Month: January 2021

Mark Day 10

To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, ¹² so that “‘they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.’” Mark 4:11-12

Want to live free and untethered by the enemy?  Love the word of God.  I say this because receiving the word of God is a heart issue, not a head issue.  This life is about love, what we love and who we love and why we love.  The word of God produces life, it just does, but it must be received.  We receive those things we love.  The word of God does not find space to grow in the hard heart, the full heart, or the preoccupied heart.  Jesus said that we cannot serve to masters because we will love the one and hate the other.  The word of God needs a heart of love to live in by faith.  One secret to the kingdom of heaven is the power of love.  This life is lived in love, from love and because of love and when we love God’s word (because we love God and His love for us) we will live God’s life for us.  When we love God’s word, God’s word lives in us.  Love operates by faith, so by faith we fall in love with God’s word because by faith we believe in the love of God.  Only the heart looking for real love will find it in God and His word.  Jesus said to love the Lord God and that anyone who loves Him would keep His commandments.  This life is about what we love, who we love and why we love.  Whoever understands this will understand how life works and be forgiven.

Mark Day 8

If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.  And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. Mark 3:24-25

Beware of names and labels, those who use them are usually hypocrites.  The child of God does not need them, only love matters.  But the hypocrisy of hell issues names and labels constantly.  The rule of hell cannot stand before the reign of Christ and so the next best thing is to label good as evil and right as wrong.  The enemy binds up the strength of a man through names and labels.  If we believe them, we will tie ourselves up for the enemy.  The scribes labeled Jesus the healer the devil who hurts.  Their hypocrisy was stunning.  A man nor a kingdom can stand if they work against themselves.  But hell does not fear hypocrisy, after all the goal is death, not life.  Hell has no problem with deception, in fact, it thrives on it.  When we let names and labels live in the mind of our heart, we bind the love and light of God from working in our spirit.  Honesty, not hypocrisy, sets us free to live in the power and promises of God.  Do not let the hypocrisy of hell deceive and divide your heart, you won’t be able to stand against the efforts of hell.  Where there is agreement with God there is the authority of God to conquer the names, labels, and efforts of hell to bring death.

Mark Day 7

And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. ¹⁴ And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach ¹⁵ and have authority to cast out demons. Mark 3:13-15

Jesus calls us to come away from the crowd to be in His presence.  Jesus healed many, down by the sea but He called His disciples up on the mountain.  It all seems so symbolic in how He calls us away from the crowd and out of the thinking and living of this world to be with Him.  In that place He appoints and authorizes us to be His servants and the stewards of His mysteries.  This faith is not just about believing in Jesus but believing Jesus.  It’s here that we find new wine and a new wine skin that brings the revelation and refreshing of God into this world.

There are all sorts of people who want God to do something for them but not as many will climb the mountain to answer the call of God.  It’s in His presence that we are changed, called and commissioned with the authority of God to even cast out demons.  The appointment and authority of God doesn’t just happen along the way, it’s given atop the mountain and that appointment and authority will silence the words and work of the enemy because we know Jesus.  Don’t be afraid to climb the mountain to be with the Master.

Mark Day 7

And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. Mark 3:5

Hell lives in the hardened heart.  You can find this to be true even in churches where people believe in God but cannot surrender to Him.  There is no satisfying the hardened heart.  It wants success but not the Supernatural.  Rules reign over revelation.  Hell lingers there.  The Supernatural stirs everything up, we do not know what is next or what will happen now.  The hardened heart becomes the smart and sophisticated heart that everyone admires while longing and looking for the miraculous.  Hell works in the hardened heart.  We cannot afford to let our hearts go hard and stay there.  The humble heart just looks for God in every plan for every person.  The humble heart makes room for God because it trusts God.  The humble heart does not have to understand everything but understands the passion of God.  The backlash to a hardened heart is blasphemy.  To maintain its rule, the hardened heart will call good, evil and call God’s work, Satan’s work.  But the humble heart believes and behaves in the love of God anyway, silencing hell’s voice in the hardened heart.  The humble heart stands, speaks and seeks God’s love anyway. 

