Mark 7 ~ Be Opened

 

 

Mark 7

 

Now when the Pharisees gathered to Him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of His disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 

3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) 

5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” 

6 And He said to them, 

“Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

“‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
7 in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”'

9 And He said to them, 

“You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 

11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)— 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

 



14 And He called the people to him again and said to them, 

“Hear me, all of you, and understand: 

15 There is nothing outside a person that by going into him 

can defile him, but the things

 that come out of a person are what defile him.”

 17 And when He had entered the house and left the people, His disciples asked Him about the parable. 

18 And He said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus He declared all foods clean.) 

20 And He said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

24 And from there He arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon.

 And He entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet He could not be hidden. 25 But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. 26 Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. 

And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.

27 And he said to her, 

“Let the children be fed first, 

for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.” 

28 But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.”

29 And he said to her, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” 

30 And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.

31 Then He returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. 32 And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him.

33 And taking him aside from the crowd privately,
He put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. 34 And looking up to heaven, He sighed and said to him, 

“Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” 

35 And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 

36 And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more He charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 

37 And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, 

“He has done all things well. 

He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

Abba, Father, 

He has told you, 

O man, what is good

And what does the Lord require of you

But to do justice,

 and 

to love kindness, 

and 

to walk humbly with your God

When the world does not bring good readily, 

when Justice is merely a cry from the heart,

Kindness is a memory, 

walking with the Lord is not the glorified path,

 there is an answer:

Zechariah 8

16 These are the things that you shall do: 

Speak the truth to one another; 

render in your gates [your own home] 

judgments that are true 

and make for peace.

6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!

    “May they be secure who love you!

7 Peace be within your walls

    and security within your towers!”

8 For my brothers and companions' sake

    I will say, “Peace be within you!”

9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,

    I will seek your good.

Dwell in us, Father.

Help the ones we Love to have You dwelling in them.

Bless us with Your Love,

Help us to Seek You First.

And 

we will finish well in Jesus Christ.

Heal the hurting, uplift the families. 

Send Your vast blessings. Father God, 

You are truly are as vast as the Universe itself and as gentle as a breeze. 

Speak the Word, Father God, and we know Your healing. 

We ask You for healing:

In the Nation,

Nations and Israel,

mankind,

families

and the weather

Economics.

All the things we pray for diligently!

We pray 

to rise

 to shine for Your Glory.

In the Name of Jesus Christ,

Your Son.

Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves †

Yay Lord Jesus 

Luke 19:1-10 ~ seeking to see who Jesus is

 

 

Luke 19:1-10

 He entered Jericho and was passing through. 

2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 

3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 

5 And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 

6 So he hurried and came down and received Him joyfully. 

7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 

8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” 

9 And Jesus said to him, 

“Today salvation has come to this house, 

since he also is a son of Abraham.

 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Jericho was the first place the Children of Israel stopped in Israel. Jericho is known to be lush and lovely. A difficult place for the desert dwellers to forgo and continue on to the fight they had avoided for 40 years.

And perhaps, Zaccheaus had been the same. Scriptures repeat many situations. Zaccheaus had been lush with profits and opportunities.  And yet had, within Zacchaeus, the desire to see what Jesus was doing and spy out His Grace.  Longing for liberation, to go with His Promises. To climb down from Jericho.  And to go Joyfully with Jesus.

 For the Son of Man came to seek 

and to save

 the lost.

Titus 3:5 

He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, 

but according to His mercy

Malachi 3:6

For I the LORD do not change; 

therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

Hebrews 13:8 

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Hebrews 1:12

And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, 
and they shall be changed: 

but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.

Psalm 90:2,4

Before the mountains were brought forth, 
or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, 

even from everlasting to everlasting, 

thou art God

Psalm 102:27,28

Thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end 

Abba, Father,

We come together to pray 

and ask You to be present, 

hear this prayer, please,

in Jesus Christ.

Dwell in me,

Dwell in us,

Dwell in those we Love,

Help us to seek You first.

And we will finish well, in Jesus Christ. 

Help us to find and bring

to become

 more Heaven

to this earth.

Your Plan, Your way,

Your Son is best.

