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Foundations For Our Future #10 - #19

Foundations for Our Future (10)

by:Jon Shuler

Abiding in the Word of Jesus

It is an act of faith to receive the Holy Scriptures as from God almighty. It is a step of faith that the Holy Spirit always brings a true believer to take. And the Holy Spirit will reward prayerful time in the Word of God by deepening the confidence of the believer in the rightness of that step. But it does not make every word of Scripture equal to every other. Some things are written to warn us from imitating them, and some are written to show us the way to live. The most important words of all are those spoken by Jesus.

Today we read about the beginning of the public ministry of our Lord, and of the first words he proclaimed aloud to Israel. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Read Mt 4:12 - 17) These words are those he will always speak to us when he draws near. Turn to me and live in the purpose of my Father. Come under his authority.

John the beloved apostle tells us that Jesus told all his disciples that the single most critical evidence that they were his disciples was that they “abided in his word.”

To abide means to be completely connected to the source. To know it, to draw life from it, and to remain in it. The word of Jesus is that source. He is that word, and he speaks that word.

 

 

Foundations for Our Future (11)

by:Jon Shuler

Learning to Fish

Today we will read and meditate on Mt 4:18-22. One of the most memorable of our Lord’s sayings. But do not let it pass by today without ensuring you have clarity of its meaning for you. It applies to you.

The first disciples were fishermen. They knew hard labor, and they knew their dependance on God for a catch. Now Jesus tells them they are to learn a new skill. They will catch men. He is going teach them what every disciple of the Lord must learn. If they are faithful others will follow the Lord because of them.

How does this begin? By following Jesus. Watching what he does, hearing what he says, learning what he commands, resolving to obey, and learning to follow. That is what makes a disciple. We prove to be disciples of Jesus when we catch men.

But notice well there is to come a day, for all of us, when we are imitating the Master. Each of us is to become part of God’s plan that others would follow Jesus. We do not read about that alone, but we are to imitate it. The Lord wants us all to become  fishermen of people. It is not for a few, it is for all who follow him.

Let us not go on with this day without praying to learn what Jesus wants to teach us.

 

 

Foundations for Our Future (12)

by: Jon Shuler

Saturday Review

Remember is a word which often appears in the Holy Scriptures. God’s people are to remember his faithfulness in calling them, and his steadfast love shown to them. Some English bibles use that word to translate part of the Lord’s Final Command : “Remember, I am with you always….”(Mt 28:20)

The purpose of reviewing the week just past every Saturday is that we might remember whatever has been brought to our attention by the Lord that week. We want to attend to it again. We want to pray over it and consider how we are to internalize it. The review of a week of notes, and the re-reading of the week’s scriptures is meant to stimulate our heart’s desire to follow.

Let’s review what we have covered:

            We Need A Plan of Reading

            We Must Find Our Own Rhythm if Daily Devotions Are to Last

            It is Good to Mark What Speaks to Us, So We Have a Record

            We Want to Give Priority to the Word of Jesus

            The Lord is Calling All of Us to Fish (Make Disciples)

Today read again prayerfully Mt 3:1-4:22, and allow the voice of the Master to speak to your truest self.     

 

 

Foundations for Our Future (13)

by: Jon Shuler

Ministry to Real People

The most ancient training for all those who would follow Jesus came by being with him. Seeing him and listening carefully to him as he preached and taught was foundational. But our Lord did not teach and then pack up his notes and go home. He taught and then ministered to real people. People with problems and sickness, people with addictions and griefs. He laid his hands upon them and asked God in heaven to come to their aid. And whenever he went people were made whole. As we read Mt 4:23-25 today, let us consider how we are to follow in those footsteps.

Most of us will not preach and teach publicly, but our lives will speak to others. And many in our daily lives will be as needy as those of old. They may not be physically ill, but they might well be emotionally or spiritually in great distress. Are we ready, in love,  to speak of the truth that we have learned from the Lord?  Are we prepared to pray to God our Father on their behalf?

Physical miracles are rare in our day, but the even greater miracle of new life in Christ is occurring all the time. A word from us to someone we know may be only a small detail in a long journey to true faith for them, but God will use it. Ask the Lord for faith and courage to be ready to share and to pray. Ask the Holy Spirit to use you.

 

 

Foundations for Our Future (14)

by:  Jon Shuler 

Crowds and Disciples

Today we come to the opening of the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5:1-2), and as we do we see for the first time that all who crowd around Jesus to be healed are not necessarily those who will stay with him. Those who want to be his disciples must follow him up the mountain, and sit at his feet.

To climb even a small hill requires determination and strength. Many modern folk are not willing to walk one hundred yards to get to a store or a shop, yet in the time of our Lord his disciples sometimes walked dozens of miles, just to be with him. There is a lesson for us in the first verse of chapter five. To follow Jesus will take effort on our part. We will have to decide to think, to pray, to work, if we are to be found with him.

In the last verses of the previous chapter we have seen that the fame of Jesus spread throughout Israel and beyond. So much so that “great crowds followed him.” (Mt 4:25)

Now Jesus will bring his penetrating gaze upon those few who have shown a willingness to be his disciples. They are the only ones who come to him. He will put before them the Beatitudes. They come up the mountain.

Read over all of them to begin your day. (Mt 5:3-11) We will look at them one by one in the days ahead. Pray now for the grace to hear the voice of Jesus saying them to you.

