FEBRUARY 13 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#03 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life…Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25)

 FEBRUARY 13  THE JESUS QUESTIONS    JQ#03  “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life…Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer   

JESUS, Praise, Glory, Honor to the King of kings, the Lord of lords, and the Only Name by which man can be freed of his natural sin. Lord Jesus, every time we see a cross, our first thought should be of the Great Sacrifice of the Divine Innocence, and the second thought should be that the Cross is Empty!!   The Empty Cross should remind us that God loved us enough to put His Only Begotten Son on the Cross but also that God loved His Son so much that He did not leave Him there!   The Empty Cross and the Empty Grave express the full measure of God’s Love for us and the Resurrection is God’s Eternal Covenant with sinful man. Praise you Lord, for “It is Finished!” (John 19:30)     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS concludes His Lesson on “worry” (JQ#03 - Matthew 6:24-34) with His Advice that we should not seek “things” of this world “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things [God knows everything that we have need of] shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:33-34)   The answer to the  (8) “Why worry?” Jesus Questions in the JQ#03 section is simply to accept the fact that depending on “self” is useless but if we trust Jesus and follow His commands then we will quit worrying about useless things of this world and use all our mental facilities to grow our “Faith in Jesus” and accept what God has in store for our day-to-day lives and our eternal future. The Holy Spirit started me out on my personal Spiritual Journey to God in 2004 with Matthew 6:33 “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness…” and whenever I feel I am being deprived of some worldly possession, the Holy Spirit uses Matthew 6:33 to turn my focus AWAY FROM SELF AND PHYSICAL POSSESSIONS AND BACK ONTO THE SAVIOR — God’s Burning Love makes my physical worries melt away — it worked in 2004 and has worked every year since and remains TRUE today! There simply is no room in “Faith” for “worry” as the foundation of “Faith in God” is built upon “Trust in God” — “Worry” is simply wrong in the spiritual realm because “Worry” is constructed wholly on “Distrust” and there are NO reasons not to “Trust God” , therefore we should accept with full Faith in God what Jesus commands us: “Therefore, DO NOT WORRY…” (Matthew 6:34) The great thing about the Teachings of Jesus is that He always takes some worldly action or attitude and shows us how to put it into the “proper Spiritual perspective” and use the new perspective to grow in Jesus Himself! Jesus is the original author of “DO AS I DO” because everything He Taught, He Lived, and just like when at the Last Supper Jesus Himself “Broke the Bread” with His own hands and stated “With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer…” (Luke 22:15)  Jesus not only was stating by His actions that He was willing to “Suffer” for us, He was being our “Living Example” — “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” (John 1:14) If Jesus had not lived the Perfect Sinless Life there would have been plenty of people that would have pointed out to everyone that this Man claiming to “be God” was just a sinner like everyone else because even one small sin would have disqualified Jesus from being God! If Jesus had sinned even the smallest sin or been imperfect in even the slightest mis-step there would have been no way could Jesus have commanded us: “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) This command can also be used as a “prophecy” as Jesus Teaches us that if we will become like Him, then we will be made Perfect like Him, “just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” The point in learning from Jesus is to be like Jesus, and to abide forever with Jesus and our “Father in heaven” where finally, after all our earthly mistakes, we will at last achieve our “Spiritual” goal and be given the heavenly prize of an eternal “Worry Free” life. It is “Good News” to know that God knows all our sins and has provided a way that all our sins will be forgiven — it is in the knowledge that Jesus has Redeemed us from all our iniquities that we should listen to JESUS when He Lovingly Teaches us “Do Not Worry” for our “heavenly Father” God Himself has “Good Plans for all our tomorrows”!!!  We all should take great comfort in knowing that God knows ALL for God is willing to FORGIVE all our sin for His Only Begotten Son died on a cross, was buried in a grave but was RAISED TO ETERNAL GLORY on the 3rd Day thereby completing God’s Plan of SALVATION for a lost and dying sin-filled world — we can never hide anything from God but remember GOD KNOWS ALL and if we simply ask for FORGIVENESS in the NAME OF JESUS that GOD FORGIVES us ALL our iniquities!!!

