Discipleship Network Forum

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. A man found it, hid it again, then in great joy went and sold everything he owned, and bought that field.

Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for fine pearls. On finding one very valuable pearl he went away, sold everything he owned and bought it.” - YESHUA (Matt 13: 44-46)

Object of Desire

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that many do not easily discover among all the glittering diamonds in a field of dreams. In fact, people miss it because so many attractive opportunities beckon each one of us with promises of prosperity and long life. Particularly, the enemy offers a counterfeit kingdom that provides instant gratification which satiates for a moment but leads people to want more of every toy the world can offer. Solomon pleasured himself with every toy, food, wine, and women and was the richest man in his time with tons of gold, silver, precious gems, horses, camels, chariots, ships, etc.; but still, he concluded that everything is vanity and a chasing after the wind. He found out that when you chase after the wind, you will reap the whirlwind!

But if you are the man who finds the Kingdom of Heaven and it becomes the object of your greatest desire, you will give up everything you own, just to have it. Then you would be a Christian hedonist whose goal is to glorify the FATHER at all cost and enjoy His presence forever! Your greatest pleasure would not be taking pleasure for yourself but of giving pleasure to your heavenly FATHER, because you have discovered that life is not all about you, but all about YHWH.

The Merchant of Love

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for fine pearls. He is looking at you kid! As the Psalmist said,

“When I look at the heavens,

the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars that you set in place-

what are mere mortals, that you concern yourself with them;

humans, that you watch over them with such care?”

• Psalm 8:3-4

ADONAI wants a relationship with you and I and He will do anything good to court the object of His love; even sending His own SON to make the ultimate sacrifice to ransom His bride from the Kingdom of Darkness. Yes, no less than the blood of YESHUA to purchase our freedom. Remember, the Scriptures say that life is in the blood and no less than the life of GOD was shed to give us life everlasting and redeem us from the curse of Death. YESHUA gave up His home and glory in heaven for a time to become a man so He may feel all that we feel, suffer all that we may suffer and even become poor so that we can become rich. Life for life!

ADONAI is saying to you, “Set Me like a seal on your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death...no amount of water can quench love, torrents cannot drown it (Songs 8:6.7).” GOD's love is unconditional and His arm is outstretched still to those who would come and accept Him as personal GOD and Savior.

The Merchant of Love wants to buy your freedom. Would you be free?

ἄγγελος

“I will open my mouth in parables, I will say what has been hidden

since the creation of the world” - YESHUA (Matt 13:35)

Do you know that the secrets of GOD are now open to all believers? Everyday GOD sows the seed of His word into the soil of people's hearts but the question is, are we listening? Do we take it to heart? Do we believe?

In many parts of the world, the problem is not that the Gospel is not preached, but do people believe? In fact, in many instances, the devil believes GOD's word and shudder more than Christians. Why do I say that? Because the fruit of believing is living the Word.

The seed of the Word comes from GOD but we are responsible for the soil of our hearts. Our hearts must be open to nurture the seed. It must find a home so that it can germinate and sprout up and grow. If the Word finds a home, faith instantly grows. The more we think about the Word and chew on it, the more it provides nutrition to our spirit. Nutrition in terms of 'trust'. Trust that whatever GOD promised, He will do, no matter what.

The written Word of GOD is His progressive revelation to all His children. All of us should not just read it because that is not enough. We must meditate on it day and night. What does that mean? It means that whatever we read in the Word, we must think about during the day and even at night. We must have a continuous intimate conversation with the HOLY SPIRIT and ask Him about what it means and how we should apply it and to give us opportunity to do it. The Scriptures, most often, would give us a general guideline but it is the HOLY SPIRIT who will direct our path on the specifics of the Word. Now we have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit of GOD, so that we might understand the things GOD has so freely given us (1 Cor 2:12). When we dare to 'trust' the Word, the HOLY SPIRIT will create the circumstances to test that 'trust' and even provide the courage and energy as we abide in Him, so we will overcome every test.

What does it mean to 'trust' the Word? If we believe that the Word of GOD is Truth, then the Truth will set us free. GOD's word has never failed. The prophets of old often prophesied in the past tense; actually saying that it's a done deal! So if we 'trust' GOD, then His Word is true and we can speak it in confidence to become reality in our lives. Dare to read it, meditate on it, speak it and do it; then you and I will see our lives transformed.

. Do not be satisfied to just read about it. Expect the HOLY SPIRIT to talk to you. After all, if we are truly believers, we have the mind of CHRIST!

