40 days with Mark and Jesus (16)

Mark 7:1-23

It is easy to clean the outside and leave dirt on the inside. We are so good at appearing clean as we go about our religious duties. All the evil that is sin does not come to us and stick upon us from the outside but rises up from inside us. The human heart is the heart of our human problems.

Prayer: Almighty Father, not only have we wandered from your path of discipleship we run in our own ways further from you as our sin comes from the inside out. Have mercy upon us, forgive us our sin according to your promises in Christ Jesus our Saviour.

40 days with Mark and Jesus (15)

Mark 6:45-56

It is our over familiarity which such stories that leaves us unafraid when we read such things. Our God is greater and more powerful than we can know or imagine. We are only set free from an overwhelming fear when he calls us to himself.

Prayer: Open my ears, Lord, that I may hear your gracious call. Lay your hand on my life, Lord, and bring me to yourself.

40 days with Mark and Jesus (14)

Mark 6:30-44

No one shared their lunch with anyone, because no one had any lunch to share! Feeding multitudes in the desert, providing bread from heaven, in this the Lord Jesus displays his power and his love.

Prayer: Lord Jesus we thank you for the daily provision of food and pray for the hungry in our world. We also thank you for the provision of that food which sustains us to eternal life and ask that you would feed us on your eternal word.

40 days with Mark and Jesus (13)

Mark 6:14-29

A terrible story of cruelty done to a good man. John was the last and greatest of the prophets, he spoke of Jesus being the Lamb of God who would take away all our sins. If the world cannot silence the Lord Jesus it will try to silence those who speak of him.

Prayer: O Lord our God we thank you for the faithful testimony of John to Jesus as Christ. We pray for all who serve us today in making Jesus known in our communities.

40 days with Mark and Jesus (12)

Mark 6:1-13

The people of Jesus’ home town take offence at his teaching and his deeds. They think they know who Jesus is and are scandalized when he breaks out of the box they have made for him.
The Lord Jesus is not concerned about gathering honour for himself, he sends out twelve commissioning them to preach and heal – just as he has. The desire of the Lord Jesus is that all should hear about and enter into the joy of the Kingdom of God.

Prayer: Gracious Lord, forgive me when I treat you with contempt and when I try to control you by limiting you to my understanding. May your Kingdom come in the preaching of your word to all who hear it.

40 days with Mark and Jesus (11)

Mark 5:21-43

A worried father comes to Jesus seeking help because his daughter is dying. A lonely woman who has suffered for twelve years comes to Jesus because she has no one else to turn to. The Lord Jesus knows why they have come, he knows what they need and he is able to help them. The woman is healed and sent home in peace, the daughter is raised to life amidst gasps of astonishment. What needs do you have to bring to the Lord Jesus today?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, you call all who are weak and weary to come to you. Help me to come today. Lift up my burden from me and let me know your peace.

40 days with Mark and Jesus (10)

Mark 5:1-20

The many demons within the man recognize Jesus as the Son of God. Even so they do not want to follow him as Son of God. Often we can know Jesus is Lord but in our hearts hold back from discipleship. Only the Lord Jesus can set us free from this bondage; set us free to follow him as Lord, to depend upon him as Saviour, to worship him as God.

Prayer: We praise you, Jesus our Lord and Saviour. Set us free that we might be your disciples; may we love you with our whole being: heart, mind, strength and soul.

40 days with Mark and Jesus (9)

Mark 4:21-41

Who is this? Who can speak with such knowledge and authority of the Kingdom of God? Who can command the wind and the waves? The disciples of the Lord Jesus know how to answer this question – he is the Son of God come among us and bringing God’s Kingdom upon us.

Prayer: Oh, what a mystery – meekness and majesty:
bow down and worship, for this is your God,
this is your God!
Graham Kendrick Meekness and Majesty, various hymn books, including CH4 – 356.

40 days with Mark and Jesus (8)

Mark 4:1-20

The word is the best seed. The Sower is faithful and hardworking. Only a quarter of the ground is fruitful and receptive to our Lord’s word. As the soil is worked upon by sunshine and rain, so our hearts are worked upon by God’s Spirit that we might be good soil to received our Lord’s word.

