Pray Thru the Bible

God Speaks

Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, ² “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” ³ He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? ⁴ For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ ⁵ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” ⁶ he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. ⁷ You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:

⁸ “‘This people honors me with their lips,
    but their heart is far from me;
⁹ in vain do they worship me,
    teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

¹⁰ And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: ¹¹ it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” ¹² Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” ¹³ He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. ¹⁴ Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” ¹⁵ But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” ¹⁶ And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? ¹⁷ Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? ¹⁸ But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. ²⁰ These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

²¹ And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. ²² And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” ²³ But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” ²⁴ He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” ²⁵ But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” ²⁶ And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁷ She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” ²⁸ Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

²⁹ Jesus went on from there and walked beside the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain and sat down there. ³⁰ And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them, ³¹ so that the crowd wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.

³² Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.” ³³ And the disciples said to him, “Where are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed so great a crowd?” ³⁴ And Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” ³⁵ And directing the crowd to sit down on the ground, ³⁶ he took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ³⁷ And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over. ³⁸ Those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. ³⁹ And after sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.

Source: BibleGateway.com

We Respond

Prayer: Thank you, Jesus, for teaching Your disciples that our loving relationships with God and other people are more important than following man-made rules. Help me to not only honor You with my lips, but also to honestly worship You from the heart. You said that it is what comes out of my mouth from my wicked heart that defiles me. I ask You, Holy Spirit, to work in me to root out evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. Replace them with evidence of Your presence: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. You’re the only one who can. Make me like the Canaanite woman whose faith persisted even when she was dismissed several times even seemly by You, Jesus. Thank You for publicly healing the mute, the crippled, the blind in such a way that people marveled and glorified the God of Israel. After that You had compassion and fed a huge crowd by thanking God the Father and distributing seven loaves and several small fish. There were seven baskets of scraps left over. Please use me and others of Your followers to do the same today. AMEN

Reflection: Dear Reader, please take time to reflect and interact with God about this scripture and prayer. I suggest that you write these responses in a journal leaving space to record how things worked out. Date and record the results as they occur. Then review monthly to celebrate what God is doing in your life.

Taking Action: Ask the LORD how He wants you to put the principles in this chapter into action in the next four days (c. 100 hrs.). Choose one of these or write your own.

• I will ask God how I can improve my relationships with Him and with other people, then do what He says.
• I will build a collection of worship songs that truly express my feelings toward God and sing or play at least one each day.
• I will take at least 1/2 hour daily to confess my known sins and have the Holy Spirit highlight and root out any hidden wickedness in my heart and replace it with fruit of His presence.
• I will go out of my way to show compassion to at least one hurting person and point them to Jesus.

Sharing with others: I will share the principles I learned in this lesson with _____ (Initials only). [If you don’t know the person’s name, put something that will help you remember, for instance, CIS = clerk in store, NDN = next door neighbor, or PAW = person at work.]