Luke 6:20 "The Bride is Ready" (March 31)

Luke 6:20 - Lift your Eyes on each of us who follow You, dear God.  Help us this very moment to know that we are blessed if we are down to our last dime for we have the Kingdom!  Make this weeping wife know that one day I will laugh again.  And every day, when we are excluded, can you open our eyes to see that we are blessed right there in the midst of aloneness. 
Our reward is great in heaven.  And as we peek and peer into Eternity, what do hear there? 
Rev. 19: 6-8 Hallelujah!  Rejoice and Be Glad.  Give Him Glory! 
For the Wedding of the Lamb has come and His Bride has made herself ready! 
So how are we doing making ourselves ready?  Am I aiming to be perfect here?  Great marriage, successful ministry, awesome kids, fulfilling friendships...wait!  That's not what is being proclaimed in Eternity. What  is being proclaimed in Revelations 19 is twofold:

1. The Final Victory has already been WON!  Christ Jesus accomplished His Plan and reigns forever!

2.  The Marriage Supper of the Lamb has COME!  We have been invited to the Wedding, but WAIT, you are the Bride.  You stand scarlet no more.  Your sins are gone.  You stand before your Groom, pure and holy as He! 

We are not singing---We've done it!  Our children turned out great!  Here's our successful ministries planted in Your Name!  My marriage was awesome!  Look what I did with my life!  No, we are singing His Praises from way-down-deep gratitude for lives lived by His Presence, His Power that changed us and made us who we are walking down the aisle. 

Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for they shall see God!

Luke 5:27 "Follow Me" (March 30)

Luke 5: 27-28 "Follow Me." And Levi, leaving everything, rose and followed Jesus.  He left his tax collector booth standing empty and he invited all of his tax collector friends to a party to meet Jesus.  That's all the people he knew---sinful traitor-dealing tax collectors.  Social enigmas. Cultural Stigmas. And Levi belonged to the worst kind of tax collector group possible.  He wasn't part of the Gabbais, who collected general income taxes.  No, Levi was a Mokhe who preyed upon the society, collecting taxes on imports and exports.  Levi had a toll both set up charging more for animals and produce than he should have.  Backed up by the Roman government who imprisoned violators, tax collectors were universally hated.  It was a thankless job even though the tax collectors walked away rich. 

Meet Matthew. Jesus called Levi with two simple words:  Follow Me.
Why did Levi abandon all and follow so quickly?  What was stirring in Levi's heart?  Some believe that this tax collector followed Jesus and taxed the crowds that came to hear Him with his movable tax booth.  If that is true, Levi would have heard sermons on the mount and seen lepers leap in new life and little girls raised from the dead back into their mommy's arms, as he taxed those who crossed his road following a rabbi called Jesus.  He probably even taxed the Son of God. 

It was normal for rabbis to gather the best and most committed followers around them. It wasn't normal for Jesus to call sinners and prostitutes and tax collectors.  Jesus called the outcasts of society---the betrayers and the betrayed not the brightest and the best. 
Here's another disciple rising up to the Invitation to follow Jesus and leave everything behind.  So just like Peter and James and John who, sentences ago, left their boats and docks with the smell of fish on them, here's Levi and the smell of money, evaluating the cost of leaving a lucrative lifestyle.  Yes, this tax collector turned from darkness to light and Levi became the beloved Matthew who went on to write the Book of Matthew.

From a traitor wielding words and taxes on passers-by
to an author witnessing and offering the very Word of God. 

The compilation and compulsion of a lifestyle of sin became an occasion of peace and pardoning, the welcomed weilding wild grace of God. 
Levi - "joined"  ~~~~ 
Matthew - "Gift of God"
Will you, oh Gift of God, say yes today to the call of  God on your life?
Follow the Rabbi, oh sinful man. 

Luke 5:9 "365 Times: Do No Be Afraid" (March 29)

The Draught of Disciples

Conscious of the Power of Christ
Luke 5:9 - The disciples were astonished at the draught of fish.
The nets could hardly hold them.  These were accomplished fishermen.
They couldn't catch a thing all night.  They knew they were in the midst
of something so powerful, so greater.  Are you conscious this day of
a Beautiful Christ Who can capture for you what you cannot do?
Do you think what lies ahead is beyond the Power of your God?

Conscious of our Sin
Luke 5:8 "I am a sinful man, Oh LORD, Depart from me.
Are you conscious of the compulsions that lie beneath behaviors
Conscious of the sin that entangles us in our own nets?

