LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional
April 21 / Day 53
365 Prayers to JESUS
Jesus, O the blessed joy of starting my day with You and to know that it is Your desire that we have fellowship with the Father as we go through our day and that all our physical and spiritual needs will be met on a “daily” basis. Lord Jesus, I thank You that 12 years ago that You had turned my thoughts to the great sacrifice You made for the atonement of sin, all sin, that all who believed that was Your Purpose and understood it as the Will of the Father could be heirs in the Kingdom of God and partake in His Righteousness. Lord, Your Gift of Sacrifice and the Father’s Gift of Free Will I return now as a “Free Will Offering” because I BELIEVE and ACCEPT YOUR LOVE and I desire to return an acceptable “Offering” to the One that imparts Eternal Life on Believers.
The Jesus Questions
JQ#10 — The question: “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin?” (Matthew 10:29a) has been a very “profitable” study spiritually and the entire Matthew Chapter 10 is filled with so many wonderful spiritual treasures that profit us on our spiritual journey so let us look at the tremendous promises God gives to those willing to “pay the cost” of being a disciple of Jesus. Matthew 10:1-28 lists some serious costs of discipleship leading up to JQ#10 where the seemingly simple sparrows and copper coin question was asked by Jesus to focus our attention on the “spiritual value” of discipleship and then the rest of the chapter we find assurance that our efforts of discipleship will be met with great spiritual compensation for “paying the cost”. We know the “rewards” will be “spiritual” because Jesus told His disciples in verses 10:9-10 not to take money or any physical possessions on our journey. What Jesus promised the disciples however was that they were not going empty handed. His disciples were assured of their daily bread and would be given the very Power of God to complete their assigned tasks for the kingdom’s sake! All instructions Jesus gives on discipleship warns of “physical” costs to pay for following Him but that we were “not to fear” or worry because the “Spiritual Compensation” far outweighs the “physical cost”! Jesus adds some very significant spiritual compensations for He states that we should not worry about our physical death because our souls are eternal and if we will focus on our “spiritual value” that God Himself will provide us with eternal security and that our eternal lives will be spent with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit if we but “follow after [Jesus]” (Matthew 10:38). Jesus then adds “spiritual assurance” as He states clearly: “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it. He who receives you receives Me , and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.” (Matthew 10:39-40) Jesus concludes our list of “spiritual” compensations by throwing in a lifetime warranty and Divine guarantee: “…assuredly, I say to you, [My disciples] shall by no means lose [their] reward.” I can’t help but start singing a song, “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O what a foretaste of glory divine. Heir of salvation, purchased of God, born of His Spirit, washed in His Blood!”. It’s a simple question of two sparrows and a copper coin but with the right answer we can be assured of eternal salvation if we just believe in our “spiritual value”: “Do not fear therefore: you are of more value that many sparrows.” With this kind of “assurance” it makes the “daily cross” a little easier to bear, don’t you think?
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