He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

ἄγγελος

“I will open my mouth in parables, I will say what has been hidden

since the creation of the world” - YESHUA (Matt 13:35)

Do you know that the secrets of GOD are now open to all believers? Everyday GOD sows the seed of His word into the soil of people's hearts but the question is, are we listening? Do we take it to heart? Do we believe?

In many parts of the world, the problem is not that the Gospel is not preached, but do people believe? In fact, in many instances, the devil believes GOD's word and shudder more than Christians. Why do I say that? Because the fruit of believing is living the Word.

The seed of the Word comes from GOD but we are responsible for the soil of our hearts. Our hearts must be open to nurture the seed. It must find a home so that it can germinate and sprout up and grow. If the Word finds a home, faith instantly grows. The more we think about the Word and chew on it, the more it provides nutrition to our spirit. Nutrition in terms of 'trust'. Trust that whatever GOD promised, He will do, no matter what.

The written Word of GOD is His progressive revelation to all His children. All of us should not just read it because that is not enough. We must meditate on it day and night. What does that mean? It means that whatever we read in the Word, we must think about during the day and even at night. We must have a continuous intimate conversation with the HOLY SPIRIT and ask Him about what it means and how we should apply it and to give us opportunity to do it. The Scriptures, most often, would give us a general guideline but it is the HOLY SPIRIT who will direct our path on the specifics of the Word. Now we have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit of GOD, so that we might understand the things GOD has so freely given us (1 Cor 2:12). When we dare to 'trust' the Word, the HOLY SPIRIT will create the circumstances to test that 'trust' and even provide the courage and energy as we abide in Him, so we will overcome every test.

What does it mean to 'trust' the Word? If we believe that the Word of GOD is Truth, then the Truth will set us free. GOD's word has never failed. The prophets of old often prophesied in the past tense; actually saying that it's a done deal! So if we 'trust' GOD, then His Word is true and we can speak it in confidence to become reality in our lives. Dare to read it, meditate on it, speak it and do it; then you and I will see our lives transformed.

. Do not be satisfied to just read about it. Expect the HOLY SPIRIT to talk to you. After all, if we are truly believers, we have the mind of CHRIST!

He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

ἄγγελος

On Gospelcoalition.org there is an article entitled "A letter to Harold Camping and those who expected Judgement Day" by Timothy Dalrymple. It is a well balanced letter and worthy reading whether affected by the prediction or not.

No, no, not meeting with the Lord although I confess it is sometimes more hurried or later in the day than I like. I'm talking about blogging. All because a friend passed along a couple of blogs by someone who's trying to post daily.

Why in the world would you want to do that? Well, the statistics that they'd already gathered about visitors to their blogs, etc was pretty interesting. Definitely up, the experiment may still be too new to say whether or not those numbers will stay up.

Think about the Apostles. Which one of them would embrace blogging? Which one would blog daily? Would you..?

Yesterday, I taught on David's escalating sin with Bathsheba. It's one of the better known stories in the Old Testament. I love it when God gives new insight (at least to me) as I study a passage I thought I knew well. I thought I'd share some of the insights from yesterday's study.

I've always read that the whole "affair" started because David was in the wrong place at the wrong time. That it was the spring, "the time when kings go off to war", but he hadn't gone (2 Sam. 11:1). A commentary I read this week pointed out that since Rabbah was under seige, David wasn't due at the battle field yet. He would have been there in time to lead his troops in capturing the city.

When David went out of the roof and spotted Bathsheba taking a bath, he hadn't started out to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was just "up on the roof". But his mistake was that he acted on the lust he had for Bathsheba.

David sent a messenger to find out who she was and discovered her military lineage: Her father Eliam was a member of David's elite troops, her grandfather Ahithophel was one of David's advisors, and her husband Uriah was a high-ranking soldier in David's army. David could have walked away, but he still wanted her.

David sent several messengers to bring her to him. She obviously didn't want to come, but he persisted. He took what he wanted and his sin escalated as he acted upon his desires. Even knowing who she was and that several people now knew what was going on, David allowed his desires to push his actions. He committed adultery.

The sin led to consequences. Bathsheba became pregnant, so David tried to create an elaborate coverup. However, Uriah was an honorable man and didn't play along. In his panic, David's sin escalated again, this time taking the life of another.

It's a common story, isn't it? How many times have we read of someone who did something unthinkable who always says, "I didn't mean for it to go that far." I wonder how many times I have said that to myself about my own actions?

