The Bible Book of the Month Club The Gospel of Mark — Mark 12:18-44

Posted on June 23, 2024 by Janet

Today is Mark 12:18-44 ❤️🙌🔥 for the “Bible Book of the Month Club — The Gospel of Mark”

How much is enough? This is the tendency of our fleshly hearts. We want enough of Jesus to make us comfortable with our lives, but we come without a desire to fully surrender. However, God doesn’t want a half-hearted devotion to Him. Jesus, Himself, tells us the greatest command:

“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 ‭12‬:‭30‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Love God with ALL!

There have been many times I have approached God with part of me… offering pieces of my time, my thoughts, my desires. That is such a miserable way to live.

If we love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, we are able to experience Him and His goodness fully. Anything short of wholehearted devotion to Him is a shallow relationship with God.

God desires for us to know Him intimately and experience Him moment by moment of every day. He wants us to give Him all of us because He is offering all of Him!

What is God saying to you today?
Post it below 👇👇👇

The Bible Book of the Month Club The Gospel of Mark — Mark 12:1-17

Posted on June 22, 2024 by Janet

Today is Mark 12:1-17 ❤️🙌🔥 for the “Bible Book of the Month Club — The Gospel of Mark”

“Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” - verse 17

The religious leaders of Jesus’s time rejected Him. They perceived Jesus as a threat because He only cared about what His Heavenly Father thought and commanded, not all their man made laws and traditions. So they looked for ways to trip Him up in what He did and said over and over.

They came to Jesus with a question on taxes. Jesus’s reply strikes a chord in my heart this morning. He told them to pay what was Caesar’s to Caesar- the coin bearing Caesar’s image. BUT He turned it around to point to something in the very heart of the Religious leaders and each of us . “Give to God what is God’s.”

The coin beared the image and inscription of Caesar on it. We are like that coin. We bear an image and inscription upon us — the image and inscription of our Maker, God. Therefore, we belong to Him. We are to give “to God what is God’s”— our entire self!

What is God showing you? Post it below. 👇👇👇

The Bible Book of the Month Club The Gospel of Mark — Mark 11

Posted on June 21, 2024 by Janet

Today is Mark 11 ❤️🙌🔥 for the “Bible Book of the Month Club — The Gospel of Mark”

“Have faith in God…” verse 22

Faith — belief, trust, confidence… the assent of the mind to the truth.
Assent is the act of the mind in admitting, or agreeing to, the truth of a proposition. (Webster’s 1828 Dictionary)

I have complicated faith for years. I thought if I worked hard enough at it and gritted my teeth tight enough, I could have faith and see God move in my life. But faith is actually quite simple. It is this statement: “God said it. I believe it.”

Faith comes to us by hearing and hearing comes to us by the Word of God. Faith is simply agreeing with the truth of God’s Word. It is trusting in God’s Word. It is having confidence that God is who He says He is and He will do what He says He will do.

In order for me to walk in that kind of faith, I have to know the Word. I have to have an intimate relationship with it. When we come to the Word of God expecting to hear from Him, our faith in who God is grows. Because we are interacting with Him in relationship. We will see the truth about Him and we will agree with that truth.

Jesus tells us to “Have faith in God.” It is a command that is for our good. When we live in intimate, close and connected relationship with God interacting with Him through His Word, we will have faith in Him. We will see God do the impossible in our lives that is always for our good because He is always good!

What is God showing you? Post it below 👇👇👇

The Bible Book of the Month Club The Gospel of Mark — Mark 10:33-53

Posted on June 20, 2024 by Janet

Today is Mark 10:32-53 ❤️🙌🔥 for the “Bible Book of the Month Club — The Gospel of Mark”

“Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Verses 43-44

If I truly want to be like Jesus, I must serve and give my life away. When I follow Him, my ways, my thoughts, my desires, and ambitions must go. My life is no longer about me, but Jesus.

The world says “follow your heart”, but Jesus says “pick your cross and follow me.” The world says “listen to your truth,” but Jesus says, “I am the way the truth, and the life.” The world says, “acquire wealth, recognition, and self fulfillment.” Jesus says “serve and give up your life.”

We must choose. The world’s way seems right, but it ends in death. The Jesus way is the only way to abundant life.

What is God showing you today in our scripture? Post it below. 👇👇👇

The Bible Book of the Month Club The Gospel of Mark — Mark 9:30-50

Posted on June 18, 2024 by Janet

Today is Mark 9:30-50 ❤️🙌🔥 for the “Bible Book of the Month Club — The Gospel of Mark”

We are born selfish. Our tendency is to figure out how to put our thoughts, our desires, and our feelings first. Our world tells us to “live our own truth”, “follow our hearts”, and “chase our dreams.” The disciples exhibited this selfish nature as they walked along the road arguing with each other over who was the greatest.

Jesus told His disciples the way to greatness in His kingdom. “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” The nature of a servant is to serve and to give up their selfish ambitions in order to please their master.

Life is not about the positions we attain, but the pursuit of Jesus. His Lordship means we give up ourselves, listen to His Word and obey it fully. We serve Him and those whom He puts in our path to serve. This is greatness in His Kingdom!

