While obedience gives us the opportunity to remain in a right relationship with the Father, we need intimacy with Christ to stay in tune with Him. If we are only obedient without developing our intimacy, we become religious and dry in our relationship to the Lord.

Showy prayers are not intimacy

But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Matthew 6:6-7

Jesus taught His disciples how to pray. Before He shared what we call the “the model prayer” with His disciples, He spoke about the manner and the attitude of prayer. He told His disciples that prayer is not a show to be advertised in public.

Just as our intimate times with our loved ones are not blasted to the world, our intimacy with the Lord is to stay hidden from the public eye. Furthermore, Jesus told His disciples not to pray mindlessly. Some use scripted prayers that they repeat without their spirit being engaged in it.  It is not the repetition or the length of the prayer that makes it meaningful. We just need to talk naturally to the Lord and share from our heart. 

Intimacy requires time and conversation

 We see Jesus’ intimacy through his prayer time.

Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed. Mark 1:35 

Jesus made time for God regularly. Before the demands of the day, He got up early to spend time with the Lord. If anyone had the excuse not to spend this time with the Lord, it would have been Jesus. He came from the Father, and He knew the Father very well. However, Jesus was never presumptuous in his relationship to the Father. He stayed connected and humble. He chose to use His authority for the benefit of others not for His own benefit. He was so secure in His relationship to the Father that it kept Him full not needing man’s attention. 

For a Christian, prayer should be a two-way communication with the Father. That means we pray with the intent of listening to the Father. God hears our prayers, but do we listen to hear what He has to say to us?  If we are doing all the talking, how is He going to have opportunity to touch us, share His heart, or give us an insight?

I will continue with this subject in the next devotional. 

Is your relationship with Jesus based on intimacy or obedience? Our relationship should include both intimacy and obedience. There are times that we feel intimate, so we assume that we are obedient. At other times we measure our intimacy with our obedience. Intimacy and obedience go hand in hand, and the health of our relationship with Jesus requires both.

What kind of obedience is Jesus looking for?

“If you love Me, keep My commandments”. John 14:15

Jesus told His disciples that they cannot claim they love Him if they are not following His commandments. Just because we get emotional or we cry, it does not mean that we are obedient to God. Our obedience should impact every area of our lives. There are Christians with strong emotions or artistic gifts who can express their love for God through worship, music, or dance, but they cannot show up on time to work or be reliable. They do the work they like to do but not the work they are not as interested in. God expects us to obey Him and be faithful people. Our consistency shows our love towards God. Obedience to Him is following Him on a narrow path and not everyone is interested to be on that path!

Furthermore, Jesus gave His disciples the Great Commission by stating:

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.  He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.  And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; Mark 16:15-17

While salvation is free, we have a responsibility with this gift.  Jesus expects us to reach others with the same message that we have received. The Great Commission shows clearly that God has work for all of us to do. Therefore, obedience is necessary to follow His Commission.

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ Matthew 7:21-23

On the other hand, Jesus is not impressed by our activities apart from having intimate knowledge of Him. The word “know” in the above scripture comes from Greek (ginosko), which means intimate knowledge of someone. These individuals used their spiritual gifts to prophesy and cast out demons, but they did not know Jesus. Somehow, they were busy doing so called “spiritual work”, but they missed the master of the work. It is interesting that Jesus counted their actions as lawlessness because those actions were not birth out of a relationship with Him. They were only motivated by fleshly desires to be seen and to be impressive. 

I will continue with this subject and share about our intimacy with Jesus in the next devotional. 

In every relationship, it takes time and effort to develop a healthy and growing relationship. We need to give each other time and attention to keep a relationship alive and flourishing.

Time and effort also holds true in our relationship with Christ. The difference in this relationship is that God has made Himself always available. Therefore, any struggle in this relationship is due to the lack of investment of our time in the relationship. Furthermore, the relationship is not between equals. We are under his guidance and rulership. Our relationship with the Lord grows through obedience as well as intimacy. This is the part that causes confusion for some of us.

