FEBRUARY 20 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#05 “Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?” (Matthew 7:8)

FEBRUARY 20  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#05  “Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?” (Matthew 7:8)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

[JESUS, Jesus, Jesus, the only Name by which man can enter the narrow gate to heaven. Jesus is the Name that all generations call out to for salvation. Jesus, we bow humbly before You because You so richly deserve all praise and honor. There is no Name other than Jesus that man can call upon for Hope, there is no other Name but Jesus that brings so much Hope to our hurting hearts. Lord, I realize that there is no good in me but only through Your Name can I give anything good to my generation. Jesus, Holy Spirit of God, I yield to Your Will, I will “wait for the Lord” to see how You would have me serve You and Your kingdom. Forgive me of all sins, even the hidden sins, that I will be made Holy.    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS starts this passage in Matthew 7:7-14 out pretty simple with “ASK-SEEK-KNOCK” but Jesus has a way of reaching deep into us with these simple questions and revealing some of the deeper Mysteries of God. Let’s examine the 2 simple Questions Jesus asks in this section, keeping in mind that Jesus came to Teach us about the Father: (1) “Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?” (Matthew 7:9) (2) “Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?” (Matthew 7:10) When you answer these two identical Questions from the viewpoint of the Truth that Jesus came to reveal the Father to us, we can immediately see that if we “ask” of “our Father in heaven” that He will give us only “good” things. Jesus is saying that if we will stop and look at the things the Father has already given us that we should have supreme confidence that He has only “good” intentions for our future. Isaiah quotes God Himself: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9) There is another great Truth of God that is contained in these simple Questions in Matthew 7:9-10 that is often overlooked ——— simply, Jesus, being the Son of God, is the most reliable source of Truth about the Father that we could possibly have!  We could read the entire New Testament with the single thought that Jesus is the Son of God and we would see all the characteristics of the Father whom we seek to know being revealed by the Son! The fact that God chose to have a Son should thrill our hearts and souls because if God had chosen not to have a Son then how could we think of God as the “Father”? And if God really chose to be “childless” then we would not have any confidence that we could possibly be considered for “adoption”! To think of God as merely a Supremely Powerful Being gives no “Hope” that an inferior being such as man could ever aspire to inherit the kingdom — however, our HOPE comes from the Biblical Fact that The Supreme Being in all His Superiority has reached down as a “Loving Father” and says to us, “You are not inferior, I created You in My image and I have chosen YOU to be part of MY Family! I love you so much that I sent My Beloved Son to walk among you  TO SHOW YOU THE WAY and to bring you home — if you will only believe in Him, I will make you joint heirs OF ALL I HAVE WITH MY ONLY BEGOTTEN SON!” These Questions in Matthew 7:9-10 were answered when God sent His Son and made Him the Bread of Life for us and “our Father in heaven” has provided for us in great abundance, if we will but only look to the Son to see the Father. We will see further glimpses of our LOVING GOD and HEAVENLY FATHER  standing with open arms in the narrow gate as we finish Matthew 7:10-14!