Matthew 11:5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosytare cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor
Jesus gives the disciples of John a list of the things He is doing. Ever notice that Jesus hardly ever just gives a straight answer. "Are you the one...?" the straight answer would be "YES" but instead He is always helping us by giving just enough information so that we can learn and figure things out from the inside. When we are told something we have resistance of many sorts, but when we discover things from the inside, by way of the Holy Spirit we will have the tendency to learn in a deeper way and retain that information in a more meaningful and useful manner.
APPLICATION
I need to learn to ask more questions and help others to figure out stuff instead of just telling them what to do. Today I will not answer any question directly to see what transpires.
Welcome
One of the most effective ways to allow the Word of God to affect your life is to study it inductively. That is what this blog is all about. Typically one verse per day will be mined for insight and then followed up with how I plan to implement that insight practically. My prayer is that in some way you find this useful in your journey and that it may impact you positively. -G
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Matthew 11:3 - Cast Down the Doubt
Matt. 11:3 to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”
Wait a minute, here we have documented proof of John the baptist having a crisis of faith. Isn't this the person who leapt in his mother's womb at the mention of Christ's announcement. Is this not the cousin of Jesus himself, who watched in awe at what an amazing and perfect person Jesus was. Indeed this is the man who heard the audible thunderous voice of God proclaim that this Jesus was the very son of God and that in Him the Father is well pleased. Did not John announce to his own disciples that Jesus was the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Did not John recognize that he himself would have to decrease as Jesus would increase?
So WWhaaaaat?
Why is John all of a sudden unsure of who Jesus is. Now with this mountain of physical evidence, knowing Jesus personally better than any other, watching his life, having an aunt called the blessed mother, come on Hearing God Himself... even this, all of this and still doubt. It makes me realize the fullness of the verse that says that we who do not see yet still believe are even more blessed. So take heart dear ones, we will all have bouts with doubt. The question is what do we do with our doubt when it arrives, and indeed it is guaranteed to arrive some day.
So WWhaaaaat?
Why is John all of a sudden unsure of who Jesus is. Now with this mountain of physical evidence, knowing Jesus personally better than any other, watching his life, having an aunt called the blessed mother, come on Hearing God Himself... even this, all of this and still doubt. It makes me realize the fullness of the verse that says that we who do not see yet still believe are even more blessed. So take heart dear ones, we will all have bouts with doubt. The question is what do we do with our doubt when it arrives, and indeed it is guaranteed to arrive some day.
APPLICATION
I commit to doubt my doubt and not the Word of my Savior. When the doubt comes I will examine that doubt in light of the faithfulness of God. I will trace the origin of that doubt to old sulphur breath himself and denounce, cast down every speculation that dares exalt itself over the Word of God. And replace the lie with the truth, for which I stand, by Grace.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Matthew 11:2 Trying Times Call for Dominion Over the Flesh
Matt. 11:2 When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples.
What were the deeds of the Messiah? The lame were walking the blind were seeing, He even healed the servant of a Roman centurion. Here John sits in his prison cell and is bewildered, Jesus is helping everyone else and yet here he sits in the dark and dank prison cell. He is even helping outsiders, a centurion's servant, yet I am His cousin and am in trouble for standing up for righteousness sake and yet no help from the Messiah??? Whaaaat??
It is very easy from our personal perspective (which is always self centered) to conclude that we are suffering an injustice. It is only from the big picture perspective that we can understand the fulness of God's Plan.
What were the deeds of the Messiah? The lame were walking the blind were seeing, He even healed the servant of a Roman centurion. Here John sits in his prison cell and is bewildered, Jesus is helping everyone else and yet here he sits in the dark and dank prison cell. He is even helping outsiders, a centurion's servant, yet I am His cousin and am in trouble for standing up for righteousness sake and yet no help from the Messiah??? Whaaaat??
It is very easy from our personal perspective (which is always self centered) to conclude that we are suffering an injustice. It is only from the big picture perspective that we can understand the fulness of God's Plan.
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Of course when we couple these verses with the promise of Jeremiah 29:11 that God's plan is to bless us and not to harm us we are confronted with the crossroads of faith. Do I believe God at His Word or do I act according to the circumstances that I see. Sometimes the things I see are so compelling and overwhelming that I cannot look past them. That is the time to call for a fast. Because when the flesh is vexed and pressed in on all sides then the spirit is weak. When the circumstances call for Spiritual strength I need to feed my spirit by starving the flesh.
APPLICATION
I will fast this week on Wednesday in order to increase my faith, regarding the issues that circumstantially seem vexing.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Galatians 6:4 - Your Personal Best
Gal. 6:4 Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else.
This is the proof text of looking into the mirror instead of looking out the window. We are so inclined to compare ourselves to others, why? If we see that we are better than the next guy then we feel good about ourselves but that can lead to mediocrity for the obvious reasons. Mediocrity is average. Average is not special, in fact it is boring and mundane so if you are satisfied with boring and mundane then just keep on comparing your self to others around you and you will remain plain and mundane. Average is playing not to lose, But if you believe that God has great things in store for you and that you are destined to achieve great things for Him then you will need to play all out, at full volume. In order to do that we need to keep our eyes on the prize and compare ourselves only to the perfect one, Jesus who is our only example of how to live.
