KJB Daily Devotion – Following Jesus Through Every Chapter
Date: Friday, November 09, 2018
Chapters: Mark 14
Message: Keep Yourself In The Love of God
Hello My Friend,
There is a lot of talk among the churches regarding these mass shootings on Christians, thugs busting through doors, lining people up, one by one asking them if they wanted to live they needed to renounce their faith in Christ, and if they do not they are immediately executed. Yes, that is a sad way to start a message, but the question often comes, “Would you renounce your faith in Jesus to save your life?” Now, we must understand that as much faith as we have in Jesus right now it does not mean that we are going to have the same amount of faith, nor does it mean that we would actually be denied salvation or anything else should we choose to deny Him. We forget that Jesus knows our heart, He will not deny us if we do not deny Him, but that only means if we never believed in the first place. Jesus also knows our flesh, and sometimes we make decisions that may put our flesh over our faith. And let me tell you, if we believed in Christ as our Saviour from our heart, nothing can separate our soul from Him, even if we walked away in our flesh. This is why our souls is saved by grace, if we kept track of everything we ever did in our flesh we would deny ourselves. Thankfully, Jesus does not deny us either the second we believe in and receive Him as our Saviour. “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” – John 10:28.
Our faith is often tested when we hold things dear to us, as we willing to give up the earthly things that are most valuable to us? As Jesus spends some time in Bethany a woman came up to Him, having a very expensive bottle of perfume, and pours it on His head. Some of the disciples, well, Judah Iscariot, complained became disgruntled seeing her waste this precious ointment.
“And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head. And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her. And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me. For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always. She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.” – Mark 14:3-9.
“She hath done what she could:” Do you understand what this woman did here? This perfume was to be used upon her wedding day, without it she knew she would never be married as it denoted her purity. More important than her desire for a husband, was her desire for her Saviour. How faithful are we that we would give the most precious thing we own to Jesus? Are we willing to give up the very thing or person we want in our own will to do the will of the Father? The world, and quite frankly, many Christians will not understand the need to give up the very things we desire in our lives for Jesus, but that one sacrifice is worth thousands of amazing blessings we will receive by giving it to Him. “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” – Hebrews 10:35-38.
The key to keeping our faith strong so that we are not making decisions with our flesh is to keep our heart perfect toward Christ. While we are in no way perfect and, let me tell you, we mess up every day, but we can live a perfect life in Christ, and the way we do that is to keep our heart perfect toward Him at all times. Make no mistake, since life is not perfect our heart is not always going to be perfect, and Jesus knows this, we see this as He was having one last dinner before His passion and outright told the disciples that they would deny Him when all this takes place, but He also gives them a promise.
“And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many. Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God. And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives. And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee. But Peter said unto him, Although all shall be offended, yet will not I. And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. But he spake the more vehemently, If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise. Likewise also said they all.” – Mark 14:22-31.
“But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee.” You see, Jesus knew their true heart, that they really did not deny who He is, but they would deny Him to save their own lives from being crucified themselves. Vehemently; with force, the disciples, one by one, shouted they would never deny Jesus, even if that meant they would die, but Jesus knew they would run and scatter the second He was captured. As faithful Christians, we all have times when our faith is tried and find ourselves having to make a decision on whether we proclaim or deny Christ. While most of us, with the bottom of our heart, proclaim Him and stand by Him, if we are honest we will admit that there are times when our heart was not perfect and we too have denied Him. Jesus loves us and knows we are not perfect apart from Him, that is why we cannot lose our salvation based on our works, we scare and scatter too easily, but He is right there for us and will be waiting with open arms to see us in person. “But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.” – II Thessalonians 3:3.
God will never tell us to do something that goes against His Word, He has a reason and a purpose for all the things He wants us to do and go through. Even though Jesus is God, and capable of doing everything He wants, when He came here He took on a flesh body, making Himself as one of us, even giving up His power, and instilling it solely to the Father. As Jesus neared the time of His capture He went up to Gethsemane with three disciples, He asked them to stay behind and watch while He went up further to pray.
“And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch. And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt. And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour? Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak. And again he went away, and prayed, and spake the same words. And when he returned, he found them asleep again, (for their eyes were heavy,) neither wist they what to answer him. And he cometh the third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise up, let us go; lo, he that betrayeth me is at hand.” – Mark 14:34-42.
“Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.” The reason we run, and get caught up in things when we are faced with a challenge like this really has to do with our not looking to Jesus in the first place. Temptation, albeit, walking right into something sinful, doubting Jesus, or even denying Him comes when we stop looking to Him and looking to that challenge. I once watched someone get pulled from a wreck, the truck literally turned upside down as it hit an off ramp rail. I thought, and convinced myself that something bad was going to happen to me, a few months later I was in a wreck myself. What was my temptation? Fear. Of course, I had not dedicated my life to Christ back then so I did not even talk to Him, but let me tell you, Jesus has been watching over me and protected me more times than I could count. You see, our flesh apart from Christ is a big jumbled mess, we really walk into things blind, it is only when we look to Him that we can see, and get through that mess, even if we caused it ourselves. “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.” – Jude 1:21-25.
Jesus Christ Magnified: “And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.” – Mark 14:36.
Today’s Prayer: Jesus, I know that my flesh is weak and heart is not always perfect, I might not always be in Your will, but I do know that Your grace is my answer to not only get back in it, but live life to the fullest, even when it is something I do not want to do. Living in Your will is not always easy, I have to give up some of the things I love, suffer through some things, deal with ungodly people, who say they are Christians, even do some things I do not want to do, but I know that it comes with the greatest rewards, especially being able to spend eternity with You. Lord, lead me and guide me in Your will, give me Your power, mercy, and grace to keep my heart perfect, show me the path You have for me, give me the wisdom, understanding, discernment, and strength I need to stay in it, And keep me looking to You at all times so that I can boldly proclaim You are mine at all times. I pray this in You name Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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