Conscious of a Vision
Luke 5:10 "Do not be afraid, from now on you will be catching men.
There is a higher calling than the present work of the day.
Wonder why the response is so often fear on our parts?
365 times the Bible says:  Do No Be Afraid.

Conscious of our Calling
What a beautiful calling in the midst of power, sin, and failure.
Luke 5:4 "Put out into the deep and let down your nets."
Don't settle for shallow living.  Risk it all. 
Who else has the Truth like this Man? 
Am I looking to live this day risking it all putting it out deep and down?
Throw your caution to the wind!  Do you hear the Lord in your midst calling you?

Luke 4:33 "A New Life" (March 28)

Astonished at Authority over the Word. 
     Luke 4:33 ~ They were astonished at His teaching, for His Word possessed authority.
Amazed at Authority over Demons
     Luke 4:35 ~ Jesus rebuked the demon.  Be silent and come out of this man.
     ...and they were all amazed ~ Luke 4:36: "What is this Word?"

Awed at Authority over Disease
     Luke 4:39 Jesus stood over Simon's m-i-l sick with a high fever.
     "Do you want to be well?"  Do we want Jesus Christ to be LORD over our lives? 
     Immediately, the woman rose to serve.

Luke 4 tells us that Jesus abandoned Nazareth for a new home. He spent most of his time at Simon's home here in Capernaum, on the Sea of Galilee.  I stood at what remains of this sprawling home near the synagogue where He came and went...
Preaching the Gospel.
Performing miracles.
Giving people their lives back...No! He gave them a new life.
Matthew Henry says: "From His Preaching, a working Power went with it into the consciences of men." His Power, His Healing seared the conscience, slayed the heart. We are all rebels at heart needing a Savior. This wasn't about improving their lives but changing their history. Spreading the Fame of His Name. Like Peter's mother-in-law, a new life to His Glory. So what will we do with our New Life?

Luke 4:1 "My Mantra ~ It Is Written" (March 27)

Luke 4:1 - He was full of the Holy Spirit and led into a wilderness, by that same Spirit, for 40 days.  Alone.  No one to carry Him in prayer, with words, with physical touch.  Desolation all around.  Symbolic of utter depravity.  A Sinless Savior sitting among stones and snakes and suffering endless seconds.  Satan uses Scripture to deceive Him.  Exchange your soul for happiness here and honor here and satisfaction here.  Didn't work.  Luke 4:4 ~ "It is Written"  ~ 3 Words.  Make this my mantra for what I face next.  What is the truth?  It is written...

None of us are out of the snare of the Enemy of this World.  He can touch us but He cannot have us.  So, give him back what is written.  Let the Word of Christ richly dwell in you, Col 3:16.  His Word is the Hammer that breaks the rocks to pieces, Jer 23:29. His Word is like fire within.  His Word is like snow melting on warm hearts, Psa 147:16.  His Word is our oxygen.  His Words are not idle words for this day; they are our very life, Deut 32:47!  So live and love and learn His Word as though your life depended on it, it does!

Luke 3:1 "A Call to Repentance" (March 26)

Luke 3:1 - A Call to Repentance in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, the Word of God came to John in the wilderness.  No time passed.  John immediately went into the region around the Jordan proclaiming a baptism of repentance, the forgiveness of sins.  John preached a profession---a turning from my sins to my Savior.  Necessary Repentance.  There is no forgiveness of sins, no remission of sins without repentance.  And the sign will be the washing with water, your baptism. 

This fulfilled Isaiah 40:3-4...
John was the Voice of One crying in the Wilderness.
Repent.  Prepare.  The Way of the LORD. 
Every mountain shall be made low.  Ever high thought brought down. 
Every valley shall be filled.  Our very souls will be leveled. 
The crooked shall become straight.  All who are broken will be healed. 
The rough places will become smooth.  Every difficult time will dissipate.
And you will see God.  He will be glorified in you.
God is doing it!  And it is a good thing! 

Whatever Mountain or Valley or Rough Place you face today, know this
The Holy One of Israel said:
In Repentance and Rest you will be saved.
In Quietness and Trust is your strength.  Isaiah 30:15

Luke 2:40 "What's In Your Wallet?" (March 25)

Meet Simeon and Anna. Their lives caused God's Eyes to stop here in Luke 2 ~ 2 Chron 16:9. Waiting in the Temple for the Consolation of Mankind. Waiting for the Redemption of Jerusalem. Throughout the OT, people wrote about salvation as physical deliverance from death and sickness and enemies and disasters. Israelites like Simeon thought of salvation as deliverance from the enemy and a Reigning Ruler over Jerusalem.  It wasn't Caesar Augustus, could it be the Christ Child? They both had been waiting a long time. And in walks a 12-year-old boy. Simeon "God has heard" was like 113 and Anna *married only to Christ* had been there for several widowed decades. Where two or three are gathered in My Name, there I AM in the middle of a 12-year-old and two centenarians. 

