The Coin In The Fish's Mouth

The story of the coin in the fish's mouth is one of the most intriguing and miraculous stories in the Bible.  In Matt. 17:24-27 we read that those who gathered the temple tax came to Peter and asked him if his Master paid the temple tax?  The temple tax was an annual tax that everyone paid.  Everyone paid the same amount for the upkeep of the temple.  Vs. 27 says, "Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first.  And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you."  I saw three things in this story that we can apply to our lives.  First, Jesus knows where the coin is.  It is so encouraging to know that Jesus knows where the coin is.  When we are in need, and we don't know where the money is going to come from, we need to remember that Jesus knows where the money is.  It moves us to seek God in faith, believing that God will supply every need.  We can have confidence because we know that Jesus knows where the money is.  Secondly, Peter had to do something to get the coin.  Jesus could have given Peter a coin, but the coin was revealed in a way that Peter would never forget.  It took an act of faith and obedience for Peter to find the coin.  We too will need to move in faith and obedience in order to find God's provision for us.  We must ask God, "What do You want me to do"?  And we must be obedient to the things in His Word and what He tells us to do.  Jesus wants to reveal Himself to us through the provision of the coin.  Thirdly, the coin had a purpose.  I'm sure that Peter never thought about going to spend the coin for anything else but to pay the taxes.  The coin had a purpose.  The coin that comes into our hands has a purpose.  We need to find the purpose for the coin.  The coin comes from God, and when we spend it, we should ask if we are spending it for the purpose we received it.  God supplies the coin we need for our taxes, food, clothes, payments, etc. but we need to know we have spent our coin for the right purpose.  Have we honored God with our tithe?  Have we given offerings as we should?  The coin is a gift, not to be squandered but to be used for its intended purpose.  The coin is to serve the purposes of God.  We do not serve the coin, the coin serves us.  The coin is not our master.  God is our master, and we cannot serve two masters.  The battle for our hearts is to keep God first, and to have no other gods before Him.  No, the coin is not our master, it is a blessing from God.  It is our servant to fulfill the purposes of God. 

Free Cheese

We are instructed to bring our thoughts into captivity to the obedience of Christ. The battle takes place in our mind, in our thought life. James 1:12-15 shows us the way that temptation works. It is a 5 step process: 1. We are drawn away by our own desires. 2. We are enticed (baited). 3. Desire conceives - becomes action. 4. The desire becomes sin. 5. Sin leads to death. I saw these as 5 words all beginning with the letter D: Drawn, Desire, Decision, Deed, Death. It is the process by which we trap a mouse. First, we set the trap, and the mouse is drawn to notice the trap. The mouse may have ran that way a hundred times, but that day something draws his attention. Then he notices the cheese. He says to himself, "Free Cheese". Wow, this is too good to be true! He is enticed. He is baited, and maybe he doesn't go nibble on the cheese right away, but he remembers the cheese and keeps thinking about the free cheese. He finally decides that he is going to get some of that cheese. The decision is followed by action, by committing the deed. But unknown to him, this decision leads to his death. This is the process of temptation. When we are drawn away by something, we can avoid the damage by bringing our thoughts into captivity. But if we allow our thoughts to continue, and we become enticed, we have started down a very dangerous path. Like someone has said, "You can't stop the birds from flying around your head, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair." If thoughts are allowed to turn into action, it is because we have made a decision to act on those thoughts. The decision means we have done the deed, we have acted out on our thoughts. The wages of sin is death, and death is the result of sin. Our tempter was created a wonderful creature in the beginning, and he has a knowledge of temptation. He knows the traps that can ensnare us. We must not lean on our own strength to overcome temptation, but we must put on the whole armour of God. If we pass by the mousetrap, the enemy will go about to make a better mousetrap, so we always need to walk in the truth of God's Word, and in a spirit of prayer and dependence on God. Be carful of "Free Cheese". It may be very costly!

