Posts from March 2021

Mark 14:61-63; Mark 15:1-20 (NIV) Throughout the second half of Jesus’  earthly ministry, He alerted the disciples that they would face opposition just as He would.  Their spiritual development would depend on how well they could cope with that reality.  The stakes were high as Jesus faced the high priest, and later Pilate.  His life hung in the balance; but He did not fight back or reflect fear.  He trusted His Father.  Pilate was amazed by this (Mark 15:5).  Jesus…

John 16  Focus verse: 16:33; John 18:1-11 (NIV) As Jesus walked with His disciples from the place of the Last Supper toward the Garden of Gethsemane, He continued to press into their hearts important truths to sustain them in the coming dark hours.  He knew they would be shocked and overwhelmed by the imminent disaster.  He wanted them to remember His words when the crisis hit.  He wanted them to be able to find peace in spite of outward turmoil. …

John 12:1-9 (NLT) Mary and Martha’s dinner honored Jesus as a way to express deep appreciation for resurrecting their brother, Lazarus.  But while everyone celebrated, did Mary pick up on a melancholy tone in Jesus, something the others missed?  Was her shocking public display of affection (pouring her expensive perfume on His feet) a Spirit-led, prophetic act of worship?  As the fragrance filled the room, did the men’s chatter become quiet?  Did her grateful tears and her act of washing of…

John 11:46-53 (NLT) Raising Lazarus from the dead was the prelude to Holy Week.  It threw the religious leaders into a dilemma as they worried over how the news would spread throughout Jerusalem, just a few miles away.  Some scholars write that somewhere between 200,000 and 1 million people were in Jerusalem for Passover that year.  The religious leaders fretted over how the word about Jesus, with His healing and resurrection powers, might spread throughout the population.  Would riots break…

Mark 3:14-15  (TPT)   (Jesus) wanted them to be continually at His side as His friends, and so that He could send them out to preach and have authority to heal the sick and to cast out demons.  Pulling down the strongholds of Satan is an integral part of the Great Commission (II Cor. 10:4).  We need not fear the darkness.  Christ gives us power (the dynamic of expulsion) and authority (the right to use His power—as if He, himself,…

I Timothy 4:1  (NIV)   The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.  Mankind can be easily enticed and find excuses for evil intentions.  When the truth of God’s word runs crosswise to our own desires, it is easy to find some other kind of authority to authorize our desire and legitimize the craving.  The enemy of our soul will be nearby to provide that authorization;…

I John 2:27  (NLT)   But you have received the Holy Spirit and He lives within you…what He teaches is true.   The Holy Spirit gives us discernment to be able to identify spiritual seductions in our world.  “The anointing of the Holy Spirit, the knowledge of Spirit-taught truth, the personal relationship of union that we have with Jesus Christ—all of these enable us to identify the falsehoods and lies of our spiritual enemy”  who parades as an  “angel of…

Galatians 1:8  (MSG)   Let me be blunt: If one of us—even if an angel from heaven—were to preach something other than what we preached originally, let him be cursed.  Paul wrote to the Galatians because local influencers were perverting the gospel by mixing faith in Christ with other religious beliefs.  It was a  “Jesus and”  sort of faith (adding Him into their current belief system).  We are called to the kind of faith that puts Jesus in the center…

I John 2:15  (MSG)   …Don’t love the world’s ways.  Don’t love the world’s goods.  Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father.   Pay attention to your cravings!  Those who are carnally minded (I Peter 2:11) have cravings that war against the soul and lead to spiritual death.  But the yearnings of those who are spiritually minded find life and peace (Rom. 8:6).  How do you self-sooth?  What are your default tendencies when you are under stress,…

Isaiah 14:16  (MSG)   People will share and muse: “Can this be the one who terrorized earth and its kingdoms, turned earth to a moonscape, wasted its cities, shut up his prisoners to a living death?”  It is important for us to remember that Satan is a real personality; and  “the imprint of Satan’s character is on the entire world system for he dominates and inspires world rulers in their lust for position and power.  He is the organizer of…

Luke 9:36b (TPT)   Peter, James, and John were speechless and awestruck.  But they didn’t say a word to anyone about what they had seen.  Some things are not meant to be broadcast.  Some spiritual experiences are so profound that they must be carried in the heart, where they do their work of rearranging our priorities, illuminating our understanding, releasing us from misperceptions, realigning our hearts, and redrawing our futures.  Have you had an encounter with God that left you…

Luke 9:36a (TPT)   When the thunderous voice faded away and the cloud disappeared, Jesus was standing there alone.  When a supernatural moment passes, when the prophetic and the miraculous and the emotional all subside, the most important thing remains: Jesus Christ.  He stands there alone.  He stands there with us, ready to descend the mountain with us as we go to the masses of people in need, in despair.  He is with us as we leave that holy, transformative…

Luke 9:35 (TPT)   Then the voice of God thundered from within the cloud,  “This is my Son, my Beloved One.  Listen carefully to all He has to say.”   Twice God spoke this message over Jesus.  Once at His water baptism with John the Baptist at the beginning of His ministry (Luke 3:22), and here as His ministry was winding down and the crucifixion awaited Him.  Notice the three affirmations that empowered Jesus to fulfill His mission.  His IDENTITY…

