JANUARY 23 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#01-02 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#1 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?” (Matthew 5:13)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JANUARY  23  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#01-02 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<<   JQ#1  “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?” (Matthew 5:13)

023 of 365 - Prayers to JESUS    

Jesus, Lord, Savior, Redeemer, Master, Teacher — what joy it is to know that the One that holds our Eternity in His Hands has such eloquent titles. Lord I wake to the thought that You have given me another day and with the strength You give me that the possibilities are limitless. Jesus, You teach and guide us in Your Ways and we know that through the knowledge that You Give we can know the Father and we are assured that if we walk in Your Way that the path leads us to Eternal, Unbroken Fellowship with God Himself! What glorious thought that time and death will not hold sway over us as we enter into Your Kingdom and have all of Eternity ahead of us free from the bondage of sin … Forgive me, a sinner in the flesh — I am longing for the day I can stand before You in Spirit at the Final Judgement and be judged not on my righteousness but on the Righteousness of the Son of the Living God, even Lord Jesus Himself!      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JANUARY  23  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#01-02 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<<   JQ#1  “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?” (Matthew 5:13) Jesus began His Ministry by going on a “field trip” which firmly established His “Purpose and Credentials” of being God’s Messiah by experiencing first hand the main problem Jesus was sent to earth to resolve — mainly the big issue in everyone’s life is having to learn how to resist temptation to be “of the world” for Matthew writes about this “field trip”: “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, ‘If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” (Matthew 4:1-3) This is a Divinely inspired passage by Matthew because it completely exposes a Truth of God needed most by every individual and gives us an “example” of what to look for and how to handle it once we find ourselves in this circumstance — which it is guaranteed that we will encounter such a circumstance somewhere along the way on our Spiritual Journey! I say this because the first statement is “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit” so it is obvious that if Jesus came to be an “example” for us and to teach us how to react to certain circumstances in our daily life, that if the Spirit led Jesus “into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” then it would be prudent for us to prepare for that "circumstance" to happen on our own “Spiritual” journey fully expecting to find ourselves in “the wilderness” and to encounter “temptation”! The best way to prepare for any circumstance, and especially  if we know we will be “tempted by the devil” is to listen to the One that has gone before us and has successfully resolved every circumstance that we will find ourselves in at some point on our “Spiritual Journey”! We would not be so foolish as to go on a great journey into a wild and unknown land without making necessary preparations and to use a “guide” to show us how to avoid the pitfalls and dangers that we are sure to encounter on our way — so why do we foolishly think we can make it through life without “The Guide” that has experienced Life, Temptation, and Death and it is written of Him “For we do not have a [guide] who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet He did not sin.” (Hebrews 4:15) If I am going to have to face “the devil” and have “to be tempted” by the one that seeks to devour my soul, then I want to have as my guide the One that is “The Guide” and has VICTORY over the world, sin, temptation, the devil, and death itself to lead me on my Spiritual Journey!   We are very fortunate to have “The Guide” for our Spiritual Journey and we also have the “Ultimate Guide Book” (the Holy Bible) to read for ourselves the “experiences” of “failures” of all those that refused to follow “The Guide” and the “successes” of those that listened to Him!!! On my embarking on my Spiritual Journey I obtained a copy of the “Ultimate Guide to Life” and in reading it through and through I have been very aware of certain passages that are written in “Red Letters” in my (Guide Book) copy of the Scofield Study Bible and those passages are the ones that contains Statements  and Advice that the Master Life-Guide Jesus spoke to help us on our Spiritual Journey. Jesus uses “Questions” to point us to special “points of interest” along our journey. The Sprit led me to a thought one day while reading in my Guide Book that I was to go through the New Testament Gospel of Jesus Christ written by Matthew and read through all the times Jesus is quoted (designated by the “Red Letters”) and to study each Question that Jesus asked as I came to it. There are not that many “Red Letter” passages so when the Master Teacher who has Infinite Knowledge and Understanding asks a “Question” then we should pay attention! The plan for the rest of this blog then is to identify those “Questions” that Jesus asked, study the context surrounding the circumstance and let the Holy Spirit enlighten our consciousness to that “Lesson” that the Master Teacher is trying to teach us by making us stop and think about what He has asked, then meditate on each “JESUS Question” until we can give Him an “honest” answer. This exercise will not be a quick read and it will take months to answer each of the 33 JESUS Questions the Holy Spirit challenged me to answer in this blog — but I encourage you to accept the challenge because Jesus had a reason for asking these Questions and I know He has a very good reason for letting the Holy Spirit challenge each reader to give their own answer for each of “The JESUS Questions” and your “Honest” answer must be given directly to Jesus Himself!! This blog is designed by the Holy Spirit to be a One-on-one between the reader and JESUS CHRIST! The Plan then is to start by reading again from the beginning of Matthew and his introduction of Jesus Christ as Messiah and firmly establish in our minds Jesus as the Master Guide having the Authority and the Power of God to successfully lead us on our Spiritual Journey and to take us safely through all the pitfalls of life. Once we know who the Master Teacher is and by what Authority He Teaches, we shall then continue our Spiritual Journey by introducing the first JESUS Question — JQ#1 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?” (Matthew 5:13a) The first thought that struck me is that Jesus is talking to all those that call themselves “Christians”, and the second thought that followed was an emotion of guilt and shame when I read the next statement Jesus made about salt: “… [tasteless salt] is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.” (Matthew 5:13b) The JESUS Question JQ#1 and the immediate statement Jesus made about “salt” provoked an emotion that made me ask, “Is this what is happening in my life and I am being trampled underfoot by the world” and then I immediately prayed “how do I fix it?”?!?! — my prayer was answered as soon as I continued reading the next few verses in my Guide Book where I found “encouragement and guidance” — for with the “Question” still lingering in my mind, the Master Teacher”s WORDS opened my understanding to the answer that followed immediately after His Question! It is my prayer that this blog will do the same for you and that you will find these Eternal Life Answers from the Master’s Questions, asked by JESUS HIMSELF for each of our sakes!