how much longer?

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

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KEEP LIVING THE LIFE!

Luke 9:37-42

Luk 9:37 Now on the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a large crowd met him.
Luk 9:38 Then a man from the crowd cried out, “Teacher, I plead with you to look at my son– he is my only child!
Luk 9:39 A spirit seizes him, and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions and causes him to foam at the mouth. It hardly ever leaves him alone, torturing him severely.
Luk 9:40 I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not do so.”
Luk 9:41 Jesus answered, “You unbelieving and depraved generation! How much longer must I be with you and endure you? Bring your son here.”
Luk 9:42 As the boy was approaching, the demon threw him to the ground and shook him with convulsions. But Jesus reprimanded the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.

How much longer?

Jesus became one of us, and He felt the weight of that choice every day. The Gospels do not present Him as a distant, untouched divine figure gliding above human struggle. They show us a Savior who stepped fully into our world and allowed Himself to experience the same emotional pressures we face. He felt compassion for a father and son crushed by demonic torment. He felt anger at the unbelief and moral decay of the generation He came to rescue. He felt frustration at the spiritual blindness around Him and the heaviness of living in a world so far from the glory of His Father.

Yet He stayed.

He did not withdraw into heaven’s safety. He did not abandon His mission when the crowds misunderstood Him, when His disciples failed Him, or when the darkness pressed in. He endured every frustration, every sorrow, every disappointment—not because He enjoyed suffering, but because love held Him here until the work of redemption was complete. Jesus is not a quitter. He is the One who persevered through everything we find overwhelming.

And that is why His example matters so deeply on the days when we feel like the disciples—helpless, confused, unable to fix what is broken. Or on the days when we feel like that desperate family—tormented by circumstances we cannot control. Or on the days when we feel like Jesus Himself—exasperated by the unbelief, cruelty, and chaos of our generation. In all of those moments, we remember that Jesus felt these things too. He did not float above them; He walked through them. And He overcame them.

His perseverance becomes our encouragement. His endurance becomes our strength. His victory becomes our hope. The kingdom He inaugurated is not yet fully visible, but it is real—and we are called to live its life now, even while we wait for its fullness.

So we pray:
LORD, give us the courage to persevere in living the life of Your kingdom while we wait for it to arrive.

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asleep at the switch

Posted on February 28, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

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WHERE IS YOUR FOCUS?

Luke 9:32-36

Luk 9:32 But Peter and those with him had become quite sleepy, but as they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.
Luk 9:33 Then as the men were starting to leave, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three huts, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”– not knowing what he was saying.
Luk 9:34 As he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.
Luk 9:35 Then a voice came from the cloud, saying, “This one is my Son, my Chosen One. Listen to him!”
Luk 9:36 After the voice had spoken, Jesus was found to be alone. So they kept silent and told no one at that time anything of what they had seen.

asleep at the switch

Luke’s account of the transfiguration carries the unmistakable fingerprints of an eyewitness, and Peter is the most natural source. Luke names him directly, and he has already told us that James and John were with him. Peter remembers the moment with the kind of detail that only someone who lived it would recall: the drowsiness that overtook them, the sudden clarity when they shook themselves awake, and the astonishing sight of Jesus standing in radiant glory, speaking with Moses and Elijah. It was a vision unlike anything they had ever seen, and Peter—true to form—reacted before he fully understood. His instinct was to honor all three figures equally by building shelters, as if Moses, Elijah, and Jesus were peers whose wisdom should be preserved side by side.

But heaven interrupted him.

The cloud enveloped them, and the Father’s voice cut through Peter’s well‑meaning confusion: This is my Son, my Chosen One. Listen to Him. The message was unmistakable. Moses and Elijah were great servants of God, but Jesus was not merely another great figure in a long line of prophets. He was the unique Son of God, the One to whom the entire story of Scripture had been pointing. The Father was not diminishing Moses or Elijah; He was clarifying the center. From this moment forward, the focus of God’s revelation narrows to Jesus Himself.

This does not mean the Law and the Prophets are discarded. It means they now take their proper place—as witnesses, guides, and signposts that help us understand the kingdom Jesus inaugurated. Their role is secondary, not because they lack value, but because their purpose is fulfilled in Christ. The whole biblical story converges on Him, and our relationship with God is now shaped primarily by His words, His life, His death, and His resurrection.

The transfiguration teaches us that the voice we most need to hear is the voice of Jesus. His gospel is the lens through which we read the rest of Scripture and the foundation on which we build our lives.

LORD, help us to focus our eyes and ears on Jesus, God’s unique Son, and to let His voice shape everything we believe and everything we become.

