JANUARY 23 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#01 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?” (Matthew 5:13)

 

JANUARY  23  THE JESUS QUESTIONS

  JQ#01 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor,

 how shall it be seasoned?” (Matthew 5:13)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer   

JESUS, Lord, Savior, Redeemer, Master, Teacher — what joy it is to know

 that the One holding our Eternity in His Hands deserves such Divine 

and eloquent titles. Lord I wake to the thought that You have given me

 yet another day and through the strength that Your Grace has imparted

 to me the possibilities of my future are limitless. Jesus, You Teach and 

Guide us in Your Ways and we know that through the knowledge that

 You give we can know the Father and we are assured

 that if we walk in Your Way that the path leads us to 

Eternal, Unbroken Fellowship with God Himself! 

What glorious thought that time and death will not hold sway over us

 as we enter into Your Kingdom and have all of Eternity ahead of us,

 a Blessed Eternity  free from the bondage of sin … Forgive me,

 a sinner in the flesh — I am longing for the day I can stand before You

 in Spirit and in Truth at the Final Judgement and be judged not on

 my righteousness but on the Righteousness of the Son of the Living God, 

even my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Himself!      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS 

JESUS began His Ministry by going on a “field trip” which firmly

 established His “Purpose and Credentials” of being God’s Messiah

 by experiencing first hand the main problem Jesus was sent to earth

 to resolve — mainly the big issue in everyone’s life is having to learn

 how to be “in the world” but resist the temptation to be “of the world”! 

Matthew writes about this “field trip” Jesus took at the start

 of His Earthly Ministry thusly: “Then [immediately after being baptized 

by John in the Jordan] Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the 

wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted 

forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. 

Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, 

‘If You are the Son of God, 

command that these stones become bread.” (Matthew 4:1-3) 

This is a Divinely inspired passage by Matthew because it completely

 exposes the Main Truth of God needed by every individual and

 gives us an “example” of what to look for and how to handle it once

 we find ourselves in this circumstance — it is guaranteed that each 

one of us will encounter such a circumstance somewhere along the way 

on our Spiritual Journey! I say this because the first statement is, 

“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit” 

so it is obvious that if Jesus came to be an “example” for us and to teach

 us how to react to certain circumstances in our daily life, then it is logical

 to assume that if the Spirit led Jesus 

“into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” 

that it would be prudent for us to prepare for that “experience” on our

 own “Spiritual” journey by expecting to find ourselves in

 “the wilderness” and to encounter “temptation”! 

The best way to prepare for any circumstance, and especially if we know

 with certainty that we will be “tempted by the devil” is to listen to the ONE

 that has gone before us and has successfully resolved every circumstance

 that we will find ourselves in at some point on our personal “Spiritual Journey”! 

We would not be so foolish as to go on a great journey into a wild and 

unknown land without making necessary preparations and to use an

 “experienced guide” to show us how to avoid the pitfalls and dangers that

 we are sure to encounter on our way — so why do we foolishly think we 

can make it through life without “The Guide” that has experienced 

VICTORY over Life, Temptation, and Death? It is written of Jesus: 

“For we do not have a [Guide] who is unable to empathize with 

our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, 

just as we are--yet He did not sin.” (Hebrews 4:15) 

If I am going to have to face “the devil” and I have “to be tempted” by

 the one that seeks to “devour my soul”, then I want to have as my guide

 the One that is “The Guide” and has VICTORY over the world, 

VICTORY over sin, VICTORY over temptation, VICTORY over the devil,

 and VICTORY over death itself to lead me on my Spiritual Journey!   

