MARCH 10 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4)

MARCH 10  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, no other name is like the Name of Jesus, there is no name under heaven or on the earth that man can call on for Salvation but Jesus, there is none but You, Lord Jesus that loves us even though we are continually sinning against Your Holiness. Yet instead of Your arms folded in rejection when we repent and return, You Lord Jesus, just like the Father welcoming the prodigal son, You run to greet us with open arms, You receive us unto Yourself as Your own. Lord Jesus, eternity will not be enough time to praise Your Holy Name!    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS not only Teaches “individual” and “personal” Lessons as He reveals the Truth of God with each Question, Jesus also Teaches us a “universal” Lesson with the “order” with which Jesus weaves the Truth of God contained within each Lesson/Question. This “universal” Lesson comes from not only “what” Jesus Taught but the “order” in which Jesus Teaches them. Yesterday the Holy Spirit turned my thoughts to looking at this “universal” Lesson already Taught by The JESUS Questions JQ#1-8 before moving on to JQ#09 and as I started to move on to JQ#09 today the Spirit has made it clear that He wants me to present the outline that has been formed by JQ#1 - JQ#8 in Matthew Chapters 1-9 before moving to the next JESUS Question. The Holy Spirit directed me to initiate “The JESUS Questions” daily project and directs my writing of these morning devotionals and He also guides me to keep notes in a separate folder which now has developed into an “Introduction Outline to Discipleship” which sets forth the mindset for being a “Follower of Christ” that builds upon itself step by step the “Spiritual” importance of placing our “Faith” in the only “One” who is “Worthy” of our “Faith”. Jesus begins proving He is “Worthy” and is called for the Purpose of doing the work of God. Matthew Chapter 5 records Jesus giving us His “Sermon on the Mount” in which Jesus listed in the “Beatitudes” (1) that to inherit the kingdom of heaven we must  enter through the “Spirit” and (2) that if we care for and comfort others that we ourselves will be cared for and comforted, (3) that strength to inherit the earth will come from our weakness, (4) to be filled with righteousness we should hunger for it, (5) to be merciful in order to gain mercy, (6) our ability to see God will come through our purity, (7) and if we strive to make peace we will be called sons of God!  Jesus concludes the “Beatitudes” with “not to worry” about the persecution on earth of our “Faith in God” because our righteousness will be rewarded in heaven. Jesus concludes with JQ#01 that those that “Follow Jesus” will be “salt and light” to the world.  JQ#02 Teaches us that Jesus did not come to destroy the Law of God but to fulfill the Law and then Jesus proceeds to instruct us how to “love others”, (both our enemies and our friends) as Jesus proclaims that “LOVE” is the Greatest Law. Jesus builds on these Lessons with a new command on how to be “salt and light” and how to “love others” which is an “imperative concept” to a Follower of Christ when we as a Followers of Christ encounter opposition to our “Faith in God”.  When Jesus Teaches in JQ#03 “Not to worry” and then builds on the concept of “Do not worry” by Teaching us that to be successful in “not worrying” that we must practice what He Teaches in JQ#04 “Do not Judge”. Jesus then Teaches where to obtain the “Power of His Truth” as He tells us in JQ#05 that we are to “Ask-Seek-Knock” and we will “Find”. Jesus then calls us to “live” the principles He is Teaching and says that we will know if we are living by His Principles if we start “bearing the fruit of the spirit” as Taught in JQ#06. Jesus then makes it evident in JQ#07 that by going through these steps that we will be growing the basic elements of discipleship and that we must continually work to “build our faith”. We build our Faith in God by focusing on Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son who came to earth to reveal “our Father in heaven”! Jesus then starts instructing us in JQ#07 that there comes a point in our “faith” that we must “exercise” our “FAITH” by putting  “Action” to our “Belief” and at that point in our “Faith”, we as a Follower of Christ will “Arise & Walk” as Jesus details in JQ#8. Jesus concludes the “Introduction Outline to Discipleship” with this “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (Matthew 9:12-13) This command from Jesus to “go and learn” points us to what will be required of each individual once we commit to being “Followers of Christ” and for starters Jesus said to “learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice’” —I see that I have have some studying to do because I know I am a sinner and that He has called me to “repentance” and has also commanded  “Follow Me”!