Luke 9: 34   While Peter was still speaking, a radiant cloud of glory formed above them and overshadowed them.  As the glory cloud enveloped them, they were struck with fear.  Then the voice of God thundered from within the cloud… Peter was in mid-sentence with his foolish response when the  “overshadowing”  cloud enveloped them.  God interrupted.  Can you point to God’s  “interruptions”  in your own life?  You were headed one direction in thought and action, but God stepped in…

Luke 9:32b (TPT)   …but they (Peter, James, and John) became fully awake when they saw the glory and splendor of Jesus standing there and the two men with him.  God’s Kingdom realm exudes a glory and splendor that we will not fully comprehend on this side of the grave.  C.S. Lewis said our first word in Heaven will be, “OH!” (as in: oh, NOW I understand).  Has the American church lapsed into a “form of godliness that denies the…

Luke 9:27 (TPT)   (Jesus speaking) “…there are some of you standing here right now who will not die until you have witnessed the presence and the power of God’s kingdom realm.”   Just eight days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John with Him up a mountain to pray; and it was there that this prophecy was fulfilled (Luke 9:29-31).  The disciples were unprepared.  They had become  “very drowsy, but they became fully awake when they saw the glory…

John 2:8-11 (TPT) So how is it that we hear them speaking in our own languages?  We are northeastern Iranians, northwestern Iranians, Elamites and those from Mesopotamia, Judea, east central Turkey—the coastal areas of the Black Sea, Asia, north central Turkey, southern Turkey, Egypt, Libyans who are neighbors of Cyrene, visitors from all over the Roman Empire, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs.  Yet we hear them speaking of God’s mighty wonders in our own dialects!  The…

Acts 2:3 (TPT)  Then all at once a pillar of fire appeared before their eyes.  It separated into tongues of fire that engulfed each one of them.  A pillar of fire led Israel from bondage into the promised land.  Another pillar of fire initiated God’s people into the powerful life of the Spirit.  Each one got a flame–promised by Jesus and sent by the Father (John 14).  Each person became equipped and empowered for supernatural ministry.  “It came suddenly, so…

Acts 2:1 (TPT)  On the day Pentecost was being fulfilled, all the disciples were gathered in one place.  Pentecost was one of Israel’s main feasts.  The name is from pentekostos, which means  “fiftieth,” since it was held on the 50th day after the Passover Sabbath.  The  “Day of Fifty”  was the Jewish festival known as the Feast of Weeks, described in Lev. 23:15.  “It was the feast of ingathering and so was peculiarly fitting to be the day of the…

Acts 1:4b (TPT)  …Jesus instructed them, “Don’t leave Jerusalem, but wait here until you receive the gift I told you about, the gift the Father has promised.”  Jesus had promised to send the  “Spirit of truth” (John 14:16).  The disciples could not carry out their commission without the fulness of the Spirit.  “He lives with you and will be in you” (John 14:17).  The disciples had seen this dynamic at work within Jesus.  Now they would need the Holy Spirit’s…

Acts 1:3 (TPT)  After the sufferings of his cross, Jesus appeared alive many times to those same apostles over a forty-day period.  Jesus proved to them with many convincing signs that he had been resurrected…  The book of Acts covers a period of about 30 years, and it provides us with historical accounts of those who were led by the Spirit in spreading the Gospel throughout the then-known world.  It demonstrates to all future believers  “the manner in which Lord…

Acts 1:6 (TPT)  Every time they were gathered together, they asked Jesus, “Lord, is it the time now for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?”   This is the question to which the disciples repeatedly defaulted:  Is it time yet?  Their limited paradigm focused on a political kingdom—the restoration of Israel as a world power;  but God was up to something greater—a spiritual kingdom.  How many times do we look at our circumstances and ask the Lord,  “Is…

John 5:44 (NIV) How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?   We must develop singleness of heart–“a heart which seeks only the commendation of God, even though the smile of God will cost the frowns of those who are out of touch with God.”*  In a country rife with  “cancel culture,”  how well are you seeking God’s approval above all else?  Does…

I Corinthians 2:10 (NLT)   But it was to us that God revealed these things by His Spirit.  For His Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets.  It is the Holy Spirit who illuminates the minds of men and women to enable them to comprehend spiritual truths.  I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. …

I Peter 2:1-2 (The Passion Translation)  In the same way that nursing infants cry for milk, you must intensely crave the pure spiritual milk of God’s Word.  For this “milk” will cause you to grow into maturity, fully nourished and strong for life…   Do you really want to gain Biblical knowledge and understand the Kingdom of God?  It all starts with a hunger for God’s Word.  This kind of hungering is essential for life, as evidenced in the illustration…

I Cor 1:25 NIV)   For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.  All the world’s best information and education falls short of spiritual transformation unless the learner is  “poor in spirit”—”unprejudiced toward the truth, unhindered by a negative attitude toward the truth, unbound by traditional denominational interpretations and who with meekness receives the engrafted word (James 1:21).  These are the candidates for a knowledge of God in…