BLESSING PREPARATIONS

My Dear Precious Child,
     The religious and political Pharisees were escalating their complaints and judgments of Jesus Christ as He continued in His healing ministry, His casting out demon from people and His teaching about My kingdom of God which was soon coming into the earth.  Jesus' insights that He spoke about Me and My kingdom being based upon My mercy and My compassion did not sit well with the leaders because of their own interpretation of scriptures being that their Messiah would be a strict ruler like their kings.(Matthew 12:4-8)  The leaders felt threatened that if Jesus was right, then their own earthly elite positions would be threatened. 
     After Jesus lectured the religious and political Pharisees on My mercy being better than sacrificing lambs, it was still the Sabbath and He went to the synagogue to teach, followed by the Jewish Pharisees and His disciples and followers.  There was a man with a withered hand at the synagogue.  The religious and political leaders quizzed Jesus in hopes of tricking Him into doing something for which they could accuse Him of being a lawbreaker.  They tried to trick Him into saying He was guilty of lawbreaking so they asked Jesus if it was lawful in His own eyes for Him to heal the man on the Sabbath. (Matthew 12:9-10)
    Jesus did not answer them directly.   Instead He asked a question about their own actions, that if they had only one sheep and that one sheep fell into a pit, would they not take hold of it and pull it out of the pit?  He told them that a man is worth much more than a sheep and so it is lawful and allowed to do a good action toward a person on the Sabbath days.  Then He told the man with the withered hand to reach out his hand.  The man reached out his hand and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other hand. (Matthew 12:11-12) There was not one thing that the Pharisees could say or do in their persecution of Jesus Christ that would stop His mercy from being extended to everyone who needed His ministry of the Holy Spirit's power over the works of the devil in their lives. 
     After Jesus so cleverly answered the Pharisees, they left him, gathered a council together and began to plan with them how they might do away with Him.  Their pursuit of Him in an effort to catch him in the act of breaking religious and political law had paid off for them.  Being aware of their wicked plan, Jesus went on His way and many people followed Him.  He healed all of them.  Then He cautioned the people not to make Him known publicly any more than He already was, because there were still things to be fulfilled before His final ministry occurred, that being His being crucified on the cross for the sins of the whole world. (Matthew 12:14-16) 
      Every iota relating to the prophesies of the old covenant prophets needed to be fulfilled before His most effective and eternal ministry came to unfold in the earth.  The prophesies all related to some things that needed to occur in My spiritual dimension and the earth before the occurrence of His most wonderful ministry of being the sacrificial Lamb of God who takes away all the sins of the world.  (John 1:29 and 36; Revelations 5:6)
     The religious and political Pharisees were fitting right into My plans without being conscious of their part in them.
     Your Father of Perfect Plans  

