Mark 5:1 - March 19, 2010

Mark 5:1 "They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. 2 When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. 3 This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. 4 For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones."

This introduction to the next stage of Jesus ministry is a thought provoking transition from the disciple’s encounter on the boat. Imagine their state of mind, having just been shaken by the storm and then terrified by the manifestation of Jesus’ power as He spoke to the storm with the same authority that He used to heal the sick and cast out demons. Their minds are reeling! Their emotions are agitated! They have so many unanswered questions swirling around in their heads and look who is there to welcome them to this new city. Have you ever heard the saying “out of the frying pan into the fire!?”

Immediately upon landing in this new territory Jesus and His disciples are encountered by a man so severely demonized that he is known by the entire community. This man is not only a trouble to himself but he is a man with a history. The whole town knows him. They have tried everything they knew to do. The story says that they had often tried to bind him with chains but that no chain could hold him for long. Consider that, repeated attempts at forceful restraint could not contain this damaged human being. He lived there on the edges of the community as a constant reminder to them of their powerlessness. They were continuously confronted with the fact that they could not help this broken life.

This is the setting that the disciples are immediately thrust into after the experience on the boat. Don’t you think that after such an intense time on the water they deserved a break? They have been traumatized by the storm and terrified by the Lord’s response and now this. No rest for the weary. No season of respite because of the hard time they have just been through. Have you ever felt like you were deserving of a season of rest only to find that your life circumstances kept applying more pressure not less!? McDonald’s restaurant used to emphasize this thinking “you deserve a break today, so get up and get away…” The point of this story is portion of this story is that life doesn’t always allow us a holiday on our time schedule!

Jesus knowingly took them into this intense season to develop their maturity of faith. Perhaps the two events are even connected somehow. Consider the possibility that Jesus knew the disciples were going to be greatly shaken by their encounter with a man with such demonic bondage that He allowed them to experience a revelation of the extent of Christ’s power on the boat before placing them in the situation with the demonized man so that they would not be overwhelmed by the experience. Perhaps He needed to prepare them by so fixing minds on His power that they would not be intimidated by the power of Satan in their hour of need. Perhaps the same is true in your situation. In that moment when the pressures of life seem relentless and you are struggling to make it through, perhaps in His mercy God is pressing you to a new level of faith. Notice that back in the boat Jesus never comforted the disciples in their fear. He confronted both their fear and their lack of faith. The very two components that would be most challenged by the next experience that they would have as they reached the other shore.

Do not be overwhelmed by the storm you are going through but realize the work of God that is seeking to train you! Do not complain in the seasons of unrelenting pressure that stretch you seemingly beyond your capacity to cope. Instead reach into the heart of God in faith and inquire of Him. “What are you preparing me for Lord? Help me to learn the lessons that I need for the next victory to come?” Every day is God’s classroom for the day after! Every event is God’s hand at work to equip you for an overcoming life of faith!

Mark 4:35-41 - March 18, 2010

Mark 4:35-41 “That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" 39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. 40 He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" 41 They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"

Have you ever felt like Jesus was asleep in the boat? Have you ever been traveling through a stormy portion of your life and found yourself asking the same question that the disciples asked of the Lord; “don’t you care?” This story has many lessons in it but one of the most poignant is this question that has touched the minds of most people who have ever followed Jesus. One of the consistent patterns that God demonstrates throughout the pages of scripture is His tendency to allow His children to walk through seasons and events when they cannot see the Lord’s hand in their crisis.

Joseph spent over 13 years languishing in slavery and imprisonment before the fulfillment of his calling. Abraham walks to the mount of sacrifice and it is only at the last moment as the knife is raised that the Lord intervenes after he has passed the test of faith. David serves King Saul faithfully and with great personal success only to find himself on the run, hiding from a jealous king for years of his life before he is vindicated and placed on Israel’s throne. And then there is Moses who dwells in the desert place for 40 years prior to the visitation of God that restores his sense of personal calling. He left Egypt in disgrace and found peace in the wilderness, but the calling of God found him there once again, forty years later.

For the disciples, this day on the boat was a small taste of the classroom of faith. The fact that their lesson was much shorter than David’s years in hiding or Moses years in the desert is compensated for by the intensity of the wilderness. Their very lives are in danger and the Lord is quickly able to get to the heart of the lesson through this pressure filled event as the disciples cry out “don’t you care?”

