Month: February 2021

Mark Day 40

Read:  Mark 14:1-11

But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. ⁷ For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. ⁸ She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. ⁹ And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”                                               Mark 14:6-9

Wickedness sprouts where worship splinters.  That was never more evident than on that night in Simon’s house.  Mary opened a bottle of precious nard and poured it over Jesus’ head.  A year’s wages spent in a moment of time.  That’s what worship does; it spends all it has in that moment with Jesus.  Not even understanding all that Jesus was and would do, she worshiped Him with all she had at that moment.  We often miss the root of Judas’ problem.  Judas and some of the others were indigent with what Mary had done.  Wickedness sprouts where worship splinters.  Be careful not to criticize or compromise worship, it’s on the front end of betrayal.  You won’t find Mary betraying Jesus for money or membership into a lost community of haters.  It would be better for a person to never have been born than to never bow their knee to Jesus in worship.  Don’t find room for excuses when it comes to worship but take every opportunity to express yourself in worship to the King of kings.

Mark Day 39

Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— ³⁶ lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. ³⁷ And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”           Mark 13:35-37

Keep your eyes open!  Stay awake!  There are things we don’t know when they are coming but we can see coming if we know God’s word.  To fall asleep is to close our eyes and many are walking around with their eyes shut.  We fall asleep when we close our eyes to the work of hell in our world and accept as normal or endurable the things that are contrary to the word of God.  It not only happens in our world but in the church.  Know the word of God and see what is happening in the seen and unseen realm.  Jesus is coming back and those who know God’s word will be looking for that moment.  Jesus says all this is like seeing the trees begin to leaf out.  If you know what you’re looking for you will see what looking at.  We see according to what we hear as truth and we hear what and who we trust as being truthful.  If our heart is right with God, we can hear and see.  God heals our hearing and seeing spiritually just as He did physically.  But it’s our responsibility to stay awake, to keep our eyes open.  Hearing His word as truth will keep our eyes open.  Be on your guard, stay awake!

Mark Day 38

Read Mark 13:14-23

And then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. 22 For false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. 23 But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand. Mark 13:21-23

We cannot see according to the flesh but see according to our faith. That’s why Jesus told us what is to come. If we believe in Him and if we believe Him, will see His word as true and come true. There is going to be a battle for souls and there will come judgment on all sin. Be on your guard. The enemy will try to persuade us otherwise. Things will happen that will even tempt the “elect”, the mature in Christ, to believe otherwise. Be on your guard. We stay on our guard by believing and trusting in His word. The devil is defeated but he is not dead and he is working to deceive the hearts of man. Using crisis and counterfeit, he will be working to take as many people down with him as he can. Remember what Jesus said in the here and now as well as for the then and there. He always tells His people what is coming. He prophesied His death and resurrection, which happened. He prophesied the fall and judgment of Jerusalem, which happen. And He has prophesied His second coming which will be in the clouds and it’s happening. Keep your eyes peeled by keeping your faith prominent.

Mark Day 37

Read:  Mark 13:1-13

And Jesus began to say to them, “See that no one leads you astray. ⁶ Many will come in my name, saying, ​‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. ⁷ And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet.

Mark 13:5-7

See to it that no one leads you astray.  Once again, it’s important that you can see the truth.  You will see many come in Jesus’ name and you will see wars and there will be rumors of wars but do not be afraid.  Look at the world from your heart and what you believe in Jesus.  Judgment is coming.  Judgment is built into creation and it’s something that God works with to take man’s eyes off what is false to see what is true.  If you can hear the words of Jesus, you can see through the window of Jesus.  Don’t be impressed with what man builds or what man says, be impressed with what Jesus says.  Judgment is coming but God is bigger than our trouble.  See to it that no one leads you astray.  He who endures to the end will be saved. (Mark 13:13)  Jesus is speaking to the here and now and the then and there.  Judgment was coming to Jerusalem and everything man had made would be torn down.  But judgment is coming again before He comes again.  And He is coming; Jesus said so, and we must adjust our eyes to look for Him and not the hate of a world that doesn’t want to recognize Him.  Don’t be anxious, be armed with the Holy Spirit.

Mark Day 36

Read:  Mark 12:28-44

Jesus answered, “The most important is, ​‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ³⁰ And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ³¹ The second is this: ​‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”                      Mark 12:29-31

We all have eyes to see and we use them to judge but how we judge will be determined by who and what we love.  The Scribes loved places of honor and lived hating those who gave them those places.  The Widow loved God and lived loving Him with all she had in this life.  There’s judgment all over these two stories.  We judge with our eyes from our hearts.  God gave us eyes to see through, not to just see with.  We see through our eyes from the convictions and commitments of our hearts.  We see with our eyes when we let the world determine what we see and why.  Who or what we love will determine who and what we see and we will judge the world we live in accordingly.  It’s what fills our hearts that determine who and what we see with our eyes.  If we want to fix our eyes, we must first fix our hearts.  Out of the mouth the heart speaks and from the heart the eyes see.  When our heart is right, our judgment will be too. Love God and see His awesome creations and power.

