Dema's Devotions

[dema]

I wrote books of devotionals for my hubby and have a distribution list. I have recently been pointing things out to him that he found amazing. Figured I would write a few here.

After Jesus rose from the dead, he hung out on earth for quite a while - over a month. He ate fish, let people touch him and appeared to a great variety of people. He walked with disciples and explained to them the prophesies that pertained to him. The disciples didn't recognize him until the end of the walk.

Among these prophesies is:

Isaiah 61:1-3
New International Version (NIV)
The Year of the LORD’s Favor
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,


Early in the ministry of Jesus:

Luke 4:17-21
New International Version (NIV)
17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”


Notice he didn't read the verse about the vengeance.

Judas was a thief. But he also knew about the prophesies and thought that Jesus was the Messiah and as such was going to lead the Jews to world dominance. As time went on, he realized that that was not the intent. God is not willing that any should perish. He split the prophesy in half. That day of vengeance is coming, but not yet.

A lot of people were very confused by Jesus. He challenged their positions if he was the Messiah. But, how could he be the Messiah and not be a military leader? People with knowledge and preset notions were very putoff by this man.

[fulsworld]

I have often wondered what it must have been like, in the earliest days of Jesus' minstry, to be able to go the synagogue, week after week, and HEAR JESUS teaching. Can you imagine! Imagine what that must have been like!

[dema]

Wouldn't that be incredible. I wonder if he sent shivers up everybody's spines. Or to be physically touched by him and be completely healed. To be that kind of healed. Incredible.

[dema]

The Jews thought that the Messiah was going to come as a military leader and that as a result, the Jews would be the ruling race. In the Old Testament, other races had been excluded by commandment from many blessings and Jewish rulers had been ordered to kill off the losing side after battle on multiple occasions.

Matthew 15:21-28
New International Version (NIV)
21 Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”
23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”
24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
25 The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.
26 He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”
27 “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”
28 Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.


Jesus went so far as to call this woman a dog. (It is rather interesting that they used dogs as a common reference, I don't think of dogs being present in those times.)

That is pretty intense racism. But, then he healed her daughter. Judas was probably pretty upset at that. But, at the same time, at least Jesus called her a dog first.

Theaccount below also talks about the animosity between Jews and other races. Notice that the disciples weren't around. Apparently Jesus saved them from the shock of his extraordinary behavior.

John 4:7-20
New International Version (NIV)
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

You may know this story, if you don't, you can go to the book of John and read it.

So, what happened? How did God change the way that spirituallity works? How did God suddenly start including everybody in his great plan?

[dema]

It is interesting that when the Hebrews or Jews were in captivity, that they were subject to some of the most advanced civilizations of their times - Egypt, Babylonia and Rome. It is also interesting that in Egypt, Joseph, a Hebrew, was second only to Pharoah. Moses was raised by a later Pharoah's daughter. In Babylonia, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had important positions in government, even though they prayed daily and refused to eat non-Kosher foods. And in Rome, Paul was both a Roman citizen and also a Jew.

The special diet and habits of Jews, and their refusal to spend time with those of other races, even half-Jews, was extremely strict during the time of Jesus. It was more extreme than the situation in Amish communities in the United States today. If you were not a member of the temple, then you could not even buy or sell produce or merchandise of any kind.

The Jewish rulers were taking advantage of their authority and the law was being abused. Money was being made in the temple in very unorthodox ways, which was amajor influence in why Jesus had the horrible scene in the temple and called it a "den of thieves" What happened between Palm Sunday and the crucifixition? A lot of very strong words from the mouth of Jesus against the ruling Jews and their practices. He was particularly outspoken against the Pharisees.

It is interesting that the man who ended up taking the news of Jesus to the known world was a Pharisee. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. If you read through Paul's letters, you will hear him brag on himself quite a lot.

The Romans allowed the Jews to govern themselves as long as they paid their taxes. There were certain allowances for making the poorer people do a little spontaneous manual labor for the Romans - but it was pretty strictly controlled. And the taxes were gathered by other Jews. So, the ability of the Jews to stay to themselves, and the horror of banning one of their own was very strong.

