APRIL 12 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?* “How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34)

 APRIL 12  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?*  “How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer    

JESUS, I pray for forgiveness for not resolving the spirit of disunity that existed yesterday as we were on “service” for the kingdom. I cannot explain it sufficiently to put it into words but anytime I am aware of the “division” of the “Spirit” I know that something is not right and Lord my prayer is to be made aware of my “shortcomings” in my “service” to You, for with You there must be “unity” ——— for the “HOLY Spirit” does not divide IT UNIFIES! Lord, I know that You have promised that if we are unified with the “Spirit” that we will be “One” with You and “One” with the Father — Lord help me identify the source of the division I felt yesterday, I desire for the kingdom’s sake to know if I was creating the situation with my “actions” or was I contributing to the division by my “reactions”, Lord, in either case, let me take full responsibility and “repent” as necessary to return to the “Divine Unity”!    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus is dealing with false accusations against His Ministry therefore when we read the 3 Questions asked in JQ13 it is a priority that we ask ourselves: “Just how important is it that we make a “personal spiritual connection” with this series of questions?”: (1)JQ#13A: “How then will his kingdom stand?” (Matthew 12:26) ——— (2) JQ#13B: “And if I [Jesus] cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out?” (Matthew 12:27) ——— and (3) JQ#13C: “Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man?”. (Matthew 12:29) The importance of making a “personal spiritual connection” is at least as important as the subject matter don’t you think?  In JQ#13A Jesus had just said that a “divided kingdom will be brought to desolation”, in JQ#13B Jesus calls out the “enemy” by name and says Satan is involved. However, even as powerful as Satan is, his power also is lessened because of “division” to such a point that Jesus asked: “How will [Satan’s] kingdom stand [if it is divided]?” (Matthew 12:26) and then in JQ#13C Jesus uses a “strong man” as an example and states that even a “strong man’s house” and all his “goods” …will be “plundered” (Matthew 12:29) Therefore Jesus is saying that “division of the spirit” (1) will cause a “kingdom” to be brought to “desolation”, (2) “Satan” himself cannot survive, and (3) Even a “strong man” will be “plundered”. That sounds pretty serious to me to think that from a “division of the spirit” that a “kingdom” can be “desolated”, “Satan” can be “destroyed”, and the “strong man’s house” can be “plundered” — keep in mind that all these words and descriptions of destruction were used when the Pharisees falsely accused Jesus of “casting out demons by Beelzebub…” (Matthew 12:24) Jesus could have ignored the Pharisees and their false accusation but Jesus did not ignore it but responded with 3 Questions and therefore we must search the Questions Jesus asked to find “God’s Truth” that Jesus is trying to teach with such drastic examples! The fact that the Holy Spirit is directing us to ask ourselves if our “life is a plus or minus in God’s kingdom”  is to get our attention ——— if we do not address the false accusations against the kingdom of God then there will be serious kingdom repercussions in our personal lives! Jesus follows JQ#13C with: “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.” (Matthew 12:30) With that declaration, Jesus just made the issue “deeply personal” and if we are trying to be a disciple of Jesus we will find it very difficult to “follow Jesus” if we do not “gather with [Him]”. Jesus is using some very serious terminology and pronounces some very severe “Consequences”  if we do not personally take a stand with Him (“He who is not with Me…”) ——— the world today is making all kinds of false accusations against God, His Son Jesus, and against The Kingdom so we must make the personal decision: “Are we with JESUS, or against Him?”