AUGUST 03 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#23 “What do you want Me to do for you?” (Matthew 20:32)

AUGUST 03  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   JQ#23  “What do you want Me to do for you?”  (Matthew 20:32)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer    

JESUS I come praising You for UNCONDITIONAL LOVE and Lord for all the prayers lifted up for our country in Your Name, the ONLY Name that heals and forgives. Lord, I know it is Your hands guiding our nation back to greatness again and Lord, even though there are still those who desire to control us with their lies and deceptions, I can see that when these issues are “brought to Light” then the quality of our lives will grow exponentially!  Truly “all things [do] work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.”  Lord my prayer today is simply to grow our Love for You and for others.   IN THE NAME OF CHRIST  AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus is always Teaching and then Jesus holds a pop quiz test to see if we are paying attention, this spiritual pop quiz is not to punish us ——— Jesus never spoke or did anything while on earth that did not have a purpose AND A PLAN FOR OUR GOOD associated with it — Jesus was and always is Teaching us about THE FATHER and each Lesson has “ETERNITY” written all over it! On days that I miss my morning devotionals, I commune with God throughout the day, hour by hour and minute by minute ——— by late in the afternoon I understand that living my daily life for Him is my best devotional and is “LIVING THE WORD!” God proves daily to us that He has a “Plan” designed specifically for all ——— Jesus is making us stop and think about “purpose”, not only God’s Purpose for our lives but also Jesus makes us stop and think about what “purpose” do we have for God! This is a very complicated thought because we are all about “me, me, me” and we are so lost in “me” that we overlook HIM and the Truth of God that God is not just a genie that suddenly appears to grant us “3 wishes” — for the attitude that God is a “genie” is the essence of “sin” in itself. God is not there at our “beck-and-call” to give us our petty selfish desires, no, God has a Plan for our lives and part of that Plan is for us to trust God to work out His Plan in our lives —hence, like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane  we should pray: “Father, if it is Your will, take this [trial] away from [us]; nevertheless not [our] will but Yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42) I am amazed at how God will cause several seemingly unconnected different things to come together on a single day and make His point that He has a Plan for us and is in control of every second of our lives. For example in September of 2016 I ended up in surgery and it is obvious that in critical times we demand that God be on our side but we fail to see on the sidelines how everything is working together for good for on that same day of my 2016 surgery there was a man having the very same surgery, his surgery was done just before me by the same doctor went very well abut my surgery had some complications and we never plan nor pray for complications for ourselves! However, the man that had the successful surgery was in the bed next to mine and he observed my complications. The next day he was able to talk to me privately for he had previously experienced the same complications years earlier in his life and he shared with me what he had done to successfully resolve a 25 year problem that had been misdiagnosed by several doctors. The interesting result of my “complications” and the man’s “success” is that the same diagnosis the man several years ago is the same diagnosis that I am currently getting and I have been trying to resolve the same problem for 10 years now! The point here is that God had planned for both of us to have surgery the same day and God put us in the same room so that God’s will for our lives would be done — and now what was a “complication” is becoming (through GOD’S WILL) a “cure”. Also on Sept 1 Oswald Chambers wrote in his journal “My Utmost for His Highest” “…it is written, “Be holy, for I AM holy …” (1 Peter 1:16) and then Oswald wrote in his commentary: “We must continually remind ourself of the purpose of life. We are not destined to happiness, nor to health, but to holiness…the only thing [in life] that truly matters is whether a person will accept the God who will make [us] holy.” Oswald asks almost the same question Jesus is asking in JQ#23 “What do you want Me to do for you” (Matthew 20:32) when Oswald points us to an intimate, close-up and personal relationship with God as Oswald asks: “Do I believe that God can come into me and make me holy?” Therefore we should keep our focus on God’s Divine Purpose for our lives and accept that God can use “complications” and turn them into “cures”!!!