BLESSING TRUTHS

My Dear Precious Child,
    As Jesus was astounding the crowds with His wise teachings, the religious and political Pharisees were determined to prove that He was opposed to their religious practices so that they could have Him arrested and convicted of being a law breaker.  After He taught about His burdens being light, He and His disciples were hungry and they spotted a field of corn and they began to pick the ears of corn and eat them.  That  was just the action for which the Pharisees were looking in order to accuse Him.  They wanted to make sure that the people in the crowd noticed their actions so the Pharisees called attention to their action by loudly speaking to Jesus, "See that!  Your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the Sabbath." (Deuteronomy 23:25)
    Jesus replied to the Pharisees that in relation to their complaint, "Haven't you read what David did when he and the men who accompanied him were hungry?  David went into the temple and ate the loaves of bread which was neither lawful for him to eat nor for the men who accompanied him to eat, but it was only for the priests to eat." (Leviticus 24:9; Matthew 12:1-4) 
    Jesus also gave another example to the Pharisees of the truth hidden in the Law.  He asked the religious and political Pharisees if they had ever read in the Law about the Sabbath, how the priests in the temple violate the sanctity of the Sabbath, breaking it and yet they were guiltless? (Numbers 28:9) Then He told them that there was something greater and more spiritual powerful in their presence, more powerful even than the earthly temple in Jerusalem.   He was speaking of Himself and His body which was the temple of My Holy Spirit.  (Matthew 12:5-6)
     My Son was introducing to their thinking a new truth that I could live inside of human flesh in the earth.  He told the religious and political Pharisees that they were lax in not knowing that I said, "I want mercy instead of sacrifice," meaning that Jesus said that if they had known that proclamation by Me about mercy that they would not have condemned the guiltless people in the situation, referring to Himself and his disciples when they had picked and eaten corn from a field.  (Hosea 6:6; Matthew 12:7) 
    Then Jesus voiced a truth that was far from the understanding of the Pharisees since they did not believe that He was My Son.  Jesus proclaimed, "For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."  He was greater than any rule, regulation or law.
    That proclamation of Jesus amplified the truth that He was My Son and that He was greater and more authoritative than the old covenant laws that governed the Sabbath.   In other words, His actions and His words were merciful to people and they overruled the old covenant Law that was used by the Pharisees to judge and condemn people.
    There was soon to come My new covenant into the earth, one of mercy and forgiveness taking the place of the old covenant of guilt and condemnation.  My new covenant would be instituted by Jesus Christ when He was crucified for the sins of everyone in the world, went to hell to pay the price for their sins, rose from the dead with the authoritative keys to heaven and earth, told His disciples to wait in Jerusalem for My promise to come into their lives, and then He ascended into heaven to sit down with Me, sending My Holy Spirit who was the source of His power into the earth to live inside of people who believe in His forgiveness of their sins.  My Holy Spirit would continue the ministry of Jesus in the earth through the people who are born of My Holy Spirit and baptized in My Holy Spirit.   My Holy Spirit would then become Lord of the earth, continuing the ministry of Jesus who had sat down by Me in My heaven.   (Jeremiah 31:31-33; Joel 3:1-5; Acts 2:1-4; I Corinthians 3:16; II Corinthians 3:17-18)  It is in the person of My Holy Spirit that My authoritative power over heaven and earth is now resident in the earth under My new covenant with the earth.   He empowers My children of promise with My power over all evil in the earth. (I John 3:8)
   Under My new covenant of love and mercy, My children who are led by My Spirit and pray in the spiritual language of My Holy Spirit are able to attain exceedingly, abundantly more than they dare think, pray, desire of imagine, according to the power of My Holy Spirit that is in them.  (Ephesians 3:20)
    Your Father of the Abundant Life
    
 

