King James Bible Study – “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34
Date: Saturday, October 10, 2020
Chapters: Matthew 6-7
Message: In Jesus Name
Hello My Friend,
As I was reading the chapters for today, this passage came to mind, [John 14:12-14 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. 13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.]
Prayer is the greatest asset that we will ever possess as it is our direct link to God. Quite frankly, without prayer God will just keep allowing us to struggle since we are too proud to come to Him. Did you know that whatever we ask from God that it must go through Jesus first? Without Jesus God will not even hear our prayer. Do you know why? It is Jesus who is our direct link to the Father, without Him, He is just God to us, once we accept Jesus as our Saviour we become children of God, and that makes Him our Father, [I Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;]
Daily life can become so daunting that we take on the characteristics of a robot, we automatically do things at will because it becomes routine. The same thing happens in our Christian life, Bible, pray, church, it becomes so routine that we do not take heart in it. As Christians, we have to make sure that we do not get caught up in the religion of the church. The Christian life is not about giving the largest amounts of money, saying mile long prayers, or twenty hour fasts, it is about God, one that we can only reach through a relationship with Jesus Christ. The scribes and Pharisees were proud of what they were doing to show their dedication to God and their law, as Jesus continues to speak to the people, He warns them about the dangers of getting caught up in the works of their religion, putting great emphasis on prayer.
[Matthew 6:5-8 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. 7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.]
[use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do:] These are the ones who are kneeling on the floors, or holding a string of beads, or standing with their hands together bowing to the ground, repeating a mantra. This is not what gets God’s attention, if we want God to hear our prayer, it needs to be sincere, from the heart. Jesus gives us an example on how we are to pray to our Father.
[Matthew 6:9-15 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. 14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.]
[But if ye forgive not men their trespasses,] There is not one thing that we could do that God would not forgive us for apart from rejecting Him all together. The second we ask Jesus to save us our sins are forgiven, and even forgotten. Now, we are not required to forget the pain people have caused, but we are to forgive them, just as God does. And when you stop to think about it, there are things that we have done to people that we need to be forgiven by them. The power to forgive only comes through our relationship with Jesus Christ, [II Corinthians 2:10-11 To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; 11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.]
[Lest Satan should get an advantage of us:] It is the devil who takes advantage of us, he loves to place fear and doubt into our minds, especially when we are put in a position that we must go to God on a daily basis to ask Him for the things we have need of. When I made the decision to leave my job that I got paid pretty decent with for a lesser paying job that I enjoy greatly, Satan did not waste any time placing doubts in my head, especially when I got my first paycheck this week. As I sat here this morning thinking of ways that I can make up the difference, Jesus reminded me that I had it easy for a few years and somehow forgotten that my provisions do not come from a job or a person, they come from Him, I must ask each day for my daily bread. And then of course, we come to the great reminder that our Father takes care of us.
[Matthew 6:25-30,34 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.]
[Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.] Sufficient; Enough; equal to the end proposed. What is the evil of worrying about tomorrow? It puts us in so much distress that we forget that God has it all under control. I love how Jesus points out that there are some things we are not going to get, we certainly cannot add one more inch to our height, so we cannot expect that God will grant our every request with a yes. Some are just a plain, “No!”, and we just have to learn to accept that. However, if we want our Father to give us the things we have need of, we need to ask. Yes, He knows what we need, He just wants us to acknowledge Him.
[Matthew 7:7-11 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? 10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?]
[Ask, and it shall be given you;] We need some common sense when it comes to the things we want in life. First of all, we are the gender, height, and shape that God made us to be, and therefore, it is no sense in trying to alter our body to be what God never meant it to be. I am not thin, I spent years trying to change that. Then I realized something after a nice fitness instructor pointed it out to me, we all have different body structures, even if I was nothing, but skin and bones, my body would still never be thin. So, I stopped trying to turn my body into something that it would never be, and just take care of what God gave me. It is man who has decided what size is appropriate for all people, not God. As long as I eat right and take proper care of my health, then who cares what man thinks, [Titus 3:9-11 But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. 10 A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject; 11 Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.]
[being condemned of himself.] You have seen them, and you know them, the ones who flash their money all around the church, say elaborate prayers, and let it be known that they are fasting for days or weeks. These are not the ones who live the humble and meek Christian life, they are the ones who brag about all they are doing for God in public, and yet in secret are just the opposite. They have their reward right now, and if they continue in their works God will deal with them. This is why salvation is not based on our works, it never has been, our works are a reflection of Christ that lives in us, not a reflection of man. We need stop worrying about tomorrow because God is already there, we are to live for today, trusting that He will give us everything we need when the time is right, [James 4:2,5-7,10 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? 6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.]
Today’s Prayer: Jesus, I know that You reward those who diligently seek You. As I diligently seek You, by faith, I know that You will take care of my every need. You have gone before me and cleared the way so that I might follow in Your footsteps. I am comforted in knowing that I walk hand in hand with You as my Guide. May I endure every struggle with You by my side as I live the Christian life, trusting that tomorrow is already taken care of. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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