In terms of obedience, Jesus set the example when he told His disciples the following:

Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. John 5:19

Jesus came to this world with the goal of doing the will of the Father. He did not do anything on His own volition. He was not presumptuous to think that God would bless anything He did based on Jesus’ relationship with Him.  This was evident when the devil tried to tempt Him. How did He know what the Lord desired for Him to do? It had to do with His level of intimacy.

For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. John 5:20

In verse 19, Jesus’ obedience is apparent, and this verse (20), shows that God kept revealing His will to Him. Jesus’  relationship to God was an intimate relationship that was filled with revelation of God’s heart. His obedience caused Jesus to be intimate with God, and in turn His intimacy allowed Him to know the will of the Father and obey His will.

Some of us have a tendency to rely on our intimacy with God while others rely on their obedience. The truth is that one cannot be done in exclusion of the other.

I will continue with this subject in the next devotional. 

Good Friday marks the day that Jesus went to the Cross for the sin of humanity. I invite you, in the next couple of days, to spend sometime before the Lord and meditate on His sacrifice for us. John 18 and 19 show us Jesus’ march towards the Cross. In this devotional, I point out two passages from these readings for self-examination and meditation. However, there are many passages that the Holy Spirit can use as He speaks to you about Jesus’ sacrifice. 

Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?”  Jesus answered him, “Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?”  Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?”  Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.” John 18:33-36

The question, “Are you the King of the Jews?”, can be asked with varied tones for different reasons. The Magi came from a great distance to find the King! Others came hungry and thirsty for the truth seeking to find the Messiah. Nicodemus came in the night to find out more about this teacher. He was not content with other people’s report about Jesus, but he wanted to know the truth for himself. On the other hand, Pilate did not care about Jesus’ identity. He only cared about his political ambitions and was trying to find out what the Jewish leaders had against Jesus. Pilate was not hungry spiritually!

Jesus ceased the moment and asked the most important question in Pilate’s life, “Are you speaking for yourself…?”,  in regards to His identity. This was an opportunity for Pilate to slow down and examine his beliefs, but he missed it. Pilate was only repeating what he had heard from others. Do you speak about Jesus from your own convictions? Or is it something you have heard from others?

Sometimes, we can be guilty of being parrot-like, and we repeat what we have heard from others without examining our own convictions about the truth. Some Christians are part of a system, that expects the right answers, so they acquiesce to what others expect of them. At times, we expect our children to be programmed and to only speak the right things.  Does this mean that our children really believe the truth? 

Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?”Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”  Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no fault in Him at all. John 18:36-37

Finally, Pilate asks Jesus, “What is truth?” That is the crux of the issue. We are in a age that many people do not believe in universal truth. They believe truth to be the figment of one’s imagination. What is truth? What does truth mean to you? Does your truth line up with the Bible or do you try to fit the Bible to align with your views? Do you believe Jesus is the truth? How does truth change the way you live your life? Did you learn the truth from others or do you have your own personal experience with the truth? Is Jesus your King? 

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him,  Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?” John 13:1-6

While Palm Sunday may have excited Jesus’ disciples, Jesus knew the hardest work was still before Him. The triumphant entry into Jerusalem did not distract Jesus from marching forward towards the Cross. He knew His time on earth was near the end, so He shared with His disciples His final words and desires in the last week He had with them.

One evening following their dinner, Jesus began to wash the disciples’ feet. In spite of being considered the King of the Jews, Jesus was showing once again that the rules of engagement in the Kingdom of God are very different than the world’s system. While He was considered the prophet, rabbi, and the Christ, He served His disciples. He serve them instead of expecting to be served by them.

Jesus washed the disciples’ feet in spite of knowing that Judas was going to be betray Him. He certainly wasn’t condoning Judas’ behavior, but He didn’t allow Judas’ actions, to stop Him from doing the work of His ministry.

Washing other’s feet is forgiving their ugly side. Washing other’s feet is restraining from exposing their flaws to others. Washing other’s feet is declaring, “Lord I want to decrease, so you can increase in my life!”

