MARCH 28 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#11 “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” (Matthew 11:7)

MARCH 28  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#11 “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” (Matthew 11:7)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord, another morning I awake and it is overwhelming to think that You ARE Lord and that You ARE right here to answer my prayers and concerns and provide for my daily bread. Lord, how did I live all those anxious years trying to make it through this valley of the shadow of death without You? Jesus, I will continue to lift up my praises to You for what You’ve already done, which is much more than I deserve, and I will give You Honor for the Grace You have given to me and the Mercy that You renew daily each morning. Lord, forgive me of all my shortcomings and strengthen me as I daily try to Glorify God.    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus is the Master Teacher and the previous Lesson the Master Taught using the sparrows and copper coin Question was Taught by the Son of God to make us aware of our “Spiritual value” to the kingdom and “our Father in heaven” — now Jesus is asking us another simple Question to make us aware of another Kingdom Truth and that Truth of God is that our “Spiritual expectations” of the Messiah affects our “spiritual vision”. A. W. Tozer in his book “The Knowledge of the Holy” addresses JQ#11 in a powerful way as Tozer titled the first chapter “Why We Must Think Rightly About God” and in his opening prayer to start Chapter 1 Tozer prays: “O Lord God Almighty, not the God of the philosophers and the wise but the God of the prophets and apostles…[those that do not know the True God] worship Thee as a creature of their own fancy…[but] enlighten our minds that we may know Thee as Thou art, so that we may perfectly love Thee and worthily praise Thee. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen”.  Tozer’s first sentence in his insightful book is a most powerful thought about how important our “thinking” about who God really is and answers JQ#11 perfectly when Tozer writes: “What comes to our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”  Tozer in my mind is most likely answering the Jesus Question about our “spiritual expectations” of God with that opening prayer and his first sentence to open that first chapter; and if we look at the context in Matthew 11 immediately following JQ#11 found in Matthew 11:7-9 Jesus encourages our personal discipleship and prays to the Father: “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.” (Matthew 11:25)  Tozer, if he intended it or not, is giving all the right answers to JQ#11 as he writes an entire book about who God really is and states in an opening prayer that we should know God as He reveals Himself to us and not the God conjured up by “[wise and prudent] philosophers”. Tozer says that we ourselves should “think rightly about God” and then Tozer makes it clear that the “most important thing about us” is what we “expect” from “God”. Just after Jesus had asked the multitudes, “What did you ‘expect’ to see?” He immediately draws our attention to great cities that would come under future judgement because they had different “Spiritual expectations” for the Messiah therefore they “saw” the Divine work of the Messiah but rejected “His mighty works…and did not repent!” (see Matthew 11:11-24) Then after Jesus announces the judgement on those that have “false expectations” of the Son of God, Father God, and the Holy Spirit, Jesus assures us that if we will accept Jesus as the Son of God sent by the Father as the True Messiah then Jesus will reveal Himself and the Father to us through the Holy Spirit of Truth! Jesus concludes that if we “Come to [Him],” then He will “give [us] rest”. Jesus concludes with this promise: “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:30) Be honest, were your “Expectations of Jesus”  to find “rest” for your troubled soul? Our “expectations” ARE directly linked to our “faith” and how often did Jesus say TO THOSE HE HEALED, “Your FAITH has made your well.”?

MARCH 27 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#11 “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” (Matthew 11:7)

