Good News!

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.  And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge---that you may be filled to the measure of fullness of God.         Ephesians 3:16-21

Today’s Reading:  Matthew Chapter 4

Before I get started with today’s reading and my thoughts I wanted to thank everyone for all the encouraging words and positive comments about the blog. Each word that you have spoken encourages me even more to follow the leading of the Lord. Many of you also reminded me to be prepared for attacks because when you step out to do something for God the enemy will do anything in his power to interfere.
I told myself not to make this blog personal, that I was going to stick to reading the Word and just sharing my thoughts about what I had read, however, today it became personal.
I woke up early, took my daughter to softball practice, bought groceries, cleaned the house, prepared a couple of meals, entertained my daughter and her friends during a sleepover, read Matthew 4, and finally sat down with my computer to write today’s blog. However, nothing would come. I would begin a sentence and not get anywhere. After a while, I decided to get a shower and pray about it, my bathroom is definitely my prayer closet. Upon uttering my opening line to God I realized that was the first time that I had spoken to Him today. I am certain that he tried to speak to me many times today, but that hectic lifestyle that I just recently spoke of got in the way today, well actually it wasn’t the hecticness (I am sure this is not a real word), but it was me that allowed it. I allowed my schedule for the day to come before my relationship with Christ. Needless to say, I fell to my knees immediately. I have a note taped to the mirror in my bathroom that says “It is not about me, but it is all about the love of God”, and after I finished praying I read those words aloud. God spoke to me tonight and reminded me of this once again, it is not about this blog, it is not about me, it is not about my schedule, it is only about the love of God!

So with an extremely humble heart I would like to share my thoughts and questions as I read Matthew 4.

In the face of evil, known as Satan, Jesus stands upon the Word of God! We find that with each lure that Satan places in Jesus’ way, Jesus fights back by quoting scripture. He doesn’t argue with Satan, he doesn’t try to figure out his plan, he doesn’t try to reason with him, he simply fights back by quoting and standing on the Word of God! As I read this I thought about the acronym that was very popular a few years ago: WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?). We know that all our attacks are a result of Satan trying to knock us off the path that God has set before us, so we simply need to do what Jesus did, however, we cannot quote scripture and stand on God’s Word if we don’t know it. It is not called the living Word for nothing, it truly lives and grows within us as we read it and therefore becomes more readily available as we need it. My most favorite scripture quoted by Jesus is when he says “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only” (Matthew 4:10), and we know that from the remaining scripture that the devil left Jesus. If we are following Jesus and we want our life to reflect him, we have no other choice but to do what he did. We will never be able to live up to the standard that Jesus Christ set for us, but thank God  we have a standard to look towards, and that we can live our lives with the hope that we will one day see Jesus face to face, what a day that will be!

As I read about the calling of the first disciples, I cannot help but think about what made Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John drop everything instantaneously and follow Jesus. I know that he is Jesus, but what did they see, was it something about his physical appearance that drew them to him? Was it a spiritual connection that pricked their heart so deeply that they felt such a passion for him immediately? Once again, I can’t answer these questions, but I do know that their lives and the lives of the people that they ministered to was completely altered because of their decision to follow Christ. Has my life been altered by Jesus? Has your life been altered by Jesus?

This chapter ends by talking about the beginning of Jesus’ ministry here on earth. “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people” (Matthew 4:23). With everything bad in the world, with the daily struggles that we all face, with everything that seems to go wrong, even with all this we are to know beyond any doubt that there is good news and his name is Jesus!

With much love and blessings!