[dema]

John 9
New International Version (NIV)
1 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
We still hold onto this kind of thought today. Why did this happen? Why did God let this happen? What did I do wrong? There are so many reasons for things going wrong including free will and pollution … But in this case:
3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.
This man was a grown man, and he was a beggar. And this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 30 years of blindness in a society where that really left him no options? 30 years of nothing?
6 After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
Okey- dokey, those works of God have happened now. But everybody freaks out. They are beside themselves.
8 His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some claimed that he was.
Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”
But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”
10 “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.
11 He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”
12 “Where is this man?” they asked him.
“I don’t know,” he said.
13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. 14 Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. 15 Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”
16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”
But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided.
What is the big deal? Jesus has been healing people right and left. The big deal is that this is the fulfillment of a prophesy. Healing a man who was born blind was a prophesy of the Messiah.
17 Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”
The man replied, “He is a prophet.”
The blind man knows this, but he also knows these people are really, really upset. So, he answers truthfully, but carefully. And the religious rulers? The ones who have been waiting for the Messiah all these year/ What do they do?
18 They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. 19 “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”
20 “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. 21 But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23 That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
The plot thickens – the authorities had decided of themselves that Jesus was not the Messiah. Doesn’t seem to matter what God thinks. They decided and that’s final. If you want to be a Jew, and buy and sell and have friends and not be banned, then you cannot accept Jesus as the Messiah. And the parents? In the face of ponderous evidence that God HAD sent the Messiah? They chose market day.
24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”
25 He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
So the parents put the evidence back on their son and the authorities put the screws to him. And the more they tighten the screws, the more he feels he has to tell the truth.
26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
27 He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”
28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”
The signs here are pretty strong. The people followed Moses before the parting of the Red Sea. Healing a man born blind seems as impressive to me as the snake trick that God gave Moses.
The situation gets hotter and the blind man, the man who had had to suffer for 30 years in order to be the recipient of this monumental miracle comes through the fire:
30 The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
34 To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.
If you read on, Jesus shows up then to talk to the seeing man. He lost the temple, but he gained Christ.

[dema]

Many people probably think of Paul as a righteous guy who was the leader of the early church. Actually, I’m not sure how Catholics think of him, since Peter was the first pope. Certainly Paul is predominant after the book of Acts. But in Acts we find some amazing things about Paul. First of all, Paul was called Saul. And Saul was a Pharisee who was very much against the followers of the Way. In Acts 7, we read about Stephen the martyr and in Acts 8:1 we read that Saul was consenting to his execution. Further, on the day of the death of Stephen, a huge persecution broke out against the church.

Acts 8:3
New International Version (NIV)

3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.

Soon after that, Jesus appeared to Saul and struck him blind. Jesus then worked a miracle using a disciple named Ananias and Paul was baptised. If you know this, did you ever wonder how the people must have felt? God talks about forgiveness, but this man had cast people’s relatives into prison. He had signed off on having people killed. Saul converts to Christianity? Is this a plot? Is he a spy? And how does one forgive in this situation?

Acts 9
New International Version (NIV)
26 When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. 28 So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 He talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews, but they tried to kill him. 30 When the believers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.
So Saul, the ultimate Jew, not only has been converted to Christianity, but the other Christians hate him and he is destined to take the gospel to those outside of Judaism. What a huge surprise!

However it is very interesting how God set the stage. Peter was one of the twelve disciples. Peter was a leader who had been told three times to feed the sheep of Jesus. Peter had received power on the day of Pentecost and Peter was the one sent to minister to the Gentiles first.

In Acts 10, I hope you will read it, Peter and Cornelius both received visions. Peter was told to eat food tha was not lawful for a Jew to eat, and Cornelius was told to send for Peter. Cornelius was a righetous man, a soldier over 100 men, and a Gentile. And because of the visions that Peter saw, Peter went and Cornelius and his household were baptised. These Gentiles also received the gift of the Holy Spirit in front of Jewish/Christian witnesses. It was an amazing situation for those who had believed in Jewish Supremacy for all these centuries.

[dema]

Forgiveness is giving it to God. Turning the cheek is something else. And that turning the cheek thing is very interesting. I don't know if I remember it all correctly.

The left hand is the hand that easterners use to do unclean things, like wipe their butt. The right hand is the clean thing. Generally a slap is with the unclean hand. It is a shameful thing. When you turn the other cheek, you are forcing the person to hit you with their clean hand. You are making a statement that you refuse the shame and that you are accepting their blow on your terms, and not on their shameful ones.

[dema]

Someone I love wrote this:

The idea of walking with God on a regular basis may make us uncomfortable. After all, He is God…and we are human. Don’t worry. God already knows all about us—all our thoughts and dreams. And He already loves us just like we are.

