Good morning to all from Orlando Florida! Waine and I drove on Saturday to see the Kai-meister and his family. We have had a wonderful frenetic weekend with this little tike who changes right before your eyes. He seemed to grow each day and learn new skills and words. We are blessed to have him in our lives and I pray daily for his security in the Kingdom. I will be driving back to Atlanta today without my beloved so pray for traveling mercies for me. Waine is doing some business in Miami. God is good today and each day and I am amazed how He blesses each and everyone of us on a daily basis.
I am continuing my journey in Matthew 12 today verses 38-49, "Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to Him, "Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you." He answered, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here. The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here. When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation. While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you."He replied to him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" Pointing to his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother." Amen and amen!
Christ was at this point disappointed that despite all His miracles and teachings, there were those that continued to close their hearts to the message of the Kingdom of Heaven. He certainly was sowing seeds of faith daily and some of the seeds fell on the hearts of men and women who responded by exercising their faith. These men and women understood and excepted Jesus as the Son of God and went on to become part of the band of early Christians, many of who were sacrificed on earth and live now at the right hand of God the Father. Many seeds fell on closed hearts or hearts filled with the evil spirit of Satan and remained closed. These folk will be judged harshly on that last day of judgement. Christ also began to fore tell of his death and resurrection and I am sure most folk didn't understand however this is the key, Christ never let the lack of understanding of His audience influence Him or His message. Christ understood His mission and understood that His mission was Kingdom building, everyday all day. Even when His mother and brothers wanted to speak to Him, Christ rebuked their request because they should have been inside with the rest of the crowd listening to His message, not outside trying to get His attention. They too had to understand His mission and that He was indeed the Son of God and not man. Any vestige of His human lineage was long gone--He was now about His Father's work and everyone had to understand that. I am sure this rebuke hurt the heart of the mother of Jesus; I can feel her pain however I also know that Mary was astute enough spiritually to understand that her role as mother was over and she had to accept the Spiritual nature of this "son" she birthed and her spiritual role in this blessed event. Yet she was human as we all are and when we let our human-ness get in the eay ofour spiritual walk, we just need to get back in line.
Christ is always on our side! Isn't that a wonderful thought? We need no one else other than the Christ who died for our sins so that we could live and live abundantly! It is your choice today to live the aundant life and it is my prayer that you do.
Stephanie
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