Every Day with Jesus (12 page)

We, too, sometimes think the Lord isn’t doing His part. We’re fighting to survive, yet it seems like our prayers go unanswered. “Where’s Jesus? I thought He was never going to leave me or forsake me. Doesn’t He care?” The answer is always yes.

Jesus has already done His part for us, and He had given the disciples everything they needed to conquer their situation. He had just taught ten parables on how the Word works when we believe. Then He told them, “Let us pass over unto the other side” (v. 35). This storm was like their pop quiz on what He had just taught them. He said they were going over, not under. Would they believe His Word or be overcome by the circumstances?

Jesus did His part when He gave them the Word that would take them over to the other side. Their part was to believe that Word and in faith command the storm to stop or the boat to stay afloat. Instead, they panicked and blamed Jesus.

Today Jesus has already done His part for you. He paid the price for your sin, forgave you, and gave you His Spirit and His Word to walk in. Now you must believe and put the Word to work in your life. It’s our turn to believe God’s promises and conquer our impossible situations.

April 20: How Determined Are You?

Mark 5:25-34

When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.

Mark 5:27

One of the ingredients of faith is determination, which is defined as “the power to make choices, set goals, and to act upon them firmly in spite of opposition or difficulty.” This woman was determined. She had already spent years and all of her money on doctors, yet nothing had helped. She was actually worse. Most people would have just given up, but this was one determined lady. She heard of Jesus and knew that she would receive her healing through Him; but when she found him, she encountered yet another obstacle: a multitude thronged Him.

Jesus was hemmed in on all sides by a crowd of people that were pressing in on Him. She was a frail, sickly woman. How could she ever make it through that crowd? On top of all this, the woman’s issue of blood made her unclean. She wasn’t supposed to be in public because she would defile them. If someone recognized her and revealed her uncleanness, Jewish law allowed the crowd to stone her to death. But she would not be deterred.

She crawled through the crowd and touched the hem of Jesus’ garment. Crawling was the only way she could have done this. In a crowd that dense, she could not have bent over and grabbed the hem of His garment. She had to be on her hands and knees. This woman would have done anything to get her healing!

Most people wouldn’t do what this lady did. They wouldn’t go to all that trouble. They wouldn’t put their lives in jeopardy by being in a crowd that might stone them. They wouldn’t get on their hands and knees and crawl through a throng of people. And they probably wouldn’t get healed either. Most people lack her determination.

What stands between you and what you need from the Lord today? Make sure it’s not your lack of determination.

April 21: Learning God’s Laws

Mark 5:25-34

And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?

Mark 5:30

Was it possible that Jesus really didn’t know who touched Him? Certainly it was! Jesus was God manifest in the flesh, but His physical mind had to grow in wisdom. (Luke 2:52.) This means Jesus had limitations to His physical mind just as we do. It was through His Spirit that He was able to draw on the mind of God just as we do. When the woman didn’t come forward on her own, Jesus perceived who she was (Luke 8:47), but this happened after she was healed.

The significance of this is that Jesus didn’t size this woman up before virtue went out of Him to heal her. That’s the way most people feel God does things. They bring their requests before Him and believe He then evaluates whether or not they have enough faith or are holy enough to receive His blessing. If they pass the test, God blesses them. If they don’t, their requests are denied. That’s not scriptural.

God’s power is governed by laws. He doesn’t make a case-by-case determination of who receives what. He’s provided all we need, and if we put His laws in motion, His power flows. That’s what the woman with the issue of blood did. She was determined (Luke 11:5-13; 18:1-8) and spoke in faith saying, “If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole” (Mark 5:28; 11:23-24). She acted on her faith, and the power of God healed her. (James 2:17.)

If you grab a live electrical wire, the electric company doesn’t send a special jolt of electricity out to shock you. The electricity was already there, and you just operated in natural laws that caused you to be shocked. It’s not personal. Likewise, there are laws that govern the flow of God’s power. Today, make a determination that you are going to learn from His Word what they are, and then start receiving all you need and all He wants to give you.

April 22: Financial Prosperity Is in Christ’s Atonement

For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.

This verse couldn’t be any clearer. It’s a part of Christ’s atonement for us to be financially rich. Yet many Christians persist in their belief that God delights in His children being stuck in poverty. The way many people have gotten around the obvious truth of this verse is to say that Jesus came to make us rich spiritually, not materially. But the whole context of this verse deals with money. Jesus died to produce financial prosperity for us. He would no more make us poor than He would make us sin. He died to free us from both sin and poverty. We need to get the same attitude toward poverty that we have toward sin.

There is no doubt that many people have learned lessons as the result of their sins. People have been broken and have come to the end of themselves because of their own disobedience. But does that mean the Lord led them into sin? Did God want them to commit adultery so they could learn the value of the mate He had given them? Certainly not! Likewise, people can learn things through poverty. They can learn the value of things that money can’t buy. But poverty itself is a killer. We should seek to overcome poverty the same way we seek to overcome sin.