 

 

Foundations for Our Future (15)

by: Jon Shuler

Poor in Spirit

To know the favor of God is to be blessed. To feel the warmth of his forgiving love is to be blessed. To dwell near him is to be blessed. To hear his voice calling you is to be blessed. To know his will for your life is to be blessed. The first of the Beatitudes inaugurates the profound disclosure of God’s purpose for his people in his divine Son. These verses open up the gates of heaven for our gaze. Those who will enter into the kingdom that Jesus has proclaimed to be at hand will be like this.

First, they will be “poor in spirit.” (Mt 5:3) What does this mean?

It is easier to start by seeing what it is not. It is not to be filled with ones own worth. It is not to think oneself deserving of God’s favor. It is not to dominate the weak, or to crush the sorrowful. None of this will be a part of the kingdom of heaven. These must be left behind.

What then? I think it is a vital clue to the beginning of the true journey of faith. We come completely dependent on God and his mercy. We have nothing to offer but our own poverty of spirit. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot climb up to heaven by our own efforts. We are absolutely dependent on the grace and love of Jesus.

Today, pray for the grace to embrace poverty of spirit, that the kingdom of heaven may be yours.

 

 

Foundations for Our Future (16)

by: Jon Shuler

Those Who Mourn

The news each day is filled with stories from all over the world of tragedy and suffering. Rare is a week without pictures of people mourning the death of those they love. To anyone with even an ounce of compassion, the pictures tug at our hearts. What is the Lord telling us in the second Beatitude when he says “those who mourn…shall be comforted”? (Mt 5:4)

We know that in his earthly ministry the Lord Jesus grieved when those he loved died. He shows us clearly that the sorrow and pain of those moments is known to God, and that those who mourn are not alone. But is there more?

Sunday by Sunday those who worship in the tradition of the historic church are bidden to make a public confession of their sins. We actually declare before God that the memory of them is intolerable. We mourn over them. We cry out for mercy.

The second Beatitude assures us that when we truly mourn, when we are grieved that we have gone astray, we “shall be comforted.” Disciples will not be sinless, but they will learn that as soon as they truly repent, they will be forgiven. They will know that consolation.

Do you know that comfort this day?

 

 

Foundations for Our Future (17)

by: Jon Shuler

The Meek

Somehow in the mists of my childhood I first heard the phrase “Jesus meek and mild.” It was not said in a way that made it sound commendable. In fact it left exactly the opposite impression. I imagined him to be pale and weak. Has the word “meek” left you with similar thoughts?

Meekness is one of those words in English which has come over centuries to lose its first and most important meaning. It was a word used to describe a well trained and powerful animal that was now able to be harnessed to the plow or wagon for useful service. To be meek is to be teachable. A meek oxen will obey the slightest touch of its master reins. It is a word for controlled strength and power.

The third Beatitude (Mt 5:5) seems then to point us to a critical understanding for any serious disciple. We have to bring our natural selves under control if we are to follow Jesus as he desires. We are not to remain prone to our natural instincts and desires, but are to bring them into alignment with God’s purposes for our lives. The natural man does not want to please God, he wants to please himself. The meek disciple wants to please God. He wants all his abilities and strengths to serve the Master.

Let us all pray to be that teachable. That meek. It is those who inherit the promise.

 

 

Foundations for Our Future (18)

by: Jon Shuler

Looking Back

It has been a week of challenge. The Sermon on the Mount may be “nursery school” for disciples, but it is not simple nor easy. The idea that we are to imitate Jesus in his life and ministry is very daunting. To be ready to serve him in word and deed, day by day,  requires an attitude of humble obedience that can only come when God grants us his Holy Spirit. But his disciples are ready to make that journey. We will go where he is, we will climb the mountain to sit at his feet.

I do not find tarrying over a few verses easy. I am prone to want to read on until I find something that is comforting and easy to assimilate. This week has not been like that. I want to enter the kingdom of God. I have willed myself to go slowly. I want to be among those who receive it. I want to dwell under the grace, mercy, and love of that kingdom. Now and always.

For that to be true I must be steeped in the words of this Sermon. The Beatitudes show me what I must become.

Pray over Mt 4:23 - 5:5 this day. Ask for this grace.

 

 

Foundations for Our Future (19)

by: Jon Shuler

To Hunger & Thirst for Righteousness

Nobody needs to be told to eat and drink. These basic urges are the very necessity of life. It is not so with the things of the spirit. Since the Fall of man and woman their selfish needs have driven them into unrighteousness. The flesh wages war with the spirit. Hunger for our own desires, thirst for our own wants both demand our attention and our best energies. Knowing this the words of Jesus pierce us. Our ways are not the ways of the kingdom of heaven.

The fourth Beatitude (Matthew 5:6) brings us to one of the most critical words in the whole of the Holy Scripture. Righteousness. That which is right and true. That which is just. That which is conformed perfectly to God’s intention. That which can stand under his judgement because perfectly according to the plan of God. That which can draw near to his holiness and not be cast into destruction.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

How can this hunger be awakened in us? Only when we have come before the Lord to ask for it. Only when we have cried out to receive salvation. Only when the Spirit of God has birthed us anew. It is not the result of an emotional moment, but the answer to a heartfelt surrender. I give you my life Lord.

Pray today for the thirst and hunger for God to fill your soul.