FEBRUARY 12 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#03 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life…Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25)

 FEBRUARY 12  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#03  “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life…Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer    

JESUS, I’m feeling pretty “rough” with this “cold” but I thank You for strengthening me enough spiritually for me to get out and finish my physical jobs. (Authors 2021 NOTE: Originally written in 2016 - I do NOT have the RONA!) Lord, I trust You in all things and certainly in physical sickness because You are the Great Physician! Lord, I place my “health” (both spiritual and physical) into Your Healing Hands, give me the courage to accept whatever TRUTH You have in store for me!    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS not only Teaches us the “obvious” and “immediate” Truth of God with each Question/Lesson, yet, if we are observant and trusting enough, Jesus will reveal simple everyday Truths of God associated with each Lesson — but we must slow down and meditate on the Question to see the Big Picture of the Truth of God that Jesus by His Lifestyle and choice of Questions and the order in which He asks them, Teaches us that Deeper Truth of God that is not seen by just rolling down your window as you drive by the Truth while you are hurrying to get to the next “physical” thing in our day-to-day world. For instance, while writing this blog installment on JQ#03 I am experiencing one of the worst colds I can remember and it struck me as very apropos that as I am “enduring” the worst cold I can ever remember having in my life that I would be studying a section on “worry”!?! Jesus makes it perfectly clear that all our needs will be supplied by Jehovah-jireh the Great Provider with everything we need to eat and to wear but also we will be supplied with every “need” we have in our day-to-day lives to endure the physical world and this is done through God adjusting our “perception” of the world which is a “Deeper Truth of God” that we often miss — by God adjusting our “perception” (spiritual) and leaving the physical world as is, God proves the superiority of the “Spiritual” over the “physical”!!! Jesus uses His “Teaching Questions” in this section to make us understand that God didn’t just make us and toss us out on our own but that He is able to feed all His Creation and if God provides for “the birds of the air” then God Almighty will take care of Mankind whom God Created after His Own Image!! Jesus asks three Questions in a row that leads to His fourth and all these Questions work together to place our “Faith in God” center stage. Follow these (3) Questions: (1) JQ#3b “Are you not of more value than [a bird]” (Matthew 6:26b) — (2) JQ#3c “Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? (Matthew 6:27) — (3) JQ#3d “So why do you worry about clothing? (Matthew 6:28a) — Then Jesus wraps up the obvious by making us compare ourselves to the “wisest” man that ever lived, Solomon, who was given everything there was that could be possessed in the physical world and yet for all his wisdom and resources not even Solomon could array himself like God clothes the grass in the field! The scorching thing for me is that Jesus ends this section with JQ#3e “…will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 6:30) Jesus wraps up with stating simply “do not worry” and especially “do not worry” over JQ#3 f, g, & h “what to eat”, “what to drink” or “what to wear” which are all physical things. Jesus then makes His Main Point for the Truth of God contained in this section with two statements: (1) “… the Heavenly Father KNOWS you need these things” (Matthew 6:32) and (2) “But SEEK FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and ALL these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow…” (Matthew 6:33-34a) So when I read this passage and answer the simple Questions I find myself worrying less about my physical needs and concentrate on growing my “Spiritual muscle” — which can only be strengthened by exercising our “Faith in Jesus”! 

FEBRUARY 11 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#03 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life…Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25)

