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?”: 

(Q1)JQ#13A: “How then will his kingdom stand?” (Matthew 12:26) ——— 

(Q2) JQ#13B: “And if I [Jesus] cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom

 do your sons cast them out?” (Matthew 12:27) ——— and 

(Q3) 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” 

(C1) will cause a “kingdom” to be brought to “desolation”, 

(C2) “Satan” himself cannot survive, and 

(C3) 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 then 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?”

APRIL 11 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 11  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, Lord, my Savior, Praise, Glory, and Honor to the Son of God Most High.

 Jesus, my prayer today is that the Holy Spirit will totally consume me 

and overflow from my spirit so that all that will be seen in me is Thee!

 Today I pray for the total destruction of the old man as I share

 Your Story of Grace and Forgiveness by the “Way”

 I live my day-to-day life. 

Lord, I know that without Your Grace and Forgiveness that I would still be lost

 in “self” and drowning in my “sin”, grant it Lord that all the words I speak today

 will be Your Words, that all my desires will be towards “loving others” as 

You have commanded. Forgive me mine iniquities, let Your cleansing Light 

be all that remains in my life.

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus Himself has always made His Lessons and Callings personal —

 we see Him calling out His disciples one by one and not only just calling 

them out individually but He called each one by name and made it clear

 to each one that they were to use their talents now 

to advance the kingdom of God! 

The way they were to learn “how” to advance God’s Kingdom was the same

 command Jesus has given each individual that will heed the Voice of Jesus,

 

“Come, follow Me.” (Matthew 4:19) 

In JQ#13a, b and c we must understand that Jesus is asking the Pharisees

 to look at themselves and see that their false accusations are damaging

 themselves more than they are damaging Jesus. Jesus starts explaining

 this to the Pharisees by pointing out to them that the “reality” of their

 accusation has the root motivation of “division” and that even in the

 strongest of kingdoms there must be “unity of spirit” or the kingdom

 itself will weaken and eventually crumble:

 “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation 

and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.” 

(Matthew 12:25) . 

The fact that the Pharisees attributes the good works and miracles that 

Jesus had been performing was “by Beelzebub” points to the fact that

 “Satan” himself has been the motivating “spirit” directing the Pharisees

 to attack the good works of Jesus and  the Miracle Power of God — 

“Now when the Pharisees heard [Jesus was performing miracles 

and casting out demons] they said, ‘This fellow does not cast out

 demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of demons.” Matthew 12:24)  

If we look at what Jesus had been doing in terms of healing and casting out

 demons we must concede that the “physical” results of these miracles 

can only be accounted for by the “Spiritual” Power of God being exhibited

 through Jesus — for never before in all of history nor ever will it happen in

 the future that anyone has or will “cast out demons by Beelzebub”!!! 

 However, the Pharisees could not deny that miracles were being performed 

so they had to draw the multitude’s attention away from God’s Power and

 therefore the Pharisees were given the “idea” from Satan himself to draw

 the focus of the miracles away from God and to give Satan the “credit” for

 this healing and casting out demons! 

The really big problem here can be seen as the ridiculous claim it really is —

 by saying that Jesus is “casting out demons” by the power of “Beelzebub”, 

the accusation itself reveals it as another fabrication by Satan

 to draw us away from the 

Truth of God!

 If Satan controls all the demons then why would Satan make himself look

 bad by putting demons into someone and then turning around and drawing

 them out again which would only put Satan at “cross purposes” with himself!?!? 

 Jesus points out that Satan would be fighting against himself and that would

 be self-destruction — but on the other hand, Jesus points out that by just

 the very mention of the name “Beelzebub” in their accusation that the 

Pharisees have exposed the source and supply of their false accusations

 and their true motivation which is to “divide and conquer” the followers of 

Jesus who is Teaching the Truth of God, 

doesn’t that sound exactly like what is happening in our world today? 

Jesus knew that this problem would plague all men just like the universal

 problem the world has with sin and self and if Satan can draw your 

attention away from God then he has divided God’s people! It is as true

 today as it was when Jesus first spoke it,

 “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, 

and every city or house [or church group or family] divided against itself

 will not stand.”

(Matthew 12:25) 

That verse started with, “But Jesus knew their thoughts…” and the Lesson

 we must learn is that as soon as the name “Beelzebub” or “Satan” is 

mentioned we must look to find the false accusations that will be present

 against God — for the goal of Satan is “desolation” of God’s people! 

 Satan himself knows that 

“God so loved the world that He gave [the sin filled world] 

His only begotten Son [Jesus], that whosoever believes 

in [the acceptable Sacrifice on the cross for our sin by] Jesus 

that they shall not perish, but have everlasting life!” ( John 3:16)

 John 3:16 explains why Satan would attack and accuse Jesus —

 for it is Jesus that defeats Satan and frees all men from the slavery

 of sin and self! Satan has used the “separation-from-God” weapon against

 the children of God ever since Adam and Eve to “divide” and hurt all

 that seek to be the children of God! If we remain in our sin then we will

 perish and have to live our Eternity separated (or “divided”) from God,

 hence our “desolation” is Satan’s victory! 

Do you see now why Satan attacks the Truth of God and why Jesus is

 pointing this out with JQ#13? Jesus clearly points this out so that we will

 know that Satan always attacks God by attacking God’s people, and 

Satan’s favorite weapon of “desolation” is false accusations against God

 to get us to turn from God to ourselves where temptation and sin will 

consume us and separate us from God? 

If Jesus points out a “problem”, 

don’t you think a “solution” is quick to follow?

 Remember, 

“If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed!” 

(John 8:36)