We are very fortunate to have “The Guide” for our Spiritual Journey and

 we also have the “Ultimate Guide Book” (the Holy Bible) to read for

 ourselves the “experiences” of “failures” and “pitfalls” of all those that

 refused to follow “The Guide” and the “successes” of those that listened

 to Him!!! On my embarking on my Spiritual Journey I obtained a copy 

of the “Ultimate Guide to Life” and in reading it through and through

 I have been very aware of certain passages that are written

 in “Red Letters” in my (Guide Book) copy of the Scofield Study Bible

 and those “Red Letter” passages are the ones that contains Statements

 and Advice that Jesus, the Master Life-Guide, spoke to help us 

on our Spiritual Journey.  Jesus uses “Questions” to point us to special

 “points of interest” along our journey. The Spirit led me to a though

t one day while reading in my Bible —

 I was to go through the New Testament Gospel of Jesus Christ 

written by Matthew and read through all the times Jesus 

is quoted (designated by the “Red Letters”) and to study 

each Question that Jesus asked as I came to it. 

There are not that many “Red Letter” passages so when the Master Teacher

 who has Infinite Knowledge and Understanding asks a “Question” then

 we should pay attention! The plan for the rest of this blog then

 is to identify those “Questions” that Jesus asked, study 

the context surrounding the circumstance, and let the

 Holy Spirit enlighten our consciousness to that “Lesson” 

that JESUS the Master Teacher is trying to Teach us

 by making us stop and think about what He has asked, 

then meditate on each “JESUS Question” 

until we can give Him an “honest” answer. 

This exercise will not be a quick read and it will take months (the rest 

of the year in fact) to answer each of the 33 JESUS Questions 

the Holy Spirit challenged me to answer in this blog and share them

 with others seeking TRUTH on their personal SPIRITUAL JOURNEY—

 but I encourage you to take the time and accept the challenge because Jesus

 had a reason for asking these Questions and I know He has a very good

 reason for letting the Holy Spirit challenge each reader to give their

 own answer for each of “The JESUS Questions” — and your own

 “honest” answer must be given directly to Jesus Himself!! 

This blog is designed by the Holy Spirit to be a One-on-one

 between the reader and JESUS CHRIST! 

The Plan then is to start by reading again from the beginning of Matthew

 and his introduction of Jesus Christ as Messiah and firmly establish

 in our minds that Jesus IS the Master Guide having the 

Authority and the Power of God to successfully lead us on our 

Spiritual Journey and to take us safely through all the pitfalls of life.

 Once we know that Jesus IS the Master Teacher and with what

 Authority He Teaches we can then with supreme confidence continue

 our Spiritual Journey. 

Let us begin our “RED LETTER SPIRITUAL JOURNEY with JESUS” 

by introducing the first JESUS Question — 

JQ#01 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor,

 how shall it be seasoned?” (Matthew 5:13a) 

The first thought that struck me when I read this first JESUS Question 

is that Jesus is talking to all those that call themselves “Christians”,

 and the second thought that followed was an emotion of guilt and shame

 as I read the next statement Jesus made about salt: 

“… [tasteless salt] is then good for nothing but to be thrown out

 and trampled underfoot by men.” (Matthew 5:13b) 

The JESUS Question JQ#01 about Christians being “the salt of the earth”

 and the immediate statement Jesus made about “salt” provoked an 

emotion that made me ask, “Is this what is happening in my 

spiritual life and I am being trampled emotionally underfoot by the world” 

and then I immediately prayed “Jesus, how do I fix it?”?!?! —

 my prayer was answered as soon as I continued reading the next few verses

 in my Guide Book where I found “encouragement and guidance” —

 for with the “Question” still lingering in my mind,

 the Master Teacher’s WORDS opened my understanding to the Answer 

that followed immediately after His Question! 

It is my prayer that this blog will do the same for you and that you 

will find these Eternal Life Answers from the Master’s Questions,

 asked by JESUS HIMSELF for each of our sakes! 

Why should we study The JESUS Questions???:

II Timothy 2:15 admonishes,

 “Study to show yourself approved unto God,

 a workman that needs not to be ashamed, 

rightly dividing the word of truth.”

>>>my prayer was answered as soon as I continued reading<<< 

Selah