The Pharisees request Jesus to show a miraculous sign to prove that He was the Messiah. Jesus in turn elects to challenge there own believe and faith by aligning the story of Jonah with his own death and resurrection. The Pharisees had the opportunity to receive Jesus as their Saviour, but they choose to reject Him. Today we have the same opportunity to believe in Jesus, accept Him and put our full trust in Him. Do you have your life focussed on Jesus?

Jesus wants to be our heart's desire. Where do you store your treasure? Jesus tells us that storing up treasures on earth will enslave our heart, mind and will and miss out on the opportunities that Jesus has planned for us. If we seek material things, we stumble in darkness. Our treasures ought to be used for God's glory.

In this passage we see the joy that both Mary and Elizabeth experienced. As Christians, we can experience this same joy knowing that Jesus was born, He lived, He died for our sins, He rose from the grave and we will spend an eternal life with Him. We can have joy because God has acted and shown us love and mercy. Even though we are saved, the right relationship we can have with God is recognising that we are eternally dependent on Him. We need to be obedient, as Mary was. Through obedience to God, His Spirit has the opportunity to fill us with humility. We can be humble because Jesus has chosen us to be a part of His family, which has nothing to do with what we have done.

Prayer is talking with God, being still, waiting and listening to what He has to say to us. Prayer is not just a mere list of our requests of God. It is about what is happening deep in our hearts and having a close relationship with God. In this passage Paul says that we are to devote ourselves to prayer, a theme he carries across all of his letters, that we are to be diligent in prayer and pray continually. What does this mean? We need to: (a) cry out to God with all of our needs and requests and to be honest with Him; (b) turn our constant thoughts into a conversation with God; and (c) learn to listen to God in our heart through a discipline and a lifestyle of meditation and contemplation.

We need to grow up in Christ, grow in by loving each other and grow out by bearing fruit - sharing the gospel with others. If we are not connected to Jesus, then we can do nothing in bearing fruit. How important is God in your life?