2 Sam. 11:27 records that what David did had "displeased" the Lord. The word in Hebrew means "to tremble or quiver". I get "displeased" with my 7-year-old grandson when he pitches a fit. I've always felt better about using that word than saying the kid is driving me crazy. But I think our English understanding of the word discounts the passionate response God had to David's sin. God loved David. David "had the heart of God." God must have felt deep disappointment and betrayal at watching David's escalating sin. 

David could have walked away at any time and stopped the escalating desires and actions. But he didn't. He kept acting on them until he did what should have been unthinkable.

Eugene Peterson wrote a precious little book in 1987 entitled Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity. In the book, he points out that three pastoral or ministerial acts are so important, so critical, so basic, that these acts determine the shape of everything in our lives. These acts (which he describes as the angles of a triangle)––praying, reading Scriptures, and searching for spiritual direction––are quiet acts that do not call attention to themselves and are often left undone. Each is an act of attention before God. Pray is the act of bring ourselves to attention before God. Reading Scriptures is the act of giving God attention through speech and action. Spiritual direction is the act of giving attention to what God is doing in our lives and in the lives of any persons who happen to be before us at any given time. Picture a triangle. We see the triangle in it's full structure, but the angles are what makes the triangle what it really is.

In a nutshell, these acts keep us focused on God. The more we can focus our attention on Him, the less likely we will be to allow our focus to take us into sin that escalates beyond our control. Peterson's reminder for all of us is that if we work these three angles, the rest of the structure of our lives will be solid. But if the angles are left unattended, our lives can easily become a three-legged stool with a broken leg. We can become total unbalanced, unfocused, and whobbly in our faith.

The final insight from this lesson was that our vulnerability to sin impacts everyone around us . . . not only is the sin against God, but it will hurt our families, our friends, our faith communities. In David's case, it even placed the holy nation of Israel into civil war. What we do matters to God. It's that simple.

After a week that fit one of the seed groups from the parable of the sower -choked out of my morning quiet time by the "cares of the world" - I'm asking myself: Is  time with Lord more meaningful if it was a habit or not a habit?

How meaningful could/would the time be if my mind was constantly on the clock? Would it really be a time for the Lord to speak to me if after 15 minutes I said, "Ok, next item!" and moved on to something else? Is it just a justification to say that I can get the time by meditating on the hidden word when I know that meditating is going to be impacted by the day's schedule as well? Who does the weeding around here anyway?

S. D. Gordon said, "The greatest thing anyone can do for God or man is pray." Today is our National Day of Prayer. Has there ever been a greater need in our country for the body of Christ to come together to pray for our world, our nation, and our leaders?

If you've not already discovered our sister network, Pray Network, today is a great day to do that. Check it out at http://www.praynetwork.org/ and spend time today praying as a part of this national movement. 

Margie Williamson

Community Manager

It's always the thing we don't want to give up that trips us up. Ok, always, like any absolute we use so freely today, may not be quiet accurate, but it feels like always. It probably doesn't matter what the excuse is, and they like the demom at Gerasenes, are legion. In fact "but" usually is a good indicator that one of them is getting ready to speak. You know, "I'd spend more time... "but" - meet a legionaire". And, yes, I know that often we feel that we really are too busy, too committed, too something or we lack knowledge, we lack understanding, we lack something.

I don't know how we escape those "things" that often in life we allow to seem legitimate or that aren't clearly (should I keep my large SUV because it has a great safety rating, I need the space, or should I get the hybrid and have a new debt...?) answered directly in the Word. The ones we try to justify where there is some guidance although not directly addressed (overeating, buying the Lamborghini) are less justifiable. Then, there are the things that clearly are addressed but we're still unwilling to give up.

So, I've come back full circle. We have things in our lives that we hide, shelter, lie about, to protect. Like a child with forbidden candy we stubbornly try to somehow justify and hold on. I wonder if Jesus' message to Simon in Luke 7 is as pointed as it first appears, that the woman had greater sin therefore she has more to be thankful for  and will love Christ more. I also wonder if the sarcasm we can read into it, she outwardly has greater sin but you are just putting up a good front is the point. Maybe it's more a "widow's mite" lesson. Simon, you feel good because compared to others -this woman- you're not such a bad person - just a few little sins but like the widow's mite you'll have to give up relatively more than this woman because you'll have to give up all, therefore you need to love me more than she does to be willing to let go. How much do we love?

