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 (JESUS) 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? 

MARCH 21 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#10 “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin?” (Matthew 10:29)

 

MARCH 21  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  

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

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer    

JESUS, another day and new mercies and “Hope” for our future. You Lord have commanded us to “take up our cross” daily and then with great assurance You immediately add that once we take up the cross that we are also 

commanded by You to “Follow Me” — 

Lord thank you for teaching us that by “following” you that You will help us bear the burden of our cross and even though it is a cross that is heavy to bear physically that it is a “spiritual blessing” and will lead us to the Narrow Gate and we can rest assured that You will be with us each step of the “Way”.    

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS uses a simple sparrows and coin Question that points us to a simple plot of spiritual ground that seems to not hold anything of significance but once we have scratched the surface of His Lesson we find that we have uncovered many kingdom gems and if we continue digging in this tremendous Chapter 10 in the Gospel of Matthew we will find some extraordinary “Truths of God” that will help us to know how to please “our Father in heaven” and to inherit “everlasting life”. 

As we study the Teachings of Jesus we see that Jesus always Teaches that the physical “Choices” we make have “Spiritual Consequences”. 

Jesus always Teaches us how to look at the physical with spiritual eyes and Jesus promises that  our “Trust in God” will “cure our spiritual blindness” and we will be able to see the “Will of the Father”. 

Matthew Chapter 10 is a very important “Lesson” for all who seek to know the Father and want to follow His Only Begotten Son Jesus for we see that Jesus starts Matthew Chapter 10 by calling each of His disciples by name and then He sends them out to the “lost sheep” with His Message that the “kingdom of God is at hand”. 

Jesus gives His disciples a specific set of instructions of how to demonstrate the

 Power of God so that the “lost” can be saved and inherit everlasting life. 

Jesus informs the disciples what the cost of discipleship will be as well as what the compensation and rewards will be for following Him. Jesus always asks a Question in His Lessons that will laser-focus us on the most important aspect of the Lesson and in this very important Matthew Chapter 10 where Jesus is equipping His disciples to share His Message with the lost, Jesus keeps us focused on the “spiritual value” of those that choose discipleship. 

Jesus instructs the disciples to (1) heal the sick (2) cleanse the lepers and (3) cast out demons — all actions which can only be accomplished by the Power of God — so we can be assured that Jesus will not ask them to perform a task He has not equipped them for!  

To draw the disciples attention to trusting God for their daily bread, Jesus tells them to “go” but not to take any money with them, not to pack a bag for their journey, not to take extra clothes, shoes, or staffs because God will provide for all their physical needs and will equip them with all their spiritual needs to accomplish their jobs as Jesus states: “for a worker is worthy of his food.” (Matthew 10:6-10). 

Jesus reminds them that they will be as “sheep in the midst of wolves” and that men will “scourge” them (Matthew 10:16-18) however, 

Jesus never told them the “cost” of discipleship without assuring them that God would “equip” them to both endure and prosper and most importantly that God would always be with them. 

Jesus tells them immediately,

 “But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak: for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.” 

(Matthew 10:19-20)

 Jesus continually points to the “Truth of God” that God will provide and that the “spiritual” should always take precedence over the “physical” as illustrated in the sparrow and copper coin (Matthew 10:29a) Question! We can glimpse this valuable “spiritual gem” if we but dig into the field of “God’s Truth” and we use these instructions on what to expect as disciples of Jesus doing kingdom work in a lost world, just get ready, roll up your sleeves and keep digging in God’s Word!

MARCH 20 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#10 “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin?” (Matthew 10:29)

 

MARCH 20  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  

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

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer   

JESUS, Lord I praise You for Your Faithfulness — I am amazed when I read a prayer lifted up to You (or as Pastor Steve says “spread it before the LORD”) that I wrote in 2004 and realize that many years after the prayer request was made and even though the answer to that prayer request took several years to be answered and arrived in a most unexpected “Way”, that the answer is definitely the answer to that specific 2004 prayer and is Your Divine Way, answered in Your Perfect Timing — “Answered Prayers” like this are beyond our expectations and imaginations and is the perfect example of “waiting upon the LORD”! 

This “looking back” at prayers lifted years ago and were faithfully answered definitely “grows my Faith”. I am also learning that I am to lift my prayer to You and then “wait on the Lord” without me telling You “How” to answer my prayer in the “Way” I think it should be answered but to “trust God” and “Your Perfect Way and Perfect Timing”!

