295 - “Put Your Nets In Deep Water

 

Professional fishermen---yes they were.

They knew how to fish.

Grace ~ It fell from Him. Still falls on our hearts. 

So, put your nets out into deep water, says the Carpenter, not a Fisherman. Luke 5:4.  It's a miracle.  

These seasoned fishermen know how to fish.  Only God could have pulled this one off.  And grace falls in one of those daily moments where they spend hundreds of hours earning their way.  We never know when a Divine Visit, Words of Grace, will fall on us at work. 

So what's the insight here?  Christ tells Peter to apply himself to this secular calling of his.  Don't waste your work.  Time spent there is never a hindrance, it's holy.  When we have been with God, true joy will result in our work.  "We must not abruptly quit our callings because we have not the success in them we desire." Own ourselves as sinful men, redeemed.  Don't view your work as a vehicle to prepare for ministry.  Work is your ministry.

PHOTO: Lake Travis. Spent almost 2 decades in Austin. Such an unusual time full of deep hurt and much joy. They live juxtapose to each other, you know.

294 - “Seeing the Power of God in Afflction” Matthew 17; Mark 9

      

Matthew 17:14-15 And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before Jesus, said, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly."  What anguish of soul for a Dad to watch his son t.o.r.m.e.n.t.e.d. physically by demons. LORD, will you do anything?  Jesus replies in 17:21: With a tiny grain of faith, say to your mountain: 'Move Forward,' and it will move!  Nothing will be impossible for you.  

The disciples just didn't get "it," did they?  (17:20) - 'You're not yet taking God seriously," said Jesus. "The simple truth is that if you had a mere kernel of faith, you would tell this mountain, 'Move!' and it would move. There is nothing you wouldn't be able to tackle." 

What circumstances riddle my soul this day?  Will faith be found among us?  The Kingdom is near!  I can wrestle with a Good God just like these disciples wrestled to find faith.  "I can live to give and not to grasp.  I can bring a taste of heaven to earth."  66 LL. 
A Son of Adam, bothered by Satan, not only spiritually (like us all) but also physically.  Followers of Christ, not able to do anything about it.  Do the things of God rest on our hearts with deep conviction? What am I truly convinced of? The Truth will set you free.  How can the Truth, which we know not from conviction, be instrumental in our own hands of becoming faith in others?  Help us all, dear LORD, to deal with our own stuff.  By our tiny faith, we will draw out from others the people God intended for them to be.  What am I drawing out of those closest to me?

PHOTO:  The mountains of the Northwest. Majestic. Move mountain!  father in Matthew 17:14-15 sees the power of God in his affliction. And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before Jesus, said, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly."  What anguish of soul for a Dad to watch his son t.o.r.m.e.n.t.e.d. physically by demons. LORD, will you do anything?  Jesus replies in 17:21: With a tiny grain of faith, say to your mountain: 'Move Forward,' and it will move!  Nothing will be impossible for you.  

The disciples just didn't get "it," did they?  (17:20) - 'You're not yet taking God seriously," said Jesus. "The simple truth is that if you had a mere kernel of faith, you would tell this mountain, 'Move!' and it would move. There is nothing you wouldn't be able to tackle." 

What circumstances riddle my soul this day?  Will faith be found among us?  The Kingdom is near!  I can wrestle with a Good God just like these disciples wrestled to find faith.  "I can live to give and not to grasp.  I can bring a taste of heaven to earth."  66 LL. 

A Son of Adam, bothered by Satan, not only spiritually (like us all) but also physically.  Followers of Christ, not able to do anything about it.  Do the things of God rest on our hearts with deep conviction? What am I truly convinced of? How can the Truth be instrumental in our own hands of becoming faith in others? By our tiny faith, we will draw out from others the people God intended for them to be. 

293 - “God Stoops & Steps into History” Luke 1

                                                             

This is not just a genealogy of famous men. There are some names, we know too well for their impropriety, their immortality, their idolatry.  The descendant of Abraham, of David, well---He saved the whole human race. Every single one of us has been living in darkness. Luke 1 is a place where God the Son stooped and stepped into history to save us from ourselves.  

