JULY 02 JQ#18-6 “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15) The Jesus Questions

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JULY 02   JQ#18-6 “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15) 

365 Prayers to JESUS 

Jesus, each day that I read from the original “365 Prayers” that the Holy Spirit led me to pen in 2004, I am amazed at Your Great Spirit that leads us in “Prayers” that address our daily needs but then here 12 years later I can read those “Prayers” inspired by the Holy Spirit and I can recall how they helped me in 2004 and then I  read the “2004 Prayer” that I had written with my own hand by Your Guidance and I can see a completely new “understanding” that is possible only because the original prayer  was written in 2004 and then 12 years of “experiencing Jesus” reveals to me another “deeper still” application of the same prayer but relative to where Your Spirit has led me thus far. Your Word is “Timeless” and truly we cannot “fathom” Your Understanding but Lord Jesus I can “understand” that only You and the Holy Spirit can accomplish the miracle of “Teaching” such deep “Truths of God” with Your Word and Lord, I praise You for being “The Word” and bringing to us Your Life Eternal! Lord, I was dead in my sin and You have raised me to a New Life in Christ ——— Praise God!!!      AMEN

The Jesus Questions

JULY 02   JQ#18-6    “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15) Jesus has made this question highly personal to each and every individual and each of us, either in this life or in the eternity that follows our death, will have to face both God and Jesus in the Presence of the Holy Spirit that is TRUTH, and answer this ONE question and we must be aware that our eternity is decided by our answer!!! If we get the wrong answer to who God has made Jesus to be as witnessed by the Holy Spirit and the Holy Scriptures, then the “Penalty” for our “unbelief” will be fairly and justly administered!!! God has declared by His Own Words such things as when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist who had declared “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29)  that when Jesus “came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16-17) and then God said of Jesus when Jesus had taken Peter, James, and John onto the mountain and Jesus “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]…while [Peter] was still speaking, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice come out of the cloud, saying ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him!” (Matthew 17:1-5) So now we have a list of witnesses that include John the Baptist, Moses, Elijah, and God Himself that have declared Jesus as the Son of God and His Purpose was to “take away the sins of the world” so it will be very hard to stand in front of God and when God Himself asks the simple question “Who do you (________________ insert your name in the blank) say that “My beloved Son is?” and standing facing the Creator God of Everything simply shrug your shoulders and utter the phrase that our fallen generation uses for our ultimate “cop out” ——— “U h h h, I don’t know!?!?!” We read the Apostle Paul also adding, “we have so great a cloud of witnesses” and then there is the Truth of God that being God, He knows all things and He IS the TRUTH so I am going out on a limb here and saying that “Lying to God at the Judgement” will be impossible!!!!  Or do you believe that whatever cleaver excuse that you will make up standing in front of God will be cleaver enough to get you into Heaven?!?! Our answer to God must be “THE” correct answer that He has already given to us in His Holy Scriptures, written in RED, and by the example of His Only Begotten Son, becoming flesh and dwelling among, declaring Himself as the Son of God and performing those things Only the Power of God can accomplish in our lives, and then we have the “personal” witness of billions of sinners-saved-by-Grace so there will be NO EXCUSE anyone can give except, “I chose not to believe.” and by our own words we will be justly condemned!!! Or with the right answer we may step forward into eternity and unbroken fellowship with God Almighty!!!

JULY 01 JQ#18-5 “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15) The Jesus Questions

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JULY 01   JQ#18-5 “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15) 

365 Prayers to JESUS 

JESUS ——— what Peace, what Comfort, to just utter the Name of Jesus and to know that there is unlimited Power in the Name of Jesus! Our “Peace” comes because the Name assures of of His Unlimited Provisions, “Comfort” comes because we know that God’s Unconditional Love is based on His Good and Perfect Character and there is nothing we need to “do” to get God’s Love but Accept the Ultimate Gift of Grace from the ONE that says to call Him “Abba Father”!!! We know there is Unlimited Power being brought into our lives from the One True God Powerful enough to SPEAK EVERYTHING INTO EXISTENCE and has given us His Unlimited Grace through His Infallible WORD!  Lord Jesus You are Worthy, for Worthy is the Lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world for that Grace and Mercy that indeed are the roots of our Peace and our Comfort, O Glorious Gifts of God!     AMEN

