Friday May 15^th- Walking in Wisdom!

Be Careful what you are hearing!  Are you taking it to heart and believing it or is it just a passing thought?

Mark 4

Jesus taught many things to the people in parables.  

Parables defined in the amplified bible are concrete illustrations put beside truths to explain them. 

Stories that we can relate to.  [in my own words]

The verses that stuck out to me were in :23-24 and I have always wondered what they meant.

The verses below help to put it all into perspective.  

Nothing like God’s Word to know the truth.

: 23 If any man has ears to hear, let him be listening and let him perceive and comprehend.

:24 And He said to them, Be careful what you are hearing. The measure[of thought and study] you give [to the truth you hear] will be the measure [of virtue and knowledge] that comes back to you—and more [besides] will be given to you who hear.

Have you ever really stopped to think about what this means? 

When we hear something what do we do with it?

Proverbs 19:27
Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge.

Luke 8:18
Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.

Acts 17:11
These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

Hebrews 2:1
Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.

1 John 4:1
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

1 Peter 2:2
As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

2 Peter 2:1-3
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.

with

Matthew 7:2
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

Luke 6:37-38
Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

2 Corinthians 9:6
But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.

hear

Mark 9:7
And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.

Isaiah 55:3
Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

John 5:25
Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.

John 10:16
And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

John 10:27
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

These scripture verses give us much to think about.  

What are you doing with what you are reading in God’s Word?  

Do you take it to heart or is it just good reading?  

I believe when we earnestly seek Him and wait upon Him, we don’t just hear the word but we live the word.  

As we live out His word He gives us more and more of His truths to live by.

 

The grace (favor and spiritual blessing) of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the presence and fellowship (the communion and sharing together, and participation) in the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen (so be it).  [Amp. Bible]       II Cor. 13:14

Lyn

Scripture for Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Have you ever been in a storm and it caused you to be afraid?  When we read Mark 4, we come to the place where Jesus calms the storm.

 

At the moment I’m writing this, there’s a storm going on in my life.  It’s been going on for a few years and recently it has snowballed and it’s frightening to me.  Mark 4:35-41 is an awesome place to go when you need time alone with Jesus to help you through the storms of life.

Jesus ordered the disciples to get in the boat to go to the other side of the lake.  I think the boat, and His disciples in the boat serve as an image of those living in fellowship with Jesus, being obedient to Jesus and being separated from the world by Jesus!

Last week I talked about Sue’s post and my realization that I am following Jesus – I’m doing what’s right.  (Isaiah 30:21).  And then, this storm grew even bigger!

But as I read this chapter and I came here to the disciples being afraid of the storm, I was reminded that this storm came up in the very path of my obedience, and if I was not obeying Jesus, I would be safe on shore with the crowd. 

Being ordered by God to go out into the storms of life is a reoccurring theme in the Bible.  Abraham was ordered to Canaan, but when he got there, a famine wiped out the food supply.  Jacob was sent to Mesopotamia where his uncle tricked and cheated him for 20 years.  Joseph was sent to Egypt where he spent years in a dungeon.  David was obedient to God by fighting Goliath, but afterwards, spent years in the wilderness threatened by Saul.  The Apostle Paul was sent by the Holy Spirit to Philippi (Acts 16:9-10), where he was imprisoned.  In all these cases, and more, it appears to God’s people that He is indifferent to their circumstances and their lives are in danger.  However, in this story in Mark 4:35-41, we can see that God does care, and Jesus was testing and building their faith.  Jesus had said they were going to the other side.

 

I don’t like discipline!  However, I prayed for discipline because as I had said in this post, I knew I lacked discipline.  I’ve been just like the disciples and tried to wake Jesus and ask Him if He cares and that I’m about to die.

And so, He brought me here and said, “How is it that you have no faith?”  I mean Jesus could have said something like, “wow, close call – thanks for waking me.”  But, instead He admonishes the disciples (and me) for their lack of faith.  We, as students, realize that to learn this kind of faith, we must have the experience of the storms of life.

Then in verse 41, fear shifts to awe – the awesome power of Jesus in the boat with them.  Is it safer to be in the boat with Jesus in a storm or in the calm without Him?

 

As much as this present storm I am in is fierce, I have come to the conclusion that I am safer anywhere with Jesus than without Him.

I can’t help but enjoy the blunt honesty of this Gospel writer.  Mark immediately leads us not to a calm place of rest, but to Gentile territory filled with demons, pigs, dead people and the hostile Gerasenes (chapter 5).  But God – reigns there too!

I’ll be honest here, I pray that the demons present in the storms of life recognize Jesus in me – for they will know their final resting place is the eternal fire.  It seems that wherever Jesus goes, His holy presence triggers a reaction from the forces of the adversary of God.  As Christians, we will face trouble.  But as Christians we carry Jesus to the demons and He alone has the encounter to make them fully human again!  Because no one is at peace and fully human without Jesus!