JUNE 29 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#21 “What do you think about fish, taxes, lost sheep, forgiveness, and your fellow servants?” (Matthew 17:25, 18:12,33)

JUNE 29  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#21  “What do you think about fish, taxes, lost sheep, forgiveness, and your fellow servants?” (Matthew 17:25, 18:12,33)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer   

JESUS, no other name but the Name of Jesus carries the weight of eternity for every soul that ever lived! Every soul ever created by God has uttered or will utter the name “Jesus” and Lord we know that when Your Precious Name is spoken from the heart in true humility that You will respond with Peace, Love, and Joy that can only come from speaking that Name given by the Father Himself that every soul that utters that Name with Respect and Honor will be Respected and Honored in return by adoption into the Family of God through God’s Plan of Salvation. O Precious Name, Jesus, Jesus, JESUS!!! May my life reflect the Glory and Grace and the Mercy that has been extended to this sinner because of the Power of the Name of JESUS!     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus Teaches us so many side Lessons while He is Teaching a specific Lesson that we must always stop and look at all the circumstances involved with each Jesus Question and we must also keep in mind that the “Question” is being asked by One that has Supreme Knowledge of all things, He knows the deepest desires of our hearts as well as all the thoughts we think inwardly, even though those thoughts are so deep in our selfish desires that they do not even surface to our own consciousness — yet He still knows every thought that we have!?!? This knowledge is revealed to us if we will look at the circumstance surrounding this specific incident and the most unexpected way that Jesus resolves the issue with the most unusual use for fish and faith that we will ever encounter. First we must look at the “characters” involved and they are: (1) Jesus, (2) Peter [Simon Bar-Jonah], (3) Tax collectors from the temple at Capernaum, (4) a fish, and (5) a piece of money. Let’s look at each “character” separately to get the full impact of this scenario and the miracle produced from the most unlikely source of tax revenue ever recorded! First to consider is Jesus — Jesus has been casting out demons, raising people from the dead, feeding the multitudes, giving sight to the blind, healing every sickness brought to Him, walking on water, calming storms, and teaching about the “Spiritual” life being lived in our “eternal souls”, our “physical” bodies being temporary, the eventually of standing before Almighty God and the Final Judgement, and the reality of both Heaven and fellowship with the Father and of Hell and our eternal separation from God Himself, and the scary reality IS that our eternity will be determined by how responsible we are with the Gift of Free Will bestowed upon us unconditionally by the Supreme Power!!! So when we look at the Life lived in the flesh by Jesus so far, we can only come to One Conclusion: Jesus is the Christ and is the Only Begotten Son of the Father, and Jesus is both “fully man” born of flesh and “fully God” for He is the earthly embodiment of God’s Holy Spirit!!! So the first “character” is “God’s Son” on a Mission from God, Jesus is a Gift from God because God “so loved the world” that God has given “His Only Begotten Son” for a single purpose, that by belief in Jesus being God’s Son that all those that “believe” will never “perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). The second “character” is Simon Bar-Jonah whom Jesus named “Peter” when Jesus called Simon the fisherman to follow Him and be His disciple. Peter is the first one to declare that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God” and it was Peter that got out of the boat during a great storm at sea and actually walked a couple of steps on the water Himself before sinking beneath the waves and crying “Jesus save me!”.  Our third character is a “tax collector” sent from the synagogue at Capernaum to collect the temple tax from Jesus and it was the tax collector that started the miracle by asking Peter if Jesus is going to “pay the temple tax?” — just another innocent “tax collector” doing their job of tracking down and collecting “taxes” from everyone they can find?? The fourth character is the most unusual of all when considering God, His followers, and tax collectors hunting down God and collecting taxes from Him, and that character is almost as slimy as the tax collector — enter character #4, the “fish”. The last character is not usually thought of as a “character per se” but everyone knows that all our personalities are affected by “money” and so we are going to give “a piece of money” the status of a “character” in this scene that denies human explanation anyway. Now that we have all the “characters” identified this would be a good time to exercise our individual intellects and without reading the scriptures further that we at this point stop and consider the circumstance and ask the cliche “W W J D ?” and just try to “imagine” why in this circumstance with these really odd characters that Jesus would first ask Peter JQ#21 — “What do you think, Simon?” (Matthew 17:25) Don’t cheat by reading ahead but just try to imagine a scenario using all these “characters” and put yourself in Peter’s shoes and use your own intellect and answer how you “think” Jesus is going to handle this tax collector?!?!? In other words, fill in the blank with your name as Jesus asks YOU, “What do you think, ____(YOUR NAME GOES HERE)_______________?” (Matthew 17:25)

