Seeking the Joy of the Kingdom
Seeking God….to Restore Desolate Communities
Seeing God is as simple as a fat man losing weight. Fat men lose weight by reducing their caloric intake. Consistently pressing past the breakfast donut and choosing the Kashi cereal instead (I've gotta try that someday) easily said, difficult to make a lifestyle habit. It's the same with seeing God; you have to make a habit of searching just a little more when seeking to find him.
I've recently been searching the internet for a class on evangelism. One of the core subjects of evangelism is how to deal with difficult questions. On a site dealing with the subject, I found this question and how to deal with it: "The Bible claims that Jesus sweat blood….that can't be true?" The answer to that question I've included below:
Although this medical condition is relatively rare, according to Dr. Frederick Zugibe (Chief Medical Examiner of Rockland County, New York) it is well-known, and there have been many cases of it. The clinical term is “hematohidrosis.” “Around the sweat glands, there are multiple blood vessels in a net-like form.” Under the pressure of great stress the vessels constrict. Then as the anxiety passes “the blood vessels dilate to the point of rupture. The blood goes into the sweat glands.” As the sweat glands are producing a lot of sweat, it pushes the blood to the surface - coming out as droplets of blood mixed with sweat.
From: Did Jesus really sweat drops of blood?
If I were to have just stored this bit of knowledge away and moved on, I would have missed a wonderful experience of seeing God. A part of the text caught my eye: Then as the anxiety passes “the blood vessels dilate to the point of rupture. I was inspired to see God so; I looked up the scripture passage in Luke 22: 39-45. I was looking for that moment of when “the anxiety passes" and found this portion of the scriptures:
vs. 43 And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.
vs. 44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Note that an Angel strengthened him which allowed Jesus the ability to pray with more earnest. At that point I was able to see two great truths and see God even clearer. The first truth was the scriptures perfectly line up with science. The second was that seeking God in earnest brings about the passing of anxiety. That tickled my soul. If I hadn't wanted to see God more, I would have missed seeing him. Wow, I'm almost inspired enough to go on a diet…..almost.
Michael Parsons
Oak Hill Jackson Community Church
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