Monthly Archives: February 2016

Death was never meant to happen (Matthew9:24) February 19, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Isaiah 40-44

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 9:24
Jesus (to the crowd): Go away, and do your ministering somewhere else. This girl is not dead. She is merely asleep.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Everyone knew the girl was dead except Jesus. How could He not know that eyes closed, no movement, total paralysis of every muscle, total lack of response meant no life? How could He not understand that when no heartbeat and no breath existed, no life existed either? The girl was dead. Plain and simple. Was this guy crazy? The mourners were already gathered and playing their funeral dirge. The professionals already made their declaration. The girl was dead! How could He say she was merely asleep? He was nuts!

Everyone knows the difference between life and death. Or do they? Do those who belong to Christ see things the way He does? How does He see life and death? What’s different about how Jesus saw the girl and how those mourners saw her?

We have to go back to the beginning to understand what Jesus saw. God never intended death to enter the world. He brought life here. He created every living thing. He breathed into us so we became living spirits. He gave us a part that He didn’t give other created beings. He gave us immortality when He made us in His image. He intended for us to live with Him forever. It was Adam and Eve who brought the curse of death on humankind. When they disobeyed God’s command, He let the consequences of their disobedience fall on them and on their descendants who could not help but follow in their footsteps. Death entered the world.

But Jesus saw past the curse of Adam and saw God’s intent. He saw death held no power over God, but only over sinful man. I don’t know the age of the official’s daughter, but I expect she still lived in an age of innocence. I expect He saw her heart and her innocence and saw sins curse had not yet reached out to defeat her. She slept in the arms of the Father. Safe. Innocent. Not yet poluted by sinful choices. Jesus saw life hereafter for her.

So for Jesus, He saw only life. Life in her physical frame and life in her spiritual frame. He saw only life, not death. He saw her untainted by the evil of the world at that point in her life and it didn’t matter which realm she sat in at the moment. She had life. Real life. It was just a simple matter of starting her heart again. Putting breath back into her lungs. Healing whatever malady plagued her. Those were simple for the Jesus. He created all things at the beginning. He knew how to do those things. What those around Him didn’t know, He could also move her spirit back and forth from the one realm to another.

No one could do such a thing. No one, that is, except God. God intended for all of us to live forever. God intended everyone to stick around and worship Him. In His grace, He cursed the human physical frame with frailty and disease so we would not live in these broken bodies in this broken world forever. He makes a better place to live with Him forever. A place free from the constraints of this physical frame and encased in a new body, a spiritual body, Paul calls it.

Jesus just moved her from one body to another, from her spiritual form to back to her physical form. We hear stories life that in near death or life after death experiences during surgeries, at car crashes, from victims of traumatic events or other phenomena that bring them past the point of clinical death. Eyes closed, total paralysis, heartbeat stops, breath stops, brain waves cease. Dead. Yet somehow, they come back to this physical world and relate what they’ve seen and experienced.

Jesus gives us a glimpse of what God must see as He looks at those who follow Him. And those who follow Him get a glimpse of what it’s like to give everything up for Him. “Death, where is your sting? Grave, where is your victory?” They are gone, because we know that death doesn’t exist. We just step from one world to another. We go from this broken down, decrepid old body, to a new body. A body with no pain, no illness, no sadness, no disappointment, nothing but life, joy, peace.

Those around Him stood amazed at the happenings that day. For Jesus it was nothing. God brings life. From the very beginning until the very end of time, God brings life. The consequence of our disobedience results in death. All it takes to stay on the side of the living is listening to His voice and doing what He asks, following Him. I think I prefer to stay on the side of the living. How about you? 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Where is our faith? (Matthew 9:22) February 18, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Job 13-14

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 9:22
Jesus: Take heart, daughter. Your faith has healed you.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

In the 1970’s and 1980’s, a not so quiet revolt across our college campuses began to tell us God is dead. Or there is no God. Atheism had a heyday with suits about pray in schools, separation of church and state. The theory of evolution was no longer taught as theory, but fact and anyone who believed in creation must be crazy. Such was the change that swept through ‘higher education’ and told us what we should think if we were truly enlightened.

An interesting thing happened among the researchers in the last few years, though. People of faith heal faster and have a more complete recovery than those that do not profess any faith in God. Go figure! Hundreds of thousands of dollars went into the study and other researchers tried their best to debunk the study. The results stood the test. Faith wins. Faith helps in the healing process.

So let’s go back to Jesus’ words and put them into context. An official whose daughter just died came to Jesus for help. Jesus and His disciples get up and head to the official’s home. Curious to see what will happen, a crowd follows the disciples until they are pressed from every side and must push their way through. But a woman makes her way through the crowd and touches Jesus’ cloak. She suffered from a bleeding disorder for 12 years. She tried every remedy all her friends and all the physicians she could afford told her to try to no avail.

