Mended Institute

  Morning Bliss: Worship From Your Heart_ Focal Scripture : Mark 14:3 'And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.'                                      Read: Mark 14:3-6 The spikenard was a fragrant plant, and its roots were used in Jesus' day to make an aromatic, costly perfume and ointment.  The plant, itself, grows in the Himalaya mountains at an elevation of 11,000 to 17,000 feet, As a Geologist, I can tell what it takes getting to such mountain.  For centuries, it was used by Hindus as a medicine and perfume and was an actively traded commodity.  Its great cost stemmed from that it had to be transported over 6,000 miles to reach Palestine, and depending on quality, it sold for as much as 400 denar...

Morning Bliss: Jesus Paid The Price_ Focal Scripture : Mark 10:45 'For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.'                                      Read: Mark 10:45   Jesus told His disciples many times of His death but this is the first time He indicated the reason for His death.  Now it is clear that His death would be a 'ransom', defined in the Greek as a means of loosing by paying a price. The words 'ransom' and 'redeem' were used interchangeably in scripture. Not only would Jesus pay the price for sin but also His death would be substitutionary.  In 1 Timothy 2:6, the word 'ransom' is taken from the Greek word 'antilutron' which means 'a redemption-price.'  The Greek word 'anti' means 'in place of.' In other words, the ransom avails for all who will accept it (Jn. 3:16; Rom. 10:13). The ...

Morning Bliss: Share In His Sufferings_ Focal Scripture :  Morning Bliss: Share In His Sufferings_ Focal Scripture : Matthew 20:22 'But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able.'                                      Read: Matthew 20:17-25   The Greek word for baptize is 'baptizo.' This word was used by Plato (fourth century B.C.) to describe a man being 'overwhelmed' by philosophical arguments; or it means sponges being 'dipped' in fluid; and by Strabo (first century B.C.) to describe people who could not swim as being 'submerged' under water.  Josephus in the first century A.D. used the word to describe the city of Jerusalem as being 'overwhelmed' or 'plunged' into destruction by the Romans; and Plutarch (also fi...

Morning Bliss: Trust In Jesus As Your Savior_ Focal Scripture : Matthew 19:16 'And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?'                                      Read: Matthew 19:12-20   On the surface, it appears that this rich young ruler was 'right on' in the way he approached Jesus and sought salvation.  He ran, kneeled down to Jesus, and openly professed Him as a Good Master. What could be wrong with that? First, he acknowledged Jesus as good but not as God. This is a pivotal point. Every major religion of the world acknowledges that Jesus lived and will even admit that He definitely was a good man, but they won't recognize Him as God.  If Jesus was only a good man, He couldn't save anybody. Jesus didn't just come to show us the way to God. He was the way, the only way unto the Father. No man cou...

Morning Bliss: God Answers Prayer_ Focal Scripture : Luke 18:7 'And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? '                                      Read: Luke 18:1-8   This is not an exact comparison of God to this unjust judge, teaching us that we should badger God until we weary Him and He grants us our request. Rather, Jesus is contrasting His willingness to answer our prayers with this unjust judge's unwillingness. The parable is a contrast, not a representation. Not only do we have God who is a just judge who will avenge His elect speedily, but we also have Jesus as our advocate or attorney who is always making intercession for us.  However, we have an adversary (the devil) who is constantly accusing us and misrepresenting God (the judge).  This causes men to give up (faint) and not even plead their cas...

Morning Bliss: Like A Thief In The Night_ Focal Scripture : Luke 17:24 'For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.'                                      Read: Luke 17:24-31 This scripture and the parallel scripture in Matthew 24:27 make it very clear that the second return of Jesus will be no secret to anyone.  In Matthew's account, it is especially clear that this statement about the lightning was made so that we wouldn't be deceived by false Christ's.  Just as lightning is visible to everyone, so the second return of Jesus will be witnessed by the whole world.  That's the reason we don't have to be fearful about missing His second coming and anxiously follow every report that Christ has come. These verses completely destroy the claims of the Bahai rel...

