MAY 11 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#15 “O you of little faith, why do you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31)

MAY 11  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#15 “O you of little faith, why do you doubt?”  (Matthew 14:31)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS Precious Jesus —“Thank You, You took my sins away, and I want to Praise You for all that You’ve done, so this is the prayer that I pray — please help me Lord to give of myself and to share with my fellow man, for You have said that there’s no greater love than to give your life for a friend, for all the souls lost, You died on a cross, You gave and You gave some more, so that sinners like me might truly be free, Your death opens life’s door!” (From a song given to me while in the “SPIRIT” in the late 1980s that I still sing today.)     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus Teaches with His Questions by both “Reason” and by “Emotion”. When we look at the “Reason” behind our answer to His Question, Jesus points out the Truth behind our “Choice” and the “Emotion” that is the “Consequence” of our “Choice” and the “Reason” why we made our “Choice”!  When I first read these words in JQ#15 “O you of little faith, why do you doubt?”  (Matthew 14:31) many years ago when I had first embarked on my journey to God, I imagined seeing Jesus saying these words to me and shaking His head and I imagined that I heard a tone in His voice that caused me to feel shame!? Now many years later as I read those same words and look back on how I felt about Jesus in general at the beginning of my journey, I realize I did not “know” Him. All I could imagine before I “knew” Jesus was what I had seen from the world and from worldly men and I knew that I was guilty because indeed my faith was “small” at best and was close to nonexistent — so when I read Matthew 14:31 I can actually still feel the shame and hear a “rebuke” for that was what my life was like, I was “guilty” and was “full of doubt” and all I had heard from the world was “rebuke”! Now as I have been “walking” with Jesus for several years and have been learning to “know” Jesus and “understanding” that Jesus “knows” me but Loves me anyway, when I read Matthew 14:31 now I don’t feel “guilt” and I no longer hear a “rebuke”. What I hear at this point in my journey is a soft encouraging Voice full of compassion for my weakness and what I feel is a Loving Savior gently putting His hand under my chin and lifting my head up so that I can look into His smiling face and He says sweetly to me, “Hold your head up, ‘O you of little faith…’” and then He assures me, “I will never leave you nor forsake you…” (Deuteronomy 31:6) and then with calm assurance in His Voice He looks deep into my soul and says “your doubt will disappear when You trust me with all your heart.” I do not feel shame nor rebuke, I now know that I am “forgiven and loved” and that is a long way to come on any journey but it is well worth the trip! What do you feel when you read this statement Jesus made in Matthew? It is a great barometer on the state of your “spiritual” life and it is worth “understanding” just exactly what Jesus is saying to you and wanting you to feel in your soul as He speaks these words to you. The original words were spoken in a very unusual situation and volumes could be written about the story that unfolded when Jesus spoke these words to Peter. The story and the words make more sense if we look at the things that Jesus had Taught and done just prior to speaking these words to Peter so let’s look at the events leading up to this Question Jesus posed to Peter and we will better understand the “tone” that Jesus was using. Jesus had just been rejected as He had tried to Teach in “His own country” (Matthew 13:57) and then Matthew writes about John the Baptist who had proclaimed when he saw Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.” (John 1:29) and Matthew documents that John the Baptist had been beheaded and “When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself.” (Matthew 14:13a) We can feel Jesus wanting to be alone for He had been “rejected” by His “own” and now He has received news that John the Baptist who had proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah had been beheaded for teaching God’s Truth and we can sense Jesus is “dejected” ——— “But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities, and when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them and healed their sick.” (Matthew 14:13b-14)  What a great example Jesus lived for us so that in times when we feel “rejected and dejected” that we should learn the Lesson that the best way to help ourselves is to show “compassion” to others. Right after that event we then see Jesus feeding “about five thousand men, besides women and children” and He did it with “Five loaves and two fish” (Matthew 14:15-21) So when we look at these events and how Jesus reacted to them we can be greatly encouraged that we too can face these problems that come into everyone’s life at some time or another, or do you think that the best way to take care of “despair” is to “pout” your cares away?