Luke 2:35 And, the Good News is that it's more than
Redemption on Earth for it is Redemption for Eternity.
God wants to restore us to Himself.  God is concerned in verse 35 with the condition of our hearts. How the Israelites will respond to the Messiah will reveal what is in their hearts. 2,000 years later, same chapter, same verse. How do we respond to God and what He is doing in our lives today? Luke 2:40 And the favor of your Good God is on you.
What IS in our hearts?  What stirs deep inside of you?  What do you think about in the wee hours of the morning?  What do you ponder wonder?  What's in your heart? 

Luke 2:7 "In Quietness and Confidence" (March 24)

Luke 2:1 - In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, the leader of the mightiest nation on earth---he wanted all the world registered.  Such pomp and pride.  At the same world, in the fullness of time, in Bethlehem, there was no room in the inn for Mary to deliver her baby.  Such lowliness and humility.  Luke 2:7 She gave birth to her firstborn.  A sinless Savior in a stall.  Wonder what sinful Mary pondered in her heart.  God made no special arrangements for His Son to descend in grandeur and glory.  The supernatural came to the shepherds who were very familiar with sheep and straw and stables and stars.  And I wonder this night, 2,000 years later, why I am so drawn to the pomp, the circumstance, the elite, the mightiest, the strongest?  What did Mary and Joseph and Elizabeth and Zechariah find that I know not?  They learned in their own silent sufferings to quiet their heart.  Is my soul silenced this day before our Good God?  Has the battles of your life left you totally dependent on God for the Strength to come through?  Are there Bethlehem places that I am still trying to find room, when there is none left.  Am I trying to live better, fix what's broken, do everything I can to endure to the end....if so, remember, there's no room for you there.   There are places in all of our hearts that still need to be redeemed.          
       And the effect of righteousness will be peace,

       and the result of righteousness: quietness and trust forever.
                                                          Isa 32:17,18                                                                      


       From the top of the Augustus world to the Savior's lowly stable.
       Do we think we should be treated better?                                                             

Luke 1:77 "Standing in Suffering and Shadows and Silence and Surrender" (March 23)

Luke 1:77
 ~ Dear John,
You will go before the Lord to prepare His Ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to His people and forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the Sunrise shall visit us from on high
to give Light to those who sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet in the way of peace. 

You have no idea how much you will have to suffer, John.
I don't think suffering was ever even on John's radar
but bringing the Kingdom to earth was John's overwhelming desire.
John brought waiting people to the arms of a long-awaited Messiah.
John broke 400 years of silence announcing a Sunrise from on High.
2000 years later, Still giving Light through His Word
Light to those who sit in darkness, depression, despair, and death.
Light to those who stand in suffering, silence, shadows, surrender.
John brought Peace to hands and feet and hearts. 
God, if there be any different desire in us, may our Sun Rise High.

       John had no greater desire
       than to carry out his part in God's Plan
       That is the center of spiritual formation
       Not more energy, not feeling more upbeat,
       but a clear awareness of the deepest truly human desire
       a desire that releases resolve,
       a determination to follow God's lead
       in bringing Heaven's Kingdom on earth, a Longing to Love.
                                                                                       66 LL

Luke 1:45 "An Undivided Heart in Hurts" (March 22)

Luke 1:45 ~And~  Blessed is she who believes
that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.
What is He gently whispering to us? I Kings 19:12
What am I believing our Good God will fulfill in my life? 2 Thes 1:11-12

And Mary's magnificat response:
"My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior...
He who is Mighty has done great things for me, and Holy is his Name."
Are the mighty things what I want or what He wants?

What a beautiful response from Mary's undivided heart.
When I face difficult circumstances,
do I protect parts of my heart from the hurt, from the hard times?

       The more we see Jesus
       The more we are drawn to His Face
       The more we are drawn to His Goal
       The less divided we will be
       The more willing to persevere through anything in order
                     to be formed like His Son.          66 Love Letters

Luke 1:38 "Let It Be to Me" (March 21)

Luke 1:35 -  "The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;
therefore the child to be born will be called Holy, the Son of God.
For nothing will be impossible with God.  Not with God and Mary.
But nothing's impossible with God Alone. 

