Author: Ben Bourland

But He was aware all along of their thoughts, and He said to the man with the withered hand, Come and stand here in the midst. And he arose and stood there.
Then Jesus said to them, I ask you, is it lawful and right on the Sabbath to do good [so that someone derives advantage from it] or to do evil, to save a life [and make a soul safe] or to destroy it? Luke 6:8-9 [AMP]

As I was reading this passage today, the thing that jumped out to me the most was “He was aware all along of their thoughts.“ All too often I tend to focus too much on exhibiting the right behavior once I have thought about going in one direction or another. I forget that Jesus knows my thoughts. It’s my thoughts and my heart that Jesus is concerned with, not so much of my actions. In fact, the Bible says that obedience is better than sacrifice. Obedience starts in the heart.

The next verse concerns what Jesus had to say to these Pharisees, who were challenging Him about healing on the sabbath. “Is it lawful and right on the sabbath to do right or to do evil. To save a life or to destroy it?” Jesus already knew that in their heart they were leaning towards evil because they were already in fury debating within their own hearts/minds how to stop Him from doing what He was doing and saying.

What is super convicting is that my heart is often times just like the Pharisees’, but in the normal walk, situations, and circumstances of my life. Whether it’s how I’m feeling towards a coworker who is challenging me on a direction we should go, or that person who cut me off on the freeway, or the annoyance that I have with those in our world who are pushing social agendas that are against the word of God. It’s that evil condition in my heart that I feel so convicted by when I read my quiet time today. Lord God forgive me for the evil that is deep inside me. Help me in my sanctification to be more like You; to overcome and have victory over this aspect of my flesh.

And when daybreak came, He left [Peter’s house] and went into an isolated [desert] place. And the people looked for Him until they came up to Him and tried to prevent Him from leaving them.  Luke 4:42[AMP]

Lately I have been stealing away from work or the hustle bustle of home life to pray. Most of the time it is over my PrayerMate list, sometimes it’s on my own need for God’s mercy and grace, others it on whatever God lays on my heart.

Luke doesn’t tell us that the Lord went into an isolated place to pray but we know that He was likely praying because this same recollection is recorded by Mark and he wrote that Christ did this to pray.

Jesus does this many times during His ministry and it is important to see that the removal of distractions for Jesus was super necessary. Doing this 1 or 2 times per day has helped me immensely in connecting with God on this important level.

The phrase above is from Luke 1:33b where Michael the angel was telling Mary about her Son Jesus she would conceive.

As I was reading, it strangely dawned on me that we are in the ‘No End’ of the Kingdom of Jesus. I usually think of the Kingdom of Jesus beginning when He returns to take us home, at the rapture…but that is not the case, His Kingdom is now. We just need to truly follow Him to genuinely benefit from living in it.

Our ability to live in the freedom of the Kingdom of Jesus is predicated on our faith in the Son as God; the One Who prepares a place for us in Heaven to come. Living in that faith produces the fruit of the Spirit by our obedience to the teaching of Jesus in Gods Word. Think of that! We live in the ‘No End’ Kingdom of Jesus!

Luke 1:26-28 [ESV]
Birth of Jesus Foretold
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”

I am really enjoying my journey through Luke! Just reading about how the Lord brought the messages of new birth to Elizabeth and Mary are so cool. My mind keeps going to what it must have been like in Heaven when this time to get things started with the coming of Jesus might be. The call to begin the set of event that would bring the Messiah must have been electric.

One of the things I have learned about our God is that He is very deliberate about everything He does. Everything action and event has a purpose. The situations of my life and ministry are no different. As I pray and look for direction as I move forward, I need to see the intent of Gods answers and opportunities He puts in front of me.

Last day here in Dallas and head back tomorrow. I have learned sooo much and will begin to apply my new education starting as early as next week. I can’t wait to see my family tomorrow as I have missed them so much. Can not wait to gaze at their beautiful faces and hug them tight.

Luke 1:24-25 [ESV]
After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”

Today I finished up this story of Zechariah coming out of the temple after seeing the angel and losing his voice due to his unbelief. The temple worshippers had gotten concerned because he was taking so long in the holy place burning incense. Priests we’re encouraged to not dilly dally due to the fact that the people would fear that God had struck the Priest down in punishment for a ceremonial miss. One of the great honors the Priest picked to do the incense was able to was address the people after the incense offering but he could not because of his newfound muteness.

