The 260 Journey

Day 32

Today’s Reading: Mark 4

I want to tell you two stories about storms, Jesus, and a bunch of guys (the twelve disciples) in a boat. Both storms had winds and fear. But their endings were different.

We encounter the first storm in today’s reading. Let’s read about it together:

On that day, when evening came, He said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:35-41)

“Do you not care?” is a huge indictment on God’s character, and it plays into this “no faith” issue. So keep these two phrases in mind: Do You not care and Do you have no faith.

Let’s continue reading:

He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” (Mark 4:39-41)

Their “no faith” was revealed in this statement, “Who is this man?”

Faith is connected to knowing who this Man is. Think of the important progression.

A storm arises, as it does in life, and fear comes—fear of tomorrow, fear of going to the doctor or waiting for a call from the doctor, fear of being single, fear of not being pregnant, fear of getting laid off. These are all called storms. If storms produce fear and distrust, then we have a faith issue. When storms drive us to fear, faith has been punctured and is leaking somewhere.

This storm ends with a question mark. It ends with questioning Who
God is.

Faith is a journey, and that’s what these disciples were on. They ended their first Jesus boat ride with, “Who is this Man?” The question mark.

If storms produce fear, then we have a faith problem. And if we have a faith problem, then it’s a God issue. What does that mean?

Knowing God increases faith. Always remember that if you want faith to increase, find out more about the character of God. As someone once said, “Feed your faith and your fears will starve to death.”

Faith is based on who God is. That’s how you increase in faith. The disciples did not get an increase of faith from the last storm, just more questions.

Now let’s dip back into Matthew for our second storm story:

He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away. After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone. But the boat was already a long distance from the land, battered by the waves; for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”

When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are certainly God’s Son!” (Matthew 14:22-33)

They worshiped him. They recognized who Jesus was: “You are certainly God’s Son!”

Remember our first boat story ended with a question. This one still ended with worship.

If storms make me a better worshiper, then so be it. I would just rather do it with music on Sunday. But that does not always happen. God wants your and my tests to end with praise not questions.

Andráe Crouch put it this way: “If I’d never had a problem, I wouldn’t know God could solve them.”

There is a difference between praise and worship. Praise means telling others about how good God is; telling others what God has done. Worship means telling God Who He is.

If you know Who He is then you can know what He can do. And no storm has enough power to stand up to that.

Day 31

Today’s Reading: Mark 3

When you want to know the definition of a word, you look in the one trusted place that settles all doubt—the dictionary. When you think of the dictionary, you think of one name—Webster. But do you know who this Webster is?

Noah Webster was a devout Christian. His word speller was grounded in Scripture, and his first lesson began, “Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor for your body, what ye shall put on; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.”

His 1828 American dictionary contained the greatest number of Biblical definitions given in any reference volume. Webster considered education “useless without the Bible.” He claimed to have learned twenty different languages in finding definitions for which a particular word was used. From the preface to the 1828 edition of Webster’s American Dictionary of the English language:

In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed. No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.

In fact, Noah Webster wrote the first paraphrase of the Bible called the common Bible in 1833. Webster molded the King James Version to correct grammar, replaced words that were no longer used, and did away with words and phrases that could be seen as offensive.

When you are looking up a word, read the whole definition. You may just stumble into something amazing about the what it means and where it came from.

That happened to me. Noah Webster redefined the word enthusiasm for me. Here is his second definition for the word: “belief in special revelations from the Holy Spirit.” The noun enthusiasm comes from the Greek word enthousiasmos, from enthous, meaning “possessed by a God, inspired.”

The famous 1828 version said: “special divine communications from the Supreme Being, or familiar intercourse with him.”

Special revelations from the Holy Spirit!

Seriously? That’s incredible.

That redefined enthusiasm for how I think about the word. I get enthusiastic to preach, to go to church, to be a dad and a husband. I get inspired by God and receive special communications from Him to do these things.