BLESSING OF PEACE FOR YOUR MIND

My Dear Precious Child,
    Jesus Christ confessed His complete trust and faith in Me in His proclaimer to His disciples that all things had been entrusted and delivered to Him by Me, speaking about My powers of My Holy Spirit through whom Jesus was healing the diseased, casting out demons and teaching about My kingdom which was soon to come into people who would seek for My kingdom and seek for My righteousness.  He also confessed that no one really knew and understood Himself, Jesus, except Me, His Father, and no one understood and knew Me, His Father, except Himself, My Son, and anyone to whom the Son makes Me and My character known to him or her.  That confession is the firm basis upon which His disciples, His followers and you can be assured of the One-On-One relationship that Jesus had with Me. (Matthew 1:27)  
     After that proclamation by Jesus of His close relationship with Me and My close relationship with Him, Jesus offered to humanity the same close relationship with Him and Me that He and I have with each other.  He said that anyone who is over burdened, heavy laden and laboriously depressed with earthly cares should come to Him as My Son and learn about His having the same personality as Me, His Father.  He identified His personality and My personality as being meek, gentle and humble in heart, not egregious and judgmental like the political Pharisees and religious leaders.  Then He promised that everyone who came to Him to receive His life in them would have the opportunity to have complete rest, relief, refreshment and recreation for their souls.  His explanation was amplified when He promised that the people to whom He was talking, and you, would have the blessing of quietness and peace for your soul when My Spirit of Peace enters into your mind.  (Matthew 11:28-29; Jeremiah 6:16)
    In addition to that wonderful promise of your having complete peace in your mind, Jesus further explained that your being bound and yoked to Him is good and useful for you, not hard, harsh, judgmental and depressing like the laws of the Pharisees had become.  He said that being bound to Him and Me in complete unity would be comfortable, gracious, loving and pleasant, light and easy to take on. (Matthew 11:30) 
    That gracious information was necessary for the followers of Jesus Christ to hear and understand the difference between what the political and religious leaders were offering them and what Jesus and I had to offer to them.  The promise of having a peaceful mind was opposed of their current mental activity of being in constant turmoil because of not being able to keep all of the laws and because of being in a world ruled by demonic spirits.
    My promise through the words of Jesus Christ, that being that people could actually have a peaceful existence in the world, was certainly music for their ears.  They had observed the peace and confidence that Jesus had in His life, so they could see the results of their possibly being in total unity with Me, like Jesus was and is, instead of their being in unity with the hypocritical religious and political leaders which brought burdens and misfortunes into their lives.
    The disciples of Jesus had very little problem trusting Him because of His love and the gracious power of My Holy Spirit which was visible in His life.  It was easy for them to leave their families and follow Him for three years because of the virtues that were apparent in Him.  They received rewards from My heaven because of their loyalty to Him and through Him their loyalty to Me.  They found that as long as they stayed in unity with Me through the Holy Spirit that was in Jesus Christ and if they did not fall for the false prophets who were determined to lead them back into bondage to the law of sin and death, they retained the peaceful mind that was infused into them when they were born of My Spirit and baptized in My Holy Spirit.  Later several of them refused the appeal of the devil to return to the old covenant laws.  I spoke My approval of them through the new covenant prophets in their writings.   Yet, some fell away and then returned when the new covenant prophet Paul pointed out to them that they had been deceived and bewitched by false prophets. (Galatians 3:1-7)  The loss of peace in their minds was an indication that they had fallen away from Me. 
    When you have lost the promised peace of My Holy Spirit as sent to you by the Prince of Peace, that is an indication that you have embraced some false teachings and are struggling with burdens again.  Don't remain in the mud and grunge too long or it will be harder for you to be restored to My peace.  Peace is restored to you when you become in unity with Me again.
    Your Father of a Peaceful Mind 