Luke 1:38 - "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord;
Let it be to me according to your word."
Mary's story is different from Zechariah
who had to know how it would happen in light of the circumstances. 
Mary looked not at her circumstances but said:  "Let it be to me." 

Mary had not met Jesus yet.  She knew her Most High God.
So what do I face this day, this week that I may ask
for the Power of the Most High to overshadow me,
to call me out to say: "Let it be to me."

       As I access parts of my heart, do I find a desire Stronger than
       My wish to be satisfied with Life's Opportunities.
       Does my desire for spiritual formation lie on top
       of those self-focused desires like an attractive veneer?
       The Desire that Christ be formed in me, Gal 4:19
       needs to be the controlling foundation of my life.
                                                                                 66 Love Letters

      

Luke 1:2 "Ministers of The Word and Prayer" (March 20)

Dr. Luke, bright physician, researched thoroughly multiple sources to bring us this gospel which still stands strong 2,000 years later. This physician uses medical terminology throughout his gospel.
Luke 1:4 Here are God's Words that you may have certainty concerning the things Jesus taught.

You Are a Minister of God's Word ~
One source Luke diligently searched out was "Ministers of the Word." 
Ministers in the Greek is: huperetai, a word used in medical terminology:
"to refer to doctors who served under a principal physician."
Just like the followers then, we serve under The Great Physician
offering the Word of God to mend and heal and comfort broken lives. 

You are a Servant on Duty in Prayer ~
While Zechariah was serving as priest, while his division was on duty...
An angel appeared to him saying:
Your prayers have been heard. You have a son. 
God will go before your son in the spirit and power of Elijah,
to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,
and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just,
to make ready for the Lord a people prepared. 

What Word comes to mind
to serve like a doctor today offering healing and comfort and help?
While I am serving whatever in my corner of today's world,
Will I be found faithful, found in prayer?

Mark 16:9 "The Resurrected Christ Appears to Women & No-Names" (March 19)

No man witnessed the Resurrection.  So how do we believe that it really happened?  Scroll Down to February 1st post about the only Resurrection we ever remember.  The Romans executed over 30,000.

Who rolled away the stone?  No man could alone.  God sent an angel to roll away the stone, not to let Jesus out, but to let us in to show He was not there. The Crux of Christianity. The angel told the women---Go tell the disciples and Peter!  God had the angel "drop" Peter's name---you know, the one who denied him three times before he hung on a cross. What encouragement to betrayers---that would be all of us.

Mark 16:9 He appeared first to a woman named Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. She told the disciples that He was alive....but they would not believe it.

Mark 16:12 He appeared in another form to two no-names, as they were walking into the country.  They told the rest... but they did not believe them.

Mark 16:14 He appeared to the eleven themselves and He rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart... because they had not believed God?  No, because they did not believe those who saw Jesus after He had risen.

Mark 26:15 His Resurrection Words spoken to them:  "Go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel.  Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned."

And I've never seen this verse before, Mark 16:20:  While they preached the message, the LORD worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.  God, would you work with us today, confirm your message!, as we live the Gospel with our words and life. 

As we close the Book of Mark, I am deeply touched in this chapter as I read that the disciples couldn't believe "those who saw Him after He had risen."  They couldn't believe a woman who had seven demons cast out of her. They couldn't believe two unnamed disciples...so, they hardened their hearts in unbelief.  They probably would have believed John or James, even Peter, but not Mary Magdalene!  Jesus thought enough of these three people to grace them with His Presence.  You know, my husband and I are no longer credible people with ministries (but we will find our place, real soon!).  We are no-names.  People believe Beth Moore.  People don't believe people with no-names.  Yet, every day, my LORD appears to me in some way or another.  He is so taking care of us in ways that it could only be explained in terms of God!  He is Risen.  He is Here. Hold on tight---we may be a no-name but HE is calling our names!

Mark 15:26 "A Superinscription & Supernatural Darkness" (March 18)

Mark 15:26 - And the superinscription of the charge against him read,
"The King of the Jews."
Reigning Monarchs aren't Killed for being a King.

And when the sixth hour had come,
Supernatural Darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour,
God painted privacy over the ghastly shameful day.

And His Voice cried out:  Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachtani?
My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
Dying men have no voice,
But this is The Christ Who died of His own free will.

With a loud cry, He uttered His last,
showing His own free supernatural power.
And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.
The very veil that grants us access to the very Presence of God.

And the women were Present in that Darkness.
Last ones at His Dark Death.  First ones at His Resurrection Life.
They knew.  What do I know this day?
Truly this wholly Holy Man was the Son of God. 