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS uses a simple sparrows and coin Question as a contrast to a very serious set of commands that He uses to instruct His disciples how to go out into the world and share the Word of God with a lost and dying world, therefore the simple Question should be considered in its entire serious context. 

So far we have noted that there are some very serious instructions being given for a very serious task Jesus is assigning to His new disciples. A reading of the verses Matthew 10:1-28 are instructions Jesus gave to His disciples as He was equipping them with “tools” to successfully share the Gospel with the world and Jesus made it very clear that this “sharing” is for a very serious purpose and uses a vocabulary of serious terms and and lists

  “Eternal Consequences” such as “Eternal life in heaven or Eternal damnation in hell”. 

Jesus also showed the seriousness of understanding that our lives have a “physical” value and a “spiritual” value and that the ability of men to 

“kill” the “body” was inconsequential to the ability of God 

to “destroy” the “soul”. 

The world has told us the greatest thing to “fear” is our physical death but God reminds us that our physical lives are but a vapor and our bodies come from dust and at our death our physical bodies return to the earth from where it came. But of greater seriousness, our “soul” which God through His Holy Spirit made “eternal” returns to the Creator of our souls when the “physical body” dies. At the time of our physical death, the “body and soul” are separated and our “Eternal Soul” returns to God. 

Jesus Taught this same Lesson to the most learned man in Jerusalem and a leader of the Jerusalem synagogue in John 3:1-21 as Jesus tells Nicodemus 

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3) 

and again, 

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5) 

Jesus then tells Nicodemus that we have two births: (1) a “physical birth” which is of our earthly father and (2) a “Spiritual birth” which is from our heavenly “Father” as Jesus tells Nicodemus plainly, 

“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6).

 

Therefore when Jesus is training His disciples to share His Gospel, He asks the sparrow and copper coin Question to make us consider the “value” of our earthly “body” and the lessons of the “flesh” as compared to the “value” of our “soul” and the

 Lessons of the Spirit which contains “eternal life”. It is the “Choice” we make with our “Spirit” that has “Eternal Consequences”.

 Jesus gives us “Hope” because He also tells the disciples how to please God so that God will accept them in Heaven as Jesus tells the disciples: 

“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in Heaven.” (Matthew 10:32) 

That is GOOD NEWS because we know the Father is “well pleased” with the Son and here the Son is telling us that He will accompany us to Heaven and present us Himself to “our Father who is in Heaven” (Matthew 6:9). 

Pleasing God is as simple as John 3:16 — read it for yourself and claim your promised eternal life!

PERSONAL TESTIMONY ON THE “WAR OF FLESH AND SPIRIT”:

NOTE: 3/19/17 JOE VEAL, FOUNDER OF U-TURN MINISTRIES IN MALAWI, SPOKE AT CALVARY ON ROMANS 7:13-25 “THE WAR OF THE FLESH AND SPIRIT” AND WHEN I WAS IN MALAWI GOD WORKED “THE MIRACLE IN MALAWI” THROUGH ME AS THE HOLY SPIRIT SPOKE THESE PASSAGES FROM JOHN 3:3,5-6 THROUGH ME TO A DYING MAN (WHO HAD JUST DRANK POISON TRYING TO KILL HIMSELF)!!!  THE HOLY SPIRIT PULLED DEATH OUT OF THE POISONED MAN AND THE HOLY SPIRIT ALSO PULLED DEATH OUT OF ME IN THE PROCESS!!!  THE FACT THAT I HAD BEGUN A “WAR” BETWEEN MY FLESH AND SPIRIT ON 3/18/17 SATURDAY AND JOE VEAL SPEAKING FROM ROMANS CHAPTER 7 ON 3/19/17 SUNDAY SPECIFICALLY ABOUT THAT “WAR”, AND THEN ON 3/20/17 MONDAY THIS JESUS QUESTION IS ABOUT THE WORDS JESUS USED TO HEAL THE SUICIDAL MAN IN MALAWI FROM JOHN 3 ARE 3 “CONFIRMATIONS” FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT ON MY “WAR OF THE FLESH AND SPIRIT” AND ALLOWS ME THE FREEDOM TO MOVE ON IN SERVICE TO GOD — AS JOE SAYS FROM A PASSAGE IN ISAIAH — “HERE I AM, SEND ME”!!!