MAY 10 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#15 “O you of little faith, why do you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31)

MAY 10  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#15 “O you of little faith, why do you doubt?”  (Matthew 14:31)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer   

JESUS, O the sweet privilege to say the Name above all names, Jesus. There is great comfort in knowing that there is the Power of all powers in the Name of Jesus and we have been given the right to speak the Name Jesus and bring that Power to play in our lives! Jesus, I bow before You and humbly ask that You grant that my life be given to serving You and that the way that I lived my life for myself before I started living for You will be buried with my sins and that the New Life I now live with You in me will be used totally for the Glory of God.             AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus never really leaves one Lesson standing alone and moves on to another separate Lesson, but Jesus always uses His previous Lessons to weave together our “understanding” of what “Life” with God really means, both now in the physical and what “knowing God” means for our eternal future! Jesus used every situation He found Himself in to “Teach” us “to know” our Father in heaven and to prepare us to enter through the narrow gate into the kingdom of heaven that the Father has established for all those that “Believe in God”. Those that “Choose” to “Believe in God” will spend eternity with Him by virtue of their “Choice”! After Jesus Taught the multitudes in parables He then went to His “own country” but was rejected because those that knew Jesus as the son of Mary could not see Jesus as the Son of God! Because of their “unbelief”, the “Spiritual Power” of Jesus was limited as we read Matthew’s account of Jesus being rejected by those in His “own country”: “Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” (Matthew 13:58) Lest we miss the Lesson contained here in these 6 verses to end the 13th chapter in Matthew, let us stop and consider that these 6 verses are just as “inspired” as are all verses in scripture and let us look at the context, for Jesus never used a problem to gain sympathy for Himself but was continually drawing our attention to the “Truth of God”! These 6 verses reveal what I believe is one of the most overlooked “Truth of God” as Jesus reveals how the Father has chosen to be “sovereign” and demonstrate His Power over all Creation. Think for a moment about the “Free Will” gift that God has given mankind and apply it to this situation where Jesus was rejected by His “own” with the results being that Jesus “did not do many mighty works there…”. A surface reading from a worldly viewpoint would say that Jesus was mad at them and was just “pouting” and that Jesus simply decided that He would not do any “mighty works” because of some form of punishment ——— but immediately we can see that thinking negatively like that goes against everything Jesus has been Teaching and against everything Jesus has been demonstrating with His life which was being Perfectly Lived through the Power of GOD to help others. The Truth of God that is overlooked is that when God gave us the “gift” of “Free Will” that God demonstrated His Supreme Confidence in His Ability to handle every circumstance and therefore God said that if we want to use our “Free Will” to reject Him that He promised to “honor” that “choice”, not because we deserve to have our “choices” honored but because God Himself “Chose” to bestow His Honor on our “Choice”.  The Truth of God is that the Power of God is bestowed on our “Choice” ——— in other words, God says: “If you want to use your Free Will to reject Me, that because of who I AM, I will not force you to accept Me, but I will remove Myself from you until you choose to allow Me back into your life!” Jesus is demonstrating that our “Belief in God” carries the the Power of God with it and although Jesus wanted to “Give” and to “Teach” the Lessons of the kingdom of heaven to the people in His “own country” that when they used their God-Given Power of Free Will to “reject Him” that He honored their “choice”! Therefore it was their “unbelief” that prevented Jesus from bestowing the blessing of “understanding” on them! God has proven that He will not take back any gift that He gives us and that we have a “spiritual responsibility” to use the “gifts” God bestows on us to help others but if we “choose” to trust in ourselves and reject God, that is exactly what we will get! God will respect our “choice” and we will simply have to go through life without God and that “Choice” will extend to our eternity as well, because it is only logical that if we choose to live without God then we have also chosen to die without God! I don’t know about you but I can’t think of a sadder circumstance than to have all the Power of God at your command but then “choose” to call God and His Omnipotent Power useless and dispose of it instead of using it in our lives as God intended with His “Gift” of “Freewill Choice”? Can’t you see that when we “choose” to live without God that we are wielding the only Power able to prevent God from working in our life!!! By rejecting God, we bring all these negative things on ourself because of our “unbelief” and “unbelief” grows from a single seed of “doubt”!!! Be careful how you use your Free Will, it has eternal consequences and it is totally in your control!! Can you hear Jesus asking, “O you of little faith, why do you doubt?”