Redefinitions were needed when Jesus came to earth. Jesus went all Noah Webster from the outset of His ministry and brought an adjustment to a very important concept in today’s reading of Mark 3.

In Mark 3:32, a crowd was sitting around Him. They told Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.”

Here are the words Jesus wanted to redefine: “Answering them, He said, “Who are My mother and my brothers?” Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers!” (verses 33-34).

Here comes the redefinition: “For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother” (verse 35).

Did you see how He redefined terms?

“Who is My mother?” And, “Who is my brother?”

When Jesus came, He redefined things by putting them in their true light. He did that on the sermon on the mount when He redefined adultery. It’s not just in the bed but in the head (see Matthew 5:27-28).

Jesus asks these questions: Who is my real family? Who is related to me?

We hear all the time that blood is thicker than water. But Jesus took it even further by saying that spirit is thicker than blood.

Jesus redefined blood relationships for us. He said the ones whom we are closest to are not the ones who have the same father and mother but the ones who “do the will of God.”

Remember this important thing: whose definition really counts?

In Renaissance, Os Guinness wrote something that made me think redefinitions and how the crowd wants us to be stuck and not look up how Jesus defines something: “For the followers of Jesus, the voice of the people must never be taken as the voice of God.”

We live under the pressure that numbers (the crowd) are truth and they tell the truth and they make the truth. And so we give numbers and majority huge value. We are counting opinions instead of weighing them.

It tells you externals but never the heart of something. They can tell you what men spend on Valentine’s Day cards but never if he loves his wife as Christ loves the church.

They can tell you about church membership and frequency of attendance but never gauge those who are on fire in their love for God.

One hundred million tweets and “likes” still never add up to truth, wisdom, or what is right and good. The bandwagon is replacing the Bible—popularity rather than principle—horizontal pressure over vertical authority.

“Thus says the Lord” should always trump 51 percent. That’s something to get enthusiastic about. That’s something to redefine. That’s what Jesus did.

Day 30

Today’s Reading: Mark 2

I’ve never played poker in my life. I’m not saying that to sound righteous or religious, I’m just saying it. That being said, I had to google if four of a kind beat a full house. It does. That’s our story today.

I want to show you this concept in Mark 2 in which two things are competing. In one verse we find a full house and in another verse we find four of a kind. (And remember, four of a kind always beat a full house.)

When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. (Mark 2:1-2)

There is the full house. The full house didn’t do anything for a paralyzed man. The full house sat listening to Jesus but that did not fix the paralysis. The four of a kind was about to show up in verse 3. A paralyzed man did not need people just sitting there. He needed someone to get him to Jesus.

Mr. Rogers, an ordained minister and the famous host of one of the first shows for children on television back in the 1970s, once said, “When I was a child and my mother and I would read about such events in the newspapers or see them in newsreels, she used to tell me, ‘Always look for the helpers. There’s always someone who is trying to help.’”

I want to be one of the “helpers.” Don’t you? One of the four of a kind.

They came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men. Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying. And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” (Mark 2:3-5)

Do you have friends who will get you to Jesus? If not, then you need new friends. They may be able to get you to a golf course, get you to a sports game, get you to a concert, or get you to a club or a bar. But do you have anyone who gets you to Jesus? These four got the sick man to Jesus.

There are times you are meant to bear another’s stretcher and not just sit and hear the Word. You must not only carry your Bible to church; at times, you may also need to carry your brother or sister to the Lord. Our problem here in Mark 2 is we have a full house but only four people who were carrying the stretcher. Not many left the full house to help another. How did they do it? When doors are shut, they went higher!

The four of a kind could not get through the door. So they had to take it up higher, literally, to the roof. There is a good principle we need to learn from the actions of these four men: when it seems like the door is shut, go higher.

Problems are surmountable from above. You can’t solve everything by walking through a door of a doctor’s office or a church. You have to take some things higher.