Are you able to serve those who have ill thoughts about you? Are you able to love those who have been unlovable towards you? Do you allow other people’s attitude to choke your love and your generosity towards them?

By His example, Jesus showed that the higher God takes us, the more humble we need to become. In addition, we need to serve others with the grace God has given to us not just with our emotions. Others need to see the love of God even when they don’t deserve it. The power of love is the only hope for transformation. Praise God that Jesus did not back down from His march towards the Cross.

They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David!
‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ Hosanna in the highest!”

And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?”  So the multitudes said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.” Matthew 21:7-11

Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and multitudes honored Him. They cried out His name and spoke of the prophetic word given centuries prior about the coming of Christ. In terms of Jesus’ ministry, this was possibly the most popular time in His ministry. In the natural, it would have been easy for Jesus to get distracted by the popularity. As a matter of fact, the triumphant entry may have raised disciples’ expectations about Jesus’ kingdom.  

We can also get easily distracted by popularity. If we focus on being popular, it will compel us to do things to just get attention. We cannot let popularity take the place of our identity in Christ. Otherwise, we will begin to make compromises to remain popular. 

Nowadays, the social media gives us an avenue to measure our popularity by the number people who like our posts. Some of us cannot put our phone down for more than few minutes at a time before we need a reassurance from our FB friends. We need to hear their complements and flattery.

Jesus knew behind all the song and dance, the people were not supportive of His true mission and had a false expectations of Him. False expectations lead people to disillusionment, and disillusionment leads to betrayal. 

Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. John 2:23-25

If Jesus had focused on popularity, He would have been disillusioned by people’s rejection. However, Jesus was prepared for the moment of his betrayal because He knew man’s fickle nature. 

Palm Sunday is a reminder of Jesus’ march towards the cross and a warning of man’s temperamental attitude towards Him. Let’s thank Jesus for His commitment to be our Savior. 

Jesus asked his disciples a very important question, and Peter seemed to be the only one courageous enough to speak up and answer this critical question.

When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”  So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”  He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”  Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. Matthew 16:13-18

There were many opinions about Jesus. Some considered him a Jewish Rabbi, and others saw him as their healer. The religious people saw Him as one having demons and were offended by him.  Therefore, Jesus asked His disciples about their understanding of Him. Jesus was not looking for admiration or a pat on the back.  He was testing them like a teacher tests his/her students. He was evaluating their understanding based on everything that they had learned and observed. 

Peter accurately proclaimed that Jesus was the Christ and that he was the son of the living God. He had the right answer, but He still didn’t understand what it meant for Jesus to be the Christ. He had his own ideas of Christ that were religious and cultural, but they were not the complete truth. This was clear when Jesus declared the following:

From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and He was going to be killed and then be raised on the third day. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” Matthew 16:21-23

When Jesus told His disciples about his death and resurrection on the third day, Peter was quick to rebuke Him. If Peter really believed that Jesus was the son of God, don’t you think he would have refrained from rebuking the son of God!? Then Peter went on to tell Jesus that this was not going to happen to him! While Peter was accurate in calling Jesus the Christ, he was rejecting the work of Christ. Jesus told Peter that he was mindful of the things of men rather than being mindful of things of God.

Peter was a mixture of  the new and the old nature.  We can also be a mixture of great revelations and worldliness at the same time. Peter had a wrong view of the role of Christ in his life. We can also have a wrong view of Jesus based on our upbringing, culture, or past denomination.

The areas that do not line up with the Bible will cause great confusion and disappointment in our lives. We need to reassess those areas of conflict and find out if our views are based on scripture or some worldly viewpoint that is familiar to us. Can you challenge your assumptions about your faith and look to the Bible to realign your expectations to the Bible? In what areas do you need an adjustment? 

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 1John 4:18

The scripture reminds us that fear is tormenting, and it beats down the believer. Fear feels like punishment. Why do then we put up with fear? Fear gives us a false sense of safety and security. When fear is coupled with worry, it makes us feel in control, but sadly, it is really the fear that controls the believer. We forget that fear warps our reality.

