Mood:  amorous

S.

Mark 11:8-10 (NKJ)

And many spread their clothes on the road, and others cut down leafy branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

Then those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord !

Blessed is the kingdom of our father David That comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!

O.

Jesus was passing by them as He arrived into the 'City of Peace'. They had to do something to honor this 'Man' who had all the characteristics of Father God. They wanted to honor the way He lived here on earth; His 'walk of life'. They could soften His way. As the Son of the Father, He needed to be honored as the Son of a King. They had to make the 'way' into their city easier; straight and without any potholes or humps in the road. Yes, they asked God to bless this Man who held God's very own characteristics, God's very own authority. "HOSANNA!, Father God, FAVOR Your Son! For we adore Him!"

And they prepared the way for Him to enter.

A.

I adore Jesus, for He has been sent by God for me. I need to prepare the way to my heart for Him. I need to remove the 'holes' of sin and the 'humps' of pride. I need to lay it all down for Him. Then I sing, "Hosanna! in the Highest!

P.

Bless my Jesus, Father! For He is just like You... He IS You! Shape my heart into the way that is easiest for Him to enter, Father.

S.

Mark 10: 8,9 (NKJ) ...and the two shall become one flesh; so that they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore (as a result) what God has joined together let not man seperate.

O.

And the union shall become the Source...the First and the Beginning...like GOD! As a result , they won't be seperated but a UNITED human nature with the same physical and moral passions. And as a result of NOT being seperated, but untied as God is, what God unites in association, companionship and in completeness, let not human being, watching from a distance, divide or put a space between them...causeing a chasm between them.

A.

God can not seperate Himself. He is ONE! And as He is one, Kim and I are to be one, like Him! We can not be ever let anyone seperate us...no space, no vacancy between us. We are to stay meshed together in one human nature and human passion and frailities in our physical and moral natures. This is the commandment of God. No man looking on us from a distance is to seperate/divide our unity. For if we are to like God, we have to be cemented in unity!

P.

Father, as You are One, make us like YOU! United forever! No voids, gaps or vacancy between Kim and me!

S.

Mark 9:50 (AMP) Salt is good (beneficial), but if salt has lost its saltiness how will you restore (the saltiness to) it? Have salt within yourselves and be at peace and live in harmony with one another.

SALT=(dict.=an ELEMENT that gives liveliness or pungency; also, to cure or preserve

SALTINESS=(dict.=flavor, saline, piquant, interest, charm, sharpness, liveliness, wittiness, coarsness; also used to spread on to melt ice)

O.

Being full of life/the Word and being excited about it, is a benefit for us, personally. But if we loose that excitement, that zest for the Word and for Jesus, who can put it back into us? We are to take the refinement of life that comes through trials and turn it into joy....a ZEST, an EXCITEMENT! That's the SALT of life! Then we are to live in harmony with each other...a salt shaker full of ZESTY salt crystals, shaken up and spilling out!

I am only one grain of salt. I can not season 'food/life' completely by myself. I need OTHERS...so we can season 'food/life' with enough 'seasoning' so that it can be 'tasted' by others. Each of us, as one single grain of salt, can fill up a salt shaker and shake out the 'seasoning' that is needed to spice up the lives of others. But it does take MANY grains of salt to do that!

A.

I am to have this 'element of saltiness', the ZEST for LIFE IN JESUS, in my mind, heart and soul. And with this 'zestiness and liveliness' in me, I am to be in one accord with OTHER ZESTY and LIVELY pieces of SALTINESS! A WHOLE salt-shaker full of ZESTY-Jesus-loving-people, full of the excitment that God has given all of us, personally! God's Word is exciting...it needs to be lived out of me that way. I need to show and live out in full view of everyone, the zestiness, liveliness and excitement of God's Word that is IN me! Then I need to keep it shaken up INSIDE of me...so that ZEST can spill OUTSIDE! I need to stand with other 'zesty-salt-crystals' in order to be effective in this way.

P.

