Mark 8: 1-10 New Living Translation 8 About this time another large crowd had gathered, and the people ran out of food again. Jesus called his disciples and told them, 2 “I feel sorry for these people. They have been here with me for three days, and they have nothing left to eat. 3 If I send them home hungry, they will faint along the way. For some of them have come a long distance.” 4 His disciples replied, “How are we supposed to find enough food to feed them out here in the wilderness?” 5 Jesus asked, “How much bread do you have?” “Seven loaves,” they replied. 6 So Jesus told all the people to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves, thanked God for them, and broke them into pieces. He gave them to his disciples, who distributed the bread to the crowd. 7 A few small fish were found, too, so Jesus also blessed these and told the disciples to distribute them. 8 They ate as much as they wanted. Afterward, the disciples picked up seven large baskets of leftover food. 9 There were about 4,000 men in the crowd that day, and Jesus sent them home after they had eaten.10 Immediately after this, he got into a boat with his disciples and crossed over to the region of Dalmanutha. Some people carry certain numbers close to their hearts. They do this for for different reasons, it may be the date of their birthday, anniversary or even a number they feel has brought them luck throughout their life. My go-to number since I became a believer is 3 because God will forever exist as one God in 3 persons.
There are numbers that seem important in the Bible and carry with them great meaning. The number 7 is one of these numbers. From the beginning to the end of the Bible 7 has appeared and reappeared for different reasons but always pointing to something being whole, complete or perfect. God created all things then rested on the 7th day indicating that it was whole, complete and perfect. More than 50 times in the book of Revelation the number 7 appears in everything from candlesticks to bowls of judgement. God has always had a plan to bring people into his family from every tongue, tribe and nation. Although Israel is called the people of God, Jesus said, "I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd." John 10:16 Jesus was talking about bring the Gentiles [Non-Jews/All other nations] in to flock. We see this truth and this number shown to us in today's Bible reading. While the feed of the 5,000 gave the disciples 12 baskets of leftovers [12 symbolizing Israel] the feeding of the 4,000 and the 7 leftover baskets is reminding us that their will be a whole, complete and perfect number of people Gentiles that will be called the people of God as well. The cool thing is that as special as the number 7 is so is the bread because the bread is a symbol of God being with His people. Jesus is God and given to us for eternal life. It's truths like these that are so complex and at the same time so simple that blow me away. Jesus is the Bread of Life who will bring people from every tongue, tribe and nation to Himself and give them eternal life that He would be our Shepherd and we His Sheep forever!
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Mark 1: 31-37 New Living Translation 31 Jesus left Tyre and went up to Sidon before going back to the Sea of Galilee and the region of the Ten Towns. 32 A deaf man with a speech impediment was brought to him, and the people begged Jesus to lay his hands on the man to heal him. 33 Jesus led him away from the crowd so they could be alone. He put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then, spitting on his own fingers, he touched the man’s tongue. 34 Looking up to heaven, he sighed and said, “Ephphatha,” which means, “Be opened!” 35 Instantly the man could hear perfectly, and his tongue was freed so he could speak plainly! 36 Jesus told the crowd not to tell anyone, but the more he told them not to, the more they spread the news. 37 They were completely amazed and said again and again, “Everything he does is wonderful. He even makes the deaf to hear and gives speech to those who cannot speak.” Hearing and speaking are so closely connected. There are some people who cannot speak but can hear but those that cannot hear have trouble speaking clearly. It is quite emotional to see a video of those who have never heard a thing in their life and because of modern medicine are able to hear their own voice or that of a loved one for the very first time. We tend to loose the wonder and awe of what Jesus did because there are many things that we take for granted today because of the help people can get and the cures that have been developed for many infirmities that in Jesus day they just had to live with. People that lived with physical handicaps in Jesus day may have been looked down on, as if they were being cursed by God because of their disability. The truth is that even today most people steer clear of people who are "different" than us. What a blessing it must have been for this man to be able to both hear and speak because Jesus healed him although the way He did was strange to say the least, "[Jesus] put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then, spitting on his own fingers, he touched the man’s tongue." He is Jesus and all but that's gross! Imagine the look on the man's face when Jesus put his fingers in his ears then watched Him spit on His own fingers and lift them towards your mouth, I would have thought this guy's crazy! But are we much different? We want something from Jesus but often we want it on our own terms and time. We're even quick to tell Him how it can all work out if He would just.... I think we've all been there before, If not for ourselves than for someone we love "A deaf man with a speech impediment was brought to him, and the people begged Jesus to lay his hands on the man to heal him." Let us bring and beg on behalf of those who maybe would not themselves. Mark 7: 27-30 New Living Translation Since she was a Gentile, born in Syrian Phoenicia, 27 Jesus told her, “First I should feed the children—my own family, the Jews. It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.” 28 She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even the dogs under the table are allowed to eat the scraps from the children’s plates.” 29 “Good answer!” He said. “Now go home, for the demon has left your daughter.” 