Fear bombards us with negative thoughts about ourselves. It makes our problems look bigger than our God. It shuts down our faith, and it causes us to forget God’s love for us. We then move into self-preservation. Being fearful is really a pathetic state for a believer.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 2Timothy 1:7

The above scripture shows us that fear can also be a spirit. The enemy tries to take advantage of the believer by lying about the facts and exaggerating them in order to paralyze him/her. He knows that when we are oppressed by the spirit of fear, we will less likely be able to feel powerful, loving, and in control of our thoughts. Hence, we will not be effective as believers to fulfill His will on the earth. This is very important.

Love and fear are archenemies. If we desire to walk in love and in the authority God has given us, we must get rid of fear.  Most of us would like claim that our goal is to honor and glorify God with our lives. However, we dismiss the hindering affect of the spirit of fear that has on us.

The good news is that we don’t have to continue to be oppressed by fear. We can rebuke the spirit of fear in Jesus’ name. Submit ourselves to God, resist the devil, and the scripture tells us that the devil will flee (See James 4:7).  In times of fear, instead of feeding our fears, we need to run to the Lord.  We take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we allow His love will comfort and strengthen us. When faced with fear, we should turn to worshipping the Lord and magnifying Him. This will cause our fear to dissipate, and we will begin to feel free and hopeful.

Here is a song ( by Jesus Culture) that talks about the spirit of God is an ocean deeper than fear. Enjoy and be blessed!

Many Biblical characters received encouragement from the Lord not to be afraid.  God spoke to Abraham telling him not to be afraid because He was going to bless Abraham with a child. He told Moses not to be afraid for He was going to release the Israelites from Egyptian slavery.  The angel spoke to Mary telling her not to be afraid because she had found favor with God and that she was going to be with child. The angel spoke to Joseph about not being afraid to take Mary home and marrying her. Jesus spoke to His disciples about not being afraid. Instead He promised them peace. Faithful people in the Bible experienced fear in their lives, and God had to reassure them of His provision, His deliverance, and His presence to relieve their fear.

Whenever we are faced with a challenging or a new situation, we have a tendency to feel inadequate or powerless to handle it. This causes fear, anxiety, and discouragement in our hearts. Feeling the emotion of fear is natural, but if we allow it to rule us, we can operate in self-preservation. This is what we see in Saul’s life. 

What have you done?” asked Samuel.

Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Mikmash, 12 I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.” 1 Samuel 13:11-12

In fear of getting killed by Philistines, Saul felt compelled to offer a burnt offering. The problem was that it wasn’t Saul’s job to offer a burnt offering. That was the priest’s duty. He crossed the boundary line and disobeyed God in order to preserve himself. When Samuel the prophet found out, he told him that his action was foolish. This was one of the reasons that God rejected Saul as the king of Israel and picked David instead. 

In this situation, fear compelled Saul to do something that he was not authorized to do, and he created a bigger problem for himself. When we allow fear to take control, it either has a paralyzing affect, or it can pressure us to do something that we shouldn’t. 

Can you think of a situation when you were faced with fear? Did you cross a boundary line in order to preserve yourself? Or did you inquire of the Lord about it first? Were you able to hear His voice in the midst of the anguish? Did it produce good fruit?

We can be impacted emotionally and spiritually by fear. Our thoughts can be controlled by circumstances leading us to feeling fearful. When we entertain negative thoughts, fear enlarges the problems to the point of causing great anxiety.

Fear can also be spiritual. The enemy tries to move us of out of our position. Fear causes us to avoid taking risks, so won’t look foolish. At other times, fear makes us forget God’s love, leads us to question our identity, and makes us surrender our God-given inheritance. 

The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” Romans 8:15

The above scripture tells us that fear takes away the freedom that Jesus bought for us. We forget that we are God’s beloved children. We allow the enemy to oppress us and steal our peace.

If fear wasn’t so harmful, the Bible would not have had so many scriptures about it. In addition, if fear had any positive value, the Lord would have included it in His Word. Therefore, fear is something to be avoided, and the scripture tells us why we should do it and how to do this. This is the subject of the next devotional.