Mood:  bright

S.

Matthew 14:24,25 (NKJ) But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea.

O.

In looking up the Greek meanings of most of the words in this scripture, this is how I 'decoded' the spiritual meaning to Matthew 14:24, 25:

Going through life, trying to keep it morally clean and pure, was, by this point in time, in the middle of turmoil...the mind (head winds) in turmoil, with fear of sinking under and going to the bottom of 'lifes walk'/death or depression. For the natural life was naturally combative, fighting the mental and physical pain of living. By this time, the whole world was watching to find ways to escape death, sin, shame, moral stupidity and darkness. Jesus went to them, conducting His life through 'THE WAY', a pathway ON this turmoil of human life.

A.

The whole world is searching for a "WAY" through this life to escape it's turmoil and pain! The whole world is searching for a Savior! WE, Believers, have found Him! He has shown us the 'pathway' ON this life to get us safely out of life's turmoil. He is our BRIDGE OVER LIFE! All we have to do is take His same path. He showed us how, now all we have to do is follow Him and how He lived! We can walk over the top of all life's turmoil. We can think above all the pain and confusion. We can follow the Savior, Jesus! We can TAKE HIS BRIDGE!

P.

Father, thank You for sending us Your BRIDGE...JESUS! Thank You for giving us the example we need to follow to get through this life OVER AND ABOVE the pain and turmoil of life. Help me to see Your Bridgeway, clearly. Help me to always stay in step with Your Son and walk over and above the turmoil and confusion of everyday life. Jesus, SHOW ME YOUR BRIDGE!

Mood:  lucky

S.

Matthew 13:52(NKJ) Then He said to them, Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.

O.

Jesus tells us, His students, that when we understand His parables from His Word, we show that we are the 'master of our house' who is extracting his inner treasures; what is new revelation/treasure, and what is antique/treasure. One is unused, novel and a new kind of revelation. The other is old, and well used; warn out by use in the past. We pull out from our past and present what we know from within, in order to understand what Jesus is revealing to our spirits. His Spirit touches ours, and our understanding is opened.

A.

When I go deep within myself, while I read God's Word, I can touch the places that relate to what God's Word tells me, personally. God has built in me, by experience in life and the life experiences to come, the knowledge I need to 'parallel' my life with what the Word tells me. These are old and new treasures that help me to put into use the revelations I learn from the Bible. These are the 'treasures' within...life experiences. I use these 'Word Parallels' to help me throughout my life....both what I went through in the past...and what is coming in the future.

P.

Father, I pray for new treasures in revelation of Your Word and how it relates to my personal life. I pray to understand the old past treasures, too, so that I can learn from them and not repeat what was wrong. I pray to understand and draw out from those past treasures and to parallel my life with Your Word.

Mood:  don't ask

S.

Matthew 12:33 (NKJ) Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.

O.

We each have a choice. We can either go through life, dying as worthless, or we can go through life in excellence. Each of us is dying. It's HOW we die that shows what carries us through this life. This is our character, or what lives inside of us. We are both worthless and decaying inside, or are excellent in stature and nature and building spiritual life inside. We get to choose how we die. Our choice determines our character and what is 'living' inside of us. We can die kicking and screaming, or by allowing God to put new life into our 'spirit-man'.

A.

Each of us is dying. When we were born, we started to physically die. It's HOW we die that shows what is inside of us. This shows our inner character and what REALLY is alive inside of us. If our spirit is dead, then we ARE dying. But if our spirit is living, then we are truly LIVING and living from the inside-out. This is our character. If life is inside our spirit, then we go through life knowing we aren't ever going to die.

This is what Jesus did for us on the cross. He gave us life by putting 'death of our spirit' in the grave. He was the first 'Man' to die and come to life again in His Spirit (resurrection). He paved the way for OUR spirits to follow Him. And all we have to do is BELIEVE in what He did for us. He left Holy Spirit on earth for us in order that He would teach our personal spirits/inner-men to LIVE...and HOW to live rightly!

I CHOOSE LIFE! I choose for my spirit to live even though I'm physically dying. That is what shows the 'action' of my spirit...my character. And that is the difference in a Believer in Jesus and an Unbeliever....it's all in our CHARACTER! (fruit of the spirit)

P.

