APRIL 23 JQ#11.2 The Jesus Questions

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

APRIL  23

365 Prayers to JESUS 

Jesus, Lord, my God, my Redeemer Praise, Glory, and Honor to the Only Begotten of the Father, the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the earth! O Blessed Thought — THOU ART MINE!! Jesus, the Name above all names, have mercy on this sinner saved by Your Grace, guide me each day as I look for Your Daily Manna to “reign” down from Heaven for my daily “spiritual” bread!

The Jesus Questions

JQ#11 — “What are your spiritual expectations?” Matthew 11:7. The writer of the Gospel of Matthew does a great job of moving from one Jesus Question to the other by keeping us up to date with the Ministry of Jesus as the writes comments on what  he observes as logical transitions from one lesson to the next; for example, Matthew starts chapter 11 with “Now it came to pass, when Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples, that He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities.” (Matthew 11:1) Recall that JQ#10 was “What is your spiritual value?” (Matthew 10:29). Jesus asked by JQ#10 by referring to “two sparrows [being] sold for a copper coin” in the middle of equipping His twelve disciples as we read in Matthew 10:1 “…[Jesus] gave them power..” (Matthew 10:1) before sending them out “…as sheep in the midst of wolves…” (Matthew 10:16) and then Jesus assured His disciples of their “spiritual value” in verses Matthew 10:30 -42 where Jesus states “…[My disciples] shall by no means lose [their] reward!” which is essentially telling the disciples they will never lose their “spiritual value”! Now Jesus transitions to His next lesson/question as He asks JQ#11: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?”  (Matthew 11:7) There is no doubt that the lesson Jesus is going to teach is about our “spiritual expectations” and the lesson is meant for all generations; because in verses 1-6 preceding the question, Jesus refers to Himself as the “Coming One” to the disciples of John the Baptist [John’s mission was] to point to “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29) and as soon as Jesus explained to John’s disciples why He declares Himself the “Coming One”  that Matthew 11:7 states: “And as [the disciples of John the Baptist] departed [with the revelation that Jesus is the Coming One], Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John [the Baptist]…” (Matthew 11:7A)  “What did you go into the wilderness to see?” as Jesus introduces the next lesson/question JQ#11: “What are your spiritual expectations?” (Matthew 11:7b). Therefore Jesus establishes the fact that He is moving from equipping the disciples and teaching about our “Eternal Spiritual Value” in JQ#10 in Matthew Chapter 10 to a new lesson in Matthew Chapter 11 about our “Spiritual Expectations” as He establishes clearly the fact that Jesus IS THE COMING ONE and we should evaluate our individual expectations of who we believe is “the Coming One” and what do we “expect” from our “Messiah”? Jesus reveals Himself as the “Coming One” first to the disciples of John because they were “expecting” the Messiah and John the Baptist had borne “witness of Him and cried out saying, ‘This is He’ [the Messiah]…”.  (John 1:15) John the Baptist said his personal mission was to “Make straight the way of the Lord” (John 1:23) and then as John the Baptist first laid eyes on Jesus, John made his famous declaration “Behold the Lamb of God” (John 1:29) There is no room for doubt, in the JQ#11 question Jesus is teaching that He IS the Messiah and we should evaluate our expectations of Him! Did you ever stop to consider your personal “spiritual expectation” of Jesus Christ?

I'm Finally Home / A Poem

I’m Finally Home

When I’m dead 

And when I’m GONE

Laugh and sing — 

Cause I’m not HERE

I’m Finally Home

This earthen vessel broken

And cold as a STONE

Is not who I am —

Be of good CHEER

I’m Finally Home

My Faith and my Spirit

Are healthy and STRONG

Celebrate in my victory

Shed not a TEAR

I’m Finally Home

I’m finally resting

I’m singing His SONG

In His Peace rejoicing 

No worries nor FEAR

I’m Finally Home

Weep not nor tremble

For the Greatest Love KNOWN

Just put His arms ‘round me

Said soft, sweet, and CLEAR

“You’re Finally Home”!!

APRIL 22 JQ#11.1 The Jesus Questions

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

April 22 / Day 54

365 Prayers to JESUS

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 praying daily for over twelve years now. Some days as I read the first prayers written in my 2004 journal for the same day twelve years ago I can see Your Hand, Your Grace, Your Mercy, and in 2016 You are showing me how You have taught me and I can more clearly see the lesson 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 what I want my life to be and not what others tell me how to live?” Lord Jesus, today in 2016 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” has no bearing or impact on who I am nor on my final destination. 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”!   

The Jesus Questions

JQ#11 — Before moving to the next “Jesus Question” the Holy Spirit is leading me to share the APRIL 22 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 thoughts were that there are so many good writers like Oswald Chambers, A.W. Tower, and C.S. Lewis just to name a few, plus great daily devotionals like Charles Stanley, Daily Bread, Guiding Light, and Adrian Rogers that I felt there was no need to add more written words about Jesus. 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 answered prayer about 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 I am writing about is not 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 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 as we continue studying the Word in order to learn the lessons the Master is teaching.  

APRIL 21 The Jesus Questions

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

April 21 / Day 53

365 Prayers to JESUS

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 12 years ago that You had turned my thoughts to the great sacrifice You made for the atonement of sin, all sin, that all who believed that 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, Your Gift of Sacrifice and the Father’s Gift of Free Will I return now as a “Free Will Offering” because I BELIEVE and ACCEPT YOUR LOVE and I desire to return an acceptable “Offering” to the One that imparts Eternal Life on Believers. 

