Lessons From Jesus

By Linda Dukart

This book is the author's morning devotional thoughts brought on by Bible verses from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These study verses brought out memories experiences and situations retold with a connecting lesson for life. The thoughts they provoked are to encourage you to examine how you feel about life and what you have learned. It encourages you to examine your own heart and its relationship with Christ.

Each of the Gospel books tells the story of Jesus a little differently. We should also take the words of Jesus and tell our stories. He was a real person who lived and walked this earth. He hurt and cried, laughed, and knew how to have fun here on earth just like we do. He loved people and had temptations, which the Bible reminds us of. It is helpful to see Jesus in a normal form. When we learn about Jesus being real, we then realize he understands what we are going through as well.

The purpose of the book is to help you reevaluate your values and see if you are living up to them just like Jesus did. There is often a twist to what can be learned from the verse and what it teaches. It often makes you think outside the box.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 17, 2022
• ISBN: 9781639616671

Book preview

Chapter 1

The Fig Tree—Matthew 21:18–22

In the morning, as Jesus was returning to Jerusalem, he was hungry, and he noticed a fig tree beside the road. He went over to see if there were any figs on it, but there were only leaves. Then he said to it, May you never bear fruit again! And immediately the fig tree withered up.

The disciples were amazed when they saw this and asked, How did the fig tree wither so quickly?

Then Jesus told them, I assure you, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May God lift you up and throw you into the sea,’ and it will happen. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.

—Matthew 21:18–22

Each morning I read the Bible and take time to think and apply the lessons and parables to my own life. If we don’t take the time to understand and apply it to ourselves, then why are we reading it? This morning I was reading about the cursing of the fig tree.

I wondered why Jesus did it in the first place. Why did he go over to the fig tree when he probably already knew it did not have any fruit? He knew everything. Why was he hungry in the first place when he had stayed the night in Bethany, maybe with his friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus who loved him dearly, fussed over him, and probably fed him breakfast and sent a lunch along (if you think about how Martha was).

And another thing, Jesus sounds angry. Was he angry at a tree?

First of all, I had to take into consideration that our Lord was living in a human body; and if he is like me, he is generally hungry all the time and loves to snack. Also, how far had they walked? Was it near lunchtime? But what I don’t understand is why he cursed the fig tree to die and wither suddenly. Did he have to have something visual to show his disciples? Why didn’t he just say, From now on you will be so heavily laden with fruit that your branches will break? It seems a more positive way of thinking, but then who am I to tell Jesus how to do his miracles?

Finally, after some debate, I decided that Jesus probably was a little irritated. He had just left the temple the day before where they were turning it into a marketplace. His time on earth was coming to a close very fast, and he was trying to make his point quickly.

They were probably talking as they walked along and wondering what they were about to witness in Jerusalem. These men who loved and trusted Jesus were about to be in a place where they needed to trust and have faith in God directly. They needed a visual lesson. Nature was close to them as they walked from place to place in all kinds of weather. They walked through wheat fields, along thorny pathways, sailed on the waters, or saw birds and animals along the way. Jesus used these times for nature lessons which made sense to them. Jesus could very easily have been angry at them for being so unprepared for what was about to happen. I am sure it must have been frustrating to him to keep trying to wake them up over and over when he wasn’t sure he was making progress. Remember, he loved them too and wanted them to be as prepared as possible for the future. Think of how we parents work with our children to make them prepared for life, and sometimes we don’t think we will ever get the lesson across. We know that one of these days we are going to have to step back and let them handle the situation on their own. We only hope they have learned the lessons we tried to teach. Well, I am sure Jesus must have felt the same way. It immediately got the disciples’ attention, and they wondered how he had withered the fig tree so quickly and why.

Then came the real lesson out of the story, If you have faith enough and don’t doubt, you can move mountains into the sea. What a thought! Imagine being hit with that power. Imagine their minds darting from the tree to wonder, First, why would I want to do this? How could that happen? Finally, who is this Jesus I love so much who can tell me that things like this can happen? I have been with this Lord for several years now, and He is telling me that they are going to kill him and then I will be on my own. Now he is telling me that when he is gone, I can ask God to do impossible things. Really? Is my faith strong enough?

I can imagine being told that.

As a child and teenager, my home was in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana, and we were surrounded by majestic huge mountains that I treasured dearly. I remember looking at them in times of trouble, knowing I could run to them and be protected in the last days or refer to them when I read the Psalms or the verse about how I will be with you even if the mountains fall into the sea. I knew these verses about faith and how I could move mountains if I never doubted God.

