#18 Chapter 6:1-11 Jesus heals on the Sabbath

Good Grief!! The Pharisees were so hung up on all the religious rules they didn't even want Jesus to heal someone on the Sabbath!

Can you imagine that?..

That's like going to church on Sunday and the preacher never allowing anyone pray for you to get well..Yikes!

But believe it or not many religious groups today have similar ridiculous rules...

When God gave Moses the 10 Commandments, #4 being "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it Holy" There's just no way He meant for it to get so distorted this way...

We really do need to be wary of the same kinds of things happening today in our churches...What kind of "rules" or men's traditions handed down through the generations or denominational afiliations do we keep but are actually a distorted version of what God really intended?

There are things the bible tells us we are told to do, but we don't do it...And..There are things we are told not to do, but we do it.

Picking and choosing from the bible what we will teach or not teach is just a bad...

Mark 7:13 "making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down"

#19 Chapter 6:12-16 Jesus goes away to pray..

The one verse that really gets my attention here was verse 12.

Jesus went away from the people to pray..

This is something I struggle with...making time to get away so I can spend time with the Lord.

Everyday life just seems to come and take over...People are important, and I do need to be available to help others, but if I never take time-out like Jesus did...I'm not going to be able to stay strong, or get the direction I need for my life.

We see here that Jesus came back and began picking His disciples. Could it be that, that is what He was praying about? Could He have been discussing with His Father who to pick?

If so, then that would be a template for my own life...I am to spend time with God to get direction and information I need to do what I need to do...

#20 Chapter 6:17-19 Jesus heals a Great Mulitude.

I see here another benefit of Jesus spending time with His Father...

He came back not only making crucial decisions about His ministry (picking His disciples), but refreshed and empowered to heal the great multitude of people..

Something else I've noticed throughout scripture is that He healed them ALL. Every single person that came to Him believing got what they came for. Every single time.

It says here that a "Great Multitude" came to Him. This probably meant that thousands of people were there.

I believe that healing for every single person, every single time is still available to us today just like it was when He walked the earth...That anointing is still being offered today, but many no longer believe...Why?

So many remain sick and oppressed by the devil in today's world, but it doesn't need to be that way..

He came to heal us in every way...Spiritually...Emotionally and Physically..

#21 Chapter 6:20-23 Jesus teaches the Beatitudes

20 Then He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples, and said: “ Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

I don't believe the Lord is talking about being poor financially here..There is nothing "blessed" about poverty or being poor. Deuteronomy 28:16-17 says that poverty is a curse NOT a blessing. Jesus came and took that curse, so we could be blessed.

In Malachi 3:10 we are told as long as we tithe, we can expect the windows of heaven to open and poor out blessings that we don't have enough room to contain. We are to be blessed..pressed down, shaken together and running over. Not so we can get rich, but so we can help others. If I'm poor...how could I help anyone?

I believe He is talking about being poor in spirit, or knowing you need what God offers which is the righteousness of God, and the Kingdom of God and all it offers!!

21 Blessed are you who hunger now, For you shall be filled.

Again, I don't believe He is talking about being "hungry" in the sense of having no food to eat. He is talking about being hungry for Him, and the things of God...We are to hunger and thirst for righteousness and the things of God...and when we do..He will fill us up.

Blessed are you who weep now, For you shall laugh.

Only when we come to Him truly sorry and repentant for our sins, will He be able to fill us with joy and laughter because we know we are forgiven and free!

22 Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you, And revile you, and cast out your name as evil, For the Son of Man’s sake.

Jesus never promised that we would live a fairy tale life when we come to Him. As we begin to live our lives based on His teachings...the world will hate us because they hate God and His ways.

23 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.

When people shun us or make fun of us or treat us badly because we are Christians there is nothing fun or good about that experience. BUT, our joy comes in knowing that even though we live in this world...we are not of this world...

We leap for JOY, because we know we please God, and live according to His ways...They mistreated Jesus and the prophets...and they will mistreat us too. We do share in His suffering for His sake and the Kingdom of God, but we will receive rewards in heaven for the persecutions we endure now!! Hallelujah !!

I love the following scripture...

Deuteronomy 28:1-14 “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth.