Going up higher means getting it to Jesus. It’s prayer! As Watchman Nee said, “Our prayers lay the track down on which God’s power can come. Like a mighty locomotive, His power is irresistible, but it cannot reach us without rails.”

These men didn’t quit when they saw the full house. They carried him to the roof, removed the shingles, and dug, and then they had to connect ropes to lower him down.

Jesus did not see roof busters, He saw their faith (verse 5). Always remember—when you go higher, you get more than you asked for.

That’s the twist in the story. They went through all this work to get a paralyzed man in front of Jesus and Jesus did not say, “Be healed!” or “Rise up and walk!” He said, “Your sins are forgiven.” Had I done all that work, His words would have taken the air out of me. I would have wanted my buddy to walk. I might have thought, I didn’t do all this for an inside work, but for an outside thing.

You can’t have Jesus for only what you want. If you want Jesus, you get all of Him. He is not some buffet line that you pick and choose and say, “I’ll take the Sermon on the Mount and healing when I am sick, but not the holiness and hell stuff. Tithing? Yuck. Love your neighbor. Okay, but only if they are lovable.”

Had Jesus just said, “Take up your pallet and walk,” everyone would have been happy. But it’s all or nothing with Jesus. That is why I don’t think He told the man to arise first but focused on forgiveness first.

I’m no gambler, but I’d take four of a kind over a full house—with all of Jesus—any day.

Day 29

Today’s Reading: Mark 1

Today’s reading showcases the cool way Jesus began His ministry. Who Jesus healed, what He healed, and where He healed it, makes this amazing. Take a look at this passage:

[The people] were amazed at [Jesus’] teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying, “What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!” And Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” Throwing him into convulsions, the unclean spirit cried out with a loud voice and came out of him. They were all amazed, so that they debated among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” Immediately the news about Him spread everywhere into all the surrounding district of Galilee. (Mark 1:22-28)

First, a demon showed up in the synagogue. While Jesus was teaching, a demon tried to take center stage from Jesus. Verse 22 says when Jesus taught them, they were amazed. Then when the demon showed up, Jesus rebuked it and it came out of the man. And again “they were all amazed” (verse 27). These two words for amazed were different, though. The amazement the people felt over Jesus’ teaching was something like “blowing their minds.” They were in awe and wonder. But the second amazement the people felt was different—and Mark used a different word to convey it. That word adds something to the first. It adds the physical and the emotional aspect to it. The second word means to be in fear and trembling.

When Jesus teaches us, we respond by shaking our heads in amazement. When Jesus heals and delivers us, we shake on the ground in fear and trembling awe. This was a huge miracle in the synagogue in front of non-followers, who were getting an introduction to the powerful ministry of the Son of God.

Then after the prayer to get rid of the demon, Jesus prayed again. I call it the fever prayer.

Now Simon’s mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever; and immediately they spoke to Jesus about her. And He came to her and raised her up, taking her by the hand, and the fever left her, and she waited on them. (Mark 1:30-31)

I love the phrase they spoke to Jesus about her. That’s really important. That is the best scriptural definition for “intercession.” It is a form of prayer that prays for others not for ourselves. What is intercession? It’s when we speak to Jesus about others.

Quick side note—this kind of praying also heals the church of gossip. We don’t speak to other people about someone, we speak to Jesus about that person.

This fever prayer is so encouraging. The demon prayer was in the church. The fever prayer was in the home. That’s where I need the most answers to prayer.

I think Jesus was showing us something about Himself. Fever prayers are just as important to Him as demon prayers. I love what Paul says in Philippians about our prayers. “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs, and don’t forget to thank him for his answers” (Philippians 4:6, TLB).

Pray about everything—demons and fevers. There’s nothing too small or insignificant to pray about. Too often we don’t want to take something to God, because we feel as though He would say, “Do you know how busy I am—and you’re asking for that?”

Here’s the truth: God tells us to pray about everything. God created us and He is interested in every aspect of our lives. He wants to know what’s on our minds. If it’s bothering us, He wants us to tell Him about it.