BLESSING REVELATIONS

My Dear Precious Child,
    In Jesus Christ's continued teachings about My kingdom of God which was to come into the lives of people who would seek My kingdom and My righteousness  He spoke about certain cities and the angel in charge of those cities, as was spoken also in John's revelation in the book of Revelations.  He said that woes would come upon the cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida because His mighty works could not be done in them because the people were not swayed into believing that He was My Son by His miraculous works.  He said that if the works that He had done in Tyre and Sidon had been done in those other two cities that the people would have repented in sack cloth and ashes and their hearts would have been changed.  (Matthew 11:21-22)  In fact, Jesus said that it was going to be easier on the people in Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for the people of Chorazin and Bethsaida, because those two cities had no knowledge of My power of the Holy Spirit that was present in Jesus Christ. (Revelations 2:1; Chapter 2:verses7-8; also verses 11-12, 17-18, 24, Revelations 3:1, verses 6-7 and 13-14)
     Jesus spoke also very firmly to the people in the city and the angel at the head of the city of Capernaum, asking if they were lifted up to heaven.  He prophesied that they would be brought down to hell.  He said that if the mighty works had been done in Sodom that had been done in Capernaum, that Sodom would still have been in existence to the day of Jesus' ministry, but it had been destroyed by the sins (demons) in it.  Jesus told His followers that it was going to be more endurable for the sinful city of Sodom on the day of judgment than for the people and the angel of Capernaum.  (Matthew 11:23-24)  He was speaking of spiritual things that were difficult for His followers to understand. 
     After His speaking emphatically about the cities that welcomed Him and His disciples and the cities that had not welcomed His prophesies through the prophets, Jesus thanked Me that I had hidden My truths from the seemingly wise Pharisees and instead He was revealing them to the childish and untaught people.  (Matthew 11:25)  He celebrated that fact by praising Me for My gracious will and good pleasure.
     Jesus Christ was speaking small important truths and He was merely hinting about them to His followers.  He was speaking spiritual facts that there are angels as the spiritual heads of the cities' churches in the spiritual dimension of heaven and that those angels were either in My favor or out of My favor because of what they had allowed to be taught in the churches and what they were perpetuating as truth in the some churches where there was also error being taught.
      He had also taught in that same teaching setting that from John the Baptist's time in the earth until the time that Jesus was teaching truth about the spiritual dimension, that My kingdom of God had suffered lots of violent assault and that violent men wanted to seize it by force.  He was talking about the influence of the devil's demonic forces in using the Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes to blaspheme against Jesus's ministry in the earth, as they were soon to identify His ministry as being by the power of the devil Beelzebub. (Matthew 12:24-30)
     There are battles going on in the spiritual dimension while there are battles also going on in earth.  Jesus Christ was attesting to that fact.  His followers needed to know that nugget of truth because He was soon going to die for their sins and have a battle, Himself, in taking back from the devil the authority to the earth that I had given to Adam but Adam had given it to the devil in the Garden of Eden.  After Jesus was crucified for the sins of the world, went to hell as payment for the sins, and rose from the dead by the power of My Holy Spirit, He told His disciples that He had the keys to heaven and earth. (Matthew 28:16-20)  He told them to go into the world and baptize people in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe EVERYTHING that He had commanded them, with the knowledge that He was always with them.  He was speaking of their being baptized in the Holy Spirit, as was reported by Luke in His writing about the same command of Jesus. (Acts 1:1-9; Acts 2:1-11) 
    In the continued ministry of Jesus Christ through My children who are baptized in the Holy Spirit, the authority of Jesus Christ is present in their earthly bodies which are the temples of the Holy Spirit, that being the same authority over heaven and the earth.  I said through Paul that My children must have a revelation of the power of authority that is present within them in the person of My Holy Spirit. (Luke 9:1; Ephesians 1:17-23)
    The people in the cities who received the ministry of Jesus Christ and His miracles were recipients of the joy on the miraculous day of Pentecost when My Holy Spirit came to earth to live inside of My children of promise, which allows the authoritative ministry of Jesus Christ to continue in the earth through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.   My plan of salvation is still in effect in the earth in the lives of My children who are led by the Holy Spirit and pray in the language of the Holy Spirit.  (Romans 8)
    Your Father of Glorious Strategies 