Mark relates that Jesus asked, “Who touched Me?” But Matthew says Jesus turned and saw the woman. Some will say, “Aha! Proof that the Bible is just stories, look at the discrepancy in the accounts!” But the discrepancy really adds to the proof of the reality of the event. Two witnesses give testimony to the healing of the woman with a disease she had for 12 years. Did He ask the question or did He just turn and see her? Does it matter?

If you were sitting on a jury and every witness to a car accident said exactly the same thing about the accident, every detail related in the same order, with the same emphasis, content, and descriptions,what would you think? I’d think one of the lawyers did a pretty poor job of rehearsing the witnesses. No one sees an accident exactly the same way. Try it with your spouse, a friend, or a stranger. Spend two or three minutes looking at the same scene, room, or even a painting. Then each of you write a description of that picture separately and compare your descriptions. You’ll be surprised at how different they are.

Now remember that the gospels were written some thirty years after the events! Pretty remarkable recollection, don’t you think? So, back to the story. Whether Jesus asked or turned and saw the woman, He found her out and she came forward and told Him what she had done. She thought if she could just touch His clothing she could be healed if this disease that plagued her for so long. She knew that’s all it would take, just a touch of His cloak and the work would be done. She just had to try. So she pushed forward through the crowd and touched Him. Luke says she just touched the tassels on His cloak.

Jesus surprised everyone with His words. “Take heart, daughter. Your faith has healed you.”

Did you get that? Your faith has healed you! Matthew, Mark, and Luke all tell the story and all of them tell us she found healing immediately! She didn’t have to find another doctor. She didn’t have to go to the drug store and get different herbs or home remedies. She didn’t need some incantation. She didn’t even need Jesus to lay His hands on her. She exercised enough faith to believe all she needed to do was touch the tassles on His cloak and she would find what she was looking for.

Do you have that kind of faith? I’m afraid we let our doubts get in the way far too often today. Do we really believe God can do the kinds of things He did through His children in the early church? I’ve said it before, “God hasn’t changed. His Son hasn’t changed. His Spirit hasn’t changed.” So what has changed? I’m afraid it’s our faith. I’m afraid we no longer believe God can do what He says He can do. Jesus said nothing is impossible for God. Do we really believe that is true?

Do we limit God’s work in our lives today because we put Him in a box and just fail to exercise faith in Him? Do we confine His activity in our prayers because we just really don’t think He can do what we ask Him to do? When will we learn that God is God and we are not? When will we learn that our limitations have nothing to do with what God can or can not do? When will we finally discover that, like the woman in our scripture today, God wants to do so much more for us than we can even imagine. All we need to do is have faith in Him. Not just say we do, but have real faith in Him.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Fasting, patches, and wineskins? (Matthew 9:15-17) February 17, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Psalms 18-20

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 9:15-17
Jesus: When you celebrate—as at a wedding when one’s dearest friend is getting married—you do not fast. The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them. Then My friends and followers will fast. You would begin by washing and shrinking a patch you would use to mend a garment—otherwise, the patch would shrink later, pull away from the garment, and make the original tear even worse. You wouldn’t pour new wine into old wineskins. If you did, the skins would burst, the wine would run out, and the wineskins would be ruined. No, you would pour new wine into new wineskins—and both the wine and the wineskins would be preserved.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Why would Jesus tell us about shrinking patches and bursting wineskins? Especially right after talking about fasting? Do they go together? If so, how? I think it’s easy for us to figure out the fasting part. His followers would fast soon after His departure. In fact, they probably fasted while He was here. They just didn’t announce it to the world like the Pharisees did. They paid attention to the sermon Jesus gave those folks at the beginning of His ministry when He said to put oil on your head, brighten your face, don’t let others see by your appearance that you are fasting. Only your Father in heaven needs to know. He’ll reward you, not people on earth who see you fast.

But what about the pre-shrunk cloth and the new wineskins? What about those? What does that have to do with anything?

Sometimes we put too much into putting symbolism and mystery into what Jesus says and lose the meaning all together. If we just look at what He says, He could simply be telling these city boys some important truths about things they know nothing about. Some of them may never have mended a shirt themselves in their life. Kind of like teaching your kids how to do laundry or how to cook. When they go out on their own for the first time, you don’t want them to stare at the washing machine and wonder what to do next or put everything in a single load and assume hot water is better to get everything cleaner. Suddenly the budget breaks and someone will need to bail them out!

So maybe Jesus was just giving good advice. More than likely, He used these two common knowledge pieces of advice as metaphors for a more profound teaching. If we think about the previous statement about fasting after He leaves and celebrating while He is with His disciples. Perhaps Jesus uses the metaphor to help explain this new life His followers enter into.

