They think they are ok in their lukewarmness, or coldness toward the Lord (1 John 1:8).
How do you look upon God’s people? What do you see? It is prophesied that prodigals are coming home to the Lord this year 5777. New converts will also come to know the Lord. The harvest is great; His glory greater. Have you positioned yourself to look at the lost as one of God’s children or do you look at them a bunch of sorry, worldly people who get what they deserve? He doesn’t want anyone to perish. We didn’t get what we deserved in our sin; this is called mercy.
As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him.
Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. 11 But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with such scum?”
When Jesus heard this, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.” Then he added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”
Matthew 9:9-12 (NLT)
Our Lord wants us to learn to show “mercy,” another translation says “compassion.” He did not come to call the righteous, but He called sinners to repentance; to reformation. How or why this woman was bound by sin was not the point. The point is our response to her (and others) and her response to an invitation to be reconciled to the Lord (Romans 5:10). We must respond as Jesus does in this scripture. If we profess and preach that we ought to have the mind of Christ, then we are also called to call sinners back to God (1 Corinthians 2:16, 2 Timothy 4:2). Another translation says “outcasts,” or “outsiders.” This woman was an outcast from the other employees; she was isolated even though part of a team.