Every Day with Jesus (14 page)

How far are you willing to go with the Lord? Jesus didn’t fail this blind man, and He won’t fail you either. You can feel His hand as you fellowship with Him today. You don’t need a Plan B or Plan C in case Jesus doesn’t work. No backups are necessary. He’s more than enough.

May 9: Money Is the Entry Level of Faithfulness

Luke 16:1-13

He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.

Luke 16:10

This was an amazing statement from Jesus, and it has many applications. In context, however, Jesus was speaking about money. The whole parable about the unjust steward is talking about his unfaithfulness with money. Jesus repeats this truth in the very next verse and substitutes the words unrighteous mammon for that which is least. The Word of God leaves no doubt that money is the lowest level of stewardship.

This brings up some serious questions. If money is least and we can’t trust God with our finances, how can we trust Him in greater things like our eternal destiny? How can a person say, “Oh yes, I know I’m going to heaven, but I can’t trust God to tithe to my church.” If we don’t have enough faith to trust God to give, then how can that faith get us to heaven?

Jesus used this same reasoning to minister to the rich young ruler. (Mark 10.) This man had an outward show of devotion, and he professed that he had done everything right. But Jesus saw his heart and told him to sell everything he had and give it to the poor. Jesus could tell by his response how truly committed to God this man was.

Did you know that your use of money says volumes about your faith in God? No one can profess true faith in God if they aren’t faithful to Him with their money. Money is the entry level of faithfulness. Financial stewardship is the very least expression of faithfulness to God. It’s like the bottom rung of a ladder. You can’t go any higher if you don’t take that first step. Be faithful with your giving today, and God will move you up the ladder to greater things tomorrow.

May 10: Rest and Re-Fire

Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-14

And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.

Mark 6:31

Jesus often separated Himself from others so He could spend time with the Father. Here, we see Jesus calling His disciples apart for rest and leisure. Many zealous Christians have neglected the needs of their physical bodies and have cut their ministries short through death or severe illness. Likewise, many have failed to take the time to be still and know God. (Ps. 46:10.) This will also cut your ministry short through non-effectiveness. One of Satan’s deadliest weapons against those involved in ministry is busyness. We must balance our time ministering to others with our time being ministered to by our Father. If the devil can’t stop you from getting on fire for God, then he’ll try to get you burned out.

The reason Jesus and His disciples went to this remote place was to get away from the multitude and rest. Rest was not optional but rather a necessity. Jesus and His disciples were taking a much needed vacation. However, the multitude followed them and their vacation ended even before it began. Surely, they were just as disappointed as you or I would have been, but instead of getting angry or bitter, Jesus was moved with compassion and ministered to them.

Later on in the evening, Jesus went up onto a mountain and prayed until the fourth watch (3 am to 6 am). The Lord intends for us to take care of our physical bodies, as can be seen by His actions in taking His disciples aside for rest, but we also see how He gave priority to His spirit and stayed up all night praying and getting the spiritual rest He needed.

Today, follow Jesus’ example. Get the physical rest you need and respect the needs of your physical body, but make your time alone with the Father your first priority.

May 11: God’s Options Or Ours?

Matthew 14:22-33

But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.

Matthew 14:27-28

It is important to analyze Peter’s statement. Peter was overwhelmed when he saw Jesus walking on the water, and he also wanted to walk on the water. While there is really nothing wrong with his desire, the request he put before Jesus was totally wrong. He didn’t ask the Lord if He wanted him to walk on the water, nor did he ask Him if his faith was up to it. Instead he said, “If it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.” What was Jesus going to say?

“It isn’t Me. Don’t come.”

There are no other examples of someone walking on water in the Word of God. Jesus had a definite reason for walking on the water; however, Peter simply wanted to see if he could do it. This story shows us that God will permit us to do things that are not His perfect will for us.

Many times we hinder our own prayers by the way we ask God for things. We say, “Do you want me to do A or B?” The Lord may not want us to do either one. We should offer Him a third choice—C, none of the above. Or better still, we should simply put the entire situation in His hands and ask Him what He desires for us to do.

Today, I encourage you to trust God’s wisdom and allow Him to select the options you choose. It may keep you from sinking!

May 12: About Humility

John 6:15

When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.

John 6:15

Jesus “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). The temptation for Him to submit to the crowd and exalt Himself must have been there, but He didn’t respond to it. He came to do the Father’s will and not His own will (John 6:38), so He immediately withdrew from everyone and spent all night in prayer with His Father. Prolonged prayer is an antidote for the temptation of pride and will work a God-type of humility in your life.

In Galatians 2:20, Paul taught about dying to self, and it is very important to notice how this death takes place. Paul said he was dead through what Jesus did. He experienced this death by simply reckoning what had already happened through Christ to be so. (Rom. 6:11.)

Some believers today have taken the dying-to-self doctrine to an extreme, and instead of being free of self, they are totally self-centered. They constantly think of self. It may be in negative terms, but it is still self-centered. A truly humble person is one who is Christ-centered. Dying to self is not a hatred of self but rather a love for Christ more than self.

There are false religions that preach a denial of self. We need to be not just dead to self but alive to God. A focus on the denial of self without the enthronement of Christ leads to legalism. True humility is not a debasing of self or a hatred of self or our accomplishments. Humility is simply an awareness that all that we have and are is a gift from God. Therefore, only a person who acknowledges God can operate in true humility.