The Jesus Questions

 JQ#10 — The question: “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin?” (Matthew 10:29a) has been a very “profitable” study spiritually and the entire Matthew Chapter 10 is filled with so 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 10:9-10 not to take money or any physical possessions on our journey. What Jesus promised the disciples however was that they were not going empty handed. His disciples were assured of their daily bread and 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 were “not to fear” or worry because the “Spiritual Compensation” far outweighs the “physical cost”! Jesus adds some very significant spiritual compensations for He states that we should not worry about our physical death because our souls are eternal and if we will focus on our “spiritual value” that God Himself will provide us with 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 a lifetime warranty and Divine guarantee: “…assuredly, I say to you, [My disciples] shall by no means lose [their] reward.” 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 that many sparrows.” With this kind of “assurance” it makes the “daily cross” a little easier to bear, don’t you think?    

APRIL 20 The Jesus Questions

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

April 20 / Day 52

365 Prayers to JESUS

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”. 

The Jesus Questions

 JQ#10 — The question: “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin?” (Matthew 10:29a) has been a field in which 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 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 the Son for Jesus for we see that Jesus starts Matthew Chapter 10 by calling 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 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 chapter 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 (3) cast out demons 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 they are not equipped for and 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) but 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” 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 in the middle of these instructions on what to expect as disciples of Jesus doing kingdom work in a lost world, just get ready and keep digging!

APRIL 19 The Jesus Questions

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

April 19 / Day 51

365 Prayers to JESUS

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 (12 years ago) and realize that even though it took several years and the answer arrived in the most unexpected “Way” that the answer is definite and as is Your Divine Way, it is beyond our expectations and imaginations and the “looking back” at prayers lifted and faithfully answered it definitely “grows my Faith”. I am also learning that I am to lift my prayer to You and then “wait on the Lord” without 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!

The Jesus Questions

 JQ#10 — The question: “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin?” (Matthew 10:29a) should be considered in its entire context and so far we have noted that there are some very serious instructions being given. 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 of Christ Jesus with the world and Jesus made it very clear that this “sharing” is for a very serious purpose as “Consequences” such as eternal life in heaven and eternal damnation in hell is discussed. 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 has 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 Heaven and God. Jesus taught this same lesson to the most learned man in Jerusalem and a leader of the Jerusalem synagog 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) and Jesus 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!

APRIL 18 The Jesus Questions

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

April 18 / Day 50

The Jesus Questions

 JQ#10 — The question: “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin?” (Matthew 10:29a) doesn’t seem relative to our lifestyles of iPads and Smartphones, besides no one sells sparrows any more and certainly no business man would present a product that costs a “penny”. So the question we must ask of JQ#10 is “Why was the simple question asked in the first place?” Therein lies the answer, and the question only makes sense if we look at the circumstances surrounding both the question and the one who is asking it. The first consideration is “who” is asking the question and the answer is all the way back in Matthew 10:5 as we read, “These twelve (disciples) JESUS sent out and commanded them saying…”. In my Scofield Red-Letter Edition all  the words of Jesus is in Red Letters and in this passage (or context) preceding JQ#10 about the two sparrows and a copper coin, the text is all Red Letters starting at the end of verse 5 and is Red up to verse 29 where Jesus asked this question of the sparrows and copper coin. Not only is the question asked by Jesus but we must consider that before the question He has “commanded” His hand picked disciples as He “sent [the disciples] out” to share with the world that “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 10:7) Contained in verses 5-28 of this set of commands Jesus is giving His disciples to share about the “kingdom of heaven being at hand” is (1) “heal the sick (2) cleanse the lepers (3) raise the dead (4) cast out demons” then Jesus warns them (5) they “are sheep in the midst of wolves (6) to be wise as serpents (7) beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils (8) they will scourge you in their synagogues (9) brother will deliver up brother to death” and Jesus warned them that His disciples will (10) “be hated by all for My names sake”. These serious warnings and commands do not seem to fit with the simple question about two sparrows and a copper coin and especially when we consider that the last phrase Jesus used just before asking the sparrow and coin question was “…able to destroy both body and soul in hell.”! Considering the context before the question gives much more weight to the question, especially since the question was asked by Jesus in the process of teaching His disciples how to share with “the lost sheep” that the “kingdom of heaven is at hand” and in His instructions to His disciples He talks of life, death, betrayal, heaven, and hell and the destruction of “both soul and body”  which makes the sparrow and coin question jump out and grab our attention which is most probably the exact affect Jesus intended for the disciples and for us! The lesson Jesus is teaching with the simple question of sparrows has great kingdom impact and Jesus takes a very serious topic and asks a simple question that anyone can answer in order to show us that the kingdom of heaven is within everyone’s grasp! If Jesus was teaching His disciples how to teach “lost sheep” about the kingdom of heaven and how to address their eternal souls then we should take the sparrow and coin question very serious and honestly answer this Jesus question for if Jesus is talking about such serious issues as eternal life and death, lost sheep, and destruction of our souls then His question deserves an honest answer! Let Jesus and the Holy Spirit teach us the lesson He has intended. Remember Jesus wants a personal relationship with us so in order to build an intimate relationship don’t You think an honest question asked with the best of intentions should be answered in like manner?