 FEBRUARY 11  THE JESUS QUESTIONS    JQ#03  “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life…Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Praise You for the Eternal Loving God You are! Lord help us to see how very short a time we have on earth and keep us from wasting these precious few opportunities to draw close to the Creator and author of Forever! It is hard to grasp the concept of eternity because we are so bound by “time” and cannot imagine life without time, but time itself is bounded by a “beginning” which in turn shall have its “ending”. We think in terms of birth and death as markers in our earthly existence but help us O Lord to see ourselves in terms of Life Eternal which never ends! Lord, there is so much more to life and living than death and the grave, teach us about your Unending Love and Abundant Life Eternal.     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS went through great lengths to Teach us Lessons about paying attention to life and we should observe not only the Divine Effort invested in our Spiritual Education but we should also pay close attention to the subjects that He is Teaching. All Lessons that Jesus is Teaching us starts out with a Question about our “physical” perception of the world and then Christ guides us by His Lessons to achieve a “spiritual” perception of our life eternal. Far to many of us, and I certainly count myself as the leading contender for the prize of being a slave to my earthly viewpoint, cannot make the transition from the “physical” to the “spiritual” without a special push from the Master and that “push” is in the form of engaging our mental capacities by asking Questions about our physical viewpoint. In this section of Matthew 6:24-33 where Jesus is Teaching us about “worry”, we should note the obvious that ““worry” is a “spiritual” entity and “food” and “clothing” are physical entities. Jesus weaves these two viewpoints (spiritual and physical) together in a special Question in Matthew 6:25b that Teaches us the deeper Truth of God that we view our lives simply as the physical entities we have been programmed by our society to pay attention to like “food” and “clothing” but from a spiritual viewpoint “life IS more than food” and the “body IS more than clothing” — but the only way we can get to that reality is that we have to see our “life” and “body” from a “spiritual” viewpoint!  As long as we stay enslaved to the “physical” world we are bound by “death” but when we transition into our “Spiritual Eternal Future”, which from time to time is afforded the believer, we will see that in the “spiritual” world that there is “more” to life than the “physical” and this “more abundant Spiritual life” Taught by Jesus is not limited by “time” or threatened by “death”. Once we behold the “spiritual” realm we shift from our “physical” body bounded by time into our “spiritual soul” which exists in the “eternal life” given as an expression of God’s Love in the form of an “Eternal Spiritual Gift”: “For God so loved the world that He gave” … and when we accept God’s Gift of “…His only begotten Son…” by exercising our spiritual muscle then “…whosoever believes (belief is totally spiritual) in [JESUS] shall not perish (perish is totally 100% physical) but have eternal (eternity is 100% spiritual) life.” (John 3:16) So it is through “belief” that is “spiritual” which frees us from the “physical” — Jesus is Teaching us how to be free from our physical bonds but we must look at our life through the “spiritual lens” Jesus is pointing us to — “Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” (John 8:36) When reading this passage in Matthew on “worry” it helps to develop your answer by reading John 8:30-36 and John 3:3-6 and you will see Jesus is always Teaching “freedom from the physical” world and the “spiritual” path always leads through the “Spiritual Door” that is JESUS and He is Leading Believers into the “[Spiritual] kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33)!!!  Indeed, “…Is not [spiritual] life more than [physical] food and the [spiritual] body more than [physical] clothing?” (Matthew 6:25).  Jesus was always Teaching everyone who would listen that this physical world is temporary, “But [Jesus] said to them, I have food to eat that you do not know about.” (John 4:32) and that He was sent from heaven by God to show the way to God’s Spiritual Kingdom; and Jesus demonstrated by His Lifestyle that He was willing to do whatever it takes!!! “For our sake [God] made [Jesus] to be sin [though Jesus] knew no sin, so that in [Jesus] we might become the [spiritual] righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) Revelation states clearly that those that believe in Jesus will be given “robes of righteousness” and Jesus Himself proclaimed “I AM the bread of life (manna from heaven) and he who believes in Me shall never hunger and he who believes in Me shall never thirst!” (John 6:35)  “Never” equates to “Spiritual Eternity” and “hunger” and “thirst” are “physical” entities that enslave the “physical body” with chains of “death and time” — and only by belief in Jesus can we transition from “physical death” to “spiritual life” — as Jesus Taught Nicodemus, “…Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:5-6) 

FEBRUARY 10 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#03 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life…Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25)

 FEBRUARY 10  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   JQ#03  “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life…Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Jesus, Jesus, O the Privilege it is to call on Your Name! Lord each day I have need of Your Mercy and Grace and each day my heart overflows with Praise for You have abundantly supplied all that I need, in spite of my continual stumbling. Lord, You know my heart and I am getting more secure in Your Love because I know that You know the depths of my sinful nature and yet Your Grace abounds deeper still — not because of anything I have done to deserve even the smallest of Your attentions, but You continue to Forgive all of my daily transgressions that I present to You and You Lovingly Guide me to Your Peace because that is Who You chose to be for our sakes! O the Mystery of God, that the Creator of the ends of the earth, the Pure Innocent Redeemer who chose to die on a cross for the guilty, to suffer the agony we deserve and give us access to Your Heaven. Praise the Forgiving God!!!     AMEN 