MARCH 27  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#11 “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” (Matthew 11:7)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord, I come before You this morning with so much  “thanksgiving” in my heart that I fear my words will once again fall short of glorifying You, for my words are from a finite intellect trying to glorify the Infinite Knowledge, Mercy, and Grace of Jesus Christ!!!  Lord indeed Your Ways are higher than my ways and Your Thoughts higher than my thoughts but Lord look again into my heart and may the Holy Spirit speak my “heartfelt-thanksgiving” in words of praise worthy of the Honor due You. Lord Jesus, I pray again these words first prayed from my heart in 2004: “Lord, strengthen my resolve to make every day-to-day choice with the desire to live my life to glorify God!”    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus, used the context of this simple Question to make it of Divine Significance by the fact that Jesus asked this Question “to the multitudes” (Matthew 11:7a) just after declaring Himself to be the Messiah to the disciples of John the Baptist. The Question alerts us to where our “focus” should be as we try to answer His Teaching Question about our “spiritual expectations of God”. Jesus began His Teaching of the multitudes with this question: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” (Matthew 11:7b). We know that it is a Teaching Question because Matthew states in verse 1 of Chapter 11 that Jesus had “finished commanding His twelve disciples” and that Jesus had “departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities” (Matthew 11:1) hence we can know that Jesus intends to “teach and to preach” — and through our study of the previous JESUS Questions we know that His Questions are all rhetorical for Jesus is God and therefore is ALL-KNOWING, so we can come quickly to an understanding that Jesus, being ALL-KNOWING, does not ask Questions to gain knowledge but rather, Jesus asks Questions to get us focused on a specific topic in order for us to see the Truth of God that Jesus Teaches with each Question/Lesson. With JQ#11 Jesus is asking us to stop and consider all our “expectations” and specifically our “spiritual expectations of the Messiah”. We can easily paraphrase JQ#11 from “what did you go out…to see?” to “what are your [spiritual] expectations?” and since Jesus had just detailed His list of “Divine” accomplishments proving Himself to be the “MESSIAH”, one should be able to make a direct correlation from the “works” Jesus performed in the name and from the Power of God with how the prophets and the Holy Scriptures had described the Messiah, plus John the Baptist declaring himself to be a “messenger of God” sent to declare to Israel that the Messiah is soon coming, and then John seeing Jesus declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29) one would wonder how all Israel was not proclaiming loudly that Jesus IS the MESSIAH!?!?!  What Jesus Himself had accomplished in His ministry so far and had been publicly witnessed by the multitudes, ONLY the Messiah could accomplish what Jesus had been doing! There had never been anyone before Jesus that so completely fulfilled the requirements of the Messiah and there has been no one after Jesus that has fulfilled even one or two, let alone one man that fulfilled ALL of those Divine Attributes belonging Uniquely to the Messiah! Jesus by His Divine accomplishments proved He is the Messiah so why didn’t those that saw Jesus performing miracle after miracle including healing, casting out demons, and resurrecting the dead, and many, many, more signs believe that He was the Messiah without Him having to “lay it out” for them??? My pastor Steve McDonald uses the phrase: “Jesus lays the cookies on the bottom shelf so everyone can reach them” and Jesus had been performing Divine acts unique to Messiah so why couldn’t the multitudes who had seen, heard, and experienced Jesus in the flesh understand by their own observation that Jesus IS the Son of God and God’s Messiah? The same is true today because each generation has had God revealed to them, and today we have the Holy Bible that “lays the cookies on the bottom shelf” for us, so why don’t we reach out and listen to Jesus and give Him a serious personal answer to this serious personal Question Jesus asks each of us as individuals, “What are your spiritual expectations of Jesus?”  Why don’t you take a bite of the cookie being offered and understand Psalm 34:8 “Taste and see that the Lord is good…”?  

MARCH 26 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#11 “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” (Matthew 11:7)

MARCH 26  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#11 “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” (Matthew 11:7)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer   