I cannot get my mind to settle this morning, to stay focused and move on. It drifts here and there, running in circles, trying to pull me away from what I'm intent on doing. Those of you who've had a dog may know the type of behaviour I'm talking about. Not playfulness, not mischeivious, but the "come, come, let me show you" - darting off, coming back, circling, darting, coming back - that leads you eventually where it wants you to be. It's always, to see, or to do.

Today, my mind will not allow me to move ahead. It circles, yelps, darts off when I try to lead it along. Moving when I force it, but always darting back toward the thing it wants me to see.

What I'd missed in yesterday's quiet time. Back to Luke 6:47, when we should have been moving ahead in chapter 7. Of course I thought, I don't need to go back there, I know that story. You know it too, lay a good foundation and you can withstand the onslaught of life. Why go back there? What was I missing?

Oh, of course, "listens to my words and puts them into practice." (Luke 6:47b NET) No, that wasn't it. I still got pulled back. What then? When I allowed it to happen, the stopping where I was led and the waiting, watching - have you ever notice how when you're waiting and watching eventually you start thinking deeply (maybe, it's just a "guy thing" - the let's get it done, move on mentality - that doesn't allow for deep thinking). No, it was the "...who dug down deep..." (Luke 6:48b NET) that I was supposed to "see".

One of the first job's I ever had was working for a small contractor and we were doing site work (moving earth, preparing the site for building) and my job was to prepare the footing trench. With a shovel. By hand. And it wasn't easy. It was "back breaking work". I went home every night exhausted, fell into bed, and slept soundly.

So, today we miss an important part of that message because we don't know or think about what those words, dug down deep, meant to early believers. Yes, hearing God's word and putting it into practice is an important part of it, but it's the hard labor of digging down deep, by hand, moving tons of earth by hand, leveling the ground, by hand, getting dirty, sweaty, exhausted, keeping at while the blisters form, pop, bleed, heal and your hands strengthen, become fit for the work they're doing - and you become skilled in weilding the word. Then you're prepared to lay a solid foundation. To build upward.

We are prayerfully working to encourage and equip the churches in Metrolina Baptist Association and other churches in the Charlotte NC area toward a more biblical, obedient model of discipleship and disciple-making.  To follow what is happening in these efforts, visit our new blog: Metrolina Discipleship

Please share with us any articles, ideas, or resources that could be posted on our blogsite.

Email any information or materials to bob@metrolina.org.

I have just begun journaling.  I read an article on journaling as you read scripture.  I am trying this.  If you have any other suggestions on how to journal, please let me know.

I read the first chapter of First Timothy (NLT).  I observed "accountabilty:"  to have a pure heart, clear conscience and sincere fath and live as God intended us to.  My favorite verse out of the chapter was:  "How thankful I am to Christ Jesus our Lord for considering me trustworthy and appointing me to serve him."  My prayer is that God finds me trustworthy.

Have a great day. Marcella Snyder

The Lord has taken me back to review the story of the twelve spies surveying the land God was giving them. I'm sure you remember the salient details - the land was awesome, the spies came back, and 10/12 made up stories about the residents being Nephilim and recommend against going forward. Only Caleb and Joshua brought the true report and recommended going forward.

As I meditated on this message I had two immediate questions:

1. WHY? Why did God even send the scouts? Why didn't he do as he had done in other occasions and simply told his people to go, that he would be with them? Of course we won't know this answer until Glory, but I this it probably has something to do with trying to develop character and backbone. Dare I say it - Spiritual Maturity.

2. Why were 10 of 12 "leaders" liars? What would cause them to return, misrepresent the facts, knowing it would mean staying in the desert? This, I think, is a little easier to comprehend. I think it's the fear factor. Fear of the unknown. Fear of making changes. Fear of disrupting "routine". They quickly learned that, while fear is a proper motivation, it is so only  when we talk about fear of the Lord. I walk away from the story fearing God more - but endeavoring to fear NOTHING or NO One else. After all, If god is with me, why should I fear?

I had decided earlier this year that I'd work through the New Testament for my quiet time, and this morning arrived at the beginning of Luke. A nice, orderly account, complied so Theophilus, and then of course we, would know exactly what went down. Maybe that introduction helped focus my attention as I started reading, but for some reason two little words stood out in Luke "can" and "will". They've got me thinking about imagineering.

