Read the Bible in a Year (05OCT19)

DAILY REMINDER – Today, October 5’s Bible reading is Matthew 9-10.

NEXT DAY REMINDER – Tomorrow, October 6’s Bible reading is Matthew 11-12. May God bless you with the reading of His WORD.

MATTHEW MOMENT – (05OCT19) “Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven” (Matthew 9:1-2). During the course of Jesus’ ministry, He ministered to many people who were sick, society’s outcasts, and those considered as sinners. The religious leaders of the day were always trying to catch Jesus in the act of doing something wrong, so when He told the paralyzed man that his sins were forgiven, the religious leaders could not comprehend this type of talk because they did not recognize Him as the Son of God. They thought that they were the only ones with knowledge of the Kingdom because they were doing Kingdom work, but they failed to have a Kingdom relationship. Nevertheless, Jesus could read their thoughts and addressed their concerns. He let them know that He could have just healed the man, but He was concerned with meeting the spiritual need of the man first, and then, He met his physical need.

Jesus desires to meet all of our needs both spiritually and physically, but His primary concern is our spiritual needs. Jesus could have easily just healed the paralyzed man and sent him on his way, but Jesus came to save souls from sin. Therefore, what Jesus did for the man freed him both spiritually and physically. We as Christians can get caught up in working for the Lord but fail to have a relationship with Him. Kingdom work does not equate to being kingdom ready. It can be easy to confuse the two if we are not in our Word. Jesus said: “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Matthew 7:22-23). Jesus was not speaking to worldly individual in this text, He was speaking to the ones who were busy with Kingdom business but did not have a  Kingdom relationship. Let’s be sure that we place our relationship with the Lord first, and then allow our works to be an overflow. Something to ponder….

QUESTION OF THE DAY - (05OCT19) “When Jesus entered the synagogue leader’s house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, he said, ‘Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.’ But they laughed at him. After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. News of this spread through all that region” Matthew 9:23-26). A leader from the synagogue came to Jesus and knelt before Him in a desperate plea for His daughter who had died. He had faith to believe that even though she was dead, Jesus could raise her back up. Jesus went to the leader’s house and saw a lot of people all around. He told the people who were playing music to leave because the girl was only asleep. This was humorous to them because they knew that the girl had been dead in the natural, but what they were unable to see was that she was only asleep in Christ. In the presence of the Creator, nothing can be truly dead. Therefore, He took the little girl by the hand and she got up.

We are sometimes like that crowd of people who could only see a dead situation. It may be a marriage, relationship, finances, job, education, or some other situation that may have presented itself as being dead. Yet, if we were to have the same kind of faith that the synagogue leader had in this story, we would know that although something appears to be dead, Jesus is a Miracle Worker and can raise it back up. Jesus makes all things alive in Him. There is no situation that He cannot change. All we have to do is to place our trust in Him. The Bible says: “But without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). Something to ponder….