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his exodus

Posted on February 27, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

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WHAT WERE THEY TALKING ABOUT?

Luke 9:28-31

Luk 9:28 Then about eight days after these sayings, Jesus took with him Peter, John, and James, and went up the mountain to pray.
Luk 9:29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face was transformed, and his clothes became very bright, a dazzling white.
Luk 9:30 Then two men, Moses and Elijah, began talking with him.
Luk 9:31 They appeared in glory and spoke about his exodus that he was about to fulfill at Jerusalem.

his exodus

The subject of Jesus’ conversation during the transfiguration is one of the most revealing details in the entire scene. Moses and Elijah—representing the Law and the Prophets—appear in glory, and what do they discuss with Jesus? Not His miracles, not His teaching, not His growing reputation, but His coming exodus. Luke chooses that word deliberately. They are speaking about the cross, but they are framing it in the language of deliverance.

Just as the first exodus began with the death of the Passover lamb, so the new exodus would begin with the death of the Lamb of God. In Egypt, the lamb’s blood shielded Israel from judgment and opened the way for their liberation from Pharaoh’s grip. That sacrifice made their journey to the promised land possible. In the same way, Christ’s death and resurrection would break the power of sin and death, opening a path of freedom not only for Israel but for all who believe—Jew and Gentile alike.

This was not a new idea introduced by Jesus. Moses had already hinted at a greater deliverance to come, one that would surpass the first exodus in scope and glory. Elijah and the prophets echoed the same hope: a day when God would gather His people, forgive their sins, renew their hearts, and lead them into a restored creation. The transfiguration shows that Jesus stands at the center of that long‑promised rescue. His cross is not a tragic detour; it is the fulfillment of the entire biblical story.

Calling His death an “exodus” reframes everything. It reminds us that salvation is not merely forgiveness—it is liberation. It is God bringing His people out of bondage and into life. It is the beginning of a journey that leads to a new creation, a new covenant, and a new identity as God’s redeemed people.

So we pray: Lord, thank You for the promise of a new exodus. Thank You that in Christ You have led us out of slavery to sin and into the freedom of Your kingdom. May we walk in that freedom with gratitude, hope, and trust, knowing that the One who began this journey will bring it to completion.

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victorious victim

Posted on February 26, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

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DON’T BE ASHAMED

Luke 9:22-27

Luk 9:22 by saying, “The Son of Man has to suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
Luk 9:23 Then he said to them all, “If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.
Luk 9:24 Because whoever wants to save his soul will lose it, but whoever loses his soul for my sake will save it.
Luk 9:25 Because what does it benefit a person if he gains the whole world but destroys or loses himself in the process?
Luk 9:26 Because whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
Luk 9:27 But I tell you for a fact, there are some standing here who will not experience death before they see the kingdom of God.”

victorious victim

The words Jesus refers to are the very ones His disciples struggled to accept—His clear, deliberate prediction that He would suffer, be rejected, be killed, and rise again. They were eager to embrace His identity as Messiah, but they recoiled at the path that identity required. They wanted glory without Golgotha, triumph without tragedy, a crown without a cross. But Jesus refused to let them hold a half‑truth. If He was truly the Messiah, then His suffering was not an accident of history; it was the heart of His mission.

This is why the question “Was Jesus a victim or victorious?” is too small. True followers know He is both. He was a victim in the sense that He willingly placed Himself into the hands of those who hated Him. He allowed Himself to be betrayed, arrested, mocked, beaten, and crucified. None of that happened because He was powerless. It happened because He chose it. His victimhood was voluntary, purposeful, and redemptive. And precisely because He chose the path of suffering, He became victorious—over sin, over death, over every power that sought to destroy Him. His victory was not in avoiding the cross but in conquering through it.

And then comes the part we often prefer to overlook: He calls us into the same pattern. Not the same sacrifice—only He could die for the sins of the world—but the same shape of life. A life marked by self‑giving love. A life that refuses to cling to comfort or status. A life that understands that following Jesus means walking behind Him, even when the road bends downward before it rises upward. He invites us into His victory, but He also challenges us to embrace His way of the cross.

This is not a call to misery; it is a call to meaning. It is not a summons to defeat; it is a summons to the kind of life that cannot be destroyed because it has already surrendered everything to God. Daily crosses do not crush us—they shape us into the likeness of the One who carried His cross for us.

So we pray: Lord, give us the courage to glorify You by taking up our daily crosses. Teach us to follow the path Your Son walked, trusting that the One who chose the cross also secured the crown, and that His victory will one day be ours.