       In the cross of Christ I glory,

      Towering o’er the wrecks of time;
                                  John Bowring

Mark 15:1 "What do we do with Him?" (March 17)

Mark 15:1
A ceremonial consultation convoked argued hastily among the chief priests, elders, scribes scurrying. 
The whole Sanhedrin Council clothed in black irregularly assembled at the House of Caiphas.
Jesus waiting in The Sacred Pit, the Silent Suffering Savior
lowered through a hole the size of his body down down into a damp dark hewn-stoned holding cell
Caiphas cloistered in his august chamber in preparation for Passover

The waiting seventy Sanhedrin would kill the Passover Lamb,
the very emissary who came to save and bring Redemption to the entire world.

Mark 15:12 "Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?"  It's a question we all have to answer, isn't it?  What do we do with Him?  Do we stand afar at distance?  Do we follow closely intimately?  Do we give our affections fully not withheld?  What do we do with Him when He is the Silent One in our world?  Pilate lived to satisfy the crowd and released Barabas and delivered Jesus up to be scourged.  Do I live for the applause of men or the Silent One? 
The soldiers struck, spit, stripped, scourged and then saluted the Silent Suffering Savior.
Mocked and led to be crucified for my sins and for yours.
So that we can be free.
The soldiers compelled a Cyrenean from the country to carry His cross
Simon brought the Coming Christ to Golgotha
Three little words in the third hour changed the course of history
Only three little words recorded here...
They Crucified Him.
What do we do with Him?

Mark 14:54 "Lay Your Deadly Doing Down" (March 16)

Mark 14:54
With the sound of the rooster rehearsing in his ear, Peter followed the accused Christ  
a-t   -a-   d-i-s-t-a-n-c-e .
Peter knew he didn't want to identify too closely.  Wonder what ruled his heart?

As they hurled insults and injury at Jesus in the Courtyard, Peter warmed himself from afar by the fire.  And a mere girl, not a savage but a servant, recognized Peter.  It was a mere statement:  "You were with the Nazarene, Jesus...this man is one of them."  Denied.  Denied.   And Peter's answer sent the rooster crowing out loud.  Denied three times.  Oh, I am just like Peter.  When it's convenient.  When it's safe.  When it's hard.  Mark 14:72 - Peter's response:  He thought about it and wept.  Oh to live so aware of the sin that reigns within our hearts. That's a good place to be.  No denial there.  Romans 7:5 - the commandments of God arouse the sin within....that's crushing.  Will I be like Peter or Judas with my sin?  The sin of betrayal. 

       "Lay your deadly doing down.
        Down at Jesus feet.
        Stand in Him, in Him Alone.
        Gloriously Complete."   Unknown
The gospel is:
        you are more sinful and flawed than you ever dared believe
        yet you can be more accepted and loved than you ever dared hope
        at the same time because Jesus Christ lived and died in your place. . . .
                                                                                            Tim Keller

Mark 14:27 "The Spousal Love of Christ "(March 15)

Mark 14:27 Jesus said:  "You will all fall away."
How many will not fall away?  Zero. 
Peter.  James.  John.  Me.  You.

Peter protests.  Not Me.
They all said the same.

Yes, Peter, you will deny ME before this very day is over. 
Not in the future.  In hours.
No way.

Jesus says to the disciples:  Sit here while I pray.
HE was greatly distressed and troubled.
HE prayed for God's will, not His own.
HE found the disciples sleeping..."Could you not watch one hour?"
Not once, but three times.
Watch and pray that you might not enter temptation.
The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
       There is only One Motivation that won't drive you into the ground.
       Let the Spousal Love of Jesus Christ reconfigure
       the motivational structures of your heart.
       Lay your deady doings down.                  Tim Keller

Mark 14:6 "What Promptings are from The Spirit?" (March 14)

We met three people in these few short verses who are remembered everywhere the Gospel is preached.

MARY...
Mark 14:6 Mary of Bethany has done a Beautiful Thing to Jesus. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. Did Mary know the extent of her extravagance?  Or was she led by the Spirit of God to do what she could do.  Can I do what I can do for my LORD this day, forever?  Life is not about doing but it is about being extravagantly in love with Him.

JUDAS...
Another person prompted by whom?
Meanwhile Judas went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. And he sought an opportunity to betray him.  Did Judas do what he could do?  This motive for money, for betrayal came from a hideous place in his heart.  And he moved on it, prompted by the Enemy. What did Judas believe?  Where did his actions come from? May we all awake from our sin. 

