Devotions 05-10-08 (Lu 10:02-04)

Luke 10:02-04 " And Jesus was saying to them "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Go your ways; behold , I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves . Carry no purse no bag, no shoes and greet no one on the way."

Jesus is sending His disciples on a mission of faith. Jesus is seeking to equipt His disciple so live by faith.

Devotions 03-10-08 (Lu 9:57-62)

I will again try to summarize this passage in Luke 9:57-62.)

Jesus was walking with His larger group of followers when one said "Jesus I will follow you wherever You go. Jesus responded that He was always on the move and that his following Him would be harder than than he realizes. He wanted him to seriously count the cost.

Jesus then invited one of those in the group to "follow Him". His response was to allow him to first go and bury his father. Jesus responded to him to allow others to do that task but that following Him was a more urgent matter.

One of the group volunteered to follow Jesus but asked for permission to say good bye to those at home. This person seemed to have been following Jesus for some period of time already. Jesus responded to him and said "once you have left home to follow Jesus do not turn back but keep following and do not get distracted. The Kingdom of God is for those who forsake everything to be a part of this great Kingdom.

So in another brief summary there are three issues I must face concerning the Kingdom of God. 1. Following Jesus is probably more difficult than I realize.
2. When I do understand what it means to follow Jeus I should make that decision and not put it off. Do not wait to get other things done and then try to follow Jesus.
3. Once you begin to follow Jesus do not let other things cause you to turn back even for a moment. This wavering makes you unfit to be part of this great Kingdom.

God has been so gracious to me to be a part of this Great Kingdom and by His Grace I have obeyed these three requirements. I know there are many others who have done this as well and I am grateful to be a part of this host of brothers and sisters in Christ. I pray I can be faithful and strong to follow Jesus the rest of the days that God allows me to live. I give God all the glory for all He has done for me by His power and Love.

Devotions 1-10-08 (Lu 9::51-56)

Luke 9:51-56 Let me try to summarize this passage rather than copy all of these verses.

Jesus and his followers were headed for Jerusalem and it was getting late so he sent a few ahead of them to the next village to get acomodations for the evening before continuing on to Jerusalem the next day. There was no one in the village who would acomodate them because it was a Smaritan village and they would not put up anyone for the night who was going to Jerusalem. There was a great hatred between the Jews and the Samaritans. This made James and John very mad and they wanted to call down fire on that village but Jesus rebuked them and said " You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them."

What is my attitude when non-believers block my way and prevent me from serving the Lord the way I want. Do I get angry and want to do something that would show them that they are fighting God in their response. Or will I lovingly acccept their rejection and find another alternative to the situation. That is what Jesus did. He said let us go to another village. James and John had lost sight of what they were there to do. It was not to teach others how to act but to seek and save those who were lost.

I see often in my fellow believers the frustration of dealing with unbelievers who do not cooperate with them in what they are trying to do in seeking to serve the Lord. I am sure I have done that as well some time. I must not get angry at them in their blindness but seek to find another way. Let my gracious attitude be an example of Christ in me.

Lord, help me to respond to resistance from unbelievers in a gracious manner. I know You are soverign and You can change their hearts or lead me to alternatives that would be even better. I must not lose my focus on what I am here to do on earth as a child of God and His grace. These past few days have been really interesting what Jesus is teaching His disciples from these passages in Luke 9. I want to summarize all these lessons after I finish the next one that I will do tomorrow. The important issue is will I learn from what Jesus is teaching and apply these truth to my life. Lord I want to be more like You!!!