Drying Off With A Wet Towel….

For the skeptical heart that just wants to stir the pot, no answers that will satisfy will be given. Unless a man resolves in his heart to seek out God honestly, he will never find satisfaction. He will never find peace. He will never find wholeness. God doesn’t work that way. Jesus spoke in parables for a reason. If people didn’t take the time to want to know the meaning of each parable, they would never be able to know. Unless a man decides that he will accept God on God’s terms, he will never know Him. Jesus knew the Pharisee’s hearts. He knew their demand for a sign wasn’t because they truly wanted to believe in Him. Jesus responded by not giving them a sign. If you truly want to test yourself when it comes to the genuineness of your heart, ask yourself these questions, “when God speaks, will I listen?”, “When God speaks am I willing to accept whatever He asks of me?”, “When God speaks, am I willing to suffer in order to accomplish His will?” Unless you answer “yes” to these questions, you may have more in common with the Pharisees than the Disciples. Does this mean you will suffer if you subject yourself to God? Not necessarily. The point is are you willing to listen, to serve, and to suffer for God? You may never have to experience great suffering, but are you willing? That is a very good indicator that you’re heart is aligned with the Spirit of God, and your faith is still in fertile soil. When your skeptical about God, your heart needs attention. When you’re focused on yourself, you’re distracted from the path. Your heart needs to be fed. A slice of humble pie may just satisfy the nourishment it needs. Your eyes need spiritual glasses, in order to see the obstacles in your path that need avoiding. God’s ways are not our ways. Until we learn this and subject ourselves to His Authority, understanding, accepting, and embracing His ways are impossible. Understanding God with a hardened heart is like drying off with a wet towel. It just ain’t gonna happen.

11 When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had arrived, they came and started to argue with Him. Testing Him, they demanded that He show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove His authority.12 When He heard this, He sighed deeply in His spirit and said, “Why do these people keep demanding a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, I will not give this generation any such sign.” 13 So He got back into the boat and left them, and He crossed to the other side of the lake. 14 But the disciples had forgotten to bring any food. They had only one loaf of bread with them in the boat. 15 As they were crossing the lake, Jesus warned them, “Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod.”16 At this they began to argue with each other because they hadn’t brought any bread. 17 Jesus knew what they were saying, so He said, “Why are you arguing about having no bread? Don’t you know or understand even yet? Are your hearts too hard to take it in? 18 ‘You have eyes–can’t you see? You have ears–can’t you hear?’ Don’t you remember anything at all?19 When I fed the 5 ,000 with five loaves of bread, how many baskets of leftovers did you pick up afterward?”“Twelve,” they said.20 “And when I fed the 4 ,000 with seven loaves, how many large baskets of leftovers did you pick up?”“Seven,” they said.21 “Don’t you understand yet?” He asked them. Mark 8:11-21