Father, Make me a grain of zesty, lively and excitng salt for You! Put me in accord with others who are like that, Lord, so we can raise up excitment in You!

S.

Mark 8:33 (AMP) But turning around (His back to Peter), and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, "Get behind Me satan! For you do not have a mind intent on promoting ("SAVOUREST" in King James Version) what God wills, but what pleases men (you are not on God's side, but that of men"). 

O.

Savor=(dict.)to perceive by tasste or smell, especially with relish; the power to excite or interest.

Jesus was telling Peter that he did not use his personal power to excite or raise up interest in himself about God's will. Peter didn't relish the will of God-he relished and was interested in man's will.

A.

I need to excite, become interested and savor, GOD'S will over man's will or even my own will. I need to continually pray for wisdom and knowledge in God's will-knowing that His will is the BEST for me and over any other creation...to KNOW THAT, RELISH that and be EXCITED about that in the way that it excites others. Even in times of trials and aching too much on the inside, I need to still SAVOR God's will for me. God's will WILL happen. Man can never stop God's will. It's for His glory alone!

P.

Father, In Your will, make me strong. In my will, make me weak. Keep my eyes and heart only focused on what YOU want, Lord.

S.

Numbers 25:11, 12 (AMP) Phinehas, the son of Eleazor, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned My wrath away from the Israelites, in that he was jealous with My jealousy. Therefore, I say, Behold, I give to Phinehas, the priest, My covenant of peace. 

O.

Proverbs 16:17 says, "When a mans ways pleases the Lord, He makes even his enemies he at peace with him."

The one who se countenance is trusted and who builds God's help and who teaches us to shine for God, is the one who turns God's anger away from those who prevail with God. This person is jealous, envious and covetous FOR God as God is jealous, enveous and coveteous for US. God is powerful and wants us SO bad that His power would use us up...even destroy us, if it wasn't for us desiring Him back. As a result, BE ALERT! God gives us a trusting character in order to receive the promise of peace.

A.

If we are jealous for what God is jealous for, the result is God's promise of peace. What is God jeaous for? That we would put God as #1 in our lives. We are to be alert to this. God hates sin and hates us putting anything in front of Him. He wants us intimately. Nothing put before Him. If we are jealous for Him in this way, then God brings us a covenant of peace, even from our enemies because we will have pleased Him (Prov. 16:7)

P.

Father, I pray for your kind of jealousy. I pray that You would create a warning for me, that if I attempt to put something or someone in front of You, that all the bells, sirens and whistles would go off...and I would set things in the proper order. Thank You for the promise of peace, Father. I'LL TAKE IT!

“A DONKEY’S POINT OF VIEW (BALAAM’S STORY)”

(NUMBERS 22:20-34)

    She winced as the staff came down once again on her my back. There was nothing to do but prepare for the next blow. Over and over she braced herself for each new strike.

    “What did I do to anger Master so?”  She asked herself. “There was no where to go so I had to lie down.”

                  *******************************************************

   It had only been this morning that she had been chosen to take Balaam on this most important trip. Moab would be their destination, a place she had heard other donkeys talk about out in the pasture.

    She tried to contain her excitement, her feet shuffling in the dust as the servant adjusted the striped blanket her back. Master was allowing her to take him on his important trip to Moab. She knew it was important because all the donkeys, having come with these many men, were of the best upbringing. Unlike her, they had been trained for carrying royalty and their luggage.

   Long fuzzy ears and a soft black nose centered in a patch of white fur, were some of her best features. Her long eyelashes framed her eyes as if with eyeliner, completing her sweet face. Her plush coat had been made ready for her master to stroke. She was a handsome donkey, indeed.

   Their journey began. Master Balaam, perched on her back, chattered to whom ever he would, the important men riding their donkeys behind us. Master seemed very pleased to be going.

    She, contented because Master was comfortable, stepped gingerly so as to not jar him. Her joy was in pleasing Master.

