Reading Luke at Christmas, chapter 14

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear." (Verse 35 NASB)

I suppose there are occasional birth defects, but other than that, all humans are born with ears.  Two of them.  

Some may not function, children are occasionally born deaf.  

I notice that Jesus is talking not just to people with ears, but to people who have ears TO HEAR.  

I hear a lot. My ears are not as good as they were, but I still hear very well.  I hear conversations in the room.  I hear wind outside, rain on the roof, the sleeping dog on the floor breathing softly or in the kitchen lapping water.  

I hear a lot of stuff I don’t want to hear! 

I confess, sometimes I  do not have ears to hear.  Sometimes I do just as scripture warns against. “Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19 NASB) 

Sometimes I hear the words but they don’t get past my brain into my heart...I don’t have ears to hear.   Sound waves don’t benefit me one tiny bit unless I act on what they communicate.  

Luke 14 has so much rich teaching from Jesus.  Just as every other passage....

  Lord help me to purpose in my heart that I hear your words with ears that hear and a heart that is sensitive and obedient. 

Reading Luke at Christmas, chapter 13

"He went on teaching from town to village, village to town, but keeping on a steady course toward Jerusalem. " (verse 22 from The Message)

Luke told us earlier that Jesus was not just touring the country.  "...He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem." (Luke 9:51 KJV)

Jesus knew where He was to go, and He knew what lie there for Him.  He would defeat the enemy of all mankind.  "The wages of sin is death."(Romans 6:23 KJV)

Jesus paid that wage for me when He got to Jerusalem.  My fleshly body is in the process of decaying, but the newborn life within this flesh is eternal.

I don't know what that will look like.  I have some ideas in my head that play it out, but really...it doesn't matter.

I don't want to be like so many in the pages of scripture who completely missed it, because it didn't look like they expected.  I take Jesus at His Word.  He has provided a remedy for my sin.  The penalty is paid.

So, I purpose to also keep a steady course of my own.  I don't know what may lie ahead of me exactly, but I am warned that there will be difficulties.

"In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."
(John 16:33 NASB)


The sure prospect of death did not altar Jesus' course.  I purpose that stress and difficulties of my simple life do not altar my course to follow Him in obedience.

Reading Luke at Christmas, chapter 12

Reading chapter twelve, I can't even get past the first verse.



"He turned now to His disciples and warned them, "More than anything else, beware of these Pharisees and the way they pretend to be good when they aren't.  But such hypocrisy cannot be hidden forever." (verse 1 from the Living Bible)



Hypocrisy is used as an accusing excuse for lots of folks. If you can point out my error, label me a hypocrite, then somehow that makes you feel better about your own error.



Our Lord Jesus is the standard.  Not you.  Not me.  Him.

You and I will be measured against His perfect standard.  And we both come up very, very short.



When I know what is true, what I should do, and I choose not to obey.  I am in hypocrisy.

When I claim to follow Jesus, but I disobey what I know He has said.  I am in hypocrisy.

When what I do serves my purpose more than who I claim to serve.  I am in hypocrisy
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When my faith is determined by a set of rigid rules about what I think God wants, instead of worshiping and obeying God for Who He is.  I am in hypocrisy.

When what you see on the outside of my life looks much nicer than what is on the inside.  I am in hypocrisy.

I am not perfect. My behavior has often been the ammunition in someone's arsenal, damaging my witness.


I think the Pharisees were one of the very first (if not THE first) denominations.  They had lots of rules.  LOTS.  They assumed they could make enough rules and follow them closely enough, to result in righteousness.

Can't be done.

Hi, I'm Connie.  I'm a hypocrite.

I don't need rules.
I need Jesus.

Reading Luke at Christmas, chapter 11

“It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples."

 And He said to them, "When you pray, say: 

'Father, hallowed be Your name. 

Your kingdom come.

