Key Verse: John 7:5
For even His brothers did not believe in Him.

Today’s reading tells us that Jesus knew the feeling of family betrayal. His brothers refused to believe in Him. He knew what it was to feel completely alone. He said, speaking of the world, “It hates Me” (John 7:7). He understands when we feel alone and misunderstood. He is the Source of our comfort. The names of His brothers are recorded in Mark 6. It might be helpful to read again Mark 6:1-6. God can change families. Jesus’ brothers received the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:14). Two of them, James and Jude, wrote books that are part of the New Testament, the books bearing their names. Sometimes it increases the impact of Scripture on our lives to read it out loud. This morning, in order not to awaken Norma-Jean, I’ve gone outside and read so that I not only see the Words of Jesus from this chapter, but hear them too. They are powerful, life-changing Words.

PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord Jesus, I pray that Your Holy Spirit will teach me daily as I read, highlight, write in the margins, learn, and digest Your Word inside of me. I know You are helping me to follow this blog daily, and I thank You with all my heart. Amen!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:
The largest private office I’ve ever visited was in the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem. I had made an appointment to see the Armenian Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem about renting office space in one of their buildings for the Arabic television ministry. His main goal was not to do business but to convince me that the “brothers” mentioned in Mark 6 were actually cousins. Be that as it may, we prayed together, and I thanked him for his time. Sometime I hope to share here about the other Patriarch in Yerevan. There are two of them in the Armenian church, one in Jerusalem and one in Armenia. The Armenian Patriarch then is now their Pope. When in his thirties, as the leader of the Young Communists of Armenia, he had an Apostle Paul type conversion. He sent two of his brightest priests to study with us at Crossroads. He’s now telecasting the Gospel from Mount Ararat into Turkey, the area of the infamous Armenian holocaust. He, along with Baptist and Pentecostal pastors, ended up in the same cell in a communist prison, but that’s another story.

Yours for a daily commitment to study God’s Word,

David