MAY 09 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#15 “O you of little faith, why do you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31)

MAY 09  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#15 “O you of little faith, why do you doubt?”  (Matthew 14:31)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer    

JESUS, You are the One that Loves us. Jesus help us to understand that Your Love is not based on who we are or what we do but the Love of God is based solely on the character of The One True God and who HE IS and what HE DOES. God is the giver of Free Will and God Himself said that LOVE is not what others do to you, but what you do to others ——— and we are to LOVE based not on what others do to us but what we chose to do to others, we can either go the way of the world and take-take-take or we can follow God and give-give-give. Help us Lord to attain “heavenly perfection” in that we choose to be like You and Love others unconditionally.     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has been faithful in Teaching us that “faith in God” is as important to our “spiritual” life as “air” is to our “physical” life. Jesus has been Living the Perfect Example in front of His disciples and they have heard His Teachings and have seen His Miracles and the only conclusion that everyone reaches is that “all these things” that Jesus has been Teaching and accomplishing by His Miracles must be from God! Jesus has been asking specific Questions that focus our attention like a laser beam on the areas in our faith that needs to be improved upon and as we saw in JQ#14, Jesus wants to make sure that we “understand all these things” and the only reason we can use to explain why Jesus would Teach in the Power of God, perform Miracles in the Power of God, and then make sure that we “Understand” the Power of God is that Jesus wants us to have “spiritual success” that comes ONLY from the Power of God!!! Therefore, Jesus never stops Teaching and He uses Questions to make us think on the kingdom of heaven and then He answers them plainly, He uses parables and then Jesus explains these Thought Questions clearly, but more importantly Jesus “Lives” His Life Perfectly so that everyone can see that “Faith in God” is to be used 24/7/365 in the way we live our daily lives. Jesus had just Taught the multitudes in parables but now Jesus “had finished these parables” and “He departed from there” (Matthew 13:53) . We read that “When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they we astonished…” (Matthew 13:54) and it is at this point that we get a glimpse of why Jesus starts JQ#15 with the statement, “O you of little faith…” for even though the people were simply “astonished” by His Teaching, they could not get over their “spiritual blindness” and were proving what Jesus had previously Taught that the “unbelievers” would have “eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear” (Matthew 13:14) and the disciples could now see that without “understanding” that we are blind and deaf to the “Spiritual Truth of God”. Jesus also had Taught about “fear and faith” once before when the disciples were out on the sea in a boat when a great storm had arisen and Jesus was sleeping in the back of the boat and when His disciples woke Him up, Jesus had asked JQ#7 “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 8:26) After Jesus had gotten their attention with the storm and the “fear” Question, Jesus calmed the wind and the waves and probably went back to sleep. We find Jesus still Teaching His disciples that if we follow Jesus we will should always be learning from Him because He is always Teaching and He makes sure we “understand” — even if that means that we have to be Taught the same lesson several times to truly “understand”! In this case Jesus is Teaching an advanced course on “Faith in God” and this time He will point out that our “little faith” will cause us to “fear” and Jesus Teaches us that “little faith” is the root of all our “doubt” because the logical conclusion of “doubt” is “fear”! Therefore Jesus is going to give His disciples several extra lessons on building our faith and also Jesus will expose that the root cause of a weak faith is allowing ourselves to “doubt” God! This first example happens in His “own country” and the disciples see a previous lesson coming to life as the people in His “own country” doubt that Jesus is really God because they knew the names of His earthly (physical) mother, brothers, and sisters so they must have missed Jesus proclaiming that “whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.” (Matthew 12:30) The scriptures tell us that all those stuck on the “physical” realm have missed the “Spiritual Truth” that Jesus IS the Son of God and that “they [are] offended at Him” (Matthew 13:57) The results of their “doubt” (unbelief) is that they actually prevented Jesus from using the Power of God among them as we read, “Now He did not do many mighty works there [in His own country] because of their unbelief” (Matthew 13:58) Jesus is illustrating why it is important that we spiritually “understand” because where there is no “understanding” there is “doubt” and our “unbelief” is the worldly fruit of our “doubt and fear” ! Jesus is continuing to Teach us with every occasion that building our “Faith” on the “Solid Rock” is our best defense against the storms of life and will open the door to His Blessings in our life! Have you ever stopped and asked yourself, “What blessings have I missed because of my own ‘unbelief’” ?  

