Every Day with Jesus (16 page)

Every denomination has its own set of dos and don’ts that aren’t found in Scripture, and like those of the hypocritical Pharisees, their unwritten laws usually have to do with outward appearance. We need to remember that adding to God’s commandments is just as bad as taking away from them.

The commandments of God and the traditions of men must always be clearly separated. Any attempt to place them on the same level will always result in making the Word of God ineffectual in your life. You have to either lay aside the commandment of God to keep the traditions of men, or you have to lay aside the traditions of men to keep the commandments of God. (Ex. 20:3.) You neutralize the positive power of God’s Word in you by elevating man’s traditions above God’s Word.

The Word will not profit anyone who doesn’t believe it, but God’s Word never loses its power. Today, take a good look at why you do the spiritual things you do. Are your beliefs and actions based on God’s Word or a tradition of your church or denomination? Remember that only the Word has the power to save you, heal you, prosper you, and give you peace and joy!

May 25: What Really Defiles You

Matthew 15:1-20; Mark 7:1-23

There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.

Mark 7:15

The Old Testament dietary laws were shadows of spiritual truths that would become realities in the New Covenant. These Pharisees (as well as many Christians today) missed the spiritual significance of these laws. The real spiritual meaning the dietary laws symbolized was that we were supposed to be holy (separated) unto God in everything—even in what we eat. Under the Law it was forbidden to eat or even to touch certain animals not because there was anything wrong with the animals but to illustrate the point of being separated unto God. The practice of these laws served as a constant reminder of this separation.

Under the New Testament, we don’t need dietary laws to remind us we are holy and separated unto God because His Spirit lives inside us and His Word says we are righteous and holy through the blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ statements in this passage of Scripture refer to what really defiles a person. We cannot interpret this to mean that any type of abuse to our bodies, such as gluttony or drug abuse, is okay, but He is saying it is not what goes into our mouths that can defile us; it is what comes out of our mouths that defiles us.

Jesus knew that we speak what is in our hearts, and if our hearts are corrupt with sin, we will speak evil. He knows whatever comes out of our mouths comes from a defiled heart. On the other hand, if we are born again and have a new heart, a heart after God, then we will speak words that are right and holy. God looks on our hearts and what our mouths speak from our hearts as pure and clean.

Today, think about the condition of your heart. The words you speak will tell you whether your heart has been tainted by the world, deceived by the enemy, and overcome by your flesh. If so, all you have to do is repent and be cleansed. (1 John 1:9.) Then you can rejoice that you are a child of God and have a great day with Him.

May 26: Know What Is Yours

Mark 7:17-23

For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders.

Mark 7:21

These verses (vv. 21-23) further establish the truth that our hearts include more than just our spirits. Even Christians still struggle with things like pride and foolishness, which Jesus said come out of the heart. It’s certain that our born-again spirits are not the source of these sins; therefore, the heart encompasses more than the spirit.

The word spirit is used in different ways in Scripture. The most frequent usage refers to either the Spirit of God or the spirit of man. It either denotes the person of the Holy Spirit or the spiritual part of our three-part being. (1 Thess. 5:23.) The word spirit can also describe a mental disposition. In Ephesians 1:17, Paul prayed that what was already true in our spirits would become our “mental dispositions.” He prayed for a release into our soul of what was already present in our spirit.

The Christian life is not an attempt to get more faith, more anointing, or to get closer to the Lord. We already have these things in their fullness. We just need a revelation of what is already ours. Understanding this takes a lot of frustration and doubt away. It’s much easier to release something you already have than to try and get something you don’t have. Why would anyone doubt whether they could receive what they already have?

Through Christ, you are already blessed with all spiritual blessings. (Eph. 1:3.) All you have to do is appropriate what is already yours, and you do that by renewing your mind with God’s Word. His Word tells you who you are and what you have. Once you know what is yours, then your spirit and soul will form a majority, and your flesh will experience the life of God that has been deposited in your spirit.

May 27: Jesus Tried Her Faith

Matthew 15:21-39; Mark 7:24-37; 8:1-10

But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.

Mark 7:27

Although Jesus came to fulfill God’s promise of a Messiah to the Jews, He also came to offer salvation to the Gentiles. Jesus certainly knew this and had already ministered to numerous Gentiles without any disdain. Here in Mark, however, He is very rude to the Syrophenician woman. Jesus could not be forced into ministering to this woman’s daughter if it was not His will to do so; therefore, His silence and rough answer to this woman must have been designed to accomplish a godly result.

Humility is an important ingredient of faith. This woman was a stranger to the covenants of promise and had no right to demand anything. Although she fell at His feet, He knew what was really in her heart. Jesus’ silence and then comparison of her to a dog would certainly have offended an arrogant person, and it is possible that for this very reason Jesus tried her faith. He didn’t need to do this with the centurion in Luke 7:6-7. The centurion didn’t fall at His feet, but Jesus knew he was humble in his heart.

No doubt this woman needed to have her faith tried to bring her heart to a place of humility. Only in this way would she truly know that the miracle she received had nothing to do with her and was solely due to the grace of God shown her. It took great humility to put her and her daughter in the same class as dogs, and it proved to Jesus that she knew she was a sinner in need of a savior.

The truth is that without Jesus, you, too, were just a dog, trying to please and gain affection from a Master you couldn’t really communicate with or understand. All you could do was beg for whatever you needed and hope He blessed you. But today you can celebrate the truth that you are His very own child. You can communicate with Him, understand Him, and you know He has already provided everything you need through the blood of His Son. Hallelujah!

