JUNE 20 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#20 “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you?” (Matthew 17:17)

JUNE 20  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#20  “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you?” (Matthew 17:17)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord Jesus, Praise be to the One that was rejected by His own and yet willingly died the Only Death that was an Acceptable Sacrifice for the sins of all mankind. Lord I fall short of True Faith all too often as I fully accept Your Grace in most of my life but find that there is still in me uncleanness, not because I did not give my sin to You or that You were unable to forgive me of my sin, but I am unclean and fall short of True Faith because I did not leave my sin at the foot of Your cross where in my repentance I laid it!?!? Lord forgive me of the sin of “little faith”, You know my heart and You know my desire to serve You honorably and I pray that each day that I have remaining that there is no remembrance of my sin, not by You, but by me for I know You “forgive and forget” but Lord I fall prey to “pulling my sin out of mothballs” and then the Holy Spirit convicts me of my guilt of not leaving my sin at the foot of Your Cross, but it is obvious that if I can pull it out of my memory that either I did not let it go when I pleaded for forgiveness or when I laid it down I picked it up again!?!? Lord, You died for all sin, even the ones we “try to hide” in the recess of our soul, Lord, I pray that Your Light will expose every last sin that I have hidden away, little sins that even I am not aware of until they surface at unexpected times — Lord give me the strength to allow Your Light access to my hiding places so that I can be rid of this “excess baggage” and move forward into the True Faith that You died on the cross for!     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus will not settle for anything to keep us from the Truth of God, especially our misunderstanding of one of His Lessons — Jesus was always stopping His disciples and making sure that they “understood” what He was Teaching and then to leave no stone unturned Jesus would tell the disciples exactly what the parable or the Lesson meant in terms that they could not possibly misinterpret what He was Teaching them. However, all of us fail to totally “get it” the first time through His Word and we find ourselves falling short in one area of “True Faith in God” and we must be “called out” for it!  Every time Jesus saw one of these instances with the disciples, Jesus would “tell it like it is” and then Jesus with only the Love that God bestows would use the reproach to “Teach” one of those “deeper still” Lessons. This is the case of JQ#20 where Jesus addresses a “shortcoming” of the disciples and then uses the opportunity to Teach another great Truth of God when He fully gets their attention. Jesus had just Taught them to consider their soul and the upcoming judgement and the importance of living their life in His Truth so now Jesus and His disciples are back in the “mission field” doing that which Jesus had Taught them to do, “And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, ‘Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.” (Matthew 17:14-16)  It was at this point that Jesus responded in what to my mind was a rebuke for His disciples but before I lead the reader to any wrong conclusions, let us look at this next Jesus Question and let Him Teach: JQ#20  “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you?” (Matthew 17:17) Let me ask you at this point to stop and consider the feelings stirred in you when you read Jesus saying “O faithless and perverse generation…”, did you cringe in guilt like I did and then almost tremble when I read, “…how long shall I be with you?” This is one of those Questions where our inmost feelings will surface and if we will but “hang in there” Jesus will guide us to a Truth of God and bestow on True Believers the Peace that passes all understanding. Don’t you think that this is a good time to allow the Holy Spirit to guide you in addressing the feelings stirred in you when Jesus declares this personal indictment of a “…faithless and perverse generation…”? Jesus would not have asked if He did not have something good in store for those that will stop and answer His Questions honestly so take an honest stab at answering  JQ#20, but I advise you to temper your guilt with “Trust in God” and pray for His Understanding of the Truth of God to “guide you” as Jesus  promised: “…I will send [the Helper/Comforter] to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgement…However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth…” !!! John 16:7-14) 

JUNE 19 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#19 “For what profit is it to man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

