Just as we regularly take time to enjoy the rays of the sun, whether by sitting on our porch in the sunset's light, by reclining on the beach in the hot sun's rays, or by driving around town with the windows down warming our face with the sun's light, as people who believe in God's love and His Son we should find ourselves regularly looking into God's Word and exposing our hearts to the Truth.
Look at the trees as an example. They are faithfully growing to the skies, whether in good times or tough times. They seek out the sunlight, move....position their branches to get the most sunlight exposure. They take time in winter to dig their roots deeper so as to thrive in spring and summer through all the storms and windy days. Trees and all things 'flora' know what gives them life and they pursue it.....with what we would describe as a passionate pursuit. Can we live with such a passion for the One who gives us life, now that we know WHO that is? I am so grateful to God for giving us His Holy Word so that we can know what brings us life....so we can pursue with reckless abandon God's Truth and thus truly live.
Romans 12:1-3 (The Message version)
"So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life---your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life----and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you."
"I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as everyone of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him."
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
We Show Such Faith in Chairs...
Just a small thought I have today.
Why do we so easily, with no anxiety or hesitation, sit down in a chair--any chair, putting our whole weight on it; never questioning the strength of the bolts, screws and/or nails holding the chair together? BUT when we need to trust God for things more important than just bearing our weight as we sit, we have such a hard time putting our whole "weight" on Him. It's not like the "Him" I'm talking about is a flawed human being or even an animal of lower conscience than humans. The "Him" I'm talking about is the God who made our every cell......every atom....every particle of the atoms in our bodies. The "Him" is the God who made our physical bodies, our personalities, our talents and giftings, our skin color, our height, our family (lineage) and our souls. It's such an amazingly strange thing that we struggle so much trusting someone who knows everything about us, who knows everything we have done, are doing and will do; who knows everyone we have met, do know and will meet. This great God knows our every weakness and loves us SO much He chose to die on a cross for our sins...taking our punishment so that we could be brought back in line with God and become children of God. (John 3:16,17 and 18)
I understand that there is a big difference between physical trust (like sitting on a chair) and spiritual trust (like believing the invisible God will help, guide, teach, protect, provide, restore, etc.) I get that. But still it is interesting to think of these two things together. I hope you are following my train of thought. haha!
We so easily collapse on a chair or couch at the end of a grueling day, resting our whole weight, physically on it. We need to pray and ask our great God to help us collapse into His loving lap (so-to-speak) in our hearts, our minds and our souls each day. We need to pray and ask our loving Savior to show us what we can do to trust Him deeper.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones."
-Proverbs 3:5, 6, 7, 8
We show such faith in chairs each day with our physical person. Can we show an even deeper/stronger faith in God each day with our spiritual/emotional person; thus showcasing to the world around us that our great God is able to bear the weight of any soul......that He holds the whole world in His hands?
Let's get real, women! Let's rise out of our anxieties and doubts by the power of God and shine to the world around us----showing them Who we trust with our every breath! Let's be women who seek truth; knowing there is only one Truth, Jesus Christ. Let's quit worrying about bringing ourselves fame, recognition, status, etc. and start turning our hearts to the LORD, living to bring God glory and honor each day in our world of influence---for He is worthy.
Why do we so easily, with no anxiety or hesitation, sit down in a chair--any chair, putting our whole weight on it; never questioning the strength of the bolts, screws and/or nails holding the chair together? BUT when we need to trust God for things more important than just bearing our weight as we sit, we have such a hard time putting our whole "weight" on Him. It's not like the "Him" I'm talking about is a flawed human being or even an animal of lower conscience than humans. The "Him" I'm talking about is the God who made our every cell......every atom....every particle of the atoms in our bodies. The "Him" is the God who made our physical bodies, our personalities, our talents and giftings, our skin color, our height, our family (lineage) and our souls. It's such an amazingly strange thing that we struggle so much trusting someone who knows everything about us, who knows everything we have done, are doing and will do; who knows everyone we have met, do know and will meet. This great God knows our every weakness and loves us SO much He chose to die on a cross for our sins...taking our punishment so that we could be brought back in line with God and become children of God. (John 3:16,17 and 18)
I understand that there is a big difference between physical trust (like sitting on a chair) and spiritual trust (like believing the invisible God will help, guide, teach, protect, provide, restore, etc.) I get that. But still it is interesting to think of these two things together. I hope you are following my train of thought. haha!