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true followers follow

Posted on February 25, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

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WE HAVE DAILY CROSSES TO BEAR

Luke 9:23-25

Luk 9:23 Then he said to them all, “If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.
Luk 9:24 Because whoever wants to save his soul will lose it, but whoever loses his soul for my sake will save it.
Luk 9:25 Because what does it benefit a person if he gains the whole world but destroys or loses himself in the process?

true followers follow

The disciples had just crossed a threshold of understanding. After months of watching Jesus heal the sick, command storms, cast out demons, and pray with the intimacy of a Son speaking to His Father, they finally said aloud what had been growing in their hearts: Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah sent from God. It was a moment of clarity, a moment of revelation. But instead of celebrating their insight, Jesus immediately silenced them. He “sternly charged” them not to tell anyone.

Why? Because their confession was true, but their expectations were not. They had finally grasped who He was, but they still misunderstood what that meant. The Messiah they had just acknowledged was not heading toward a throne but toward a cross. His identity did not shield Him from suffering; it guaranteed it. And until they understood that, their proclamation would only fuel the wrong kind of messianic hope.

Jesus used this moment to teach them something equally important about themselves. If He was the Messiah destined for suffering, then they, as His followers, were not exempt from that path. They, too, had a hidden identity—beloved sons of God, redeemed and called. But that identity did not remove the daily cross they were to carry. In fact, it required it. Jesus warned them not to become so captivated by the glory of their new status that they forgot the cost of discipleship. Following Him meant walking behind Him, even when the road led to Golgotha.

This is a truth we still need to hear. The victory of Christ is real, final, and unshakeable. But our personal battles are not finished. The resurrection has secured the end of the story, yet the journey between now and that final chapter is marked by perseverance, sacrifice, and faithfulness. We are not called to admire Jesus from a distance; we are called to follow Him. And following means walking the same path He walked—trusting, surrendering, carrying our crosses until He returns with our crowns.

So we pray: Lord, give us the perseverance to keep taking up our crosses, day after day, until the day You come in glory. Strengthen us to follow wherever You lead, confident that the One who went before us will also bring us safely home.

Posted in commitment, perseverance, the cross | Tagged | 1 Comment

circular reasoning

Posted on February 24, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

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HOW LIBERAL LOGIC LOOPS

Luke 9:20-22

Luk 9:20 Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “The Christ from God.”
Luk 9:21 But he forcefully commanded them not to tell this to anyone,
Luk 9:22 by saying, “The Son of Man has to suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”

circular reasoning

It really is remarkable how some scholars arrive at the conclusion that Jesus did not know He was going to die on the cross, especially when passages like this one speak so plainly. But as you noted, the conclusion is often reached before the evidence is examined. Once that assumption is in place, the Gospels must be reinterpreted to fit it.

The reasoning usually unfolds in a predictable pattern. First, a scholar begins with the premise that Jesus was primarily a Jewish mystic or apocalyptic preacher—someone deeply spiritual, perhaps even inspired, but not someone who consciously embraced a divine, messianic mission that included suffering and death. If that starting point is accepted, then the Gospel accounts that portray Jesus predicting His death cannot be taken at face value. They must be reclassified as later theological reflections, not historical memories.

From there, the next step becomes almost inevitable: passages in which Jesus speaks clearly about His coming suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection are treated as inventions of the early church. The logic goes something like this: “Since Jesus could not have known He would die, any passage in which He predicts His death must have been written after the fact.” But that is circular reasoning. The conclusion is smuggled into the premise.

The result is that the Jesus of history becomes a figure stripped of the very things the Gospels emphasize most—His self-awareness, His mission, His obedience to the Father, and His deliberate journey toward the cross. The Jesus who speaks openly about His coming suffering in Luke 9, or who sets His face toward Jerusalem, or who interprets His death at the Last Supper, must be explained away rather than believed.

But the Gospel writers present a very different picture. Jesus speaks repeatedly, clearly, and purposefully about what awaits Him. He is not surprised by the cross; He walks toward it with intention. He knows who He is. He knows what He has come to do. And He reveals these things to His disciples long before the events unfold.

So we pray: Lord, give us the wisdom to trust the word You have revealed, rather than the fragile logic we sometimes use to avoid its implications. Keep us grounded in the truth You have spoken, and guard us from explanations that diminish the clarity of Your voice.

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did Jesus know?

Posted on February 23, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

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THE MESSIANIC DEBATE

Luke 9:18-20

Luk 9:18 Once when Jesus was praying by himself, and his disciples were close, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”
Luk 9:19 They answered, “John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others that one of the prophets of ages past has risen.”
Luk 9:20 Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “The Christ from God.”