THE JESUS QUESTIONS   

JESUS started JQ#03 with a section on “worry” and in this section Jesus uses 8 Questions to get us thinking about “worry”. This section in Matthew 6:25-34 contains several verses that the Holy Spirit impressed upon me on my Spiritual Journey to Truth that I feel has led me back to the right path when the world had closed in on me like it so often does to all of us. When you finally get back on the right path again you see that it was some form of “worry” that distracted you and just that quick when we take our eyes off the Truth and let the world and all its worries get our attention we find ourselves off the main road — if we are lucky we will be on a stretch of road that has “warning bumps” to get our focus back where it is supposed to be and the Spirit will redirect our wayward steps and correct our course back from the Broad Path of Destruction to the “Narrow Paths of Righteousness”! Matthew 6:33 is one of those verses for me that has kept me focused on Jesus and when my eyes are firmly fixed on Him, for Jesus again and again tells us that worries and wrong doing have no place in our life. I will attempt to share how my wanderings into darkness were redirected to the Light and the right paths from this section where Jesus Teaches us about “worry” by stating very emphatically: “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life…” (Matthew 6:25a) It is a very bold statement but let’s consider JESUS is making it! The “Therefore” comes immediately after Jesus had stated in Matthew 6:24, “You cannot serve God and mammon” and the implication here is that if you chose to “serve God” then there is no need to “worry”. Jesus uses the next 7 verses (Matthew 6:24-32) to show that “worry” is primarily caused by serving “mammon” but closes with two powerful verses (Matthew 6:33-34) that show how to eliminate “worry” — spiritual speed bumps if you will — so let’s look at each of the 8 Questions in this section and apply them to reducing “worry” in our lives. JQ#3a —“Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25b) Each Question that Jesus asks is to make us stop and think about the simple Questions we encounter in our daily lives and give Him back a simple answer that shows Him we are listening to His Teachings. For instance, when I read this passage with the intent of “learning from Jesus” I can more easily come to an answer because Jesus never asks a Question without a specific answer in mind that will Teach followers a specific point that will make our life better if we bother to listen to His Question and answer Him honestly, keeping in mind that if we listen to our answer back to Him that we will indeed learn the Lesson He is intent on Teaching and within every Jesus Lesson is a Truth of God! I am sure that if you stop and consider that “life IS more than food” and “the body IS more than clothing” then you will start to see what Jesus is trying to Teach and the answer then is a simple “Yes, I see now that You have corrected my course”. Read Matthew 6:25 again and literally pray your answer to Jesus through your prayer and then “wait on the LORD” for the blessings that He will pour out!

FEBRUARY 09 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#03 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life…Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25)