I need to remind myself every time I compare myself to someone else that it only relegates me to being average, and average is unacceptable.
This is the proof text of looking into the mirror instead of looking out the window. We are so inclined to compare ourselves to others, why? If we see that we are better than the next guy then we feel good about ourselves but that can lead to mediocrity for the obvious reasons. Mediocrity is average. Average is not special, in fact it is boring and mundane so if you are satisfied with boring and mundane then just keep on comparing your self to others around you and you will remain plain and mundane. Average is playing not to lose, But if you believe that God has great things in store for you and that you are destined to achieve great things for Him then you will need to play all out, at full volume. In order to do that we need to keep our eyes on the prize and compare ourselves only to the perfect one, Jesus who is our only example of how to live.
I need to remind myself every time I compare myself to someone else that it only relegates me to being average, and average is unacceptable.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
1 Cor. 13:6 - Truth Works
1 Cor. 13:6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
When we rejoice in the truth we begin the work of being honest with ourselves and honest with others. This honesty opens up the opportunity to relate to others on a deeper level than the superficial hello how are you ...?
With this honesty we can allow the work of the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin and to guide us into all truth. So that the Word of God can be the powerful scalpel it is designed to be, helping us to differentiate between deception and fact, half truth and lies, or our justifications and our ulterior motives. We so easily deceive ourselves with our insidious mental mechanisms that lead us to wrong conclusions because they are fraught with worldly or selfish influences. We need to learn to identify these patterns as evil and allow God to remove them and be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
APPLICATION
I am more than ever committed to the process of renewing my mind, and being transformed by the Holy Spirit.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
1 Cor. 13:5 - With Christ, I Can Love Others His Way
1 Cor. 13:5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
In my human strength I fail at loving others in this way, truth be told I do not even love myself like this, I get angry with myself and have a list a mile long of things I have done wrong. Like the disciples I commit to the refrain, "increase my faith". I know that I am not capable of consistently loving others in this way in my own strength, but with Christ all things are possible. The interesting word in the previous sentence is "with". If the Holy Spirit is truly residing in me and I live by His direction and guidance with me, together, we can love in this amazing way.
APPLICATION
I need to pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. To empower me to live by the power of His grace.
In my human strength I fail at loving others in this way, truth be told I do not even love myself like this, I get angry with myself and have a list a mile long of things I have done wrong. Like the disciples I commit to the refrain, "increase my faith". I know that I am not capable of consistently loving others in this way in my own strength, but with Christ all things are possible. The interesting word in the previous sentence is "with". If the Holy Spirit is truly residing in me and I live by His direction and guidance with me, together, we can love in this amazing way.
APPLICATION
I need to pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. To empower me to live by the power of His grace.
Monday, February 13, 2012
1 Cor. 13:4 - Jesus Never Ran
1Corinthians 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
I find it significant that the first word on the list of things that describe love in God's terms is patience. That is one attribute that God is definately long on and us humans seem to struggle with. Could it be because God is not bound by time as He lives eternal, and we are always dealing with the fact that our time here is running out? Have you ever noticed that as time dwindles on accomplishing a task, the closer to the deadline the more impatient you get? Especially if the task is almost complete but not yet there? How we scurry around at the last minute to finish something in the nick of time? In our scurrying we have less and less patience as the seconds count down. How much of our lives are lived in a scurry or semi-scurry attitude?
God however never scurries. Jesus never ran. The only depiction of God running is the Father as he sees his prodigal son on the horizon, he runs to meet him. Even in that the father was patiently waiting. The character of God exudes patience. The frailty of man is that he is inclined toward impatience. In haste or impulse or in autopilot thinking we make assumptions and veer off course easily.
APPLICATION
I need to create more margin in my life so that I can be more careful in my decisions and more effective in my ministry. Today I will begin by being 5 minutes early for every appointment. In order to do this I will need to be prepared to set out earlier in the first place. And rememberb that 5 minutes early is on time and arriving at the set appointed time is 5 minutes late.
I find it significant that the first word on the list of things that describe love in God's terms is patience. That is one attribute that God is definately long on and us humans seem to struggle with. Could it be because God is not bound by time as He lives eternal, and we are always dealing with the fact that our time here is running out? Have you ever noticed that as time dwindles on accomplishing a task, the closer to the deadline the more impatient you get? Especially if the task is almost complete but not yet there? How we scurry around at the last minute to finish something in the nick of time? In our scurrying we have less and less patience as the seconds count down. How much of our lives are lived in a scurry or semi-scurry attitude?
God however never scurries. Jesus never ran. The only depiction of God running is the Father as he sees his prodigal son on the horizon, he runs to meet him. Even in that the father was patiently waiting. The character of God exudes patience. The frailty of man is that he is inclined toward impatience. In haste or impulse or in autopilot thinking we make assumptions and veer off course easily.
APPLICATION
I need to create more margin in my life so that I can be more careful in my decisions and more effective in my ministry. Today I will begin by being 5 minutes early for every appointment. In order to do this I will need to be prepared to set out earlier in the first place. And rememberb that 5 minutes early is on time and arriving at the set appointed time is 5 minutes late.
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