This new love Jesus talks about, this new way of life, this writing of God’s law on the heart makes us new from the inside out. It changes a person. It transforms a person completely. It means the old habits, the old haunts, the old friends, the old language, the old everything stops. A new way of life begins transformed by the power of God’s Spirit in us. Trying to hold God’s Spirit in us while living the ways of the old life are as fruitless as sewing a new patch on an old garment. When it’s washed the new patch shrinks and rips the whole more making the tear worse than it was to start.

Trying to put God into an unrepentant life is like putting new wine in an old wineskin. As the wine ferments, the expansion causes the air to expand, but the wineskin doesn’t expand with it, but bursts instead. Following Jesus means taking on a whole new lifestyle. It means turning away from the old life and sin and following His directions, His commands, His rules. His laws become more important than my desires. His will overrules my will and my desire.

This transforming power He brings to life cannot be adequately explained. It can only be experienced. No matter how much I might talk about it, until it is absorbed into your life by faith in Him, you cannot know what it is like. You cannot know the joy and peace God brings until you surrender your life to Him. Only then can you realize the legacy of peace He leaves with us.

Does Jesus’ metaphor fit with His dialog about fasting? I think so. As long as Jesus walked the earth with His disciples, they would not be seen fasting. No one needs to see you fasting. You don’t need to show anyone your piety. All you need do is let Christ live in you and let Him transform your life. Others will know you are His follower. Others will see the difference in you if He truly lives in you. 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Spiritual hospitals (Matthew 9:12-13) February 16, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Judges 7-11

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 9:12-13
Jesus (overhearing this): Look, who needs a doctor—healthy people or sick people? I am not here to attend to people who are already right with God; I am here to attend to sinners. In the book of the prophet Hosea, we read, “It is not sacrifice I want, but mercy.” Go and meditate on that for a while—maybe you’ll come to understand it.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

I like these words from Jesus. In fact, I use them whenever I hear anyone talk about the church. You might think that’s a little crazy, but let me explain a little. Let’s look at the story.

Jesus goes to the home of one of His disciples to have a meal with them. And this disciple, maybe it was Matthew, since it talks about the character of the others who came, invited a host of his friends to join with them to meet Jesus. This turned out to be a pretty good sized dinner party. First, we need to consider that this disciple must have been fairly wealthy, so that might fit Matthew at the time of his calling. He was a tax collector, hated by the rest of the Jews because he worked for the Roman government. His pay came from the excess he collected above what the Romans required as their part from each citizen.

So Matthew fills his house with his friends.

Needless to say, his friends were not church goers. They didn’t frequent the temple regularly. They were fellow tax collectors and prostitutes. They were the dregs of society. They were the outcasts. They were the people the religious leaders called the scum of the earth. But they were Matthew’s friends. So he invited them to meet the Man who called him away from his life of sin and showed him a new life. He invited them to meet the One who could forgive and bring new life to the downtrodden.

But the pious leaders saw the crowd and were appalled that Jesus would associate with such vile people. “How can you be in the same room with such trash!”

And then we have Jesus’ words. “Look, who needs a doctor—healthy people or sick people? I am not here to attend to people who are already right with God; I am here to attend to sinners.”

So what does that have to do with talking about church? Usually, normally, most of the time, whenever someone talks about the church, they talk about the hypocrisy in the church. Sister so-and-so does this, Brother so-and-so does that. How can the church put up with such hypocrisy? Do you know what Pastor whats-his-name did? The gossip is alive and active and sharp. It cuts deep.

But I usually address the person with Jesus’ thoughts. You know, it’s great there are hypocrites in the church. I’m glad they are there. I’m glad the church has tax collectors and prostitutes and thieves and liars and all sorts of outcasts in it. I’m glad to see the pews filled with unrighteous people. I’m happy to see crowds come in that don’t fit the mold of the solid Christian character. Why?

Because for at least that thirty minutes or so that the gospel is preached from the pulpit, they will hear the message of Christ. At least for those few minutes, the world’s message will be shut out and they will know they will be in the presence of at least a few saints of God and hear from His holy word and maybe, just maybe their hearts will be softened enough to open the door for Jesus to come into their heart. For those few minutes, there is an opportunity to introduce them to the One who can change their life forever and pick them up out of their world of sin and make them a new creation in Christ, the Creator of the universe.

We come together in the church building to worship, but if we ever begin to shut out the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the drug addicts, the thieves, the liars, the name the sinner you might think of, we have missed the boat. Our churches must be spiritual hospitals for the sin sick of our world. And you know what else, sometimes the staff in hospitals need help, too. Sometimes, doctors and nurses get the flu. Sometimes, those in leadership positions need prayer and support.

