God bless!

                In life there is always going to be someone who makes you nervous when you speak to them, whether a teacher, boss, leader, pastor, authority figure, etc. I'm sure you know that feeling of discomfort, as you speak your words get twisted, your thoughts get squed and you find yourself blabbering about things you shouldn't. Each of us has experienced it at one point or another, so why am I bringing any of this up? Well that feeling we had was birthed due to a lack of intimacy or relationship and many of us still feel like that when it comes to God. Yes I said God, when the thought of being in His presence arises all of a sudden we break down in tears or surprise (and we should be excited) but the fact remains why the impact? The impact is there because though it should be a normal occurrence to be in His presence for many of us it is not. Don't feel bad the same thing occurred to the disciples, in the verse we are covering today the disciples are said to be "afraid" to ask Him a question. If they really knew His heart for them, would they be afraid or would they be assured that He would comfort them?

                It's so easy for us to sit back and read scripture and bash the disciples but the truth is, we are worse at this because we see their mistakes and continue to make the same ones! I'm not trying to make us feel bad today but I am trying to get us to the point where we come out of denial and realize that the image of God that many of us have is just plain wrong. He would never harm us, He would never forget us and He will never leave us. It's not in Him to do wrong, He is righteousness and always will be. The moral of the message today is simply to come before the Father with mistakes and all, He will correct us and will make sure we get on the right track. Don't be afraid to talk to Him and don't be afraid to go back to Him if you have strayed, we all have and He has received and will always receive us all!

Thanking God for His awesome mercy,

Pastor Joell  A. Perez

Mark 9:32 "But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it."