Category Archives: Righteousness / Serving God

His Ways Are Not Our Ways, Learning To Pray Effectively, Seeking God

Ask God for Clarity and Understanding

Jesus tried to prepare His disciples for what was to come, in particular as the time for His death and resurrection drew nearer. However, perhaps because he taught so often in parables, the disciples did not understand. What is more interesting to consider, is that they were afraid to ask Him. He certainly never hurt any of them, so it was not fear of physical harm. Perhaps it was fear of being embarrassed or letting Jesus down. Most of us can relate to this fairly well.

Mark 9:30-32

      30From there they went out and began to go through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know about it. 31For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later.” 32But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him.

I find it quite often that I am seeking God, and yet not entirely clear on the specific direction for certain situations or decisions. My encouragement to each of you is to ask Him in situations like those. The Lord already knows when we don’t understand, so go ahead and ask Him for clarity in prayer. We should also take heed for when He sends an answer, lest we be biased in looking for the answer we want and miss the answer He is giving. Sometimes it really is that obvious and simple and we make it complicated… like the disciples as they heard Jesus tell them He would suffer and die, but they kept looking for some other meaning.

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? If you die today, do you know for sure that you would be with God in heaven? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Demons, Doubt / Lacking Faith, Faith / Trusting God, Grace / Forgiveness, Learning To Pray Effectively, Loving / Kind, Merciful

Yeshua, Help My Unbelief!

Praise Yahweh that He sent us a perfect example for us to follow in order to understand how to live in the right relationship with Him. Yeshua demonstrates a marvelous example. I seek to study and learn from His example. Our faith is a key element of effective prayer. Yeshua stressed this over and over in His earthly ministry. However, He also recognizes our failures and treats us with grace and mercy. He knows our faith is not always as strong as it should be.

Pay attention to how Yeshua interacts with the man whose son is suffering in Mark 9. The man does not have absolute faith, but he simply asks Yeshua to help him in his unbelief. Yeshua answers his prayer.

Mark 9:14-29

      14When they came back to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them. 15Immediately, when the entire crowd saw Him, they were amazed and began running up to greet Him. 16And He asked them, “What are you discussing with them?” 17And one of the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute; 18and whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth and stiffens out. I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it.” 19And He answered them and said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!” 20They brought the boy to Him. When he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. 21And He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22“It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” 23And Jesus said to him, “‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.” 24Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.” 25When Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You deaf and mute spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again.” 26After crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, “He is dead!” 27But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him; and he got up. 28When He came into the house, His disciples began questioning Him privately, “Why could we not drive it out?” 29And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.”

It is truly good news that we do not need perfect faith. We can humbly and openly ask our Father in heaven for His help to strengthen our faith. Praise Yahweh for His grace and mercy!

In what areas do you struggle to trust our Father? Come humbly to Him in prayer, in the name of Yeshua, and ask Him to help you in your unbelief.

I invite you to pray with me:

Father, please strengthen my faith that You are always with me, even in difficult times. Help me to know confidently that You are able to take care of any challenge in my way. Help me to stay strong in my faith even when You choose not to answer my prayers the way I am hoping/expecting. Amen. 

Shalom

Devotion by John in service to Christ

Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Faith / Trusting God, Hope, Learning To Pray Effectively, Prayer, Protector / Deliverer, Psalms, Strong in Our Weakness

Place Your Hope In Yahweh, Even In Difficult Times

It is easy for us to get discouraged when we experience hard times, when things do not go the way we expect or desire. When we feel overwhelmed, we may begin to feel distant to Jehovah. We are wise to recognize that we need Him in those situations and turn toward Him… seeking Him wholeheartedly for help.

Psalm 43

Prayer for Deliverance.

     1Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation;
O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!

      2For You are the God of my strength; why have You rejected me?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

      3O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me;
Let them bring me to Your holy hill
And to Your dwelling places.

      4Then I will go to the altar of God,
To God my exceeding joy;
And upon the lyre I shall praise You, O God, my God.

      5Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why are you disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.

Many of the Psalms begin with sorrow and difficulty. By turning to Jehovah and calling out to Him and trusting in Him they often end with hope and joy, even before the situation has been resolved or improved. Just reminding ourselves of our Father in heaven and engaging Him in true communication can be of great help.  Place your hope in Jehovah, even when times are tough.