Maybe instead of going home and having the pastor for lunch, we ought to take the pastor to lunch. Lift him up, pray for him, support him, tell him how much you love him, let him know how much you care, do something to lighten his load, volunteer to assist in carrying the burdens of the church, pray, pray, pray! You’ll be amazed at what a note of kindness will do for your pastor. They don’t get many of those. They get a lot of the other kind.

Do our churches have sin sick people in them? I hope so. God, may it always be so. How else can we help them see Jesus! How else can we teach them to find and grow in Christ? May we always be a spiritual hospital where people can find grace and mercy and hope in Christ through our love for all people. 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Are you ready to follow Him? (Matthew 9:9) February 15, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Genesis 24-27

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 9:9
Later Jesus was walking along and He saw a man named Matthew sitting in the tax collector’s office.
Jesus (to Matthew): Follow Me.
Matthew got up and followed Him.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Two simple words, but do we really pay attention to them? Follow Me. That’s all He asks of us, but they are hard words. We have failed to really understand what they mean today in our feel good religions and self-indulgent society. We want to follow Him as long as it benefits our pocket book. We want to follow Him as long as it pleases us. We want to follow Him as long as it doesn’t cost us to much or inconvenience us or mess with our plans.

But if you’ll notice, there are no qualifiers in Jesus’ command. He just says, “Follow Me.” Wherever He goes, He expects us to follow in His footsteps. He expects our shoes to step into the footprints of His. He says follow Him.

His path took Him into the street to meet the needs of the outcasts. His steps took Him to the hillsides to tell others about the love of God and His kingdom. His footprints are seen in the temple worshiping the living God and confounding the priests with His knowledge of the scriptures because He studied them often. His steps took Him to quiet places to pray both alone and with His disciples.

Jesus says, “Follow Me.” His footsteps placed Him in front of the highest authorities in the land and the most poverty stricken in the land. He met the richest and the poorest. He talked with the diseased ridden and the physicians who took care of them. He saw the tax collectors and those who paid those taxes. He didn’t care who you were, Jesus went where there were needs.

Do we follow Him today? I wonder if we are willing to make the sacrifice. I wonder if we are willing to give our all and really follow in His footsteps. I wonder if we will drop everything and do what He tells us to do if it really means going to the cross, giving up our luxuries, losing our position, enduring the ridicule. Will we really follow Him?

I think we like to read the stories of Jesus going through the countryside and calling Peter, James and John. Snatching Matthew from his tax collecting job and taking him along as a disciple. I think we like to read about the disciples and the excitement of walking with Jesus, but I don’t think we realize what those disciples went through. Too often, I don’t think we make the commitment they made. Remember, all but John died a martyr’s death and their death’s were not fast and painless. Peter was crucified. Some were sawn in two. Others were burned at the stake. Some were stoned. Death was slow and painful. But they endured it for Christ’s name. Are you ready to follow Him?

Really following Him also means living for Him, though. It means dying to self so He can live in you. It means stepping in His footsteps. It means walking the path He takes you, not the path you want to go. It means dying to your desires, dreams, aspirations and living Christ’s dreams for you. Will they be the same? Sometimes. Sometimes not. But when we die to ourselves, and truly live for Christ, those selfish desires and dreams won’t matter anymore. They become so much garbage as Paul describes them.

Are you ready to follow Him? It will cost you everything. But nothing is yours anyway. Paul describes your plight in Romans so well. Either you are part of Adam’s body and a slave to sin, or you are part of Christ’s body and a slave to righteousness. One leads to death and one leads to life. One body has Adam as its head leading us into sin whose wages are death, one body has Christ as its head leading us to His gift of grace and eternal life.

You can only belong to one body, though. And you choose which one. You can follow Christ, or you can stay in Adam’s race. You can choose to die to self, admit your broken state, and ask forgiveness from the One who can bring salvation, then follow Him. Or you can choose to remain trapped in sin, lead by the lies of Satan and this world, and continue in the state you are in. You choose. But Jesus calls, “Follow Me.”

Jesus offers His free give of grace. He provides salvation. He redeems us. He purchases our freedom from the body of sin in which we are born and gives us the opportunity for adoption into His body, free from the slavery of sin. In Adam, we are free from grace. In Christ we are free from sin. The two bodies are incompatible. From which do you want to be free, sin or grace, Adam or Christ? But to follow Christ means to really follow Him. It doesn’t mean playing church. It doesn’t mean saying the right words. It means obedience to His word. It means saying “yes” to His every command. Always.

