Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, ‘What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ Matthew 26:40-41 REFERENCE Matthew 26:36-41 Jesus teaches here the essence of spending quality time with God – it is easy to enter into temptation when you don’t spend time watching and praying. Even though your born-again spirit always desires to do the right thing, without spending time with God, it will be too timid to steer the flesh off the...
And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Mark 10: 47 REFERENCE Mark 10:46-52 In life, we often find ourselves in situations where all we crave for is something new and different from our present reality. This was the case with Blind Bartimaeus in today’s account. He had been a blind beggar for perhaps, his whole life. His life was predictable, totally dependent on people’s goodwill, and locked in the vice grip of monotony – same old story. Tired and frustrated with the...
But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 1:20 REFERENCE Matthew 1:18-25 Can you imagine how Joseph felt when his fiancée Mary told him she was pregnant? He knew he wasn’t responsible for her pregnancy, so he must have felt all sorts of emotions. Maybe he felt betrayed, angry, rejected, and relegated. Perhaps, he thought to disgrace her publicly as...
Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, 'All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.' Matthew 4:8-9 REFERENCE Matthew 4:1-11 We saw yesterday that Satan is a relentless tempter and eclectic in stratagem. He tried to tempt the Lord relentlessly and with various approaches. His first was to challenge (or call to question) His Sonship, and here, he tries to distract and misdirect His worship. The Lord knew better, “One must worship God...
Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. Matthew 4:3 REFERENCE Matthew 3:16 – 4:1-10 At Jesus’ baptism, God affirmed Him as His Son. However, Satan immediately came to tempt Him by attacking His identity in God. His identity was rooted in His Sonship with God. Satan hinted Jesus that whatever God told Him wasn’t true; he wanted Him to think that God couldn’t possibly love Him so much, and that He needed to ‘do’ something to ‘earn’ His sonship, hence the appeal to turn a...
“…He is an unwise son, for he should not stay long where children are born.” – Hosea 13:13 REFERENCE Hosea 13:12-13 This very graphic image painted by our text is quite a disheartening one. The tribe of Ephraim had sinned against God and because of that, God brought them into distress and trouble; sorrows like the pangs of a woman about to give birth. God intended that these pains will lead them to repentance and that a new Ephraim will be born – but Ephraim did not get it, they remained in their distress and trouble – they remained at the ‘door’...
“But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.” Hebrews 12:8 REFERENCE Hebrews 12:5-11 Do you remember your growing up years and how daddy was there to instill discipline? Yes, you were spanked sometimes, and at other times, you were told to serve a punishment. The experience was often unpleasant and you didn’t like it. In fact, some of us wondered if our parents (especially mums) gave birth to us, because if they did, they wouldn’t have inflicted so much pain on us, nor denied us certain fun times or...
On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. Mark 4:35, 37 REFERENCE Mark 4:35-5:11 Taking a dive ahead of our text into what transpired in chapter 5, it will not be out of place to surmise that the devil had a hand in stirring up the windstorm to prevent Jesus from getting to ‘the other side’ of His journey. Satan’s purpose must have been to either stop Jesus from proceeding on the voyage or...
As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not be afraid; only believe.” Mark 5:36 REFERENCE Mark 5:22-36 Have you ever been in a dire situation before? A place where you are hoping for a miracle or expecting that an otherwise degenerating situation will be salvaged? I know you must have been as I have too; perhaps you are even there now. Jairus’ daughter was seriously ill and laid at the point of death. Jairus was expecting a touch from the Master’s hand, a touch that will keep death’s...
Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” - John 4:10 REFERENCE John 4:6-15 Thirst according to Webster’s dictionary is a sensation of dryness in the mouth and in the throat associated with the desire for liquid. It also means a passionate desire and longing for something. In this account, Jesus pointed to the Samaritan woman that though thirsty, the satisfaction she got drinking from the physical well was only momentary...