Ask God today for big stuff and for little stuff. Pray for a scholarship to cover this year at university, pray for cancer to be healed, pray for that prodigal daughter to come back to Jesus. But it’s also okay to pray for no traffic, pray for the grocery store not to run out of a certain item, pray that an article of clothing is on sale. Pray demon prayers and pray fever prayers. And then be amazed!

Day 28

Today’s Reading: Matthew 28

What does famed NFL player Barry Sanders and resurrected Jesus have in common? I am not trying to be disrespectful, but I do have a point.

Barry Sanders is considered one of the greatest NFL running backs of all time. He holds many of the coveted NFL records. Two things make Barry iconic in the sport’s world. First, his elusiveness. Barry’s runs were choreographed like a ballet. Though it was impressive to watch, what stood out more than anything about Barry’s plays was what happened after he scored a touchdown. In a time in sports where every tackle, sack, hit, and first down was celebrated like winning a Nobel Peace prize, Barry was a non-conformist and contrarian. He wouldn’t dance, jump into the stands, point to heaven, or find a hidden marker in the goal post. Every time without fail, he simply handed the ball to the ref. In his biography, people took the words of famed football coach Vince Lombardi to describe this action and said, “When you get to the end zone, act like you have been there before.” Barry had been there, a lot. No need to act like a kid seeing Walt Disney World for the first time.

So what does Barry Sanders and resurrected Jesus have in common?

We have come to the end of our first New Testament book (Matthew) and in today’s reading, we’re studying about the greatest event in world history, the resurrection of Jesus. He has accomplished His mission. Jesus has died for the sins of the world and resurrected from the dead after three days. He crushed death, hell, and Satan and crossed the goal line. He scored, to stay with our NFL comparison. Did Jesus shout over His accomplishment? Did He thump His chest? Did He jump into the crowd of disciples like a Lambeau leap?

This has to be one of my favorite moments of the resurrected Jesus. It took me by surprise and stunned me. Jesus flipped the ball to the ref. He acted like, This is what I do. No need to get all crazy.

Ready for this? These were the first words of the resurrected, I-just-beat-up-hell-and-the-devil Jesus:

The women ran from the tomb, badly frightened, but also filled with joy, and rushed to find the disciples to give them the angel’s message. And as they were running, suddenly Jesus was there in front of them! “Good morning!” he said. And they fell to the ground before him, holding his feet and worshiping him. (Matthew 28:8-9, TLB)

Good morning? That’s what you say after you did all that? Thank God I’m not Jesus. My first resurrection appearance line would be something like: “Ha! Told you! Look at me now. You didn’t think I could do it. Bam, done!”

Not Jesus. He offered a ball flip, and a simple, “Good morning.” He said it like it was just another day at the job and time to go back to work. Unbelievable!

Only people who are secure and know who they are do something like this.

Some of the older translations say that Jesus said, “All hail,” which literally means “Good morning.” I don’t like all hail; it sounds like “Caesar” should come next. Sounds formal. I like, “Good morning.” Sounds like He’s saying, Yeah, it’s just another thing I do: kill devils and death and get people to heaven.

That is Jesus. “Good morning,” the ball flip, tells us a lot about Jesus. It tells us that when you are the real thing, you don’t have to tell people. It shows every time you cross the goal line.

If you are a praying man, a prophetic woman, a pastor, an evangelist, a godly person, or someone who hears from God, all you have to tell people is, “Good morning.” They will know. Jesus did not come out saying, “I am resurrected!” What happened and who He was spoke for itself. In the passage we see that after Jesus said, “Good morning,” the people surrounding Him worshiped Him. That’s all it took. That’s all that was needed. “Good morning,” and they worshiped.

When you have to tell people to respect you, honor you, clap for you, it means you are doing things that don’t call for that response. Jesus scored. Flipped the ball and simply said, “Good morning.” It’s enough.