AUGUST 02 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#23 “What do you want Me to do for you?” (Matthew 20:32)

AUGUST 02  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   JQ#23  “What do you want Me to do for you?”  (Matthew 20:32)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer   

JESUS, what Peace it is to know that regardless of any earthly circumstance that we find ourselves in, that You are able to carry us through. As we move closer to You and our eternity, You have proven that You will give us the strength to face whatever situation we must face in this “valley of the shadow of death” as long as we keep our focus on You! Our strength comes because we know that You are right there with us and the Peace of knowing  that You are with us cannot be described by mortal tongue. Lord Jesus, I trust You in ALL THINGS and I praise You for Your very near Presence as I awoke today. Lord, my prayer is not for me but for those that are praying for me, bless them. Lord Jesus, keep us all drawn to You for You ARE PERFECT PEACE!   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus Taught in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6) Jesus made this very definitive statement about “who” He was and “why” He was on earth in response to a question Thomas (His disciple) had asked “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” (John 14:5) Jesus had previously Taught the disciples by example as John writes about the last Passover Jesus shared with His disciples: “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.” (John 13:3-6) Jesus could not have been any clearer in His Teachings to His disciples ——— Jesus had come to “serve” and to “sacrifice” Himself and that Jesus was doing everything on earth because of God’s purpose for His earthly life and now Jesus was preparing His disciples to continue the work of the Father. Jesus had just told the disciples “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:1-4) Jesus has Taught by example that they were to “serve” others, Jesus stated that His work for the Father was to be “sacrificed” to reveal God’s Glory of the Resurrection from the dead on the “third day” and now Jesus says that He is preparing a mansion for them in “My Father’s house” and yet Thomas was so blinded by the world’s fear of death that Thomas pleads, “how can we know the way?” Jesus has always been patient with His disciples and here Jesus did not reprimand Thomas, Jesus simply reminded Thomas that “where I go you know, and the way you know…” (John 14:4) and “The words I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.” (John 14:10) Now that Jesus has the disciples in Jerusalem again for another Passover, He is again Teaching them about His purpose and their responsibilities to His Teachings as He asks Question JQ#23 “What do you want Me to do for you?”  (Matthew 20:32) which after all the examples Jesus has set before them with His helping others and His willingness to “serve” others and to “Sacrifice Himself” for others and clearly stating that everything He does is the work of the Father, that this simple Question becomes paramount in the disciples lives and in our lives, for if we know that Jesus is the Son of God and that all His works are of God as part of God’s Plan of Salvation, then truly we should look into our soul and decide, “What do we want Jesus to do for us?”?!?!?!? Here is your chance — do you want to let Jesus “show you the way” to eternal life, do you want Jesus to tell you the Truth about God and His purpose and plan for your life, or perhaps all you really want is to be immortal but instead of eternal peace in heaven you desire to spend your immortality “lording” your supremacy over the weak in the world??? This really is a serious Question, “What do you want Jesus to do for you — really?”  But just remember this promise Jesus made about your requests: “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13) ——— so make sure that what you want from Jesus is going to glorify the Father when Jesus gives it to you!!!

AUGUST 01 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#23 “What do you want Me to do for you?” (Matthew 20:32)