Mary treasured up all that had happened and weighed it in her heart. Luke 2:19 How do I weigh my present circumstances?  For the Glory of God?  It was Angels who were the heralds of her newborn Son, a newborn Saviour.  Found smack dab in the midst of their honest calling, industrious shepherds, who were where they were supposed to be keeping watch over their flock.  "We are not out of the way of Divine visits, when we are employed in an honest calling, and abide with God in it." So, lead that honest, humble life and let God have the honor of your life and its work.  Here comes Peace in this lower world of ours.  Peace is Here.  Fully ponder.  

PHOTO:  The sun on my perspicacious face and the moon on my unknown back.  You never know when God will show up and make our paths straighter. 

291 “The Implanted Word Saves You” Mark 12-14

 

THE IMPLANTED WORD SAVES ME
Jesus kept on telling stories.  Why?  Scripture interprets Scripture.  Phil 1:21 - it's the implanted Word that saves you. God, would you keep planting these stories in our hearts?

RUBBING HANDS TOGETHER IN GREED.
Mark 12:7 -8   "Those farmhands saw their chance. They rubbed their hands together in greed and said, 'This is the heir! Let's kill him and have it all for ourselves.' They grabbed the son, killed him, and threw him over the fence."  Unbelievable.  I feel that people are doing that to me. But this is about me not them---am I throwing people under the bus, over the fence in my thoughts?  The crowd wanted to lynch Jesus then and there but held back.  They knew the story was about them (12:12) and they got out of there as fast as they could.  

YOU DON'T KNOW YOUR BIBLE.
Mark 12:18 Some Sadducees, the party that den

289 - “Move Me Forward” Mark 8-9

 

4,000 people did not want to leave the presence of Christ and His teaching.  They stayed for three days.  Starving.  Staying.  So taken with the Goodness of God.  No bakery could handle 4,000+ customers.  Christ could.  "I do believe.  Help my unbelief."  Mark 9:24.  And help me never to leave Your Presence, O God.

One miracle after another.  Their lives.  Our lives.  How can we not stay?  Why do we not cry out if we have little insight from our incidents?

Jesus heals the blind man in an unconventional way.  Spit.  “Do you see anything?”  And the blind man replies:  “I see men, for I see them like trees, walking around.” Mark 8:24.  Christ could have completely healed him the first time.  What's the goal here?  Holiness.  Where in my life do I see men like trees walking around?  Just like Christ moved the blind man forward, move me, O God.  Move me forward!

288 - “His Heart Breaks For You” Mark 6-7

 WHAT DO I REALLY NEED TO MINISTER?  Mark 6: 8 -9"Don't think you need a lot of extra equipment for ministry. You are the equipment. No special appeals for funds. Keep it simple. 

WHAT IS MY RESPONSE WHEN I AM OVERLOOKED? Mark 6:11  "If you're not welcomed, not listened to, quietly withdraw. Don't make a scene. Shrug your shoulders and be on your way."  C. S. Lewis' 8th chapter of Mere Christianity was the teacher's lesson plan yesterday...the real test of pride in my life is my response when friends and family don't listen to us and push us away---when we are rejected.  God so showed up for me in that chapter yesterday in the midst of being overlooked this week.  

WHAT HOPE DO I HAVE TO MINISTER IN MY OWN MESS?  Mark 6: 12 -13 With joyful urgency, the fledgling disciples sent the demons packing and brought wellness.  I love it!  Gives me hope in my own mess that I can send a few demons on their way!

DO PEOPLE WANT MORE OF HIM BECAUSE OF ME?  Mark 6:20 Something in John kept pulling Herod back to Jesus. 

DO YOU KNOW THAT HIS HEART BREAKS FOR YOU?  Mark 6:34 - At the sight of them, his heart broke—like sheep with no shepherd they were. He went right to work teaching them.  6:38---five loaves and two fish.  6:50---take Courage...it's Me...don't be afraid in midst of your storms.  HE knows our frame and His Heart breaks for us as we wrestle through storms and needs.  

