Skip to main content

Tuesday... It is so important for us to know who we are.


Mark 1:8 (AMP), "As for me, I baptized you [who came to me] with water [only]; but he will baptize you [who truly repent] with the Holy Spirit."

Tuesday... It is so important for us to know who we are.

It really is.

I've just finished the Gospel of Matthew and started the Gospel of Mark this morning. Now in the first chapter we are introduced to John the Baptist and he had a specific task to do. And it was a very important task.

Now Isaiah who was a prophet in the Old Testament had prophesied that God would be sending a messenger who would prepare the way for Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.


Here in Mark 1:4 (NLT) it says, "This messenger was John the Baptist. He was in the wilderness and preached that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven." In verse 5a it says, "All of Judea, including all the people of Jerusalem, went out to see and hear John." He was definitely a success. And success can be difficult to handle.


God wants to use us and bless us. But it is so important for us to know who we are and what task God has for us.

Again, success can be difficult for us to handle. And here John was an unbelievable success but he knew what his task was.

Verse 7 (AMP) says, "And he was preaching, saying, 'After me comes He who is mightier [more powerful, more noble] than I, and I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the straps of His sandals [even as a slave]'". And then verse 8 starts by says, "As for me." It is so important for us to know who we are.

We can in our success have a very, very high opinion of ourselves. And John the Baptist had a chance to think very highly of himself. But he says, "As for me, I baptized you [who came to me] with water [only]; but he will baptize you [who truly repent] with the Holy Spirit." He knew his place, he knew his purpose. "As for me."

God wants to use us but we will never be God. It is so important for us to know what purpose God has for us. Yes it is. But also the "as for us."

I love Proverbs 17:28 (NLT). It says, "Even fools are thought wise when they keep silent; with their mouths shut, they seem intelligent." We many times talk too much.

Back to verse 8 (AMP), "As for me, I baptized you [who came to me] with water [only]; but he will baptize you [who truly repent] with the Holy Spirit."

Psalm 47:1-2 says, "Come, everyone! Clap your hands! Shout to God with joyful praise! For the Lord Most High is awesome. He is the great King of all the earth." We don't need to lift ourselves up. Let Him do that. But we do need to lift Him up! Yes, He is the One we serve and praise! Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning


 




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Thursday... Maybe we need this word today.

Psalm 57:1b (NIRV), "There I will stay until the danger is gone." Thursday... Maybe we need this word today. There are words in life that give us confidence no matter what we are facing. Now we have to believe them in order for them to have an impact. David wrote Psalm 57 while he was in a cave hiding from Saul who wanted to kill him and he says in the last part of verse 1, "There I will stay." It was a safe place and Saul didn't know that he was there. But he doesn't stop there. With confidence he said, "There I will stay until." And until is definitely a word of faith and confidence. "There I will stay until the danger is gone." Do we need that today? Let me give you the whole verse. In verse 1 David says, "Have mercy on me, God. Have mercy on me." And that is a great place to start in times of trouble. Maybe that is what we need to pray today, "Have mercy on me, God. Have mercy on me." It is so great to have someone...

Tuesday... We just have trouble listening.

1 Corinthians 13:7 (NLT), "Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." Tuesday... We just have trouble listening. Over in Jeremiah 25:4 (NLT) it says, "Again and again the LORD has sent you his servants, the prophets, but you have not listened or even paid attention." And Jeremiah went on to tell what was going to happen. There will be consequences if we do not listen to what God says through his Word. Now the Apostle Paul over in 1 Corinthians was having a problem with some professed Christ followers who were having trouble at listening. And we too can have problems at listening. We can think that being a Christ follower means we do a lot of finger pointing and we give up on people who don't do what we say. We can even do that in our families. But Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:7 (NLT), "Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." In verse ...

Friday... It is so exciting but wait a minute.

Proverbs 19:2 (NLT), "Enthusiasm without knowledge is no good; haste makes mistakes." Friday... It is so exciting but wait a minute. This time of the year is so exciting. We get our paycheck from work and then we head to the store or Amazon and buy and buy and buy all those presents and then our check is gone Proverbs 19:2 (NLT) says, "Enthusiasm without knowledge is no good; haste makes mistakes." But buying gifts can be so much fun and seeing how happy they are when opening those presents makes us feel so good. But then verse 3 says, "People ruin their lives by their own foolishness and then they are angry at the Lord." Now for some that is their life. They get money and they spend it on their wants with no thought of what needs to be paid. An important lesson that we have learned is just because you have money in the bank doesn't mean you must spend it. But our enthusiasm takes over. But the problem is when it is gone and there is no money to pay th...