Mark 1:29-34 Click on this link to read the passage. You may select your preferred version of the Bible after the link opens. The first instance of Jesus’ healing as recorded in the Gospel of Mark was when Jesus healed Simon’s (later called Peter) mother-in-law. It didn’t take long for word to spread about this miracle, and soon people were bringing the sick and demon-possessed to Jesus to be healed. It bothers me to hear people re-interpret the term demon-possessed as
Luke 6:22-23, Matthew 5:10-12 Click on these links to read the passages. You may select your own version of the Bible after the link opens. Are we willing to stand in the face of persecution and proclaim Jesus? Or would you prefer to fall in with the crowd to avoid being singled out and identified as one who has a higher calling on your life? The true saints throughout history have been willing to stand on their
Luke 6:21b, Matthew 5:4 Click on these links to read the passage. You may select your own version of the Bible after the link opens. How can we be blessed when we cry? In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says that those who cry now will laugh in the future. Matthew’s account in 5:4 says that mourners will be comforted. Jesus promises over and over that there will come a day when everything will be turned upside down. We
Luke 6:21, Matthew 5:6 Click on these links to read the passage. You may select your own version of the Bible after the link opens. Have you ever been truly hungry? Did you consider it a blessing? Would the world consider it a blessing? These questions come to mind as I read Luke 6:21. Jesus’ response according to Luke was that the hungry will be satisfied. It seems that Jesus was speaking in terms of eternity.
Luke 6:20; Matthew 5:3 Click on these links to read the passage. You may select your own version of the Bible after the link opens. As I read the first of the Beatitudes in Luke I kept saying to myself that this wasn’t the way I remembered it. I searched several translations, but still couldn’t find one that started “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Instead I kept finding “Blessed are the poor.” I finally realized that