Morning Bliss: Give Thanks Daily_ Focal Scripture : Luke 17:18 'There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.'                                      Read: Luke 17:11-18   Relatively few people who receive the goodness of the Lord return to give Him thanks for what He has done.  That does not keep the Lord from doing what is right for us. He healed all ten of these lepers according to their request - not just the one who was thankful.  However, there was only one out of the ten that was made 'whole.' The Lord desires that we prosper in spirit, soul, and body. He wants us to be whole - not just healed.  Part of the reason God meets our physical needs is to prove to us His willingness and ability to meet our emotional and spiritual needs.  The Lord is concerned about our temporal needs (Mt. 6:30) , but He is even more concerned abo...

Morning Bliss: Focus On The Things Above_ Focal Scripture :  John 11:44 'And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.'                                      Read:  John 11:44 Symbolically, Lazarus is like many Christians. . The Bible speaks of us passing from death unto new life when we get born again. But it is also true that in the physical and emotional realm, we bring our 'graveclothes' from our old life with us (i.e. habits, attitudes, etc.), and we need to be 'loosed' to fully enjoy our new life. Our emotions and attitudes follow what we think. When we focus our attention on our problems, they are magnified out of proportion. When we neglect our problems and think on God's provision, the answer is magni...

Morning Bliss: Confess God's Truth_ Focal Scripture : John 11:14 'Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.'                                       Read: John 11:11-14   Jesus spoke of Lazarus being asleep instead of dead because that is really a much better description. Death, to their carnal minds, would be final; whereas the word 'sleep' would not.  When the disciples misunderstood what He was saying, He clarified the situation by saying plainly, 'Lazarus is dead.' This looks like a contrary statement to what Jesus was going to do (raise Lazarus from the dead) and indeed it would have been if He had left it at that.  But He went on to say in verse 15 , 'I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe.'  This was referring to Lazarus being raised from the dead and it turned Jesus' statement of a negative fact into a positi...

Morning Bliss: Our Resurrected Bodies_ Focal Scripture : John 11:13 'Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.'                                      Read: John 11:11-14   There are many scriptures where death is spoken of as sleep, however, the disciples thought Jesus was speaking of Lazarus simply resting.  Jesus eventually clarifies their misunderstanding by using the word 'death,' but that was not His first choice. This is because God's perspective is different than ours.  Death is final to natural man but not to God. There will be a resurrection. In his second letter to the Corinthians Paul uses natural illustrations to explain the resurrection. He speaks of seeds that are buried in the ground and 'die.'  Then they are resurrected as a plant. The plant and the seed bear no resemblance but they are actu...

Morning Bliss: Walk In The Light_ Focal Scripture :  John 11:9 'Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.'                                      Read:   John 11:9-10 Jesus compares His decision to return to Judaea to a man traveling during the day. Daytime travel doesn't guarantee a hazard-free trip but the light does allow us to see the hazards. At nighttime, it's inevitable that we will stumble. Likewise, walking in the light of God's direction doesn't mean that there won't be problems, but the alternative of 'doing our own thing' (that is walking in darkness) is guaranteed to get us into trouble. Jesus was obeying the leading of His Father to return to Judaea. He could see exactly what was going to take place and He was go...

Morning Bliss: Turn From Sin_ Focal Scripture : John 11:5 'Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.'                                       Read: John 11:5   It is interesting to note that special mention is made of Jesus loving Martha.  This is after the incident recorded in Luke 10:38-42 where Martha is caught up with serving instead of worshipping Jesus and her priorities are still not in order.  Jesus was not rebuking Martha but rather exhorting her for her own profit.  When the Lord deals with problem areas in our lives, it is always for our profit - not punishment and we should not take it as rejection.  This is one way to discern God's correction from the devil's condemnation. God convicts us of sin but He doesn't condemn us.  Conviction is solely for our profit with no malice while condemnation includes punishment.  Satan is the...