AUGUST 01  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#23  “What do you want Me to do for you?”  (Matthew 20:32)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, I find myself once again completely amazed at how You have brought all the circumstances of my life together into a single purpose and it is obvious that indeed everything in my life of following You will work together for the best ——— and the unspoken blessing is Your Unconditional Love that drives it all, Your Love is at the center of it all,  and Your Love is becoming my all in all — Lord, whatever happens in terms of earthly circumstances is of no consequence as long as it is Your Love consuming my old worldly self and the Light of Your Love is leading this old sinner down the paths of righteousness. Lord forgive me of all my earthly weaknesses that have caused me to worry and to take my eyes off the Heavenly Prize of Your calling, even for a single second or even for a passing glance at my old life, keep me always singing Your Words that Your Holy Spirit gave to me: Remember My Word, And all that you’ve heard, Believe that the Father sent Me, That I came to Save, Put Death in the Grave, My Blood won the Victory, Because I’m Risen, Your sins are Forgiven, For all Eternity, I drank the Cup that the Father filled up, And I died to set you Free ——— My Blood will Wash you Clean! {Chorus from “Grain of Wheat”}.    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus begins JQ#23 by once again telling His disciples that His purpose for His “living in the flesh” will be His “dying on the cross” so that the Glory of God will be demonstrated when Jesus the Son is Resurrected on the “third day” by God the Father!!!   Jesus reminds us about the centerpiece of His Purpose and then immediately Teaches that how we respond to the Truth of God that Forgiveness of Sins is the primary mission of Jesus becoming flesh impacts our eternity because the Resurrection of the Son by the Father and His ascension into heaven to intercede on our behalf is the cornerstone of our Faith! There is significance to the “Resurrection Prophecy” and to the place where the prophecy will be fulfilled, Jerusalem! Matthew records: “Now Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them, ‘Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.’” (Matthew 20:17)  Jesus again Taught a very valuable Kingdom Lesson to the disciples who seemed to always turn to thoughts of their own glory every time Jesus revealed that in the Resurrection that it was God who would be glorified and not Himself and certainly not the disciples — in Galilee Jesus had reminded them that “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 17:22) Immediately the disciples came to Jesus and asked “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” and Jesus Taught that “unless you are converted and become as little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:1-3) Then later Jesus Taught the parable of the landowner after reminding the disciples that the Resurrection would be a “regeneration when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His Glory” and that it is God Himself who calls all the followers of Jesus to enter into His “Labor” (Matthew 19:28) and concludes the parable stating “So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called but few are chosen.” (Matthew 20:16) But now the disciples are in Jerusalem with Jesus and when He says the Son of Man will die and be “resurrected on the third day” that the disciples again turn their thoughts to what are “they” going to get when Jesus goes to heaven? This time the issue was actually raised by the mother of James and John as she requested that Jesus allow them to “sit [with Jesus], one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.” (Matthew 20:21) Jesus started His Lesson on what the disciples true responsibilities would be as He turned and asked the mother JQ#23a, “What do you wish?” (Matthew 20:21) and when she asked for her sons to be honored by Him,  Jesus replied, “…you do not know what you ask…” (Matthew 20:22) Jesus begins Teaching how we should respond to the Truth of God that even though His death on a cross was for the Forgiveness of our sins, that it should be viewed from the perspective that Forgiveness of Sins is in Truth all about the Glory of God in bestowing “Grace” on our undeserving lives, and certainly not to elevate us to a position of “honor” but should instill in us “humility”! Mankind has and always will try to take credit for ourselves instead of giving God the glory! Just stop and think then how important it is to look at our motivation for asking Jesus for anything at all, for He knows your thoughts and the desires of your heart so He will know the “Truth” when you have to answer Him when He asks you, “What do you want Me to do for you?” (Matthew 20:32)

JULY 31 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#23 “What do you want Me to do for you?” (Matthew 20:32)

JULY 31  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   JQ#23  “What do you want Me to do for you?”  (Matthew 20:32)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer   