BLESSINGS UNCOVERED

My Dear Precious Child,
    Jesus Christ's teachings about the coming to the earth of My kingdom of God to live in people who seek My kingdom and My righteousness were treated with some spiritual insights that they were only partially able to understand.  He told them that from the laws and the prophets came many prophesies about John the Baptist.  In His lecturing about John the Baptist Jesus told His disciples that they must be willing to accept the fact that John himself was Elijah who was to come to earth again before My kingdom came into the world. (Malachi 4:5; Matthew 11:13-14; Matthew 17:10-13)  Jesus was telling the disciples that John the Baptist was the spirit of Elijah in other flesh, coming to usher in My kingdom of God through the death, descent into hell, being raised from the dead, and ascension into My heaven of Jesus Christ.   He told the disciples that they must have spiritual ears to hear and then perceive that truth.
    Referring to the disciples' ability or lack of ability to understand the truths that He was telling them, Jesus compared the Jewish nation at the time like little children in the marketplace who call to their friends, but the prophets began to play wedding music and  they paid no attention to the prophets in order to dance to their music.  He was indicating that when He and John the Baptist taught about My kingdom of heaven soon coming into the earth that their followers found no occasion to celebrate the Good News.  Jesus said that when they talked about the horrible things that were going to come into the earth when He was crucified, the people failed to identify the funeral music, suggesting that they were ignoring the prophets.  He told the disciples that the Jews had not mourned, beat their breasts and wept out loud at His prophesies about his leaving them. (Matthew 11:17)
    Jesus compared John's actions in the earth with His own actions, saying that they were opposite in practice, but people did not accept the truth from any of their words because John and Jesus were not walking around in the flesh that people were expecting the Messiah to appear.  He said that John the Baptist came neither eating nor drinking what other people ate or drank and the Jewish people said that he had a demon, and the Son of Man came eating and drinking with people and He, Himself, was identified by the Jewish people and leaders as a glutton and a wine drinker, a friend of tax collectors and wicked sinners.  He was indicating to the disciples and His followers that the Jews were judging both John and Jesus by their flesh, not by the spiritual wisdom coming from their mouths.  He said that wisdom is justified and vindicated by her deeds and her children's deeds, indicating that the words of Jesus and John were what was important, not their physical flesh or their eating habits. (Matthew 11:18-19)
    Continuing in His teaching He began to speak about the cities in which He and John taught and where there were no spiritual reactions of faith in the people.  He said that the people in the cities in which He had done mighty works people should have repented in sack cloth and ashes  and their hearts would have been changed.  Instead, they were like the children to whom He had earlier referred who had heard the words of Jesus and also John the Baptist and the people refused to celebrate the coming of the kingdom of God and they also refused to show any emotion about the future of Jesus which was prophesied that He was going  to the cross for the sins of the world.  
     Jesus Christ was lamenting about the Jews who were waiting so patiently for their Messiah to come to earth, and their anticipated Savior of the world was already, at the time, teaching them, preaching to them, healing their sick and diseased and casting out the demons who were harassing them and possessing their bodies.  They did not recognize Him as their Savior because He did not come in elegant clothing, give firm authoritative edicts like their kings, and He and John didn't have an adoring and finely dressed entourage of princes following them around like their earthly kings. Yet, Jesus was My Son in human flesh whom they failed to acknowledge as who He was, and John was the spirit of Elijah who the prophets said would precede the Christ.  If they had recognized Him, the people in the towns who rejected Him would have been spared the horrors of the coming days when Jesus suffered for the sins of the whole world because they would have followed His guidance and waited in Jerusalem for My promise of My Holy Spirit to come upon them and be in them.  They would have become unspeakably joyful like the disciples and His other followers who became filled with My Holy Spirit and baptized by My Kingdom of God on the day of Pentecost.  They would have had authority over the works of the devil in their own lives and in their families.  The religious and political Jews and their followers already had their rewards, the adoration of people which is addictive and leads to hypocrisy.  They missed out on the most glorious day in the history of the world, when My kingdom of God came to earth.
    Your Father of Everlasting Salvation  
                    