Are you ready to follow Him? Just like Matthew, He gives you the invitation. It begins with the first step. Take it.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Where are the miracles? (Matthew 9:2-6) February 14, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Romans 13-14

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 9:2-6
Jesus: Rest assured, My son; your sins are forgiven.
Now some scribes and teachers of the law had been watching this whole scene.
Scribes and Teachers (to themselves): This man is blaspheming!
Though they had only spoken in low whispers among themselves, Jesus knew their thoughts.
Jesus: Why do you hold such hardness and wickedness in your hearts? Look, is it easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” or “Get up and walk”? To make clear that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins (turning to the paralytic man on the mat), Get up, pick up your mat, and go home.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Jesus returns home and some men there had enough faith in Him to bring their paralytic friend to Him for healing. They believed Jesus could help their friend walk again. Comparing their faith to much of the faith I see today, that’s pretty astonishing. We don’t see that kind of faith much today. We don’t see the kind of healing evident in the New Testament church. Why is that? God hasn’t changed. His Spirit hasn’t changed. The maladies and malignancies of life haven’t changed. So what’s different?

I think we find it in the attitude of the scribes Jesus addresses that day. Note that Jesus’ first response wasn’t to heal the paralytic, but to take care of more important business. “Rest assured, My son; you sins are forgiven.” Jesus addressed the man’s sins and cleansed his heart. Forget the secondary physical frame the man dealt with every day, the important thing on Jesus’ mind was to remake his heart. To bring him into God’s kingdom. To adopt him into the Family. To give the paralytic the thing he needed most, forgiveness.

But the scribes and teachers of the law took offense at Jesus’ words. They didn’t believe He could forgive sins. They didn’t believe the testimony of others who felt the cleansing power of His touch and His words of forgiveness. They didn’t believe He was truly the Son of God. Neither did they believe Jesus could make the paralytic walk. They came for the show, they came to trap Him in His words, the came to find out what all the fuss was about. But they didn’t believe in this Jesus who people were saying was the Messiah.

Is that what’s wrong with us today? Is that why we’re not seeing miracles today? Do we really believe He is who He says He is? I wonder. If we as Christians really believe Jesus is God incarnate, the Son of God. If we truly believe the only way to heaven is through forgiveness of our sins and obeying His commands, then why don’t we obey Him? Why don’t we do what He asks? Why do we hold back? Why do we fail to love each other? Why do we fail to believe? Why do we fail to worship Him and honor Him? Why do we fail to visit Him each day and learn more about Him through the study of His word?

Do we really believe in Jesus, the Son of God? Maybe we don’t see the New Testament church miracles because we don’t want to see them. Maybe we really don’t want to let God come upon us the way He did then. There’s some danger involved in letting loose and letting God have full control of your church, you know. Remember Ananias and Sophira? They lied about their giving and God struck them dead! Remember Silas, the sorcerer? God blinded him for his attempts at playing Christian. Certainly the early church saw miracles happen in their midsts, but God executed His wrath on the unfaithful in powerful ways as well. Maybe we’re afraid to let God do His mighty works in us because we’re afraid to let Him in the door.

Maybe we’re afraid of what God will see in us if we let Him look inside. We shouldn’t be afraid of what He sees, though. He already knows. Maybe we’re really afraid of what we’ll see. We might find just how broken and desperate and needy and sinful we really are. Maybe we’ll find how far we are from Him and find we must fall on our face before Him in true repentance before He can do any work in us or through us.

Maybe our faith is too much like the scribes and the teachers of the law and not enough like the four men who struggles through those hillsides with their paralytic friend to find their way to Jesus. Maybe we need to find a quiet place to let God turn His searchlight on our hearts and let us see ourselves as He sees us.

Can miracles happen today the way they did when Jesus walk alongside us? He told His disciples they would do greater things than He did. And they did with the power of His Spirit resident in them. God hasn’t changed, Jesus hasn’t changed, His Spirit hasn’t changed. What’s changed? Maybe it’s our willingness to just let Him have His way in our life. Complete and total control. That’s what He wants. And when He has it, we’ll see miracles happen again. 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Maybe we need pig’s eyes (Matthew 8:32) February 13, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Matthew 17-19

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 8:32
Jesus: Very well then, go!

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

The storm ends, the little boat lands in the region of the Gadarenes, and two demon-possessed men who lived by the tombs come out and block the path to the village.

The demons worry that Jesus has come to torture them before the day of judgment and ask a request of the Son of God, “If you drive us out of these men, would you let us go into that herd of pigs over there?” Then we come to Jesus’ words.

So what can we make of it? Is Jesus granting requests from demons? Do they hold any sway over Him? How do we accept this encounter and the ensuing results and make any sense of it? What does all of it mean to us today?

The first important point is God’s word recognizes the spiritual warfare that goes on with demons. Just as we believe His Spirit can inhabit us, Satan’s minions can inhabit us, if we let them. These two men allowed demons to use their bodies as their dwelling place. Once there, they took up residence and weren’t about to let go of him. Some may think it’s just a story. Some may think demons don’t exist today. It’s just some kind of illness or disease process that Jesus healed.

