Hey all!!
I hope you all have been enjoying reading through the bible this year. This is definitely the time where people slow down or check out, so press on! Leviticus is gifted at calming the most enthusiastic, but do what you have to do to not give up. If you are too far behind to catch up, just skip a few weeks and join back in. Don't give up!!

The theme that really stood out to me this week was the radical nature of faith.
Mark 7:24-30
"And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And he said to her, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." But she answered him, "Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." And he said to her, "For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter." And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone."

Jesus had just come from a long journey. He was exhausted and looking to have a quiet recovery. Surely the people around would have been told he didn't want to see anyone. Surely this woman would have been told the same. However, the first trait of her faith is "but immediately"...In spite of the circumstances, she came rushing in to find Jesus. She was desperate, and when one is desperate, so many obstacles diminish and fall away. Desperation changes the rules It compels you to knock the door down. All things determined by the appearance of what is proper cease to have any hold. Jesus has stated he doesn't want to be bothered. People would have told her to leave him alone to rest. Desperation doesn't care about conventional boundaries. "But immediately" came banging that door down. Either way, she knew He could do it...and believed in His love and goodness would do it.

She was humble in her desperation. Her action was aggressive, but she fell at his feet. Her heart wasn't demanding. She didn't feel like it was her right or something she deserved. Instead she came as a beggar, as one who is "poor in spirit" like in Matthew 5. However, Jesus responds with a no. He rejects her by comparing her to a dog. Most of us at this point would give up. We all know the terrible feeling of rejection. Not many of us understand the rejection from Jesus...though you may feel God has rejected you. You may have had a closeness and intimacy with Him and circumstances have come and stolen that away. Maybe it's even something He has allowed - like Job - and you find yourself reeling in the injustice of the situation. I would encourage you to let God readjust your bearings. After walking with Jesus for almost 35 years now, one of the only things I know is that God is good, and that never changes...and He loves me...and I don't know why...and I don't know why sometimes He seems distant...and I don't know why bad things happen...but I do know He is always good, and I will not rest until that is the declaration of every ounce of my mind, soul, and heart. The great thing about this woman's faith is it will not remain under the weight of rejection. Instead she says, "Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." Jesus responds by healing her daughter.

The other thing I love about this woman is she embraces Jesus placement of her and doesn't try to become something better or someone more deserving. He calls her a dog and she's ok with it! This woman wasn't even one of his chosen people. He didn't want to see her...didn't come to bring healing to her...however, he responded to her faith, in all it's desperate persistence and simplicity. My question is this: Is your faith based on how good you are? Is your faith based on what you do or don't do for the Lord? Earlier in this chapter, Jesus addresses the Pharisees for having hard hearts. They were so about "doing for" and "appearances" that they completely missed the point. Don't make your Christianity about doing all the good stuff and not doing all the bad stuff. Your salvation is not about you cleaning yourself up and making yourself acceptable. We don't deserve our salvation, a dn we can't earn it. We can't earn any favor from God. He freely gives it through faith in Jesus. This smacks pride in the face - let it. Let it come in and kill that pride...The more you embrace your desperate need for God and the fact that you can do nothing to earn it, the more free you will find yourself. He's not gonna answer your prayers because you were a "good christian" this week.

Mark 10 had a passage about the rich young ruler...He thought he had fulfilled the law. He was a good person...but he still felt the ache of his own lack. This compelled him to seek out Jesus. However, he approached Jesus in a much different way than our gentile woman. He was full of pride and self-sufficiency. Jesus didn't respond to that, nor was he impressed. He turned him away because he wasn't willing to admit his lack and give his entire life to Jesus' Lordship. He wasn't poor in spirit. His sense of lack hadn't overpowered his own sufficiency and his need to keep up appearances. Mark 8: 34-6 "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it." Unfortunately for the rich young ruler, he faced this truth and walked away unwilling.

One last point about faith and prayer that spoke to me this time through was Jesus' healing of the blind man in Mark 10:46-52. Again, this is a case of a desperate, begging soul. He cries out again and again. People tell him to be silent. They rebuke him, which only encouraged him to cry out all the more. Jesus hears and calls the man before him. I love this man's persistence in the face of obstacles, because like i have already stated, when you are desperate you have nothing to lose. However, what really stood out to me here was what happened when he stood before Jesus. Here is a known blind beggar...I'm sure it was obvious what needed to happen to his eyes. Instead of just healing him, Jesus asks, "What do you want me to do for you?" It's then that the blind man responds and is healed. Sometimes we assume God knows what we need so we fail to approach Him at all. In this passage, Jesus waits for him to be specific. Sometimes we don't ask because we think he knows. We don't want to bother Him...as if He's too busy...or as if His strength will run out. He listens for the song of a heart that realizes it's own desperation and He responds...

How do we practically apply these things? Well the psalms are great examples of how to seek God...how to be real and not hopeless...to conclude this week, I encourage you to read Psalm 42...in it the psalmist is desperate for God, real about his circumstance, and yet full of faith. Not only read it but pray it and let your heart meditate on how good God is, how much He loves you, how much you don't deserve Him, how much you need Him, and how sufficient He is to meet your every need.
Peace,
Korey

Perfect post!!