JESUS, Lord I give You and the Holy Spirit Praise for the wonderful lesson on “Spiritual Expectations about Easter” that You Taught in our 3rd/4th Grade Sunday School class using John 3:16. Lord it is so exciting to see You move and as the teacher of these really bright young Christians I feel really “Blessed” to be learning about You through them!  Lord, may I never lose sight that You and the Holy Spirit are the Master Teachers and always keep me aware OF THOSE ANOINTED LESSONS when You have taken over so that I will not get in the way of THE SPIRIT’S TEACHINGS, especially one that Taught 3rd and 4th Graders both “how” and “why” they should “share” the Good News about the True Meaning of Easter! Lord, how my heart leaped as each one took their turn describing Easter as the Resurrection, all Praise, Glory, and Honor to the Holy Spirit for empowering them and to the Risen Lord for dying and defeating death that we may LIVE!    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS always asks a simple Question which can immediately be rephrased as a Divine Spiritual Inquiry which is the case of JQ#11 which can be written as:  “What are your spiritual expectations of Jesus?” (Matthew 11:7). The actual JESUS Question asked in Mathew 11:7 is from a series of JESUS Questions asking basically the same thing as we read these Questions in Matthew 11:7-9. The important context of the Question was that the disciples of John the Baptist had come to question Jesus with the intent of determining if Jesus was the “Coming One” which is the sermon topic that John the Baptist had been preaching about in the wilderness. The multitudes had been traveling out into the wilderness to hear John the Baptist preach “Repentance” and the soon coming “Christ”.  John was considered by all Israel as a prophet and even the Jewish priests and leaders acknowledged that John was preaching in the Power of God!  We read in John 1:19-20 “Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ [John] confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, ‘I am not the Christ’” (John 1:19-20) From this passage we can determine that John had been preaching that the kingdom of heaven was at hand and that the long awaited Christ was “coming” and John’s message was so powerful that all Israel was talking again about the “Coming Messiah”. John’s Message about the “Coming Messiah” was so powerful that it had gained the attention of the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem because John was the first prophet speaking the Word of God in Israel since Malachi, the last prophet of God who had last spoken hundreds of years ago — God’s prophets had been silent now for about 400 years so John appears on the scene declaring “REPENT” and “the Messiah is Coming soon” and now everyone is “expectant” that the Messiah has come just as the prophecies of old had promised!  After John had “confessed” that he was not the Christ, John then quoted the prophet Isaiah: “[John] said: ‘I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘make straight the way of the Lord’” (John 1:23 & Isaiah 40:3) So when Jesus lists His earthly accomplishments to the disciples of John, Jesus was in effect telling everyone that because of “His works” that He had been doing among the people of Israel that Jesus was indeed the “Messiah” that Israel had been “expecting”!!!  The important thing to note here is that Jesus lists the events that proved He was indeed the Messiah but immediately after stating the Divine Truth that JESUS IS THE MESSIAH that Jesus turned and asked this Question to the enlighten the multitudes — “What did you expect?” (Matthew 11:7-9A) and then added this statement about what they had expected to find: “A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet.” (Matthew 11:9B)  As we read the Gospels and throughout the entire New Testament, Jesus is doing everything the prophecies said the Messiah would do and yet it took His death, burial, and Resurrection before even Jesus’ own disciples believed that Jesus was Truly the Son of God, the Messiah. The same problem exists in the Church today as we declare like a modern day Thomas : “…unless I see in His hands the print of the nails…I will not believe…” (John 20:25) Jesus knew there would be doubt and He is Teaching in JQ#11 that our “spiritual expectations” of Him will be guiding our belief about “who” Jesus will be in our lives! There is nothing more that Jesus needs to “do” to prove He IS the Messiah so the problem is simply a matter of our “spiritual expectations of the Messiah and our Belief/Unbelief” —Jesus is Teaching “us” here that if we are “expecting” a knight in white armor riding in on a horse leading a great army that we may actually miss the “real deal” of the True King riding in on a donkey— and the fault does not rest with God, the fault rests entirely on our “spiritual expectations of Jesus” — Jesus IS the Son of God - so, what are your “expectations” of Him??? 

SPIRITUAL TRUTH: THE MESSIAH IS WHO GOD HIMSELF DECLARES IS THE MESSIAH AND WHOM GOD ANOINTS WITH THE POWER OF GOD TO DO THE WORK OF THE MESSIAH AS GOD HAD PLANNED AND PURPOSED THE MESSIAH TO DO — THE MESSIAH IS NOT THE MESSIAH BECAUSE HE MEETS THE WORLD’S EXPECTATIONS OF HIM BUT THE MESSIAH IS THE MESSIAH BECAUSE HE MEETS GOD’S EXPECTATIONS — JESUS AND ONLY JESUS HAS FULFILLED GOD’S EXPECTATIONS OF THE MESSIAH — AND THAT’S THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH, AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH!!!

MARCH 25 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#11 “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” (Matthew 11:7)