JUNE 28 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#21 “What do you think about fish, taxes, lost sheep, forgiveness, and your fellow servants?” (Matthew 17:25, 18:12,33)

JUNE 28  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#21  “What do you think about fish, taxes, lost sheep, forgiveness, and your fellow servants?” (Matthew 17:25, 18:12,33)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer   

JESUS, Forgive me for not doing more with the provisions and the “understandings” that You have given me. Lord, Your Teachings give all who read Your Word “Spiritual Insight” to the world that we live in as well as the issues that “our generation” is facing  ——— and yet I have done so little with those precious resources to make the world a better place — forgive me. Lord may I truly take this “second chance” to do that which will honor and glorify our Father in heaven as Your Spirit has shown me that “His Purpose” is the process itself. Give me Grace then to be a good steward of the Understanding imparted by the Holy Spirit and the Wisdom to use whatever circumstance is presented to us in our day-to-day lives to bring Glory to God. {{Once again, the Holy Spirit has brought to my attention a prayer written in 2004 that shows the timelessness of God’s Understanding!!! Once there is an issue, it will remain an issue until we use every resource available to bring the issue before God and enter into His Work with Him for He has chosen to do HIS WORK through those that choose to ENTER INTO HIS LABORS WITH HIM!!!}} Please read the following prayer written years ago but still current and see if there is something you personally could do today to honor God, pray about it, and then let the Lord lead you in doing His will for your life so that others will be helped by your obedience. Prayer from 2004: “Jesus, Lord how I seek to live my life in a way that is pleasing to You, and not for my sake and all my old selfish reasons but for Your sake and for reaching this world with Your Message of Repentance. Lord Jesus, as a nation and as a people, and as individuals we have turned from God, and we have “leaned on our own understanding” and that also is a sin against God. We have sat silently by and let abominations against Your Holiness gain popular acceptance. Lord, we have not fought the battle of freedom for our rights as Christians and our nation is losing the God-given right to worship You freely, we have not fought for the sanctity of marriage and we are losing our families, and worst of all, we are killing our own babies and are losing our future and our hope -- and we let the courts legislate the sins of our generation into the “law” of our nation!?!?!?!? O Forgive us Lord and drive us to true repentance and the path that will bring us back to serving the One True Light and the Living God”!!!     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus, in this next ‘section’ of scripture, Jesus addresses several issues that seem lighthearted at first but we must keep in mind while reading this passage that this is God in the flesh asking us to “think” about issues and while “thinking” on these issue s we should keep in our mind that Jesus has just previously warned us that there are those that seek to “destroy” our souls — therefore let us try and understand the Truth of God that is always uncovered whenever we seek it. The first such Lesson is found in Matthew 17:24-27 and that Lesson starts with a question from “those who received the temple tax” (the “tax” collectors) when they asked Peter, “Does your Teacher not pay the temple tax?” (Matthew 17:24) My first thought when I read this verse is “Wow, Jesus had to deal with tax collectors (the ROMAN IRS) too” so I was very interested in how Jesus would handle the situation. Peter handled the situation like we should handle circumstances where we find ourselves having to “defend” following Jesus — Peter responded “Yes” to the “tax collectors” and then he went to ask Jesus Himself about what had just transpired. As Peter entered the house we read that “Jesus anticipated him, saying, ‘What do you think, Simon?’” (Matthew 17:25) This is the beginning of a very valuable Lesson and the revelation of another Truth of God because before Simon Peter had a chance to ask Jesus the next question about paying the temple tax, “Jesus anticipated him…” and then to make it a one-on-one personal relationship Jesus called Simon by name and then God Himself looked a mortal in the eye and asked “What do you think?” !?!?!? Wow again!!! God KNOWS EVERYTHING and can “anticipate” our questions yet He stops and asks us what we “think” about the “question” which He knows even if we have not even asked Him the question yet?!?!? Before you continue, it is a good time and stop to ask yourself this very same simple question but answer it only after you fully realize that it is God Almighty Himself asking the question directly and personally to you!!! — “What do you think, _{add your name here}?” (Matthew 17:25)

