JESUS SPEAKING

                Then He said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”  (Mathew 13: 52.)

INSPIRED THOUGHTS

                The bible consists of two parts; the Old Testament and the New Testament.  The old testament consisted of prophecies, inspired writings, and recorded historical information  dating from 4004 B.C. to approximately 440 B.C.; God then remained silent for 450 years until around 15-30 A.D. when John the Baptist began preaching in the wilderness about the near arrival of Jesus Christ.  Jesus arrived on the scene to complete God’s message and lay the foundations for the New Testament.  Jesus often quoted the Old Testament and added to it.  Any scribe that understood the message would combine both the Old Testament and Christ’s words in to one complete revelation from God.

                At the swap meet one day, I made an interesting observation.  They sell expensive antiques, which are highly valued because they are old.  But, many sell things that are completely new, and it is there newness that gives them their value.  Many retailers, like the householder Jesus was speaking about in this parable, get the most money for what they sell because they sell both new and old items.  God’s truth is not complete unless both the new and the Old Testament are combined as one.  The Holy bible cannot be divided, it cannot be substituted, and it cannot be added too; it is complete.

                The bible is filled with valuable treasures; gems of truth, nuggets of pure wisdom.  Jesus did not come to throw out the old, but to combine the old and the new in to a single masterpiece of communication between God and man.  The world is full of books that have been written by men and inspired by their own desires, but there is only one book that God himself has written.  The bible is a treasure chest that just needs to be opened; inside you will find every answer you have ever desired to know.  Open it, and know the fullness of the one true God.

                “Lord Heavenly Father, as we read Your Word, please give us a desire to dig deeply for insights and truths, and knowledge.  Guide us as we read, and speak to our hearts, and make your plan clearer in our minds and in our hearts.  We want to know the full, complete goodness of Your book, and in turn, Your compete goodness toward us.  We love You Lord, we praise You, and we thank You, and we ask and pray all of these things, in Jesus Christ’s name, Amen.”  God bless all of you.   

JESUS SPEAKING

                The high priest then asked Jesus about his disciples and his doctrine.  Jesus answered him, “I spoke openly to the world.  I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where the Jews always meet and have said nothing in secret” (John 18: 19-20.)

INSPIRED THOUGHTS

                Jesus was standing before the Jewish leaders who were seeking to find something in his teachings by which they could condemn him.  These Jewish leaders had heard all of his teachings in the temple.  In the first century, a rabbi would speak publicly so everyone had the opportunity to question him; in fact, the Jewish leaders had sent many people to question Jesus; they wanted him to incriminate himself so they could prove that he was not the messiah; yet every answer Jesus gave was perfect.  So the Jewish leaders arrested him and began to question him in secret.  He reminded them that he had never said anything in secret; the truth never needed to be kept secret; it needed to be proclaimed from the roof tops; a task that Jesus had flawlessly completed.

                Recently, a couple of people have been arrested for leaking all kinds of top secret communications to the public.  These communications include pleas to the United States to intervene militarily against a certain Muslim country.  When the information was made public, it caused a great deal of embarrassment and shame.  How does this relate to our personal lives?  How many times have we said something about someone we would not have said had they been present?  Gossiping is saying something in secret that you would not say publicly.  If you would not say something to a person’s face, don’t say it.  We have all been guilty of this offense.  The truth never needs to be spoken in secret; the truth can be proclaimed boldly for all to hear, without shame or embarrassment.

                Today as followers of Jesus Christ we should not gossip.  Everything we say should stand up to scrutiny.  If what we say cannot be printed on the front page of the news paper, should we say it at all?  No.  We need to speak the truth (God’s truth, not speculation or opinion) without regret.  [Sometimes the truth is not going to be nice.  We have heard our mothers say many times, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.”  However, Jesus was no pushover; he spoke out against many people who were evil; speaking the truth is not gossiping, if it is spoken in love.  All of our communications should be done in love; the truth can hurt a person, but may still need to be heard, because we care about those who must hear it.]  Speak openly, speak truthfully, and speak lovingly, and you will never be ashamed.