I disagree. God’s words acknowledges demons throughout the scriptures. Those beings that work for Satan just as God’s angels work for Him. Are all the evil things that happen today cause by the demon possessed? Absolutely not. Is it easy to become demon-possessed? I don’t know and frankly, don’t care to find out. But I think it’s possible and easier that some might think. But I think it is a voluntary process just as coming to Christ and asking His Spirit to live in us is a voluntary process.

In whatever way it happened, these two men were demon-possessed and their actions became so disruptive to the community they were driven from their homes, from the village, and forced to live among the tombs by the seashore. The two men scrounged for what food they could find and lived off of what they could find or steal. Their demon-possession caused their behavior to banish them from society and they were more comfortable dwelling among the dead in the tombs than among the living.

So, we have that discussion out of the way, there were and are demons in the world.

Second, the demons had no problem recognizing who Jesus was. They had no blinders on their eyes. No false religions to tell them something was more important than God. They didn’t need to guess about the origin and authenticity of the One who stood before them. They called Jesus by His rightful title, Son of God. Satan and all his demons know Jesus is the Son of God, why do we have such a hard time believing.

Third, the demons didn’t question Jesus’ power. They knew they were doomed. Judgment day was coming and their torment was to begin. They were just a little surprised their judge came early. They knew Jesus would judge them as well as all of humanity. He is King of kings and Lord of lords. That doesn’t leave anyone or anything out. The title encompasses all of creation and that includes the demons. They knew it wouldn’t be a fair fight. In fact, they knew it wouldn’t be a fight at all. When He spoke, they would leave. And that was that. Done.

But the demons made one request, “Can we go into the herd of pigs?”

I sometimes wonder why they asked to do that. Maybe it’s because demons must have a host of some kind and they were afraid to try to find a host with Jesus close by. They knew He would only throw them out again and I expect the exercism involved some kind of pain for them as well as the host in their symbiotic relationship. So maybe they just decided an animal host was one Jesus would accept without trying to make them leave again.

Fourth, I think Jesus knew the outcome. Satan’s demons in those pigs meant disaster for the demons. We think animals are not smart and certainly humans are at the top of the pyramid for intelligent life on the planet. (at least I think we are most of the time, although at times I wonder) As soon as the demons flew into the pigs, the herd killed themselves running over a cliff into the sea. The pigs couldn’t handle the evil that suddenly took residence in their bodies. God made them and they were good, the evil tainted them so badly, they destroyed themselves. It was the only way the pigs knew to get rid of the evil inside them.

It’s interesting to me that the pigs couldn’t tolerate that evil for even a few minutes, but we can live with it for a lifetime. We convince ourselves so well that what we do against God is okay, that we live that evil brewing in us and just no longer see it. Maybe we need to get pig’s eyes for a little while so we can see what we are and realize just how much we need God’s cleansing in our lives. Maybe then, we would fall on our knees and beg His forgiveness and mercy for our sins. Maybe then, we would understand His willingness to make us clean and whole again. To rid us of the filth in our lives and make us new in Him. Maybe we need pig’s eyes for a while.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

What are you so afraid of? (Matthew 8:26) February 12, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Isaiah 34-39

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 8:26
Jesus: Please! What are you so afraid of, you of little faith?

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Fear, one of those deep-rooted emotions that keeps us alive at times, but also keeps us from accomplishing much if we don’t learn to control it. It’s interesting that the second most common fear in the world in the fear of death. The first is the fear of public speaking. Strange that we fear talking to a group of people more than we fear dying, but that’s what the literature tells us. And from those two phobias come a long list of things we fear.

Some of our fears just seem silly to most people, but if you suffer from them, they can be debilitating. You’ve probably heard stories, if you don’t know someone with the fear of the heights, or the fear flying, or the fear of roller coasters, or the fear of the dark. Those are just the tip of the iceberg, though. We fear almost everything as the human race. Someone, somewhere will be afraid of just about anything you can think of, so we can’t slap around the disciples too much since they were in the middle of a storm on the Sea of Galilee.

More than half of these guys were seasoned fishermen. They knew how to handle storms. They’d been caught out on the Sea of Galilee before when a storm came up. Storms weren’t anything new to them. But this one must have been a whopper. They were afraid. They didn’t know if they would make it to shore. And here was Jesus, the Son of God, just sleeping in the back of the boat. Maybe even snoring a little.

So they wake Him up. “Don’t you care that we’re going to die? How can you sleep when we’re risking our lives here? Can’t you help us keep this rickety boat afloat? Do something!”

I can imagine their angst in the middle of that stormy situation. Have you ever been there? Wondering what would happen next? Wondering how you would survive the next blows that came your way? If you live long enough, you’ll go through some of those times. No one is exempt from the troubles of the world. It doesn’t matter how rich or how poor you might be, everyone faces those times. Maybe it’s a financial crisis. Maybe the doctor just spoke the big “C” word. Maybe you don’t know where your next meal is coming from. Maybe your best friend and partner for life just passed away. We all face those storms in our life. Jesus promised we would. It’s part of the curse of Adam’s race. Sin entered the world and from the time we’re born this physical frame begins the process of dying in this physical realm.