Stepping Out

"The just shall live by faith" is repeated several times in the Scriptures. To live by faith means that we do not live primarily by what we see, or how we feel, but we live by what God says, and what He has promised. We need to live by this faith everyday, and in every circumstance. Heb. 11:6 tells us that without this faith we cannot please God. Living by faith is the only way to please God in our lives. Following are 3 stories from the Bible that illustrate our need for faith. The first one is the crossing of the Red Sea by the Israelites. With the Sea in front of them, and the Egyptian army behind them, the people were afraid. Moses says, "Do not be afraid. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord." Fear will never get us across the obstacles in our lives, it will always drive us backwards. The people were crying, but God said to them to stop crying, and to move forward. The great miracle of the water dividing happened when Moses lifted up his rod toward the Sea in faith. By faith they crossed over the Sea and saw the destruction of their enemies. Later in the time of Joshua, Israel needed another miracle in order to cross into the Promised Land. The people were to watch the ark and follow it, because they had not passed that way before. The priests were to stand in the Jordan, and as they did, the water stopped flowing, and they walked on dry ground across the Jordan River. This crossing represents our crossing into the promises of God and the fulness of God in our lives. We need a miracle every time we move forward into our promised land. We need to move in faith for each step forward, for we are moving into unknown territory. Then, in the New Testament, we read of Peter accepting Jesus' invitation to walk on the water. Peter made the decision to step out onto the water, and found the reality of the supernatural. We too will find the supernatural power of God when we step out in faith on the promises of God. When fear entered into Peter, he again had to fix his eyes on Jesus in order to walk in the supernatural. "But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out saying, 'Lord, save me!' " The circumstances are irrelevant to faith. Walking by faith takes us across the troubled sea. We can cross our Red Sea, we can enter into our Promised Land, and we can walk on the water of the supernatural, as we walk by faith, and not by sight.

Places of Growth

The passage of Scripture in 2 Kings 2:1-15 is a great picture of growth in a Christian's life. It is the story of Elisha following Elijah so that he may receive a double portion of the Spirit. The two men start at Gilgal, which means a circle, or rolling. This speaks of the place we start in our walk with God, the place where our sins are rolled away, and we start our relationship with God. But from Gilgal, the Lord sends Elijah to Bethel. Bethel means the house of God. We too must be established in the house of God. Ps. 92:13 says, "Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God." The church is the house of God where we must become established in order to grow. The picture of the physical body demonstrates our need to be established in the local church. A member of the body cannot function without the rest of the body. We cannot fulfil our destiny from God without being in relationship with our local church and fellow brothers and sisters. From Bethel Elijah is sent to Jericho. Jericho represents the place of battle in the Christian life. There will be battles that we must push through and overcome as we walk with God. Jesus said to Peter in Luke 22:31-32, "Simon, Simon, satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat." There will be times of battling to keep your heart right with God, battling temptation, battling distractions, battling discouragement, battling against principalities and powers. We will battle strife and carnality. We must battle so that we don't become like the Corinthians, who could no longer receive meat, but only milk, because they were not able to eat the meat of God's Word, 1 Cor. 3:1,2. Then Elijah was sent to the Jordan. The Jordan is the place of crossing over into the Promised Land. It is the place of faith, of abundance, of answered prayer, and abundant life. The Jordan is the place where Jesus was baptized, and the Holy Spirit came upon Him. It is the place of Spirit filled living and walking with God. This is the place we want to live. We must not be content staying at Gilgal, or in Bethel, or at Jericho. We must follow on to the Jordan, to the place of greater anointing and blessing. This requires growth in our faith, and in our walk with God. "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen." 2 Pet. 3:18

