John 6:15 “When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.”

Jesus “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin”, Hebrews 4:15. The temptation for Jesus to submit to the crowd and exalt Himself must have been there but He didn’t respond to it. He came to do the Father’s will and not His own will, John 6:38. He immediately withdrew from everyone and spent all night in prayer with His Father. Prolonged prayer is an antidote for the temptation of pride and will work a God-type of humility in your life.

There are false religions that preach a denial of self. We need to be not just dead to self, but alive to God. A focus on the denial of self without the enthronement of Christ leads to legalism. True humility is not a debasing of self, or a hatred of self, or our accomplishments. It is simply an awareness that all that we have and are is a gift of God. Therefore, only a person who acknowledges God can operate in true humility.

John 6:9 “There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?”

Notice that Jesus didn’t just turn some of the stones into bread, as Satan had tempted Him to do in Luke 4:3. We find only one instance in scripture where God created a supply to meet a need, Numbers 11:21-23. Usually, the Lord simply blesses what we set our hand to do. The resources were totally inadequate to meet the need in this instance, but when the Lord blessed it, there was more than enough.

Instead of remembering the previous miracle, they acted like they had never seen Jesus feed the multitude and they looked at their own resources again, Matthew 15:32; Mark. 8:1. Likewise, we all too often try everything we can do first and forget God’s supernatural power until all we can do is pray. Many people have missed their miracle because they never took that first step of faith and used what they had. This young lad was certainly credited with part of this miracle for offering what he had. When in need, we should seek God’s direction for something to set our hand to, and then trust Him to bless it and multiply the results of our work.

 Matthew 10:33 “But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.”

This word “deny” can mean a variety of things from as little as “to assert the contrary of” to “to disavow; disown.” For example, we can see that it must have been the lesser type of denial which was committed by Peter because God certainly forgave Peter’s sin and continued using him. In Hebrews 6:4-6, the Lord states that there is no repentance from total denial of the Lord, Hebrews 10:29. Therefore, even though Peter denied (asserted he did not know) the Lord, he did not disown or disavow the Lord.

Many people have been tormented by fear in thinking that they have denied the Lord because of some type of sin in their life. However, God looks on the heart, 1 Samuel 16:7 and, regardless of how offensive our actions or words might be, if there is still a place in our hearts where we honor Him, He will not deny us, 2 Timothy 2:12-13.

Matthew 9:18 “While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.”

Jesus could have healed this girl by His spoken word, but He did as He was requested to do. This illustrates how the Lord ministers to us according to our faith. Jesus ministered to him at the level where his faith was and didn’t rebuke his little faith, James 1:6.

There is a human faith which is limited to believing only what we can perceive through our five senses. But the supernatural, God kind of faith goes beyond what we can see, taste, hear, smell, and feel. God’s kind of faith calls those things which be not as though they already were.

We exercise faith almost daily in such things as sitting on a chair and driving a car. But our faith is no better than the object in which it is placed. If I were to sit in a chair made of cardboard, I would go crashing to the ground. Regardless of how much faith I had, my faith would fall flat because the object of my faith was faulty. Hebrews 12:2, tells us that we are to be “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;” We must transfer our faith from human self reliance and independence, to reliance upon, adherence to, and trust upon Jesus Christ in all areas of our lives. Faith, in its simplest definition, is to trust, to rely, and to depend upon the resource of another. God’s Word declares that the object of our faith, Jesus Christ, can never fail or disappoint us.

Love produces faith, or is what makes faith work. We naturally trust those who we know truly love us. A revelation of God’s unconditional love for us will make faith just naturally abound in us. Are you struggling with faith? You have a deficiency in understanding how much God loves you. Let Him reveal His love to you today.

Mark 5:19 “Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.”

One of the ways God’s goodness is revealed is through His mercy. We may describe mercy as “the readiness of God to relieve the misery of fallen creatures.” Many times, mercy is called compassion or lovingkindness. It is expressed toward the sinner because of the misery that sin has brought upon him.