This above scripture can be claimed not only for the nation as a whole, but for you personally..God will set you high above others...in every way.

2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God:

Overtake means abundantly!! Pressed down...shaken together and running over!

3 “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.

Every where you go!!

4 “Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.

Your children, grandchildren and your job and provisions.

5 “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

Food and provisions..

6 “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

Anywhere...and everywhere!

7 “The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.

People will rise up against us, but they WILL be defeated!

8 “The LORD will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you.

Everything we own and do...

9 “The LORD will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways.

God knows we can't be perfect, but honors and rewards our genuine and heart-felt attempts at obedience...

10 Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they shall be afraid of you.

And even though we may be mistreated and persecuted the Lord will cause our enemies to fear us because they see the blessings of the Lord on our life.

11 And the LORD will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you.

We are to be blessed...overflowing in every area of our lives...

12 The LORD will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.

God will cause blessings to rain down on us financially..(so we can be a blessing to others)

13 And the LORD will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them.

As we obey the Lord and follow His ways we will never be defeated...and always come out on top!

14 So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

As long as we make God and the things of God as the priority in our lives...WE WILL BE BLESSED!

I LOVE THAT!!

Anytime anyone asks me "How are you?"...my response is always.."I'm blessed"...and every time I say that..I am claiming these scriptures in Deuteronomy...it's my way of reminding myself of God's promises....

And if I find myself being attacked in any of these areas I know that satan is attempting to steal, kill and destroy these blessings in my life...but he's a liar..and the father of all lies...so I just put him back under my feet in Jesus name..and say GET THEE BEHIND ME satan "I'AM BLESSED!"

#22 Chapter 6:24-26 Jesus pronounces woes..

He is not saying He wants us to be poor or hungry or unhappy. He wants to pour out blessings on us..pressed down..shaken together and running over..

However, if we allow riches, or worldly things to become the priorities over our relationship with the Lord, or the things of God, we are "poor" and "malnourished" spiritually speaking.

Of course we are to be good, loving, law-abiding citizens, but if the world doesn't see us as set-apart from the "worldly" things then we are no different, and our Christianity is irrelevant..

I know this may sound weird, but if there aren't people in our lives who are making fun of us, or persecuting us in some way because of the choices we are making to walk our walk; live righteous lives, then we are really not living an authentic Christian life.

We are "in" this world, but we are not to live "like" the world...

#23 Chapter 6:27-36 Love Your Enemies..

These scriptures are just good old fashioned "Where the rubber meets the road" stuff...

LOVE YOUR ENEMIES!!

So who is my enemy? Those who hate me. So.. who hates me? who curses me? Who persecutes me? Who spitefully uses me?

Whoever pops in our minds when we ask ourselves this question is who our enemy or enemies are.

The first thing I thought of when reading this was, I need to find out did I do something wrong to cause them to feel that way about me?..Is there something I need to repent of? Is there something I need to ask forgiveness for? If so, that would be my first step.

If not, then Jesus is not saying that we are to "like" what they are doing, but respond the way He did when He was hated, cursed persecuted and ridiculed.

Loving someone has nothing whatsoever to do with how we "feel". Love is nothing more than doing the right thing regardless of how we "feel"

Love is patient, kind, long suffering and never holds a grudge..

I don't believe Jesus is telling us to be the victims of abusive or sadistic people, because in other scripture He tells us to be wise, but gentle as doves..

Throughout His ministry He would leave areas when they wanted to hurt Him. He didn't just stand there and let them kill Him (until it was time for Him to do so at Calvary)..

As I go through life, I always ask myself this question..."What would Jesus do?...or "What did He do? The Holy Spirit helps me remember things that Jesus did in certain situations, and so use those stories and situations as a template for how I should act or re-act in situations...

I have also learned while trying to put these principles into practice in my own life I found that "Hurting people..Hurt people".

Sometimes people are hurting so bad, that they put up defenses to protect themselves so they strike out at others. They have been hurt so many times so they put up walls to protect themselves. There is a saying "Misery loves company".

Knowing this helps me to love them in spite of how they treat me. I know they are hurting and miserable for various reasons..and because of that they need my love so much more than others who may be nice to me.