JUNE 27  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#21  “What do you think about fish, taxes, lost sheep, forgiveness, and your fellow servants?” (Matthew 17:25, 18:12,33)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer   

JESUS, Glory to the Only Begotten Son that became sin for the world that through one death all could be saved! Only by living a Perfect Life could One die for all, for as great as the sins of the world is, that is how Greater Still was the Life of the Only Begotten Son! Praise God for life and Free Will, praise the Son for eternal life to live freely forever and praise to the Holy Spirit for teaching and comforting us when life in the flesh makes us fall short of God’s purpose and we try to resolve it by selling our freedom to sin!?!?! Lord Jesus, I bow myself to Your Magnificence and lean on the Holy Spirit for a Greater Understanding!!!     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus never misses even one of the smallest of details in our “spiritual” education and JQ#21 seems like one of those “lite” Questions that we can answer pretty easily but then we have to consider the “Source” and then we will come to the logical conclusion that there are no “free passes” to answers nor “insignificant” Questions forthcoming from the Master Teacher that gave up His Divinity and Glory in Heaven to become flesh, suffer and die, and sacrifice His Holy Self for sinners!!! No, you can bet that if Jesus asks a Question that He has a very good  Lesson in store for everyone that will take the Question seriously and give Jesus an honest answer. If we will follow the progression of Jesus Questions and think about how Jesus asks one Question to lead into the next we will gain an understanding that will take the serious disciple “deeper still” into the knowledge of “the Good, Good Father” that Loves us and sent His Son to die for us that we may have fellowship with Almighty God Himself, and the Jesus Questions, each and every one, gives us another glimpse of the Glory of God and how to live our daily lives looking forward to the day that we stand before God and give an account of what we did with the Lessons that the Only Begotten Son imparted to us while living His Life on earth.  Jesus started this new section of our “spiritual vs. physical awareness” with JQ#18 when He asked “Who do you say I am?” and then JQ#19 Jesus asked “For what profit is it to man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” Once Jesus gets us to thinking it is important to think about Him, He gives us “incentive” to think seriously when He tells us that if we don’t take Him seriously that we are in danger of losing our “own soul” when we stand before God and have to offer something in “exchange” for the soul that we have sold to the world while trying to seek “profit and physical things”! Then Jesus really ups the ante by telling us to face the Truth with JQ#20 as He rebukes us and calls us a “faithless and perverse generation” and makes us consider the reality that His “Physical” Time with us is limited and we should consider that the Master Teacher Himself is the One asking “how long shall I be with you and how long shall I bear with you?” which should make us buckle down and get the Lessons as He presents them. Then as we decide to get down to business, Jesus asks His next Jesus Question JQ#21 that is Divinely Designed to make us put our “thinking caps” on when He asks simply: “What do you think, Simon?” (Matthew 17:25) Just like every other Question Jesus has asked He makes it clear that each Question is “personal” as He is teaching that by “thinking” about His Question and then giving an “honest and truthful” answer that we will be developing a “personal” understanding of and a relationship with the “Good, Good Father” and this is illustrated by Jesus directing the Question at a unique individual and calling that individual by name, as in this case Jesus asked Simon Peter to give a response directly to Jesus Himself on certain matters — Jesus is calling each of us by name and in this next section is asking us to consider for the good of our “own souls” to “Think” about the topics Jesus covers from Matthew 17:24 through Matthew 18:35 — don’t get distracted by what seems absurd at first like “fish and taxes” but just remember that if the Master Teacher asks the Question, it deserves a serious answer and we must make every effort to avoid the “physical” trap the world sets and look for the “Spiritual Truth” that awaits everyone that keeps their personal focus on Jesus!!!

