SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/19/2022 10:21 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
“They
Curse the Darkness;” PT-1 “They Receive Still Greater Light”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matt. 16:5-12
Message of the verses: “5 And the
disciples came to the other side and had forgotten to take bread. 6 And Jesus
said to them, "Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and
Sadducees." 7 And they began to discuss among themselves, saying, "It
is because we took no bread." 8 But Jesus, aware of this, said,
"You men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you
have no bread? 9 “Do you not yet understand or remember the five loaves of the
five thousand, and how many baskets you took up? 10 “Or the seven loaves of the
four thousand, and how many large baskets you took up? 11 “How is it that you
do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? But beware of
the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." 12 Then they understood that
He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the
Pharisees and Sadducees.”
The Curse The Darkness
It
is because they sought God’s light that the true disciples, also in effect,
cursed Satan’s darkness. These men had
very hungry hearts for God’s light and truth and were very eager learners. They now turned their backs on the willfully
blind and the corrupt Pharisees and Sadducees, who were leading their followers
into deeper and deeper darkness and made them even more wicked than themselves
as Jesus spoke about in Matt. 23:15 “"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte;
and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as
yourselves.” We spoke about this
yesterday what Peter said to Jesus when many of the disciples stopped following
Jesus found in John 6:66-71 “66 As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew
and were not walking with Him anymore. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve,
"You do not want to go away also, do you?" 68 Simon Peter answered Him,
"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. 69 “We have
believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God." 70 Jesus
answered them, "Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet
one of you is a devil?" 71 Now He meant Judas the son of Simon
Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray Him.”
“They were as naturally blind as the Pharisees and
Sadducees, but unlike those unbelieving religious leaders, the Twelve
recognized their blindness and came to Jesus for help.” (MacArthur)
PT-1 They Receive Still
Greater Light
Let
me begin this section by referring to the last quotation that MacArthur wrote,
and stating that I think the mention of the fact that we are all blind, but we
as true believers recognize our blindness and come to Jesus for help is a very
important quotation in our study of these verses.
Now
as we look at our story in these verses we first find out that once they got to
the other side of the lake that the disciples had forgotten to take bread with
them and it seems that they were worried about this, as they had hurriedly left
after the confrontation with Pharisees and Sadducees as seen in verses 1-4 of
chapter 16. The place where this confrontation
took place was a place where there were not many people living, so perhaps
there was no place to buy bread. Mark
reports that they “did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them” (Mark
8:14 and these were not the kind of loaves of bread we can buy at the store
today, but little flat pieces of bread.
MacArthur
writes “Despite Jesus’ divine teaching, His perfect example, and His great
miracles, the disciples still thought and functioned primarily on the physical
level. When they became hungry after
rowing to the other side of the lake, their thoughts did not turn to Jesus’
provision but to their own lack. As He
frequently did, the Lord took their extremity as a divine opportunity to teach
His truth.
“That
is an apt example of how Christians should disciple other Christians, walking
alongside them and helping them interpret life’s struggles, perplexities,
problems, and opportunities in light of spiritual truth and resources. Christian maturity is learning to live day by
day by the light of God’s Word and in His provision.”
I
will conclude this SD with another quote from John MacArthur that comes from
his commentary on the book of Hebrews and in the study of Enoch in chapter
eleven, as I think this goes along with his quote from above.
“Enoch
walked with God for three hundred years!
Small wonder that the Lord went for a walk with him one day and just
took him on up to heaven. The New Testament refers to this sort of living as
walking in the Spirit. We are to live
continually in the atmosphere of the Spirit’s presence, power, direction, and
teaching. The fruit of this walk in the
Spirit are: ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control’ (Gal. 5:22-23).
“Walking in the Spirit is allowing Him to
pervade your thoughts. It is saying,
when you get up in the morning, ‘Holy Spirit, it is Your day, not mine. Use it
as You see fit.’ It is saying throughout
the day, ‘Holy Spirit, continue to keep me from sin, direct my choices and my
decisions, use me to glorify Jesus Christ.’
It is putting each decision, each opportunity, each temptation, each
desire before Him, and asking for His direction and His power. Walking in the Spirit is dynamic and
practical. It is not passive resignation
but active obedience.”
Perhaps
this quotation could be put on the bathroom mirror in order to read it each
morning and be reminded of its truth of what it means to be walking in the
Spirit.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I want to remember that the circumstances
that I go through each day can be used by the Spirit of God to teach me
Biblical truths that will help me to grow in the Lord.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Allow the Holy Spirit to teach me each day
things that will cause me to grow in the Lord and bring glory to His name.
8/19/2022 10:52 AM
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