Category: Devotions

So who do you want to be?
Mark 9
Someone who doesn’t see anyone except Jesus? (v8)
Someone who knows the value of prayer and fasting? (v29)
Someone who is last? (v35)
Someone who keeps their reward? (v41)
Someone who is salty? (v50)
How will today show your decision?

No one has it all sorted.

Mark 8

Not one has the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
In fact when we think we do it’s only as we get a little bit older that we realise we don’t actually believe that FACT anymore, well maybe, but not exactly.
We can become even more unsure when we look at the happenings of our life. Why did that happen to me? We haven’t got a clue. We peer through a glass darkly.
We do well to accept that. We need to give ourselves a break from trying to be the fountain of all truth and knowledge and we need to give others a break who are fed up of hearing such comments perhaps.
Not sure, I am thinking about that, one day I will know… Its got a nice sound to it, hasn’t it?

The disciples had misunderstood about bread and yeast. Jesus asked them why they still had not understood. They could see what Jesus had done with the feeding of the multitude and they could hear what he had said about the Pharisees but at the same time they could not see and they could not hear. They were like the blind man caught between seeing but not seeing.
And that’s why this miracle is placed into this context. The point being we are all like the disciples at times and we are all like the blind man. We have part-vision. We do not see everything. We do not possess the perfect understanding. We at times see trees that walk.
However, by staying connected to Jesus we have a far better chance of getting perfect sight!
That’s the point of the journey.
So, if today it’s all a bit cloudy then that’s okay. Hang in there for with Jesus it will become clear in the end.

Mark 7

v1 they gathered around Jesus.
Today around the world there are many gathering around the body of Christ looking for salvation, for a healing, for love.
But there are equally many gathering around the body of Christ for other reasons.
This week I talked with a European Missions team leader who had just returned from Georgia. Her team of young people had been chased out of one of the towns as they were helping the local Christians with their faith. Who did the chasing? The main town church leaders! Their crime? They were giving out Bibles!
The situation in Iraq and Syria is beyond desperate for many Christians. Churches have been destroyed. The religious have gathered around the body of Christ to destroy it and it looks destroyed.
You may know the experience of being gathered around. Those of other faiths and no faith may press in against you with their many objections and opinions.

When they gathered around Jesus He referred to the Scriptures in Isaiah.
He showed that he had studied their practices, their beliefs, he had placed himself into a place of knowledge to speak with authority.
He then walked away from them.
The hypocrites will always be with us.

Mark 6.

Never underestimate the power of crumbs, v41

Are you broken?

The day we met Jesus!
Mark 5

V4. He had been caught before, but he got away. He promised he’d change. He’d made New Year resolutions, but broke them all after January 2nd.
He’d gone to the place of God and said never again, but nothing changed.
Some days he looked so strong, but then on other days he was anything but strong, he was crying. This man didn’t want to be the man he had become.
This man was doing more damage than any person had ever been able to, he was cutting himself.

But then he met Jesus!

Some things should never happen. Children should not die before their parents. But she did.
Her father was a very important man. He had risen to be a synagogue ruler. But the strength of man is sometimes not strong enough.
People quickly mourn. They like to bury the dead quickly and get on with their own life.
This little girl wasn’t ready to die, she wanted to get up but no one had commanded her to do so.

But then she met Jesus!

It had been a long time and she was exhausted. The journey seemed even longer than the 12 long years. She had lost friends, money, her reputation, everything in that time.
She lived in an invisible world. Cut off from all that was normal, all that ordinary people did, she could not do. She was a misfit, unclean, a social outcast.
Her condition became her identity.
Once again she found herself in a crowd; a crowd of people but lonely; a crowd of excitement but saddened.

But then she met Jesus!

Let’s leave Jesus as he is.

Mark 4: 35-41

They took him just as he was (teaching in the boat) and they sailed across the lake. But they didn’t leave him just as he was (they woke him up almost furiously).
Why?
The change of their circumstances and
Fear.
These 2 elements tempt us to move Jesus from where He is to where we want Him to be. Or where we think we need Him to be.

Faith says whatever you are doing Jesus, wherever you are, I know I am safe just because you are on this boat with me. I will do what I think I need you to do. I will be what I think I need you to be. I can do this because you are here.

7 helpful principles for busy lives.
Mark 3:7-12

1. Jesus knew the importance of getting away, of having a break from work, of moving oneself from the work environment. v7
2. He also knew how difficult that can be! How sometimes work follows you! v7
There is much said about workaholics however it is more helpful to see how work is addicted to you and for the health and best growth of that work it needs time alone from you.
3. Jesus knew how the more you do the more you will be expected to do v8. This is just a fact not a reason to do less.
4. Jesus knew how to adjust to the pressure of people, v9. He knew the importance of distance. The more the amount of work, the more the need for space, for stepping back and working at it from a different angle.
5. He also knew how there is always one more thing to do, one more need, the “it’s only me voice”. v10
6. Jesus knew that a lot of work can be done because of the position and authority in God and not from the sweat of the brow, v11.
7. He also knew that success can fast-track you beyond the timing of God if not managed, v12.

Busy is good it just needs self-leadership.

Mark 2:1-5
When Jesus arrived in this town, the city was turned upside down.
Wherever God is present change can happen.

The problem:
Paralysis says ‘you are stuck’.
I want to make things better, but I can’t.
I want to be a better person but I can’t.
I want to forget that ‘thing’ that happened in my past but I can’t.

The solution:
It took 4 men to carry this paralytic.
Carrying the paralytic wasn’t easy.
Are you a friend of a person who may be an outcast?
Will you do all that you can to carry them to Him?
These were not ordinary believers. They were friends who believed in an extraordinary Jesus. They were not leaving until their friend was healed.

The result:
Many people are identified by their behaviour…paralytic.
Jesus calls him ‘son’. He gave him a name and that then gave him a relationship.
Jesus is still restoring identities all over the world.

Mark 1

The old Prophets had spoken of a new, coming Kingdom of God.
Isaiah spoke of a righteous kingdom.
Malachi of a kingdom of peace and healing.
400 years of no message, no revelation. Then …
John the Baptist appeared. According to what we have read in Matthews gospel he had a main message:
“In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.” Matt 3:1
Near meaning at hand.

What is a kingdom? = it is an area of activity.
It is a place of our influence, a place where we are free to make our choices.

Jesus picked this theme up:
“The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” Mark 1:15
It is not near as in time, but ‘is at hand’. Its nearby to be able to reach for it.
The invitation is now: for the kingdom of God to overshadow (in partnership and through Jesus) your kingdom.

Invite Him to do just that today.

Some words that are missed in the Great Commission (Matthew 28: 18-20)
Find them and think on these today.

1. All …
We are in days when wicked men flex their muscle but Jesus has ALL authority.

2. Therefore …
What do you think ‘it’ (what you have heard from Jesus and seen from men) is there-for? Do something. THEREFORE what will you do?

3. In …
Convert or die is the wicked slogan down the ages till now. However no matter what man does to Gods people they have had an identity change that is unchangeable for they have been baptised IN the identity of God.

4. Everything …
Yesterday people gave their EVERYTHING. They will do the same tomorrow. Today let us join the family of God who know this word all too well.

5. Always ….
Wherever you are. Trapped on a mountain, heading for your own cross, under siege or stepping into the unknown to reach others for Christ … The promise of all promises. I am with you ALWAYS.

Are you holding on to these words?