MASTER OF THE HOUSE...
And another man, prompted by the Spirit of God.
Am I walking in my Spirit or in my flesh?  What percentage is Spirit; what percentage is flesh. I have no idea! All I know is the HE must increase and I must decrease.
Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, and tell him The Teacher says: Where may I eat the Passover with my disciples? And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready.  And it was there...HE took the bread, took the cup, and HE thanked God. His Blood of the Covenant poured out for me and for you.

Mark 13:31 "Watch and Pray" (March 13)

Mark 13:31 Heaven and earth will pass away,
but my Words will not pass away.

Jesus prepares the disciples for That Day, His Death.
He lets them know that though He goes, His Words do not. 
They remain for That Day and This Day, 2,000 years later. 
His Words still remain alive.  He will bring to pass what He promises.
Hallelujah!
This Day.

So, Watch and Pray.
May you be found living in His Word.
May you be found in Peace.

Mark 13:9 "Must Be on Guard" (March 12)

Mark 13:9 - But take heed to yourselves.
The word "heed" in the Greek is very emphatic.
And the theme is throughout...

Earthquakes in Japan, birth pains of anguish...He is coming again. 
The whole earth groans and waits.
Romans 8:23 - Groan Inwardly. Wait Eagerly.  He is coming.

Take heed. Guard what is in you.
Don't be nonchalant about your current stirrings.
The LORD of Compassion longs to make Himself known to you, Isaiah 30:18. 

Take heed...
God allowed the disciples to be turned over
to the Grand Sanhedrin, 72 scathing religious people.
Who are we turned over to?

Mark 13:37 Stay Awake
We can't sleep?
We are to live alive to God.
Don't nod off in this life.  Awake, my soul!

The message was emphatic 2,000 years ago
and remains emphatic to this day.  Stay Awake.
Be on guard for yourselves.  Watch out!
Take heed to yourselves and your living.

Mark 12:30 "Don't Know How Bad until We Try To Be Good" (Mark 12:30)

It was the Scribes, the theologians of the day, who asked the question:  "Which commandment is the most important of all?" 

Jesus answered:  "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul
and with all your mind and with all your strength."  Mark adds "strength" to the shema.  It still is impossible!

Controlled by the love of God---it's the motivation that makes us give, live, love. 

It is not an act of our will.  It is a transformation of the motives of our heart.  What really resides in us as we try to be good?  My thoughts give me away. 

Are we striving really hard to be good so God will bless us?  Yet, inside rumbles and rages cruel thoughts, comparing ourselves to others, conclusions that we are never sure about ourselves or we're good enough.  Self-obsessed. 

It is not about applying the moral law to our hearts through an act of our will.
Far too much we are striving to be good, live good, act good. 

       No man knows how bad he is
        until he has tried very hard to be good.  C. S. Lewis

We are rescued from ourselves. 
Safe.  Secure. 
New Motivation...
The Motivation of Gratitude...
for it's the Spousal Love of our God
that transforms us to love with all of our heart & soul & mind & strength. 
So how can we find that kind of Strength to live and love this day from our heart & soul & mind & strength?

Mark 12:27 "Do I Know the Power of God?" (March 10)

Mark 12:24 - Jesus said to the Saducees who didn't believe in the Resurrection, "Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?" 
This.I.must.ask.

Do I know the Scriptures for my life this day?
Do I know the very Power of my Living God?
Do I know the Living Word invading my thoughts, my turns, my tears, my trials, my ...

Praying.  Thinking. 
Asking.  Wondering.  
if maybe the reason why I am "missing" my loved one in how I view a current family situation is because I don't know the power of God in that place. 

Mark 12:27  God is not God of the dead, but of the living.
Am I truly living in my troubles?
What is most alive in me?

Mark 11:20 "Stand Tall & Forgive" (March 9)

Mark 11:20 The disciples saw the cursed fig tree, withered away to its roots.  Why would Jesus curse a fig tree then answer, "Have faith in God...whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone." 

There was no fruit on this fig tree.  None.  Is there fruit in our lives?  Do we forgive when we are offended, left out, overlooked, underserved, passed over, neglected, devalued, betrayed, found wanting...
Is there fruit that remains in our lives?  Can I stand and forgive even when my friend doesn't mention what they did wrong.  Maybe my mother or sister.  Unwilling to take a look at what they have done.  But what about me?  Can I just deal with my own mess no matter what the rest of my world does. 