We think of imagineering with Disney in front of it although it was Alcoa in the 1940's that made the word, for a time, a household phrase. Wherever it came from it's a wonderful word. It breathes creativity, the idea of stepping beyond the boundaries, of achieving so much more, imagination constantly expanding beyond itself - the thing we had as children and lost along the way. Who wasn't a super man or super woman in their childish imagination?

And God, or a least God's right hand angel Gabriel, is not happy about our lack of imagineering. If Gabriel had his way we'd all spend most of our lives silenced, not allowed to speak, muted. When Gabriel says "Shut Up!" to Zechariah he's not exclaiming incredulity - I think Gabriel would always speak what's hip to today's generation - he is literally telling Zechariah to "Zip It!!" because Zech, I'm feeling a lot of empathy for Zechariah just now, Zech has lost the ability to imagineer.

If I haven't lost you already, here's where I'm going with this. Zech says in response to Gabriel's message to him "How can this be?", opposed to Mary's response "How will this be?" Zech has lost his imagineering, he can't even conceive of the idea of conceiving. It's clear that being childless is not what they imagined when he and Elizabeth married. Now that he has the one thing they've missed in their married life offered to him he's going to squelch it with all the reasons it can't happen. He's going to turn off the very idea of it. He is going to kill it... If he keeps going, so Gabriel says "Shut Up!" and makes sure that Zech can't foul it up before it's an accomplished fact.

Mary on the other hand, her mind is already, as soon as Gabriel tells her, filled with the reality of the child she'll carry. She is asking, "How will it happen?" because she sees it already accomplished. Her imagineering is still fully functional. Gabriel clearly encourages imagineering when he reminds Mary "For nothing will be impossible with God" (Luke 1:37 NET)

Crank up your imagineering, begin again today imagining what will be possible with God! We don't need to see how it can be done, only imagine and let God create.

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in YESHUA the Messiah…” (Phil 2:5)

ADONAI ELOHIM created man in the image and likeness of GOD. When GOD created each unit of creation, He first had an idea of thought and then He spoke it out and each letter of each word embodied His mind in all its beautiful, wise and unique expression of love, holiness and perfection. The mind of GOD is embodied in each word of Scripture as recorded by the holy prophets, especially in the words and actions of His only SON, YESHUA. These words are not mere babbling of untested theories but are the substance of ADONAI’s heart and were fulfilled in action by YESHUA the Messiah.

The Scriptures encourage us to “let this mind be in you…” i.e. the mind of YESHUA the Messiah. This is the provision of ADONAI to enable each believer to walk a victorious life for the spiritual battle always starts in the mind. Man cannot act without first thinking. Some people may think that man can do things automatically but that is only because of a previous thought that formed a decision which became subconscious out of habit. As the Scripture declares, as a man thinks, so he is! Therefore, let us guard our hearts and minds with great diligence for out of it comes the issues of life.

“His divine power has bestowed on us everything necessary for life and godliness through the rich knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence. Through these things he has bestowed on us his precious and most magnificent promises, so that by means of what was promised you may become partakers of the divine nature, after escaping the worldly corruption that is produced by evil desire.” (2 Pet 1:3-4)

The Word of ADONAI is like a hedge of protection around us. As a Shepherd guards his

flock, he builds a corral that surrounds so that his sheep may not stray and become prey to wild beasts. Sometimes a sheep may wiggle out of the corral and stray, just like many of us, who, like sheep, also go astray. The Word warns us of danger and gives the Way of victory through GOD’s promises. Through these promises, we obtain the energy of GOD’s divine nature, enabling us by grace to escape and be delivered from all evil.

The key to victory, therefore, is the Word of GOD. It transforms our minds to be like the mind of YESHUA. It sanctifies our imagination so that we avoid useless carnal thoughts but picture the blessings of GOD’s promises ahead of us.

Recently, my laptop got infected by a spyware who wrecked havoc on the programs so that I could not avail of its benefits and it greatly hindered my work. But in my past studies, I remembered that this virus keeps alive by its connection with the internet. So I decided to abstain from the internet for a week and starve it. Wonder of wonders! The next time I opened my laptop, the virus was unable to protect itself from deletion at my registry. Whereas, in the past it was able to suspend my antivirus and other programs, it became helpless to my rabid attacks. There was however, one bad thing that happened. The infection left a certain confusion on my internet set up which am having a hard time fixing.

