Day 131 Bible Readings – John 6: 63 (ESV)

Judges 12 & 13, John 6: 60-71, John 7: 1-13, Psalm 78: 9-16

John 6: 63 (ESV)

“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”

In verse 63 from John 6, the disciples were complaining to Jesus that many of the things he was teaching were hard to accept, and Jesus was explaining to them why his teachings were hard to accept.  Jesus tells his disciples that it is the Holy Spirit who gives life, and that the flesh or human efforts cannot grant life. The writers of a Bible Study I read wrote that “flesh” could also mean adherence to law or traditions, and that you need the divine intervention of the Holy Spirit to understand their spiritual significance. In other words, it would be hard to accept the teaching of Jesus without help from the Holy Spirit. Then Jesus tells them that his words and teachings are spirit and life, meaning that they are transformative because they carry information and the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ words are full of spiritual life and power. This verse teaches how important it is for believers to read out loud and study the word of God, because the words themselves are alive with spiritual power and life. The words of God have the power to transform our lives just to speak them out loud, but we need the help of the Holy Spirit to help discern them. We cannot accept or understand God’s words by using our human faculties alone. I know for myself I have a hard time understanding the teachings of Jesus, but when I pray to the Holy Spirit to help me then a whole world and new level of understanding opens up for me.

Day 130 Bible Readings – John 6: 28-29 (ESV)

Judges 10, Judges 11, John 6:25-59, Psalm 78:1-8

John 6: 28-29 (ESV)

“Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

In verses 28 and 29 from John 6 Jesus answer the question from the crowd, who followed him  after the feeding of the 5,000, when they asked him what they must do to do the works of God. Jesus tells them that they need to believe in him whom God sent, which is Jesus Christ. In other words, Jesus told them if they want to do the work of God, they need to do anything but first trust him. The Jewish people were used to following the laws of Moses, which were based on performing good works and adhering the laws in the Torah or the first five books Old Testament. Adhering to the laws and doing good works was a pathway to righteousness. The authors of my Bible study wrote that in verse 29, Jesus redefined “work” not as a series of actions but as a single act of faith. Jesus was in essence telling the crowd that salvation is by faith and not be works.

This belief or faith means a personal trust and reliance on Jesus. Jesus shifted the focus of belief from human work and adherence to the law to divine grace and faith to achieve righteousness.  Jesus wants us to have a personal relationship with him, where we trust and believe in his identity and his mission. In shift to divine grace and faith, Jesus made righteousness accessible to all regardless of works, background, and status. Belief in Jesus will transform every area of our life by influencing our decision, our actions, and interactions with other people.

Day 129 Bible Readings – Psalm 77: 11-12 (ESV)

Judges 9, John 6: 1-24, Psalm 77: 10-20

Psalm 77: 11-12 (ESV)

“I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds.”

When I read verses 11 and 12 from Psalm 77, tears came to my eyes. When I read through several Bible studies on this psalm, the Biblical scholars wrote that the message of this psalm is that you shouldn’t brood on your sorrow because it will make you feel broken and disheartened. Instead, you should be determined to remember the miracles of God in your life, think about what happened, and meditate of them. I can feel the anguish in the Psalm prior to these verses, so when the writer of Psalm 77 instead chooses to remember God’s miracles I can also feel how he had to will himself to do it. I know for myself how hard it was to remember how good God has been in my life when I was in the depths of pain and sorrow. But to praise God when you feel broken is the ultimate act of faith because it shows you have total trust that God the father is greater than your feeling of brokenness. That the sorrow and pain you feel is temporary because God is always faithful and will help you find your way to the light once again.

Day 128 Bible Readings – John 5: 45-47

Judges 7:9-25, Judges 8, John 5:30-47, Psalm 76

John 5: 45-47

“Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

In verses 45 through 47 from John 5, Jesus tells the religious leaders that he will not accuse them to his Father-God because that is not why he was born on earth. Instead, Jesus tells them that it will be Moses who will accuse them. Moses wrote the first five books of the Old Testament which is known as the Torah to the Sanhedrin. The Torah is the foundation to the Jewish faith and is the authority for how Jewish people live their live since follow the laws set forth in the Torah which is called “Mosiac law”.  Jesus tells them that since they believe Moses, they should believe him because there were prophecies from Moses of Jesus in the Torah. I love how Jesus told the religious leaders that he is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy including the ones made by Moses in the Torah. Jesus then accuses the religious leaders of not believing the writing of Moses, which is harsh because the Torah is the foundation of their faith and their authority in life. The religious leaders were so focused on having a king like David that they couldn’t accept Jesus. They wanted a king who would free them from Roman rule, and not a king who wanted to free them from sin. I can understand why the religious leaders had a such a hard time accepting Jesus. Sometimes you pray for God to do something in your life and when it doesn’t happen the way you want, you get frustrated and lose faith. Perhaps this is what happened to the religious leaders; they lost their faith in prophecies of Moses since they wanted something other than what Jesus was offering them.