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? If you die today, do you know for sure that you would be with God in heaven? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Obeying God, Repenting from Sin, Worthy of Fear / Reverence

Even in Hard Times, Obey the Lord’s Instructions

Zedekiah was at war. Babylon was pressing against him. He was going to lose. This was a high-pressure situation. At this time, God was also calling on Zedekiah and the people of Jerusalem to turn back to His ways, to obey His instructions. The specific example used here was in regard to the treatment of Hebrew servants. The people obeyed at first but then turned back to their old ways. God was not pleased and there were consequences.

As we reflect on this passage of scripture, let’s seek to apply the lessons to our own lives. Just because you are going through a difficult time does not mean it is ok to turn away from God’s ways. In my life, I have experienced times when I was struggling with a key issue or issues. I was not fully at peace or finding rest in the LORD. I allowed myself to drift in my discipline to bring the family together daily for prayer and devotionals. It was not lack of faith. It was not lack of desire. It was almost a weariness from struggling with the challenges I was facing.

Regardless of the reason, hard times and challenges are not a good excuse for allowing ourselves to fall away from what the LORD is calling us to do, whether it is personal and specific to us or whether it is general in that everyone who follows God should be doing it.

Jeremiah 34

A Prophecy against Zedekiah

      1The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army, with all the kingdoms of the earth that were under his dominion and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem and against all its cities, saying, 2“Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ‘Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and say to him: “Thus says the LORD, ‘Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire. 3‘You will not escape from his hand, for you will surely be captured and delivered into his hand; and you will see the king of Babylon eye to eye, and he will speak with you face to face, and you will go to Babylon.’”’ 4“Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah! Thus says the LORD concerning you, ‘You will not die by the sword. 5‘You will die in peace; and as spices were burned for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so they will burn spices for you; and they will lament for you, “Alas, lord!”’ For I have spoken the word,” declares the LORD.

      6Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem 7when the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the remaining cities of Judah, that is, Lachish and Azekah, for they alone remained as fortified cities among the cities of Judah.

      8The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem to proclaim release to them: 9that each man should set free his male servant and each man his female servant, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman; so that no one should keep them, a Jew his brother, in bondage. 10And all the officials and all the people obeyed who had entered into the covenant that each man should set free his male servant and each man his female servant, so that no one should keep them any longer in bondage; they obeyed, and set them free. 11But afterward they turned around and took back the male servants and the female servants whom they had set free, and brought them into subjection for male servants and for female servants.

      12Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 13“Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ‘I made a covenant with your forefathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, saying, 14“At the end of seven years each of you shall set free his Hebrew brother who has been sold to you and has served you six years, you shall send him out free from you; but your forefathers did not obey Me or incline their ear to Me. 15“Although recently you had turned and done what is right in My sight, each man proclaiming release to his neighbor, and you had made a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My name. 16“Yet you turned and profaned My name, and each man took back his male servant and each man his female servant whom you had set free according to their desire, and you brought them into subjection to be your male servants and female servants.”’

      17“Therefore thus says the LORD, ‘You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming release each man to his brother and each man to his neighbor. Behold, I am proclaiming a release to you,’ declares the LORD, ‘to the sword, to the pestilence and to the famine; and I will make you a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 18‘I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not fulfilled the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts— 19the officials of Judah and the officials of Jerusalem, the court officers and the priests and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf— 20I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. And their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth. 21‘Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials I will give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon which has gone away from you. 22‘Behold, I am going to command,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring them back to this city; and they will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant.’”

Shalom. May the grace and peace of our Lord, Yeshua, be with you. Devotion by John in service to Christ

Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Faith / Trusting God, Greed, Guide, Persecution / Glorifying God, Submitted / Servant, Worthy of Fear / Reverence

What Does It Profit A Man To Gain The World?

Yeshua has a way of putting things in sharp focus for His followers.  If we are to follow Him, we must deny ourselves, shoulder difficulties, and follow Him. The world will often come against us. If we try to save our own life to do with as we will, instead of as God wills, then we will lose eternal life.

Mark 8:34-38

      34And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 35“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? 37“For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 38“For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

If we seek after Yeshua wholeheartedly, we will experience eternal life. He will save our soul. If we pursue the worldly things we shall perish, even if we gain the whole world along the way.

Take time to reflect on verses 37 and 38 above. This is serious business. Do not be ashamed of our Savior or the word of God in this world or He will be ashamed of us when we come before God.