Give us each day our daily bread. '

And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

And lead us not into temptation.'" (Verses 1-4 NASB) 

Luke tells us many several times that Jesus prayed. In chapter 3, He prayed at His baptism. In chapter 5, He prayed in the wilderness. In chapter 6, He prayed before He appointed the apostles.  Jesus prayed alone, but He often prayed aloud.  People heard Him pray.  

One of my pet peeves is the complaint that prayer has been taken out of school.  It is absolute impossible to eliminate prayer....unless you never prayed to begin with.  

I wish I had better exampled prayer in my younger years.  I was a grown woman before I uttered my first prayer in someone else’s hearing.  Shackles came off that day.  

When others heard the prayers of Jesus, they recognized something, and they wanted it.   I have learned many things every single time I read again, Jesus’ lessons on prayer.  

Lord,  You are holy, I am not.  May I never dishonor or misuse Your Name. 

Make me to see when I am not cooperating with Your kingdom agenda, setting things right, restoring  what we have so marred with sin. 

I praise You for providing for my needs. I cannot store up anything that will provide for eternity.  You can and do.

My sins are many, some visible, some are only visible to You.  You see my heart and my intentions.  

Remind me and empower me to be as free with my forgiveness as I need You to be with me.  

Protect me against the enemy of my soul, do not allow me to follow after his lies, make my heart quick to hear Your warnings, and even quicker to respond in obediently turning away from evil, and toward You. 

I encourage you, if your prayer life has been muted and silenced, study the passages of scripture where Jesus taught his disciples to pray,  prayers that are recorded for us.  

He  did that for a reason.  Let’s take full advantage of it and begin bombarding heaven with our conversations with our Creator God.  

And in my opinion, break the bondage of silence, and pray out loud with others.  Just as Jesus taught us to pray, we can teach others.  

Reading Luke at Christmas, chapter 10

Mary and Martha....

We women have heard many teachings on these two gals. How timely for the Lord to have me reading this again in this busy season.
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"Martha was pulled away by all she had to do in the kitchen." (verse 40 from The Message)

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Most women at some point find themselves in that same place. Busy in the kitchen while all sorts of other things happen elsewhere. Holiday time usually means lots of food, which means lots of cooking. We eagerly look forward to seeing those who live away come home and gather around to visit. The more who gather together, the more food we prepare. And the more time we spend in the kitchen.

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Jesus came to the home of these two women. He seems to have been a close friend and I can imagine how wonderful it was to have Him in their home. Jesus probably didn't arrive by Himself. He drew crowds everywhere He went, this would have been no different.

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I imagine myself in that position. Jesus coming. What could I serve Him? I wonder if He likes Pecan Pie or Pumpkin best? Turkey or Ham? How many might be with Him? Will I have enough? Can I afford to purchase more food or better food? When did I last wash those sheets on the guest bed?

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And Mary...there she is in the other room, where the men are, sitting right at His feet. Listening. With all this work to do....

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"Mary... sat before the Master, hanging on every word He said.." (verse 39 from The Message)
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Martha would hang on His every word too. She was just as interested in what Jesus had to say as Mary was. But she was doing what she was 'supposed' to do.
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Much has been said about what women should and should not do. Scripture itself does as much. At this reading, I praise God for Luke's record of Jesus giving Mary a pass on letting go of all that custom expected. He did not just accept and include Mary, but defended her choice.
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I purpose to be a balanced mix of these two women.

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As this busy Christmas season approaches, I challenge all of us gals to feed our families, decorate our homes, and all the other traditional activities we do....but not at the expense of spending moments together.

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And certainly not at the expense of celebrating the very reason for the season.

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Reading Luke at Christmas, chapter 9

I am late writing my essay on Luke 9 today.  I spent the day traveling to and from Little Rock, Arkansas to the Ronald McDonald House.  A group I was with delivered toys and furnished the noon meal for those who are being housed there as they have children across the street in the hospital.

