Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Today's DB w/ Lena's Journalin' ~ Mark 10

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.


Mark 10:1-52
Discussion about Divorce and Marriage
1Then Jesus left Capernaum and went southward to the region of Judea and into the area east of the Jordan River. As always there were the crowds, and as usual he taught them.
2Some Pharisees came and tried to trap him with this question: "Should a man be allowed to divorce his wife?"
3"What did Moses say about divorce?" Jesus asked them.
4"Well, he permitted it," they replied. "He said a man merely has to write his wife an official letter of divorce and send her away." F47
5But Jesus responded, "He wrote those instructions only as a concession to your hard-hearted wickedness. 6But God's plan was seen from the beginning of creation, for 'He made them male and female.' F48 7'This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, F49 8and the two are united into one.' F50 Since they are no longer two but one, 9let no one separate them, for God has joined them together."
10Later, when he was alone with his disciples in the house, they brought up the subject again. 11He told them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery against her. 12And if a woman divorces her husband and remarries, she commits adultery."
Jesus Blesses the Children
13One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch them and bless them, but the disciples told them not to bother him. 14But when Jesus saw what was happening, he was very displeased with his disciples. He said to them, "Let the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15I assure you, anyone who doesn't have their kind of faith will never get into the Kingdom of God." 16Then he took the children into his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them.
The Rich Man
17As he was starting out on a trip, a man came running up to Jesus, knelt down, and asked, "Good Teacher, what should I do to get eternal life?"
18"Why do you call me good?" Jesus asked. "Only God is truly good. 19But as for your question, you know the commandments: 'Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not testify falsely. Do not cheat. Honor your father and mother.' F51 "
20"Teacher," the man replied, "I've obeyed all these commandments since I was a child."
21Jesus felt genuine love for this man as he looked at him. "You lack only one thing," he told him. "Go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." 22At this, the man's face fell, and he went sadly away because he had many possessions.
23Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for rich people to get into the Kingdom of God!" 24This amazed them. But Jesus said again, "Dear children, it is very hard F52 to get into the Kingdom of God. 25It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!"
26The disciples were astounded. "Then who in the world can be saved?" they asked.
27Jesus looked at them intently and said, "Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God."
28Then Peter began to mention all that he and the other disciples had left behind. "We've given up everything to follow you," he said.
29And Jesus replied, "I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, 30will receive now in return, a hundred times over, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property—with persecutions. And in the world to come they will have eternal life. 31But many who seem to be important now will be the least important then, and those who are considered least here will be the greatest then. F53 "
Jesus Again Predicts His Death
32They were now on the way to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. The disciples were filled with dread and the people following behind were overwhelmed with fear. Taking the twelve disciples aside, Jesus once more began to describe everything that was about to happen to him in Jerusalem. 33"When we get to Jerusalem," he told them, "the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die and hand him over to the Romans. 34They will mock him, spit on him, beat him with their whips, and kill him, but after three days he will rise again."
Jesus Teaches about Serving Others
35Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came over and spoke to him. "Teacher," they said, "we want you to do us a favor."
36"What is it?" he asked.
37"In your glorious Kingdom, we want to sit in places of honor next to you," they said, "one at your right and the other at your left."
38But Jesus answered, "You don't know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of sorrow I am about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?"
39"Oh yes," they said, "we are able!" And Jesus said, "You will indeed drink from my cup and be baptized with my baptism, 40but I have no right to say who will sit on the thrones next to mine. God has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen."
41When the ten other disciples discovered what James and John had asked, they were indignant. 42So Jesus called them together and said, "You know that in this world kings are tyrants, and officials lord it over the people beneath them. 43But among you it should be quite different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, 44and whoever wants to be first must be the slave of all. 45For even I, the Son of Man, came here not to be served but to serve others, and to give my life as a ransom for many."
Jesus Heals Blind Bartimaeus
46And so they reached Jericho. Later, as Jesus and his disciples left town, a great crowd was following. A blind beggar named Bartimaeus (son of Timaeus) was sitting beside the road as Jesus was going by. 47When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus from Nazareth was nearby, he began to shout out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
48"Be quiet!" some of the people yelled at him. But he only shouted louder, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"
49When Jesus heard him, he stopped and said, "Tell him to come here." So they called the blind man. "Cheer up," they said. "Come on, he's calling you!" 50Bartimaeus threw aside his coat, jumped up, and came to Jesus.
51"What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked. "Teacher," the blind man said, "I want to see!"
52And Jesus said to him, "Go your way. Your faith has healed you." And instantly the blind man could see! Then he followed Jesus down the road. F54
FOOTNOTES:F47: Deut 24:1. F48: Gen 1:27; 5:2. F49: Some manuscripts do not include and is joined to his wife. F50: Gen 2:24. F51: Exod 20:12-16; Deut 5:16-20. F52: Some manuscripts add for those who trust in riches. F53: Greek But many who are first will be last; and the last, first. F54: Or on the way.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