Jesus has been sleeping in the boat, but He is not ignorant of their need. He allows the disciples to reach the breaking point. He allows their faith to be stretched to the point where now they have lost their composure and in desperation they come almost with an accusing spirit saying “Don’t you care if we drown?” Jesus allows the circumstances to press them to the point where their fear overcomes their faith. He allows them to reach the place where their peace is gone and their need is exposed. They have reached the boiling point. Have you!

Once the disciples have begun to boil in their emotions and their inner void is exposed for what it is Jesus quickly rises to put an end to the exercise. He calmly rebukes the storm and the waves are stilled and then the training begins. As the waves die down the disciples have their attention drawn to a new crisis. Their faith had once been in the power of the storm but now there is a new power present and they are truly afraid. Jesus confronts the disciples with the power of God in a whole new way. Jesus responds to their fear of the storm by asking ironically “why are you so afraid…” as He references their fear of the storm. He asks this fully aware that their fear of the storm has been replaced by a terror of Him! What a powerful transference faith has taken place. The disciples have forgotten about the storm completely and now are intensely focused on the question “who is this person sitting in the boat with us!?” This is the point of God’s lesson. He is working to take your eyes off of the storm and seeking to bring you into a startling revelation of who He is! Get your eyes off of your circumstances and look to the Lord! He is at work to build true faith in the core of who you are!

Mark 4:33-34 - March 17, 2010

Mk. 4:33-34 “With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. 34 He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.”

“As much as they could understand”--- How much does God speak to you? This passage is filled with insights into the ways of God. Many people are perplexed, and crying out because they feel that God is not speaking to them. Perhaps the issue is one of comprehension not communication. There is a pattern throughout the word of God and the Gospels in particular that demonstrates the fact that God is and has consistently been speaking but in many cases the problem is that the people do not understand what has been said to them.

Have you ever sat through a class on a subject that you did not really have a foundational understanding in? The lecturer continues on and from almost the moment he begins to speak you feel lost because you do not possess the essentials of understanding that field of study to enable you to comprehend what you have heard. It is not that there is no teacher. The problem is with the foundation of your understanding! In this situation there are typically three possible responses. We can sit in the class politely and do nothing as the information passes over us while we remain there with a blank look on our face. We can move to a new class and give up on that field of study. Or we can take every piece of information that we do not grasp into our private space and begin to study it until we understand what we are hearing. The more we continue to enlarge our understanding in general the more each new piece of information that we receive fits into a context that enables us to grasp it more quickly.

This is how it is with God. He is not far from us. He is not withholding communication. In fact He delights in sharing His heart with His children. John 5:20 demonstrates the Father’s pleasure in communicating. “For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does.” The very reflection of His love is the fact that He shares His heart with His Son. But you may be saying that this relationship is reserved for Jesus. Think again! 1 John 3:1 declares joyfully “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” The Father’s heart is not reserved for Jesus. You and I are the delight of God as well! If the revelation of the Father to the Son is the reflection of His love then we too should anticipate the voice of the Father speaking to us as much as we can bear.

Jesus told His disciples in John 16:12-15 "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.” What a powerful sentence this is for those who believe. God has much more to say to you!!!!! How much can you bear? There is no shortage of God’s willingness and ability to speak to us. He is compelled by a Father’s love to teach us all that He can!

When it comes to hearing the voice of God for the believer the issue seems to be not the willingness of God but the readiness of man. Perhaps the measure of our preparation is the limit of our receptivity! Jesus had to restrain Himself because the people could not bear what He had to say. Their minds were not mature enough to embrace the measure of what He desired to share with them. Consider their reaction when He said that they must eat His flesh and drink His blood. Their preconceptions of what that meant limited their ability to receive that truth from Jesus and it says in John 6:66 that “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” This same principle is reflected in Jesus parable of the sower as the Jesus illustrates the fact that not all hearts are properly prepared to receive what the Lord has to say in a life given way.

So then, hearing is a heart issue! God desires relationship with you but His standards are high. He wants whole hearted lovers, not casual friends. Jeremiah confronts the heart of God’s people in Jer 29:11-13 by revealing both God’s desire and man’s error. He prophecies “I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Turn to the Lord with whole hearted seeking. Cry out for understanding, and you will see that God has already been speaking as He opens your ears and tunes them in to the voice of the Holy Spirit and enables you to enjoy Him in relationship like never before!