30 And when she arrived home, she found her little girl lying quietly in bed, and the demon was gone. My Chloe, who is our new family dog pictured above, is so persistent, she just simply will not take no for an answer when it comes to food. She'll stand by you, come under you and even jump on you in order to get just a little of whatever you're eating. The truth is she's a liitle spoiled and we can't help but look at those eyes and give her whatever she wants. Our pets our so important to us but as much as we love them we know that somehow they are different than our human loved ones. Jesus made this distinction in today's Bible reading but He wasn't comparing the woman who was a "Gentile, born in Syrian Phoenicia" a dog in a sense that He was saying she was unclean in anyway and she picked up on this right away. She was persistent in asking when Jesus wouldn't answer and the disciples spoke up, just so she would stop asking, she kept on and even threw herself at His feet when He was taking off. It's at this point that Jesus says that He must first feed His own. She was quick to pick up that He wasn't saying that she, as a gentile and not a Jew [one of His own] would receive nothing but rather would receive after. Jesus acknowledging her faith said, " “Good answer! Now go home, for the demon has left your daughter." She still had to exercise even more faith because now she must walk away from Jesus and by faith believe that her daughter has already been delivered from the demon. We are people that want instant gratification, we want things now. We are so used to this, we have everything we need right at out fingertips from information to the power to turn on and change our TV. (I still remember when we used to have to manually turn on the TV and get up when we wanted to change it!) It's going to be a little harder for us to wait and trust that what Jesus has promised He will deliver. Will we live by faith in light of His word or in doubt only by what we can see. Mark 7: 24-26 New Living Translation 24 Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre. He didn’t want anyone to know which house he was staying in, but he couldn’t keep it a secret. 25 Right away a woman who had heard about him came and fell at his feet. Her little girl was possessed by an evil spirit, 26 and she begged him to cast out the demon from her daughter. It is heartbreaking to have a parent come to me asking for prayer for their sick child. As believer's we ask for God's mercy but trust Him for whatever He decides. This woman came with more than a request, she came begging. Her plea came in the sight of anyone who was there but all she cared about was Jesus, whom she knew was able to heal her child. You get the idea that she didn't just ask but rather kept asking. It would seem that Jesus wanted to teach us all something by allowing her to keep asking the way she did. There are some things that we would give up on and accept as God's will but we should never assume that it is God's will that we stop asking. When we persevere [keep on- keeping on] in prayer and God answers yes, it builds in us faith muscles that only get stronger for the difficult thing that we or our loved one will go through next.
Do we go after Him when we are in need or do we try and fix it ourselves and when we figure out that we cannot fix it do we come to Him asking or begging? This woman was at Jesus feet begging on behalf of another person, when was the last time we got on our knees to beg God on behalf of a person we love? We live in world full of hurting people and some of them are our loved ones. Take some today to get on your knees and beg God on behalf of that person. Begging doesn't make God respond but it does remind us that only He is able to do what nobody else can and puts us in a place of absolute trust in Him. Mark 7: 17-23 New Living Translation 17 Then Jesus went into a house to get away from the crowd, and his disciples asked him what he meant by the parable he had just used.18 “Don’t you understand either?” he asked. “Can’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you? 19 Food doesn’t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.” (By saying this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes.) 20 And then he added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you.21 For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. 23 All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.” There are times that I watch the news or hear of something that someone has done and think to myself, they could not have done that on their own, they must have been influenced by the devil or a demon because the act itself was so horrible that you think a person couldn't do such a thing.
On the evening of 25 October 1994, a woman hammered on a door in Union, South Carolina. Frantically, she said that a man had hijacked her car with her two young sons inside. The desperate woman described how she’d stopped at a red light when the armed man jumped into her Mazda and ordered her to drive.Then he’d told her to stop and get out, and sped off. The woman’s name was Susan Smith and her sons – Michael, 3, and Alex, 14 months – were now missing. Susan and her ex-husband David Smith – the boys’ father – were both given a lie-detector test. David passed, but when Susan’s was inconclusive, police started picking holes in her story. Susan had originally said she hadn’t seen any other cars when she’d stopped at the red light. However, the lights in question only turned red if triggered by another car. Then, nine days after Susan’s boys disappeared, she made a horrifying confession, Susan revealed she’d strapped her children into their car seats, let the handbrake down and rolled her car into John D Long Lake. Read more at http://www.lifedeathprizes.com/real-life-crime/reason-why-susan-smith-killer-her-children-23656#xGmIETOXrjVeMg71.99 It turn out that the reason this woman killed her children was to be with her new boyfriend. We may say to our selves why and how but Jesus made an amazing statement to his disciples, "For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness." So while the acts of this woman may seem diabolical [from the devil] Jesus says these acts come from our hearts. The devil may plant ideas in our heads but we are the ones that adopt them and act on them. When Jesus said, "All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.", He was saying very clearly that people sin because they are sinners. Paul tells us the same thing, "There is none righteous, not even one." Romans 3:10 But those who belong to Jesus have the Holy Spirit living in them. They are set apart and given a new heart. We may still sin but that is because we are being led by what our bodies want instead of what the Spirit wants. Be careful that you don't adopt the devil's ideas and make them your own. Follow the Lord's leading instead, this we will know when we are reading the word of God and seeking the counsel of godly people we trust. |
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