We so easily collapse on a chair or couch at the end of a grueling day, resting our whole weight, physically on it. We need to pray and ask our great God to help us collapse into His loving lap (so-to-speak) in our hearts, our minds and our souls each day. We need to pray and ask our loving Savior to show us what we can do to trust Him deeper.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones."
-Proverbs 3:5, 6, 7, 8
We show such faith in chairs each day with our physical person. Can we show an even deeper/stronger faith in God each day with our spiritual/emotional person; thus showcasing to the world around us that our great God is able to bear the weight of any soul......that He holds the whole world in His hands?
Let's get real, women! Let's rise out of our anxieties and doubts by the power of God and shine to the world around us----showing them Who we trust with our every breath! Let's be women who seek truth; knowing there is only one Truth, Jesus Christ. Let's quit worrying about bringing ourselves fame, recognition, status, etc. and start turning our hearts to the LORD, living to bring God glory and honor each day in our world of influence---for He is worthy.
Monday, August 6, 2012
Happy 1st Anniversary Blog!
During most of my pregnancy and the whole first year of my son's life, I spent many hours thinking up topics and ideas for a blog I might create in the future. I had and still do have a strong desire to encourage women of all kinds; young, old, naive, mature, serious, silly, wealthy, poor....and whatever else in between. I was overcome with much anxiety and lack of confidence during that time span of a year and half. So my dream to reach women with the love of God and a love for His Truth through a blog format didn't really become realized until 2011. However, my desire to minister to women started many years before and became very strong in my heart during the year 2009 and continued to grow until I began writing in August of 2011.
Many nights during my son's first year I would think about--pray about how I wanted to encourage the world around me using the gifts and talents God has given me; thinking what I would say/tell my reading audience and what topics to address. At the time of all this thinking and praying, I had no exact direction on how to pursue this longing in my heart to be an encouragement to a larger audience of women than friends at work, friends at my church, family and students in our ministry. But somewhere in the time span of 2009 to 2011, I got the idea to share my thoughts with the world through writing a blog.
When my son was born and for those next eight months, I was awake every three hours....every night. (please don't judge me (haha!).....you don't know what my circumstances were....that's a WHOLE other story. haha!). So during those times in the night, when things were very boring and I was feeding our son, or just having a bad case of sleeplessness, I thought of the idea of beginning a blog. I spent many nights praying the Lord for direction; asking Him to help overcome my fears about starting this blog. I had created the basic idea of my blog in my mind. Sketched it all out in my mind, but never did anything (according to my memory) about setting up a blog account, writing my topics and stories down on paper or even telling anyone about it.....well, okay, I told one person--my husband.
After much thought and many months of postponement of my vision for this blog, the last week of July 2011 came and I felt like I should just attempt to look into blog-creating websites.....and just get an idea what I was about to "get into". So, one late night in late July 2011, I sat down on the couch, with my computer in my lap and went to the blog website I already knew a bunch about (blogspot.com) because my family's ministry blog site was created on blogspot.com.
Deciding to start "goofing" around on the website, I clicked a button for creating a blog. Then the site asked me to register for an account and submit a username and password for all future access to my brand-new account. So I sat there and thought about what username I would like to make for this new women's ministry blog account. And then I thought about what password I would submit. All that time, I knew I had not done anything with the ideas in my head about a women's blog, so my choice of username and password were new and fresh. I, to ALL of my knowledge, did not have a personal account on blogspot.com. So, I was thinking that I was creating an account for the first time.
Well, when I clicked the submit button on the registration screen up came a 'live' blog.....already set up. It had the format that you see right now. It already had the title "Get Real, Woman!" and a little paragraph of what the blog site was to be centered on. I sat in shock.....looking at the screen. What I had been praying and dreaming about for about a year and a half was already set up and ready to contain it's first blog post!! I couldn't figure out how it all happened. I still can't figure it out. The paragraph describing the theme or reason for the blog was my heart's words exactly that had been swirling around in me for many months. The only person who knew was my husband, so I basically thought he had done it for me and forgot to mention it to me.