JESUS, Precious Jesus, You are the life of all men, You are the Light to dispel the darkness, You Lord are the Way and the Truth, Lord Jesus You are the Savior of the world for You are the Lamb of God, the Only Begotten of the Holy One. Jesus when we stop to call You by Name, we could go on and on for You Lord are greatly to be praised and honored for there is none like the Christ, the Messiah, the Chosen One! Today Lord Jesus, my heart is filled with the Spirit of Praise for without Your Grace and Mercy there would be no meaning to life, no purpose, no “Hope”, but because You are Risen, my sins are Forgiven and all my HOPE rests in YOU!   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has been using Questions drawn from our everyday physical world to focus our attention on our eternal spiritual future and with each Lesson we get another glimpse of God Almighty Himself. Jesus, by using these Questions in the manner and order that He does, Teaches us even deeper Lessons about why God does what He does!  Jesus demonstrates through His Teaching that God is Merciful and Forgiving and that from before the beginning of Creation, God had a Plan for mankind. With this new JQ#23 JESUS Question,  Jesus makes us look at our motivation and expectations of heaven and specifically: “What are our expectations of who God is and what do we think is the purpose of God in our daily lives!?!”  When you stop and “think” about this Question, it becomes one of the most serious Questions that Jesus has asked. It brings us back around to having to consider what we believe is the Truth of God like the JQ#11 JESUS Question when Jesus asked about why the Israelites were going into the wilderness to hear John the Baptist  ———  “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” (Matthew 11:7) and the Question Jesus asked the two blind men before He healed them: “Do you believe that I am able…” (Matthew 9:28) ——— we should at this point remember that once the blind men responded that they believed, “Then [Jesus] touched their eyes, saying, ‘According to your faith let it be to you.’ and their eyes were opened.” (Matthew 9:28-30). Now here is a new JESUS Question - JQ#23 “What do you want Me to do for you?” (Matthew 20:32) that should put us into a very introspective mode as we contemplate what it is that we truly desire from God and His Only Begotten Son Jesus in our spiritual lives? Jesus had just Taught in His last Lesson that “great possessions” on earth only makes us paupers in the kingdom of heaven as Jesus told the rich young man to “sell what you have and give to the poor” and in order to have “treasure in heaven” and then the rich young man would have to “follow [Jesus]” (Matthew 19:21) so we must stop and grasp what Jesus is asking with this seemingly simple Question about what we desire from Jesus. I know in my life that it is the simple Questions that seem the hardest to understand because first I try and read to much into the Question and that distracts me to the point that I fail to understand how much my honest answer will reveal about my True Self!!! Jesus knows, and He is asking each and every one of us to stop and think honestly about what we know about God and His Purpose for sending His Only Begotten Son into a sin-filled world and that by Jesus Sacrificing Himself for our sins, that we may be forgiven of those sins? Now with this simple Question Jesus is asking us like He asked the blind men, “Do you believe that [Jesus] is able” to forgive us our sins and bestow upon us eternal life and that there is no amount of money or good works that we can give to attain this priceless Gift of Grace? It is hard for us to understand “why” God would do something so wonderful and only require us to “obey” His simple Commands like: “This is My Son …listen to Him!” (Matthew 17:5)  Indeed, when Jesus asks us “What do you want Me to do for you?” (Matthew 20:32), we have to be honest with ourselves first and reveal if we believe that He is able to do for us what we desire for ourselves?!?!? Careful, your answer will reveal your inmost beliefs about “who” you believe “Jesus” really is and what He can really do in your life, but more revealing is what are the True Desires deep in our hearts!  Now is a good time to take a deep breath and think about what it is that you really desire from Jesus after all!!!

JULY 30 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#22 “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?” (Matthew 20:15)

JULY 30  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#22  “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?” (Matthew 20:15)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, again I find myself adrift in the world, having taken my eyes off the prize of the high calling of God and without Your Mercy and Grace putting wind to my sail, I find myself dead-in-the-water. Lord forgive me of even the slightest turning to the right or to the left for all paths back to self must go through shadows and darkness. Lord only You are the Eternal Shining Light that will lead us beside the still waters where our souls are daily refreshed in Your green pastures and most importantly we can hear Your voice and know that the paths that You lead us down are paths of righteousness. Lord, You alone have the words of Eternal Life and You alone have the Power to Save, and You and only You can Wash us Clean with Your Precious Blood so that at times when we know we have fallen short of Your Glory again that You are there and will again reach down and pull us back into the fold and create in us a clean heart!     AMEN

JULY 30  THE JESUS QUESTIONS

[POSTED BY LANNY LEWIS]       JQ#22  “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?” (Matthew 20:15)