MAY 08 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#15 “O you of little faith, why do you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31)

MAY 08  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#15 “O you of little faith, why do you doubt?”  (Matthew 14:31)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer to JESUS    

JESUS, thank You Lord for the Grace that You extend to us at those times when we are  going through our worldly doubts and we entertain the fears the secular world tries to sell to us on a daily basis. Lord Jesus, we praise You that when we reject you for our petty reasons that You will love us through the valley of darkness and lead us safely back to the Light of Your Perfect Love, so I pray that instead of cowering in the darkness that we will seek to find the warmth of the “Son” on our soul and know that even when we don’t care about God, GOD CARES ABOUT US!     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus takes us through such serious Lessons and asks us Questions because all have “Eternal Consequences”!!! Then after asking what we in our limited intellect think is the hardest Question to answer, Jesus turns right around and asks another Question that hits us right between our “spiritual” eyes and penetrates to the deepest recesses of our hearts! Then just when we think it is safe to go back into the “spiritual” waters Jesus sounds the alarm at yet another danger, yet being the “Good Lifeguard” that He IS, Jesus gives us the chance to swim on our own while at the same time He assures us that He is there to keep us from “going under”. JQ#15 is one of those Questions —Jesus has already Taught us 13 very serious Lessons and then the 14th Lesson was to make sure we “understood” what He was “Teaching” and then He hits us with JQ#15 “O you of little faith, why do you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31) What an indictment on our efforts to follow Jesus and to become His disciple to experience His “Teachings” on such a deep personal level and then He turns around and hands us our “failing” midterm grade just when we thought we had arrived at some pinnacle of understanding! Such is the case for Peter and the disciples as Peter stepped “out of the boat” on faith but then let his worldly fears overcome his faith and Peter quickly sank beneath the waves of worldly concerns — while he was actually walking on water!!! This is a tremendous Lesson for us to learn on our journey to knowing the True and Living God as He will test our faith to its limits and we find that we are still mortal and as such are “finite” and limited, but each time we test God, we find that He IS GOD and as such He is “Infinite” and His Grace and Mercy are limited by nothing! Yet each time God saves us, He encourages us to use that “drowning” experience to move closer to Him! He reminds us that we should always strive to get closer to God with the main goal to become “One with God” and never, never try to stand alone away from Him. The best way to look at the deep Truth of God in JQ#15 is to look at the context in which Jesus made the statement “O you of little faith…” to Peter. Jesus had Taught His disciples the “mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” and had ended His Parables of the “Kingdom” Lessons with JQ#14 “Have you understood all these things?” (Matthew 13:51) and I am sure we would have answered the same way the disciples probably answered — “Yes Jesus, now we understand…” but do we really? Jesus started to show us that we really don’t get it yet as we start reading in Matthew 13:53 “Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables (JQ#14), that He departed from there.” (Matthew 13:53) This type of action on the part of Jesus so far has meant that He is moving to the next Lesson and so far each Lesson has been an extension of our “understanding” up to and including His last Lesson. We find that Jesus is ALWAYS TEACHING for His every breath was a Lesson for those that watched how Jesus lived His life day in and day out! So when we read that “He departed from [the lessons of JQ#14]…” that we can now assume that Jesus is moving on to teach us the next Lesson on our journey to know God. The context of JQ#15 is from Matthew 13:53 and runs through Matthew 14:36 and we should read this passage of scripture and look expectantly at everything Jesus does as we ask ourselves, “What is Jesus going to Teach us next?” By now if you have been learning all the previous lessons you are probably asking, “Will Jesus ever stop Teaching us?”