Moving With God

The example of Elisha following after Elijah is one that spurs us on to follow after God. The Scripture passage is found in 2 Kings 2:1-15. Elijah is moving from one place to another, and each time he moves, he tells Elisha to stay. But each time, Elisha responds with, "As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you." Then the sons of the prophets come to Elisha and say, "Do you know that the Lord will take away your master from over you today?" And Elisha responds with, "Yes I know, keep silent." There are 4 things that stick out to me in Elisha's life: Growth (moving on), persistence, passion, and mentorship. Elisha had decided to move with God. He was not going to stay where he was, nor as he was. We must also decide to move out with God, and not stay the same. God is moving, and the question is whether we will move with Him. God is speaking. Will we hear Him, or neglect His still small voice? Elisha moved with Elijah, because he wanted what Elijah had, in fact he wanted a double portion. We must move on, and be persistant about it. There will be discouragement along the way, and we will be told to stay where we are. But persistence will move us forward through the obstacles. Elisha moved because of great desire. He was concerned about nothing else except keeping his eyes on Elijah. Elijah told Elisha he could have a double portion, but only if he saw Elijah when he was taken. Elisha never took his eyes off Elijah. We must be like Elisha, never taking our eyes off Jesus, the beginner and finisher of our faith. The relationship Elisha had with Elijah made it possible for Elisha to receive a double portion. We also must be in relationship with others who can lead us, and teach us, and impart into our lives the things that will cause us to move on in our walk with God. Elisha received the double portion, and moved out in the anointing as he split the waters of the Jordan, and walked back on dry ground. As we move on with God, in persistence, and great desire, following our leaders, we to can move out in the anointing we have received for our lives.

Levels Of Obedience

Obedience comes from hearing, watching, and putting into practice the things the instructor has given us to do. There are 3 levels of obedience. The highest level is when obedience comes out of love. Jesus said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments." The highest form of obedience is when we want to obey out of love. This passionate love will cause us to obey at the highest level possible. We will want to please our Master and go above and beyond what is asked to please the Master. This kind of love will make us a better spouse, parent, employee, etc. But not always are we motivated out of passionate love. The second level is obedience is obeying because it is the right thing to do. Not too often do we wake up to the alarm with a passionate love for our job. But we get up and go to work because it is the right thing to do, and the consequences of not doing it are too high. Jesus prayed before the cross, that if there was any other way... but nevertheless, not My will, but Yours be done. He became obedient to death, even the death of the cross. Hebrews says that He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. Jesus told the story of a man who had 2 sons. He told them both to go work in the vineyard. The first said that he would not go, and after regretted this, and went and worked. The second son said that he would go, but did not. Then Jesus asked the question, "Which one did the will of his father?" The first one, though he was disobedient, became obedient, not because he really wanted to, but because it was the right thing to do. The lowest level of obedience is when we are forced to obey and have no other option. Forced obedience is not obedience from the heart. Our goal is obedience, both because of passionate love, and because it is the right thing to do. Better to obey than to sacrifice. Obedience is the test we must strive to pass.

Obedience Begins In Thoughts

God wants our obedience to begin in our thoughts. Bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ is our goal, 2 Cor. 10:5. As a disciple of Christ, I have committed myself to following Christ and bringing my life into line with His will. First there must be a willingness and desire on my part to change my thinking and my heart to become like Christ. The word obedience is made up of two Greek words which are 'under' and 'to hear'. Obedience starts with being under the hearing of the instructor. I like to play guitar and learn how to play new things. I was watching some guitar lessons on the computer. I was watching the instructor, and listening to him, and then trying to put in practice what he was doing. I was becoming obedient as I listened, watched, and tried to do what the teacher did. This is a picture of obedience. As we listen to Christ, and watch Him in the Scriptures, and begin to put into practice the things we see and hear, we are becoming obedient to Him. Putting something into practice is very different than only hearing and watching. Watching someone else play the guitar, and understanding what they are doing, is very different than actually picking up the guitar and making your fingers obedient to what you have learned. It takes a lot of practice to do what you have seen others do. So it is with the Scriptures. We are not to be only hearers of the Word, but doers also. We are to look into the mirror of the Word, and make the adjustments necessary. We are to build our lives on the foundation of hearing and doing. If we only hear, and do not practice, we will have no strength at the time of testing.

Obedience = Hearing, Listening, and Practicing.