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SCRIPTURE:
“About
four thousand men were present. And having sent them away, he got into
the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha." (Mark
8:9-10)
OBSERVATION:
I asked myself what did Jesus do?
1. Jesus sent away four thousand men.
2. Jesus got into the boat with his disciples.
3. Jesus went to the region of Dalmanutha.
I decided to focus on
'Jesus got into the boat with his disciples'
INTERPRETATION:
I asked myself the significance of 'Jesus
got into the boat with his disciples'?
I found it very significant that Jesus spent a lot of time with
the disciples during the 3-day retreat and now even after it. Jesus was
with the disciples that they may be with Him, be taught by Him, and be
led by Him. This shows me how much Jesus wants to mold the disciples how
He wants them to be. Wow!
IMPLICATIONS:
I saw important implications for my own
life. Jesus wants to mold me into the way He wants me to be. I realized
through the years that Jesus will use His Word, His Spirit, our Prayer
times, and His community of believers to do that in my life. Mostly, I
have seen the Lord Jesus use His Word to transform my thinking
supplemented by books that He helps His children write that incorporate
God's Word. The entire purpose is to mold us into His image and become
more like Him thinking His thoughts and doing things His way having the
MIND OF CHRIST. I cannot
be molded into His image without letting Jesus be the Potter and me
being the clay. It starts with my surrender over to Jesus all of my
days.
It starts with being willing
to pray and asking the Lord Jesus for strength to do what He wants me to
do so I can confidently say, "Lord Jesus, ANYTHING, ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, I
am ready" and follow. I cannot do it on my own strength but from the
strength Jesus gives in my life.
"However,
as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has
conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"— but God has
revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even
the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man
except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the
thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the
spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may
understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in
words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit,
expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the
Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for
they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they
are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all
things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: "For who
has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" BUT WE HAVE
THE MIND OF CHRIST!" (1 Corinthians 2:9-16, NLT)
HOW GOSPEL GIVES ME
TESTIMONY REGARDING M.O.LD
Jesus wants to mold me to be what
He wants me to be. I like to think of my relationship with Jesus in
terms of a biblical analogy: CLAY (me) and of a POTTER (Jesus). Through the years and
days, I have seen how Jesus can take a LUMP OF CLAY like me and work to
make me how He wants me to be when I surrender my life over to Him.
Sadly, I have not consistently surrendered my life over to Him but think
THE CLAY CAN TELL THE POTTER HOW THINGS SHOULD BE AND DONE. When I have done that, I have
actually been telling Jesus, "No, Jesus you do not know how to mold me
properly but I do."
How sad a predicament I have put
myself in time after time because I did not want Jesus to do His thing.
Jesus loves me so much and bought me (THE LUMP OF CLAY) with a price.
The price was not monetary because all the money in the world would not
have made Satan release me. Satan wants to let me be a DISFIGURED LUMP
OF CLAY and stay a lump without a way out. Satan wants to use me to
throw me around to do his dirty work. Sadly, I have given into Satan
time after time.
But thanks be to God that God knows
what Satan is doing with humanity and what Satan wants to do with me.
God knew there is only One way to redeem me and set me free from the
clutches of Satan's bondage of sin and death.
God's love for me made God act and
He acted swiftly and lovingly. God sent His Son to rescue me. Jesus
bought this DISFIGURED LUMP OF CLAY with HIS PRECIOUS CLEANSING BLOOD.
His blood is so pure that it can cleanse the most wicked hearts and
rescue all humanity from the bondage of sin and death. Jesus did that so
He can rescue this LUMP OF CLAY from being thrashed and burning forever.
But the thing is that He did not
force Himself into my life and drag me to be with Him because He bought
me. No, it did not work that way. Instead, by His LOVE, JESUS DREW
ME TO HIM. He waited for me to come to Him as He initiated the process
by His BLOOD and love on the cross. Since He initiated the process, now
I was able to have access to go to Him and be with Him.
It started with Jesus and not me.
Jesus chose me first and I followed. I could not have come to Jesus if
Jesus did not die on the cross and shed His precious cleansing blood to
buy me. It is by His love and sacrifice that He draws people to Him when
they look to Him. To look to Jesus takes a choice of free will. Jesus
did not want a robot to follow Him but a person with free will. If Jesus
wanted people to follow Him by force, then Jesus could have scared
people by coming of the cross right then and there but Jesus does not
operate that way because that is not how Jesus wanted to mold humanity.