JUNE 26 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#20 “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you?” (Matthew 17:17)

JUNE 26  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   JQ#20  “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you?” (Matthew 17:17)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer   

JESUS, Precious Jesus, Lord where would this wretched soul be without Your Salvation? Lord Jesus if You had not changed the direction that I was going, I shudder to think where my deceitful heart would have led me, I just know that it would have been destruction and darkness and not Your Glorious Peace and Light. Lord I also thank the Holy Spirit for daily reminding me that I am always just one wrong decision away from the broad way that leads to that place of destruction where I once was headed ——— but the Holy Spirit reassures my spirit that the Father has me in the palm of His Hands and there is no power able to remove me from His Protection — no power that  is except my own Free Will and my personal decision to leave the Path of Light that leads to the Narrow Gate — so Lord I thank You that each sunrise is a reminder that without You we choose the darkness but with You changing our hearts and comforting our souls, there is True Peace and we can enter into Your Rest.     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus with this JQ#20 Question is pointing His disciples to what they must do to be successful in doing kingdom work after Jesus departs and returns to the Father. Jesus is telling the disciples that the Power of God is available to us and that His Life on earth has been an example of how to live our daily lives in such a manner that God will accomplish His Work through us. Jesus was equally Teaching about the Power of God with His Death as well as with His Life because after the world took its best shot and had Jesus crucified, dead, and buried that God would demonstrate His Great Power and Glory and give Jesus Victory over death and the grave and raise His Only Begotten Son on the Third Day, just like Jesus had been teaching and prophesying all along! Also with JQ#20 Jesus draws our attention to the Truth of God that what He has been Teaching us about the “Spirit of God” will remain with us after the “physical” Jesus returns to His Spiritual form and that the Truth of God is ETERNAL. The Holy Spirit has led me to conclude this JQ#20 Lesson with a commentary from Oswald Chambers written for JULY 24 in his “My Utmost for His Highest Daily Devotional Journal”. Oswald uses Matthew 5:20 “…unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” and then Oswald writes: “The characteristic of a disciple is not that he does good things, but that he is good in his motives, having been made good by the supernatural grace of God. The only thing that exceeds right-doing is right-being. Jesus Christ came to place (within anyone who would let Him) a new Spiritual Heredity that would have a righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus is saying, ‘If you are My disciple, you must be right not only in your actions, but also in your motives, your aspirations, and in the deep recesses of the thoughts in your mind.’ Your motives must be so pure that God Almighty can see nothing to rebuke. Who can stand in the eternal light of God and have nothing for Him to rebuke? Only the Son of God, and Jesus Christ claims that through His redemption He can place within anyone His own nature and make that person as pure and as simple as a child…no one can make himself pure by obeying laws. Jesus Christ does not give us rules and regulations — He gives us in His teachings those truths that can only be interpreted by His nature which He places within us. The great wonder of Jesus Christ’s salvation is that He changes our heredity. He does not change human nature — He changes its source, and thereby its motives as well.”  Jesus knows we will remain a “perverse” and “faithless” generation until we learn the Lessons that He has been Teaching by His Life and is about to Teach with the ULTIMATE Lesson: His Death, Burial, and Resurrection! The only way we can see the kingdom of heaven is to accept the Gift of Righteousness offered to us by Jesus Christ who proves the Love of God by sacrificing Himself for our sins. The only way to have the Righteousness of Christ is to have Christ Himself and the change that He imparts with His Holy Spirit which will dwell in us “eternally”. Only through Jesus can we have True Eternal Security and that seems like a pretty good thing to take and present to God at the Final Judgment don’t you think?!?!? 