The Jesus Questions

JULY 01   JQ#18-5    “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15) Yet another seemingly simple question that is “loaded” with unlimited possibilities to dig into. The question implies with it that there is great personal responsibility being placed upon us in determining where we will spend our eternity! Jesus never asked anyone a question for His edification or general information, but each Question Jesus asks is a Beacon pointing to God’s Truth and just as there is only One True God, there is only One TRUTH, and God Himself has reserved that TRUTH is His Domain and His alone!  All His Lessons declare with great certainty that “GOD IS TRUTH”. The major implication of this specifically personal question asked by Jesus over 2000 years ago as He was completing the “Teaching of God’s Truth Task” that the Father had given the Son to accomplish while “in the flesh”, JQ#18 “But who do you say that I am?” was asked in such a way that only God could ask one simple question that could apply personally to every soul He has brought into existence since the dawn of time! We know that Jesus was asking the question as the Son of God because He asked His disciples who had been observing Him doing Kingdom Work that could only be explained by the manifestation of the Power of God in the miracles that Jesus did that related to the Holy Scriptures written about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The disciples had seen Jesus fulfilling the prophecies of those scriptures and had heard Him declare in the synagogue as He read from Isaiah, “Today this scripture is fulfilled…” (Luke 4-21 & Matthew 13:14-15) so there was no doubt that these disciples knew that Jesus was referring to Himself as the Messiah, the Son of God, the Savior as had been proclaimed in the prophecies of Israel’s Holy Scriptures and here was Jesus leading them into this ultimate confrontation that was highly personal and of eternal consequence. There was no other way the disciples could look at the question asked in Matthew 16:15 other than this was the One that had fulfilled the prophecies of the scripture and had just asked them face to face, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” and as soon as they answered Him, Jesus, so that there could be no mistake what He was asking, immediately said, “But who do you say that I am?”!!! So Jesus in two questions stated without doubt that (1) it is not important what “men” say about Jesus and (2) that our eternity will be determined by nothing other that what we ourselves come to know of the Truth of God concerning His Only Begotten Son! Jesus declared by His accomplishing the Work of the Father by doing the Will of the Father was by example saying to us all, “I was sent by the Father into the world, not to condemn the world, but through Me, the world will be saved” (John 3:17) and then Jesus confirms His Mission and His Father when we read Jesus saying, “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:18) Jesus has asked the question at this point and in this specific manner for the purpose of making it completely personal that each person examine the scriptures and examine their own life and ultimately declare to Jesus face to face, not who they have heard “men” declare Jesus to be, but we must declare to Him just exactly who we personally have come to believe Jesus is! This is really tough don’t you think since God knows our every thought and Jesus knows what’s in our hearts? Either God is God or God is a liar, what do you think?

JUNE 30 JQ#18-4 “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JUNE 30   JQ#18-4 “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15) 

365 Prayers to JESUS 

 Jesus, Your Word is Eternal and Your Truth is Unchanging, Your Way is Perfect and the only Path to Eternal Life. Lord as we struggle through the “valley” of the shadow of death, let us boldly proclaim the Guidance of the Light as a Lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path, so that we will again come to the Peace that only the Prince of Peace can give.      AMEN

The Jesus Questions

JUNE 30   JQ#18-4    “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15) This will be another short post today because my path has me at a Bible Camp with 3rd - 6th graders — short posts were elected over “no posts” because this question deserves all the attention we can give it because if Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6) then if we cannot answer all the right questions about Jesus, how can we know what is the right and true path to take to eternal life? There is no other question that God will pose to You than who you think Jesus is, either the Bible is God’s Word and the only Truth or we are already doomed to an eternal nothingness and our life will have no purpose and the lack of purpose is the curse of this generation that has more “free time” than any generation before them and yet with all this “free time” available the world has turned to meaningless entertainment that has no meaning and just adds to the problem of us finding purpose and meaning for our lives — if you choose to look for the meaning of life in secular philosophies then  you will find that the answer is simply not there — so then you are left with only one option to find the “TRUTH” and the Bible tells us “God is Truth” so then our problem is knowing which god is God? It will be a long, long journey to “TRUTH” if you try each god and you make the choice to try everything but the Bible first because the “deceiver” has made sure to present you with so many options and distractions yelling all along “ignore the man behind the curtain”. When you finally get around to really reading the Bible, you will come to one single truth, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16) Because that verse points to the TRUTH the “deceiver” has done everything he can to make fun of the GPS verse in God’s Word that points to the only path to the TRUTH and eternal life. The entire story is details of how God planned and is going to accomplish John 3:16 but it is your choice to make, and once you start down the path, you will have to answer that all-important eternal question that Jesus asks you with His still small voice, “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15)