Jesus wants to mold humanity by His AGAPE LOVE shown by His sacrifice on
the cross of Calvary where He shed His precious Blood. His blood can
make the most STINKY LUMP OF CLAY beautiful on the inside and outside.
"Just as
Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be
lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal
life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but to save the world through him." (John 3:14-17, NIV)
I see Jesus doing that with me when
I continuously surrender my life over to Him. To be molded into His
image does not end with being bought by Him. It is HIS GRACE THAT
JUSTIFIES. This is just the beginning. His GRACE has gone beyond
JUSTIFYING ME BY HIS GRACE. It is also HIS GRACE that SANCTIFIES.
You cannot truly believe in GOD'S
GRACE, if you do not believe it is the same GRACE that not only
JUSTIFIES but SANCTIFIES and GLORIFIES.
God's GRACE is not only for SAVING
this STINKY DISFIGURED LUMP OF CLAY CAUSED BY SIN but also for LIVING BY
HIS GRACE.
This STINKY DISFIGURED LUMP OF CLAY
has the BEST SURGEON to do a TRANSPLANT DAILY to MOLD ME how the SURGEON
wants me to be because HE IS THE POTTER and there is no other.
There is nothing I could have done
as a LUMP OF CLAY to be saved from the DISFIGURATION OF SIN. The POTTER
had to act and He did all BY HIS LOVING SAVING GRACE.
"All of us
have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like
filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins
sweep us away. No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us and made us waste away because of
our sins. Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. WE ARE THE CLAY, YOU ARE THE
POTTER, WE ARE ALL THE WORK OF YOUR HAND." (Isaiah 64:7-9, NIV)
I love the song "Who Am I" by
Casting Crowns:
"It is not because of who I am but because of what
you have done. It is not because of what I have done but because of who
you are....I AM YOURS... The eyes that see my sin would watch me with
His love... "
It brought TEARS to my eyes to
think and know what Jesus did for me. THANK YOU JESUS!
It is nothing I could have done to
be molded properly if JESUS did not intervene and save me. When I am
falling, He always picks me up and brings me back to the path He wants
me to be in.
Many times, I go through growing
pains or the PAIN OF BEING MOLDED properly but IT IS WORTH IT. It is
WORTH BEING MOLDED BY JESUS.
Jesus will do that mostly by His
Word because it is useful for correction, teaching, exhortation, and
molding. Oh yes it is.
"All
Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking,
correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be
thoroughly equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16-17, NIV)
"For the word
of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it
penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it
judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation
is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before
the eyes of him to whom we must give account, Jesus the Great High
Priest. Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone
through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the
faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to
sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in
every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the
throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find
grace to help us in our time of need." (Hebrews 4:12-16, NIV)
Jesus will also use His Spirit in
our lives through different means! I have seen that in my life. Jesus
uses pastors as tools for His purposes (like Pastor Hugo, Pastor Ed,
Pastor Bucknell, etc) in my life, to mentors like (my mommy, Pastor
Hugo, Edwin, Marie) in my life, to ministry shows on television, to
books that I read such as 'TRANSFORMING GRACE', 'LORD, CHANGE MY
ATTITUDE', 'MY HEART CHRIST'S HOME' (Read it 33+ times), to movies, etc.
"But when he,
the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will
not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell
you what is yet to come." (John 16:13, NIV)
The key in all this is everything
has to be tested with the WORD OF GOD. For the SPIRIT OF THE LORD will
not contradict His Word so when we meet with pastors, mentors, etc
whatever they say has to be confirmed by the WORD OF GOD.
There is no such thing as WORD OF
GOD + SOMETHING ELSE.
I ask you all to do the same with
what you read from me. Everything has to be tested with God's Word so
the best way to do that is KNOW GOD'S WORD from GENESIS TO REVELATION.
Usually, pastors are good in knowing God's Word thoroughly usually so I
always tag Pastor Hugo in my devotionals so if I have written something
that he sees as contradictory to God's Word, He can bring it to my
attention, etc.
I shared with you when I did not
want Jesus to mold my life, it was a mess because the STINKY DISFIGURED
LUMP OF CLAY stayed that way but when I asked Jesus to MOLD ME by giving
my life over to Jesus daily, He took the title deed of my home and owned
it. I am speaking of my heart, mind, soul, and body. Jesus wanted all of
it and I gave my heart to Jesus to become His home so He can mold me His
way. The IVP booklet MY HEART CHRIST'S HOME addresses it well.