JUNE 19  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#19  “For what profit is it to man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, I start my day again by Your Word and today The Holy Spirit reveals  the Truth of God that John proclaimed to start his Gospel, “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1-2) Lord Jesus, Your ARE the WORD and the Holy Spirit revealed to John that it is the “WORD” that is the Creative Power and that the “WORD IS GOD” and that before there was a “beginning” the “WORD” already existed and the “WORD” has been revealed as being Jesus, the Only Begotten Son of the Father and it is by the “WORD” that all men have “the right to be called children of God”. Blessed thought that the “WORD” has been etched into our “soul” that if we follow the command of God and “hear Him”, we may truly know the “Eternal Way to Everlasting Life and Fellowship with God” !!!     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus I start today with a prayer to the Holy Spirit to guide the words that will summarize this Jesus Question/Lesson on the reality of our “Soul” and the upcoming “Exchange/Final Judgment”  for God has gone above and beyond to bring us into the knowledge of (1) Who Jesus really is (See JQ#18) and (2) Who we really are in relationship to God. (See JQ#19) Jesus is Teaching His disciples by “Word” and by “Life Example” and these Lessons are each Lessons within themselves but there is also the “revelation” to those that study the “WORD” of the “Divine Plan”— Jesus is Teaching that it is our “soul” that is at the center of God’s Divine Plan. Before we stop and insist that man is not the center of the universe therefore God cannot exist, let us consider these “observable” facts about what has been revealed about God by what is “known” by mankind and our written history. Since the objection raised by the detractors of God is that God cannot be explained then I respectfully submit that reality itself exists even though reality cannot be explained and even the fact that we can argue the existence of God makes God part of reality. These two Jesus Questions JQ#18 and JQ#19 put back-to-back is a “Lesson” in itself and the reality IS that we are sitting here contemplating these two Questions! I know I exist, I know that reality includes “The Book” and all the “Words” printed in “The Book”, I know that reality includes someone that wrote the first words, and someone real has printed these words, and now someone real is reading the words. I can only submit to you this argument: “The Book” is real and the “intelligence to write and to read and to understand words” is real, and we cannot explain how we “understand” but that does not prevent us from “understanding” and being able to perceive the reality that there is an “Unseen Power” that can affect both our “physical” life and our “spiritual” life. If we can “understand” the words without being able to fully explain how we “understand” them, then it is logical to assume that being able to explain  “The Book” is not a necessary requisite for us to understand “The Book” or for the “The Book” to be real! “The Book” IS GOD’S WORD to Teach us about HIMSELF, and because you may choose not to believe what “The Book” Teaches, your personal belief does not have the power to change reality ——— “your personal “belief” can only affect “your personal understanding” of the reality of “The Book” ! The “conclusion” of the matter is that God has revealed Himself to us through His Son and the Truth is written in “The Book” for all to read! God has promised that to all who read it that He will give them “understanding” and what God is saying with JQ#18 & JQ#19 is that His Only Begotten Son is Teaching us (1) that “Who” we say Jesus is and “Who” we say we are in relation to Him determines the “Reality” of our “Eternity” and (2) God places the PERSONAL responsibility to find the TRUTH OF REALITY on our  OWN “souls”, (3) and God has placed a time-limit on our decision — by God’s Divine Plan our decision must be made before the moment of our “physical death” (no one can dare argue the “reality of death”), (4) God has given us our “physical” finite time on earth to decide if we want to spend eternity with God or remain forever separated from Him !!! I know I can’t explain it, if I could then God wouldn’t be God, I would be God — for God is the Supreme Being and the only ONE that can explain reality is God!!! So consider your “final answer” as the conclusion of the matter: “Who do you say Jesus is and have you considered that God created you with an eternal soul, and as your Creator, God is going to require you to give an account of your life and what you have done with the gifts that He has offered to you?”

JUNE 18 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#19 “For what profit is it to man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