Mountains make a big impression on a person. The Smoky Mountains are big and beautiful. I have seen them. But the Rocky Mountains are really something majestic. I’ve always read the verse with the Rockies in mind. It was never a hill I had to move because all of my problems seemed like the Rockies. I am not sure what kind of mountains the disciples looked at, but moving large amounts of earth anywhere (before bulldozers, of course!) must have been a near-impossible thought. So you know they were impressed.

Verse 22 sums up the whole reason for the story. It caps all the disciples needed to know. It sends to us, who are his children, the most fantastic reason for having written down the story in the Bible in the first place, If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer. That, to me, is bigger than moving mountains. It is a promise that God is listening. When I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, I can ask him anything. That alone means a lot to me. He is listening to me, and I can talk to him about anything. I don’t have to be asking God to move mountains, but I can just share with him or take my simple life issues to him, and he will listen to me. Plus, there is an added bonus if my faith is strong enough (don’t doubt what he says and can do) and when I ask for something from him, I will receive it. It doesn’t say how or when, but it does reassure me that I will receive it.

Seriously now think about that.

I have heard of stories when people have walked straight down the alley of attacking dogs or bullies and, strangely enough, have had angels appear on each side to see them through. Nothing can touch them. As a child, I knew that would happen to me if I ever needed it. It took a while as an adult to realize it is still true. Without thinking too hard, I know the Lord has protected me in some mighty bad situations. Sometimes without me even being aware of it or thanking him for it. As I grew older and more cynical and wiser, I let my faith weaken to a point where it wouldn’t have done me much good. Now it is better again, and I realize God is with me in whatever I do. Whether I am walking down the alley of attacking dogs or out at the grocery store of attacking prices, the Lord is there to listen to me and help me. He listens to me as we talk and meditate together. He takes my problems and sees me through to the other side, solving or readjusting my life and surroundings. My mountains aren’t dirt, and yours probably aren’t either. Remember, in your daily life of ups and downs and mountains and valleys that if you believe you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer. We just need to share because he is listening.

Chapter 2

Trust Me, I Can Use Pigs—Mark 5:11, Mark 5:25–29

There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby. Send us into those pigs, the evil spirits begged. Jesus gave them permission. So the evil spirits came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the entire herd of 2,000 pigs plunged down the steep hillside into the lake, where they drowned.

—Mark 5:11

And there was a woman in the crowd who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal from many doctors through the years and had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she was worse. She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched the fringe of his robe. For she thought to herself, If I can just touch his clothing, I will be healed. Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel that she had been healed!

—Mark 5:25–29

This chapter is just one dramatic thing after another. Each story takes your breath away. Let’s look at the stories Mark wants to tell us.

First, we see that Jesus was confronted by a demon-filled man as soon as they got to the other side of the lake and he climbed out of the boat. Good thing he had gotten a little rest on the way over. But this demon-possessed man was even worse than the others he had encountered! He had many, many demons in him. He could not be controlled even with shackles and chains. He lived in the cemetery and constantly hit himself with stones. Picture him wild, black and blue, and cut up, yelling and throwing himself down on the ground. Everyone believed in ghosts in that day anyway, and this unkempt man had to live in the cemetery. No one could control him, and they had all given up.

But here was Jesus, the first one to step out of the boat, with a wild man running toward him, arms flying. He had already said to the spirit, Come out of the man, you evil spirit. He knew the devil, and the devil knew him. The spirits begged for their lives, knowing God is stronger than they were, so they got to go into the herd of 2,000 pigs that immediately ran down the hill into the lake and drowned. That alone would have been a sight to see. Imagine 2,000 pigs running at full speed down the hill into the lake. And what about the herdsmen who were probably running after them, wondering what just happened, How do I stop this? That’s our whole livelihood here! Now what? No wonder as the herdsmen ran from village to village, telling everyone what had happened, people were afraid to have this man here upsetting their way of life even if they could get their sick healed. They had no idea the power the Son of Man had! None at all!

But as the people came and saw the healed man, which they had never been able to control before, they became frightened. Haven’t you become even more frightened of something good? I guess it isn’t just something good but the fact that you don’t understand how that could have happened. We just like to explain everything. We like to be in control and know that if this happened before, then it will happen again. We like new and better things, but we want control too. So even with the good they had heard Jesus could do, they begged him to leave.

I feel a little sorry for the man who was healed. Not sorry he was rid of the demons but it would be hard to regain people’s confidence, and I am sure he had forgotten how to live in the normal world. His family was probably not too sure of him anymore either. And I feel sorry for the poor folks who gave up the miracles to live in the mediocre. They didn’t take a chance on a brighter, better future just because they were so afraid. We don’t always take a chance on a better future simply because we are afraid of the unknown. Isn’t that what they did? They gave up healing to live just as it was because they were afraid. Maybe that is what Mark wants us