Jesus summed up His Lesson on our proclivity of following the doctrines of men instead of staying steadfast and faithful in obeying the commandments of God with the final statements in His parable of the landowner that Jesus Taught His disciples. Jesus had begun the Lesson as He addressed the subject of divorce and pointed out that man has a doctrine that supports divorce but Jesus reminded us that man’s doctrines are not God’s doctrines. The doctrine of men caters to the desires of men and what men think is “best” for themselves and because of their selfishness they write the “laws of men” and declare them “legal” and impose those manmade laws on other men! Jesus showed the Pharisees the error of the doctrines of men by reminding them that God created both male and female and that God Himself gave the woman to the man as his wife and joined them into “one flesh” through the Spiritual Union of Holy Matrimony. Jesus then stated that the reality of marriage is that it is in the eyes of God that when a man and woman enter together into Holy Matrimony that “they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Matthew 19:4-6) The Pharisees quickly shot back using Moses as their champion for the doctrines of men and the “legality” of divorce but Jesus shut them down by exposing that the basis of their “law of divorce” was based on the “hardness of [their] hearts” (Matthew 19:8) because they did not want to obey the “Intent and Command of God” thereby showing them that the doctrines of men carry no weight in the Final Judgement!  Jesus concludes the Lesson with the parable of the landowner by illustrating that it is the landowner that owns the land, it is the landowner that both seeks and hires the laborers, it is the landowner that decides what work needs to be done, and it is the landowner that establishes the terms of the landowner/laborer relationship! Of most importance though, it is the landowner alone that has the supreme authority to declare what is “lawful” for the landowner to do with his own land when the [landowner asks]: “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?” (Matthew 20:15) Since Jesus had started the parable of the landowner stating “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out…” (Matthew 20:1) then the only conclusion we can make is that the “land” is God’s Creation and that God Himself is the “owner” of everything He Created. The biggest problem in our modern-day society is that man is still trying to write laws based on the desires of men instead of the moral reality that this is still God’s world and since God is Eternal then we are eternally bound to the reality that God has created the world, God has promised Good Things for our life that He has planned for us and “whatever is right [He] will give [us]” (Matthew 20:4) but we must “obey” His commands and live by the Moral Standards God Himself has established to give us a hope and a future! Jesus concludes with this final statement that is so applicable to our world today and all the Godless laws that man has passed to satisfy his desires for self gratification: “Or is your eye evil because [God is so] good? So the last [to enter into God’s labors] will be first, and the first, last. For many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matthew 20:16) The final question on this Lesson could be: “Could God be calling you but you cannot hear God because we no longer know His Still Small Voice because we have been listening to the shouting of men and their endless screams of what their doctrines try to establish as “lawful”?!?!? The problem is that God will only choose those who volunteer to obey His commands ——— It is your choice: (1) You may choose the doctrines of men and self gratification and be forever separated from God or (2) you may choose obedience to God and trust Him to give you “whatever is right and necessary” and enter into the “kingdom of heaven” and have eternal fellowship with the Good Shepherd?    

JULY 29 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#22 “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?” (Matthew 20:15)

JULY 29  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#22  “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?” (Matthew 20:15)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer   

JESUS, O the Glory of Your perfect Love shown by Your Sacrifice of self, and Obedience to the Father’s Will. You created the earth and then left Your Glory in heaven to be born of a virgin to experience an earthly life which You created! Truly You are God, for no graven images nor carved idols has ever dwelt among their subjects and took the form of their created as the lowest and most humble, but Jesus, we can’t be too young or too old or too poor or too weak to receive Your Grace ——— You paid it ALL, You lived it ALL, You covered it ALL ——— ALL to You I owe!!! Lead and direct me hour by hour.   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus used this section of scripture to bring our attention to the fact that God in His Sovereignty has the Right to do whatever God desires with His Creation (Indeed, is it not lawful for the Law Giver to do whatever He wishes with His creation?!?!?!?!)! There are those that fail to see that this is a very good thing for all of creation for God is Merciful and Compassionate! When men get involved with controlling other men there is always a problem! Because God can create with “infinite” limits, God is never selfish — but men cannot create so they try to use whatever advantage they have to take a larger share of what they see as “finite” resources — God being Sovereign and unlimited in His Power needs not to take from others to gain any advantage, what greater advantage can there be than being the One True Creator God? There is much wisdom in what Jesus Teaches us about God through this section on God’s Sovereign Right to do whatever He pleases with His Creation, especially in this parable of the landowner. The Truth of God is that God is Fair, Just, Compassionate, and that God desires to have a personal relationship with everyone! For those that will receive Him, He gives and gives and gives some more!! When we read phrases like (1) “[we] shall receive a hundredfold” (which is a large return on any investment), (2) “inherit eternal life” (eternal life is the best life available at any cost), (3) “and about the eleventh hour he went out and found others” we see an attribute of the Creator God that demonstrates that God is seeking to do good to His Creation and He will continue to do so until the very last soul is added to His Kingdom — but the phrase that is most revealing in my opinion is “whatever is right I will give you” (Matthew 20:1-6) which is the best wage anyone could possibly hope for. God makes it simple to please Him as demonstrated by the fact that He declares “Let the little children come to Me…for such is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:14) and for entry into heaven we do not need to accumulate earthly wealth but instead God makes it easy for us as He tells us to “sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven” and then God commands us simply “…come follow Me” (Matthew 19:21) !!! When I stop and think about all the demands that earthly men in positions of power have placed on our society and the despair caused by greed, then I get a glimpse of their lostness and we can then understand why men use phrases like “it’s a dog eat dog world” and “only the strong survive” and why in every society and generation since the beginning of man’s dominance over other men that there has always been “death and taxes” and why Jesus Taught “Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s and render unto God that which is God’s” (Matthew 22:21). There are more laws passed by men usurping the Power of God than can be counted and the laws of the politically motivated men in an attempt to attain worldly power are supposedly written for society’s “safety” but the truth of these “power mongers” intent is revealed not in the law itself but in the “enforcement” of the law. When one man “lords” his power over another, the resulting circumstance, it is sad to say, always ends up to the advantage of the strong and powerful who are cursed with the greed for “more power” which in turn gives rise to the old adage “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely!”!!! God always uses His Strength to uphold the weak, and God gives believers an abundant life here on earth and JESUS promises that if we trust Him that we will “pass from death into everlasting life” (John 5:24) furthermore, God does not require any payment or taxes, just “faith” in His promise that “whatever is right [God] will give us” !!! (Matthew 20:4) It is to our advantage to become as “little children” in our lives and “trust” that indeed it is “lawful” for God to do whatever He desires with His own Creation!!!

