Today’s scripture was my portion of reading in my yearly Bible reading plan. It is familiar to all of us, but today, it jumped off the page with newness and clarity in its application. And the lessons are many and apply to all of us who are seeking to live for Christ. All of these lessons are in the context of “storms”, not a literal one as the disciples were encountering, but in the ones we face every day of life – emotional storms, spiritual storms, situational storms, relational storms . . . you may add a “personal storm” to the list. So, since these are realities in all our lives, let’s consider some valuable truths behind all our storms.
Pleasing God, Making Disciples of Jesus Christ
Pleasing God, Making Disciples of Jesus Christ
Mark
In today’s scripture, we see the deity of Jesus doing a miraculous work of feeding thousands of people with about enough for maybe a family of four, if they are not starving. But don’t allow the miraculous physically cause us to miss an important lesson spiritually. Jesus displays His power and the people displayed action to His power; they ate. The food would have meant nothing if they didn’t do their part in the miracle.
It might seem a bit odd to have an unsaved king be an example of living out the Christian life. I have not discovered a book titled, “The Christian Life” written by King Herod. Yet, in today’s scripture, we find this wicked ruler illustrating the reality of the Christian life. He does so, not by his personal experience of walking with Christ for he lacked faith in Him. He does so by showing us what occurs in the inner life of a Christian – conflict.
Today’s nugget isn’t for everyone. If you are a person who has it all together, experience no spiritual struggles, are quite content on where you are spiritually, are oblivious to spiritual warfare, go through your life relatively problem-free and don’t have any concerns over sin, don’t grieve over spiritual inconsistencies in your life and are satisfied with your time in the Word, prayer, and the other things of God, then this nugget isn’t for you.
Mark 2:5 – And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” THEME OF THE DAY: THE FOUR SWEETEST WORDS EVER HEARD. Those four words are found at the end of today’s scripture – “your sins are forgiven.” Those words have been called “the music of freedom” and rightly so. Nothing is sweeter to the…
First of all, the theme of the day is not about being in crisis and calling upon the Lord. Hopefully, we always resort to Him as our refuge and help in times of trouble. However, we are not looking at the urgency or even the desperation in situations prompting us to pray. This is about desire. Friends, this is a must discipline if we are to be changed into the image of Christ.