Lesson: Never let the enemy get a foothold on your mind – garbage in, garbage out. He will insinuate his way into the inner recesses of your being with his lies and pretensions disguising himself as a friend, sometimes, even as the voice of ADONAI. Guard your mind and heart with what you watch and listen to. Filter everything with the Word of GOD. The more you know the Truth, the more you avoid the lie of the enemy. Starve the enemy by giving him zero attention. Do not think his thoughts but think of the Word of GOD as it applies to your daily activity. Do not speak his words but the Word of GOD! The more time you spend in the presence of GOD, the more you starve the enemy. Do not feed him in any way!

The practice of the mind of YESHUA is the practice of the presence of GOD.

מלאך

When I started, several weeks back, to write about creation, I was pondering the darkness of the abyss before God spoke His first word of creation and sent Light to our shrouded world.  I was questioning just how long the darkness lasted, as the Spirit brooded our egg of an earth.  Walking through Holy Week, especially the Maundy Thursday service,  I was struck by Jesus' "descent into darkness" as we celebrated the Service of Shadows.  As Jesus hung on the cross, the world once more plunged into literal and figurative darkness such as had never been seen since creation and will not be again while the earth endures.  The Light was dying, and He cried out to His Father, receiving no answer.  He was left to die in darkness, to be laid behind a stone in silence, while the whole earth waited for the Word of the Lord.  Had He been stilled, once and for all, trampled under our callous feet and hardened hearts?

Then, finally, three days later, the Word burst forth, in glorious light, light enough to shine to the ends of the earth and beyond the end of time as we know it.  Hallelujah!!

Lemmings have been on my mind lately. It seems that I use to hear more about lemmings years ago. I remember my favorite teacher, Mr. T.F. Davies, telling us not to be like lemmings, blindly following a leader to our own peril and death. I could digress here and dwell on lemmings but that's not really where my mind is at this morning, it's on lemming like behavior and Joshua (1:8), another of my favorite teachers.

I've been making my way through the gospels this month and picked up at Mark 8 today. No BIG message here this morning, just a couple of passages (Mark 9:23, 24 and 9:32) that required some application of Joshua 1:8. Because Joshua 1:8 takes time I don't know yet what the Lord will "say to me" about how they apply to my life but they did get me thinking about lemmings. Or rather, the process of meditating on God's Word, got me onto lemmings... Ok, ok, where am I going with this?

The thought that, I could skip all this meditation stuff, I could just use one of the many tools available today (an app, a web site, a broadcast message, etc.) or I could just wait until my pastor preaches on it. And, that's when I thought of lemmings streaming by. Not blindly exactly, but unknowingly following the herd, and the herd somewhere ahead following a "leader". Then, as Mr Davies told us many times, it's over the cliff and drowning in the sea. A great image, one that motivated me for years to not follow the crowd. But the reality of lemming behaviour is an even more important lesson.

It seems that lemmings aren't going willy-nilly over the cliff to their deaths. Researchers now think that lemmings know they're heading into, entering, deep water. The problem is that they are strong swimmers but don't know how long they'll have to swim, how strongly they'll have to swim... It isn't getting into the water that's the problem, it's not being able to individually weigh and evaluate what getting in the water means.

And, finally, I'm back at Joshua 1:8 and why it reminds me of lemmings hurrying past. It's easy and quick to let someone else lead us to an understanding of what God is saying, how it applies to our lives. It takes time and effort to meditate on our "book of the law" so that we can "be careful to do according to all that is written in it." It's only when we find those "what do you mean?" messages and aren't afraid to apply Joshua 1:8 that we avoid being led into more than we have the ability to safely swim through. The disciples could have personally asked Christ to help them understand (Mk 9:32), we can too.

So, there I was in Mark, Chapter 4 this morning, all nice and comfortable - smug even because unlike the disciples I knew what the parables meant - even as I was about to move on to Chapter 5 I was still feeling a little superior because I could answer the question. You know the one, "Who then is this? Even the wind and sea obey him!" (Mk 4:41). Silly disciples, isn't it obvious that this is God's Son with all the power and authority of God.

But then, this little voice is going, "That's not the question Ray, that's not the question, Ray, that's..." You get the idea. What is the question in Mark 4? It's "Am I cowardly? Do I still not have faith?" Because at first that answer seems obvious, of course I have faith, faith in Chist as my Lord and Saviour. But, the voice kept asking.

So here's the question: Was Christ asking whether they had faith enough to trust that they'd get through the storm or was he asking why they didn't have faith enough to do what he'd just done and command the storm? To be or not to be? That is always the question.