MAY 07 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#14 “ Jesus said to them, ‘Have you understood all these things?’” (Matthew 13:51)

MAY 07  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#14 “ Jesus said to them, ‘Have you understood all these things?’”  (Matthew 13:51)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, my prayer today is very simple, forgive me of all my shortcomings, cleanse me of all unrighteousness, and create in me a clean heart O God!!     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus lets us know that it is important to Him that we “understand” His Teachings because once again Jesus Teaches His Lesson and to make sure that we “know” exactly what He wants us to “learn”,  Jesus sits down and explains His parables point by point so that our “understanding” is complete. There is a deeper Lesson being Taught by “how” Jesus is “Teaching” than the extremely important “what” He is “Teaching” with His parables and that deeper Lesson is that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is demonstrating that when something is important enough to “Teach” then it is important enough to extend every effort to make sure the Lesson is “learned” and “Understanding is the key to learning”!!! Jesus again and again through this passage introduces these deep “Spiritual Truths of God” then stops and “Explains” in detail the meaning of the parables because each parable is a “Revelation” of God Himself and outlines the “detailed” Plan of God for mankind. Jesus had just Taught the “multitudes”  four very important parables (1) the sower and the soils, (2) The tares and the wheat, (3) the mustard seed, and (4) the leaven, and now Jesus takes His disciples aside privately and explains to them the meaning of these 4 parables and then adds 4 more parables. That there can be no mistake in what Jesus is trying to Teach His disciples, He uses very specific and plain terminology in each of the parables and because they are the same topic in each parable we can “understand” that Jesus is Teaching His disciples the mystery of the “kingdom of heaven” for Jesus specifically states these Truths of God in each parable: (Parable 1) The sower and the soil ———“Therefore hear the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart…” (Matthew 13:18-19) (Parable 2) The tares among the wheat ——— “He who sows the seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels, therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in fire, so it will be at the end of the age.” (Matthew 13:37-40) (Parable 3) The mustard seed ——— “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed…when it is grown…becomes a tree…and birds nest in its branches” (Matthew 13:31-32) (Parable 4) The leaven ——— “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven…” (Matthew 13:33)  and then 4 new parables: (Parable 5) The hidden treasure ——— “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found…and sells all that he has and buys that field.” (Matthew 13:44) (Parable 6) The pearl of great price ——— “Again the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” (Matthew 13:45) (Parable 7) The dragnet ——— “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, which when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels come forth, separate the wicked from the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire. (Matthew 13:47-50) and lastly (Parable 8) The householder ——— “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.” (Matthew 13:52) It cannot be mistaken after these very plain and specific “Teachings of Jesus” that His Lessons are intended for His disciples to know that Jesus is the Son of Man, sent by God to Teach about the  great treasures of the ”Kingdom of Heaven” for believers and the “impending judgement” of those that reject God!  Jesus used the terms “enemy”, “wicked one”, “wicked”, and “devil” so that we will know that there is serious opposition to our knowing and seeking God that we will have to face while in the world. Jesus also made it clear that how we live our daily lives will eventually be judged by God and He will send His angels from heaven to “separate” the “good” according to God’s Standard from the “bad” and that everyone will be judged “at the end of the age”. The “Good” according to God’s Standards will be taken up into the “kingdom of heaven” and the “bad” will be “burned in the fire”! There is no confusion as to the “eternal consequences” of punishment associated with those that choose to live  a “wicked life” and Jesus makes it equally clear the “eternal consequences” of those that follow God and live a “righteous” life. After giving all these specifics of the “kingdom of heaven”, Jesus then point blank asks — JQ#14 “Have you understood all these things?” (Matthew 13:51) There’s nothing left for us to do at this point except to give Jesus the honest answer that He deserves for going the extra mile to make it clear what His Lessons are trying to Teach us … so, have you “understood all these things?”  