BLESSED ARE THE TRUTH SEEKERS

My Dear Precious Child,
    When Jesus finished His insightful instructions to His disciples relating to the fact that persecutions were going to come upon them and how for them to react to the persecutions, He left there and went to preach in the Galilean cities.  His instructions to His followers were becoming more and more specific about the coming days.  He was being careful in teaching about the persecutions and episodes of harassment that were surely to come upon His followers after He fulfilled His ministry on earth and went to hell to die for the sins of the world, His resurrection and His ascension into My heaven to sit down with Me.  
   The cousin of Jesus, John the Baptist, was in prison.  John sent a message to Jesus inquiring if He really was the Messiah or should the people keep on believing for another One to come.  Jesus told the messenger to report to John that the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the poor have the Good News preached to them.  He told them that anyone who did not find any offense in Himself, being Jesus, had found no cause for stumbling in Him and is not stopped from seeking Truth, that person is blessed and will continue to be blessed.  (Matthew 11:5-6; Isaiah 35:5-6; Isaiah 61:1) Jesus knew that John was well acquainted with the scriptures and that he would be assured that Jesus was indeed the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  His promise was that people would be blessed beyond measure if they continued in following Jesus in His ministry.
    After the messenger left to return the affirmation of Jesus' ministry to John in prison, Jesus began to speak to a crowd who had gathered.  He inquired of them relating to John the Baptist if they had gone to see merely a reed swaying in the wind or a man clothed in soft garments like people in the service of kings?   Jesus knew that the clothes of John were primitive and his diet of locusts and honey was unconventional, yet Jesus told the crowd whom He was teaching that John the Baptist was superior to prophets in his ministry of baptizing the Jews for repentance.  Jesus affirmed that John was the person who was the messenger sent by Me to pave the way for Jesus' ministry, even though John didn't look like a person who could be of great importance to Me and neither did Jesus appear to be the Messiah because of the erroneous interpretation by the people of the prophesies.  (Matthew 11:7-10; Malachi 3:1)
    In order to amplify the importance of His teachings about My kingdom of God which was soon to come into the earth on the day of Pentecost and in order to give credence and honor to the miracles that would happen in the lives of the people who received the Holy Spirit into their bodies so that they would become My children who are born of the Spirit, Jesus gave this assessment of the powerful change in their nature to come: Jesus said that among everyone born into the world there was never one greater than John the Baptist; yet the person who is least in My kingdom of God is greater and more powerful against evil than John the Baptist.  (Matthew 11:11)
    That assessment of Jesus Christ, My Son, about My children who would become born of My Holy Spirit and baptized in My Holy Spirit as being so great in My family of heaven that even the least powerful one is greater than John the Baptist was Jesus' affirmation of the truth of His words about My kingdom.  That assessment by Jesus Christ put My seal of approval on My children of promise and that statement by Him is an indication that the partakers of My kingdom are justified and anointed in My sight because of the Holy Spirit in them. (Matthew 11:11)
     Jesus' statements in that teaching began to amplify the prophesies that He had begun to teach about the importance of My kingdom of God which was soon to come into their lives after He was crucified, went to hell, rose from the dead, appeared to people and then ascended into heaven where He ended His earthly ministry and sent My Holy Spirit into the world to live inside of people and complete My magnificent plan for the salvation of the earth.  Everything went as promised and prophesied by all of the prophets and Jesus Christ.  On the day of the first Pentecost a new heaven and a new earth was instituted where My Holy Spirit came to live in the earth in the bodies of believers in Jesus Christ, making the earth new; and the spirits of the saints of old were released from their waiting place and ascended along with Jesus from the dead and came with Him to become inhabitants of My heaven, making it a new heaven because of their presence.  (Matthew 27:50-53; Hebrews 12:22-24) 
    The preparation of the disciples was as complete as it could be with Jesus Christ preparing His disciples for everything that was to come upon the earth.  Their lack of spiritual understanding was still limiting them.  (John 16:7-14)  The things that appeared bad were necessary for fulfilling the prophesies of My new covenant of the Holy Spirit but in retrospect they were good because of the entrance into the world of My Holy Spirit whom I sent to live inside of My Children so that they could allow Me to speak My words through their mouths in intercessory prayers and My will would be done on earth as it is in heaven, like Jesus taught the disciples to pray. (Matthew 6:10)     
    All things were to become new and Jesus Christ tried to prepare His disciples about how the changes were to come.  Their lack of spiritual understand at that time kept them from anticipating the importance of what was to come.  After Jesus ascended into heaven, what happened on the day of Pentecost was the greatest event to occur in the earth since Adam allowed the devil to enter into the earth and curse the lives of people.   It was exciting and its excitement still reverberates in the earth today when it is replayed in the lives of people who seek My kingdom and My righteousness.  They also become filled with My Holy Spirit and participate in changing the world.
     Your Loving Father of Great Plans 