I have heard people say that they aren’t worthy to approach God. They’re absolutely right! None of us is worthy! We come to God on the basis of Jesus’ worthiness and at His invitation—not on our own. People have told me they are inadequate to do what they feel God wants them to do. They’re right again! God equips us, and He uses everything we know and many of our life experiences to reach other people. Sometimes we may be surprised at what we hear ourselves say as God works through us to accomplish His goals. That’s God at work! Our job is to make ourselves available to Him and to expect His Presence to be with us as we obey Him.

Walking with God is walking in partnership with Him. God leads us to make the first step…then He makes things happen. Sometimes the things seem small…like a beginning. Sometimes God touches our hearts as he uses us to touch others. We live by faith, knowing God is always with us, working in the world. He has a plan and He is counting on us to do our part. Expect God!

“For it is God who is at work within you, giving you the will and the power to achieve His purpose.” (Philippians 2:13 Phillips)

[dema]

I’d like to talk a little about the writings of the early church. There are people, smart people, who seem to be very deceived by a lot of things. Deception is the tool of the devil.

If there is a wonderful cure for cancer, or some other amazing development and you are the pharmaceutical company – how do you fight it? If you try to kill the guy – you are likely to make the news and draw attention to the situation. But you might do that – they killed Jesus, right? And yet the new grew. So, then you might try to discredit the movement. You would publish documents that refuted the news – that made the truth sound false.

Matthew 26:59
New International Version (NIV)
59 The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death.

Matthew 28:11-15
New International Version (NIV)
11 While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 12 When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, 13 telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.
But, one of the most effective things that could possibly be done would be to counterfeit the original cure and flood the market with look-alikes and sound-alikes that don’t work. That aren’t true.

This is exactly what happened in the early church. Different groups sprung up, much as different churches and religious groups arise today. And the different groups collected their own sets of writings, modified or threw out part of them, and then added to them as they chose.

There are scholars who say that today these writings, some of them which are completely in contradiction to our belief system, have equal merit with those that we accept as truth.

However, once a court case has been determined, the verdict is announced publicly, and the evidence is returned to the owners or stored in a stuffy old building somewhere. Once the determination has been made, it is generally accepted that the evidence is no longer required.

The verdict as to what constituted genuine scripture was made around 300 AD. There was a lengthy determination process used. And the origin of many of the false doctrines could be traced. In fact, we know where many of the false doctrines originated even today. We know that they originated in locations geographically removed from the Holy Land in many cases, and we know something about the leaders of the groups that used them or the groups themselves.

I think that frequently, people define a narrow criteria of proof and do not just think. It bothers me in life when people do not provide a context – when they do not see people in living color gathering their grapes and talking to each other and compare them to people today and see how people today would act. Indeed there is nothing new under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 1
New International Version (NIV)

9 What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.

[dema]

The early church wasn’t too happy about the inclusion of the Gentiles. After Peter ministered to Cornelius and the whole household was saved, the following took place:

Acts 11
New International Version (NIV)
1 The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him 3 and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

God continued to send people to the Gentiles, and there continued to be strife.

In Antioch, Paul and Silas were intially received gladly by the Jews, were welcomed to teach in the synagogue and many were saved. However, once the Gentiles became interested in the good news, the tune changed:

Acts 13
New International Version (NIV)
44 On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. 45 When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy. They began to contradict what Paul was saying and heaped abuse on him.
46 Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. 47 For this is what the Lord has commanded us:
“‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
48 When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.

The Jews did decide to accept Gentiles into the church – but only if they converted first. This led to a lot of circumcising. The leaders of the church didn’t agree with this, but wanted peace and cohesion. Later Paul spoke on the issue:

Galatians 5:11-13
The Message (MSG)
11-12As for the rumor that I continue to preach the ways of circumcision (as I did in those pre-Damascus Road days), that is absurd. Why would I still be persecuted, then? If I were preaching that old message, no one would be offended if I mentioned the Cross now and then—it would be so watered-down it wouldn't matter one way or the other. Why don't these agitators, obsessive as they are about circumcision, go all the way and castrate themselves!
13-15It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows. For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?

Freedom from the law means freedom from the law. Paul has a lot of long messages trying to teach the balance between righteous living and legalism. It is quite a struggle – and remains so.

Remember that the first law is a law of love, and the second is also.

[ciny]

Hi Dema i love your devotionals a good message in them keep writing them i enjoyed thease ones did you know that this site has a place wear you can write an ebook i have seen people wrote devotionals on it im doing a book just a thought have a blessed evening