It is the ultimate “choose your own adventure” opportunity. Will you follow Yeshua to the Father? or Will you pursue the world? One must be master. You can not serve both or you will love one and hate the other (Luke 16:13).

I invite you to pray with me:

Father, please lead and guide me through the Holy Spirit so that I would truly be passionate for You and not ashamed. Help me to pick up my cross and follow You. Help me be joyful in doing so. Help me to lay down my life for and devote my life for You and the gospel message of salvation You represent. Amen.

 Shalom

Devotion by John in service to Christ

Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

All Knowing, Faith / Trusting God, His Timing Not Ours, His Ways Are Not Our Ways, Submitted / Servant

Accept God’s Way of Doing Things Even When You Don’t Understand It

The Father’s ways are higher than our ways. We will not always understand why He does things a certain way. Nonetheless, we should strive to understand and accept things through His perspective and interests rather than our own. Sometimes there is death and suffering. Sometimes it serves His purpose and He not only allows it but brings it about. This does not make Him wrong because we don’t like it.

Mark 8:31-33

      31And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. 33But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”

Is there something you are experiencing in your life that is difficult to understand? A death or illness of a loved one? We will not always understand why God heals or does not heal, but we can submit ourselves to serve Him and worship Him either way. We can set our minds to submit to Him. If we stumble in this, we can ask His forgiveness and we can always ask Him for help.

I invite you to pray with me:

Father, I ask You to help me to see things through Your eyes. Help me not to judge with my own. Help me to be strong in my faith, even when things are difficult and I am having a hard time. You are good all the time. Amen. 

Shalom.

Devotion by John in service to Christ

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Am I on the path?, Faith / Trusting God, Jesus Christ / Yeshua, Seeking God

A Question We Each Must Answer: Who Do We Say Jesus Is?

The answer to this question should define our life. “Who do we say Jesus is?” If He is God, then what will we do about it? How will we let that shape our lives?

Yeshua poses important questions to Peter in Mark 8. “Who do people say that I am?” and “But who do you say that I am?” Few reasonable people can debate the true existence of the historical Yeshua who lived, taught the word of God, suffered and died and then rose from the dead. The evidence is overwhelming for those who actually consider it without bias against it. Some make up different excuses. Some say Yeshua was just a prophet, or a good teacher, but some of us fully embrace the truth of who He is… like Peter.

Mark 8:27-30

Peter’s Confession of Christ

      27Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way He questioned His disciples, saying to them, “Who do people say that I am?” 28They told Him, saying, “John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets.” 29And He continued by questioning them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said to Him, “You are the Christ.” 30And He warned them to tell no one about Him.

It is interesting that we see another example where Yeshua instructs someone not tell anyone He is Messiah. This is very different than we expect when we think of pastors and others who want to put titles on themselves and draw attention to increase their status or number of followers. For Yeshua, it was not yet His time. Yeshua was not worried about His personal status, but rather doing the will of the Father.  Later the disciples were instructed to go and tell all the nations about Him.

Many people say many different things about Yeshua. Some claim He was only a good teacher or a prophet.  The question for each of us is “Who do we say that Yeshua is?” It is an important question. How we answer the question should impact how we live. It is not a question of low significance. For those to whom the LORD has revealed it, let us embrace Him as Messiah. He is indeed God Himself, who came as one of us to live among us. He died for our sins so that we could be reconciled to the Father.

If we truly believe this about Yeshua, then our lives should be transformed to seek wholeheartedly after Him and our actions should reflect that belief. We will truly then be a different from the world and be a light to others who do not yet know Him.

Ask yourself, is your life a testimony to Yeshua in this way? If not, reflect on what changes you should make and ask the LORD to help.

I invite you to pray with me:

Father, please help me truly embrace Yeshua as Messiah. Help me to be transformed and my life to be a light to draw others to You. Let me not walk as if my life is not affected by this knowledge of Yeshua as Messiah. Let it impact every aspect of my life. Help me to lay down my ways and the ways of men and follow Him. Amen. 

Shalom

Devotion by John in service to Christ

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Hope, Learning To Pray Effectively, Suffering / Adversity, Worthy of Fear / Reverence

Thirsting for God

Those of us who have a meaningful relationship with our Lord and Creator know that we do not always feel close to Him. Sometimes the troubles and trials of the world, or even our own sin, can make us feel distant from Him. When we find ourselves struggling, remember to make a conscious decision to seek Him out. He will answer, though it will be in His way and His timing.