    Hours passed by, almost boring, until they rounded a crook in the road. There before her stood the most beautiful Man she’d ever seen; His clothes, a bright, shining white; His face gentle, but determined; a sword held in His hand.

    He would not move from before her. She had to move around Him or risk dumping her Master in the dirt. She, protecting her Master from either a collision or a fall, quickly side-stepped into the field that skirted the road.

    Master didn’t seem to realize that she had protected him for he began to strike her with his staff. She veered back onto the road. In wanting to please her Master, she had just missed colliding into the Beautiful Man.

    “Master must have thought that I wanted to stop and eat,” She thought to herself. “I don’t want him to think I’m selfish. I’ll walk even more careful now, and show him I’m taking good care of him.”

    More hours passed by, almost boring, until the road, hedged in by short walls, led them passed beautiful vineyards; vines laden with luscious, purple grapes.

    The Beautiful Man appeared suddenly before them once again. This time there would be no room to get off the road. This time she would need to squeeze between the Beautiful Man and the wall.

    The Master’s foot became wedged between her stomach and the wall.

    Master let out a scream followed by many whacks on her rump with his staff. His words sounded angry and mean. She had hurt her Master, the very thing she had tried to prevent.

    “I have to be much gentler in my gait,” she thought. “I will make this up to him. I should be protecting him and yet I’m hurting him. How could I hurt my Master like that?”

    Once again, hours passed by, almost boring, until the road began to narrow; thick bushes and piles of rock funneled the road into just a few feet wide.

    Again the Beautiful Man appeared before them, only this time He stood in the only place that could be traveled. There was no room for her to veer left or right. She couldn’t go over or under Him.

    “How do I move forward and protect my Master at the same time?” She asked herself. “I have already slowed our pace by stepping into the field. I’ve crushed his foot into a wall. How do I keep him safe now?”

    Then she knew. She would simply lie down. Master would not fall, or get crushed or hurt.

    She stopped, folded her legs under herself, and gently lay on the road, not jarring

Master one bit.

    She winced as the staff came down once again on her back. There was nothing to do but prepare for the next blow. Over and over she braced herself for each new strike.

    “What did I do to anger Master so?” She asked herself. “There was no where to go so I had to lie down.”

    Her thoughts became very loud in her head. And then she heard her voice, like that of a human’s voice. This human voice came from her very own mouth. The God that created her had released her voice so that she could defend herself.

    “What did I do to you that caused you to hit me three times?” She spoke the Master’s language.

   Then he spoke back to her in words she understood.

    “You mocked me; made fun of me; made me look the fool to these important men.” Master Balaam told her. “If I had a sword, I’d kill you right now!”

    “I’ve been your donkey, the one you’ve ridden, ever since you bought me. Have I ever done this before?” She heard her human-voice say. “It’s not the usual thing I do, is it?”

    “No….,” Master said, as if something strange had just happened.

      Master’s eyes then grew round and large, his mouth dropping open, as he focused his attention on what was before them.

     The Beautiful Man loomed before them, the sword in His hand gleaming in the sun light. It was then that she realized Master had not been able to see The Beautiful Man until now. Master rolled off her back onto the dirt, his face to the earth.

    “Why did you hit the donkey three times?” Beautiful Man asked my Master. “I’ve come to stop you because I see you are reckless, over hasty, perverse and contrary. If it weren’t for your donkey, I would have killed you and she would have lived!”

    Master peeked up from the dirt and said, “I’ve sinned. I’ll turn around. I didn’t see you there and didn’t know you were trying to stop me.”

    Glancing over at her…his faithful, kind and merciful little donkey…Master smiled an apology, holding back fearful tears.

    “Go on with these men and do ONLY what I say, just as God told you before,” Beautiful Man said sternly.

    Master Balaam went on to do as God said; to bless Israel and not curse them.

    If not for the little donkey, Balaam would have been slain by the Beautiful Man before he could have completed his assignment. Little donkey saved her Master's life.

