Way of The Warrior- A Daily Devotional

Next, they came to Jericho. And as Jesus and His disciples were leaving Jericho with a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting beside the road. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many people admonished him to be silent, but he cried out all the louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called the blind man. “Take courage!” they said. “Get up! He is calling for you.” Throwing off his cloak, Bartimaeus jumped up and came to Jesus. “What do you want Me to do for you?” Jesus asked. “Rabboni,” said the blind man, “let me see again.” “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. – Mark 10:46-52 ESV

Warrior;
The Bible gives us stories and people that are not just about the specifics of those people, those situations and those interactions, it is a picture, metaphor, example, understanding of things in our lives, people in our lives, situations and LESSONS for our lives. The Bible is not meant to just be read, but to be understood and to be applied! That is why we are called to EAT scripture, to keep in on our hearts, and on our minds. This is why the Jews were called to the SHEMA, so that it was kept before us, it was kept in us: in our hearts, and in our forethought-our minds. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) What has replaced our SHEMA TIME? Social media, working out, spending time with lover\kids\spouse\work. Consider how much time do you spend in the word studying, listening, grounding?

Leader, Blind Bartimaeus had one hope- Jesus! He did everything He could to get to Jesus, and when he got to Jesus, Jesus got to him! He CRIED OUT to Jesus- when was the last time you CRIED OUT TO JESUS? He was told to cease and desist pursuing Jesus, talking about Jesus and sharing HIS NEED for Jesus. When Bartimaeus met Jesus, connected with Jesus, and was Healed by Jesus, HE FOLLOWED JESUS! You don’t need to be a student of Greek, Hebrew or eschatology to see why Blind Bartimaeus is part of the Bible. Bartimaeus is us, and we are TO BE like, ACT LIKE, EMOTE like-Bartimaeus! Many times it is recorded in the Bible where Jesus claimed we were all LIKE BARTIMAEUS: Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?” (Mark 8:18-21) Do you not yet understand? Looking and seeing are different. Looking is a biological act, whereas SEEING is an act of volition.

Conduit, in a world wrapped up in Covetousness, followers of Jesus Christ are called to be different. The entire PRIVILEGE MOVEMENT is nothing more than the DEVIL prompting jealousy and covetousness, it is the cultural manifestation of the 10th commandment: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s” (Exodus 20:17) Coveting is essentially lusting after something that’s not yours and coveting was the one law that nailed the Apostle Paul as he wrote, “For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet” (Rom7:7) There are no shortages of things that we can covet today. We can covet a professional sports superstar and their talent and money. We can covet a person’s job like being a supervisor or CEO. We can covet a person’s home, family, car, status or any other number of things. Why is coveting so bad? When Paul was speaking about being nailed by the sin of coveting, the Greek word he used in Romans 7:7 was “epithymia,” which means “to desire, have a craving for, a longing or desire for what is forbidden” and even “lust,” so coveting is quite obviously a sin and one that begins in the heart and is not easily discerned in others and even in ourselves. Dr. R.C. Sproul writes in his commentary on Mark: “As soon as Bartimaeus received his sight, he saw Jesus, and he wanted nothing more than to follow Him to Jerusalem. This is desire of the TRUE FOLLOWER OF JESUS CHRIST, of all who are given eyes to see and ears to hear the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. When Christ opens the eyes of our hearts to see Him in all His glory, we are moved to serve Him out of gratefulness for His salvation. If we would grow in our obedience this day, we must see Jesus for who He is. Let us pray that God would continue to help us see Him and His glory” Remember we have EVERYTHING we need to be WHO GOD CALLS US TO BE! Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the Beloved One. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And He has made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to bring all things in heaven and on earth together in Christ. (Ephesians 1:3-10)