JUNE 25  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#20  “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you?” (Matthew 17:17)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer   

JESUS, Lord as I awake to a new day there is great Peace in my soul as I turn my thoughts to sitting down with my Bible and can feel the Presence of the Holy Spirit. Lord Jesus, sometimes and especially today it is almost like I am sitting and listening to the Holy Spirit with His “still small (and very comforting) voice” reading me stories of You Jesus. Lord I, nor can all the voices that have ever been lifted up in praise to You, will ever be able to praise You enough! Your Eternal Presence which You have graciously bestowed on each individual that will “receive” You is worthy of ALL Praise, and Lord I pray for the Holy Spirit to Teach me how to make my spirit and soul an honorable place for you to reside in!!!     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus uses each “Question” that He asks us to Teach a fine point about our “relationship to God” and JQ#20 has been preparing His disciples to consider the eventuality of Jesus returning to the Father, but only after Jesus Himself suffers and dies!?!? Jesus has been “Teaching” the disciples how to “live” their life in a manner in which God’s Power will be exhibited through them and now Jesus is Teaching that fine detail that there is no “Power” in the “physical” body but that “ALL Power” is in the form of the “Spirit of God” and the “physical” body is only a vessel that contains the “spiritual conduit” through which the “Power of God” will flow through our soul to others in which God chooses to do His Work. Jesus has previously Taught that the body and soul are separate and that we are not to “worry” about those that can “kill the body but cannot kill the soul” and immediately Jesus makes it clear that only God has the “power” to “destroy both body and soul in hell”  (JQ#10 — Matthew 10:28). Jesus with these two statements draws our attention to the fact that there are “forces” in the world that can “kill the body” but “cannot kill the soul” therefore the distinction is that our “physical” bodies are temporary vessels that contains our eternal “spiritual” souls and that our real concern should not be about our “physical” bodies which can be killed by worldly forces but we should be really concerned about our “spiritual relationship” to the “One” that can “destroy both body and soul in hell” and by that statement Jesus is warning us that there is a “Coming Judgment” for every individual at which time the ONE THAT CREATED our soul will make a decision if HE WILL DESTROY our soul!?!?!  The Lessons Jesus Teaches us is that His Purpose for taking on a “body of flesh” is to Teach us how to “preserve” our eternal soul through a “relationship” with “our Father in Heaven” and that “relationship” is “Spiritual” in nature. In JQ#20 Jesus is telling us again not to worry about the “physical” body which the world has power to “kill” for that is nothing compared to the “Power of God” to preserve our “Eternal Soul” as Jesus reminds us at the start of JQ#20 that His “physical” body is going to be “killed” but that the “Power of God” will preserve His Eternal Soul by raising Jesus from the dead on the third day thereby demonstrating that God alone has the “Power” over our souls which are “eternal” so we should not worry about our bodies but be totally concerned about our souls —— — remember when Jesus Taught not to be concerned about “physical” things that He said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33) which now makes sense that we do not find God by looking for “physical” things but we must “seek” God with our “Spiritual” nature which God has imparted to our “souls”.  Now in JQ#20 Jesus tells us the “key” to a “spiritual relationship with God” is through our “Faith” or “Belief in God” as Jesus answers His disciples when they asked Him why they had failed to cast out the demon in the boy as Jesus ends the JQ#20 Lesson by stating to His disciples why they failed when He answered them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”  (Matthew 17:20) Then Jesus concludes JQ#20 just as He introduced JQ#20 with a reminder of His upcoming death and “resurrection”, “The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up.” (Matthew 17:21) Jesus is Teaching that God will demonstrate His Glory and Power over death and the grave by “Resurrecting Jesus” but we are so brainwashed by the world that we fail to see the “Spiritual Glory of God” and focus only on the “physical” death and we feel just like what Matthew recorded in this statement about the reaction of the disciples when Jesus told them He would be “killed by men” ———“And [His disciples] were exceedingly sorrowful.” (Matthew 17:21) Jesus in the same sentence stated that “men” would “kill Him” and that “God” would “raise Him the third day” so we must answer the personal question that surfaces here ——— why do we worry more about what “men” can do to the body than what “God” can do to the “soul” ????? — —— you don’t think it could be Satan trying to scare us with his threats of “death” just like He has been doing every day since God told him “because you [Satan] have [deceived Adam and Eve], you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.” (Genesis 3:14) ———well I know that if I had been cursed to crawl on my belly and eat dust that I would attack everyone that walked upright on two feet, wouldn’t you?