IS YOUR HEART IN THE RIGHT PLACE?  Then rejoice today no matter how hard you may fall or how much you don't know what your next step is---it's not fatal.  Mark 7:7  "These people make a big show of saying the right thing, but their heart isn't in it...it's what comes out of a person that pollutes: obscenities, lusts, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, depravity, deceptive dealings, carousing, mean looks, slander, arrogance, foolishness."  Make your heart right with your God this moment---that's all you have anyway---this moment.

287 - “The Time Has Come” Mark 4-5

 

The. Time. Has. Come.

The last words of the prophet Malachi still ring 400 years later. Malachi alluded that "the day is coming that shall set them ablaze;" the Sun of Righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. Here He is saying:
Don't let the world rule your life. "The worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. Mark 4:19. Instead, "hear the Word and accept it." Mark 4:20.

"Keep On Believing" no matter what you see. Mark 5:36. No matter if your world jumps in front of you when you're standing in line to talk to Jesus. No matter if your dreams die before you when Jesus is promising to move on your behalf. No matter if people give up on you and Jesus does not deal with them. No matter what, keep on believing.

The Sun of Righteousness has come to dispel the darkness, scatter the gloom, wipe off the oppression, take care of the injustice. He. Has. Come. and that changes everything. And we need to change our mind about everything. The Light of the World is here.

May we, your servants, hold You dear. Have compassion on us. 
For you will build us up. Appear in Your Glory, O God."

286 - “Mixing personal comfort with Spiritual Reality” Mark 1-3

 Mark 1:1 "Make ready the way of the LORD."  God prepares the way for Christ to enter our world and our hearts.  He has been stirring us for a long time.  Stirring us even this day.  He will baptize us with the Holy Spirit.  "If You are willing, You can make me clean."  Mark 1:40  Clean --- on the outside and inside.  

The young follower Mark came from a home of wealth.  He "mixed personal comfort with spiritual reality."  66LL.  Mark even aborted his ministry trip with Paul and Barnabas and sailed back to Jerusalem alone (Acts 13:1-13).  A failure--but make no mistake, failure never stops God's Plan.  The more we see Christ, the more we see our own hearts and whether we are willing to suffer loss for Him.  

Kingdom Living is serving not entitlement nor comfort; it is denying self and enduring suffering; it is living with hope here and now, real joy.  Kingdom Life is now.  Just like Mark finished well fighting his entitlement to the blessing of this life, may we too keep on believing in the dark, in the silence, even in the blessings.  

285 - “Unuttered Questions and Fears”

 

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you... Matthew 28:5-7. 

This Risen Christ. 

A hope & joy to his followers. 

A confusion & terror to his enemies. 

"We do not read of any words as spoken by the women, but the words which they now heard were an answer to their unuttered questionings and fears."

I hold unuttered questions, unspeakable fears. And I don't have to verbalized anything to this Risen Christ Who is no longer here. He knows. 

Just live for the world where He went. 

PHOTO: Full Moon over all our unuttered longings. 

284 - "Watch Every Dream Go Down In Dust and Yearn to Be Involved in Kingdom Living" Matthew 25-26

Matthew 25:21- "You have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much.  Enter into the joy of your Master."

Matthew 25:25 - "So, I was afraid..."  The servant did nothing with what he was entrusted. The Redeemer had given him just a little.  The servant should have, at least, invested the one talent given to him by the One who owned him.  Do I live afraid to take the risk with the investment of what God has given to me?   The Parable of the Talents does not imply that by improving our talents, our abilities, our resources, we are then entitled to Divine Grace. We are all called to be servants of our Redeemer promoting ourselves---No!---promoting His Glory. There's a Grander Story here than just our story. We are constrained by the Love of Christ, controlled by His Love, to live no longer for ourselves. Am I willing to take a risk to invest in Eternity? These words come to mind again this week:

"Faith as I'm growing to understand it more, is about looking beyond my circumstances to a person. To have faith in better circumstances, even in God creating better circumstances, is not true faith. I want to be the kind of man who can watch every dream go down in flames and still yearn to be intimately involved in kingdom living, intimately involved with my Friend the King, and still be willing to take another risk just because it delights Him for me to do so. And my flesh shivers to think about it."    Shattered Dreams

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