Fig tree leaves were used to cover shame---the shame of Adam and Eve who hid because they were naked before God.  Who told them they were naked?  The same Deceiver who tells me that I am being dealt a bad hand, a raw deal from a God Who isn't listening and isn't moving in the lives of our family and friends.  Whatever you ask in His Name this day, believe and stand tall and forgive...and let Christ grow first fruits in your heart.  God, would you help us all stand tall?

Mark 11 "What Is Most Alive in You?" (March 8)

Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Lazarus and his two sisters, Mary and Martha.  He asks two of His disciples to find Him a donkey in the next village. An Old Testament prophecy is about to be fulfilled in the synoptic gospels.  They brought the colt to Jesus, a donkey that had never been sat upon.  Kings rode horses into their victory march into the city, not on donkeys.  Jesus had one thing on His mind---His Mission.  Many showed up with palm leaves that they had cut down in wild fields, symbols of victory...the townspeople showed up to this Triumphal Entry, a steep descent into the Garden.  How did they know to come to see the King of Glory? How do we know to come in moments when He beckons?  How do we know that we know that we know it's Jesus ... 2 Tim 1:12 for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.  The people were so drawn to Him....they came.  What am I drawn to this day?  What is more alive in me?  Is it Him or is it this world that calls me?  The citizens of Jerusalem left their daily duties to do what they could do for Him, on the road to crucifixion. You've left aside your daily duty, what then?  They came to shout to a Suffering Servant riding a donkey not a Victorious Warrior riding a horse:  Hosanna!  Hosanna in the Highest!  How did you know to come?  What is more alive in you this day? 

Mark 10 "Son of David, Have Mercy on Me" (March 7)

Mark 10:36 - Jesus' gentle riposte: "What do you want me to do for you?"  

I think I have asked of God questions that revealed more about me than I knew.  Our story, our success does not define who we are.  I've so struggled my life over wanting to be somebody. 

I remember hearing how a very famous Christian singer you would know went in for counseling for severe depression  because his identity was so wrapped up in his sales.  Another very successful book author plummeted spiritually when she couldn't find the rest she so needed in immense suffering. 

What do I really want God to do for me?  What am I asking of Him this day, this moment? 

I don't want to fail again.  And my mind goes to a quote in 66LL: 
       I don't want you to be afraid of failure,
       or you will live for success.

A few miles down the road,
Bartimaeus, blind from birth, heard that Jesus of Nazareth was in earshot of him.  Bart began yelling to the Son of David, the Son with a capital "S"---a title reserved for only one being who ever walked the face of the earth.  A title reserved for the Messiah Who worked miracles. My Messiah Who still works miracles this moment. The crowd couldn't get Bart to stop screaming:
Son of David, Have Mercy on Me!" 
Jesus stopped in Mark 10:49 and said, "Call him." 
What would that do to me if Jesus stopped the parade to call me to Himself?
And it's the same question posed...

"What do you want from Me?"  And the blind man said, "Rabbi, let me recover my sight."

Jesus gentle riposte:  "GO YOUR WAY, your Faith has made you well."

What do you want from your Messiah this day?
Son of David, Have Mercy on every single one of us!
What step of faith is the Son of David calling me to take?

Mark 10:27 "Let Go" (March 6)

Mark 10:27  Jesus, looking at a rich young ruler, young and in charge of himself and his money, Jesus loved him.  Wouldn't that be enough if the Good Teacher loved me?  What other questions would you have?  Jesus loves well.  And, Jesus adds:   "You lack one thing: go sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." The rich young ruler doesn't even think about it very long.  On the spot, he leaves sorrowful for he already knew that he loved all of his great possessions more than he wanted to love Jesus back.  Either we love this Someone, Something, or Some Other One.  Mark 10:31 The last will be first and the first will be last.  So what do I want more than the Love of my Christ?

       I will detach you from everything that numbs your sacred hunger for Me
      and makes you feel hungrier for something other than Me.   66LL

Mark 9:50 "Have Salt in Yourselves" (March 5)

Mark 9: :47 ...And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell.  Jewish custom would not legally allow them to maim themselves.  Forbidden.  The hyperbole speaks the power of Divine Grace.  No way we can enter the Kingdom of God unguarded by grace. Either God shows up and transforms us or we lose the battle with the flesh. For what do we exchange our lives? 