JUNE 24 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#20 “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you?” (Matthew 17:17)

JUNE 24  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#20  “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you?” (Matthew 17:17)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer    

Jesus, You are Worthy to be called Lord, You are Worthy for Your victory over death, You are Worthy for all You did for man, our salvation, and the atonement of our sins. You are Worthy for the Perfect Example You lived and for Your great and marvelous Teachings. You are Worthy for Your Sacrifice, You are Worthy because Your Motive was the simple and complete Obedience to the Father’s Will! You are Worthy because You did everything for a sinful and unworthy world and You did it all in the Father’s Name and for the Kingdom’s sake. Praise be to the Son of the God Most High and to the Holy Spirit, that Teaches us these great things and leads us in the paths of righteousness to have Fellowship with the Father.     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus is Teaching His disciples and those that are seeing the works of God performed by Jesus a very important distinction between those miracles being “performed by” someone and those same miracles being “accomplished through” someone, the distinction being the “source” of the “working power” able to actually accomplish the “miracle”. This is the distinction Jesus is Teaching when the man brings the demon possessed boy to Jesus because His disciples “could not cure him” and what seems like a harsh criticism coming from Jesus is actually a wake up call to everyone! This wake up call is bringing to our attention that the “person/flesh” of Jesus is not the “source” or “power” to accomplish the miracles everyone has seen Jesus doing. The “True Power” or “Ultimate Source of Power” that is able to “accomplish” these miracles is not from a “physical” person and Jesus is pointing that out when He asks “How long shall I be with you…” that Jesus is indicating that the “physical” Jesus will not always be with us!!! The importance of understanding the distinction Jesus is making here cannot be overstated — If we believe that only the “physical” Jesus has “power” then what are we to do if His “physical” presence is not with us? If we learn the Truth of God that Jesus is Teaching with JQ#20 we will understand the distinction that the “physical” Jesus was not the “Source” of the “Power” to perform miracles but that it was the “Spirit of God” working through the “physical” Jesus that accomplished the Great Works of God!!! When we understand that Jesus came to be an “example” of how to live our lives so that the “Power of God” will work “through” us then we will understand why Jesus rebuked the father of the demon possessed boy and the disciples that failed to cast out the demon from the boy when Jesus declared “O faithless and perverse generation…” (Matthew 17:17). Jesus with this declaration is exposing “why” the disciples were unsuccessful in accomplishing the “Work of God” which in this case was casting out a demon — the disciples were unsuccessful for they wrongly thought that they were able to do the “Work of God”  instead of making the distinction that “only God can do the Work of God” but that God has chosen to do His Work “through” certain individuals. Jesus has been performing the “Work of God” to be an example of how to live our daily lives so that God will perform His Work “through us” — we must make the Divine Distinction that we cannot do the “Work of God” but if we “live as Jesus lived” then God will do His Work “through” us!!! Jesus is making that point when He points to “why” they were unsuccessful — it was because their faith and our faith is too weak and that “weakness” is from living a “perverse physical” life which always results in us being “Spiritually faithless”. So Jesus is Teaching with JQ#20 that we should “live” our lives by His Perfect Example and acknowledge that God is the Source of all Power. God has given us Jesus as an Example of “how” to live on earth and become a “conduit” for the Power of God to help a sick and dying world. Jesus became flesh to show us how to live in the flesh, and Jesus has clearly demonstrated that it is the “Spirit of God” in us that is the “Source” of the True Power of God and we must be motivated to help others in God’s Name and for His Kingdom’s sake or else we will fail in our attempts to do His Work if we are motivated personal glory for ourselves — everything must be done for one simple reason — FOR THE GLORY OF GOD MOST HIGH !!! After all, it’s His World and we are His Creation so doesn’t it make sense we should do things HIS WAY???  