    God had opened Balaam's eyes to see how his little donkey had patiently brought him to where God wanted him to be. She had seen what he hadn't, and with loving care and a heart of a servant, she had protected him, even though he hurt her.

    I believe God opened both their eyes to see Jesus the Deliverer; the Beautiful Man.

I also believe that the kind and merciful, the ones with servant hearts, see Jesus first and hear Him loudest...even if they are little donkeys.

Mood:  energetic

S.

Mark 6:1 (NKJ)

Then He went out from there and came to His own country, and His disciples followed Him.

O.

Jesus had just come from the place 'by the sea' (Mark 5:21) and into His native country.(His Father's Country, His 'Fatherland', The Kingdom of God) . He had come out of the places 'by the sea'; unsettled places, places unstable in nature, a place of chaotic existance, places that hold the turmoil of human life...all traits of 'the sea'. Jesus came into God's country...the spiritual Kingdom of God. Jesus' students/disciples, united with Him 'on the way'. They joined Jesus by uniting with His same walk of life. And in uniting with Him, they became PARALLEL to Him; united with Him as His ATTENDANTS.

PARALLEL=(Webster's American Family Dictionary) Having the same direction in nature, tendency or course; Anything comparable in nature, tendency or course; Identical in essential respects.

ATTEND=(Webster's American Family Dictionary) To take care of; minister to; to serve; guard; listen to; give heed; apply oneself; pay attention to; observe; watch alertly; be present; to wait; to be ready to serve; to follow.

A.

I, as a student of Jesus, am to PARALLEL my life to His while ATTENDING Him on this Earth. I am to come out of the unsettled places, the turmoil of human life, because Jesus didn't walk there...He "WENT OUT FROM THERE"! I am to parallel my walk with Jesus' walk of life. And He walked in His own country while here on the Earth; He walked in THE FATHER'S LAND while still on this Earth!

P.

Father, I desire to walk this Earth as Your Son did, attending YOU and paralleling what Your Son did! Show me that path, Father, that I may always walk in Your ways, with Your desires in my heart!

Mood:  energetic

S.

37 And He permitted no one to follow Him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James.

40 And they ridiculed Him. But when He had put them all outside, He took the father and the mother of the child, and those who were with Him, and entered where the child was lying.

O.

Jesus only allowed these in the room with the sick little girl in order that she would come to life: Peter, James, John, her father and her mother. Why? Because they carried all the traits that are needed to bring life.

Peter='a piece of the Rock'

James=' the supplanter' or 'to exchange one thing for another BY FORCE'

John='Jehovah is a Gracious Giver'

Father='Generator, Originator, Transmitter, Author of a family'

Mother='The Source'

To bring a new life back from death, a piece of the 'Source and Generator of life',THE Rock/God, is needed.

 It has to be taken by force; exchanging the life that Jesus has given us for the death that satan had given us.

God's grace/lovingkindness to save us brings us back to spiritual life.

We go straight to the Source of life; our Father God!

A.

I desire a full spiritual life, full and running over with Holy Spirit's energy. God has given us the Source of this life; Jesus! I claim full spiritual life, the life and living that can only come through Jesus as Lord of Life!

P.

Father, Thank You for bringing the Life we so needed! Thank You for sacrificing Him so that WE could live! You, Father, are the source to all life, physically and spiritually! Help me to live fully in Your gift of life!

Mood:  amorous

S.Mark 4:11,12,34 (AMP) 11. And He said to them, To you has been entrusted the mystery of the kingdom of God [that is, the secret counsels of God which are hidden from the ungodly]; but for those outside [of our circle] everything becomes a parable,12. In order that they may [indeed] look and look but not see and perceive, and may hear and hear but not grasp and comprehend, lest haply they should turn again, and it [their willful rejection of the truth] should be forgiven them.

34. He did not tell them anything without a parable; but privately to His disciples (those who were peculiarly His own) He explained everything [fully].

O.