 FEBRUARY 09  THE JESUS QUESTIONS    JQ#03  “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life…Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord there is nothing I can do to merit Your favor but You place within our grasp the very “Power” that brings Eternal Life with Perfect Fellowship with the Father. That “Power” is contained within our Free Will which you have so graciously bestowed on all that call upon the Name of the Lord, even our LORD JESUS. Help me Lord to always be mindful that each and every choice that I make in my daily life has an effect on my Eternity. Lord, too often do I overlook the “divine responsibility” and the magnitude of the importance that exercising my Free Will automatically carries with it! Lord, influence me today to make those good choices for all my tomorrows.     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS concludes JQ#02 with “No one can serve two masters…you cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24) and then He introduces JQ#03 with this statement:  “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.” (Matthew 6:25A) Once Jesus has firmly established our line of thinking to consider our day-to-day, everyday experiences He then asks His Question to make us laser focus on the Truth of God  to follow:  JQ#03  “Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25b)  Jesus uses “Questions” as a Teaching tool by asking Questions that He fully knows the answer to — He asks the Question not that He needs us to impart knowledge to Him, He asks the “Question” to impart His Knowledge which is Perfect to us, thereby Jesus uses “Questions” get us actively involved in the thought process and Teaches us to take just another step to being “perfect”. In this Matthew 6:25-34 section Jesus asks 8 separate questions but all of them deal with “worry”. Since Jesus uses Questions as Teaching tools, if He asks effectively the same Question 8 separate times in quick succession it logically follows that He must be Teaching on an important subject. From JQ#02 this thought emerged “why tax collectors?” and that question was answered with the obvious everyday observable fact that “taxes and tax collectors” are a “universal” reference that everyone can relate to, and in JQ#03 Jesus addresses a topic that is also “universal” and affects everyone I know — “Worry”. Again, as is the Teaching style of Jesus, He introduces the topic with an absolute “Truth” and then gets us to “think” about the “Truth” He has just spoken. This JQ#03 section starts out with one such “Truth” when Jesus says: “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; not about your body, what you will put on…” (Matthew 6:25a) and then to emphasize His point, Jesus asks a simple series of Questions that reinforce the Lesson He is Teaching. This teaching method can be compared to a college professor first stating the object of the lesson and then turning immediately around and gives a test question like “What did I just say?” So Jesus states the “Truth” that we should “not worry about our life” and lists some everyday choices we make such as what to eat and drink and what to wear. He immediately makes us stop and consider a Question with an obvious answer just to make His point. Jesus says “not to worry” and then He asks the deep Question that will lead us to a “Divine Truth”! He ends His opening statement with His main Question in this section: JQ#03 “Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25b) His Question at the end of verse Matthew 6:25 is the main Question in this section of Matthew 6:25-34 therefore it needs to be “chewed on” for a little while — therefore, since the “Question” is a basic question about yourself and your everyday life, shouldn’t we stop and consider that Jesus thought it important enough to Teach an “everyday Truth” that we in our “everyday lives” must deal with “day-in-and-day-out”?!?!  If we meditate on “Why” would Jesus bother to “Teach” us about simple “everyday” things we will come to understand that our “everyday, day-in-day-out” lives are important to Him because it is important to “our Father in heaven”!!! When Jesus starts with what is actually a command: “do not worry about your life”, we should assume that Jesus is Supremely Confident that our Father in heaven is going to take care of our needs, therefore the Divine Truth is that “God will supply all our needs” and that our “worrying” never helps anything so we should ask the simple-obvious-logical-everyday question:  “What do we think we can accomplish with our worry that God hasn’t already taken care of in His Master Plan for our day-to-day lives?” We get into Spiritual “trouble” when we make our “worry” a greater power than our “Faith in God” — Trust God that when He commands you “Not to worry” that He HAS YOUR 6!!!

FEBRUARY 08 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#02 “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you …and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47)