What is God showing you? Post it below 👇 👇👇

(Tomorrow’s reading is Mark 10:1-31)

The Bible Book of the Month Club the Gospel of Mark — Mark 9:1-29

Posted on June 17, 2024 by Janet

Today is Mark 9:1-29 ❤️🙌🔥 for the “Bible Book of the Month Club — The Gospel of Mark”

“…’This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!’”

Webster’s 1828 dictionary definition for “listen” —“To obey; to yield to advice; to follow admonition”

God speaks, but do we listen?

I have tried to picture what it would have been like to see Jesus in action over 2000 years ago. It would have been incredible! Imagine going up the mountain, as Peter, James, and John did with Jesus. Think about what it was like to see what they saw.
In that moment they heard God speak. God tells them who Jesus is, His son, then He gives them a command…”Listen to Him!”

Hearing God and obeying what He says is important!! However, I have lived a lot of my life with it not being a priority. God tells us to “listen to Him!” Listening is not simply hearing God by reading our Bibles or going to Church. It is taking the Words we have heard and applying it to our lives by obeying it, yielding to it, and following it! Listening to God is making His Word the priority of our lives.

Of all the things God could have said in that spectacular moment that Peter, James, and John experienced on that mountain top, God spoke the most important words of all! “Jesus is my Son! Listen to Him!”
God is speaking these Words to us today!

What is God showing you today? Post it below 👇 👇👇

(Tomorrow’s reading is Mark 9:30-50)

The Bible Book of the Month Club the Gospel of Mark — Mark 8:22-38

Posted on June 16, 2024 by Janet

Today is Mark 8:22-38❤️🙌🔥 for the “Bible Book of the Month Club — The Gospel of Mark”

In 1991, Steve Camp wrote a song called “Consider the Cost.” One phrase from it’s lyrics has stuck with me through the years. “To give all that you are for all that He is, this is the gospel according to Jesus.” There is so much truth in that statement.
In verses 34-37, Jesus plainly states that if we want to be His disciple, we must take up our cross and follow Him. To take up our cross is to let our plans, our will, our thoughts, our desires, die so His can live in us. It is losing our selfish self life, letting it die, so that the life of Jesus can be lived in us. It is as the lyrics of that song proclaimed — “giving all that we are for all that He is.”

A few years ago I was at a decision in my spiritual journey… my way which was producing death, darkness, and destruction, or Jesus way which would require that my way would be nailed to the cross to die. When I chose Jesus way and not my own, dying to myself, I finally experienced peace.

The only way to a vibrant and fulfilled life is to “take up your cross and follow Jesus. Lose your life to gain His!”

What is God showing you? Post it below 👇👇👇

(Tomorrow is Mark 9: 1-29)

The Bible Book of the Month Club the Gospel of Mark — Mark 8:1-21

Posted on June 15, 2024 by Janet

Today is Mark 8:1-21 ❤️🙌🔥 for the “Bible Book of the Month Club — The Gospel of Mark”

In Jesus, there is abundance for every need. Two times the crowds were in need for physical food and Jesus provided. What was it that Jesus used to provide the need? It was ALL the disciples had. Jesus took what was given to Him, a few loaves and fish. He not only provided a meal for a crowd, but leftovers that displayed His generous provision.

He is the same today as He was yesterday, and He will be the same forever. We can come to Him with what we have, all of us. He will work the miraculous in what we offer up to Him with generous abundance!

What is God showing you today? Post it below 👇👇👇

(Tomorrow’s reading is Mark 8:22-38)

The Bible Book of the Month Club the Gospel of Mark — Mark 7:24-47

Posted on June 14, 2024 by Janet

Today is Mark 7:24-37 ❤️🙌🔥 for the “Bible Book of the Month Club — The Gospel of Mark”

“After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus…” verse 33

I love how Jesus took time for the individual. He interacted with them. The man who was deaf and could not speak could have been healed in a manner of seconds with Jesus’s touch, but Jesus took him aside. He gave the man one on one attention.

Jesus is personal. He is all about connecting with “the one” i.e. you and me. He loves to take us aside, away from the crowd, to be with Him in a deep, personal, and intimate relationship.

What is God showing you in these verses? Post it below 👇👇👇

(Tomorrow is Mark 8:1-21)

The Bible Book of the Month Club The Gospel if Mark — Mark 7:1-23

Posted on June 13, 2024 by Janet

Today is Mark 7:1-23 ❤️🙌🔥 for the “Bible Book of the Month Club — The Gospel of Mark”

“…These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” (Verse 6)

Years ago there was a commercial for American Express credit card. It listed all the benefits of their card and ended by asking this question, “What’s in your wallet?” I keep thinking about these words this morning but changed slightly, “What’s in your heart?”

Jesus gives us a clear indicator of what is in our hearts. It is what is coming out of them. It is what is reflected in our actions and words each day. If we are angry, prideful, anxious, hateful, etc…, we can be assured that our hearts are full of anger, pride, anxiety, hate, etc. If we display the characteristics of Jesus — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self control, our hearts are full of Him.

Jesus saw the religious people of His time. They were “doing all the right things”, obeying their man made rules. But their hearts displayed what was truly inside, evil. We do the same.

A few years ago, I went to church and tried to live morally right, but my heart had drifted far from God. This was because I refused to let Him have my heart, empty it of the sin inside, and fill my heart with Him. What came out of me reflected that.

What’s in your heart? It’s coming out of you — in all you think, do and say.