Reading one of the reference books that I often use breaks down the chapter like this:
Verses 1-6 Christ calls us and equips us
Verses 7-17 Christ enables us
Verses 18-36 Christ encourages us
Verses 37-62 Christ endures us


Christ commissions us just as He did these twelve men. Just as he promised to provide for every need, so He will provide for ours.  And sometimes, like today, it is ME that is the vessel to provide to that one in need.

“As the day declined, the Twelve said, "Dismiss the crowd so they can go to the farms or villages around here and get a room for the night and a bite to eat. We're out in the middle of nowhere."

"You feed them," Jesus said. They said, "We couldn't scrape up more than five loaves of bread and a couple of fish—unless, of course, you want us to go to town ourselves and buy food for everybody."

 (There were more than five thousand people in the crowd.) But he went ahead and directed his disciples, "Sit them down in groups of about fifty."

They did what he said...( verses 11-15 from The Message) 

Today, there weren’t 5000 people in The Ronald McDonald House.   And we fed pizza, not fish.  But I am reminded as I read Luke’s account in chapter 9, that practical ordinary needs are important to Jesus, and He wills that those needs be met.  

“But He said to them, "You give them something to eat!" (Verse 13) 

The need was seen, the command was given, and even though they didn’t have the visible resources, they followed Jesus’ instructions and watched as what little they had was multiplied.  

 

Today, as we began pulling the sacks of toys out of the back of the church van, I think Jesus may have again did what He did with the fish.   The staff there wanted a picture of us with the toys we brought, and it was incredible to see them all displayed.  

Experiences like today are faith building for me.  I see where someone has heard the call, seen the need, acted in trustful obedience, and in this one small thing, perhaps Jesus has not been just bearing us, but smiling down His blessings.  

The group today traveled in a Methodist church van. Some or our group attend there.  Others do not. I know from life experiences that some church groups will not work together with other groups. Labels seem to be so important.  We didn’t start that trend....

“John spoke up, "Master, we saw a man using your name to expel demons and we stopped him because he wasn't of our group."

Jesus said, "Don't stop him. If he's not an enemy, he's an ally." (verses 49-50)

Let us purpose ourselves to share Jesus’ open-armed attitude with those who might be outside our group. 

Lord Jesus, help us to hear and respond to Your call on our lives.  Give us extra measures of faith to trust that you will provide what is needed and even beyond.  And Lord, give us grace to join hands with all others that You might use, even when they wear a different label or look and act in some way different than us.  

We who wear Your Name are all Your children. You have purpose for every single one of us.  Whether we look alike or not. 

Reading Luke at Christmas, chapter 8

 “One day Jesus said to his disciples, "Let's go over to the other side of the lake." So they got into a boat and left.

As they sailed, Jesus fell asleep. A storm came down on the lake. It was so bad that the boat was about to sink. They were in great danger.

The disciples went and woke Jesus up. They said, "Master! Master! We're going to drown!" He got up and ordered the wind and the huge waves to stop. The storm quieted down. It was completely calm.

 "Where is your faith?" he asked his disciples. They were amazed and full of fear. They asked one another, "Who is this? He commands even the winds and the waves, and they obey him." (Luke 8:22-25 NASB)

Chapter 8 has much wonderful teaching, but this passage has always been one of my favorite passages of scripture.   

Many many times I’ve been in the middle of a storm of life and cried out to Jesus, questioning why He has not come quicker to my aid.  So often I have asked if He even knew what was happening.   “Do You hear?” 

Once, while camping, we watched a water spout coming across the lake headed straight at our little camper.   Immediately, this scripture came to my mind and I began to sing to myself ...

“The winds and the waves shall obey Thy will.  Peace, be still....

Whether the wrath of the storm-tossed sea
Or demons, or men, or whatever it be
No water can swallow the ship where lies
The Master of ocean and earth and sky...

They all shall sweetly obey thy will
Peace, peace, be still.”

Whether it is danger from a storm of nature, or the storms that we all go thru is different areas of life....Jesus has the authority and power to speak, and calm them.  


I purpose to call out to Him each time, and be steadfast in faith that He WILL take care of my storm.