That night, I worked on the already created and 'live' blog. Yes, it was 'live', meaning it even had it's own web address set up, so that anyone could have typed in a browser the address and pulled up this very blog site which had no posts written yet before I even knew it existed. So, I never got to choose the name of the website address. It was already there: womengetreal.blogspot.com!! I was stunned. I thought my husband had done it all and somehow got every word correct that flowed from my soul about my vision for this blog.
Naturally, the next day I thanked my husband. I woke up and was eating my breakfast on the couch in the living room and my husband was in the kitchen. As I walked through the kitchen to put my dish and spoon in the sink, I casually mentioned to him that I was up really late the night before working on my future blog. I immediately added with a big smile and gentle 'thank you' to him for creating the blog for me to use as a ministry tool. Before he could speak, I also said how blessed I was that his description paragraph for what my blog was to be about was SO spot on what my heart was telling me to focus on.
My husband casually looked up from his cereal bowl and said that he did not do any such thing. He said he had never even attempted to create a blog web address for me, or to create a title for the blog and an introduction paragraph. Obviously, I was SHOCKED! I asked him if he was serious. He said he most definitely was. So, to this day, I don't know if any human being actually created this blog. They would have to have chosen the EXACT username and password combination that I chose when I was "registering". I believe God made the blog site; that He set it up for me. After many months of great anxiety struggles, self esteem issues, sleepless nights I believe God was telling me He believed in me and my purpose behind the blog. And since then, God has helped me in so many ways to share my stories. He is the mastermind behind it all. So, Happy 1st Anniversary to the blog that God built.
P.S.--This is the list of all the countries in which someone has read my blog in this past year.
USA, Russia, Germany, United Kingdom, Sweden, Latvia, Brazil, Spain, India, Uganda.
Many nights during my son's first year I would think about--pray about how I wanted to encourage the world around me using the gifts and talents God has given me; thinking what I would say/tell my reading audience and what topics to address. At the time of all this thinking and praying, I had no exact direction on how to pursue this longing in my heart to be an encouragement to a larger audience of women than friends at work, friends at my church, family and students in our ministry. But somewhere in the time span of 2009 to 2011, I got the idea to share my thoughts with the world through writing a blog.
When my son was born and for those next eight months, I was awake every three hours....every night. (please don't judge me (haha!).....you don't know what my circumstances were....that's a WHOLE other story. haha!). So during those times in the night, when things were very boring and I was feeding our son, or just having a bad case of sleeplessness, I thought of the idea of beginning a blog. I spent many nights praying the Lord for direction; asking Him to help overcome my fears about starting this blog. I had created the basic idea of my blog in my mind. Sketched it all out in my mind, but never did anything (according to my memory) about setting up a blog account, writing my topics and stories down on paper or even telling anyone about it.....well, okay, I told one person--my husband.
After much thought and many months of postponement of my vision for this blog, the last week of July 2011 came and I felt like I should just attempt to look into blog-creating websites.....and just get an idea what I was about to "get into". So, one late night in late July 2011, I sat down on the couch, with my computer in my lap and went to the blog website I already knew a bunch about (blogspot.com) because my family's ministry blog site was created on blogspot.com.
Deciding to start "goofing" around on the website, I clicked a button for creating a blog. Then the site asked me to register for an account and submit a username and password for all future access to my brand-new account. So I sat there and thought about what username I would like to make for this new women's ministry blog account. And then I thought about what password I would submit. All that time, I knew I had not done anything with the ideas in my head about a women's blog, so my choice of username and password were new and fresh. I, to ALL of my knowledge, did not have a personal account on blogspot.com. So, I was thinking that I was creating an account for the first time.
Well, when I clicked the submit button on the registration screen up came a 'live' blog.....already set up. It had the format that you see right now. It already had the title "Get Real, Woman!" and a little paragraph of what the blog site was to be centered on. I sat in shock.....looking at the screen. What I had been praying and dreaming about for about a year and a half was already set up and ready to contain it's first blog post!! I couldn't figure out how it all happened. I still can't figure it out. The paragraph describing the theme or reason for the blog was my heart's words exactly that had been swirling around in me for many months. The only person who knew was my husband, so I basically thought he had done it for me and forgot to mention it to me.