MAY 06 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#14 “ Jesus said to them, ‘Have you understood all these things?’” (Matthew 13:51)

MAY 06  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#14 “ Jesus said to them, ‘Have you understood all these things?’”  (Matthew 13:51)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, may my lips continually Praise You for You are worthy of continual Praise. Lord Jesus grant it that my heart will look at Your Glory and see that my life is nothing without Your Grace but is limitless with Your Grace. Lord, as I start each day with my  prayers to You, let others come first in my life as they did in Yours, keep my heart growing deep roots that Your Word will produce much fruit for with Christ there is plenty for all as Your Word is enough for all men. Jesus, we must be in the world but teach us to remain separated to You and that our “understanding” of Your WORD will be our guiding light through the valley of darkness for You have said “I AM the GOOD SHEPHERD” and we TRUST YOU to lead us to “still waters” and “green pastures”.     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus keeps emphasizing the importance of “understanding” as the key to the kingdom of heaven and warns us repeatedly that the “enemy” seeks to devour both the “seed” and any “fruit” the Word of God produces: “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who has received seed by the wayside.” (Matthew 13:19) If we stop and ponder all the lessons contained in this one verse we will get at least a glimmer of “understanding” of the “Truth of God”. (1) First “Truth of God” — Jesus promised that the “word of the kingdom” will be spoken to us. God will do His part by “Teaching” but we must do our part by “listening” to Him. (2) Second “Truth of God” — Ask yourself “Why would God bother to Teach us about the kingdom?” and the only answer is that God would not Teach us about the kingdom if He did not intend for us to share the kingdom with Him. (3) Third “Truth of God” — Teaching and listening has a common eternal goal — “understanding” —  we must “understand” for when we “understand” God’s Word we will “know” God. (4) Fourth “Truth of God” — Once we “know God” we will be able to protect ourselves from the “enemy” of the Word, and the “enemy of the Word” desires to destroy the “seed” and the “fruit” that the seed will bear. (5) Fifth “Truth of God”  —The world and all its evil has trampled the path to the kingdom and packed the earth under their feet to where the seed cannot take root and we will not produce any kingdom fruit for the seed will not grow on the wide path to destruction. Jesus said, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.” (Matthew 7:13)  We can see that Jesus has a good reason for stopping at this point in His Teaching us the “Way” to the “narrow gate” and making sure that we not only “hear” with our “ears” but that His Word will take root deep in our “soul” as we “understand” His Word with our “heart”. Jesus has Taught the same “Truth of God” over and over and He will Teach the “Truth of God” again and again because it is important to Him that we “know” the “Way Home”! Jesus continued His Lesson on “understanding” as He gives us three more small gems  of great value as He Teaches three more parables of (1) The wheat and the tares (Matthew 13:24-30) warning us to keep our lives free of “worldly influence”, (2) The parable of the mustard seed (Matthew 13:31-32) to reinforce our value of even the smallest of seeds to the kingdom, {{{Quote from Roland Warren, Choices Fundraising Banquet Friday night 5/5/17: “Anyone can count the number of seeds in an apple, but only God knows the number of apples in a seed!!!}}} and (3) The parable of leaven (Matthew 13:33) to make us aware that even a little sin in our lives will defile the “bread of life”. Jesus takes every opportunity to present His Word and the Truth of God in terms that we can relate to and here are three more examples Jesus uses to Teach us that how we live our daily lives has “eternal consequences”. Do you think Jesus is being excessive when He Teaches, “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) ?  Of course if you do not want to claim God as your “Father” then you can ask that infamous worldly comeback question, “What difference does it make?”[SIC] 

MAY 05 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#14 “ Jesus said to them, ‘Have you understood all these things?’” (Matthew 13:51)