                “Lord Heavenly Father, we come before You and we ask and pray that You would help us to speak every word openly, and to never gossip or speak out of hate, or out of contempt, but out of love.  We wish to speak just as You and Your Son Speak; by the power of Your Holy Spirit we ask that You make us speak only the truth, and only what You desire us to say.  Use our mouths in this place, to glorify You, and to bring Your truth to others.  We love You Father, we praise You, and we thank You, and we ask and pray all of these things, in Jesus Christ’s name.  Amen.”  God bless all of you.

JESUS SPEAKING

                Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil.  And in those days he ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, he was hungry.  And the devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”  But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’”  (Luke 4: 1-4.)

INSPIRED THOUGHTS

                There is currently a battle happening in the lives of every man woman and child on the face of this earth.  The battle is between the Spirit and the Flesh.  People who are fleshly are dominated by the desires of the body; hunger, sex, possessions, power, drugs or alcohol, feeling good, etc.  The devil seeks to exploit these fleshly desires for his own end.  He does not want anyone to do the will of God.  God is Spirit, and when He dwells in a person’s heart, His Spirit begins to control the fleshly desires; fasting is a display of dominance of the Spirit over the desires of the body.  God willed Jesus too fast for forty days in the wilderness to display His dominance.  The devil sought, through pride and hunger, to make Jesus disobey His Father, saying “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”  Jesus quoted an Old Testament scripture saying, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’”  The word of God is more important for life than the very bread that we eat.  The Spirit of God is more necessary for living than the water we drink, or even the air that we breathe.  Without the word and the Spirit a person begins to be consumed by their own desires, and the result is death.

                Drug addicts and alcoholics are examples of victims of carnality.  A person can get to a point of such great spiritual bankruptcy, that their fleshly desires have nothing to control them; they begin to retract from the world, doing drugs, stealing to support their habit, even using friends and family to continue on in a lifestyle that leads only to misery and death.  Some addicts do recover; many in the church have been healed over night (not because they had a mental breakthrough) but because God’s Spirit returned to them.  Their hunger for the word of God began to grow, and in turn, they had victory over their desire to get drunk and use drugs.  Many today have problems in life they would desperately like to fix; but the problem isn’t the problem; they think, ‘if I can just stop drinking, or stop being promiscuous, then my life would change;’ such problems are merely symptoms of the true problem (their relationship with God is lacking.)  They have refused to make God the center of their lives and, in turn, they have gone on to experience misery and death.  God has to be more important than food and more of a priority than water.  His word has to be the number one priority in life.

                Today, standing up to the devil is the result of standing near to God.  The words of God printed on the pages of every bible give life to those who read them.  Anyone stuck in bondage can be set free by God’s Word.  Anyone who is experiencing a problem will find the solution between the first sentence of Genesis, and the last sentence of the Book of Revelation.  Did you read the word of God today?  Did you feed your Spirit?  You ate breakfast, probably lunch, and maybe dinner, but how much of God’s word did you take in today?  The very Word of God is our lifeline in a dark place; it is our roadmap for living; it is our strength; it is our very life.  Read the Word daily, and be strengthened in this battle you find yourself in.  Give God His proper place in your life, and you will know a miracle, and you will have the victory you seek; and true life will eternally by yours.   

                 “Lord Heavenly Father we lift you up as an awesome and mighty God, and come before You now in humility.  Please reveal when the devil is attempting to manipulate us.  Help us to see him from afar off.  Give us the wisdom and the words to rebuke him; give us the truth to speak in return for his lies.  Help us to understand the importance of Your Word in our lives, and give us a hunger for Your Spiritual food.  Nourish us, and make us strong Father, and allow us to remain in You.  We love You Lord, we praise You, and we thank You, and we ask and pray all of these things, in Jesus Christ’s name.  Amen.”  God bless all of you.