Mark 16:15-20 Go to the World
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: May 15, 2018, Mark 16:15-20
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
Then he told them, “As you go into all the world, proclaim the gospel to everyone. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever doesn’t believe will be condemned. “These are the signs that will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; even if they drink any deadly poison it will not hurt them; and they will place their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” So the Lord Jesus, after talking with his disciples, was taken up to heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. Then his disciples went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord kept working with them and confirming the message by the signs that accompanied it.
(Understanding the Text) He gave His followers our mission. We are to go everywhere and tell the good news to everyone. If they believe and are baptized, they will be saved. If they don’t believe they are condemned. First of all, being not baptized does not condemn a person. Baptism is just something that Jesus wants us to do when we believe, but belief is the necessary component. Belief means that we are listening to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Baptism means that we are following the leading of the Holy Spirit. Both of those mean that we are connected to Jesus through the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, hearing the good news and choosing not to believe it means resisting the promptings of the Holy Spirit and refusing to be connected to Jesus.
(Revelation of God) The key component here is that we are already condemned before we hear the good news. God doesn’t condemn us because we hear and don’t believe. We condemn ourselves by not connecting to the source of life. We are born disconnected from God. We only have a certain amount of life in us at birth. The only way to have eternal life is through a connection to the source of life–God. Choosing to believe allows the Spirit to connect us to Jesus and through Him to the Father. Believing reconnects us to the Source of life and thus we will be able to survive and thrive in God’s presence when it would have killed us otherwise.
(Understanding the Text) “These are the signs that will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; even if they drink any deadly poison it will not hurt them; and they will place their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” All these signs accompanied the apostles as they traveled from placed to place. They no longer accompany us as we tell the good news of Jesus. I guess this is because they would not be useful to us. Maybe, it was only necessary in the first generation who were with Jesus. I take this as a promise of miraculous protection from God when we are traveling and doing His work, but I’m not sure what its application to others besides the apostles would be.
I guess the signs were to show that even though Jesus was gone, He was still with His apostles. I like the place where it says ” the Lord kept working with them and confirming the message by the signs that accompanied it” Jesus kept working with them. They still had a strong connection to their Lord even after He had risen up into heaven. Their connection to Jesus through the Holy Spirit and thus their connection to the Spirit Himself was wide open and strong. They knew that Jesus was with them and heard the messages that He wanted them to deliver. They experienced the miracles that He had promised and more. They knew themselves to be simply weak humans who could do nothing of themselves, yet miraculous events were occurring through them. They knew that these signs were promises that Jesus was still with them. They were not suddenly Superman with strange new powers. They were still the same as always, except that they were connected more strongly to heaven through the Holy Spirit and Jesus was sitting at the right hand of God.
(Application / Prayer) We are only told in the Bible of the fate of James, John, and Peter when it comes to preaching the gospel. We are not told of the preaching of the others, but we can assume that they also experienced the signs that were promised. For example, the Bible does not talk about drinking poison and surviving, so one of the others must have experienced that sign. I have read that Thomas went to India and was martyred there. However, their fates and where they spread the gospel are only told of in traditions that may or may not be true. However, I can be sure that wherever they traveled “the Lord kept working with them and confirming the message by the signs that accompanied it” I pray that wherever I travel that Jesus will be with me and that the power of the Holy Spirit will accompany the messages that I bear for Jesus.
This is the end of the Daily Devotion for Mark. More devotions for other books of the Bible will be posted every week, so check out this blog (asklookknock.com) periodically to see which other books have been added.