GOD Morning! / March 16, 2015, How’s That Working Out for You?

GOD Morning! / March 16, 2015

How’s That Working Out for You?

Mark 14:54-72

⁵⁴ And Peter followed Him at a distance, even right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting [in the firelight] with the guards and warming himself at the fire.

Following Jesus at a distance has not ever worked and will not ever work. EPIC FAIL!!!! Every time!!!

Read the following verses carefully. This is what happens when we follow Jesus at a distance.

⁵⁵ Now the chief priests and the entire council (the Sanhedrin) were constantly seeking [to get] testimony against Jesus with a view to condemning Him and putting Him to death, but they did not find any.

⁵⁶ For many were repeatedly bearing false witness against Him, but their testimonies did not agree.

⁵⁷ And some stood up and were bearing false witness against Him, saying,

⁵⁸ We heard Him say, I will destroy this temple (sanctuary) which is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, made without hands.

⁵⁹ Still not even [in this] did their testimony agree.

⁶⁰ And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, Have You not even one answer to make? What [about this which] these [men] are testifying against You?

⁶¹ But He kept still and did not answer at all. Again the high priest asked Him, Are You the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One), the Son of the Blessed?

⁶² And Jesus said, I Am; and you will [all] see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power (the Almighty) and coming on the clouds of heaven.

⁶³ Then the high priest tore his garments and said, What need have we for more witnesses?

⁶⁴ You have heard His blasphemy. What is your decision? And they all condemned Him as being guilty and deserving of death.

⁶⁵ And some of them began to spit on Him and to blindfold Him and to strike Him with their fists, saying to Him, Prophesy! And the guards received Him with blows and by slapping Him.

⁶⁶ While Peter was down below in the courtyard, one of the [serving] maids of the high priest came;

⁶⁷ And when she saw Peter warming himself, she gazed intently at him and said, You were with Jesus of Nazareth too.

⁶⁸ But he denied it falsely and disowned Him, saying, I neither know nor understand what you say. Then he went outside [the courtyard and was] into the vestibule. And a cock crowed.

⁶⁹ And the maidservant saw him, and began again to say to the bystanders, This [man] is [one] of them.

⁷⁰ But again he denied it falsely and disowned Him. And after a short while, again the bystanders said to Peter, Really, you are one of them, for you are a Galilean and your dialect shows it.

⁷¹ Then he commenced invoking a curse on himself [should he not be telling the truth] and swearing, I do not know the Man about Whom you are talking!

⁷² And at once for the second time a cock crowed. And Peter remembered how Jesus said to him, Before a cock crows twice, you will utterly deny Me [disclaiming all connection with Me] three times. And having put his thought upon it [and remembering], he broke down and wept aloud and lamented.

Lately, I have been following Jesus at a distance. I pray and read my Bible, but it hasn’t been the same.

I have allowed some junk to get in the way.

Have you ever been highly offended, but tried to shove it down and pretend it’s no big deal? You feel ashamed. You feel immature. Maybe you’ve already prayed about it and laid it down on the altar. But somewhere along the way, it has crept back into your heart. The hurt, the frustration, the bitterness.

Lately I have been trying to work through offences. But instead of working through them, I have allowed them to get in the way of my intimacy with Jesus.  Maybe I’m a little embarrassed to bring it up (again) to Jesus.  And “at a distance” Christianity never has worked and never will work for me.

I find myself hitting the snooze button and feeling apathetic about prayer. Because when I pray, the annoying pain and confusion comes up and I have to lay it down again. It’s temporarily easier not to pray very hard. I call it surface praying. Kind of like surface cleaning. It looks presentable, but it’s not really clean.

So this morning, I decided I was tired of surface praying and I got down to business again. At first, I didn't like it. (Boring! Hard! Not pretty! Etc!) And then the cleansing tears began to flow. 
Wow. What a change! I feel soooooo much better. And I am allowing God to clean out my heart again.

Peter did not intend to betray Jesus three times. Not even one time! But when he made the choice to follow Him at a distance, he also made the choice to fail miserably.

So I ask the question, “How’s that working out for you?”

“Dear Jesus, please help me. I am so weak and lost without You. I am so ashamed that I have allowed garbage to get between You and me. I have been discouraged and disappointed in myself. Thanks to You, I decided to make a change this morning. And thanks for meeting me where I was, and showing mercy to me, a sinner. How I love You, Jesus! AMEN.”