JUNE 29 JQ#18-3 “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15) The Jesus Questions

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JUNE 29   JQ#18-3 “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15) 

365 Prayers to JESUS 

 Jesus, You Lord are to be greatly praised for Your Love and the fact that in Your example of “Loving” us when we were truly “unlovable”. Because You first loved us  even though there was nothing in us to Love, we know that Your Love comes with NO CONDITIONS and that You LOVE because that is Your Choice!!! We cannot know or explain “Why” You chose to Love, but our limited understanding does not diminish in any way the FACT that You Love us. Lord we pray that because You Loved us when we were unlovable that we in turn will Love Others Unconditionally because that is a “Choice” we make to Honor Your “Choice” to Love us!       AMEN

The Jesus Questions

JUNE 29   JQ#18-3    “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15)  This lesson that Jesus is teaching by asking us to take “Spiritual Inventory” of what we “believe” about Him is multifaceted in that we must then examine our answer for the “Truth of God” because the other side of our answer will lead us to examine how our “belief” in God lines up with the “Truth of God”. God has already revealed Himself to us through HIs Word, the Holy Bible which is the entire story of Jesus from His Hand in Creation, to the story of Jesus, the Only Begotten Son being provided by the Father as the Lamb of God, and it takes us to the end of time itself when Jesus return to gather His Bride and then the Father in heaven throws a Great Wedding Feast and we enter into eternity with our Redeemer. This Most Important Question and then our examination of our belief about God must be viewed through the “eyes of God Himself” for God is Truth. When we “understand” that Jesus was sent by God, and that Jesus is God’s Very Son, and that Jesus has “pleased the Father” by being obedient to the Father’s will even unto a cruel death, then we will be able to start aligning what we believe with Truth and that is when we can learn the Lesson Jesus is going to Teach, and Teach, and Teach when He asks us personally to look deep into our soul and then look Him in the eye and tell Jesus “who” we believe Him to be and then when we look at our belief as compared to the Truth of God we realize that Truth is UNCHANGING and that our belief has no impact on the Truth of Who Jesus IS !!!! So the lesson Jesus is really getting at is do we know the “Truth of God” as God has revealed and will reveal to each individual and the impact of our “belief” on our eternity is based solely on how well what we believe actually “lines up” with the actual “Truth of God” and the best place to learn that Truth is from the Word of God which can be found in HIs Bible, His Son, and His Holy Spirit who is sent to “Teach” us the Truth of God. Belief is important but has no impact on the Truth so we must learn that God is the Unchanging Truth on which our eternity is based and therefore the real question is “What do I know of what God says about who Jesus is and why did Jesus have to be obedient to the Father’s Will??”

JUNE 28 JQ#18-2 “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15) The Jesus Questions

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JUNE 28   JQ#18-2 “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15) 

365 Prayers to JESUS 

Jesus, I thank You Lord for this season of learning, for Your chastening and correcting for I know that You Love me when I don’t deserve Your Love and when I am “straying” from Your Truth and cannot find myself for the “darkness” I have wandered into, Your Love Shines like a Guiding Like and You draw me back onto the “Narrow Pathway” and shelter me Unconditional Love from the attacks from the world. Lord, I pray that l share in like manner that You have “Shared” with me, to all those You put in my pathway that my light will guide them to the True Light!        AMEN

