Instagram Jesus Week 7: Devotional Day 2
DAY 2
Daily devotional
Read
Mark 1:30; Matt 6:33
Ask
Do we immediately take our requests to Jesus?
Reflect
Have you found yourself in a moment where you should be at Jesus’ feet but instead you have taken your thoughts, feelings, and emotions and placed them on a friend? Or maybe you look to your friends for distraction from what’s really going on for you emotionally?
I can think of many times where this has been true in my life. It’s like a default mode that takes me to a hiding place known as “smile and wave.” Ha, ha. Underneath the surface is true need, deep longings, prayers that need to be spoken out loud, and rest for my soul that I withhold from myself because I don’t want to bring it to Jesus. Somehow, I lack trust.
In this story, Mark says Simon’s mother-in-law was sick with a fever; immediately the disciples spoke to Jesus about her. There was no time between their knowledge of the fever and their petition to Jesus. They clearly knew who Jesus was and had deep faith that He could do something about it. How often do we respond with urgency and call on the name of Jesus?
When my twin daughters were born, I hired a nanny to come once in a while and help. Audrey and Estée were four weeks old. I had gone out for a quick walk and when I returned I went over and picked up Estée out of the baby swing. The motion of picking her up made her choke on her saliva. She stopped breathing and began turning a shade of blue as she struggled to get oxygen. My heart stopped. I placed her on her tummy in my arm and began carefully tapping on her back. I finally looked at my nanny and said “What do I do?” She said, “Call 911.” I will never forget this moment. With a fierce full-body sweat, I threw the door open to paramedics. All in all, Estée breathed and everything ended up fine. What is so sad is that I didn’t immediately call on Jesus. Why? I can only surmise that I hadn’t practiced it. I hadn’t flexed that muscle of taking everything immediately to Jesus.
Do we practice taking everything to Jesus first? Everything? When someone asks for prayer do we say, “Can I pray for you right now?” Or do we say “Sure,” and forget moments later? This is a muscle that has to be flexed, trained, and worked out. We have to practice going to Jesus first. These disciples in Mark 1 knew who Jesus was and what he could do. Do you?