That night, I worked on the already created and 'live' blog. Yes, it was 'live', meaning it even had it's own web address set up, so that anyone could have typed in a browser the address and pulled up this very blog site which had no posts written yet before I even knew it existed. So, I never got to choose the name of the website address. It was already there: womengetreal.blogspot.com!! I was stunned. I thought my husband had done it all and somehow got every word correct that flowed from my soul about my vision for this blog.
Naturally, the next day I thanked my husband. I woke up and was eating my breakfast on the couch in the living room and my husband was in the kitchen. As I walked through the kitchen to put my dish and spoon in the sink, I casually mentioned to him that I was up really late the night before working on my future blog. I immediately added with a big smile and gentle 'thank you' to him for creating the blog for me to use as a ministry tool. Before he could speak, I also said how blessed I was that his description paragraph for what my blog was to be about was SO spot on what my heart was telling me to focus on.
My husband casually looked up from his cereal bowl and said that he did not do any such thing. He said he had never even attempted to create a blog web address for me, or to create a title for the blog and an introduction paragraph. Obviously, I was SHOCKED! I asked him if he was serious. He said he most definitely was. So, to this day, I don't know if any human being actually created this blog. They would have to have chosen the EXACT username and password combination that I chose when I was "registering". I believe God made the blog site; that He set it up for me. After many months of great anxiety struggles, self esteem issues, sleepless nights I believe God was telling me He believed in me and my purpose behind the blog. And since then, God has helped me in so many ways to share my stories. He is the mastermind behind it all. So, Happy 1st Anniversary to the blog that God built.
P.S.--This is the list of all the countries in which someone has read my blog in this past year.
USA, Russia, Germany, United Kingdom, Sweden, Latvia, Brazil, Spain, India, Uganda.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Lanterns......Lights........ACTION!
As women of truth, THE Truth, we are light to the world. Matthew 5:14 says, "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden." This means that wherever we go, God's love and His light shine on anything and anyone who is in our circle of influence. Many times when God's light exposes sin and darkness in the world we live in, we find it tempting to "join in" instead of standing firm as the lantern housing the Great Light source who is our Heavenly Father's Holy Spirit. I hope that makes sense. What if we really saw ourselves as vessels of light to the nations?
For those of us who desire to be a vessel of light....of God's love and truth; let us not be shocked when some of our friends turn from us for a short time and hide with other folks whose light isn't shining so brightly. (This is NOT directed at anyone of the folks I know. It is just a thought that God has placed on my heart to share.) Exposed sin and darkness in us is never a good feeling. Without Christ's help....without Christ's great mercy and grace, we cannot stand the sight of our sin nature being illuminated before the Great God. No one likes to see their sin illuminated. Let us be women of compassion and grace and strength. Colossians 3:12-17 is where I receive sound instruction on that point. I will copy those verses at the end of this blog post. Let us be women of God who stand firm. As we are a light to the world, a lantern holding the light of Christ,....shining to our friends, foes and those we do not know,.... let us understand our purpose. When God's light in us exposes sin in ourselves and in others, may we choose (every time) to honor God in those moments showing mercy and grace and love that only comes from God.
When the light of God in me clearly seems to illuminate darkness in a friend, it's tempting to just "turn out the light" in me and "fit in with the crowd" so as to not create a wave of discomfort in their hearts. My personality is to try whatever I can to make people happy and find joy in life. So when God's light reveals yucky sin in my circle of influence and I see that person/ those persons treading backward away from me and our friendship because of the awkward exposure, I sometimes just want to stop shining God's light in order to stop the pain they feel. But God keeps pressing in on me to not stop shining His light/His love/His truth because in the exposure of our sin is the great chance to admit/confess our sin to each other and God and find healing......find hope....find reconciliation with our Maker. God knows it is awkward and tough for us to deal with our sin. He knows sin binds us up and keeps us from coming close to Him. But God tells us many times in His Word to love one another. His Love helps us to confess our sin, our rebellion and find salvation, and fellowship. God's love that He wants us to share with all those we meet is so powerful that if we personally choose to keep it hidden in our hearts and not shine it, someone else will shine it and get the blessing instead. As it says in the Bible, God's love never fails.