JULY 28 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#22 “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?” (Matthew 20:15)

JULY 28  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#22  “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?” (Matthew 20:15)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS completely take my life, my career, my marriage, my health, my desires, and the innermost longings of my soul, take all of me and use it as You will for You know the will of the Father and all things that Glorify You, Glorify the Father. There is not a better thing that the created can do but Glorify the Creator. Lord Jesus, we are wonderfully and fearfully made and I want to make my life count in Your eyes, not in the eyes of a worldly boss or worldly friends. Jesus, I claim Your promise to finish the good work that You have started in me. I yield myself to the molding, the shaping, and the pruning of the Holy Spirit, and I pray that those things I don’t volunteer to yield, that the Holy Spirit will take them, all for Your Glory!     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus Teaches many side Lessons in the parable of the landowner and He established at the beginning of the parable that the Lesson was about “heaven” (see Matthew 20:1) therefore the “vineyard” is God’s Creation and the “laborers” in the vineyard is mankind — the “landowner” is God and the parable highlights both man’s relationship to God and to God’s Creation. The obvious message in this passage in Matthew 20:1-16 was that God intends for man to “work” for “wages” and that God will do “whatever is right” for us if we enter into His labors with Him. There are a couple of not so obvious Lessons as well and yet if we stop and think about it (like Jesus has been Teaching us to do all along with His Lessons on the Truth of God), that we will see that God seeks each of us out and establishes a personal relationship with each worker. The parable establishes the Truth of God that even unto the “eleventh hour” God will seek us and wishes us to use the remainder of our time before “evening” comes to enter into His Labor. Also obvious but misunderstood by mankind is God’s “wage scale” which is found in John 3:16 [paraphrased] “For [the landowner] so loved [the laborers] that He gave [the same wages] to all that entered into the [work of God] which is believing that the Son came to save us from sin — and those wages are eternal life.” Jesus was always Teaching these “work” Lessons by the Example of His Life while in the flesh for even as a small boy of 12 years old Jesus said, “I must be about my Father’s work” (Luke 2:49) and then there was that time recorded in the Gospel according to John where Jesus made it clear that the Work of God involved “sin” and “Forgiveness" as He was asked “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:1-2) and in His answer Jesus addressed the problem of living our daily lives with “traditions of men” not based on God’s Truth for Jesus replied to the “who sinned” question thusly: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (John 9:3-5) We should learn that we have a “day” to “work for God” for when the evening comes we will be given our wages (Judgement) so when God comes and asks you to be a “laborer” in His “vineyard” that the only way to “earn” your “wages” is to do the work of the One that is paying the wages to those that work in His “vineyard” while it is still day! If Jesus Teaches a parable on earning kingdom wages then we should listen to the Son and get to work don’t you think?!?!? Of all my studies about heaven I have never read about heaven having ATM machines — of course it would be hard to figure out how to mount a steel box to streets of gold anyway don’t you imagine???  Besides, even if we could “take it with us” then just how much money would you have to take to heaven to pay “rent” on your mansion for say, 200 billion years? (Your pockets aren’t big enough!!!!!)