God put poverty in the same category as sin and redeemed you from it. Now you should agree with Him. If you haven’t already, today begin to take advantage of the prosperity He has provided through the atonement of Christ. Release your faith in His declaration that Jesus became poor so that you could be rich in all respects.

April 23: Worship Is Warfare

Matthew 8:28-34; Mark 5:1-17; Luke 8:27-39

But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him.

Mark 5:6

The word worshipped is translated from the Greek word proskuneo, which means “to prostrate oneself in homage to; do reverence to; adore.” The man who ran to worship Jesus was a very famous, demon-possessed man. That this tormented person ran to Him and not away from Him indicates that even demon-possessed people have free will, and Satan cannot control people without their consent.

Many battles have been fought over whether a Christian can be demon possessed. The Greek word translated possessed literally means “to be demonized.” The Bible makes no clear distinction between degrees of demon activity, such as oppressed, depressed, and possessed. The Word simply refers to people as being “demonized.” What we do know is that we all fight evil spirits, and if we don’t put on the whole armor of God, Satan and demons can certainly affect us or even control us.

The best way to administer deliverance from demons is through God’s Word. As we receive the Word, it sets us free and also helps guard our hearts and minds when the demon tries to come back into our lives with seven other spirits. In severe cases of being demonized, an individual needs the help of a believer, and that’s the reason Jesus equipped all believers with authority over evil spirits.

Anointed praise and worship will also drive off evil spirits. One thing reserved for God alone is worship, so the devil has always sought it. If he can’t be worshipped, then he will try to turn others away from worshipping God. Praising and worshipping our Father is such a powerful tool against all demonic forces!

If you feel at all oppressed, depressed, or just stressed today, praise the Lord and meditate on His Word. Worship Him in spirit and in truth. The Father is just waiting to lift all that pressure and darkness off of you.

April 24: Passive and Active Faith

Mark 5:24-34; John 5:1-9

And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.

Mark 5:34

There’s a dramatic contrast between the faith of the woman who had the issue of blood and the man who was lame at the pool of Bethesda. Both desperately wanted to be healed. The man at Bethesda was feeling hopeless because he didn’t have anyone to help him into the pool. He had faith, but it was passive, based on someone else doing something. However, the woman had an active faith that reached out and took God’s healing. She acted while the man sat and waited. Both were healed, but there was a big difference.

Jesus told the woman that her faith had made her whole. That’s an amazing statement! Her faith, not Jesus’ faith, produced her miracle. This woman was able to receive when Jesus wasn’t physically there because her faith was active. However, the man didn’t have the kind of faith that produced on its own. He was passive and Jesus had to encourage him to believe and then tell him, “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk” (John 5:8). If the man had not believed and acted in faith, someone else would have had to come along and do what Jesus did all over again.

An active faith is full of energy and felt so strongly that it compels the individual to act. A passive faith is one that only acts on the encouragement of others. The believer with an active faith depends on God; the believer with a passive faith depends on the faith and encouragement of other believers. While the first won’t be denied what God has promised, the other can be easily discouraged and let go of what’s theirs in Christ.

Which kind of faith would you rather have? Both of these individuals were in hopeless situations, but they had totally different responses. Choose to stir up your faith today so that it’s active instead of passive.

April 25: Faith Is the Antidote for Fear

Mark 4:35-41

And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?

Mark 4:40

Most people accept fear as a normal part of life, but Jesus rebuked His disciples for being afraid. He didn’t accept it as normal. Also, we know He would never reprove them for something beyond their control, so fear is a choice. We don’t have to be afraid, and Jesus told us how. We can overcome fear by having faith.

We don’t need to be insensitive to those who are experiencing fear, nor do we need to be ashamed if we feel afraid. Since fear torments (1 John 4:18), we should have compassion on others-and ourselves. However, in our efforts to comfort, we don’t need to embrace and promote fear as normal. That’s not what Jesus did. The “normal” Christian today would have said to the disciples, “That’s okay, boys, I know just how you’re feeling.”

But Jesus said, “What’s the matter with you? Why don’t you have any faith?”

The difference between Jesus’ attitude toward fear and today’s average Christian’s attitude toward fear is why so many of us are living far below what Jesus sacrificed Himself to give us. He died so we could be delivered from fear of all evil, and that includes poverty, sickness, death, and even being lonely. To Him, anything but a happy and victorious Christian life is abnormal. He wants us to live free from fear.

Jesus made it clear that faith is the antidote to fear. Faith and fear cannot coexist. They are enemies and opposing forces. If faith is strong, it will cast out all fear. So we must always be building and strengthening our faith by reading and studying God’s Word. (Rom. 10:17.)

Your faith in the goodness and faithfulness of God (Gal. 5:6) will overcome whatever you are afraid of today.

April 26: Watch Your Words

Matthew 12:31-37

But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

Matthew 12:36

My wife and I were trying to go to sleep in a Denver hotel room when a couple checked in to the room next to us. The walls were so thin, you could have heard them talking in sign language! The wife was griping and calling her husband every name you could imagine. He seldom said anything. She wouldn’t let him. This went on for nearly an hour until they fell asleep. When they woke up in the morning, she picked up where she left off. The first words out of her mouth were poison. This continued until the man just left the room.