Couldnt have said it better!
I enjoy reading my bible and sometimes find myself the next days scriptures
I enjoy reading Mark and Proverbs they seem to be what ive been needing to hear lately. Thanks for your insight!

I love to see how G_d works. We had a sermon at church that discussed how we get so busy "doing good things" that we don't take the time to see the hurting, those in need, etc. It's like we're "doing good things" to get G_d's approval but when it is all said and done we are missing the mark. We can do all the fundraisers, donations, etc. we want. All the things that we THINK G_d wants us to do because we want to be good Christians, however, if we aren't hearing those in need and the hurting we are missing the mark. A young man went to a church looking for something. No one saw his pain. This same young man took his life a few weeks later. It breaks my heart. I pray for G_d to not only open my eyes so that I see those hurting and searching but to also give me the courage to approach them. I'm shy when I don't know someone so it is difficult for me to approach someone and talk to them. I just love to see how G_d puts the same message on so many hearts and how it confirms what G_d may be speaking to someone else's heart (like mine). Thanks so much for your insight! Have a blessed day!

Nice analysis Korey!
I like the fact that Jesus is showing us what is stated in Proverbs 3:34 "He mocks proud mockers but shows favor to the humble and oppressed." Even though the rich young ruler wanted to have eternal life, he was prideful. He didn't want to lose any of his wealth, also, he wasn't broken. On the other hand, the women and the blind man were indeed broken. They were desperate for help. Despite being rejected by Jesus, the women's faith and brokenness compels Jesus to heal the women's daughter. If we,as humans expect Jesus to do stuff for them, we need to lay down their pride. We can't just ask Jesus to help us when we think that we ourselves can do it by ourselves. That doesn't make sense, why are we asking that of him in the first place? We have to realize that we actually are in need of Jesus.
When Jesus addressed the Pharisees about their heart issue, of course they would miss the point. The Pharisees were trying to hide their bad aspects with good works and appearances. They were trying to be save on good works. James 2:17 says" In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." Jesus was saying that the pharisees had little or no faith, only works. This is kind of how it is for us humans. We tend to think that we will be saved if we hide our sin and do good works. However, Jesus says that's not the case. First, we have to realize our need to be save. Then, we need to ask Jesus to forgive our sins. That can truly be done when we become broken and not looking to ourselves or anyone besides Jesus for help.

that was a great point korey made. sometimes as christians we think we are supposed to have all the answers. it's very freeing to just admit ''i don't know'' when you don't know, sometimes we think that the world will make fun of us because we don't have all the answers to the problems of the world (not meaning Jesus we know Jesus so we do have the Answer on a large scale i'm talking about things like why God loves us, why bad things happen to good people ect.) but i think that people respect honesty and an honest answer.

On Mark 10 I always have found it interesting that when the rich man ''said all the commandments i have kept from my youth'' that Jesus didn't call him on it. I mean honestly speaking of honesty who can keep all the commandments? maybe it's just the skeptic in me but I have a VERY hard time believing this is true

Hi Kory!
I have been enjoying reading through the bible so far even though I have missed some days and discussions.

In Mark 7:24-30 when it says “But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet.” She must have been waiting for him to come by her region so she could ask Jesus to heal her daughter. She had kept her radical faith after waiting however long it took for Jesus to get to her region and also through people telling her that He didn’t want to see anyone. Her desperation and faith enabled her to believe despite the situation she was in. From this I see that I need to keep my faith and determination for things that I want, and want to do. Just looking at how much of my reading I got done so far this year I know that I need to improve this area of my life.

My answer to your question “Is your faith based on how good you are?” is no, but sometimes I forget that I can’t earn God’s favor so I try and earn it by doing good things and trying not to do bad things. I believe that my salvation is not “earn-able” and that I don’t deserve it because I am a sinner, but that God gives it to me through my faith in Jesus Christ. Sometimes, like you said, I need a reminder about my need for God and His grace in my life.

What I was reminded about in Mark 10:46-52 was that some people think that they can’t ask God for what they need or want because they think they are undeserving or unworthy of God’s blessing and favor. They are right that we don’t deserve His blessing, but because of what Jesus did for us, our salvation, we can have God’s blessing and favor in all areas of our lives. So when Jesus asks us “What do you want me to do for you?” we can ask for, and receive God’s blessing and favor; He gives us the opportunity to ask for our healing or whatever we need.

What spoke the most to me out of Psalms 42 was verse 5 “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” It reminded me that I need to have more faith in God, and not worry so much about things going on and put my hope in that God will take care of me.

Thanks for having this discussion board and reading along with us Panheads! I am really looking forward to learning more about God and His word through the discussions and reading!
~Brandon

I very recently started the plan. I read the section for today (Day 69). The section about Joshua and Caleb made me think. They were the only ones who got to see the promised land because they trusted in the Lord. How many times have we missed out on something because we were too afraid?

awesome post Korey

I understand what you mean about being desperate. because it was when i was the most desperate in my life that i found God.