KEEP YOUR EYES ON JESUS

The Centurion had his eyes on Jesus all the time. When they hammered the nails in he was looking at Jesus. When Jesus spoke he heard what he said, he heard his groans. When he pierced Jesus side with the spear he was looking at Jesus as he pierced him. As the Lord suffered he was looking at Jesus. As it went supernaturally dark all around the whole world the Centurion was looking at Jesus. When the earth shook and rocks were split apart his eyes were on Jesus and he said this

 "Certainly this was a righteous man" and "Truly this was the Son of God".

I was reminded this morning to be like the Centurion and keep looking to Jesus. When it goes dark in the world around us keep looking to Him. When your world shakes and everything is uncertain keep looking at Jesus.  When you suffer remember Jesus bore all your griefs and sorrows on the cross and all your pains and sicknesses - keep looking at Jesus. He is your Deliverer.

Whenever things don't look good we can choose to be like the Centurion, fix our eyes on Jesus and we can confess our faith in the midst of the darkness and say

"Truly this is the Son of God and certainly He is a righteous man." In other words the centurion who was a Roman knew Jesus was innocent, He was not guilty but He bore my guilt and yours. And for the Jews he was telling them He truly was the Messiah, the One they had all been waiting for, our Saviour, the Saviour of the World.  And He came for you and me. All glory to His Name.

JESUS HAS SOMETHING DIFFERENT TO SAY!

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, do not depend on your own understanding; Seek His ways in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

Do you ever think you have to sort things out, especially in family or with people you care about? We try to work stuff out in  our heads, to make sense of circumstances but God says not to lean on our own understanding.  Why is that? Because our understanding is so limited and finite (and very often leans to the negative!).

When we tap into God and His way of doing things we are tapping into the infinite, unlimited resources and power of God which is going to be much better don't you think? 

If we're thinking negatively we know those thoughts are not coming from God! But if we turn our problems into praises we will see the turn around. Thank You Lord You already know the problems and You are giving us the answers, thank you Lord You are working behind the scenes, You are bringing triumphs out of our tragedies.

I keep imagining myself on the road walking with Cleopas as Jesus joined him and his companion on their depressing walk home to help these two get their hopes back up, to let them know all was not lost.  I love that, don't you?

In the same way Jesus is there beside you right now and He wants you to get your hopes back up because although it may look like Friday in your circumstances He wants to remind you that Sunday is on the way. Resurrection is on the way. New beginnings are on the way.

Cleopas and his companion thought that everything had come to a dead end. It hadn't worked out the way they thought it would or hoped. Things looked bad for them all. They were leaning on their own understanding!  BUT JESUS had something different to say. He told them this was just the beginning of a new chapter in their story and in the story of the world.

So be encouraged, as we trust Him, God is working behind the scenes in all our lives, bringing about His purposes and good plans. 

He can resurrect anything that is dead. 

He can turn our dead ends into new beginnings if we will let Him.

And if we let Him He will lead us into those plans which He has prepared before the foundation of the world. LET JESUS GET YOUR HOPES UP! Whatever your thoughts have been let Him say something different, it may be radical!