Establish us on your path,

help keep us near You

and on the path.

Your Wonderful Plan.

You Include All in Your Plan.

Encourage us in Love

Encourage us with Your Joy.

Jesus, teach us to follow You

more closely in Your Word.

Correct us in Your Love

to remain with You.

Help us when the path isn't seen

Protect us to remain with You.

Your Love is

where I want to be.

Forgive me for my 

flaws, weakness and sin.

Because You are God of Love

and I need you in my life.

Help us with our needs

today

and You will help us tomorrow as well.

Bless Israel with peace,

Bless families with living, loving hearts,

Reawaken God being first.

Bless this Nation.

Bless the Nations who need You.

In Jesus,

Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves †

Lord Jesus our Salvation

Romans 8:26-30 ~ The Spirit Helps

Romans 8:26-30

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 

27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose

. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

We all get to a place where we need a decision. And when we are there, we can bet the Holy Spirit prays with us. I heard someone I admire for their Christian heart, she said, I don't know if I know the Holy Spirit. Of course she does.  When we know Jesus Christ, we know the Holy Spirit.  And really, we all get to a place where we need a decision. And someone to pray for us. But the event, the conversation, the tornado of finances or health - can move pretty quickly.  No time to call out for prayer from someone we love.

Jesus will pray for us. The Holy Spirit dwelling in us.

Catholics love to say pray and pay the light bill. Absolutely. Pray and do what we can do.

The Larger part is this:
What did the people who had seen Jesus say about, the willingness of God ~ Peter wrote, saying Jesus does not help us under compulsion. The Lord our God helps willingly. When we pray for ourselves and for others.

1 Peter 5:2

Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. 

Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly-

-not for what you will get out of it, 

but because you are eager to serve God.

1 John 3:1

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!

Jude 1:2

Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.

James 1:12

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial,

 because when he has stood the test, 

he will receive the crown of life 

that God has promised to those who love Him.

And the faith of being able to cast our cares upon HIM to sustain us -

New wine - being changed by Jesus, seeing our lives as a gift from God and for God, not just another salmon swimming upstream without hope and going through the daily work. Old wine - what is valued, mellowed, cherished. What is Jesus telling us? We cannot change, cannot save ourselves. We cannot do it ourselves. With God all things are possible. Every day, we take our old wine - the things we value, the things the world expects, old hurts, the things that concern us. And we put them before God - the new wine of the Holy Spirit. Then we see the blessings and we thank Him.

Blessed be God, who creates light out of darkness.

We are new creatures in Christ Jesus, not controlled by the old values, but placing ourselves in front of Father God as His children.

Isaiah 45:

I am the LORD, and there is no other;

apart from me there is no God.

I will strengthen you

Abba, Father,

Weep with those who weep because life has taught us to do that. 

Let us remember, in faith we can laugh at the time to come.

 Our future is Your hands. 

We hope to have Your face, Father God, to shine upon us.

 In Jesus Christ, 

let us put real hope 

in the revealing of His purpose for us. 

Rejoicing in all, 

life is given through Jesus Christ. 

Trusting again. 

We pray Amazon puts back Amazon Smile,

philanthropy is needed today and this program

was wonderful. 

Many will feel the clip if Amazon Smile doesn't

continue. Please Lord.

We are Blessed to seek You First. 

Blessed to be finding the High Way of Your Heaven today. 

Blessed to ask to see more Heaven upon earth. 

Blessed to have You as our Daily Bread. 

Blessed to ask to Live Love, Joy and Peace.

Blessed to pray in expectation of Your Love and Willingness. 

Blessed to say Thank You 

Romans 8:37

In all these things, we are more 

than conquerors through

Him who Loves us

We pray for a good,

healthy sale of my late mother's home.

Buyers who will love

her home.

In Jesus, we Live and ask this for those we Love. 

We pray for our own strength, 

Love and ask Jesus to cover this Nation, those who lead this Nation 

and all other nations in this good fight. 

Bless Israel, as You willingly do.

We ask Your Blessing upon our families

and the peace of the Nations.

The Light of mankind to shine with Jesus Christ

Jesus is the Lord, Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves † 

Thank You Lord Jesus