Prayer: Come Holy Spirit; enter our cold and hard hearts. Break up the stony places and tear out the weeds that when we read and hear God’s word it might take deep root and bear much fruit within us.

40 days with Mark and Jesus (7)

Mark 3:20-35
As it becomes increasingly clear that Jesus is Lord so he is hated and faces fierce opposition. We don’t want a God close to us, living among us calling us to obedience and discipleship, even in our hearts we oppose Jesus as Lord.

Prayer: O Lord our God we confess our sin. We resist your gospel; we want to be our own Lord, our own Saviour. By the one Saviour, who is Christ Jesus our Lord forgive this and all our sins.

40 days with Mark and Jesus (6)

Mark 3:1-19

Jesus the Lord does the work of the Lord: the sick are healed, the demons are defeated, the good news is proclaimed. We have heard this good news through the ministry of the 12 appointed and sent out by the Lord to make him known in every place.

Prayer: We have heard a joyful sound, Jesus saves – O Lord we thank you for the faithful ministry of your apostles and pray that as they followed you so we would walk in your way.

40 days with Mark and Jesus (5)

Mark 2:18-28

A question about disciples is really a question about the Lord of the disciples. John teaches his disciples to fast, who are you to teach your disciples not to fast? Who are you to permit your disciples to do what is not lawful on the Sabbath? The Lord Jesus whom we are following is Lord even of the Sabbath, there is no greater Lord than Christ Jesus which is why he is to be followed.

Prayer: In the light of your word may we know Jesus Christ to be Lord of all and may we follow him on the way of the cross today and every day.

40 days with Mark and Jesus (4)

Mark 2:1-17

Four men bring their friend to the Lord Jesus and he forgives the man’s sins. A wealthy man hears the Lord Jesus call him away from his wealth and at once he rises and follows Jesus. Religious men complain that the Lord Jesus is meeting with those who need him: those burdened by sin, trapped by wealth.
There are forms of religious living that don’t need the Lord Jesus, that don’t need the forgiveness of sins, that don’t need the freedom of following Jesus as Lord.
The way of the disciple of Christ is the way of dependence upon Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.

Prayer: O Lord our God we confess our need of your Son Jesus. We need to be set free from the burdens of wealth and possessions, we need to be forgiven of our sins – against you and against one another. In your mercy fix our hearts upon Christ alone and lead us in his way of life.

40 days with Mark and Jesus (3)

Mark 1:35-45

There is so much to be done. In every town there was a leper to heal, by every lake shore a crowd gathering to hear these amazing teachings. We must notice that our Lord Jesus did not take time out from these things but made time elsewhere in his life for prayer. Walking with Jesus, living in the Kingdom of God is to live in a relationship with God as our Father, a relationship that grows and is sustained by prayer. What time do we make in our lives for prayer?

Prayer: O Father, we thank you for the welcome to give us to come into your presence and live our lives together with you. Teach us the way of prayer that we might often be found before you and that times of prayer might shape our lives in the likeness of Christ.

40 days with Mark and Jesus - (2)

Mark 1:21-34

No wonder the people in the synagogue were amazed, with a word the Lord Jesus drives out demons and heals the sick bringing the good news of the Kingdom of God into the lives of men and women.
The Kingdom of God is not a human kingdom and is not brought into being by human effort. The Son of God declares the arrival of the Kingdom and the power of his word brings the Kingdom.

Prayer: Your kingdom come, O Lord, we do pray that we would know the life of your Kingdom breaking out among us as the words of the Lord Jesus are heard and believed.

40 days with Mark and Jesus - (1)

Mark 1:1-20

Mark begins with Jesus Christ. We are to know that the Jesus was read about in this gospel is the Son of God. His coming is prepared for by Old Testament prophets, witnessed to by the voice from him and the abiding presence of God’s Holy Spirit upon him.
Because he is the Son of God when the Lord Jesus calls fishermen to follow him they immediately leave their nets and go with him.
It is the same Jesus, the Son of God, who calls us to walk with him; we are to leave everything behind to follow Jesus.

Prayer: Open our eyes, we want to see Jesus, to know that he is the Son of God. Open our ears; we want to hear Jesus calling us to follow him. Change our lives that we may answer his call.