It is not always easy friend when I
want to do things of the flesh but when I walk in the Spirit, there is
JOY, HUMILITY, and COURAGE. But all this can only truly happen having
CHRIST IN MY HEART.
I do struggle and need the Lord's
help each day so I can walk in the SPIRIT and not
fulfill the LUST of the flesh.
I know my Lord Jesus will help me
for He encourages me so much.
Today, I was so encouraged by
reading Psalm 139 and claiming the promises there:
"O Lord,
you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I
sit down or stand up.You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You
see me when I travel and when I rest at home.You know everything I do.
You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord.
You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my
head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great
for me to understand!" (Psalm 139:1-6, NLT)
"I can never
escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I
go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are
there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest
oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will
support me. I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me
to become night— but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the
night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you."
(Psalm 139:7-12, NLT)
"You made all
the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s
womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship
is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in
utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You
saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your
book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How
precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I
can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I
wake up, you are still with me!" (Psalm 139:13-18, NLT)
I ask you now
dear friend, will you let Jesus mold you in your life?
Dear friend, Jesus wants to mold you so much. Oh yes, He does!
You may see yourself as a STINKY DISFIGURED LUMP
OF CLAY that nobody wants to use especially THE LORD JESUS? But I
have GOOD NEWS for you! When you think you are WORTHLESS AND OF NO USE,
that is when GOD'S POWER IS SHOWN MIGHTILY.
You see friend, the POTTER is not
here to MOLD LUMPS OF CLAY THAT THINK THEY HAVE IT ALL TOGETHER. No,
friend. That is not why the POTTER came to earth to be part of HIS
CREATION.
He came to earth to take DISFIGURED
LUMPS OF CLAY DUE TO SIN and to TRANSFORM them into wonderful pottery to
be used by Him for His purposes and glory. When we are used by the Lord,
we will experience His JOY, HUMILITY, and COURAGE because His Spirit
will work in us and through us.
"But when the
teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw him eating with tax
collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat
with such scum?” When Jesus heard this, he told them,
“Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people
do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but
those who know they are sinners.” (Mark 2:16-17, NLT)
Friend, Jesus wants to use you no
matter how far you have gone or been away from Him. He wants to mold you
and take care of you. Yes, He does. He loves you so much and if you were
the only one alive, He would have still bought you with His BLOOD to
ransom you from sin.
You can come as you are in all your
sin, yuckiness, and stinkiness and be TRANSFORMED INTO WONDERFUL POTTERY
even if the MOLDING IS PAINFUL FOR THE TIME BEING. It will be worth it
friend.
I am not where I should be yet but
I know and am confident that He who began a good work in me will finish
it to completion and so can you.
Claim the promise in Philippians
1:6 that says: "Being confident of this, that he
who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the
day of Christ Jesus."
Thank you Jesus!
May you let Jesus mold you knowing
Messiah's omnipotent love delivers!
"Messiah's
Omnipotent Love Delivers!" (M.O.L.D)/"Will you let Jesus M.O.L.D your
life?"
Prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus, after spending time with the crowds and disciples for a
three-day retreat, you still spent time with your disciples. You wanted
to mold them to be how you want them to be. You do the same for us
Jesus. You are the POTTER and we are THE CLAY, the work of your Hands.
Please Lord Jesus forgive us when we have gone our own way and done our
own things. Help us to surrender all to you saying, "Lord Jesus,
ANYTHING, ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, I am ready" as you give me the strength and
help to trust you always. I know I need your help and pray for help.
Thanks so much Jesus that you came and died for me because of who YOU
ARE. There is nothing I could have done to earn your Salvation. It
started with you and your desire and act to ransom me by your precious
BLOOD. Thanks so much Jesus. I pray right now for the one who has gone
so far that they don't think forgiveness is available to them. But I
thank you Lord Jesus no matter what they have done, they can lay it at
the cross because you will take their load and fill them with your love
and presence. You have done that in my life and will continue to work in
my life. Thanks so much Jesus. I do get scared at times because of
surroundings and thoughts but I yield to you and ask for your help. Help
me Jesus for I wait upon you. Thanks so much Jesus! In Your Name I Pray
Jesus! Thank you for hearing my prayer and answering me! AMEN!
May
you experience the POWER OF CHRIST'S RESURRECTION this day, and give Him
the LOCKED areas of your life too so you can experience His PEACE as you
become an ACTOR in the film called LIFE being directed by your DIRECTOR,
JESUS CHRIST who comes to give JOY and PEACE.