Jesus, I thank You for dying for me....and showing me how to truly live. Holy Spirit, help my spirit to live fully. Teach my spirit to live the way YOU do!

Mood:  incredulous

S.

Matthew 8:8 (NKJ)  The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed.

O.

This man, who leads and guides into full measure (a captain of 100 men) those who are at his control, responded for himself, saying: "Lord, You who are my Supreme Authority, I am not ideal in design or purpose that You should think of me or reveal to MY mind ("under my roof") Your revelations, ideas, plans, imaginations or designs. But, merely make Your thoughts, ideas, purposes and designs known to me! In that way, my attendant...my mind and thoughts, will be free from errors and sins!"

A.

We Believers could be this Centurion because we ARE the captain of our thoughts...our 'attendants or servants'....all that  we 'think'. When we Believers submit our thoughts and mind (soul) to Jesus, He reveals His plans, purposes, ideas and thoughts to our minds. We can then command the 'attendants' of our minds(our thoughts) to loose us from their influence of errors and sins in our lives! With the authority of Jesus, we are made free by using our spoken words over our thoughts. Faith in the 'spoken Word of God', as the Centurion in this scripture had, sets us free. We, as Commanders, speak God's Word outloud in faith over our own thoughts and we are set free, in the name (character and likeness) of Jesus.

P.

Father, Think with my mind. I want to know Your thoughts, plans, purposes and every imagination You have for my life! Teach me Your authority by and through Your Son, Father! For I want to think like Him! Teach me YOUR thoughts, Lord!

Mood:  a-ok

S.

Matthew 7:20 (NKJ)

Wherefore by their fruits you will know them.

O. 

To draw a conclusion, you will perceive and understand them by their influence on other people.

A.

If a person causes others to act badly, then the first person has evil in them. If a person causes others to do good, then the first person has good in them.

Influence is the "the effect of one thing (or person) on another". How I effect others determines what is inside of me.

P.

Father, help me to effect others as You have effected me. Touch my spirit with Yours so as I can touch others with Your Spirit.

Mood:  bright

S.

Matthew 8:22,23 (NKJ) The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness

O.

The clarity of morality and purity is in knowledge.

As a result, if your knowledge is simple, sound, fulfilling and clear...all woven together, than you are completely full of a knowledgable and of an understanding character.

BUT if your knowledge is labored for, bringing trouble and toil, and is hurtful and causing pain, than your character is hidden in ignorance...as uneducated, unaware, and uninformed...BLIND.

As a result, if the pinpointed knowledge and understanding of moral and spiritual truth is in an instrumental and fixed position in your mind as knowledge...and is ignorant, uneducated and unaware, then that ignorance is HUGE!

A.

My mind is my soul. It is my responsibility to educate my soul with truth. This is what brings my whole character into complete soundness. If I am ignorant of truth and morality, than my soul sits in the shadows...doesn't know the Light of Truth. And if my fixed position...my stubborn thoughts....stay on what I ignorantly think is truth...but it is just a shadow of truth...than I stay in darkness...my soul stays lost...and my whole character is wrong. Only God's Light of Truth, Jesus, can educate my soul/mind to what is really true and fulfilling. Only JESUS!

P.

Father, educate my soul and mind with Your knowledge....YOUR morality! Bring my mind into YOUR education....not the world's education. Take me from ignorance into full knowledge...spirit, soul and body. Complete me, Daddy!

Mood:  amorous

S.

Psalm 34:7(MSG) His angel guards those who honor the LORD and rescues them from danger.

O.

God's own representative (angel), who is God's 'substitute' and has been empowered by God to act for Him, dwells in the environment (surrounds) those who adore Jehovah. God's 'deputy' equips and arms those who honor God and hold Him in high esteem, with all they need to be protected, defended and for fighting the 'enemy'.

A.

God's very own 'deputy' guards me. He equips me with all I need to be safe and to fight the war of the flesh. What do I need to do to receive this amazing gift? ADORE GOD! What an amazing, giving Father I have!

P.

Thank You, Father, for making it easy to love and adore You. Thank You for Your kindness and for Your ever-giving heart! I praise You, Father. Show me how to love You more. Show me how to use Your gifts for the good of humanity.

