KJB Daily Devotion – Following Jesus Through Every Chapter
Date: Friday, October 07, 2016
Chapters: John 2-3
Message: Believing Is The Battle
Hello My Friend,
Grace, anytime we are kind to others even when they are not kind to us, we are showing them grace. If God is as mean and cruel as the world claims Him to be than why are they not dead and in hell already? God’s grace. God does have all the power to be the mean and cruel God they want Him to be, but that really is not what He is all about, do not confuse chastisement with judgment from rebellion. When God gave the Law, it was a foreshadow of Christ, it was the shedding of pure blood that was needed to redeem a soul that had broken the Law. But Christ came to make an end to the constant need for a sacrifice by sacrificing Himself. “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” – Hebrews 9:27-28.
The Scribes and Pharisees were well aware of the Law, and they were really good at helping the people find their way, even so kind to offer sacrifices for the people as they were heading up to the temple. As you know, Jesus went into Jerusalem every year with His earthly parents during Passover, this year however, he came with great authority as He saw the people buying and selling merchandise in the temple.
“And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body.” – John 2:15-21.
“But he spake of the temple of his body.” Keep in mind that if they were truly following the Law, one, there would have been no work conducted because it was Passover, and two, they were selling blemished animals to the people who were offering them to God. Jesus knew that they were going to destroy His body, but He also knew that it would be restored in three days. The world cannot comprehend what is not physically shown to them, which is why they are so prone to believe that we evolve over time rather than believe we have a Creator. This is a good reminder that all who are saved will be restored too when Christ returns. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” – I Thessalonians 4:16-17.
Sometimes life gets so overwhelming that we forget we have Jesus to carry the burden for us, so instead of a solution to our problem we find more problems, and instead of peace we find confusion. The devil has a great way of turning our faith into suspicion, but Jesus can turn our faith back around if we just trust Him and hand it all over to Him. Jesus runs into a man name Nicodemus, Nicodemus was a Pharisee, most of them were just dying to catch Jesus do something wrong, but Nicodemus saw something different than the rest, he came to Him in the night to speak with Him about God, but he just did not quite understand why Jesus said he had to be born again.
“Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” – John 3:4-8.
“so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” We must be born with the Spirit of God in order to see the Kingdom of God, and the only way we can be born again is to receive Christ. Man cannot see beyond their eyes, they have the attitude that if they cannot see it it does not exist. As much as I love to find out how things work, there are some things that are left simply to faith. For instance, everyone learns that once a woman conceives it takes nine months for the child to fully develop, amazingly, through science, we can see how a baby develops inside the womb. What we cannot see is the miracle of how they grow, the organs, the bones, no amount of science can explain this phenomenon. If we cannot believe that a life begins at conception, how can we believe in a life that can be raised from the dead? Or that the only way to receive God’s Spirit is through His Son. While God would love for all to be saved, He knows some will never believe, and He will not waste His time trying to convince them.
“And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God. Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.” – Romans 9:26-28.
The Gospel of John fills in all the all the blanks left behind from the other three, one of them is the ministry of John the Baptist, he preached the same message as Jesus, but they did not want to hear that message. They questioned him about his baptizing and Jesus (the disciples) baptizing people, which were technically the same.
“John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true. For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” – John 3:27-30
“rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice:” Jesus is the bridegroom while those who receive Him are His bride, while Jesus has many ministers who go before Him and preach His coming we who are His find great joy in hearing Him speak. We must believe that Jesus has the upper hand in everything, if we are His, than we are sealed, and anything we ask in His will we will get. Many times, God will give us challenges to see if we are going to stick it out or walk away and move on to something else. If we are living a pretty godly life and walking with Jesus than we can expect some challenges, we need to be sure of two things, is God’s hand in it, and is it something we really want. If we can answer yes to both of those questions than we are on our way to receiving what we are asking. Keep in mind that God wants to receive the glory for all that He gives us. “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 4:19.
Jesus Christ Magnified: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:” – John 3:14
Today’s Prayer: God, I know it can be hard at times to see You when I am overwhelmed with life. Lord, shine Your light on me, lead me and guide me in Your will and Your ways, help me to see Your Light through all the clutter and chaos that is constantly trying to keep me in the dark. I love You Lord and ask these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
Are You 100% Sure You Are Going To Heaven?: http://imfollowingjesus.com/follow-Jesus.html
Receive The KJB Daily Devotions In Your Email: http://eepurl.com/2WMzT
Missed A Message: https://imfollowingjesus.com/Biblestudy/
Visit I’m Following Jesus: http://imfollowingjesus.com/index.html
Like I’m Following Jesus On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/byhisstrength
Copyright © 2016 I’m Following Jesus, All rights reserved.