May 28: The Ministry of the Holy Spirit

Mark 8:11-13

And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign? verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto this generation.

Mark 8:12

The Greek word used here for sighed deeply means “an intense grieving, inaudible prayer, or groan.” This is intercession of the Holy Spirit, with groanings that cannot be uttered. (Rom. 8:26.) Some Spirit-filled Christians believe this means groanings that cannot be uttered in normal speech and that this refers to speaking in tongues. However, this actually refers to a type of intercession different than speaking in tongues.

In John 11:33 and 38, Jesus groaned in the Spirit twice, and in those cases there were no words uttered. It was exactly as the Scripture states, a groaning in the Spirit. Everyone who has the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit has or will have this happen to them. Paul was referring to this in Galatians 4:19 when he spoke of travailing in birth for the Galatians. This groaning of the Holy Spirit is not just grief but a groan of anger and resistance against Satan’s devices in our lives. Many times Christians don’t discern this because they think it is just their own grief over the situation; however, this is the Holy Spirit desiring to intercede with us against our problems.

Jesus drew on this ministry of the Holy Spirit. John 11:33 and 38 say that Jesus groaned in the Spirit twice when He raised Lazarus from the dead. What infirmity did Jesus have that He needed this ministry of the Holy Spirit? Jesus had no sin, but He did have an infirmity. It was His physical mind. Even a sinless human mind could not comprehend raising a man from the grave after four days.

If Jesus needed the Holy Spirit to help Him when He didn’t know how to pray, then this should certainly be an important ministry of the Holy Spirit in your life. Today be mindful of the Spirit’s unction inside you to pray and intercede for others. You may be surprised at how He will use you to impact the lives of others.

May 29: Jesus Is Always a Threat to Religion

Matthew 16:1-4

The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven.

Matthew 16:1

The Sadducees were a Jewish sect (Acts 5:17) of both a political and religious nature that opposed the more popular party of the Pharisees over doctrinal and political beliefs. Sadducees rejected the oral tradition of the Pharisees who made a mountain of burdensome legislation and accepted only the written law. We are told they believed there was “no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit” (Acts 23:8). From Josephus, we learn that the Sadducees believed the soul perishes with the body
¹
and can receive neither penalties nor rewards in an afterlife
²
.

The most significant mention of the Sadducees in the Gospels concerns their interview with Jesus in Jerusalem. They tried to trap Him with a crafty question concerning the resurrection. In His answer, Jesus accused them of not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. (Matt. 22:29.) He then proceeded to quote from the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) out of Exodus 3:6 in support of the doctrine of the resurrection.

The Sadducees became alarmed and decided to take action (John 11:47), especially after the episode in which Jesus had cleansed the temple in Mark 11:15-18. They were able to unite with their traditional enemies, the Pharisees, for the purpose of disposing of Jesus. Both parties worked together for His arrest and trial by the Sanhedrin. Obviously, these religious leaders were so caught up in external actions that they missed the sinful condition of their hearts.

Jesus will always pose a threat to religion because religion is dead and powerless, but Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the only way to the Father, and He takes us by way of our hearts. Today, be grateful that you have the life of God in you through Jesus Christ!

¹
The Antiquities of the Jews, Book 18, Chapter 1, Section 4.

²
The War of the Jews, Book 2, Chapter 8, Section 14.

May 30: Petition Not Repetition

Matthew 16:13-15; Mark 8:11-25; Luke 9:18-20

And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.

Mark 8:24-25

It was unusual for Jesus to inquire about the results of His ministry as He did in verse twenty-three. It was even more unusual that Jesus laid hands on this man a second time. This is the only example in the New Testament where Jesus had to minister to any need more than once to manifest a total healing.

Many people request things from God and then look at their circumstances to see if God answered their prayers. That is walking by sight and not by faith. If they can’t see God’s answer in the natural realm, they pray again. This is not the way Jesus taught us to pray and receive. We can be certain Jesus didn’t lay hands on this man a second time because He thought His Father hadn’t heard Him the first time. Since the man received partial sight, it is evident that God’s healing power was at work in him. Jesus was not petitioning His Father again for healing.

Through His spirit, Jesus knew that unbelief was hindering a perfect manifestation of God’s power in this man, and He simply gave him another dose of the anointing of God. Satan may hinder, but he cannot prevail over someone who continues resisting him.

Today, believe that you receive when you pray and then continue to apply the power of God no matter what your physical senses tell you. Press in to such a degree that you can confront anything that is contrary to what you have asked and overcome it. Perseverance in prayer is the key to overcoming Satan, not persuading God. God was persuaded the moment you prayed His will and Word in faith!

May 31: Your Cross

Matthew 16:16-26; Mark 8:30-37; Luke 9:21-27

And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Luke 9:23

Self-denial is an important part of the Christian life. Jesus sacrificed His life for us, and He demands that we die to ourselves to experience the new life He has provided. We do this by first recognizing that we can’t save ourselves by our own efforts and then by trusting God, not ourselves, for salvation. Daily, we need to deny our own wisdom and seek God’s wisdom and direction for our lives.

Self-denial is only good when we are denying ourselves for the singular purpose of exalting Jesus and His will for us in some area of our lives. Some have made a religion out of self-denial and find pleasure in their denial—not in Jesus’ lordship. This leads to legalism and bondage, which Paul condemned as “will worship” (Col. 2:23). We are told not only to deny ourselves, but to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Jesus.