MARCH 25  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#11 “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” (Matthew 11:7)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord I pray for the Holy Spirit to consume all my desires, that daily I will take up my cross and follow hard after Jesus. Lord, there is nothing good in me except for Your Spirit so Lord I pray as did John, let me decrease that You may increase. Jesus as You lead I will follow, as You command I will obey, and as You live, so will I live that others may see You in me and come to know You as Savior. Forgive me when I fall short of Your Glory for it is my flesh failing in me and I pray to be strengthened by Your Spirit that I may endure to the end and my spirit will join You, the Father, and the Holy Spirit that we may be “One in the SPIRIT” as You have declared!    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS actually asked this Question to the multitudes that had heard the answer that Jesus had given to John’s disciple’s question when they directly inquired of Jesus — “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” (Matthew 11:3)  John the Baptist had been preaching about the Messiah in the wilderness quite probably to this same multitude of those seeking the “Truth of God” and were now following Jesus because the things Jesus had been doing could only have been done by the “Anointing Power of God”. Jesus answered their question with: “Go tell John the things you see and hear.” (Matthew 11:4) Then Jesus listed the things that He had been doing in the Father’s Name for the kingdom’s sake — preaching, healing, and forgiving sins — and as Jesus listed things they had seen Him do and the Message He had been preaching to them, He said: “The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.”  (Matthew 11:5) Only the Son of God, the Messiah could  do these things that Jesus had been doing so Jesus is saying by His actions (by the “fruit” of His Spirit), “I am the Son of God, the Messiah, the Anointed One.” The things He had been “doing” proved Jesus IS the Messiah! Jesus gave the disciples of John a very serious answer because they had asked a serious question to Him that revealed that they were “expecting” the Messiah when they asked Jesus pointedly: “Are You the Coming One…?”  As soon as Jesus gave the proof that He was indeed the Messiah we read that He sent them to give John the Baptist an affirmative message and Matthew notes, “As they departed, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John…” (Matthew 11:7a) which the reader today can paraphrase as “As they left to give John the Baptist the message that Jesus was the Messiah, that Jesus turned to the multitudes and started teaching them.”  Jesus is always Teaching. Jesus is God and knows all things and He wants to Teach everyone that will listen to Him a specific Lesson. Jesus often first introduces the subject and then He asks a simple Question that focuses our attention on a specific “Truth of God”. In this case Jesus states without a doubt that He IS the Messiah and then Jesus asks the multitudes to consider their own “spiritual expectations” of Him with a series of Questions in quick succession: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Indeed, those wearing soft clothing are in king’s houses. But what did you go out to see?” (Matthew 11:7-9) Jesus was definitely referring to John the Baptist who had been out in the wilderness preaching to the “lost sheep of Israel” about the “Coming One”! John was not preaching in the synagogues — John was in the “wilderness” preaching about the coming Messiah and the need for the people to “Repent” and now Jesus immediately Questions the multitudes about their “spiritual expectations” of the Messiah and then Jesus pointedly Questions them as to what did they “expect” to see the Messiah do in their personal lives? That is a good question for us to ask ourselves — what are our “spiritual expectations” of Jesus and His Church and have we heard the Message of Jesus that as His Church we are to “teach and preach the kingdom of heaven in [our] cities” (Matthew 11:1) and as His Church followers of Christ are to take the Message of “Repentance” out of the “synagogue” into the “wilderness” where the “lost sheep” are!!!

As Jesus listed things they had seen Him do and the Message He had been preaching to them, He said: “The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.”  (Matthew 11:5)…………………..

Matthew 11:5 can very well be used as a List of Divine Tasks for His Church:

1. The blind see - We are to enlighten the spiritually blind with the Holy Scriptures that they may see the “Truth of God”
2. The lame walk — We are to teach those crippled with sin how to walk upright  on the straight and narrow “Pathway of Righteousness”
3. The lepers are cleansed — We are to teach them God’s statutes and His judgements that they may be made “clean” by God’s standards
4. The deaf hear — Only the “Truth of God” spoken with a small still voice can speak loud enough to be heard over the noise of the world
5. The dead are raised up — We are all “dead in our sins” and only the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the Pathway to Everlasting Life

MARCH 24 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#11 “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” (Matthew 11:7)

MARCH 24  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#11 “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” (Matthew 11:7)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer

JESUS, Lord, my God, my Redeemer Praise, Glory, and Honor to the Only Begotten of the Father, the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the earth! O Blessed Thought — THOU ART MINE!! Jesus, the Name above all names, have mercy on this sinner saved by Your Grace, guide me each day as I look for Your Daily Manna to “reign” down from Heaven for my daily “spiritual” bread!      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS moves from one Question to another in a way that keeps us focused on the “Spiritual Lessons” needed for us to live our lives in a manner pleasing to God “our Father in heaven” by building “precept upon precept, line upon line” — St. Matthew who was led by the Holy Spirit, divinely documented these “logical transitions” from one JESUS Question/Lesson to the next; for example, Matthew starts Chapter 11 with “Now it came to pass, when Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples, that He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities.” (Matthew 11:1)  Recall that JQ#10 was themed “What is your spiritual value?” (Matthew 10:29) because Jesus asked JQ#10 by referring to two sparrows and a copper coin and remember Jesus asked this Question in the middle of equipping His twelve disciples to go out into the world as we read in Matthew 10:1 “…[Jesus] gave them power..” (Matthew 10:1) before sending them out “…as sheep in the midst of wolves…” (Matthew 10:16) and then Jesus assured His disciples of their “spiritual value” in verses Matthew 10:30-42 where Jesus states “…[My disciples] shall by no means lose [their] reward!” — essentially telling His disciples that if we go in His Name that we will never lose our “spiritual value”! Now Jesus transitions to His next Lesson/Question as He asks JQ#11: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?”  (Matthew 11:7) There is no doubt that the Lesson Jesus is going to Teach is about our “spiritual expectations” and the Lesson is meant for all generations; because in verses 1-6 preceding the Question, Jesus refers Himself to the disciples of John the Baptist as the “Coming One” [recall that John’s mission was] to point to “…the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29) and as soon as Jesus explained to John’s disciples why He declares Himself to be the “Coming One” that Matthew 11:7 states: “And as [the disciples of John the Baptist] departed [with the revelation that Jesus is the Coming One], Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning [the message of] John [the Baptist]…” (Matthew 11:7A)  “What did you go into the wilderness to see?” (Matthew 11:7B) Therefore Jesus establishes the fact that He is moving from equipping the disciples and Teaching about our “Eternal Spiritual Value”  in JQ#10 in Matthew Chapter 10 to a new Lesson in Matthew Chapter 11 about our “Spiritual Expectations” as He establishes clearly the fact that JESUS IS THE COMING ONE and we should evaluate our individual “spiritual expectations” of who we believe is the “Coming One” and what are our “spiritual expectations” of the “Messiah”? Jesus revealed Himself as the “Coming One” first to the disciples of John because they had read the Holy Scriptures and were “expecting” the "Messiah" spoken of by the prophet Isaiah and John the Baptist had borne “witness of Him and cried out saying, ‘This is He’ [the Messiah]…”.  (John 1:15) John the Baptist had clearly stated that his personal mission was to “Make straight the way of the Lord” (John 1:23) and then as John the Baptist first laid eyes on Jesus, John made his famous declaration “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29) There is no room for doubt, in the JQ#11 Question that Jesus is Teaching that He IS the Messiah and we should evaluate our “spiritual expectations” of Him --- the Divine Truth of God is that God sent His Only Begotten Son to the world as the Messiah — the Truth of God is not based on our “physical expectations” — but The Truth of God is based entirely and singularly on God’s Declarations! Did you ever stop to consider your personal “spiritual expectations” of Jesus Christ?    SPIRITUAL FACT:

             ***THERE IS NO TRUTH BUT WHAT GOD HIMSELF DECLARES!!!***

MARCH 23 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#11 “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” (Matthew 11:7)

MARCH 23  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#11 “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” (Matthew 11:7)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord, my Redeemer, all praise to You for it is amazing to see how You have worked in my life through these prayers that I have been writing daily in a journal since 2004 for I can see Your Hand, Your Grace, and Your Mercy working in my life and the lives of each family member. Each year You are reminding me through those journal prayers how You have taught me day by day and I can more clearly see the Lessons You intended --- but it has taken all these years to develop my “Spiritual Discipline” to the point that my “Faith is becoming sight” and my “Spiritual Discipline is becoming discernment”. Jesus, on this day in 2004 the Holy Spirit was guiding my prayers and led me to write this question: “Lord, are you trying to teach me that it is my choices that determine who I am and who I will be and that how I choose to live and act should not be influenced by how others live and act, but that I should use my Free Will to choose how to live based on how You want my life to be lived and not how the world tells me I should live?” Lord Jesus, today I praise You that I am now understanding that if I indeed choose to live my life as Your disciple that whatever happens in “the world” will have no bearing or impact on who I am nor on my final destination, for who I am is determined by choosing You and Your Divine Leadership and not “the world”. Lord, I pray that You will continue to teach me “Spiritual self-discipline” for Lord it is my humble desire to “learn from the Master”!    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS has focused our attention on our “spiritual value” by asking the simple sparrows and coin Question and He follows that Question with another Question but without studying the context of these Questions we will fail to see the Divine Truth that will emerge with an honest answer! Before moving to the next JESUS Question  JQ#11, the Holy Spirit is leading me to share a selection from my Oswald Chambers Daily Journal “My Utmost for His Highest” that I read every morning to start my devotionals and Bible Study. To be honest with you, I did not write for many years because my reasoning was that there are already so many good writers like Oswald Chambers, A.W. Tozer, and C.S. Lewis (just to name a few), plus hundreds of great daily devotionals like Charles Stanley, Daily Bread, Guiding Light, and Adrian Rogers that I felt that there was no need to add any of my written words to the myriad of Jesus writings existing in the world already! But now I know that Jesus is Worthy of All Praise and that His Glory cannot be written even if every believer wrote every thought and documented every answered prayer that has been prayed to Jesus! In other words there are not enough words to give Jesus the Praise, Glory, and Honor He deserves! I have now been writing for several years and I know that my writing is insignificant but “who I am writing about is significant” and today I am led to share in my writing some grand thoughts written by Oswald Chambers titled “The LIGHT That Never Fails”  APRIL 22: “We must build our faith not on fading lights but on the Light that never fails. When ‘important’ individuals go away we are sad, until we see that they are meant to go, so that only one thing is left for us to do — to look into the face of God for ourselves. Allow nothing to keep you from looking with strong determination into the face of God regarding yourself and your doctrine…A Christian servant is one who perpetually looks into the face of God …the ministry of Christ is characterized by [His] abiding glory…the secrets of [the life of a disciple of Christ] is that [the disciple] stays in tune with God all the time.”   After I read this passage in 2004 I realized that in my prayer (which I wrote before reading the commentary) that same day that I had written “teach me the proper self discipline to love others like Christ at all times, regardless of how I am treated by others” and this passage to me was the Holy Spirit answering me and saying “the secret to being like Christ is to focus on Him all the time and you will learn Spiritual Self Discipline which is what allowed Jesus to suffer the cross for sinners!” This lesson of “Spiritual Self Discipline” is important to discerning “God’s Holy Will” and the “Truth of God” as we continue studying the Word in order to learn the Lessons the Master is Teaching. 

