May the Fourth Be With You

With it being May the 4th this leads to various “Dad” type jokes being spawned, such as ‘May the 4th be with you.’ Just the other day I had a situation that happened. I began to think about the power of one’s presence. So read on. May the fourth be with you!

Okay, so I was taking my 5-mile power walk on the beach the other day. I do run from time to time during the walk, but I call it the ‘old man shuffle.’ I was minding my own business literally. Yes, Jesus was hanging with me but I was doing my own thing. I was enjoying the sound of the waves, the ocean breeze, and picking up a cool shell or two along the way.

On a Mission – The Fourth Be With You

Then an older gentleman passed me by. Older? Okay, in my mind I’m not as old as anyone else who is old. So maybe he was around my age. Anyway, he never said hi. He never looked my way. He was just doing his thing just like I was doing mine. You don’t pass by many others when you are walking 2 1/2 miles to the point of the island. Those you do pass barely notice you because everyone is on a mission to get to the end and back.

But then, as soon as he passed by me, I had a very strong urge. I needed to get Jesus’s attention and begin to talk with Him. This is what we religiously call prayer you know. That’s another blog and another story. But my point is that when he passed me by there was a strong presence.

The Force is Strong with This One

It could have been one of two things:

One, it could have been Jesus sensing that this guy needed prayer. So He quickly brought it to my attention. I would like to say this was the case. Because that would make me sound spiritual and really tuned in to Jesus and to other people. It would make it look like my walk with Jesus is so close that I was strongly aware of His presence. At that very moment, I was aware of what He needed me to do. Or…

Two, it was that the presence was so strong in this other guy’s life, that Jesus had to get my attention through him. “The force is strong with this one.” And maybe because Jesus’s presence was so strong with him Jesus could use that to get my attention. So then because of this, I was urged to pray, to say, to speak forth the word of God.

Strong is the Force it is With Jesus

Luke 8:42b-46 niv

As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. ⁴³ And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years,^[a] but no one could heal her. ⁴⁴ She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. ⁴⁵ “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.” ⁴⁶ But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”

Luke 6:17b-19 niv

A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, ¹⁸ who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, ¹⁹ and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.

The Force is Strong in This One

Jesus is the Word of God. He is God. He is the Word in the flesh. Jesus is the creator of the universe and He knit all the inner delicate parts of our body together. So how is it that we are amazed by what He does? It is who He is. He is the I Am.

Would it not be amazing if someone walked by you. And when they did, you felt the power (of God) go out from you? I don’t know about you, but I’ve never felt that. Maybe you have felt it. If so, praise God. That is a closeness and openness in my walk with Jesus that I strive for in my life.

Challenge of the Day: Allow the force to be with you. Take that next step in your life to be deeper in His presence. And when you do, may the forth be with you! 😃 So be it!