Scriptures Can Be All Greek To You

[S] Mark 4:11-12 (NLT) --

11He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secret of the Kingdom of God. But I use parables for everything I say to outsiders, 12so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled:
‘When they see what I do,
they will learn nothing.
When they hear what I say,
they will not understand.
Otherwise, they will turn to me
and be forgiven.’”


[O] God permits us to understand the truth of His word so we will turn to Him and receive forgiveness. It does not come by our efforts alone as if studying harder makes one smarter or more knowledgeable.  Unless God permits my mind to comprehend the wondrous truth, it'll all be "Greek" (or parables) to me.

[A] Seek His permissions before reading His word so that He would allow my mind to comprehend the truth directly from His Spirit.

[P] Dear Father, please grant Your truth to settle deep down in my heart.  May my life then reflect that truth to many people.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Attributes of a Pillar

[S] Revelations 3:11-12 --
11 I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown.12 He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.

[O] Con artists are those good at deceiving others to believe a lie as truth.  The message to the church of Philadelphia is to not fall for these con artists who tries to take away the crown of the church.  Those who sustains the truth and not lose it the lies will become the pillar in the temple of God and will bear His name.

[A] God sets me in positions of this world so instead of trying to vie for a better or higher positions of this world I need to first follow His principles and He will place me in the most appropriate place in His temple.  How I long to be the pillar of His temple but unless I have forged my spirit to be hardened up against the lies of this world, I cannot be used as a pillar.  So, continue to hold fast to His word daily so I would inch up in me the true principles of God.

[P] Dear Father, I commit to abide by Your principles so that I won't fall for the con artists of this world.  Please shower down Your Holy Spirit to counsel and guide me every day.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Truth Must be Received to Become the Truth

[S] Jeremiah 36:24 --
24  Yet the king and all his servants who heard all these words were not afraid, nor did they rend their garments.

[O] The same message of God's warning are received differently by different people.  The king and his servants took it very lightly because they believed so much in their own strength and power that they discounted the message of Jeremiah.  This world does not lack the truth, but it does lack those who accept the truth from God.

[A] The condition of my heart needs to be fertile in order to receive God's warnings for my life and to change my course of actions.  Soften my heart whenever I'm facing God's word.

[P] Dear Father, I surely do not want to be like these leaders whose hearts were hard as stone and there was no room for Your message of care and concern.  Please continue to soften my heart so I may readily hear and obey Your words.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Boldness and Bold Brothers (BBB)

[S] Galatians 2:14 --
14  But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, "If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?

[O] Paul refers to Cephas (Peter) and Barnabas along with others who veered away from the truth and spoke to them directly to point out and correct their hypocrisy.  First of all, Paul's boldness and zeal to stand up for truth really shakes me even harder than last night's 8.9 magnitude earthquake in Japan.  What drove him to be such a committed servant of God?  What makes me such a coward compare to Paul's boldness?  Secondly, even though it might've been difficult to initially accept it, I feel Cephas was a blessed man to have a co-worker like Paul who can point out areas to correct for God's glory. I have not experienced a time when I enjoyed being corrected by others but if they come with genuine care and heart for bringing out the truth, then I would also be a blessed person to have friends and co-workers like Paul around me.

[A] Be discerning and humble whenever I receive "corrections" or even "complaints" from other co-laborers in Christ because if Peter and Barnabas went off the tangent, I am 100X more likely to do that and I would need someone to point that out to me.

[P] Dear Father, I want to wear the boldness of Paul in my walk with You.  I desire to be next to Your godly people who is not afraid to set me straight when I do venture off the main truth. May You be glorified in all aspects of my life and I realize that can only be done through my humbleness.  Thank You for a great lesson (again).  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Deprived Truth Leads to Depraved Minds

[S] 1 Timothy 6:5 --
 ⁵and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.

[O] Paul describes root motivation of those who "advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness" (v. 4) which stems from not having the truth in them in the first place while thinking they do.  To me this is like hydrating our body -- if we don't drink any water, then the body will eventually dry up and go into dehydration leading to death in the end.  No matter much one believes his/her body is well hydrated while not taking in any water is only fooling him/herself.  Likewise it is so critical for us to intake the truth from God in order to thrive no matter how we may "feel" on our own.  Without the truth, we have only one outcome -- depraved mind and the lifestyle following it.

[A] I saw God's grace in a new angle through this passage.  Without having His grace as the foundation of my life, I will only be trying to fill it up with my own achievements and no matter how honorable and decent they may be, it is not enough to save me from a depraved mind.  Just like how a shark will sink to the bottom of the sea if it stops moving its back fin, I must intake His good word and truth daily.  The pulling force of this society is so strong that by not doing this, I'm defaulting to giving into the depraved minds.

[P] Dear Father, although the surroundings are so dark, I'm so grateful for Your providing a way out of that and to insulate myself from that through the truth You provided for me in the Bible.  I will hold on to it daily, and pray in the spirit of truth daily.  Please show Yourself in my life not because I achieve this goal, but because my heart will be saturated by Your grace.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Authenticate the Truth

[S] Matthew 28:15 --
 ¹⁵And they took the money and did as they had been instructed; and this story was widely spread among the Jews, and is to this day.

[O] The guards agreed to spread the wrong rumor of Jesus' body being stolen by His disciples during the night by accepting the bribe money from the chief priests and elders.  The funny thing is that this rumor spread widely for a long time highlighting the fact that what goes around (the Internet these days) are not always true.  This was no secret but the point is we should always confirm and verify the source before we pass on any of the "rumors" which seemingly pass as the latest "news."

[A] In this day and age of speedy "forward" or "reply-all" to the overflowing information I need to be careful about passing on information to others such that they are accurate.  Also continue to dig into God's Word through Life Journaling such that I would extract the truth and nothing but the truth about our Heaven Father and His love and grace for us.

[P] Dear Father, You are truly my Father in Heaven and I want to stay true to Your purpose for us by passing on the truth that I extract from the Bible.  Please continue to instill in me Your wonderful news and truth.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.