And along that journey of life, we learn to fear. Some people fear more than others. But we all fear.

I find it fascinating, though, that every time God sends one of His messengers to earth to talk to one of His followers, and every time Jesus talks to someone in crisis, their first words are usually, “Don’t be afraid.” Fear can have a strangle hold on us and freeze us in place. It can paralyze us into inactivity so we are good for nothing. It can keep us from taking that necessary next step that leads to the release and freedom we so desperately seek. But we are afraid.

I love to watch little kids at playgrounds. They show us what’s it’s like not to fear. Watch them. They hang on the bars upside-down without a care. They race and climb and jump and sometimes they fall. It’s not until adults intervene and tell them something isn’t safe that they begin to curb their appetite for play. Little kids will do just about anything within their ability with no fear. They just do stuff. They exercise faith in their ability and their invincibility. We parents are the ones that instill that fear in them. We stop them cold and tell them they’ll get hurt. Don’t climb too high. Don’t swing too far. Don’t run too fast. Don’t … Don’t… Don’t… And so we build fear into them.

I’m told the only fear infants have is the fear of falling. Everything else we teach them with our constraints and dire warnings. Have you ever thought about had sad that is sometimes. So maybe we have taught out children, by our actions, to fear coming to Christ for salvation. Maybe our actions tell our children it’s not safe to give your all to the Master. Maybe we have demonstrated those dire warnings to our children that you better fear doing too much for Christ.

Can you trust Him with everything you have and everything you are? Can you get rid of the fear that keeps you from serving Him completely? Can you avoid the words His disciples heard in the boat, “What are you so afraid of, you of little faith”? Are you ready to act like a child and boldly step out and do the unthinkable when and where He leads you? I promise you, Jesus will never ask you to do something He and you cannot do together because He never fails. Never! So what are you so afraid of?

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Just do it! (Matthew 8:22) February 11, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Job 11-12

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 8:22
Jesus: Follow Me! And let the dead bury their own dead.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

As I’m writing this podcast, I’m also teaching a class on the book of Romans. I can’t help but tie the two together as Paul describes the incompatibility of the man following the path of sin and death and the man who has died to sin and received the gift of eternal life. The two bodies represented by those redeemed and those who fail to accept the redemption Christ paid. The gift we have for the taking, but we must reach out and take it.

A man comes up to Jesus after He has done so much, healed so many, performed so many miracles. He says to Jesus, “Jesus, before I do the things You’ve asked me to do, I must first bury my father.” This doesn’t seem like a bad thing to do. The man’s father just died or at least death was knocking at the door. This disciple wanted to do the right thing and give his father a decent burial. He wanted to pay his last respects to the man who raised him, trained him, gave him his value system, his thought process, his inheritance. He wanted to do something good.

We would all look at the man and say, “What a noble gesture. Sure go bury your father, then come back and join us.” We would applaud and tell him he was an honorable son for not coming along and instead spending those last moments making sure his father’s body was properly washed, wrapped, covered with spices and entombed. We would think the man a great disciple doing all the right things.

What does Jesus say? “Follow Me! And let the dead bury their own dead.”

How could He be so dispassionate? How could He care so little about the man’s feelings? How could He just brush off a funeral the way He did and tell this disciple to follow Him without regard for the normal grieving rituals that accompanied the death of a loved one? What was Jesus saying to this poor disciple and to us? Was Jesus saying to leave all our emotions aside and become hard-hearted against such things?

The answer to all of those questions is no. Look at Jesus’ life and you’ll see He cared deeply about the feelings people had for others. He wept at Lazarus’ tomb. He raised the widow’s son. He performed miracles at funerals because death was never supposed to enter the world in the first place and at times He changed its outcome when He walked in the flesh with us.

Jesus knew how to grieve. He was “the man of sorrow, acquainted with grief,” Isaiah tells us. So what was the intent of His words that day?

I think Jesus saw through the man and his relationship to Him. God must take first place. Period. If He is not first place in your life, He will not take any place at all in your life. It wasn’t that Jesus didn’t understand the grief of the man, but the man’s father and family was more important than following Jesus. I think the disciple would have come to Jesus and tried his faith later with, “My mother is sick and I need to tend to her.” Sound legitimate. But then it would be, “My sister is having a baby and I need to be around to help her.” Soon he would say, “Master, the goats need milked and no one can do it like I can, I’ll do what you ask as soon as I’ve milked the goats.”