JUNE 23 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#20 “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you?” (Matthew 17:17)

JUNE 23  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#20  “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you?” (Matthew 17:17)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, You Lord are to be praised and You are Worthy of the praise that is now coming from the lips of men and You are Worthy of the Glory and Honor that every tongue will profess belongs to the Son of God, Jesus Christ, for the Father has declared that every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess Jesus as Lord and Savior, and I praise You Jesus for completing God’s Plan of Salvation by becoming flesh, dwelling among us, living a sinless life for our sakes, and then becoming the very Lamb of God, slain before the foundation of the earth, the Only Holy and Acceptable Sacrifice to pay in full the penalty of death and blood for the sin of all mankind. Lord Jesus, my prayer is for this sinner to decrease and let the Savior increase in every aspect of my daily life as I move towards my eternal destination  in and with the Power of the Holy Spirit.     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus started JQ#19 announcing to His disciples that He would “suffer and die” in Jerusalem and that the ones responsible would be “the elders and chief priests and scribes” (Matthew 16:21) which were the teachers and leaders of Israel. Jesus never leaves a problem without introducing the solution and as soon as Jesus said that He would “be killed” by men that He immediately resolved the issue by stating that He would be “raised from the dead” on the “third day” but the disciples had not yet believed in the True Power of God  because when the disciples witnessed Jesus doing all the miracles they had seen previously, that they saw Jesus as a man and failed to see Jesus as God! Jesus addressed their wrong thinking by telling them their mistake came because they were “not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men” and then added that if we are to “follow [Jesus]” that we must take up our “cross” just as He was going to take up His Cross in Jerusalem. Then after Jesus Teaches the eternal significance of our “souls”, Jesus turns to the next Lesson with JQ#20 as He had to “rebuke” a demon that possessed a boy and the disciples were unable to cast the demon from him. Because the disciples could not cast out the demon, the father of the boy took him to Jesus and said that the disciples “could not cure him”.(Matthew 17:16) Jesus immediately rebuked the demon from the boy but only after Jesus used the circumstance to point out the reason for the disciples failure as Jesus declared “O faithless and perverse generation” (Matthew 17:17) which was directed not only at the disciples but to the father of the demon possessed boy as well. Failure to cast out the demon was identified as “faithless” and since Jesus added the term “perverse” to accompany “faithless” that it would be reasonable to assume that Jesus is Teaching that our faith is futile if we build it on the wrong foundation — and since Jesus has been Teaching that our faith is misdirected because we trust “the things of men” more than we trust “the things of God”, that if our “faith” is in the power of men and not in the Power of God Himself that we will fail in our attempts to use our “faith” to help others. Jesus is using the Question “How long” (JQ#20  Matthew 17:17) to illustrate that He will not always be here on earth for us to bring our demon possessed children to and that the Truth of God is that we must develop our “faith” in God’s Ultimate Power in order that we shall be able to perform those things Jesus did, this working of the Power of God through us only comes when we realize that it is not the things of men that give us that Divine Power. Only the things of God working through men will bring the Power of God to bear on our worldly problems. Like the disciples, we see Jesus as a man doing miracles and fail to see that Jesus is the Son of God who came to reveal the Power of God and witness to the Glory of God and yet once Jesus had completed His earthly mission He would return to the Father.  The Legacy of Jesus is that He came to earth and to men to Teach us how to connect to God and His Ultimate Power!  Our ability to be like God is through our “Faith in God”. Jesus was sent by God to “suffer” and to “die” but because Jesus had “FAITH IN GOD” and Jesus knew that God has Divine Power over Death and the Grave that God would demonstrate His Power to give life by raising Jesus the “third day”, we must see the death of Jesus not as a man being killed but as God completing His Plan of Salvation and then we will no longer be a “faithless and perverse generation” — sounds kind of like “tough love” does it not?