JANUARY 26 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#01 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?” (Matthew 5:13)

JANUARY  26  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#01  “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?” (Matthew 5:13)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer

JESUS, we are not deserving of such great Love but You have chosen to Love us anyway, not because of who we are but because of WHO YOU ARE! Lord Jesus, let us understand the magnitude of what You did by giving up Your Throne IN HEAVEN to become flesh and dwell among us on earth! Lord, help us understand that Your coming to earth was not just an event but that it was part of a MASTER PLAN to save all mankind from that which robs mankind of Eternal Fellowship with the Almighty God. Help us to see and understand that the Master Plan was executed at Great Cost to the Master. Let us understand Your Great Sacrifice of not only Dying for us but the Great Sacrifice of Your Living on this earth to provide an example of Living for God while facing earthly trials. Keep our attention focused on You for Your Attention is focused on “us” as You Selflessly Gave of Yourself for our sakes.     AMEN

JANUARY  26  THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS started His earthly Ministry by allowing John the Baptist, the “forerunner of the Messiah”, to Baptize Him in the Jordan River. Jesus declared: “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matthew 5:13) thereby laying aside any doubt as to “why” Jesus Himself would not only allow but encourage John to baptize God’s Chosen One — “…to fulfill all righteousness.” Matthew then records that after Jesus was baptized by John that God spoke from heaven, saying: “This is My Son in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17) and after God had spoken, Matthew continues: “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” (Matthew 4:1) After using Scriptures to counter the devil’s “3-temptations” attack, Jesus demonstrated His Divine Power as Jesus rebuked Satan, “Away with you, Satan!” (Matthew 4:10)  Satan obeyed Jesus as Matthew records: “Then the devil left Him…” and Heaven confirmed again that  Jesus was the Son of God because as soon as Satan departed “…behold, angels came and ministered to Him.” (Matthew 4:11) Remember that when Jesus was baptized, God said He was “well pleased” yet Jesus was immediately led “by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness” where Jesus fasted 40 days and 40 nights and then had to face the 3 temptations by “the devil.”???  The Lesson here is that if we will keep God as our Top Priority that God will return our righteousness back to us in the form of provisions to address our daily needs! Matthew then made a quick list of “Actions” Jesus performed after being ministered to by the angels: (1) Jesus went to Capernaum to preach “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” {which fulfilled yet another prophecy by Isaiah} (Matthew 4:12-17) {See Isaiah 42:6-7} (2) Jesus started calling His disciples commanding them: “Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:18-19) (3) Jesus taught in the synagogues, preached the gospel of the kingdom, healed all kinds of sickness, diseases, and torments, those demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics! (4) Jesus then gave His “Sermon on the Mount” and asked His first Question: JQ#01  “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?” (Matthew 5:13) It is difficult to imagine what other “Actions” could be done to fit the True Resume of the Messiah!?!?!? It is at this point that the Holy Spirit leads us to consider “why?” we should consider The JESUS Questions and “why?” we should give Jesus an “honest answer” to His Questions??? The Holy Spirit has a two-fold Intent for studying the JESUS Questions, (1) to get everyone personally involved by studying not just the JESUS Questions for the TRUTH of GOD contained in every JESUS Question but (2) to dig deep into our personal relationship with Jesus to understand “Who our Father” really is! I am confident and believe that the motivation of the Holy Spirit is to encourage us to “action” and can be summed up in two “Action” quotes which we are all familiar with — I believe that the Holy Spirit chose these two quotes because they are “familiar” — but we often quote them without really understanding the deep Spiritual Truth contained in them thereby we miss the obvious deeper “Spiritual” meaning of God’s Plan and we fail to allow Scriptures to take us to that level where we exclaim, “I never saw that before!” Action Quote #1: “But God DEMONSTRATED His own love TOWARDS US, in that while we were still sinners, CHRIST DIED FOR US.” (Romans 5:8)  and Action Quote #2: “The FEAR of the Lord is the BEGINNING of WISDOM and KNOWLEDGE of the Holy One is UNDERSTANDING” (Proverbs 9:10) In the Romans 5:8 Action Quote #1 we often miss the “motivation” of why God would bother with us and the answer is that not only did He Love us, but He didn’t just write “I Love you” and leave it there, He performed a “Divine Action” to demonstrate “His OWN Love”! His Actions also demonstrates His motivation because He directs His Actions of His Personal Love “towards us”! His Actions demonstrates His commitment and the depth of His Love to a world of lost sinners! —  and even though we were “still sinners” that “Christ still died for us!” This one verse is an example that God wants a personal relationship with “us” and that He used His Actions to prove the Depth of His Love! Proverbs 9:10 shows us the result of why God encourages us to KNOW Him — He wants to give us His “Love” so that we can also have “understanding” and “wisdom”. Of all the things that I have possessed in this life, nothing has given me greater peace or joy than the best 3 things life has given me, (1) the Love of God (2) understanding that He Loves me not because of who I am but because of who He IS and (3) wisdom of knowing that this earth is not my home!!!  God appreciates you demonstrating your love towards Him!  There are many, many blessings to be gained by studying “The JESUS Questions” but the greatest is developing a Personal Relationship with God through the knowledge of His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ!  Once you commit yourself to giving Jesus an “honest” answer, the Holy Spirit will bring you to a depth of understanding of God’s Holy Word that will open your eyes and hearts to a “heavenly” viewpoint that exceeds even the emotion that made the song writer declare: “I Can Only Imagine!”