Category: daily meditations

SCRIPTURE: Mark 9:14-32 OBSERVATION: A crowd was watching an argument between the disciples and the teachers of the law. Jesus response (vv.19) indicates that they were denouncing Jesus and His disciples as fakes. Jesus responds harshly (see Luke 9:37-45, “unbelieving and perverse generation”), but it is not the disciples He is angry with. What might the symptoms…

SCRIPTURE: Mark 9:1-13 OBSERVATION: Peter, James and John see the “kingdom of God come with power” (v.1), the brief unveiling of God’s appointed King. Peter describes this (2 Peter 1:16-18) as “majestic glory”. God doesn’t give Jesus glory at this moment, God pulls back the “cover” to show the actual glory that Jesus has. Though veiled from human…

SCRIPTURE: 2 Kings 2:1-18 OBSERVATION: What an interesting and amazing passage, the parting of the river twice and the chariots of fire! This is a passing of the “torch” from one leader to the next, though we strongly sense Elisha’s hesitation to be separated from Elijah, not wanting to talk about Elijah’s leaving and not wanting to…

SCRIPTURE: 2 Corinthians 4:1-18 OBSERVATION: No matter what he endures, no matter how hard his life is, Paul is confident in the Lord and in what the Lord is doing. Paul says that the real miracle is what is happening inside of us, when the Lord turns on the “lights” in our heart, enabling us to see…

SCRIPTURE: 2 Corinthians 2:12-3:18 OBSERVATION: Paul is still defending his work to the Corinthians, but showing that the real power and glory is in the message, not in the messenger (himself). Paul admits that he is nothing (3:5), that the proof is in the life-change that comes as a result of the Holy Spirit at work within…

SCRIPTURE: 2 Corinthians 1:23-2:11 OBSERVATION: Apparently by choosing to not go back to Corinth after he wrote his first letter (1:23), the Corinthians were hurt, assuming that he was rejecting and judging them. In his first letter to the church of Corinth, Paul wrote about a case of incest (1 Corinthians 5:1-5) – now he urges them to show…

SCRIPTURE: Mark 3:7-30 OBSERVATION: Jesus faces a variety of challenges: – Crowds following him everywhere, making it hard for Him to move, to teach, to eat – Demons stirring up trouble with their provokative confessions – No time alone with his disciples – One of His own followers would one day betray Him (I’m sure He…

SCRIPTURE: Mark 2:23-3:6 OBSERVATION: Both stories deal with the Sabbath traditions, and the purpose of the law – the law was not put in place to restrict people but to serve them for good, to remind them of God’s grace, to protect laborers from overwork and to do good to others. Jesus is challenging the religious…

SCRIPTURE: Mark 2:1-12 OBSERVATION: The things that strike me in this passage are: — that the men had the audacity to dig through someones roof to get to Jesus — that Jesus responds to the faith of the friends, not the faith of the paralyzed man — that Jesus forgives the man, and sees the healing…

SCRIPTURE: 2 Corinthians 1:1-22 OBSERVATION: Some in Corinth were questioning Paul’s commitment to them, in part because he didn’t come to them sooner, and also because of a previous letter that offended them. Paul tells them of his hardships for their sake, and how God rescued him through their prayers, so that he might strengthen them in…