JUNE 18  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#19  “For what profit is it to man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, what Blessed Thought that before the Creation our future was planned even before time itself began — and to think that our future is a product of the Mind of God because His Heart was so filled with Compassion for His Creation that His Plan for all mankind included a Path of Light back to the Creator for those He Loved. Such Great Love for all mankind yet His own would not “receive” His gift!?!?  Lord Jesus, forgive me for the many times I have chosen to reside in the darkness of my sin and shun the “Light” of Your Salvation — Lord I have strayed so many times and I admit that I have used Your Gift of Free Will to purposefully get “lost” and I am among those that “loved darkness” and did not want to find Your Path of Light but walked in the shadows to self-destruction. Lord Jesus, keep my eyes always on Your Light, keep my feet always on Your Path, that I may know Your Joy in my heart ——— as  I pray right now in the depths of my desires that my soul will always be humble and repentant before the Just and Righteous God!!!            AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus wraps up the Lesson here just as He began this “soul-searching” Question that brings our attention to the eventuality of our “physical death” and the “spiritual judgment”. Jesus began the JQ#19 Lesson by announcing to His disciples that He must “be killed and be raised the third day” and when He gets their undivided attention, Jesus then directs His disciples to consider that each individual has a “soul” and that there will come a judgment of that “soul” by the Creator of all “souls”.  Until we as individuals recognize that there is nothing of earthly value that can be “exchanged” for our “souls” which are “eternal” by the design of the Creator, then we can never know the Great Price paid for our Redemption.  The Creator designed “eternity” into our existence but the Creator also designed our physical bodies with an “expiration date” and at the time of our “physical” death of our body, our “soul” is immediately in the Presence of the Creator, who as the CREATOR AND CONSTANT MONITOR of our “soul” will know if we used God’s Gift of Free Will given to each individual “soul” to become one of His children or not!?!?! Jesus made this clear when He asked “…what will man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26) and then Jesus immediately said that the “Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father” and “will reward each according to his works” (Matthew 16:27). Jesus illustrated this six days later as Peter, James, and John his brother saw Jesus “transfigured before them” as Jesus was transformed instantly and “His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became white as the light.” (Matthew 17:1-2) {{See also Genesis 1:3}}  This was a visual Example of what Jesus had just Taught about the “soul” being eternal and would leave our “physical” body and enter our “spiritual” form and be in the “glory [presence] of the [Creator] Father” and the fact that the disciples “recognized” both Moses and Elijah who had been dead hundreds of years is proof that all “souls” are “eternal” and we will have “spiritual understanding” of all things because how could the disciples recognize men that had been dead for hundreds of years ——— we know there were no photos taken of Moses and Elijah so how on “earth” could the disciples know Moses and Elijah without God imparting this knowledge to their “spiritual eyes”? After Peter suggested that “three tabernacles” be erected to honor Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, the voice of God spoke to them: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him.” (Matthew 17:5) The disciples were “greatly afraid” for they knew they were wrong about erecting temples to anyone other than God Almighty “But Jesus came and touched them and said, ‘Arise, and do not be afraid.” (Matthew 17:7) Jesus then instructed the disciples to wait to share the vision after “the Son of Man is risen from the dead” (Matthew 17:9) and Jesus concluded this Lesson by correcting wrong doctrine that had been taught to the disciples by the tradition of their elders through the scribes. Then just as Jesus had begun the Lesson talking about His upcoming death, Jesus ended the Lesson by identifying those that would cry “crucify Him” as Jesus told the disciples that “the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands.” thereby revealing to the disciples that God’s Plan for His Son would culminate in the Death of the Only Begotten Son fulfilling the words of Abraham to Isaac, “God will provide the lamb.” (Genesis 22:8) but God would also demonstrate to all mankind His Supreme Power, for God would Resurrect the Son on the Third Day and then all mankind would have the Gospel — The Truth of God of the Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection of the Beloved Son of God, Jesus Christ!!!! Can you think of a more important Lesson and Truth for God to impart on “all who believe”? 

JUNE 17  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#19  “For what profit is it to man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

