LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional
MAY 11 JQ#13 - Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?
365 Prayers to JESUS
Jesus, Lord, my Savior, Praise, Glory, and Honor to the Son of God Most High. Jesus, my prayer today is that the Holy Spirit will totally consume me and overflow from my spirit that all that will be seen in me is Thee! Today I pray for the total destruction of the old man as I share Your Story of Grace and Forgiveness in my life. Lord, I know that without Your Grace and Forgiveness that I would still be lost in self and drowning in my sin, grant it Lord that all the words I speak today will be your words, that all my desires will be towards “loving others” as You have commanded. Forgive me mine iniquities, let Your cleansing Light be all that remains in my life. AMEN
The Jesus Questions
JQ#13.5 — “Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?” (Matthew 12:24-37). Jesus Himself has always made His lessons and callings personal as we see Him calling out His disciples one by one and not only just calling them out but He called them by name and made it clear to each one that they were to use their previous talents now to advance the kingdom of God and the way they were to learn “how” was the same command Jesus gives each individual, “Come, follow Me.” In JQ#13a,b, and c we must understand that Jesus is asking the Pharisees to look at themselves and see that their false accusations are damaging them more than they are damaging Jesus. Jesus starts with pointing out to them that the “reality” of their accusation has the root motivation of “division” and that even in the strongest of kingdoms there must be “unity of spirit” or the kingdom itself will weaken and eventually crumble. The fact that the Pharisees attributes the good works and miracles that Jesus had been performing to “Beelzebub” points to the fact that “Satan” himself has been the motivating “spirit” directing the Pharisees to attack the good works of Jesus and of the Power of God. If we look at what Jesus had been doing in terms of healing and casting out demons we must concede that the “physical” results of these miracles can only be accounted for by the “Spiritual” Power of God exhibited through Jesus. The Pharisees could not deny that miracles were being performed so they had to draw the attention away from God’s Power and therefore they were given the “idea” from Satan himself to give Satan the “credit” for this healing and casting out demons! The really big problem here can be seen as the ridiculous claim it really is by saying that Jesus is “casting out demons” by the power of “Beelzebub”!?! The accusation itself reveals it as the fabrication it really is — if Satan controls all the demons then why would Satan make himself look bad by putting them in and then turning around and taking them out? Jesus points out that Satan would be fighting against himself and that would be self-destruction but on the other hand, Jesus points out that by just the very mention of the name “Beelzebub” in their accusation that the Pharisees have exposed the source of their false accusations and their true motivation which is to “divide and conquer” the followers of Jesus, doesn’t that sound like what is happening in our world today? Jesus knew that this problem would plague all men just like the universal problem with sin and self and if Satan can draw your attention away from God then he has divided God’s people! It is as true today as it was when Jesus first spoke it, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house [or church group] divided against itself will not stand.” (Matthew 12:25) That verse started with, “But Jesus knew their thoughts…” and the lesson we must learn is that as soon as the name “Beelzebub” or “Satan” is mentioned we must look to find the false accusations that will be present for the goal of Satan is “desolation” of God’s people! Satan himself knows that “God so loves the world that He gave [the sin filled world] His only begotten Son [Jesus], that whosoever believes in [the acceptable Sacrifice for sin] Jesus that they shall not perish, but have everlasting life!” ( John 3:16) John 3:16 explains why Satan would attack and accuse Jesus because it is Jesus that defeats Satan and frees all men from the slavery of sin that Satan has used to hurt the children of God. If we remain in our sin then we will perish and have to live eternity without God, hence our “desolation” is Satan’s victory! Do you see now why Satan attacks the Truth of God and why Jesus is pointing this out with JQ#13 so that we will know that Satan always attacks God by attacking God’s people, and the weapon of choice with Satan is false accusations, temptation and sin? If Jesus points out a “problem”, don’t you think a “solution” is quick to follow? Remember, “If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed!” (John 8:36) Read on —
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