Did Jesus know?

The scene Luke records is quietly revealing. Jesus is praying—openly, audibly, intimately—and the disciples are close enough to overhear the way He speaks to His Father. It is in that atmosphere of prayer that Jesus turns to them and asks the question that has been simmering beneath the surface of His entire ministry: “Who do you say that I am?” He is not fishing for compliments, nor is He uncertain about His identity. He is inviting His disciples to articulate what they have begun to perceive as they watch Him pray, teach, heal, and confront the powers of darkness.

Peter, bold as ever, steps forward with the answer that has been forming in his heart: Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah sent from God. And Jesus does not correct him. He does not soften the claim or redirect it. Instead, He affirms it by His silence and immediately instructs them not to spread the news. The timing was not right. His messianic mission was not aimed at political triumph or public acclaim; it was aimed at a cross. But the fact that He told them to keep quiet shows that Peter’s confession was true—and dangerous. Jesus knew exactly who He was, and He knew exactly where His calling would lead Him.

This moment also reveals something else: the disciples recognized Jesus’ identity not merely from His miracles or His teaching, but from His prayer life. They heard Him speak to God with the intimacy of a Son addressing His Father. They saw in His communion with heaven the unmistakable signs of His divine vocation. His messiahship was not a title He discovered late in life; it was woven into His consciousness, His mission, and His relationship with the Father from the beginning.

The scholarly debate about whether Jesus knew He was the Messiah often treats Him as if He were uncertain, developing, or gradually awakening to His identity. But the Gospels present a different picture—one in which Jesus moves with deliberate clarity toward the cross, fully aware of who He is and what He has come to accomplish. Peter’s confession simply names what Jesus already knows.

So we pray: Lord, thank You for who You are—Messiah, Son of God, Savior—and for the privilege of bearing witness to that truth. Give us courage to confess You with the same clarity and conviction that Peter showed, and the same reverence that filled the air when You prayed to Your Father.

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what you have

Posted on February 22, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

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THE RESOURCE THEY FORGOT ABOUT

Luke 9:12-17

Luk 9:12 Then the day began to draw to a close, so the twelve came and said to Jesus, “Send the crowd away, so they can go into the surrounding villages and countryside and find lodging and food, because we are in an isolated place.”
Luk 9:13 But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They responded, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish– unless we go and buy food for all these people.”
Luk 9:14 (You see, about five thousand men were there.) Then he said to his disciples, “Get them to sit down in groups of about fifty each.”
Luk 9:15 So they did as Jesus told them, and the people all sat down.
Luk 9:16 Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to the sky, he gave thanks and broke them. He gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.
Luk 9:17 They all ate and were satisfied, and what was left over was picked up– twelve baskets full of scraps.

What you have

The disciples approached the feeding of the five thousand the way most of us approach a sudden crisis: by proposing the most reasonable, most manageable solutions they could think of. Their first idea was simple and sensible—send the crowd away before mealtime so they could find food and lodging in the nearby villages. It was a practical plan, one that respected their limits and acknowledged the reality of the situation. When Jesus didn’t take that option, they offered a second, less appealing alternative: perhaps they could go and buy food for everyone. It wasn’t ideal, but at least it was something they could control.

What they never imagined was that Jesus had a third option—one that didn’t depend on their resources, their strength, or their ingenuity. He took the small amount they already had, blessed it, broke it, and multiplied it until thousands were fed. And He deliberately involved the disciples in the process. They distributed the bread. They gathered the leftovers. They saw with their own eyes that scarcity in their hands became abundance in His.

The lesson was unmistakable. When the disciples evaluated the situation, they counted everything except the most important factor: Jesus Himself. They measured the size of the crowd, the distance to the villages, the cost of the food, and the limits of their own ability. But they did not measure the presence of the One who had already calmed storms, cast out demons, healed the sick, and revealed the power of God’s kingdom. Their calculations were accurate—but incomplete.

We fall into the same pattern. When faced with overwhelming needs, we instinctively assess our resources, our time, our energy, our money, our skills. We look at what we lack and conclude that the situation is impossible. But the missing variable in our equation is the same one the disciples overlooked: the presence of Jesus. He does not ask us to solve every problem with our own strength. He asks us to bring what we have—however small—and trust Him to do what only He can do.

So we pray: Lord, thank You for Your divine presence, which fills every gap in our insufficiency. Teach us to remember You in our calculations, to trust You with our limitations, and to offer You whatever we have, knowing that in Your hands it becomes more than enough.