You
don't have to be locked away anymore for Christ is here to free you and
give you peace to live out your actions.
How
do you look at GODISNOWHERE?
One
of my pastors, Pastor Hugo shared this example this past Sunday at the
RESURRECTION DAY SERVICE in the combined worship service of Pittsburgh
Chinese Church-Oakland & Oakland International Fellowship:
If
you look at it as GOD IS NO WHERE, you will still be lost in your sin
and be in bondage locked away in your sins and problems finding no
peace.
But
as my pastor spoke to the congregation and spoke to me, I am here to
tell you that GOD IS NOW HERE.
Yes,
friend God is alive and wants to bring a transformation in your life
through the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ for He paid the penalty on
the cross to rescue you and me and came back to life to save us and live
with us.
Yes,
friend that is exciting to know that we can experience HIS SAVING GRACE
& LIVING GRACE.
When
we mess up, we can go to Jesus with our shortcomings and He will forgive
us and restore us to Him and we will find peace in Him.
"Therefore, if
anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has
come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ
and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the
world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he
has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore
Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.
We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him
who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God." (Colossians 5:17-21, NIV)
"For the wages
of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord." (Romans 6:23, NIV)
"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the
light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his
Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive
ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all
unrighteousness." (1 John 1:7-9, NIV)
Friend, we need Jesus because we have been separated from God due to our
sin. Because of our sin, Jesus had to pay the price to become our bridge
so we can reach God now not of our own good works but because of the
finished work of Christ, the Lord on the cross.
"For it is by grace you have been saved,
through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not
by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9, NIV)
May
you come to know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Personal Savior becoming
His offspring so you can spend Eternity with Him. He is waiting for you.
Come as you are. Please do not reject the gift of God.
If
you would like to invite Jesus Christ into your heart and make Him a
daily part of your life, you can this very moment. You will never be
alone. You can claim God's promises for you in the Bible and see them
come true, before your eyes, in His wonderful timing. You don't have to
wait for a special time to come to the Lord. You can come right now as
you pray this prayer, meaning it in your heart and finding your new
identity in Christ Jesus.
Make this your prayer. Don’t let
the enemy deceive you into thinking you need all the answers before
coming to Christ. Let me just assure you though you may not have all the
answers right now before coming to Jesus, He will answer them slowly.
Yes, He will for I know our Redeemer will! Amen!
Make this your prayer. Don’t let the enemy deceive you into thinking
you need all the answers before coming to Christ. Let me just assure you
though you may not have all the answers right now before coming to
Jesus, He will answer them slowly. Yes, He will for I know our Redeemer
will! Amen!
Prayer:
Jesus, I thank you for being the Bread of Life. You are the Living Bread
of my life. Thank you for coming from Heaven and giving your life for
the life of the world. You sacrificed yourself for humanity. Thank you
Lord when we eat of you symbolically making you part of our life,
digesting what you teach us by following you, we can be living
Eternally, and the fruit that comes will reflect and resemble your life.
I want that Father God. I want that Lord Jesus! I want that Holy Spirit!
I know of a lot of people who partake of Holy Communion where the bread
represents your body broken for their sin and the juice represents your
blood shed for their sin. When we partake of Holy Communion, we are
reminded that we are remembering you. I want to remember you always Lord
Jesus. But for me to remember you always, I need to know you and
acknowledge everything you said you are. So right now I acknowledge that
you are my Lord and Personal Savior who died and rose again to give me
life from sin. So right now, I come to you and say how sorry I am for my
sin and living a life on my own. I repent of my sin and ask you to
forgive me of my sin with your cleansing blood which I accept. Wash me
and I will be clean from this infection of sin. Come Lord Jesus and
please become part of my life as you live in me and I will live for you.
I thank you Jesus for coming into my heart and making my heart your
home. Thank you for living in me Jesus and I will live for you and serve
you the rest of the days of my life. I do need your Spirit to reside in
me and work in me and through me so I surrender all that I am and will
be to you. Whatever your will is for me, please give me the strength and
willingness to bear it and rejoice in you. Thank you so much Jesus. I
thank you Jesus for becoming my Lord and Personal Savior. I thank you
Jesus you have heard my prayer and have answered me. I thank you that I
am your child Oh God. I thank you for becoming my only Way to Eternal
Life. In Your Name I Pray Jesus! Amen!
