<html><head></head><body><div><div><div><div><br></div>Mark 3;19b-21<div><br></div><div><b>19b. &nbsp;Then he went home;</b></div><div><b>20. &nbsp;and the crowd came together, so that they could not even eat.</b></div><div><b>21. &nbsp;And when his friends heard it, they went out to seize him, for they said, “He is beside himself.”</b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div>It is part of our “<i>suffering with Christ” &nbsp;</i>(Romans 8;15-17) to be misunderstood even by those who love us, our own families and friends.</div><div><br></div><div>People are inclined to say, ‘You are mentally unstable’&nbsp;if your passion in life is&nbsp;to serve the Lord, read, study, memorize, and meditate on&nbsp;His Word, or if your&nbsp;discipline of&nbsp;yourself is&nbsp;more than ‘normal’ people. &nbsp;Believers who are fervent in prayer, in serving and giving to&nbsp;others, and&nbsp;in devotion to the will of our Father, are treated as mentally ill fanatics, and are relegated to the status of being called ‘crazy’ not ‘normal’&nbsp;or ‘not right in the head’. They along&nbsp;with their Lord Jesus&nbsp;are said to be,&nbsp;<i>“beside themselves”.</i></div><div><i>&nbsp;</i></div><div>Being devoted to the Lord first, loving Him and His will above all earthly things,&nbsp;can be a very lonely life sometimes. &nbsp;It can&nbsp;be discouraging when it is your family and fellow Christians who are the ones saying this.</div><div><br></div><div>To be <i>“Baptized <u>into</u>&nbsp;Christ” </i>(Romans 6;3) and to <i>“Walk by the Spirit” </i>(Galatians 5;16-26) can indeed be a lonely way to live sometimes, but you are following your Good Shepherd <i>“in the paths of righteousness, for His name’s sake”. &nbsp; </i>(Psalm 23;3)&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>We are no longer living for the approval of people, we live for our Heavenly Father’s approval. &nbsp;We by faith know the angels are smiling at us, even while humans&nbsp;are shaking their heads. &nbsp;We have the peace of Jesus, which does not come from this world. &nbsp;We do what we do because of who we now are, &nbsp;<i>“Children of God.” &nbsp;</i>(John 1;12)</div><div><br></div><div>Neither did the crowd which soon formed around Jesus understand him…they did not care who he really was or why He had really come into this world. &nbsp;The only thing that mattered to them&nbsp;was&nbsp;that Jesus had power to heal them&nbsp;and cast out demons that were plaguing them. &nbsp;They knew their physical earthly sufferings, and for them at that moment, that was all they cared about. &nbsp;They misunderstood Jesus too.</div><div><br></div><div>Yet, He did not stop, He kept going. &nbsp;It was the will of His Father and His love for us,&nbsp;His Bride the Church, that kept Him going. &nbsp;He knew someday, we too would understand and be joined with Him in perfect oneness.</div><div><br></div><div>&nbsp;&nbsp;So, if you are feeling like the ‘Lone Ranger’ out there, remember, you are in good company, so did the patriarchs,&nbsp;<span>s</span><span>o did the prophets, so did the martyrs, so did our Lord Jesus. &nbsp;Walk on dear brother and sister, walk on.</span></div><div><br></div><div>Prayer: &nbsp;O most merciful Father, Your Son has promised that&nbsp;we are really never alone, saying, <i>“Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” &nbsp;</i>(Matthew 28;18-20)&nbsp; Bless us with His own faithfulness to His calling, His gentle, tender, kind patience with those who do not yet understand us. &nbsp;Keep us faithful in prayer for them. The day is coming when we will be in perfect understanding with our Savior Jesus. &nbsp;In Him we pray, Amen.</div><div><br></div><div>Love,</div><div>Dad/Baba/Eric</div><div>Grandpa Pickle Pastor</div><div>“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word. &nbsp;God’s Word is our habitation, and we are His.”</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br><div><br></div><div><br><br><br><div><a href="https://mail.onelink.me/107872968?pid=nativeplacement&amp;c=Global_Acquisition_YMktg_315_Internal_EmailSignature&amp;af_sub1=Acquisition&amp;af_sub2=Global_YMktg&amp;af_sub3=&amp;af_sub4=100000604&amp;af_sub5=EmailSignature__Static_" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>


Mark 3;19b-21
19b.  Then he went home;20.  and the crowd came together, so that they could not even eat.21.  And when his friends heard it, they went out to seize him, for they said, “He is beside himself.”
It is part of our “suffering with Christ”  (Romans 8;15-17) to be misunderstood even by those who love us, our own families and friends.
People are inclined to say, ‘You are mentally unstable’ if your passion in life is to serve the Lord, read, study, memorize, and meditate on His Word, or if your discipline of yourself is more than ‘normal’ people.  Believers who are fervent in prayer, in serving and giving to others, and in devotion to the will of our Father, are treated as mentally ill fanatics, and are relegated to the status of being called ‘crazy’ not ‘normal’ or ‘not right in the head’. They along with their Lord Jesus are said to be, “beside themselves”. Being devoted to the Lord first, loving Him and His will above all earthly things, can be a very lonely life sometimes.  It can be discouraging when it is your family and fellow Christians who are the ones saying this.
To be “Baptized into Christ” (Romans 6;3) and to “Walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5;16-26) can indeed be a lonely way to live sometimes, but you are following your Good Shepherd “in the paths of righteousness, for His name’s sake”.   (Psalm 23;3)  
We are no longer living for the approval of people, we live for our Heavenly Father’s approval.  We by faith know the angels are smiling at us, even while humans are shaking their heads.  We have the peace of Jesus, which does not come from this world.  We do what we do because of who we now are,  “Children of God.”  (John 1;12)
Neither did the crowd which soon formed around Jesus understand him…they did not care who he really was or why He had really come into this world.  The only thing that mattered to them was that Jesus had power to heal them and cast out demons that were plaguing them.  They knew their physical earthly sufferings, and for them at that moment, that was all they cared about.  They misunderstood Jesus too.
Yet, He did not stop, He kept going.  It was the will of His Father and His love for us, His Bride the Church, that kept Him going.  He knew someday, we too would understand and be joined with Him in perfect oneness.
  So, if you are feeling like the ‘Lone Ranger’ out there, remember, you are in good company, so did the patriarchs, so did the prophets, so did the martyrs, so did our Lord Jesus.  Walk on dear brother and sister, walk on.
Prayer:  O most merciful Father, Your Son has promised that we are really never alone, saying, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  (Matthew 28;18-20)  Bless us with His own faithfulness to His calling, His gentle, tender, kind patience with those who do not yet understand us.  Keep us faithful in prayer for them. The day is coming when we will be in perfect understanding with our Savior Jesus.  In Him we pray, Amen.
Love,Dad/Baba/EricGrandpa Pickle Pastor“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word.  God’s Word is our habitation, and we are His.”






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