Jesus, thank You Lord for Your Word which is the Word of Life and only Your Words are of “life” to sustain our physical body and of “eternal life” to sustain our soul. Lord, Your Words speak volumes but Your Life and Perfect Example Teach us so much more and I Praise You for the Perfect Example of “actions-speak-louder-than-words” TRUTH!!!  Lord Jesus, my prayer is that everything I both do and say will be a Glory and Honor to Your Life which You lived to the Glory of God Almighty, our Father who abides forever in Heaven and wills that all men would be drawn to the Father through the Son, the Only Begotten Son, who paid the Ultimate Price for our Freedom from the slavery of sin!     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus is the Master Teacher not only because He possesses Unlimited Knowledge that cannot be fathomed by the finite mind of mankind but aside from His Divine Knowledge the Lord Jesus Taught by the Perfect Example of Living His Life to Honor the Father and then pointing us to His Life and Teaching what He Lived in the form of Life Lessons which He Taught by asking us Questions that could always be answered by observing the way He Lived His Life while in the flesh! There is no Greater Sacrifice than Jesus giving up His Heavenly Glory to “become flesh and to dwell among us” (John 1:14) with the expressed purpose of coming into the world to fulfill the Father’s Will, “for God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17) and we often miss the Divine Fact that Jesus lived the example of Abraham and Isaac being obedient to God as both Abraham and Isaac prepared the alter together for the Sacrifice Commanded of God and JESUS fulfilled the scripture that said “God Himself will provide the Lamb…” (Genesis 22:8) !  We know that it was the Life of Jesus that the Scripture was foretelling because John the Baptist, who was the “witness” sent from God to testify that it was Jesus that is the “Light” and it is that “Light” that is the “life of all mankind” (John 1:6-9) that was proclaimed loudly by John when he saw Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world…” (John 1:29) The overlooked Truth of God is that God promised the Messiah, God declared what the Messiah was to accomplish, and then “God so loved world” that God fulfilled His Holy Scripture with the Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection of His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, the Messiah made flesh!!! That is the Gospel and the greatest part of the Gospel is that “God so loved the world” that He gave us JESUS and that Jesus so Loved the Father that Jesus was Obedient unto the Fulfillment of all Scripture by willingly accepting that He MUST DIE ON THE CROSS, then Jesus “Lived” the Perfect Example and Jesus “Died” the Perfect Example and through His “Life” and “Death” Jesus gave us the Perfect Example of the “WAY” to the Father and Eternal Life demonstrated by His Burial and Resurrection!!! Jesus with His Question about considering our “soul” and what we may “exchange” for it was saying in effect, “If you follow MY EXAMPLE then you will know the way to the Father and Eternal Life” and the Question and the Answer Produce the Results of Eternal Life for ALL who believe in the Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ living and dying the Perfect Example, just as God has proclaimed through the prophets. Jesus introduced JQ#19 with the announcement that “He [The Messiah] must suffer…be killed…and be raised the third day…” in Matthew 16:21 and then He asks the Question in Matthew 16:26 but as soon as He asked the Question, as always Jesus explains the answer: “For the Son of Man [The Messiah] will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.” (Matthew 16:27)  Then Jesus continued this most important Lesson of Teaching-by-Example as He takes “Peter, James, and John his brother…and led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with [Jesus].” (Matthew 17:1-3) Surely no words could express to the disciples and to all of His followers what they saw that day in the “life” of Jesus that proved that Jesus is “[The Messiah] the Beloved of the Father” and that the eternal future of all mankind rests with the belief or rejection of Jesus!  There is no “WAY” to the Father except through the Son ——— are you on the Path that leads to the Narrow Gate?

JUNE 16 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#19 “For what profit is it to man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

JUNE 16  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#19  “For what profit is it to man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Your Glory is Forever, but Lord I pray that You open my “spiritual” eyes and burn the Truth into my heart that Your Glory is also “NOW”, Your Glory has always been so I pray as did the thief on the cross that You “remember me” (Luke 23:42) for You have come into Your Kingdom and are in it “NOW” sitting at the Right Hand of God making intercession for me! Lord, You have paid the “ultimate price” to purchase back that which I sold so cheaply to sin — forgive me, Lord Jesus and “return to me the joy of Thy salvation” (Psalm 51:12). Lord, as I seek Your Truth let me go forth with confidence that You will both show me the “Way” to Your Truth and that You will “equip” me with Your Strength that I will “share” Your Truth with others that need to be bathed in Your Spiritual Light, “the life of men” (John 1:4,9) that only comes from the True Light!              AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus, my “soul” is stirred today with the thought of the “Great Price” that You have already “paid” for my sin and I can answer the Jesus Question JQ#19, “Or what will man give in exchange for his soul?”(Matthew 16:26b)  by truthfully declaring that I possess nothing of any value to God except my soul which I had sold to the world, therefore I can only turn to the “One” that Suffered and Died for my sin that my “soul” could be Redeemed, my “Pardon” is not “Purchased” by anything of earthly value but by Heaven’s Priceless Grace! The Holy Spirit reminds us occasionally that the Final Destination holds “joys unimaginable” so therefore we must “Stay-the-Course” — “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” (Revelation 2:7) This “tree of life” is the same as the one that “The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden…” (Genesis 2:8-9) So we see what is meant from the Psalmist “… even from Everlasting to Everlasting, You are God!” (Psalm 90:2) for “In the beginning” God Created us, God placed us in a garden that He Himself planted, God placed us in this “Paradise of God” along with the “tree of life”, then when we forfeited the “Paradise of God” for our selfish desires, God provided an Atonement for our sin and sent His Only Begotten Son to become flesh, to suffer and die, and to “Purchase” our ticket back to “Paradise” so that at the “end times” we can again partake of the “tree of life”.  In JQ#19 Jesus asks us to consider what we can give in “Exchange for our soul” (Matthew 16:26b) and we are so caught up in ourselves that we are blinded to the “Truth” that Jesus has already given us the answer before asking the Question — just prior to asking JQ#19:  “Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” (Matthew  16:24) then Jesus continued with more details about the price we must pay for this “exchange” as He tells the disciples, “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:25) So once again, Jesus gives us the answer and then asks the question which makes more sense why God said, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him.” (Luke 9:35) for here Jesus is telling us what to do to “overcome” that we may partake of the “tree of life” that awaits us in the “Paradise of God”! The real question now is “What ‘life’ is it that we must ‘lose for His sake’ and what ‘life’ will we ‘find’?” Could it be that Jesus is Teaching us another detail of the Truth of God that our body contains “physical” life which we defile, but our “spiritual” life is of God who offers “Eternal Life” which is undefiled because it is from God Himself?

