"With many such parables Jesus spoke the word to them, to the extent that they could understand. He did not tell them anything without using a parable. But privately He explained everything to His own disciples."
~ Mark 4:33-34
Good Morning and Happy Monday!!
I was recently wandering through Mark, which for personal reasons always seems to find me with a slightly more resonant heart...
Do you have books like that? Certain parts of the Bible that seem to reach you a little easier for one reason or another?
For example, I love Luke and Acts. They were written by a physician, a scientist, a facts-bound mind. There's something so poetic and beautiful and reassuring to me about that.
Mark is precious for another reason. I had an uncle who never saw a sunrise who was named for this author. It brings me to his memory, to my grandmother's, and somehow opens me on a deeper level to the Will and plans and purposes of the Father.
The particular sentence that jumped out at me was "But privately He explained everything to His own disciples."
I've read it before, but it never struck me the way it did the other day.
I had this sense of Jesus, the Messiah, pulling them aside and in hushed tones explaining the deeper meanings of His messages.
We've all experienced, or at least observed, that moment when a caring companion who is perhaps older or wiser or more learned leans in and explains or translates something for someone who has less of a grasp on what is happening.
That was the sense I had here.
And, even better?
I believe He does the same for us.
Day by day, when we're willing to seek...
By the power of the Holy Spirit, through His Still Small Voice, He whispers, He points out, He clarifies, He deepens our knowledge, our understanding, our intimacy.
For me, it's most often a whisper or a nudge. As vague as that may seem to be, it's not for me.
For us all, He uses The Good Book (of course,) any book, sermons, speakers, even podcasts perhaps. And more.
He uses the people in our lives, in our communities.
He communicates with us directly through prayer.
He speaks to us through His creation.
He speaks to us in so many ways.
Through it all, He is explaining more yet, through it all He is refining and directing us.
May we each have the wisdom and discernment to hear and heed Him well.
May we open our hearts to Him and make ourselves available to refining, clarity, and revelation.
May we have the eyes to see and the ears to hear, as He would have us do.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
Thank You for being our ultimate Wise Counselor.
Thank You for being willing to take us aside to privately explain, to refine and grow us, our hearts, our minds, and our lives.
Thank You that you expand our understanding and intimacy with You, in good measure, in due time.
Thank You for placing us right where You would have us, with just the right influence, that we would make the impact You would have us make for Your children in Your world.
This we pray in Your most Holy Names,
Amen
"For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." ~ Romans 8:14
"My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me." ~ John 10:27
"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge." ~ Psalm 19:1-2
"Rather, as it is written: 'No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.' But God has revealed it to us by the Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of man except his own spirit within him? So too, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words." ~ 1 Corinthians 2:9-13
May the Good Lord bless you and keep you, friends... always, in all ways. Amen.
Bonus song of praise... ♥
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