SCRIPTURE

Studied: Mark 9

OBSERVATION (What is God saying here?)

Mark 9:30-34 ~ Jesus left with his disciples and started through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know about it, because he was teaching the disciples that the Son of Man would be handed over to people who would kill him. But three days later he would rise to life. The disciples did not understand what Jesus meant, and they were afraid to ask. Jesus and his disciples went to his home in Capernaum. After they were inside the house, Jesus asked them, “What were you arguing about along the way?” They had been arguing about which one of them was the greatest, and so they did not answer.

APPLICATION (How Can I apply what God is saying here to my circumstances today?)

So often we will sit in church and hear God’s messenger speak from His Holy Word and our minds are miles away. Note in this passage that Jesus had the same problem with His disciples. He did not want the people of Galilee to know that He was passing through their town with His disciples because He was intent on teaching them that He would be handed over to people who would kill Him. Very serious news He was trying to alert them about. Yet when they arrived at Capernaum Jesus asked the disciples what they were grumbling and/or arguing about along the way. This tells me that they were totally distracted while Jesus was sharing His heart with them – something He was very concerned about. I’m sure that this must have saddened Jesus because of the lack of interest in what He had to say to this group. I believe that we see a similar experience during our church services. Our pastor will take hours to study God’s Word, seek the face of Jesus as to what He would have him say to the people, then do his very best to explain the Word and express what God has laid on his heart, yet we sit and fall asleep or let our minds wonder to the many things that we become involved in outside of the church, instead of giving our undivided attention to the most important thing being shared with us all week. Here are some tips on things that might help us with this:

1. Get at least 8 to 12 hours of sleep the night before;
   
2. Let Sunday morning, or any other preaching/teaching moment be a continuation of our daily worship and commune with God, and not our only experience for the week, for we must grow our relationship with God ourselves and not think for a moment that the preacher/teacher can grow it for us;
   
3. Pray before going to services. Ask God to help you stay alert to what He will say to you during that service. Better still, pray for a miracle in someone’s life out of that service, that you have been ministering to throughout the week – perhaps in physical ways, or in prayer, or even just on your mind;
   
4. Take your Bible with you. Think about it, you would never go to work without tools. Similarly, take your spiritual tool with you, God’s Holy Word. Look up the passages being shared;
   
5. Take notes during the sermon or teaching opportunity. Again, at work you would take notes during meetings to help you remember what was asked of you and to guide you as you complete the chores that were asked of you. No different when it comes to God’s instructions;
   

I believe that the most important times of your week should be those times that you spend alone with God in His Word, and those times that you spend with other believers for the teaching and preaching of God’s Word. However, as in everything in our lives, we will only get as much out of those times, as the effort and energy that we put into them. God deserves our best! Conversely, we should expect the best time of our lives when we meet together with God and His people, but remember, we will only get as much from these opportunities as we put into them. No interest or enthusiasm on our behalf will make it almost impossible to receive anything otherwise in life.

PRAYER (With God’s help, what am I going to do differently today because He said it?)

Father, You gave Your best for us. You gave all You had – Your ONLY Son. Please help me, my church, all those that I know and love, including all who may read this devotional online, to give of our very best to You. Help us not to be distracted, especially when You are trying to get our attention. Help us to give respect to You and to Your messengers as Your Word is opened and shared with us. Thank You for Your continued love and effort in getting my attention. Please help me to always seek Your face and look for Your blessings and pay attention to Your teaching and/or direction for my life.