Even when we were spiritually dead because of our sins, God’s forbearance was working on our behalf. He was tolerant, patient and kind towards us. God abounded in excessive proportion with good will, compassion, and desire to help us. His disposition was kind, compassionate, and forgiving in His treatment of us. He wanted in abundant supply to alleviate our distress and bring relief from our sins. He did this by giving us life in place of death. It was with Christ that this salvation was secured. By grace, kindness, and favor we are saved. All of this was the result of God’s extremely large degree of love wherewith He loved us, always seeking the welfare and betterment of us. God likes us.

 Mark 4:41 “And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

When God created this physical world and all of its inhabitants, He gave mankind authority to rule and subdue His creation. Although God still owned the universe and all that was in it, He gave control of the earth to man.

This is radically different from the way so called “great men” present themselves. The Roman Caesar of Jesus’ day proclaimed that he was God and demanded worship. Lesser leaders ruled by exalting themselves over the people they governed. But, Jesus showed us that “… whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many”, Matthew 20:26-28.

 Matthew 12:50 “For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

We are not just heirs, we are joint-heirs with Christ. It would be wonderful to inherit any amount of God’s glory and power. But, the idea that we share equally with the one who has inherited everything God is and has is beyond comprehension. This is an awesome blessing, but it also places a tremendous responsibility on us.

The way we place our endorsement on the check is to believe what God promised in His Word and act on it as if it were true. IT IS! Jesus has already signed His name to every promise in the Word. We aren’t waiting for Him. He is waiting for us.

 Matthew 13:44 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.”

The interpretation of this parable is this: the field is the world, the man buying the treasure is God, the treasure is the true believers in Christ. The price that was paid was the very life of Jesus on the cross. Jesus saw, through His foreknowledge, a remnant of people who would receive Him as Lord, and “for the joy that was set before him,” He endured the cross, Hebrews 12:2, and purchased us unto Himself with His own blood, Acts 20:28. He purchased the whole world, but not everyone will receive what He did. Therefore, the Church is hidden (scattered among the world) today.

God knows in advance those who will accept His offer of salvation. The Scriptures teach that we (believers) were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, Ephesians 1:4. That’s how infinite God’s ability is. We were chosen in Christ before the world began. We are holy and without blame because God sees us through Christ. It was predetermined that we would be God’s children. We have been accepted by God. The Father would no more reject us than He would reject Jesus, because we are accepted by the Father through Christ. We are redeemed and forgiven. We are truly blessed!

 Mark 4:21 “And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick?”

 Just as a candle or lamp is not to be hid, but rather displayed so that everyone can benefit from its light, so a Christian must let his light so shine before men that they might see his good works and glorify his Father which is in heaven. God has ordained us to go and bring forth fruit, John 15:16. The great commission of the Church is to reach the world.

Today, much of the emphasis of the Church is placed on techniques of evangelism or spiritual warfare. We motivate people to witness through feelings of guilt or punishment if they don’t. Much of our evangelism has become as dead and non-productive as the efforts of the cults whose people knock on doors and argue others into their way of thinking. The Church today needs a revival of our personal relationship with the Lord. When we can truly say with Paul that the love of Christ constrains us, then we will impact our world for the Lord, too. We can’t give away what we don’t possess. We need to personally know the love of Christ in an experiential way before we try to share it with others. Let Him love you, and let His love flow through you to others. The world is hungry for love, real love.

 Luke 8:14 “And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.”

This third type of ground is characteristic of a large part of the Body of Christ today. These are people who have received God’s Word, committed themselves to it to the degree that they are able to remain faithful in persecution, but because of being occupied with the affairs of this life, the Word sown in their heart is choked and no fruit is produced. Just as weeds in a garden will steal all of the nutrients and starve the plant, so the pleasures of this life, if we allow them to dominate our thinking, will stop the fruit that the Word would have produced.

Notice Jesus said that no fruit was brought to perfection. This type of person will exhibit some fruit, but it will always be small and far short of what it should be. Do you feel frustrated because you are just getting by and are not really experiencing the abundant life that Jesus came to give? John 10:10 Examine your lifestyle and see if the cares of this life, deceitfulness of riches, or pleasures of this life could be choking God’s Word.