God Speaks
Jesus Chides the Pharisees, Heals the Daughter of a Canaanite Woman, Feeds Four Thousand Plus and Heals a Deaf-Mute
Verse of the Day: [Reader, please examine your life in regard these words of Jesus.] “You have let go of the commands of God and holding on to human traditions.”. . . For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come–sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils comes from inside and defile a person.” (Mark 7:8, 21-23 NIV 2011)
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We Respond
Reflection: Consider the following questions regarding Matthew 15:
1. What does this chapter tell me about God?
2. What does this chapter tell me about the human beings He created?
Here is one possible answer to each of these questions. Ask the Holy Spirit if there are any others for you personally to ponder.
1. God is more concerned about our wholehearted relationship with Him than with our observing religious rules.
2. People have various physical, emotional, and spiritual needs that Jesus is willing and able to meet if we will bring them to Him.
Prayer:
3. How might I pray regarding Matthew 15?
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, and 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 kind of things today. AMEN
Action: (Ask God, the Holy Spirit, if He wants you to work on one of the suggestions below or something else more personal that He points out.)
4. What action does the LORD want me to take in response to Matthew 15?
- 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 half an 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.
Mark 7
Reflection: Jesus pointed out to the Pharisees that they were putting human traditions ahead of God’s ways. Telling elderly parents that any support or honor due them was “corban” was not a reason to break God’s commandment to honor them. He explained that it is not outside forces or actions that corrupt a person, making them “unclean” in the spiritual sense. Instead, it is the sin-corrupted human nature that is the source of the problem. Out of that nature comes the actions of “evil thoughts, sexual immorality [of any kind], theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these things are from within; they are what defile you.”* Jesus strongly commended the persistence and faith of the Syrophoenician woman whose daughter was being harassed by a demon. The healing of the man who was deaf and mute demonstrates both the compassion and authority of Jesus as the Son of God and Son of Man.
*Mark 7:21-23 NLT
Prayer: Dear Lord God, by Your Holy Spirit, please cleanse my inner being with Your Word. I don’t want to just follow traditions or hygiene rules and routines like the Pharisees. Cleanse me of all defiling thoughts, attitudes, and actions. Make me both polite and persistent until You do whatever I need like the Syrophoenician woman did. Jesus, open my ears to hear You, and open my mouth to speak Your praises like the crowd that witnessed the healing of the man with hearing and speech impairments. For Your glory, Lord. AMEN
Action: (Ask God, the Holy Spirit, if He wants you to work on one of the suggestions below or something else more personal that He points out.)
- I will ask the Holy Spirit to point out where I might be putting obeying human rules or laws over obeying God’s laws and principles. Then I’ll strive to do whatever He tells me about what I need to change.
- I will examine myself and my activities to admit and confess whichever of the sins listed above I have committed. Then, by faith, I’ll accept the gift of forgiveness Jesus earned for me at the cross.
- I will be polite but persistent in praying for the needs of someone I care about according to the Word, whatever the need is. Then, I’ll believe and act as if the answer is on the way.
- I will show compassion and God’s loving intervention to someone who is disabled or ill.
Share: I plan to share what I’ve learned with __________.