JUNE 15 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#19 “For what profit is it to man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

JUNE 15  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#19  “For what profit is it to man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, You Lord are the Man of Sorrows, the Suffering Servant, You were innocent but arrested and beaten by Your accusers, Your own rejected You, You were scourged like no man ever and then You had to carry Your cross to a hill called Calvary where You accepted Your purpose as the Sacrificial Lamb of God, and though You could have called Legions of Angels to protect You, You endured the cross and instead of crying for the mercy of men, You prayed for them from the very cross they put You on — “Father forgive them for they know not what they do” — and even as You were nailed to that cross and hanging in agony while Your last drops of Innocent Blood were being poured out for the sake of others, Your last act was to bring Salvation and Forgiveness to a thief that was being crucified next to You! What a great picture of Your Purpose in life that You demonstrated with Your Life and with Your Death!! Lord forgive me as I sit in all my earthly comfort and pray to “be like Jesus” and fail to see the “Supreme Sacrifice and Suffering” of Jesus Christ, let me never utter another complaint and may I always be mindful of the “spiritual needs” of others. Lord give me the strength to understand the Kingdom Truth of what is meant by “take up your cross daily”.             AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has really opened up a new realm of Spiritual Kingdom Realities when He asks JQ#19 and places the Question before us in such a manner that we must be serious and honest with ourselves in an area that is unfamiliar and uncomfortable. If we are to answer Jesus honestly then we must consider that Jesus is telling us that in our earthly pursuit of “profit” that we must recognize that “physical/earthly” things have NO HEAVENLY VALUE and that there will come a time that we will have to face the Reality that (1) We have a “soul” which is “spiritual” and will be separated from our “physical” body at the point of death (2) there is the distinct possibility we can lose our “soul” (3) we will be required by the Creator of our “soul” to use something of acceptable Kingdom Value to “exchange” for our “soul”.  Indeed, what is of enough “Kingdom Value” to our Father in Heaven that He will accept it in “exchange” for our “soul” — the implication here is that our “soul” is not in our possession/control at the time of this “exchange” or no “exchange” would be necessary, and Jesus pointedly makes us aware of the stark reality that if we had all the treasures of the earth that we would still have nothing to barter with!! This Lesson was Taught by Jesus to Paul and Paul expressed it as: “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) So Jesus is Teaching that we were “bought at a price” and we do not “own” ourselves but God does!! Here is the answer to the Question of how valuable is our “soul” and what we may use to “exchange” for it ——— I’ll give you a clue, it has to do with the Holy Spirit and a transaction that occurred in the past involving God’s most valuable possession, His Only Begotten Son. Jesus is Teaching about His Death and Resurrection on the Third Day and that He has come as a “gift” from the Father that we may retain possession of that part of us that is eternal, our own unique “soul” ——— so it appears that Jesus has already paid “the price” and that price is no less than His Death on the Cross ——— so how are you going to convince Jesus to just give you back your “soul” that He suffered and died for because you simply do not believe in “Spiritual” things which you think are “fairy tales”?!?!? There is Good News and Bad News here: the Bad News is that Jesus and His Questions are not going away and the Good News is that Jesus and His Questions are not going away!! Once again, the Truth of God is ever before us, are we going to choose to Trust God for the Truth or are we going to decide for ourselves what Truth is?!?! Remember, our “soul” came from God and through His Son our “soul” will return to God!