BLESSINGS OF MAKING THE RIGHT CHOICES

My Dear Precious Child,
    In talking to His disciples Jesus Christ gave them an assurance of the blessings that would flood into their lives if they made the right choice of leaving behind their earthly fathers and mothers, sons and daughters and becoming completely devoted to Me and My kingdom of God which was being slowly revealed to the disciples through the teachings of Jesus.(Matthew 10:37)  It was a necessary choice, because their earthly families would want to bring them back under the law of Moses which brings death.  Either that, or their families would want to demand more time from the disciples than they could give, which would cause strife and cause them to abort their unity with me.
   Soon after, at one point in His ministry the earthly family of Jesus came to Him while He was ministering and demanded His time, wanting Him to talk to them.  They might have wanted Jesus to settle a family dispute or require His attendance at a family meeting.  Jesus responded that His sisters, brothers and mother are the people who do My will, demonstrating that He was concerned only at that time about His spiritual family, not the earthly family that is only bound together by earthly genes.  His true family is bound together by the spiritual genetic powers of My Holy Spirit which bring life. (Matthew 12:46-50) 
    Then Jesus went further in His teaching about the disciples having total devotion to Him and to Me.  He told them that anyone who does not take up his own cross, meaning to die to earthly things like they were being called to do by taking devotion away from earthly priorities and instead make My kingdom of God their only priority, He said by following Him they made the only good choice by their being conformed to the ministry of Jesus Christ, but the person who chooses the earthly affairs is not worthy of being My child.  He reiterated the truth by telling His disciples that whoever clings to his lower life of worldly importance will lose the higher life of being completely filled with Me and My character and inheriting My blessings while they live in the world.  He assured them that anyone who leaves behind his or her lower life of worldly importance will find a life of great blessings and rewards in My heavenly kingdom. (Matthew 10:38-39) 
    Jesus assured His disciples that anyone who accepts them and their teachings also accepts Him and that anyone who accepts Him also accepts Me, His Father who sent Him into the world. (verse 40) In that same vein of thought, Jesus told His disciples that anyone who accepts a prophet, knowing that the person is a prophet, that person receive a prophet's reward because of the person's association with My emissary of Light.  He included that anyone who receives a righteous person into his own life because the person is righteous, that person will receive a righteous person's reward for being in the presence of righteousness, absorbing the person's virtue as being a contrast to worldly character.  Jesus went even further when He said that anyone who gives a drink of water to one of His disciples, He declared to them that SURELY that person shall not lose his reward.  I said in that lesson that Jesus DECLARED that truth, which means that it deserves your extra attention. (Matthew 10:41-42)
    All of the teachings from Jesus in this particular setting related to the importance of your having complete loyalty to Me and My kingdom of God instead of sharing partial devotion to Me to also having partial devotion to an earthly nations and other earthly concerns which the devil will use to suck you back into his family by using the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, the lust for power plus the problems and concerns of an earthly family which the devil uses as an opportunity to jerk you back into his family in the earth where hell is a daily part of your life.  (John 8:44; II Corinthians 4:4; Matthew 13:22-23)
     You can't be a partial child of Mine and a partial child of an earthly kingdom, no matter what it is. It's impossible. Jesus said that you will either love one and hate the other or you will hate the first one and love only the second one.  It's not possible to have complete devotion for two nations, My kingdom of God and an earthly nation.  Jesus used the Jewish religious and political leaders as an example.  They were so emboldened in the earthly riches that came from being the political elite in their nation that they could not and would not give up their devotion to the earthly kingdom and instead embrace My heavenly kingdom that is forever and is flooded with My glorious blessings.  (Matthew 6:24)  They made the wrong choice while the prostitutes, the tax collectors, the sick, the diseased, the crippled and the infirmed made the right choice. The political and religious leaders suffered the consequences of their making the wrong choice when My kingdom of God came into the earth.  The people who followed the instructions of Jesus Christ after the was resurrected and waited for the promise of My Holy Spirit, they were so filled with joy that people thought they were drunk with wine while they were overcome with the enormity of My blessings when My kingdom of God flooded their entire lives.  Jesus had promised them that if they left houses, lands and families that eventually they would receive 100% of My blessings in the earth and in the world to come eternal life. (Mark 10:29-31)His promise came true.
     My blessings come from your making the right choices.  Curses come from making the wrong choices.  I said I told you about the choice between blessings and curses, good and evil, and I advised you to choose My good and My blessings and you will live a life containing an abundance of blessings.  (Deuteronomy 11:26-28)
    Your Father of Awesome Blessings