~ Lena’s Journalin’ ~
I want to write today about a more mature way to think, look and behave.
We all come to the Lord as little children, young babes in the kingdom of God. We receive Jesus as our Savior and Lord, and then we grow up in Christ Jesus, and become as He is. If we are not growing and becoming as He is, we are handicapped and have not tapped into the potential God has laid out for us in His spiritual kingdom on earth.
The Lord wants a healthy body, the health of the body of Christ, (Christians, the church as a whole) is somewhat due to exercise. If one is inactive they can actually die. Activity is vital to the function of any body, whether our physical man or our soul man or our spirit man.
Jesus was speaking to the religious people in His day, who were asking about divorce. They compared their day with the day Moses lived in. Moses had lived about 3,000 years prior to them, had they progressed any in their growth in relationship and fellowship with their Father God? Should they have in some 3,000 years? Children are always out to please their fathers. Does religion please the Father or does it make itself look good? Does it exalt God or does it promote self?
Anyway, they said, Moses allowed us do such and such and so and so. They looked to a natural man, who was absolutely used by God, as their father. When they asked Jesus this question, what were they after? God’s heart? If after God’s heart, would the question arise as it did? Was it people centered, or plan of God centered?
What was the motive of the question, to prove me right, or to stay in deep unhindered fellowship with God as Father?
Jesus was all about the Father’s love, pleasing the Father. That which pleased His Father was found in His Father’s word, the Father’s word was written from the beginning and does not change. God does not compromise, we do. We allow compromise, so God “allows” compromise, because He loves us enough to go ahead and show us love no matter what we do or decide, but where He is concerned, His word has not changed!
The word of God says, what we forbid, speaking to us about our own personal lives, is forbidden by the support of heaven’s armies; and what we allow, will also be allowed in the spiritual realm (supported by the angelic realm, either God or ungodly angels).
Why is that? Why won’t God just step in, in spite of me and intervene on my will? Aha, that is key and the place for mature thinking, He won’t infringe on my will. He desires that my will becomes his will and that is the pathway of growth, to get to know His will through His word and adapt my life to it! He wants me to desire to do His will, not be forced to do His will. He gave me a free will so that when I love Him it is an expression of me loving because I choose to.
He gave me freewill power in the earth and does not override that power. The power is mine to do His will or not, the power is mine to allow or not allow. This allowing or not allowing has to do with me, allowing for myself or not. If I try to govern others before I govern myself, I’m way out of order. Self government begins to develop my authority in the earth first. These religious were governors of others and ignoring self government. That is where hypocrisy comes into play and one might want to hold off calling another a hypocrite before self examination. Do we ourselves do all we say?
So Jesus said to them, Moses allowed it……..But with God’s ideal plan and unchanging word, it is Not so. Why did Moses allow it? Because the people did, he had to live with and lead the people and love them through their disobediences! WOW, huh?
So, a godly friend of yours does not kill you with words, even when you choose an evil way, and they don’t seem to object a whole lot, they tell you the truth, but they don’t insist on it and aren’t angry with you and they seem to still love you. THAT DOES NOT mean they embrace your ungodly and unrighteous behavior. It does Not mean God’s word has changed at all. It means they are loving you through towards change. They are showing you acceptance no matter what, so that there is opportunity for change. They speak the truth to you, to bring light in your darkness, they pray and ask God to lead you out. They know the power of prayer and exercise it, and they do not have to physically or mentally insist on its execution on you.
The judgments they make over you are personal to them only, they learn from your wrong choices, personally. They won’t allow that same thing to happen in their own life, but they know they can’t force change on you. Don’t be confused into thinking your behavior is accepted. No, you are accepted, your ungodly behavior isn’t!
What have we given up for Jesus, in exchange for eternal life? Did we give up eternal death and separation from God forever? Yes. Did we give up depression, misery, aloneness, sin that harms us, or habits that will take us out of the earth before our time, before we are able to give back to the earth what is due it by being eternally responsible here?
What did we have to give up? Nothing, nothing at all. God did not make us give anything up, He laid down His life and gave us the opportunity to decide, to embrace the cross and its power to change lives. What will a man give in exchange for his own soul? Money, time, things? Or an old life for a new life? Wow, what a deal huh, giving God my old torn up life, to embrace a life that goes on forever. To lay down a few bad habits and things that would be killing me, for a life full of divine power!
He was betrayed, yet still went to the cross, spit on and kept going, sentenced, yet He stayed the purpose. They killed His body, but could not have His spirit.
What keeps you from going to the cross and laying your old life there everyday, coming alive to God again as Jesus did for us? What keeps you from being as He is, embracing His death and life eternal? Do people pull your hair out? Spit on you, or mock you? Or are you just waiting for a better time? Or for your term on sin’s service to expire? What prevents you from coming?
Wake up, it is past time, Now is the time, today is your day for salvation!
(If any of you want to ask me about salvation, e-mail me at
werhisimage@aol.com - put “salvation” in the subject line). Don’t hesitate before it is too late.
He gave His one life a ransom for many, just think what hundreds and thousands of lives turned back to God can effect. I’m talking about your life given, my life given to Him. God’s waiting for satisfaction from us, His children today! Grown children give back to their parents, they give into society, they take responsibility for use of the earth, by the giving of their life. That’s matured love.


Daily Repetitive Verses:
John 3:17
You know these things – now do them! That is the path of blessing.