JUNE 14 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#19 “For what profit is it to man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

JUNE 14  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#19  “For what profit is it to man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, all Praise, all Glory, and all Honor to the Son that was willing to Sacrifice Himself that all might be Saved from the curse and slavery of sin which entered the world because of an act of disobedience that has been repeated in each individual’s personal life as we continue to live for ourselves and ignore the “Gift” of True Freedom that God has so generously offered everyone that will but “receive” the Grace extended to all. Lord Jesus, even when we have accepted the “gift” we need daily reminders that we must guard against slipping back into the sin of disobedience when we take the shadowy path of self gratification and turn from the Light and drift away from the True Path to the Narrow Gate, a Path that never goes through the Valley of Self, but remains day-by-day clearly marked by the Beacon of God’s Truth.     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus never lets any circumstance in our lives degrade into us losing ground to the enemy and therefore it is clearly God’s “Intent” that we see His Truth and use God’s Truth so that we can guard against attacks from the deceiver!  JQ#19 is an excellent example of the depth that God will go to Teach us that we must be on guard against these attacks from the enemy that the enemy launches by infecting us with a “virus” attached to our “good intentions”!!!  Though we “intend to do good” the “enemies virus” will actually create a distance between ourselves and God and in turn becomes a major victory for the enemy. Jesus is Teaching in JQ#19 the “eternal value of the soul” which is an eternal unique gift from God. We must continually be aware that if the enemy can cause us to not appreciate “God’s gift” then we are in effect not receiving the “gift” in a manner that “honors” the “Gift-Giver”. The enemy knows how much God desires for us to accept His “Gift” and to use it to defend against the attacks from the enemy — but this is a sad thing, that instead of using the “Gift” to defend ourselves from the enemy that we disrespect the “Gift” and end up aiding the enemy in his desire to keep us from God. This is a very fine point but if we do not “understand” its significance then we will suffer defeat from within and fall victim to the sin of disobedience and self-destruction. Jesus had commanded us when Teaching us about sharing the Love of the Father that we must pay close attention to not go the way of the world but to follow the example of Jesus and the Father as Jesus said: “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) And lest we overlook the fine print, remember that Jesus was Teaching us that by being obedient to the Father that we would be on the True Path and “…that [we] may be sons [and daughters] of [our] Father in heaven…” (Matthew 5:45). If we fail to read the “fine print” we will lose all the benefits of being “heirs to the kingdom” if we like Esau will sell our “birthright” for a bowl of stew to satisfy a worldly hunger. Selling our “spiritual birthright to the kingdom” is what we are doing if we do not keep on guard for the attack of the enemy from within ourselves as we think with all honorable intentions that God needs our limited finite abilities to work out a “Spiritual” problem for Him!?!?. This is why Jesus calls our attention to the fact that He “must … suffer many things … be killed … and be raised the third day …” (Matthew 16:21) and then why He reacted the way He did when Peter (with all good intentions succumbed to an attack from the enemy from within) as Peter “took [Jesus] aside and began to rebuke Him saying, ‘far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” (Matthew 16:22) Peter had been the one to whom God had revealed that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16)  and now here is Peter telling Jesus that the things that Jesus said “must” happen, “… shall not happen …” ?!? Definitely this is an attack from within and Jesus calls out the enemy post haste: “But [Jesus] turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” (Matthew 16:23) Jesus makes it very clear in these three verses that we “MUST” be on guard from these internal attacks from the enemy that uses our “good intentions” as Trojan Horses to hurt our relationship with God. Do you not see that when we think we can “take control” of God’s Plan that we become an “offense” to God and can’t you hear the enemy laughing out loud at us and pointing his crooked little finger saying “Don’t look at me, you did it yourself” ?!?!? The Good News here is that Jesus won’t let that happen because He cannot be fooled by Satan like we can, and remember Jesus promised: “… and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.” (Matthew 28:20)