Today's Reading: Matthew 13: 18-23
**For a simple and good way of Daily Devotion method please click this link: Subject Shifting Devotion.pdf.
Please click this link to read Matthew 13: 18-23
Bible Study
N.T. Wright gives an example to this passage as someone going into a maze who can't find the way out that he has to take the map out if he wants to get out. Jesus' parable is not easy to understand and sometimes He gives an example to explain the parable and here we can find one of those explanations.
N.T. Wright says:
Some allow the evil one to snatch the words away at once. Most of us have experienced cynical and sneering reactions. Some seem to be enthusiastic, but when the gospel starts to make demands on them they quickly show that the word never really went down and became rooted in their hearts. Some really do have a deep-rooted hearing of the word, but then allow other things to take root in their hearts as well; like thorns, the other things choke the delicate plant of the word. These are all ways of getting stuck in the maze, of not finding the way to the centre. As we read the parable today, we should ask ourselves; are we, too, stuck somewhere?
What's your response, are you stuck somewhere? Are you able to hear God's Word and understand? If you understand, how fruitful you are now?
Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage of scripture we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe"
Spiritual Journal
What I heard from Jesus today is: Hears the Word and understands it!
What I got today from Jesus is a question about our ability to hear God's Word and the reality whether we understand God's word.
Well, it's just like learning to drive. If you are able to hear what your driving teacher's instruction and understand his teaching, then you not only can pass the driving test and also you can drive well.
How's your spiritual driving? Who's on the driver's seat? You, or Jesus?
If you really hear the Word and understand it then Jesus should be on the driver seat, right?
Dear Lord Jesus,
Help us to be able to hear your Word and understand that we can bear fruit. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
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