The Jesus Questions

JUNE 28   JQ#18-2 “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15) God in His mysterious way has taken all the lessons and experiences that I have been “Graced” with along my Journey to God and placed a task before me that is a culmination of all little pieces in such a way that I cannot but be totally amazed that God can use so many daily life experiences to Teach us about His Kingdom! We should not however be surprised because God Himself Promised to reveal Himself to us if we search for Him with all our heart and in this study of the Jesus Questions God has revealed His Plan and demonstrated that He will build our “understanding” one small block at a time but as each block of “understanding” is securely mortared into place and we have taken care to place the block in place using God’s “Level” of Moral Standards, we see that we are building a strong foundation on the “Rock of Ages” and slowly but surely our House of God is taking shape and that is what has been happening as these lessons and my personal involvement with Kingdom Work put all the memory verses and recent lessons together in such a way that I see the “Strong Tower” of Faith where I may be sheltered from the world has been built to a point that I can clearly see God at work and the “Truth of God” being clearly revealed in my daily struggles. The lesson that was really brought out was that on JUNE 27 God introduced what I now at this point of my Journey I believe I can with all confidence declare as the “Cornerstone” of my Faith ——— When I started to give my honest answer to the personal question Jesus asks of everyone: “but who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15) that I could clearly see that all the Holy Spirit has taught me so far is neatly summed up in a single verse, “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6) Here as I asked myself, “What have I learned about Jesus in my life?” the Holy Spirit brought that verse to me and I can say with all the twists and turns my “Journey” has taken me through, (and I use the word “through” on purpose) that I see and know that Jesus is the “TRUTH” and the “TRUTH OF JESUS IS THE WAY” and it is only through the TRUTH OF JESUS THAT BY FOLLOWING HIS WAY THAT I HAVE TRUE LIFE!!! This JQ#18 Jesus Question is very,very, if not most important question so I am praying as I start this “Deeper Still” Journey into the Truth of God that all who read this will stop at this point of their life and set down some “markers” at this point of their journey to God and seriously consider “Who do you say that Jesus is, to you?”  Jesus has very clearly stated “Who” He IS — therefore the question really boils down to a question of belief, and so we must ask ourselves, am I going to believe the “TRUTH” or am I going to keep listening to the lies? Read about the fall and note that even before Eve listened to Satan’s lie that she had already lied to herself, we need to ask ourself, “Am I lying to myself about God?” then go back and read John 14:6 and remember that “Truth will set you free!”

JUNE 27 JQ#18-1 “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15) The Jesus Questions

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JUNE 27   JQ#18-1 “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15) 

365 Prayers to JESUS 

Jesus, Your Grace is sufficient. Lord, let this journey that You have placed before me  reflect a prayer prayed on June 27, 2004  where I prayed “Lord, help me make my head knowledge heart knowledge because I know what I should be doing but my heart keeps hanging on to the old nature, take me away from the old nature and clothe me as You promised with a new creature that I may ‘…go and sin no more…’ against You and Thy Kingdom.” Lord Jesus, we need Thee every hour!       AMEN

The Jesus Questions

JUNE 27   JQ#18-1 “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15) Jesus is relentless in getting His Teachings across to us and He desires for us to look deep into our own lives and souls so that we can truly “understand” “Who” He really is and “Why” He took on flesh! When we think that we have come to a deep understanding, yet it is in reality still just a “surface” knowledge of His Grace, Jesus stops and makes us think on a level that always takes us “deeper still”! The disciples have experienced Jesus first hand in their daily lives as they have literally spent 24/7 with Him and seen Him accomplish miracle after miracle and Jesus has always pointed to “our Father in heaven” as the source of His Power so if anyone knew “who” Jesus really is, it should be the disciples that have seen Him calm the wind and the waves twice already and healed the multitudes every where He went. The disciples have seen Jesus take a few loaves and fishes and feed thousands and thousands just by breaking bread and praying to His Father to bless and to provide and God has been faithful and answered the prayers of Jesus. The disciples had just been given a great lesson on discernment when Jesus taught “beware the doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees” as they were teaching doctrines of men and not of God commandments to men, and we read in Matthew’s gospel that, “When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man,am?” This question would make the disciples stop and answer Jesus from the literal viewpoint of what they had heard other men say about who they thought Jesus was but we just like the disciples will miss the lesson Jesus is about to teach and the question “Who do men say …I am?” (Matthew 16:13) is not a question Jesus asks His disciples to give Jesus knowledge or information for we know that Jesus “knows the heart of men” so by now the disciples should know that when Jesus asks a question He is about to take us “deeper still” and sure enough this question is a lead-in question that Jesus uses to get us to focus our attention on another Truth of God! This method of teaching is starting to reach His disciples and it is at this point of studying about Jesus that we too should pause and reflect on the person of Jesus and look not at what men say about Jesus but dig deep into our personal experiences and ponder what it is that we really “know” about Jesus and not just what we have “heard” what other men think about Jesus. Jesus is asking a question that will change your personal viewpoint for eternity and how you see Jesus will change from “I heard” to “I know” and we will find that what we think about Jesus is our reality of Jesus and don’t you think you know what is in your heart of hearts better than what men tell you should be in your heart? Think about this lead in question and then answer what I believe to be the most important answer in your eternal soul as answer Jesus face-to-face as He asks you this very,very personal question, “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15) 

