MARCH 13 The Jesus Questions

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

March 13 / Day 14

365 Prayers to JESUS

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, O the Privilege it is to call on Your Name. Lord each day I have need of Your Mercy and Grace and each day my heart overflows with Praise for You supply all that I need, in spite of my continual stumbling. Lord, You know my heart and I am getting more secure in Your Love because I know that You know the depths of my sinful nature and yet Your Grace abounds, not because of anything I have done to deserve even the smallest of Your attentions, but You continue to Forgive and Guide me to Your Peace because that is Who You chose to be for our sakes! O the Mystery of God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, who chose to die on a cross, to suffer the agony we deserve and give us access to the Heaven. Praise the Forgiving God!!! 

The Jesus Questions

JQ#3 - Yesterday started JQ#3 which is a section on “worry” and in this section Jesus uses 8 questions to get us thinking about “worry”. This section in Matthew 6:25-34 contains several verses that the Holy Spirit impressed upon my Journey that I feel has led me back to the right path when the world seems to close in on us like it does so often. When you finally get back on the right path again you see that it was some form of “worry” that distracted you and just that quick we find ourselves off the main road — if we are lucky we will be on a stretch of road that has “warning bumps” to get our focus back where it is supposed to be to correct our course. Matthew 6:33 is one of those verses for me that has kept me focused on Jesus and when my eyes are firmly fixed on Him, worries and wrong doing have no place in my life. I will attempt to share how this section where Jesus teaches us about “worry” by stating very emphatically: “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life…” (Matthew 6:25a) It is a very bold statement but let’s consider “who” is making it! The “therefore” comes immediately after Jesus had stated in Matthew 6:24, “You cannot serve God and mammon” and the implication here is that if you chose to “serve God” then there is no need to worry. Jesus uses the next 7 verses (Matthew 6:24-32) to show the “worry” caused by serving “mammon” but closes with two powerful verses (Matthew 6:33-34) that show how to eliminate “worry” — spiritual speed bumps if you will — so let’s look at each of the 8 questions in this section and apply them to reducing worry in our lives. JQ#3a —“Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25b) Each question that Jesus asks is to make us stop and think about the simple question and give Him back a simple answer that shows Him we are listening to His teachings. For instance, when I read this passage with the intent of “learning from Jesus” I can more easily come to an answer because Jesus never asks a question without a specific answer in mind that will teach us a specific point that will make our life better if we bother to listen to His question and answer honestly, keeping in mind that if we listen to our answer back to Him that we will indeed learn the lesson He is intent on teaching. I am sure that if you stop and consider that “life IS more than food” and “the body IS more than clothing” then you will start to see what Jesus is trying to teach and the answer then is a simple “Yes”. Read Matthew 6:25 again and pray your answer to Jesus and see the blessings He will pour out!