Mark 4:30-32 - March 16, 2010

Again he said, "What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. 32 Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade."

The simple lesson portrayed in this parable is that with God a little goes a long way! Jesus is trying to open the eyes of the people to understand the nature of the kingdom of God and how God actually works. The world is filled with misperceptions about the ways of God. Most people are inclined to relate to God primarily from the perspective of human reason. Our need to understand HOW God will do something tends to override our capacity to believe that He will! Many people can only believe the possibility of something if they can grasp how it will come to pass. This need is a tremendous handicap to faith!

The very nature of God’s work in the earth is that it takes place on a level beyond human comprehension. Isaiah captures this reality in his prophetic statement found in Isa 55:8-9 where he says "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. 9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” The work of God is not confined to what we can comprehend, but it is hindered by our lack of ability to believe! Prov 3:5 lays a foundation of trust under our capacity to believe by saying “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding…” Can you suspend your need to understand and lean wholly on a trusting relationship with God!? This concept provokes us to ask the underlying question that supports the entire work of faith, “in the depths of our hearts, do we believe that God can be trusted?” Settle this issue and your life of faith will explode with new victories!

In Mark 4:30-32 Jesus is working to enlarge the people’s ability to trust God by opening their eyes to the ways of God. The knowledge of God’s ways is central to participating with Him in fulfilling His purpose. Moses grasped this principle thousands of years ago. He was so aware of the necessity of knowing God’s ways that he prayed to the Lord in Ex 33:13 saying “If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you.” He was aware that the knowledge of God’s ways would lead to favor with God. The Psalmist in Ps 128:1-2 was also distinctly aware of the benefit of knowing God’s ways. He states confidently “Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in his ways. 2 You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.” Surely Jesus was aware of these and other promises that come to those who know and walk in God’s ways. This parable was a purposeful effort to enable more of God’s people to enjoy this blessing.

The parable that Jesus uses to instruct the people in Mark 4:30-32 is a reflection of our common tendency to judge things negatively when they are small. The prophet Zechariah talks about this principle in Zech 4:10 where he says "Who despises the day of small things?” Man’s impatience for the process of development often robs him of the ability to see what God is doing. It is this deficiency that Jesus is addressing. In His parable He identifies the reality that the kingdom of God starts as the smallest of seeds but grows to become the largest of plants in the garden. We cannot judge the day of small things. We must have eyes to see the process that is at work in the invisible realms of God and pray! Join with God in prayer during the seasons of the small and labor for the work of enlargement that reflects this kingdom principle. Job receives a prophetic promise of this nature in Job 8:7 where the Lord assures Him “Your beginnings will seem humble, so prosperous will your future be.” Humble beginnings are often now indication of the great future that is just around the corner. This parable of Jesus is intended to open our eyes to see the process of God by faith. God is working no matter what your “now” may seem like!

Mark 4:26 - 29 - March 15, 2010

Mark 4:26 He also said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain-first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come."

Have you ever had a season where you cannot see God? Have you ever walked through a time in your life where you cannot see what He is doing and you are tempted by the discouraging question “where are you God?” Then this parable is for you. These four verses are for those who are walking through the valley of confusion. These four verses are for those who are enduring a season where there seems to be no light for your feet and your mind is filled with the nagging question: “what are you doing in my life, Lord?”

Jesus is teaching his disciples about the kingdom of God and work of the Holy Spirit in the invisible realm of time and space. There are two primary dynamics revealed in this passage that unveil the mystery of how God works in the earth and in our lives. The first principle is in regard to sowing. Jesus portrays God as a farmer who sows his seed into the soil of the earth. God sends forth the seed of his word into the earth of human hearts, and just as the natural seed falls on ground that is in varying degrees of readiness to receive it, so the seed of God’s word finds some hearts ready to receive fully and others that have not been properly prepared for the word of God to bring forth life.

In Isa 55:10-11Isaiah speaks of the word coming forth with purpose from God’s mouth and producing the life it was intended to produce. He says in a prophetic utterance “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” NIV In this image the word is now coming forth as water from heaven but the principle is the same as in the parable as Jesus. The word goes forth and is at work until God’s purpose is accomplished through it. He never speaks randomly or carelessly. He never speaks apart from fulfilling purpose! Therefore, if He has spoken, He is at work. If He has spoken there is kingdom purpose advancing whether we see it or not!

