SEPTEMBER 30 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#29-16 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#29 “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” (Matthew 22:42)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

SEPTEMBER 30  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#29-16  >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#29  “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?”  (Matthew 22:42)

Daily Prayer to JESUS    

(Note: The following prayer was written in 2004 on the first day of my “unemployment” from my 24 year career that had started May 10, 1980. All through 2004 I had been praying for God to “fix” my career which had “gone south” with the “new management” — I prayed on 10/29/2004 at 6:15A for God to “give me a sign” about my career and at 4:00P that same day I was let go by the “new management” — so the following prayer is the first prayer I prayed on 10/30/2004 to start my dependence on God for my daily bread ——— I have been praying for my “daily bread” from God every morning since then and I daily proclaim loud and proud: “GOD IS GOOD!!!”)

“Jesus, we can only imagine what it will be like, Your Love, Your calling our name as You welcome those who have believed in You to Your Kingdom in Heaven where we will be eternally amazed that God has provided for us beyond that which we cannot even imagine! Lord, we will also know what great pain and Suffering that You endured to pay the Supreme Price to Redeem us from the death our iniquities deserved! To know of Your Great Sacrifice and to know the Great Joy of Your Grace will be enough to continually keep Your Praises on our lips for all eternity! O Lord, daily I struggle with self and sin, but my prayers are that the Holy Spirit turns me back to Your Light and remember that each sin is covered by Your Mercy and Grace!”    AMEN <<<Written 10/30/2004>>>

(Though I prayed that prayer on 10/30/2004, I can still today “witness” to God’s Faithfulness, His Grace and His Mercy, and His Bountiful Provisions for after losing my job in 2004 and depending fully on God for my “daily bread”, I have lived a better life in the years since I began depending solely on God than my entire 24 year career that depended on the world’s “paychecks” even with all its raises and bonuses —  God truly has blessed our family with “life more abundant”!!! Trust God, for God can be trusted!)   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

SEPTEMBER 30  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#29-16  >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#29  “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?”  (Matthew 22:42)      Jesus has already pronounced 4 of His “Seven Woes” directed at the scribes and Pharisees because of their “hypocrisy” but His Lessons are just as relevant and applicable today as they were when Jesus first SPOKE THE WORD. Jesus continues with “Woe #5”: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.” (Matthew 23:25-26) It is interesting to note that Jesus keeps referring to “blindness” as the “fruit” of “hypocrisy” for Jesus has used the terms “Fools and blind” twice and also “Blind guides” twice and now Jesus is specific and uses the term “Blind Pharisees” — if Jesus does something once we should take note but if He says the same thing 3 times then we will be “Blind fools” ourselves if we don’t pay attention — so the Holy Spirit is Teaching that “hypocrisy” will “blind” us to the Truth of God but that we should be able to diagnose our problems as “blindness” if we find ourselves seeking “self-indulgences” — (and especially if we are in any way “extorting” anyone or any thing!) Of course blindness turns one to looking at one’s self because we cannot “see” anything “spiritual” unless we try to look at the world through something other than our “physical” eyes — we can often see more clearly if we look at our circumstances with our heart and see the needs of others through the lens of compassion in our hearts instead of dwelling on our self-pity that we see reflected through the eyes of the world.  “Woe #5” teaches us to be aware that “hypocrisy” breeds “self-indulgences” and that, my friends, is why if you continue to “indulge” yourself in and on the world’s temptations that there is only “spiritual blindness” and “spiritual darkness” in your future! Unless you have the Right Spiritual Attitude you will not have True Spiritual Sight and you cannot correctly answer the question: “What do you think of the Christ? Whose Son is He?” (Matthew 22:42) The problem with spiritual blindness is that it is a “Choice” we make to remain in spiritual darkness and the “Consequence” of choosing spiritual darkness over the “Light of Truth” is “self-condemnation” — Jesus Taught about spiritual blindness in His “Born Again” Lesson to Nicodemus in John Chapter 3, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3) and again, “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:19) As always when Jesus Teaches a Lesson He Teaches us the Truth of God and how to use our Spiritual Sight, “But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” (John 3:21) It is “logical” to assume that if at our “physical birth” that we receive our “physical eyes” to see the “world”, that at our “Spiritual Birth” when we are “Born Again” that we will receive our “Spiritual Eyes” to see the “Spiritual World of God’s Kingdom” and as Jesus told Nicodemus — it is the most important “Choice” you will make because the “Consequence” of choosing “Light” is “Eternal Life with God Himself”!!!!!!