Psalm 42

BOOK 2

Thirsting for God in Trouble and Exile.

For the choir director. A Maskil of the sons of Korah.

      1As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So my soul pants for You, O God.

      2My soul thirsts for God, for the living God;
When shall I come and appear before God?

      3My tears have been my food day and night,
While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

      4These things I remember and I pour out my soul within me.
For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God,
With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.

      5Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him
For the help of His presence.

      6O my God, my soul is in despair within me;
Therefore I remember You from the land of the Jordan
And the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.

      7Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls;
All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me.

      8The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime;
And His song will be with me in the night,
A prayer to the God of my life.

      9I will say to God my rock, “Why have You forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”

      10As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me,
While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

      11Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.

We can and should always hope in God, even in difficult times. We can count on His lovingkindness and His unchanging character, even when we feel distant from Him. He never changes. When we feel despair, turn wholeheartedly toward Him and ask for His help to lead you out of despair and back to rejoicing… no matter the circumstances.

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? If you die today, do you know for sure that you would be with God in heaven? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Faith / Trusting God, Provider

Find Rest and Peace in God

Like most, I can get nervous or anxious about some things. I naturally live like I need to control or take care of all my needs. God reminds us to find rest and peace in Him. He is also patient with us as we make mistakes and fail to find that peace and rest. He is loving and kind and patient for those who seek Him. He is slow to anger. We see a great example of this in Mark 8, as Jesus addresses the concerns of His disciples over how much food they had brought with them to eat.

Mark 8:14-21

      14And they had forgotten to take bread, and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them. 15And He was giving orders to them, saying, “Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” 16They began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread. 17And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? 18“HAVING EYES, DO YOU NOT SEE? AND HAVING EARS, DO YOU NOT HEAR? And do you not remember, 19when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?” They said to Him, “Twelve.” 20“When I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?” And they said to Him, “Seven.” 21And He was saying to them, “Do you not yet understand?”

Be slow to mock the disciples for this kind of mistake. They had just witnessed miracles around food and now they worry about what to eat. How much do we struggle day to day to break away from worldly thinking and truly think in terms of the sovereignty and power of our God, who is in control of all things?

I am grateful that God is so gracious and patient with us and that we can find rest in Him. Praise our loving Father! Thank you!

Take some time to reflect prayerfully on your own life. Are there areas where you are worried and not resting and trusting in God? Ask God to help you release those to Him. It does not mean you do nothing, but it means you trust in Him.

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? If you die today, do you know for sure that you would be with God in heaven? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

All Powerful / King of All, Faith / Trusting God, His Ways Are Not Our Ways, Provider, Strong in Our Weakness

Focus on What God Can Do Instead of What You Cannot

The beginning of Mark 8 focuses on a miracle we can all too quickly take for granted. Jesus feeds 4,000 people starting with only 7 loaves of bread.

Also, consider what moved Jesus to this miracle. He felt compassion on the people. Why? They had been with Him for days without food. Think about that! That is quite a demonstration of faith on their part.

What did the disciples focus on in this situation? Where Jesus focused on the people and their needs, the disciples focused on their own limitations and not being able to think about how they could meet the need in their own power.

Don’t be too hard on them! How often do we do the same thing in our lives?

Mark 8: 1-10

Four Thousand Fed

      1In those days, when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples and said to them, 2“I feel compassion for the people because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat. 3“If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come from a great distance.” 4And His disciples answered Him, “Where will anyone be able to find enough bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?” 5And He was asking them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven.” 6And He directed the people to sit down on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them, and started giving them to His disciples to serve to them, and they served them to the people. 7They also had a few small fish; and after He had blessed them, He ordered these to be served as well. 8And they ate and were satisfied; and they picked up seven large baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces. 9About four thousand were there; and He sent them away. 10And immediately He entered the boat with His disciples and came to the district of Dalmanutha.

When you see a need or feel called by God to help others or overcome a challenge… don’t focus on what you can or can’t do in your own power, but rather focus on what God can do!

Pray and ask God to show you any areas in your life where you are too focused on what you can’t do to solve a situation and not focused enough on what He can do! Trust in Him to provide. He will make a way.

Shalom. May the grace and peace of our Lord, Yeshua, be with you. Devotion by John in service to Christ

Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.