What Jesus is saying here is that those that believe in Him and have an intimate realtionship with Him will know the hidden things of the Kingdom of God. But the 'strangers' to God's territory are told only comparrisons/illustrations of God's Territory so as to not to truly understand. This is so that when they do turn from sin and back to God, their ignorance of previous sin would not be counted against them. Not knowing what is and isn't sin makes you innocent and ingnorant of that sin. Jesus was acutally protecting the pre-Believer. His compassion shows!

When Jesus is alone with His pupils/disciples, He then 'unties and loosens' the secrets behind His parables. This is why it's so important to have a close relationship...one on One...with Jesus. It's so we can know His secrets! Here is the place that He explains His Word, His reasons, and what is going on in our individual lives.

A.

The closer I get to Jesus, the more time I spend alone with Him in His Word, worshipping Him, and listening to Him in silence, the more of life's secrets He reveals to me; the 'whys' of my personal life. He shows me answers to hard life questions in His Word. He unties the secrets to my personal life and what I have to do to get through hard times. He shows me, through His Word, why certains things have happened in my past...in order to teach me to grow up. He 'loosens' the truth through His Word. He opens my spiritual eyes while we are alone together! And I always come out of the 'secret place' with My Savior with a sense of peace, wisdom and feeling loved! It's the place where my Jesus whispers in my ear what is the Truth to my personal life with Him.

P.

Thank You, Jesus, that You take the time to loosen and untie the secrets of my life. Thank You that You reveal to me that those secrets are in Your Word. Thank You for Your Wisdom and Your Holy Spirit! Stay close to me always! You make my heart sing, Lord!

S.

Mark 3:9, 10  And he spake to his disciples, that a small ship (Comes come the Greek words: to plunge or launder clothing, to wash) should wait on him because of the multitude, lest they should throng him. For he had healed many; insomuch that they pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had plagues.

O.

Even Jesus needed a seperate place from the influences of people. He told His disciples to keep one ready for Him, knowing that He would need it. This 'multitude', having many diseases, could inflict those diseases on Jesus, too (being many of the diseases were infectious). Jesus wanted that boat ready in order to seperate Himself from those infections to His body. But in the spirit, this would also be true. Jesus wanted that place of spiritual 'laundering' (small boat) to be ready so as to plunge Himself back into spiritual purity, His personal 'secret place' with God. He knew that God would keep Him cleansed and pure from any spiritual infection, but it had to be always kept ready. Jesus served these 'diseased souls' with a heart that cherished them (Greek: 'healed'=to serve as a menial attendant as if cherishing). He wanted to be among them to cherish them, but He HAD to stay cleansed Himself in order to KEEP doing that!

A.

Wherever I go and whoever I meet, I must always have a prepared place in my heart, let alone a physical 'secret place'. It has to be constantly ready, waiting and prepared, so that I can get there FAST. Here is where I seperate myself from the influences of the world. In this place, I can repent, be cleansed, be spiritually and physcially refreshed, be strengthened and re-assure. In this place I listen to hear God, once again tells me WHO I AM in HIM....created for HIS use, and cleansed!

P.

Oh, Father! I SO thank You for that 'small boat'....because it's YOUR LAP! I thank You that You are always there to take my 'I'm sorrys' and to forgive me, refresh me, and tell You that You will always love me, no matter what! I will always crawl up into Your lap, Father...for that's where I am truly who You made me to be!

ADDED THOUGHT:

Many times I've needed the 'life boat' of God's lap! There is true peace there and I crave that peace in every nook and cranny of my life!

There is much strife going on around me today. Satan tries to come into my thinking and stir up anger, offense and fear. But when I crawl up into my Daddy's lap, He tells me, "I've got it, Nancy! Just LET GO!" The more I let Him have this situation, where strife could reign, the more peace I get. "Why would my Father not use this for His good?" I ask myself. "He would never hurt me. He's in control of all that is good in my life!" The more I let go, the more I can see His plan working. And so, I allow my Father to hold me and take away the things I can not control. And I hear Him say, "TRADE YOU! You give Me this strife-full situation in exchange for My peace!"

WHAT A TRADE!