Jesus’s biological family thought He was “out of his mind.” They came to seize Him. They did not understand who Jesus really was.
When Jesus was told about their coming, they said, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” Jesus then defined our true heavenly family. He said, “…whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.” (Verse 35)
If we want to dwell in a relationship of “family” with God, we need to do the will of God. What is the will of God?
Jesus defined the will of God:
“For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”” John 6:40 ESV
The will of God is that we believe on Jesus and receive His eternal life.
Jesus also defines eternal life:
“And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” John 17:3 ESV
Knowing God = Eternal Life= Connection to God in a Relatioship of Oneness
When we know God intimately, in a connected relationship, we will be in His will. The ones who know God in this relationship are His family.
Nothing else matters in life. God wants us to experience Him as our Father. In this passage, the ones who were seated around Jesus, listening to Him speak were the ones who wanted to know God and to experience Him in relationship. They were the ones who were doing the will of God. They were Jesus’s true spiritual family.
When we enter into a relationship with God, we enter His family too! We can know God in a relationship of family!
“And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him.” Mark 3:9-10 ESV
People are looking for what is real, what is true. This was true in Jesus’s time and it is true today.
Crowds were showing up wherever Jesus went. They wanted an opportunity to experience Jesus. They had heard of Him, but they wanted to be near to Him, touch Him, and feel His power. They knew He had healed many. They knew He wasn’t just another religious leader. They knew He was real!
I have heard that this generation has seen so much false. They are hungry for what is real. God desires for them to know Him and His Word. He is the one who is right and true! He is real!
May our lives reflect Him so others may know Our Heavenly Father who still touches the broken and needy! He is real!
The Pharisees thought they had God figured out. They had a list of laws with boxes to check off on that list. If they fulfilled it all they thought they were all good with God. They had “religion”…
Jesus came. He was Emmanuel — God with us. He came displaying God the Father to anyone who would pay attention to Him. Jesus walked and talked with the people who followed Him. He lived in relationship with them. His words He spoke and His call to follow Him literally changed lives. Relating to God was no longer a list of boxes to check off. Relating to God became a relationship — the very thing God wanted all along. Following the list of rules regarding the Sabbath (including picking grain for a hungry group of men) was not what God was after all along. It was their hearts.
God wants our hearts as well. When we truly love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, we will do the things that God desires. We do not need a list of rules regarding the Sabbath when our greatest desire is to love and obey the Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus.
God will give us a new heart that desires to do what is right if we will only ask Him to. His desire is for us to know Him intimately in a relationship, not follow a list of rules.
When teaching about the love of God, A. W. Tozer said, “First of all, love is the principle of good will. The angel sang, “good will towards men.” (Luke 2:14) Love always wills the good of its object and never wills any harm to its object.”
Jesus demonstrated God’s love in the words He spoke. “He taught them….”(verse 22) God knew that the best way for us to see Him and understand Him was for us to be taught by Him. His will towards us came out in every Word Jesus taught or preached.
Jesus demonstrated God’s love, His will for our good, when He healed the sick. “He healed many who were sick with various disease, and cast out many demons…” (verse 34) In fact, Jesus spoke the very intent of God’s heart towards us when approached by a leper desperate for Jesus to make him clean, free of the horrendous disease. Jesus said, “I will…” (verse 41) His divine determination was for that man’s good, to be made whole, “clean.”
Jesus is still demonstrating God’s love. As Paul wrote in Romans 5:8:
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Jesus is our Heavenly Father’s love demonstrated — His will for our good. He wants us to Know Him!
“Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” John 14:9 NIV
God wants us to know Him! Jesus coming to earth is evidence of that truth. God has given us in the four Gospels a beautiful picture of what our Heavenly Father is like. Because if we have seen Jesus, we have seen the Father.
This month we will read the Book of Mark. With each section, we will explore what our Heavenly Father is like as Jesus displayed Him before us.
To Know God is to Love God is to Trust God is to Obey Him! It is my prayer that as we read each section, this will become a reality in our lives.
Today is Mark 1:1-20.
There’s something about Jesus!
Before Jesus stepped on the scene, John was proclaiming His coming. John realized that Jesus was mightier than Him. He knew that Jesus was worthy of worship. When the time came, Jesus was baptized by John. God audibly spoke. “You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.” (Verse 11) The Holy Spirit descended on Him like a dove.
Jesus stepped into a world that was far from God in their hearts. God, Himself, had come to reveal Himself to us to show us the way back to Him. In today’s reading, Jesus reveals to us a Heavenly Father that wants us to KNOW Him! Not just know about Him from a distance. This is why Jesus came!
The final chapter of Acts tells of Paul’s time on the island of Malta and the miracles that happened there and his arrival at Rome. No matter what the circumstances or possible opposition, Paul preached to everyone and anyone who would listen to him.
The final verse of Acts says this:
“He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ—with all boldness and without hindrance!” Acts 28:31 NIV
Paul lived a life that experienced the promised power to be a witness. He knew how to receive comfort in hard times from the Holy Spirit. His life is an example of what being full of the Holy Spirit is like.
God has offered us the same New Beginning that Paul experienced. We too can experience Jesus and receive His New Life! The same Holy Spirit that Paul was filled with when Ananias placed his hands on Paul in Acts 9, desires to fill us too!
