Category: May 2016

Luke 10:42

“…Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

If Jesus came to your home, what would you do? Would you ask Him to sit down and then start serving Him? Or would you sit down and start drawing from Him? Would you let Him serve you and fill you up? Jesus walked into the home of two sisters, Martha and Mary. (Luke 10:38) Martha saw His weariness. She knew that Jesus had been walking for miles, going about doing good, healing the sick and meeting the people’s needs. Obviously, He must be tired, she thought, so she saw Him as someone she had to care for. Mary, however, saw beyond Jesus’ external weariness into His divinity. She saw that He was someone she needed to draw from. And by doing that, she made Him feel like God – the Savior who had come to serve her and not to be served by her. (Matthew 20:28) Jesus even commended her for choosing the better portion! Our human minds just find that hard to believe. When it comes to man, that is true. But when it comes to God, He wants to give. In fact, unless you learn how to receive from God, you will have nothing to give to man.

Which sister gave Jesus the sweeter feast and filled Him up? Martha who was busy preparing food for Him, or Mary who sat still and drew deeply from Him? It was Mary. She made Jesus feel a sense of His divine glory. She allowed Jesus to be the giver, to be God. Like Martha, we always reverse the roles. We somehow think that God needs our service, but He actually wants to fill us first. Mary’s ears and heart were more precious to Jesus than Martha’s hands and feet. We use our ears and hearts to draw from Jesus. We use our hands and feet to serve Him, and there is a place for that. But our sense and appreciation of God’s divine fullness is more precious to Him than all the service we can render Him. And when you draw from Him, you cannot help but become a great giver and server.

Romans 8:32

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

When we go through a trial, we tend to ask ourselves, “Does God really love me? How come I don’t seem to see it?” When that happens, it is time to bring in the cross, for God’s love for you is displayed forever at the cross. God gave up His Son to suffer and die on the cross for you. Jesus was pierced in seven places for you – in His head by the crown of thorns, His two hands and feet by the nails, and His side and heart by the spear of a Roman soldier.

Jesus wore the crown of thorns on His head so that you can have a sound mind free from fears, guilt, depression, anxieties and stress.

When Jesus first showed His nail-pierced hands to His disciples, He said to them, “Peace be with you.” (John 20:19-20) He wanted them to know that peace is found in His finished work, typified by His pierced hands. The more you see His finished work which has bought complete forgiveness of all your sins, the more your conscience will be at peace and rest.

Jesus’ feet brought Him to places where there was lack, diseases, rejection, condemnation and even death. And those feet were nail-pierced so that you do not need to be in such places yourself. He has rescued you from having to accept and suffer these things in life.

Blood and water flowed out of Jesus’ side when it was pierced. (John 19:34) Medical science will tell you that that means His heart had ruptured. Jesus died literally of a broken heart so that your heart can be filled with joy. And just as Eve came forth from Adam’s side when he was sleeping, the bride of Christ, the church, came forth from Jesus’ pierced side and death. If He died to have you as His spotless bride, He lives today to care for you.

The only man-made things in heaven today are those scars on His body. They will remain forever as tokens of His everlasting love and passion for you. So if God did not spare His Son, but delivered Him up for you, how will He not with Him also freely give you all things!

Hebrews 6:20

…Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

Jesus is our High Priest forever. This “forever” aspect changes the way we are blessed and how we receive our blessings from God. As our High Priest, Jesus represents us before God. Since His priesthood is after the order of Melchizedek, which is one of righteousness, His righteousness becomes our righteousness forever. This means that we are forever righteous in God’s eyes! And because He will never die, but continue as our High Priest forever, we have an everlasting righteousness, not merely a here-today-gone-tomorrow righteousness based on our works. No, we have a perpetual and everlasting righteousness because Jesus is our High Priest forever.

This also means that blessings are perpetually on your head because the Bible says that blessings are on the head of the righteous (Proverbs 10:6), and you are righteous forever! Unlike the priesthood according to the Levitical order, which blesses as well as curses, the priesthood of Jesus according to the Melchizedek order only blesses. There is no cursing, only blessing – always and forever! And because Jesus is our High Priest forever, the blessings do not come to us in intermittent drips, but stream into our lives in a never-ending flow. Because He is our High Priest forever, we can never stop His blessings.

Being our High Priest forever, Jesus also touches the blessings that He gives us with a forever effect. He touches our lives and we have eternal life. He touches our ministry and its impact becomes eternal. And the more we see His priesthood as having a forever effect, the more permanent our blessings will be. There is nothing temporal about what Jesus our High Priest does. It is not a case of blessed today, cursed tomorrow. The blessings we receive are sure and steadfast because Jesus is our High Priest today, tomorrow and forever.

So rejoice because Jesus your High Priest changes how you are blessed forever!

John 10:7

Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep”.

Jesus said that He is the “door of the sheep”. What did He mean? Well, a sheepfold during Jesus’ time had no door which could be opened or closed. The door of the sheepfold was just an opening. In this kind of sheepfold, after the sheep had entered it, the shepherd would sleep across the entrance. The shepherd became, effectively, the “door” of the sheepfold.

When Jesus told His disciples, “I am the good shepherd,” (John 10:11) He also assured them emphatically that He was the “door of the sheep”. He was telling them and us, “Inside My sheepfold, My sheep are always safe, completely protected and kept close under My watchful eyes. And since I am just at the entrance of the sheepfold, nothing, not even the muffled bleat of one of My own, can escape My ears. Also, nothing evil outside the sheepfold can enter and touch My sheep without first coming through Me for I am the door of My sheep.”

So when the fight of life comes knocking on your door and when panic threatens to rise within you, see yourself doubly protected! He is both the good shepherd and the door of His sheep. As your good shepherd, He gave His life for you to redeem you from poverty, sickness and every other curse. As your door, He keeps out everything evil that He has redeemed you from. Because He shed His blood for you, you are covered and protected within the sheepfold by a blood-stained door. Disaster, destruction and death must pass over you and your family because of His blood on your door. Remember that on the night of the first Passover in Egypt, the destroyer could not enter the houses of the Israelites because of the blood of the lamb on their doors. (Exodus 12:13, 23)

Today, you can live life untroubled and unafraid, knowing that Jesus, your good shepherd and door, protects and preserves you and your family. No evil will befall you or your loved ones because He is your dwelling place and refuge!