Key Thought

Today's Prayer

Merciful heavenly Father, thank you for not giving up on me. Thank you for your generosity in forgiving me of my sins. Thank you for blessing me with the Holy Spirit to help me mature and grow to become more like Christ. Please forgive me when I'm impatient with others when you have been so patient with me. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Today's Verses in Context

Jesus left that place and went to the area of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that area came to Jesus. The woman shouted, "Lord, Son of David, please help me! My daughter has a demon inside her, and she is suffering very much." But Jesus did not answer the woman. So the followers came to Jesus and begged him, "Tell the woman to go away. She is following us and shouting." Jesus said, "God sent me only to the lost people of Israel (the Jews)." Then the woman came to Jesus again. She bowed before Jesus and said, "Lord, help me!" Jesus answered, "It is not right to take the children's bread and give it to the dogs." The woman said, "Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the pieces of food that fall from their master's table." Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! I will do the thing you wanted me to do." And at that time the woman's daughter was healed. Then Jesus left that place and went to the shore of Lake Galilee. Jesus went up on a hill and sat down. Many, many people came to Jesus. These people brought many other sick people and put the sick people before Jesus. There were people that could not walk, blind people, crippled people, deaf people, and many others. Jesus healed all these people. People were amazed when they saw that people that could not speak were able to speak again. Crippled people were made strong again. People that could not walk were able to walk again. The blind were able to see again. All the people thanked the God of Israel (the Jews) for this. Jesus called his followers to him and said, "I feel sorry for these people. They have been with me three days, and now they have nothing to eat. I don't want to send them away hungry. They might faint while going home." The followers asked Jesus, "Where can we get enough bread to feed all these people? We are far away from any town." Jesus asked, "How many loaves of bread do you have?" The followers answered, "We have seven loaves of bread and a few small fish." Jesus told the people tosit on the ground. Jesus took the seven loaves of bread and the fish. Then Jesus gave thanks to God for the food. Jesus divided the food and gave it to the followers. The followers gave the food to the people. All the people ate and were full. After this, the followers filled seven baskets with the pieces of food that were not eaten. There were about 4,000 men there that ate. There were also women and children that ate. After they ate, Jesus told the people they could go home. Jesus got into the boat and went to the area of Magadan.

Related Scripture Readings

Late that afternoon, the followers came to Jesus and said, "No people live in this place. And it is already late. Send the people away so they can go to the towns and buy food for themselves." Jesus answered, "The people don't need to go away. You give them some food to eat." The followers answered, "But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish."

So we continue to tell people about Christ. We use all wisdom to counsel every person and teach every person. We are trying to bring all people before God as people who have grown to be spiritually mature (perfect) in Christ. To do this, I work and struggle using the great strength that Christ gives me. That strength is working in my life.

If we say that we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess (admit) our sins, then God will forgive our sins. We can trust God to do this. God does what is right. God will make us clean from all the wrong things we have done. If we say that we have not sinned, then we are saying that God is a liar—we don't accept God's true teaching. My dear children, I write this letter to you so that you will not sin. But if any person sins, we have Jesus Christ to help us. He is the righteous (good) One. Jesus defends us before God the Father. Jesus is the way our sins are taken away. And Jesus is the way that all people can have their sins taken away, too.