MAY 05  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#14 “ Jesus said to them, ‘Have you understood all these things?’”  (Matthew 13:51)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, thank You Lord for the strength You give me each day to “arise and walk”, thank You for just being able to get out of bed and get out of the house and most of all the ability to “enjoy” this wonderful world You have Created! Lord, I pray that You will grant it in my life that as I go through the day that my “spiritual” eyes will be open to the beauty and mystery of Your world that I may have the “Joy” and “Peace” that comes from “knowing” the Father and above all desires, I desire to “understand with my heart” the Love of God and that with my “understanding” will come “Sharing with others” the blessings You have showered on us.     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus is Teaching us the importance of “understanding” His Lessons and Jesus emphasizes the point that the Truth of God is the main purpose of His Teaching. If we do not “understand” the Lesson then we will miss the Truth of God and the Lesson will be useless.  Jesus illustrates this point when after asking the lead-in question JQ#14A “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” (Matthew 12:48) Jesus immediately gives the answer that those who listen and learn His Teaching and  “does the will of My Father in heaven [are] My brother and sister and mother.” (Matthew 12:50)  Jesus then Taught in parables to “the multitudes that were gathered together…” (Matthew 13:1-3) to hear Him Teach about the kingdom of God — and the multitude listened intently to Jesus as He told the parable of the sower which sowed seed and the different results from the “sowing of the seed” depending on the “soil” in which the seed was sown. Jesus was asked by His disciples after He had Taught the Parable of the Sower to the multitudes why He was Teaching to the multitude in parables? (Matthew 13:10) and Jesus answered, (1) “…it has been given to you [My disciples that listen to My Word] to ‘know’ the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven…” (Matthew 13:11) and (2) “Therefore I speak to them [those that are following the world] in parables, because “seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they ‘understand’.” (Matthew 13:13) When we look at His answer to His disciples why Jesus had spoken in parables, we see that the “Truth of God” has to do with “understanding the WORD of God” which is the key to “knowing the mysteries of God” ——— without “understanding of the WORD of God” we are blind and deaf to the “kingdom of heaven”. Jesus is Teaching that even though the same seed is planted that the success of the sown seed is determined by our “understanding” ——— “But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the [WORD] and ‘understands’ it, who indeed bears fruit and produces…” (Matthew 13:23) The Law of Choice and Consequence also applies as Jesus Teaches that the different levels of “understanding” are compared to different types of soil: (1) soil that has been walked on and packed down by the “way of the world” Jesus called “the wayside” and when the seed was sown on “the wayside” that “the birds came and devoured them.” (Matthew 13:4) ——— (2) The 2nd “soil” was “stony places” and this was soil that the stones were not removed nor the soil properly prepared and there was not enough good soil to hold (the Living) water and nutrients in it, that the seed may sprout but without enough (Living) water and nourishment the seed “sprang up” and “they withered away”. (Matthew 13:5-6) ——— (3) The 3rd type of soil was good soil but the water and nutrients were being used by the thick roots of thorns and weeds which represent the sin and iniquities of our worldly habits that we let take over our lives and when the seed of faith is sown among thorns that the good seed can not take root because the teachings of the world “choked them.” (Matthew 13:6-7) ——— (4) Lastly, the 4th type of soil, Jesus said was soil that would produce fruit because it had not been trampled on by the world and the rocks and weeds of the world had been removed so the seed made deep roots in the good soil and the WORD of God produced much “fruit”, and Jesus said specifically that good soil is the soul that “…hears the [WORD] and ‘understands’ it…” (Matthew 13:23) Jesus then went the extra mile with His disciples and Taught them to use their “spiritual eyes and ears” to see and “understand” the “Truth of God”. Jesus made sure we “understood” by first Teaching the parable of the sower and then immediately Jesus Taught the true meaning of the parable so that there would be “no misunderstanding” of the directions which Jesus gave His disciples as He pointed out the hazards of the world at certain points of our lives. Jesus says “Follow Me” and He will “lead you in paths of righteousness…and deliver you from evil…” and you will by your “understanding of the WORD of God” be able to confidently proclaim “Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the LORD FOREVER”! (Psalm 23) Don’t you want to follow the map and find the narrow gate where you can enter into His Rest and hear Him say “Welcome Home”????