Now we come to Elizabeth and her conceiving a son. In biblical times, it was considered that a married woman was being punished if she was unable to bear children. Even more so for a Priest’s wife as it was important to keep the Priestly lines running. These barren women were often ridiculed. So, it is thought that she hid for the 5 months so she could wait until she began to ‘show’ as to silence the scoffers. This was why she said that not only did the Lord give her a son but He also took away the burden of the reproach she had carried for being unable to bear children earlier.

Elizabeth though that she was being punished by the Lord but His real plan was to bring glory to Himself through Elizabeth by giving her a child when she was thought to be barren.

For me, the takeaway here is that although it is perfectly ok for me to lament situations, circumstances, and trial in my life, I must also know that perseverance will likely produce a future understanding of Gods ultimate will and purpose for a suffering I might endure. I must also understand that I may never see the will purpose in ‘my’ lifetime.

A great first full day in Dallas. A combination of mind blowing learning interspersed with wonderful fellowship. I feel so grateful for this time here to learn skills for developing post-corporate-life income and work. I know my family (especially my wife) is dealing with a lot of busyness and stress; that part does not sit well with me.

Luke 1:14-17 [AMP]
And you shall have joy and exultant delight, and many will rejoice over his (John the Baptist) birth,
For he will be great and distinguished in the sight of the Lord. And he must drink no wine nor strong drink, and he will be filled with and controlled by the Holy Spirit even in and from his mother’s womb.
And he will turn back and cause to return many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God,
And he will [himself] go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn back the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient and incredulous and unpersuadable to the wisdom of the upright [which isthe knowledge and holy love of the will of God]—in order to make ready for the Lord a people [perfectly] prepared [in spirit,adjusted and disposed and placed in the right moral state].

What an amazing passage. Verse 14 is the angel Zechariah saw in the temple making kind of a ‘no duh’ statement about how happy both Zechariah and Elizabeth would be over this child. Of course! They’ve been praying for a child through their married life.

Verse 15 gives some instruction (through the angel) about how to raise and protect John once he is born. It almost looks like he might actually fall under similar requirements as that of a lifelong Nazirite (Numbers 6:1-8). However, because the angel does not mention the ban on cutting John’s hair, this is less probable.

Verses 16 & 17 give the impression that John will have a heavy influence on the turning of hearts and minds back to God and that many would be prepared in spirit for the coming of Jesus. John is one of those figures in the Bible I am anxious to meet in Heaven.

Today I flew to Dallas, TX for a three day seminar on Self Storage Investing. What is super cool is that I am able to share this time with one of the special men of God I get the pleasure of serving with.

After an uneventful flight and Lyft ride, I checked into our hotel room and settled before R arrived. We then proceeded to sit up and talk for three hours before turning in. What a special treat and our discussions did not disappoint. Just a foreshadowing of several more evenings to come.

Luke 1:5-9 [AMP]
In the days when Herod was king of Judea there was a certain priest whose name was Zachariah,of the daily service (the division) of Abia; and his wife was also a descendant of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.
And they both were righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord.
But they had no child, for Elizabeth was barren; and both werefar advanced in years.
Now while on duty, serving as priest before God in the order of his division,
As was the custom of the priesthood, it fell to him by lot to enter [thesanctuary of] the temple of the Lord and burn incense.

Today was the start of Luke’s coverage of the conception of John the Baptist. Luke introduces Zachariah and his wife Elizabeth. I learned some interesting things from studying up a bit on this couple. Both were of the lineage of Aaron (the first High Priest). Zachariah needed to be of priestly lineage in order to hold a Priest position and had to marry an Israelite virgin to hold to Jewish law; however Elizabeth was a Priest’s daughter so for a Priest like Zachariah to marry a Priests daughter was a special blessing.

Secondly, Zachariah had drawn lots and was selected to be the Priest with the privilege of burning incense on the incense altar in the Holy Temple. What I learned is that a Priest could only perform this once in their lifetime and in some cases (because there were many Priests) a Priest may never get the opportunity. So, this occasion was super special for Zachariah and God chose this moment to send an angel to tell Zachariah the he and his wife Elizabeth would have a son and they would call him John (God is favorable). One, Elizabeth was barren and two, because it was expected for priests to have children to carry the traditions, this couple had prayed for God to give them children.

Now here we have God, using the most special day in this priest’s life, to tell him he would have a son. Not just any sim, but the sim who would go before and prepare the way for the Messiah!