Month: October 2022

Matthew 13

Kingdom Parables

Day 1

That day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea.  And large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach.  And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow;  and as he sowed, some seeds fell…

 Matthew 13:1-4

The word of God falls it doesn’t force it’s way into the soil.  God comes speaking; we come believing.  Revelation 3:20 tells us that God stands at the door, knocking.  God doesn’t force His way in, He waits for us to invite Him and His word into our lives.  We say God show me and I’ll believe; God says believe and I will show you.  There’s a divine mysterious thing that happens in those who believe and receive His seed or His word.  But it’s all in His word, these mysteries.  Hunt and hunger for His word because it’s in His word that we know His will and His work in our lives.

Kitchen Table Devotions

Matthew 18

Day 40

My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.”

Matthew 18:35

Forgiveness lives in the heart, comes from the heart, and is the passion of the heart.  Once forgiveness becomes the affection and attitude of the heart, then the love and life of God can begin to flow in us and out of us.  Just think about how we would think about life if we wanted to know complete forgiveness for ourselves and for every other person in this world.  Think about what that would look like and what we would look like.  Think about what our lives would look like if we just wanted anyone and everyone to know the forgiveness of God.  None of us need forever; we all have forever.  What everyone one of us needs is forgiveness.  Forgiveness determines where we will spend forever.  Let’s live by faith in forgiveness for forgiveness.

Kitchen Table Devotions

Matthew 18

Day 39

My heavenly Father will also do the same to you if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.”

Matthew 18:35

Coming to terms with forgiveness will let us come to grips with our future.  Our future begins with forgiveness.  And it’s in the heart of God for every one of us to know His forgiveness.  His work begins with a forgiven soul.  It’s here that the Holy Spirit can begin and bring to light the love, light, and liberty of our salvation.  It all begins with receiving the forgiveness of our Master, Jesus Christ.  We receive that forgiveness in the heart; we believe it is real and right now.  We don’t deserve it and can’t earn it; it’s a gift from the heart of God Himself to those of us who can believe it and receive it.  And it’s so big and so real, we won’t be able to keep it to ourselves.  It’s a new way of living that works for the future.

Kitchen Table Devotions

Matthew 18

Day 38

And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him.

Matthew 18:34

It has always been in the heart of God to give us what we want.  He wants us to want Him and does everything possible to bless us in His love for us.  He would even come and pay the price for our forgiveness, but we would have to want it for ourselves.  The Bible says that we will reap what we sow (Gal 6:7).  And each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor (1 Cor 3:7).  Jesus talked about this in the Parable of the Sower and the good soil that received the good seed and produced a good crop (Mark 4:8).  The Master in this parable gave the wicked slave the life he chose, a life without forgiveness.  That is not what God wants for you and me, but you and I get to decide what we get in this life.

Kitchen Table

Matthew 18

Day 37

And his lord moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him.

Matthew 18:34

The Lord asks us to forgive at the level He does.  Our forgiving should reflect the wealth of His forgiveness, not our willingness to forgive.  God is calling us to live in His love, not ours.  When it comes to His love, God is the original prodigal; He is the one who lavishes love on us.  We want to live with a few reserves; God lives in reckless love, holding nothing back from us who believe.  That’s why He asks us to forgive at the level of His forgiveness.  When we forgive it all, we have nothing left to carry around anymore.  Remember, forgiveness is the key to every other door in heaven.  Without forgiveness, there is no favor and we must receive it first we can release it.

Kitchen Table

Matthew 18

Day 36

And his lord moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him.

Matthew 18:34

Without the tenderness of God, we’re left with the tortures of man.  Without the forgiveness of God, we have no relief from the frustrations of man.  Only God can touch and heal the spirit of a man.  It’s got to be frustrating to see us reject God’s free gift.  Is the Lord of this story angry about the debt or about the heart of the debtor.  There’s nothing this master can do if the debtor won’t receive the free gift of forgiveness.  We choose our own destiny, with or without God.  We chose the tenderness of God or the tortures of man which can be the regrets and remembrances of our own soul.  Receive the tender mercies of God by believing and living in them.

Kitchen Table Devotions

Matthew 18

Day 34

Then summoning him, his lord *said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. ³³ Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’

Matthew 18:32-33

We cannot release what we have not received.  We cannot keep what we will not give.  That’s how things work spiritually. God just has a habit of showering us with favor before we seem to figure out what is going on.  It’s the kindness of the Lord that leads to repentance. (Romans 2:4).  God just keeps coming to us in His kindness until we finally recognize and receive what He is doing.  Until we receive the goodness of God we are left with the badness of man.  And only our Father, our Maker, our Savior, can give us what we need, and He does, over and over again.

What do you say?

Kitchen Table Devotions

Matthew 18

Day 33

Then summoning him, his lord *said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. ³³ Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’

Matthew 18:32-33

There are people who recognize the gifts of God but they never receive them.  There’s a difference, remember that!  We can recognize what’s being said, done, and given, but recognition isn’t reception.  That’s the way it works with forgiveness; it must be received.  There will be a day of accounting for every one of us and it won’t be for what we recognized but for what we received.  It’s not going to be what we recognized as truthful but what we received in our hearts as the truth.  The lord called his servant “wicked”.  His lord saw him as diseased, derelict, and deceived.  The wicked servant couldn’t respond because he hadn’t received it.  He recognized forgiveness, but he didn’t receive forgiveness.  It’s a foolish and frustrating way to live and it fools the heart of the desperate man.

Kitchen Table

Matthew 18

Day 32

So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened.              Matthew 18:31

There’s no hope where there’s no forgiveness.  Hope is what love creates and faith is what hope creates. Where there is no forgiveness, there is no love either.  Forgiveness is what love does.  It looks beyond the payment to see the person and when that’s gone, so is hope.  Hopelessness leaves us with grief.  Hope lives in love and love lives in forgiveness.  It’s a beautiful thing and when it’s gone, life gets ugly. 

Kitchen Table

Matthew 18

Day 31

But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed.             Matthew 18:30

The slave was unwilling because the will of his master hadn’t touched and transformed his will.  You can tell when something is real when it touches and transforms the will of a person.  It can’t be real if it doesn’t touch the will.  If the will of Heaven doesn’t become the will of our hearts, then the will of Heaven has transformed the will of our hearts.  That transformation happens as we receive His will, rejoice in His will, and release His will in and through our lives.   Think of how the story would have changed if the slave had received, rejoiced, and released the forgiveness of his master into his own relationships.  It’s a hard thing to walk in something that you don’t will.