May we proclaim the kingdom and teach others about the Lord Jesus as Paul did, “with all boldness and without hindrance.” (verse 31)
“Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Ephesians 6:17 NIV
Dear Devoted and Determined Princess Warriors,
Our WOW verse for this week comes from the section of Scripture that Paul wrote
regarding the armor of God. He shares about the weapons God has given all believers to combat the assaults and attacks of our enemy.
Paul used the familiar Roman armor of his time as an example. Most of the pieces Paul listed of the armor were used to protect the vital organs of a Roman soldier: the helmet, the breastplate, the belt, the shield… However, one of the weapons was meant to take on and defeat the enemy. This piece of armor was the sword.
The sword of a Roman soldier was more like a dagger — short, double edged, and extremely sharp. The fact that it was double edged made it easier to penetrate, as well as to cut in every way. It was deadly and used during up-close and direct combat. Paul refers to this weapon as“Sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
Jesus modeled the use of this spiritual weapon as He was tempted in the desert (Matthew 4). Satan, himself, came to Jesus tempting Him to sin. Jesus answered each temptation with these words, “It is written.” He not only knew the Word of God but knew that it was all-powerful and effective against the enemy and his schemes. He used the “Sword of the Spirit” in the up-close and personal combat He was experiencing that day. The Word of God was His indispensable weapon. You and I need to know and understand that truth also!
“We have an enemy, and that enemy is real!” These are the words I remember hearing the first time I attended WOW. At that time, I did not know and understand how important it was for me to recognize my enemy and to stand against his schemes. It was also of upmost importance that I recognized the spiritual weapon I needed to pick up and use to combat the enemy — “…the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”
At that time, I was living in up-close combat with my enemy, but I did not pick up the Word of God to fight. Believe me, my enemy knew it. He would not let up on his assaults against me.
The Word of God was of no use to me because I did not pick it up and use it. I wasn’t studying the Word, praying the Word, listening to the Word, or living according to the Word. My lack of using the“Sword of the Spirit” was evident in my life. I did not live in peace, love, joy, patience, and the truth I needed to combat the lies of the enemy.
The Word is an indispensable weapon in the midst of spiritual warfare. Do you have it stored up in your heart so that you can pick it up and use it? As you are reflecting on what I have written, do you recognize that you are not using your weapon, “…the Sword of the Spirit?” Are you experiencing death and defeat in your life because you are not picking up the Word and using it?
God desires for us to live in victory! We do not have to live helplessly assaulted by the lies of our enemy! We can “be strong in the Lord” and “stand firm!” (Ephesians 6:10 and 14) But we must “Take… the sword of the Spirit” and use the weapon God has given to us!
May we devote ourselves to God and the study of His Word. May we listen carefully and take to heart all that He says. May we receive it, believe it, and obey it fully!
This week’s song is “The Word is Alive” by Casting Crowns.
Paul stood before Felix the governor. The High Priest brought in a lawyer to level accusations against him. Paul once again used this opportunity to present his faith in Jesus. Felix would call for Paul off and on several times while Paul was kept in custody.
I am struck by Felix’s reaction to Paul and his faith in Jesus:
“As Paul talked about righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and said, “That’s enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you.”” Acts 24:25 NIV
Do we react as Governor Felix did? He was afraid when faced with his own shortcomings — SINS. He told Paul he had heard enough for now, and he felt he could listen at his convenience. May that never be the way we respond!
The Holy Spirit points out our shortcomings — SINS so we can repent of them. In repentance, there is freedom. Acknowledging that we have done wrong and we need forgiveness as well as the Holy Spirit’s power to overcome the SIN is the path to freedom from the SIN that holds us in chains! When the Holy Spirit points to an area of our lives that we have chosen sin over God’s way, may we be eager to repent!
Felix did not want to rely on God for freedom from SIN. He did not want to live as God wanted him to. He did not want to hear of the judgement he faced if he did not come to God in repentance. Felix wanted HIS own way above God’s. He thought he could come to God when it was “convenient.” He had his own power, position, and authority. He did not want to surrender in total obedience, total submission, and total dependence on God. He chose to remain in the darkness of his SIN.
May we have a soft heart towards the Holy Spirit and be quick to repent!
Paul stood on trial before the Sanhedrin, the religious rulers of the Jewish people. He knew some were Pharisees and some Sadducees. These were two different groups of the leaders. One of the differences was their belief in the resurrection of the dead. Paul knew this so he stated his belief in the resurrection. This caused an uproar between his accusers, and once again they wanted to kill him. They were about to tear him into pieces. Even so, the Holy Spirit gave Paul boldness to continue to testify. Jesus even came to Him in a vision, telling him he would go to Rome to testify.
Once again difficult circumstances surrounded Paul: accusations, beatings, imprisonment, death, etc. He could have recanted his stories, told his accusers he was a liar and he was sorry. He could have denied what he was proclaiming as truth. It would have all stopped and he more than likely would have been free. Perhaps they would have even made him a hero.
Why did Paul continue? He had a personal, face to face encounter with Jesus. He was changed. The Holy Spirit dwelled within Him. He was not the same man that was on the road to Damascus years before.
It is a known fact that out of the twelve disciples that followed Jesus before His death, eleven of them died as martyrs. Something they saw and experienced made them willing to die for what they believed. People do not willing die a martyr for a lie. They had experienced truth!
John described it this way:
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—” 1 John 1:1-2 ESV
God wants us to experience Him. This is why the Holy Spirit came to live within us. So we could see and touch. We can feel Him. Then we are able to testify to what we know!
May we experience the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives!
Your Love 