JUNE 26 JQ#17-7 “How many loaves do you have?” (Matthew 15:34) The Jesus Questions

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JUNE 26    JQ#17-7 “How many loaves do you have?” (Matthew 15:34) 

365 Prayers to JESUS 

Jesus, take our daily desires and make them the will of the Father. When we start our day with prayer to the Only Begotten who died for our sin, let it be as Paul told the Corinthians, “We…plead [within ourselves] … not to receive the grace of God in vain…” but that with all our hands find to do that we will be doing it for the Glory of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Lord let us hear anew each morning Your Prayer for us that we will be “one with the Father” and know that it was the Father’s Will that He be obedient and die on the cross for our sins, so let us be obedient to the Father’s Will and take up our cross daily and follow Jesus for we know He is One with You and  has prepared a place that we may be together for eternity, but only through the shed blood of Jesus who purchased our “pardon” ——— Praise God from whom all blessings flow.        AMEN

The Jesus Questions

JUNE 26   JQ#17-7 “How many loaves do you have?” (Matthew 15:34)  God has from the giving of “understanding” with the first act accomplished with the first words God spoke to address the “darkness” of the earth as God declared, “Let there be light, and there was light.” We know that “light” is the “understanding” that Jesus keeps trying to teach us and the greatest weapon against the darkness of sin IS the LIGHT OF JESUS who as the apostle James wrote of Jesus, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally…” (James 1:5) This advice to seek wisdom came as James was addressing the fact that “knowing the testing of your faith produces patience…” and then the solution was to ask God for wisdom for the Truth of God that Jesus is teaching with the “bread” question is that we must eat the “good” bread that God Himself provided, just as He sent Manna from Heaven to feed the Israelites while they were learning to follow God while wandering in the wilderness. So if God gives us “Light” to dispel the “darkness” then we should develop the “understanding” that “man cannot live by bread alone…” (Mathew 4:4) but to resist temptation by consuming the word of God. So Jesus uses the “bread” illustration to give us “understanding” that our only way to fight “sin and darkness” is to abide in the “Light of His Word” — the “Light” is Jesus ——— “[Jesus is] the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.” (John 1:9) Jesus had been teaching the disciples all along that by our belief that we will be healed of our infirmities and was continually “Teaching” and then asking “do you understand” and then to make sure we get the point Jesus gives us a deeper explanation by using examples of everyday things that we have a common knowledge about and so the “bread” lesson Jesus is teaching in this passage is to remind us that our “need” for “bread” is “daily” and it is by understanding the Word of God that we nourish our spirits, in essence we fulfill the prayer Jesus prayed when the disciples asked Him to “teach us to pray” and Jesus prayed: “Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread…” (Matthew 6:9-11) So if Jesus is the Light and He has come with the single purpose to reconcile our sin so that we may have fellowship with God the Father in heaven, don’t you think it would be wise to know that in order for “bread” to nourish our bodies that we must “consume” it? As Jesus told the Pharisees that were continually testing Jesus as to being the Son of God that Jesus told them “A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” (Matthew 16:4) Jesus is the fulfillment of the sign of the “prophet Jonah” as the “Bread” was “broken for our sin” and the “Blood” as spilt, The “Light” was buried but on the third day Jesus rose victorious over “darkness, sin, death, and the grave”!!! Don’t you think that’s a pretty good days work on a loaf of “Bread” and a drink of “Living Water”?