Do you notice if the salt is bad?  Good salt looks the same as bad salt.  We look good but we can be just as corrupt as useless salt.  And how will you make tasteless salt salty again?  Mark 9:50 is how:  Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.  Have salt in yourselves. Preserving and Purifying. Refining Repentance. Denying yourself to follow Christ.  Suppressing pride, jealousy, ambition and being at peace with all...and how do we do that?  Romans 7:8 says that living by the moral law produced in me more coveting, more jealousy.  What stirs within me?  Romans 7:10 says:  "the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death."  What law is at work in me?  Is it my energy or the Energy of Christ at work?  What is my life producing?  Romans 7:24 "What a wretched man I am!"  Who will rescue me?  Thanks be to Divine Grace Who delivers me to make me worth my salt. 

Mark 9:29 "I Believe; Help My Unbelief" (March 4)

Mark 9: 17  -  Someone from the crowd pushes through:  "Teacher, I brought my son to you---since his birth, he has a spirit that makes him mute. And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid." Epilepsy?  Demonic?  The little boy was often cast into fire and water.   To watch your young son foam at the mouth and be hurled headlong into darkness and pain---you ask questions.   Immediately (there's the word again) the spirit in the boy convulsed him at the feet of the Suffering Servant who knew the pain. Jesus response is beautiful in verse 23:  "'If you can, All things are Possible for one who believes." Our LORD is not saying if HE can, but if you can believe Him just enough, He will take care of the rest of all the details.  And I LOVE the response of the dad in verse 24:  "Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, "I believe; help my unbelief!"  Jesus commanded the spirit to leave the boy.  The young boy lies lifeless like a corpse for the spirit violated him violently upon departure out of his body.  The Suffering Servant took the child by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.  Mark 9:29 - "This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer." 

Can we take a few minutes to pray for each other on this blog this day?  Help us to have enough faith to trust you for what you have allowed to invade our lives.  Help our unbelief, dear God!

Mark 8:8 "More Than Enough" (March 3)

Jesus feeds 4,000 hungry men and in Mark 8:8 there were seven baskets full.  Leftovers.  More than enough.  Do I think I will drain His grace dry?  Do i think He may have nothng left for me?  Do I think that I've asked for too much?  Or maybe I am too much?  Do I know that I know that His Grace is enough? 

They jumped in a familiar fishing boat with their Master.  These 12 knew how to fish.  Except on this day, no one brought any bread for lunch.  There they sat on the water with no oven to bake bread but just a discussion about having no bread.  Jesus' response in 8:17-19:  "Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread  Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened?  Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? How many baskets did you take up after all were fed?? My God is more than enough. 

"We are all seasick together on this sea." (G.K. Chesterton). He is in the boat with me and you.  Am I trusting that whatever He sifts through His Hands for this day is for His Good Pleasure, for my good?  There's so much more than what I see. "Who do you say that I am?" Mark 8:29.

Mark 7:25 "Fan the Flame of our Faith" (March 2)

Mark 7:25 -  "Immediately, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of Him and came and fell down at His Feet. "

A Syrophoenician woman.  Born in Syria, the Land of Canaan---where they ate manna every day and learned to rest in His Provision.  This non-Jew begged Him to be God to her and cast the demon out of her daughter. 
The Syrophoenician woman had heard of Him and was so drawn.  Am I drawn into the heart of God this day?   Am I truly believing God, even when He does not heal very many in his own hometown, Nazareth.

My own mother would have given anything for Jesus to heal her son; Mother was so tormented and frightened caring for an out-of-control young son, tormented man. 

This Syrophoenician mother begged for God to show up "over the wreck," says TRENCH, "which sin had brought about, and the malice of the devil in deforming the fair features of God's original creation."  God has the last final word, but until then...we move with what stirs our hearts.

If God wanted us to lead a comfortable and happy existence, He would have skipped the whole earth life and we'd be there in heaven having never lived here.  There's a Larger Story here in this Kingdom healing, Kingdom living.

And it's a Beautiful God Who stirs faith in our hearts.  Oh, fan the flame of our faith, please God!

Mark 7:8 *T-R-A-D-I-T-I-O-N* (March 1)

Mark 7:8 - "You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men."  Do I love tradition more?  What is it that I cannot give up? 

I'm no longer married to the law, Romans 7:4.  Released from the law to serve in a new way and not the old ways, Romans 7:6. 

Do I find in my life that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brings jealousy and frustrations and anger and discontentment?  Sin has deceived me and through the very commandment I've left, hanging on to tradition.  What is all my good obedience producing? 

What am I seeking?  What am I delighting in?  The commandment or the tradition?  I delight in God's commandment but tradition wages a war against the law of my mind and makes me a prisoner of the law. 

Who will rescue me?  Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ. 

God, show us where we hold on to traditions made up by men.