MARCH 22 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#10 “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin?” (Matthew 10:29)

MARCH 22  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#10 “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin?” (Matthew 10:29)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, O the blessed joy of starting my day with You and to know that it is Your desire that we have fellowship with the Father as we go through our day and that all our physical and spiritual needs will be met on a “daily” basis. Lord Jesus, I thank You that many years ago that You had turned my thoughts to the Great Sacrifice You made for the Atonement of sin, all sin, and that all who believed that Sacrifice was Your Purpose and understood it as the Will of the Father could be heirs in the Kingdom of God and partake in His Righteousness. Lord, we do not deserve Your Gift of Sacrifice and the Father’s Gift of Free Will but I accept both because I BELIEVE and ACCEPT YOUR LOVE and I desire to return an acceptable “Offering” to the One that imparts Eternal Life on Believers.    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS and the simple Question of sparrows and coins has been a very “profitable spiritual” study. Matthew Chapter 10 is filled with many, many wonderful spiritual treasures that profit us on our spiritual journey so let us look at the tremendous promises God gives to those willing to “pay the cost”  of being a disciple of Jesus. Matthew 10:1-28 lists some serious “costs of discipleship” leading up to JQ#10 where the seemingly simple sparrows and copper coin Question was asked by Jesus to focus our attention on the “spiritual value” of discipleship and then the rest of the chapter we find assurance that our efforts of discipleship will be met with great spiritual compensation for “paying the cost”.  We know the “rewards” will be “spiritual” because Jesus told His disciples in verses Matthew 10:9-10 not to take “money” or any “physical possessions” on our journey. However, Jesus promised the disciples that they were not going out empty handed — His disciples were assured of their daily bread and that though they were empty-handed that they would be given the very Power of God to complete their assigned tasks for the kingdom’s sake!   All instructions Jesus gives on  discipleship warns of “physical” costs to pay for following Him but that we are “not to fear” or worry because the “Spiritual Compensation” far outweighs the “physical cost”!  Jesus adds some very significant spiritual compensations as Jesus commands all His followers that we should not worry about our physical death because our soul (spirit) is eternal and if we will focus on our “spiritual value” that God Himself will provide for  all the needs of those that choose to be “followers of Jesus”! God promises to give us eternal security and that our eternal lives will be spent with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit if we but “follow after [Jesus]” (Matthew 10:38). Jesus then adds “spiritual assurance” as He states clearly: “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it. He who receives you receives Me , and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.” (Matthew 10:39-40) Jesus concludes our list of “spiritual compensations” by throwing in an Eternal Lifetime warranty and Divine guarantee: “…assuredly, I say to you, [My disciples] shall by no means lose [their] reward.” (Matthew 10:42) I can’t help but start singing a song, “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O what a foretaste of glory divine. Heir of salvation, purchased of God, born of His Spirit, washed in His Blood!”. It’s a simple Question of two sparrows and a copper coin but with the right answer we can be assured of eternal salvation if we just believe in our “spiritual value”: “Do not fear therefore: you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Matthew 10:31) With this kind of “spiritual assurance” it makes the “daily cross” a little easier to bear, don’t you think?