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the ruined retreat

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

marmsky-devotions-pics-february-2017-21

PLAN FOR REST, BUT BE FLEXIBLE

Luke 9:10-11

Luk 9:10 When the missionaries returned, they told Jesus everything they had accomplished. Then he took them with him and they had a private retreat at a town called Bethsaida.
Luk 9:11 But when the crowds found out, they followed him. He welcomed them, spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and cured those who needed healing.

the ruined retreat

The retreat to Bethsaida was meant to be a quiet pause—a chance for the twelve to breathe, to reflect on all they had just experienced, and to share with Jesus the stories that were still fresh in their minds. They had poured themselves out in ministry, and Jesus, who understood human limits better than anyone, invited them to step away and rest. But before they could settle into that restorative rhythm, the crowds found them. The moment that was supposed to be restful became another moment of need, another interruption, another reminder that ministry rarely unfolds according to our carefully drawn plans.

Anyone who has served others for any length of time knows this pattern well. You set aside time to rest, only to have an emergency arise. You plan a quiet evening, only to receive a call that changes everything. Ministry—whether formal or informal—has a way of intruding on our schedules. The question is not whether interruptions will come; the question is how we respond when they do.

Jesus did not scold the crowds for disrupting His retreat, nor did He shame the disciples for needing rest. Instead, He held both realities together. He welcomed the people with compassion, yet He continued to teach His disciples the importance of stepping away. His life shows us that flexibility is not a failure of planning; it is a necessary posture for those who serve in a world full of unpredictable needs.

As we grow older, we often become more aware of our limits. Rest is no longer optional; it becomes essential. And that is not selfishness—it is wisdom. Your ministry is not the most important thing about you. Your relationship with God is. Your health matters to Him, and therefore it should matter to you. When you intentionally build rhythms of rest, renewal, and recreation into your life, you are not neglecting ministry; you are strengthening it. Rested disciples are far more capable of responding with grace when the urgent suddenly demands their attention, just as Jesus and the twelve did in Bethsaida.

So we pray: Lord, give us the wisdom to plan well, and the strength to remain flexible when plans shift. Teach us to rest without guilt and to serve without resentment, trusting that both rest and interruption can be holy when they are held in Your hands.

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none of the above

Posted on February 20, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

marmsky-devotions-pics-february-2017-20

FIND THE REAL JESUS

Luke 9:7-9

Luk 9:7 Then Herod the tetrarch heard about everything that was happening, and he was completely confused, because some people were saying that John had been raised from the dead,
Luk 9:8 while others were saying that Elijah had appeared, and still others that one of the prophets of ages past had risen.
Luk 9:9 Herod said, “I had John beheaded, so who is this about whom I hear such things?” As a result, Herod wanted to find out about Jesus.

None of the above

It is striking that when Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”, the answers they reported were all over the map—John the Baptist, Elijah, one of the prophets. These were not random guesses; they were the best explanations people could come up with based on their limited understanding. Yet every one of them missed the mark. Not one of the popular opinions circulating at the time captured the truth of who Jesus really was. The crowds admired Him, feared Him, speculated about Him—but they did not know Him.

We live in a moment remarkably similar to that first‑century scene. Opinions about Jesus are everywhere. Some see Him as a wise teacher, others as a revolutionary, others as a symbol of kindness or morality. Some reduce Him to a myth; others reshape Him into a mascot for their own causes. But like the guesses in the gospel narrative, most of these modern impressions fall far short of the living Christ. They reveal more about our cultural assumptions than about Jesus Himself.

That is why it is so important not to settle for secondhand conclusions. You cannot discover the real Jesus by relying on the opinions of others—whether those opinions come from skeptics, admirers, scholars, or even well‑meaning Christians. The invitation of the gospel is deeply personal: Come and see. Go to the Scriptures, where His words and actions are preserved with clarity and power. Watch how He treats the broken, how He confronts the proud, how He reveals the Father’s heart. Let the biblical witness shape your understanding rather than the noise of the surrounding culture.

Then look for Him among His true followers—not the loudest voices, not the most polished personalities, but the people whose lives bear the unmistakable imprint of His grace. And beyond all of that, ask Him directly to reveal Himself to you. Jesus delights to answer that prayer. He is not hiding. He is not playing games with those who genuinely seek Him. He promised that those who ask will receive, those who seek will find, and those who knock will discover an open door.

So we pray: Lord, reveal Yourself to those who are seeking the real You. Cut through the confusion of our age. Silence the false opinions. Draw us beyond speculation into the truth of who You are—our Savior, our Lord, and the One who still invites us to know You for ourselves.

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