DEPENDING ON GOD’S WAYS AND NOT YOUR OWN!
DEPEND ON GOD’S WAYS AND NOT YOUR OWN!
And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” —Mark 8:31-33
Jesus began to teach His disciples what would happen to Him. He would—
- Suffer many things
- Be rejected by the elders
- Be rejected by the chief priests
- Be rejected by the scribes
- Be killed
- Be raised from the dead after three days
Jesus laid out plainly and very specifically told them what would happen to Him. This happened just after Peter confessed that Jesus was the Christ and Jesus said of Peter—
“Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” —Matthew 16:17-19
But then, just after Jesus had plainly taught them precisely what would happen to Him and stated the above about Peter—
“Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” —Matthew 16:22-23
We are told in Isaiah 55:9 that “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” We need to line up with God’s ways and God’s thinking and not depend on our ways and thoughts which, in Peter’s case mentioned here, were directly opposed to God’s ways and thoughts, being satanically influenced!
Let us be careful to stick to the Word of God and what He says. May we not depend on our ways and what we think. We need to line up with how He thinks and His ways. May we do so. Yes, Dear Father, may this be the case. May I be in step with Your thoughts and ways according to Your Word. May this be so in the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Your Son Jesus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLX83HbefrI