I couldn’t restrain myself. I knocked on their door, and the woman came to answer. I told her I didn’t mean to listen, but I couldn’t help it. We had heard every word she’d said. I told her I’d been praying for her and just wanted her to know that Jesus loved her and could take her anger away. She started crying and told me she was already a Christian. She didn’t know why she was acting that way. She said she needed help.

I had to go because I was appearing on a television program, but I told her to watch the show and I would share how to overcome strife. On the air, I told her story without using her name and explained how to stop the hatred. I never heard from her, but I’ve often wondered what happened. One thing’s for sure: That woman learned that her words weren’t as private as she thought.

Imagine what it’ll be like on judgment day when every idle word will have to be accounted for. It’s to your advantage to watch your words today, knowing that someday they will be made known. Since you have to eat your words, you might as well make them sweet.

April 27: Look Up!

Mark 6:35-44

And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all.

Mark 6:41

Jesus faced an impossible task. There were five thousand men, and many of them with families, who needed to be fed. All He had were five loaves of bread and two small fish. Although Jesus was God, He was also a man. This situation was more than His sinless natural mind could comprehend. He had to look beyond the natural and tap into His Father’s supernatural ability. That’s why He looked up!

Jesus took His eyes off the natural realm and looked into the spiritual realm. The Greek word translated looked up means “to look up; by implication, to recover sight.” This word is also translated receive seven times and received seven times in reference to blind eyes being opened. When Jesus looked up, His spiritual eyes were opened to the power of God. That was more than enough to multiply what He had in His hands and accomplish this miracle.

There’s a spiritual answer to every physical problem you face. The answer is just as real as the natural impossibility, and God’s supply is infinitely greater than your lack! In order to appropriate that supply, you need to look up and receive spiritual sight. If you are blind spiritually, you have just as much difficulty in the spiritual realm as a physically blind person has in the natural realm, but you don’t have to stay that way. All you need to do is see with your faith.

Can you see by faith what God wants you to have? If you can see it on the inside, you can have it on the outside.

April 28: What Do You Need?

John 6:66-69

Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?

John 6:67

A friend of mine married a woman who had been verbally and physically abused in her first marriage. Therefore, she clung to her new godly husband as if her life depended on it. She became co-dependent and smothered him. If he would have left her, her whole world would have collapsed. That’s not healthy!

A real breakthrough came one day when he told her how much he loved her and reassured her of his commitment to both her and the marriage. Then he said, “But I don’t need you.” He wasn’t rejecting her. He was just trying to make her understand that he was complete in Christ—with or without her. He loved her and wanted her, but he could make it without her because his foundation was Jesus. That’s how it should be.

This was what Jesus was doing with His disciples. He loved them, wanted them to be with Him, and had chosen each one individually; but when the multitudes left, He asked His disciples if they wanted to leave too. Jesus wasn’t encouraging them to go, but He wouldn’t have fallen apart if they had. He didn’t need them in the sense that He couldn’t do without them. His total security was in His relationship with His Father.

Unknowingly, we have allowed ourselves to become dependent on many things other than the Lord for our stability and security. They may be good things like mates and children. In fact, some would even argue that it is correct to be that way. However, Jesus Christ is the only foundation that will always support us through the pressures of life. Everyone and everything else can fail us.

What must you have to be satisfied? The only things that can let you down are those you lean on, so make sure you are leaning on the One who will never let you down.

April 29: The Gospel Is the Power of God

Matthew 9:35-38; 13:53-58; Mark 6:1-6

Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.

Matthew 9:38

People are born again through the power of the Word of God, not through prayer. Prayer is very important, but it is not a substitute for the Gospel. Many people petition God for someone to be saved and can’t understand why it doesn’t happen. They don’t have to ask the Lord to save anyone. He isn’t willing that anyone should perish (2 Peter 3:9) and has made provision for everyone’s salvation. So what do we pray? Jesus said to pray that God would send laborers across their path. They need to hear the Word. Also, we should bind the influence of the god of this world, Satan, who tries to blind them to spiritual truth. (2 Cor. 4:4.)

God is more motivated to save our loved ones than we are. All we have to do is look at the Cross to see how motivated He is! We don’t need to plead with Him, but rather we need to become a channel for Him to flow through to reach that person. We do that by sharing the Good News with them and/or praying for others to come across their path who will do the same.

The Gospel is the power of God that releases the effects of salvation in our lives. (Rom. 1:16.) If a person needs healing, it’s in the Gospel. If deliverance is needed, it’s in the Gospel. Prosperity, answered prayer, joy, peace, love—they are all found through understanding and believing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Gospel is the Good News. You have every motivation within you to share this Good News with the people you meet and know and love today. If you are unable to share the Gospel with them, then pray for the Father to send others. Release your faith for Him to send just the right person at the right time to every lost person-and remember, sometimes that will be you.