It is vital that we remember that God calls forth to all those who will listen. He searches for that heart that is responsive to His word and where He finds it the kingdom of God begins to grow! Where He finds it life begins to spring forth. Where He finds it change begins to be ushered in as God’s life begins to take root. The second principle revealed in this parable of Jesus is a revelation of the nature of this growth! The words of Jesus provide comfort for us during those times when we cannot see!

In Mark 4:27 Jesus says of the seed “Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.” Night and day the life that God has sown through the power of His Word is at work, growing in the soil of human hearts. Have you ever had a dream that seemed to be significant to your life? Recognize the kingdom of God. Have you ever had an encounter with someone or some situation that seemed divinely orchestrated though you took no action to initiate it? Behold the kingdom of God advancing. Have you ever found your heart changing towards a situation? Perhaps you felt strongly against something and then seemingly overnight your view of that issue has changed for the better and you are not sure how or why. God is at work! Night and day the seed of God’s work is growing though we do not know how!

It is time to enter into rest! It is time to open your heart in full confidence before God and declare to Him, “Let your word have its way in me! Let your kingdom come and your will be done in me!” Offer God your heart as fertile ground and rest in the knowledge that He is working whether you can see it or not. I remember having a dream where I was golfing and was certain that I must have hit the ball poorly because I lost sight of it. I was searching around for my ball, looking off in the rough and the out of bounds areas, certain that my last shot had been in error. While searching I happened to glance over by the hole and right next to the flag there was my ball sitting perfectly on the green! In this simple little dream God was affirming to me the reality that I was a lot closer than I felt. He was saying it was you who lost sight of the ball, but the ball was perfectly on track and you are reaching the goal that you have been aiming for even though you do not know how and cannot see how you got there! Rest in God today and know that He is watching over you to perform His work and His word will not return to Him without accomplishing its desired purpose!

Mark 4:23-25 - March 14, 2010

Mk. 4:23-25 “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear." 24 "Consider carefully what you hear," he continued. "With the measure you use, it will be measured to you-and even more. 25 Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him."

Jesus has been challenging the people to live a fruitful life and to be a light that exposes the deeds of darkness for what they are, a deceptive lie that robs us of the life God intended. He is in the midst of teaching his disciples of the struggles that they will face to succeed in living a fruitful life; making it clear to them that they will not enter this place of fruitfulness unopposed and without struggle. In this context of calling us to be that light and to overcome the barriers to fruitfulness He pauses to insert a warning that challenges them on a deeper level still. “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” This phrase immediately challenges them to apply what they have just heard personally, as if to say, “will you let Satan steal even this seed that I am sowing into you right now?” What a call to be alert.

Jesus is very direct in teaching the people how to hear, not just imparting a string of parables. In Mk. 4:23-25 Jesus challenges the people to be focused listeners. “Will you hear what I am saying to you even now?” Can you imagine the thought of standing directly in front of Jesus, listening to His very words in person and yet missing the point of those words entirely? It happened all the time! This is a frightening thought and evidence of Satan’s capacity to steal the word from the careless listener. The point of these three simple verses is; “how will you hear the voice of the Lord?” “Will you listen with your heart open or will you just listen from your intellect?” If we hear with the intellect alone we will be robbed. The hearing that lasts is the hearing of the heart, the hearing of faith!

In verses 24-25 Jesus unveils the spiritual principle that is at work when we listen. We are cautioned to “consider carefully” what we hear. How often do we truly do that? How many times have we heard the word of God without deep reflective consideration of what it is calling us to do and how it is calling us to live? This is the great danger of careless listening. James builds on this principle in great detail in James 1:22-25 when he says “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it-he will be blessed in what he does.” We are called to hear and to do the word of the Lord!

Jesus does not stop with the simple warning to be careful listeners. He continues on to identify the impact of how we listen and it is this impact that is central to the message of these verses. In the second half of verse 24 and verse 25 Jesus continues “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you-and even more. 25 Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.” In these verses we are called to hear with faith. We have been promised abundance. We have been promised increase but these things come to those who have a heart of faith. In these verses Jesus says that for those who listen with faith more will be given. But for those who listen with no confidence in God that which they have will be taken away. Jesus calls us to listen with a heart of expectation, a heart that carefully considers both the standards of God that He calls us to live by and the promises that He makes to us. With this calling comes the assurance that if we embrace these things from a heart of faith we will receive a steady flow of grace and increase in our lives as we show forth God into the darkness of the world around us.