You can be humble like Jesus today if you lose yourself in Him. Be consumed with what He desires to do, how He wants to minister to others through you, and what He is saying and feeling. Then you will just naturally walk in His humility.

May 13: The Power of One Word

Matthew 14:29

And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.

Matthew 14:29

One word, “Come,” was spoken by the One who made all things (John 1:3), and that one word had just as much power in it as the words that were spoken at creation. Peter walked over those waves on the power of one word from the Lord. Likewise, any word spoken to us by God carries in itself the anointing and power it takes to fulfill that word if we will release it by believing it and acting on it.

We need to not only know God’s power but the greatness of God’s power and then the exceeding greatness of God’s power. (Eph. 1:19.) This exceeding greatness of God’s power is toward us. That means that it is for us and our benefit. Some people get glimpses of God’s power, but very few have the revelation that it is for us and at our disposal. It doesn’t do us any good to believe that God has power if we don’t believe it will work for us. The exceedingly great power of God is effectual only for those who believe. We must believe to receive, for if we doubt, we do without.

Despite all the criticism Peter may have received, he did walk on the water. Although the eleven other disciples in the boat saw Jesus and Peter walking on the water, they did not participate. One of the important steps in receiving a miracle from God is to leave the security of your natural resources (get out of your boat) and put yourself in the position where there has to be a miracle from God to hold you up.

God is no respecter of persons. (Rom. 2:11.) Any of the disciples could have walked on the water if they would have asked and gotten out of the boat. Are you hiding in a boat, afraid to step out and walk in the exceeding greatness of God’s power, power that is toward you? Today is your day to make that step of faith and trust Him for the miracles you need.

May 14: Enter Doubt, Exit Faith

Matthew 14:30-31

But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.

Matthew 14:30

The reason Peter began to sink was because of his fear. In verse thirty-one, Jesus used the word doubt in reference to Peter’s fear. Fear is simply negative faith or faith in evil instead of God’s love and goodness. Where did this fear come from? Second Timothy 1:7 says, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power and of love, and of a sound mind.” It didn’t come from God. This fear was able to come upon Peter because he took his attention off Jesus and put it on his situation.

Fear or doubt cannot just overcome us; we have to let it in. If Peter had kept his attention on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of his faith (Heb. 12:2), he wouldn’t have feared. In the same way that faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Rom. 10:17), fear comes by hearing or seeing something contrary to God’s Word. We would not be tempted with fear or doubt if we didn’t dwell on what Satan does to cause fear and doubt. The wind and waves didn’t really have anything to do with Peter walking on the water. He couldn’t have walked on the water apart from Jesus even if it had been calm. The circumstances simply took Peter’s attention off of his Master and led him back into carnal thinking. Likewise, Satan tries to distract us with thinking about our problems.

Peter’s faith didn’t fail him all at once because the Bible says he only “began” to sink. If there had been no faith present, he would have sunk all at once and not gradually. This illustrates that the entrance of fear and the exit of faith do not happen instantly. There are always signs that this is happening.

If you will turn your attention fully on Jesus, He will save you from drowning in all your problems today. No problem is too big for Him, and He wants to see you do well and be happy.

May 15: Sensitivity to the Right Things

Mark 6:45-52; John 6:15-21

For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.

Mark 6:52

Most of the time we think of a person with a hard heart as being someone who is in terrible rebellion to God. While it is true that a rebellious person does have a hard heart, in this verse the Word is referring to the disciples’ hearts being hardened. They were, “sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered” at Jesus walking on the water because they forgot that He had just miraculously fed over five thousand people.

The word hardened as used here, means “to make calloused, unyielding or cold in spirit, or insensitive to.” The disciples were not God haters, but rather they had become so sensitive to the natural world and its limitations that they were overwhelmed to see Jesus supersede these laws. Therefore, they had hard hearts.

If they had kept in mind the miracle they had just seen Jesus perform (the feeding of over five thousand people), they wouldn’t have been amazed to see Jesus walking on the water. After all, He had constrained them to get into the ship and was therefore responsible for them. He was just a short distance away from them and was in the same storm Himself, so they knew He was aware of their situation. They should have expected Him to save them, even if He had to walk on the water to do it.

Are you more prone to fear and doubt the truths of God’s Word? Perhaps you have thought more about things that minister fear and doubt. You can turn this around today and actually harden your heart to doubt by considering only God’s Word! It is a possible and obtainable goal to become just as sensitive to God and faith as you were to Satan and doubt. Meditate on God’s Word today.

May 16: Salvation: A Relationship

Mark 6:53-56

And when they were come out of the ship, straightway they knew him.

Mark 6:54

The word know can mean many things, from as little as “to perceive with the senses or the mind,” to a much deeper meaning of “a thorough experience with.” This knowing, then, is not just intellectual but a personal, intimate understanding. Jesus defines eternal life as knowing God the Father through Him. Eternal life is having an intimate, personal relationship with God the Father and Jesus the Son. This intimacy with God is what salvation is all about.

Forgiveness of our sins was not the goal of salvation; it was the means to achieve the goal, which was intimacy with the Father. Jesus died to purchase forgiveness for our sins because unforgiven sins keep us from a close relationship with the Father. Sin was an obstacle that stood between God and us. Jesus had to deal with it. Anyone who views salvation as only forgiveness of sins and going to heaven is missing out on eternal life with God.