Mark Day 35

Read: Mark 12:13-27

Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?                    Mark 12:24

The reason we find ourselves wrong is because we do not know His Scriptures nor His power.  There is a need to know both.  The gospel comes with power.  Paul wrote, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” Romans 1:16-17  There is a need for both, His Scriptures and His power.  We need to know both, or we can be deceived.  The gospel comes with power and it’s that experience that nails down our education.  We don’t just want to speak out of our heads but from our hearts where we have experienced the power of God.  What we see is understood by what we hear and what we hear is connected to who and who we know.  Do you know God, or do you know about God?  Jesus would say, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. John 10:27  These sheep hear His voice because they know His voice.  Know God personally and never cease to know Him more and more personally.  Know His Scriptures and know His power.  This is where humility is required.  To know His Scriptures and His power we must be willing to submit to His ministry, personally, again and again.  Know Him!

Mark Day 34

Read Mark 12:1-12

Have you not read this Scripture:  “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; ¹¹ this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

Mark 12:10-11 God is always in front of us and not behind us.  He knows where we are going before we do and knows where we have come from also.  He sees the facts and the future.  That’s why He can prophesy over us.  And we cannot fool God.  He sees the motives of our hearts, something we can’t always see.  We can’t see because we don’t want to operate in the truth, but He can see because our Lord operates in love.  Like the religious people Jesus was talking to on this day, we don’t want to see the truth because we cannot believe He loves us.  Jesus tells this parable to help these religious folks see their lives and know their intent.  Love does that so that we can walk away from what is wrong and evil.  But if we don’t believe in His love, we won’t be able to see what He is telling us.   God has created a life for us that is good, but if we can’t believe He loves us we won’t see what He has done for us.  Jesus read their mail to them that day and these religious people walked away mad.  We cannot walk in love and not operate in truth.  Know that God loves you.  He has built a life for you to live blessed.  Believe it or you won’t see what He has done or what He is going to do.  The best way to end up mad is to believe that you are not loved.  Love opens our eyes to the truth.

Mark Day 33

And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. ²³ Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ​‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. ²⁴ Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be your                Mark 11:22-24

If we want to see a miracle, we must speak to our mountain.  If we want to walk in the blessing, we must speak to the barrier.  Jesus said, “Have faith in God” and then He said to speak to the mountain.  We speak to what we see but we believe what we hear.  But we do speak!  Sometimes we get so caught up in our thoughts and troubles that we don’t see the mountain/barrier before us.  We must see the mountain before we can speak to it.  The word of God, that we hear, empowers us to see the mountain and the wisdom of God empowers us to speak to it and command it to move.  In this scripture, the Pharisees would not answer Jesus because they were afraid of what they say.  Jesus wasn’t afraid and neither should we be afraid.  Have faith in God, and believe what you hear Him say and then speak to what you see.  We speak to what we see because we believe what we hear Him say.  We speak to the mountain and He moves it out of the way.  If we have faith in God, we will not only see what is in front of us but we will also know what to say when we see it.

Mark Day 32

And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. ¹⁴ And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.

Mark 11:13-14

There’s an interesting thing that happens in Mark 11.  Jesus walks into the temple, looks around and the next day brings judgment into that same temple.  Jesus sees a fig tree in leaf but with no fruit and judges the fig tree to death.  God doesn’t accept what is fake, foolish and doomed to failure.  Jesus came with judgment on what He saw, and He will come again bringing the same.  The Lord does not rely on what man says but judges what man does.  Faith without works is dead.  The Bible tells us that our Father sees in secret. (Matthew 6:4-18)  We judge by what we hear and how we see is dependent on what we hear.  But Jesus IS the way, the truth, and the life and He sees truthfully.  How He sees is how it really is.  And He will bring judgment on what He sees.  Did you ever think about that?  He sees our heart.  He sees the motive of our heart.  He sees our lives and He sees how we live this life.  Our only hope is to believe His word and let His word shape our lives.  Where faith is working there will be a change in what God and everyone else sees.  We can’t keep love hidden and we can’t keep faith a secret.  What we believe will shape what God, others, and ourselves see.  What is God seeing in you today?

Mark Day 31

And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! ¹⁰ Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”

Mark 11:9-10

Praise Him, for He comes with salvation, healing, and deliverance in His hands.  His kingdom is great and wonderful.  He is worthy of praise.  But understand this, that Jesus brings with Him judgment on all that is deceptive, rebellious, and manipulating.  Jesus doesn’t come just to deal with the sin of sin.  He comes to deal with the system of sin.  We must be ready for that judgment.  His kingdom, His system, does not deal in dishonesty and delusion.  We must be ready and willing to accept and accompany His system for living.  In this last week before the cross, Jesus will expose the hearts and hands of those who deceive and deter people from the kingdom of heaven.  Praise belongs in the mouth of those who truly trust Him.  Praise belongs in the mouth of those who don’t just want judgment on sin but who want judgment on the systems of sin.  It’s the kingdoms of man and hell that keep us living in sin, sickness, and sorrow.  The heart of God is for true love, true life, and true liberty.  Praise brings all that home.  Trust Him enough to tell Him!