 FEBRUARY 08  THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#02  “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you …and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, there is nothing to do but to TRUST that You are the TRUTH, made flesh and dwelt among us to reveal the Father in heaven to a lost and dying world, and by knowing the TRUTH, there is HOPE for a world lost in darkness of sin! And in knowing the Son of the Living God, through FAITH there is PEACE - a PEACE that cannot be understood with our limited and finite intellect therefore it can only be perceived and applied to our lives through the the Lens of Faith leading us down Paths of Righteousness — a road that all believers travel safely down as the LIGHT is ALWAYS ON and Jesus leads us down this PATH OF RIGHTEOUSNESS for He has gone before us and has come to SHOW US THE WAY! Lead on Jesus!!!     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS has established with JQ#01 that we are “salt” and “light” but Jesus makes it clear that these are “God-given” talents and as such they should be used for “kingdom work” — we have been blessed by God to be trusted to “enter into His Labors” so we should use what God has given us to help others and we should let the “LIGHT” of God shine in the darkness that seeks to consume the world! In JQ#02 Jesus pointedly asks us again to consider that when we are doing “kingdom work” that we should be doing kingdom work to HONOR THE KING and therefore the best way to HONOR God is to “imitate” God and that is best done by “Loving others” who are as equally undeserving of God’s “LOVE” as we are! Jesus then commands us to “be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48) and to make it a “command” and not a “suggestion”, do not miss Jesus declaring “you SHALL be perfect” and not “maybe you can” — No, it is the imperative command, “you SHALL”!!! God never gives us instructions without first making sure that we have all the provisions necessary to complete the task God has given us to perform and once Jesus tells us to “Be perfect” He then proceeds to give us instructions — there are 4 main areas of helping others that Jesus addresses, warning us that when we help others for the kingdom’s sake that we are to avoid being “hypocrites” in order to please God. So far we have seen (1) we are to do “Charitable Deeds” (2) we are to “Pray” and we are to (3) “Fast” (Matthew 6:1-18) and (4) “Serve God” and avoid serving “Mammon” for God shows us clearly that all our desires should be directed towards God and His Kingdom. Jesus uses a series of Good Action/Bad Action events to demonstrate this point: (A) “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal…” (Matthew 6:19) BUT — “…lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.” (Matthew 6:20) TRUTH A: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21)  Then (B) “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. (Matthew 6:22) BUT “…if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. TRUTH B: “If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:23) Jesus sums up the Good/Bad Lessons with this TRUTH OF GOD: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24) This makes it clear that everyone is going to “SERVE” someone else and God shows us that the Master of the world is Mammon and the Master of Creation is God, so the logical question is: “Are you going to serve that which is not eternal and is plagued with destruction such as the things of this world or are you going to serve “God”, the ETERNAL Creator of the Universe and the Giver of ETERNAL Life?” I, myself, can only tell you — “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!” (Joshua 24:15) 

FEBRUARY 07 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#02 “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you …and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47)

 FEBRUARY 07   THE JESUS QUESTIONS   JQ#02  “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you …and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer

JESUS, Lord and Savior, Redeemer and Friend, may every breath I take be used for Your Glory, let every thought I have be only thoughts of your kingdom, and may all my deeds be done in Your Name and for the kingdom’s sake. I have no desire but “serving" the King of kings and Lord of lords! Forgive me when I fail You with some careless thought or deed that draws me back to the world, may they all be used to grow the kingdom — keeping nothing for self.   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS used JQ#01 & JQ#02 to focus our efforts on others and He gave us a couple of warnings to avoid “hypocrisy”. Jesus commanded us to do “charitable deeds” and “to pray” (Matthew 6:1-8) and in regards to "how" we pray Jesus gave specific instructions that when we pray (not if — but when) that our prayers should be just as if we were talking to the Father and not just using “vain repetitions” because “…your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him…” (Matthew 6:7-8) Jesus then gives us the “Model Prayer”: 

“In this manner, therefore, pray: 

Our Father in heaven, 

Hallowed be Your name.

Your kingdom come. 

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our transgressions

As we forgive those who transgress against us.

And do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from the evil one.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen." (Matthew 6:9-13) 

Jesus then amplified the importance of our forgiving others as He immediately made it plain that God forgives us because of our personal attitude that we harbor in our hearts toward others: “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:14-15) Again Jesus has told us plainly what God expects of us (Free Will CHOICE) and to make it clear Jesus gives us motivation as He lists the “rewards” and the “penalties” (CONSEQUENCES) of obeying (Actions that results from our Free Will CHOICE) the commands of “our Father in heaven.” After Jesus discussed “charitable deeds” and “praying” Jesus then instructs us in “fasting” and just like Jesus warned us about the first two steps to “perfection”, Jesus also warns about “fasting” that we should “not be like the hypocrites” putting on a show to impress men “But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” (Matthew 6:16-18) It is interesting to note that the first three steps we are to take to being “perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect” is to take these steps outside the spotlight of men — for Jesus warns us that if we do anything to impress men then we will be seen as “hypocrites” in the Father’s eyes. Jesus says our motivation to taking steps to perfection should be to gain favor with “our Father who is in the secret place, and sees in secret” who will know that we took the steps for Him and Him alone and that we will TRUST GOD to “reward” us as HE DESIRES!!!