AUGUST 18 JQ#21-23 “What do you think about fish, taxes, lost sheep, forgiveness, and your fellow servants?” (Matthew 17:25, 18:12,33) The Jesus Questions

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

AUGUST 18   JQ#21-23  “What do you think about fish, taxes, lost sheep, forgiveness, and your fellow servants?” (Matthew 17:25, 18:12,33) 

365 Prayers to JESUS 

Jesus Thank You for the answered prayers that You have graciously allowed in my life. Twelve years ago today I awoke and wrote a prayer which I will pray again as a witness to Your Faithfulness for the prayer has been answered but it is even more relevant today: [From 8/18/2004] “Jesus, Your Way is Perfect, Your Word is Faithful, Your Name is to be Praised by ALL men, for You alone are Worthy. I confess You as Lord and come to You as a humble servant, knowing that serving You is the greatest honor I can achieve on this earth, my prayer is that when people talk of me, they will say ‘He was a man of God.’ Lord, I also pray for my wife, Deb and our marriage, that we will dedicate all that we do to Your Glory and Kingdom. I pray that our hearts will be turned completely to You and that we can say with confidence that ‘to live is Christ and to die is gain’”       AMEN

The Jesus Questions

AUGUST 18   JQ#21-23  “What do you think about fish, taxes, lost sheep, forgiveness, and your fellow servants?” (Matthew 17:25, 18:12,33)   Jesus had previously taught that “life is more than food and the body more than clothing” (Matthew 6:25) and that we should “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33) because Jesus warned us “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21). Jesus then clearly taught that it is our “Faith in God” that will be required when Jesus healed the centurion’s servant and told the centurion the reason the servant was healed was because of the centurion’s “great faith” in the Power  of Jesus to heal and then sent the centurion home and said “Go your way; as you have believed, so let it be done for you. And [the centurion’s] servant was healed that same hour.” (Matthew 8:13) Once Jesus made it clear that “Faith in God” is a requirement for getting into heaven He then taught what will prevent us from entering into heaven. Jesus healed a paralytic and said to him, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.” (Matthew 9:2) Jesus performed this healing on the Jewish Sabbath and the scripture teaches us that Jesus is ALL KNOWING. Matthew records what Jesus taught the scribes during this healing in relation to sin and forgiveness as we read: “But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, ‘Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you’ or to say ‘Arise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins’” ——— then [Jesus] turned to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.  And [the paralytic arose and departed to his house.” (Matthew 9:4-7) Jesus then demonstrated His Power over death and disease as He healed a woman who for twelve years had a flow of blood problem. All the woman did to be healed was to touch the hem of His garment and Jesus declared “Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.” (Matthew 9:22) Jesus then raised a man’s daughter from the dead because the man had said in “faith” to Jesus, “…but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live…” and Jesus “…went in and took [the dead girl] by the hand, and the girl arose.” (Matthew 9:24) Jesus then healed two blind men and before healing them Jesus asked them “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” (Matthew 9:28) and when the blind men responded “Yes, Lord” Jesus “touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.”  and then Matthew records, “and their eyes were opened.” (Matthew 9:27-30)  Jesus then “called His twelve disciples to Him, and He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease…” then Jesus sent them out to the “lost sheep” and commanded them “Preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” (Matthew 10:1-8) But then Jesus gave His disciples a list of what “NOT TO TAKE” with them as He told His disciples “Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food.” (Matthew 10:9-10) Jesus then introduced the next concept for the disciples as they were to go about His work He had commanded them to do as Jesus tells them “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28) Jesus has now taught the disciples that it is the Power of God that heals and that we must have “Faith” in the Power of God so our belief in God is the conduit through which the Power of God flows into our lives. Jesus is also teaching that our “faith” is what will keep us from our “sin” but that our battle on earth is between what we say we believe and our actions that result from our true “belief”. Jesus knows our thoughts and if we want to truly be healed or forgiven (which are the same thing) then we must “believe” in our hearts that Jesus is who He says He is and has the Power to “heal and forgive” — we all know that we want to be free from our sin but do we truly “believe” that Jesus has the “Power”?!?!!?  Or is the power of sin to enslave greater than the Power of God to free us from sin? The thing to do is to know that there is a battle and the battle is “Faith vs. Sin” and to “think” to yourself, “Do I have the Power to forgive myself?” or do I want to “Believe and Trust” the One that died for my sin that I may have forgiveness and eternal life?”