I’m not sure what Jesus asked the man to do that day, but I can guarantee you that the man could have accomplished the task before it was time to bury his father. He just wanted to put it off. Just like we do. “Jesus, I’ll do what you ask, but let me finish getting my career in order first.” “Jesus, I’ll talk to you as soon as I finish watching this football game.” “Jesus, I’ll do what you ask after the kids are asleep.”

How often do we put off what Jesus asks us to do until it’s more convenient for us? How many times do we miss opportunities to share what He is doing in our lives, that’s called witnessing, by the way, to someone around us? How many times do we fail to show His love to someone near us that we can help in some small way because we’re just too busy with our own lives to think about those around us?

What if Jesus lived His life that way? What if God lived in such a way that He only took notice of the important things. How would we fit into that? Would we even register in the mix? I’m one of 7 billion people on one of eight planets (maybe nine again) circling one of billions of stars in one of billions of galaxies in a universe too large to measure that is expanding every second. How important does that make me that God would care?

The answer is important enough to die on a cross for my sins, that if I choose, I can follow Him and have eternal life. What is more important than that? How can I not drop everything else when He gives me a task to do? He knows your heart. Follow Him. Just do it!

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Are you ready to go with Him? (Matthew 8:20) February 10, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Psalms 15-17

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 8:20
Jesus: Foxes have dens in which to sleep, and the birds have nests. But the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Jesus’ comments to the scribe who decided to follow Him might seem a little out of place at first. Here was a man steeped in religious tradition who was ready to give it up and follow Jesus. So why these words? Why would Jesus give the scribe a comment that would discourage him from following him? Why would He not want the scribe on His side and joining His party of followers?

Although it may seem Jesus discourages the scribe, I don’t think He did. I think Jesus just stated the facts as they were and wanted the scribe to understand the journey that lay ahead of him if he became a follower of Jesus, the Son of God, the Christ. He would immediately become an outsider to the temple. The religious leaders he stood with on this day would quickly turn against him and, like Jesus, he would have no comfort in this world.

No one would house Him. No one would give Him bread. No one would share their home. Except for what they could get from Him. Every time Jesus lighted in a home, His presence became known quickly and the house filled with the broken, the injured, the ill. All wanted Jesus to touch them. To speak to the demons that filled them and drive those demons away. To grant their prayers as He did in so many towns and villages across the territory. Jesus could not be alone in the cities and towns. He had no place to rest.

To go with Jesus meant work, tending to the needs of others above His own. It also meant finding time to commune with the Father. It meant learning from His ancient instructions and finding His will for life. It meant going to the outcast and helping them reintegrate into their community. It meant turning the rules inside out and upside down to show the meaning of love that the scripture talks about but the nation forgot in their attempts to single themselves out as God’s chosen.

Jesus laid out for the scribe the facts of life with Him. Giving up everything that the world says is dear. Houses, lands, material things. The titles and prestige that might seem important here. It all disappears when you follow Jesus. It means nothing to God and they become just so many meaningless words to Jesus’ followers. To follow Him means to give everything up and allow Him to direct the next steps you take whether it’s across the lake, to stay where you are, or move to another country where everyone finds you distasteful.

Later Jesus will use a story to describe the cost of following Him, but here, He just lays out the facts. Follow Me and you’ll give up everything. Does that mean Jesus expects you to live in poverty? Not necessarily. He just wants control of everything you have. It’s really not yours anyway. He only allows you to use it. Think about it. What would it take for all your possessions to disappear? One disaster and everything is gone.

Oh, but you have insurance, you say. And how long do you think that will last if your whole city or your state is hit by the same disaster? What happens if ISIS decided to strike our financial infrastructure instead of the physical acts of terror they have used so far? How long could you operate without your bank account? Just stop and think about it.

I have about $40 cash in my pocket at the moment. Like most Americans, I use online banking, and debit cards for almost every financial transaction in my life. So what would happen if my bank suddenly lost all of its electronic records and backups at once? What if my paychecks no longer went into my account on a regular basis? What if suddenly all those assets just disappeared? How long could I live out of my pantry, refrigerator, and freezer?

How long before someone decides to foreclose on my house, assuming they have a record. How will I buy groceries, or gas, or pay electric bills? How long will life go on as usual if a virus or deliberate attack crippled our financial system. See, we are only temporary stewards of all that stuff anyway. It all belongs to God so why do we worry about it? Why do we hold on so tight? Why can’t we understand what Jesus was saying when He made His comments to the scribe that day 2000 years ago.

Jesus want us to know the cost of following Him, but in reality, it’s no cost at all except the one thing He wants. Me and you. Everything else is just temporary stuff that we really can’t control very well anyway. We think we do, but it’s a façade. It’s one of those lies of Satan, the father of lies. When we follow Jesus, we must know the cost, Jesus says, “Foxes have dens in which to sleep, and the birds have nests. But the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.” Are you ready to go with Him?

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.