Mood:  lyrical

S.

Psalm 59:16 (NKJ) But I will sing of Your power; Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning; For You have been my defense And refuge in the day of my trouble.

O.

I will travel and sing of God's might. Yes, I will shrilly shout for joy...rejoicingin tryumph of Your goodness, kindness, faithfulness, beauty, favor, and pity. I will do this with each bright joy that comes after a night of distress. for You have been my Retreat...my Cliff that is inaccessable to those who would try to 'get' me. You have been my 'Place of Escape' so that I can just vanish away from my enemies when they would have tried to bring me into a tight, narrow, oppressive and bound place.

A.

When troubles come, I hide. But God has said that He will be my Hiding Place, my Refuge, my Retreat! When I am 'squeezed' by life and it's living, I can hide in God. He is my Place of Escape, inaccessible to those who would try to hurt me. When I hide there, I am in His arms, held in safety and given the kindness, faithfulness and caring that I need. He is my Retreat!

P.

Father, help me to always know that I can hide in You. Help me to trust in Your mercy and run to You each time that trouble knocks on my door. Thank You for BEING my Hiding Place! Be pleased, Lord, with my song to You!

Mood:  incredulous

S.

Matthew 3:8 (AMP) Bring forth fruit that is consistent with repentance [let your lives prove your change of heart];

O.

Having been warned of the 'wrath to come', the Pharasees and Saducees came to John. John told them that they needed to produce results in their lives that showed they had 'changed their minds'; the result of obeying their consciences. This would be the 'fruit' of their feeling of remorse for their sins. This 'fruit' or a 'changing of their minds' would show in the way they lived their lives.

A.

When I feel bad about something, that's my conscience telling me that something isn't right. It's then my choice to change my thinking and putting that thinking into my life's action. I need to change my thinking to what God's word says is the right thing to do. When I change my thinking, my life should change in that same direction. If it doesn't, then something isn't true...isn't right. The way I live should be the way I think. For I have the 'mind of Christ'....what could be better than to 'think like Jesus'? Allowing Jesus to have my thinking is to think 'higher thoughts' and to think righteously. This is the beginning of 'repentance' and living the way Jesus thinks. This is living and thinking the right way.

P.

Jesus, help me to think like You. Show me how to give You all my thoughts, for I am to 'have the mind of Christ'. Then help me to live my life in YOUR way, Sweet Jesus! Holy Spirit, will You help me in this? In Jesus' name I ask this.

Mood:  surprised

S.

2 Corinthians 13:5,8(NKJ) 5.Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?unless indeed you are disqualified.....

8.For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.

O.

This scripture is telling me to KNOW MYSELF and know who I am in Jesus, for He IS Truth; to be truthful to myself. I am to get to know myself, intimately and truthfully, because Jesus lives in me as Truth. To know myself truly, is to know that Jesus, the Truth, is in there!

A.

I am to scrutinise myself, looking at every minute detail, to see if I am worthy of Jesus within me. I am to search for truth and the REAL STUFF inside myself. I am to ask myself if I am allowing Jesus to do EVERYTHING deep inside of me, or am I stopping Him from the fullness of what He can do in and through me? Am I allowing TRUTH to show or am I hiding?

Am I living in full view of all eyes with nothing hidden? Am I truly full of integrity, ability and character that can be totally relied on by others?

Does God have confidence in me and can He see Truth inside of me?

Looking back over my life as I went through hard times and tests, did I come through without leaving deceit or scars? Do I SHOW everything, all truthfulness? What did I learn about myself during those times? Did I let Jesus show through me? Or did I hide Him and not allow His fullness of love and mercy and truth to show through me?

Getting to know who I am in Jesus is getting to know my ability and power through Him; His Truth. The proof is in the results of my life and my actions. The proof of who I am in Jesus is the fruit of my life and my living. TRUTH and what is truly REAL!

P.

Father, help me to know myself. Help me to see with clear vision what needs to be changed in my life. Show me the truth of me, Lord. Show me how to allow Jesus to be seen in me with nothing hidden. I pray for clear vision, Lord...with nothing hidden.