Mark Day 5

No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. ²² And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.” Mark 2:21-22

We cannot just add God’s word to our old way; it will not work.  Where there is agreement there is authority.  Anything else other than repentance of the old word and reception of the new word of God will fail miserably.  God’s word brought a future to Levi and freedom for the disciples and they walked away from the old word to walk in the new word.  Jesus came to those who were sick and wanted to be made well.  He came for those who were tied and tired of a religion that left them sad & sorry.  But this new life in Jesus begins with repenting or ridding ourselves of the old words and ways of man to possess the new word and way of God.  That is what happens through the baptism of water and the Spirit.  From now on our thoughts, feelings and actions will be guided by God’s word.  From a new heart and with a new word we can live the new life we have in Jesus.  Holding on to the old life does not make us good stewards of the past but rather it will make us stupid about the future.

Mark Day 4

And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Mark 2:5

It is faith in God’s word that brings us into the presence, provision, and power of God.  Jesus saw their faith.  Faith is what God is looking for, not mere attendance or affirmation.  Where there is faith there is action and we will not see it unless we preach His word.  Jesus came preaching the word, the Bible says.  The word of God expresses the love of God that creates Hope with God that inspires faith in God.  We must be ready to share the word of God.  That is where the hope, help, and healing lie, in His word.  God operates in and through our lives by faith.  He brings the truth and we put our faith in Him.  That faith brought the paralytic and his friends to Jesus.  Jesus had gone about preaching the word, speaking the word of God and that word worked like a magnet to bring people to God.  That is what the word does.  That is why we dare not dilute the word or dream that the ministry is about anything other than His word.  Today we must speak the word of God, see through the word of God, and sit on the word of God for our lives.  It is not what we think but what He knows that matters.  Speak His word and let that word reveal the love that creates hope and inspires faith.  We cannot walk in love and not operate in truth.  His word is truth.  Go with the word of God and let people come to it, not you.

Make Day 3

Moved with compassion, He stretched out His hand and touched him and said to him, “I am will, be clean.”  Mark 1:41

Those who have been made “ready” by the Holy Spirit can now “go” in the confidence and compassion of the Holy Spirit.  The power and authority of God now dwells in those baptized with water and the Spirit.  God works freely in those who are convinced and committed to bring hope and help into a world in hurt.  Healing is part of the Kingdom of Heaven.  It is these who are baptized by God that bring fear to hell.  Healing is necessary because hell must work from the outside in and afflicting our health physically, emotionally, and mentally is a huge part of that work.  There is no need for conversation with hell, heaven is here.  God has a vessel who will serve Him with His word and in His will.  The Holy Spirit reveals and reinforces God’s word, will, and work in our lives.   Healing is ours in the name of Jesus.  And now we see why it is so important to be made ready, baptized with water and the Spirit to live for God in this life.  No man can do these things on his own.  Healing is Heaven at work on this earth.

Mark Day 2

And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. Mark 1:10

Be Ready!  We get ready by repenting, but we are made ready by receiving.  It is the Holy Spirit that makes us ready.  It is the Spirit that fills and flows through the heart that is committed to Him.  It is the Holy Spirit who brings the authority of heaven into our hearts.  He makes us ready to walk in the authority of heaven because He is the authority of heaven.  Jesus was baptized in obedience to the will of God and He was baptized according to the want of God.  Baptism is a public declaration of a personal decision to live with God and for God.  The Father loves our desire and decision to live with Him and in Him and for Him.  And He fills us with His Holy Spirit so that we can live with Him, and in Him and for Him.  It is the presence of the Spirit of God that makes us ready for this life.  We are not ready to live for Him until we are ready to receive Him.  This is not a religious decision but a relational decision.  We declare that decision in and through baptism.  If we want to be baptized with Him, we need to be baptized to Him.  The Holy Spirit reveals Himself in the repentant heart of the one who is ready to die to this world and be raised to live in His world.  Be ready by being filled with the Holy Spirit.