Personally, I would rather struggle through missing my friends when they step away from the light........rather struggle through getting treated poorly by co-workers and bosses because of the light that I carry than miss the blessing of being a vessel of God's light to the world.
I am so grateful our Lord Jesus lives within His people so that all we need to do is surrender to Him and allow Him to shine through us. Like a lantern. We house the light that is started in us by the Heavenly Father.
WOMEN OF TRUTH, RISE AND SHINE YOUR LIGHT TO THE WORLD. Amen.
Colossians 3:12-17
"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."
For those of us who desire to be a vessel of light....of God's love and truth; let us not be shocked when some of our friends turn from us for a short time and hide with other folks whose light isn't shining so brightly. (This is NOT directed at anyone of the folks I know. It is just a thought that God has placed on my heart to share.) Exposed sin and darkness in us is never a good feeling. Without Christ's help....without Christ's great mercy and grace, we cannot stand the sight of our sin nature being illuminated before the Great God. No one likes to see their sin illuminated. Let us be women of compassion and grace and strength. Colossians 3:12-17 is where I receive sound instruction on that point. I will copy those verses at the end of this blog post. Let us be women of God who stand firm. As we are a light to the world, a lantern holding the light of Christ,....shining to our friends, foes and those we do not know,.... let us understand our purpose. When God's light in us exposes sin in ourselves and in others, may we choose (every time) to honor God in those moments showing mercy and grace and love that only comes from God.
When the light of God in me clearly seems to illuminate darkness in a friend, it's tempting to just "turn out the light" in me and "fit in with the crowd" so as to not create a wave of discomfort in their hearts. My personality is to try whatever I can to make people happy and find joy in life. So when God's light reveals yucky sin in my circle of influence and I see that person/ those persons treading backward away from me and our friendship because of the awkward exposure, I sometimes just want to stop shining God's light in order to stop the pain they feel. But God keeps pressing in on me to not stop shining His light/His love/His truth because in the exposure of our sin is the great chance to admit/confess our sin to each other and God and find healing......find hope....find reconciliation with our Maker. God knows it is awkward and tough for us to deal with our sin. He knows sin binds us up and keeps us from coming close to Him. But God tells us many times in His Word to love one another. His Love helps us to confess our sin, our rebellion and find salvation, and fellowship. God's love that He wants us to share with all those we meet is so powerful that if we personally choose to keep it hidden in our hearts and not shine it, someone else will shine it and get the blessing instead. As it says in the Bible, God's love never fails.
Personally, I would rather struggle through missing my friends when they step away from the light........rather struggle through getting treated poorly by co-workers and bosses because of the light that I carry than miss the blessing of being a vessel of God's light to the world.
I am so grateful our Lord Jesus lives within His people so that all we need to do is surrender to Him and allow Him to shine through us. Like a lantern. We house the light that is started in us by the Heavenly Father.
WOMEN OF TRUTH, RISE AND SHINE YOUR LIGHT TO THE WORLD. Amen.
Colossians 3:12-17
"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."
Monday, July 23, 2012
The Return
JESUS. His name alone is power, grace, freedom, redemption, hope, truth, life, wisdom, strength, peace, righteous, and holy. I need to meditate on Jesus and the basic truths of His majesty and might and His Name which the Bible says is above every name. I need to return the focus of my heart to the Lord Jesus.
Here are some verses that I found in my Study Bible's concordance about the Lord's name.
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Proverbs 18:10--"The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe."
Isaiah 42:8--"I am the LORD, that is my name;..."
Joel 2:32--"And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the LORD shall be saved."
Malachi 1:11--"For from the rising of the sun to it's setting my name will be great among the nations..."
John 20:31--"but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."
Acts 4:12--"And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
Philippians 2:9--"Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,"
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JESUS. The person---our God in the flesh. The Bible says He is our Prince of Peace, our High Priest, our Emmanuel--God With Us.
This weekend, I need to return the focus of my mind to the knowledge and understanding of who my Lord Jesus IS as much as meditate on the power even just in His name. I want to remember and profess to my heart today, that my LORD Jesus isn't weak in any way and will never be defeated or overcome because He holds the whole world in His hands. He is the Righteous One, our Redeemer and even my friend. He is so much more, but I will continue with my thoughts as best as I can.
God's Word gives us what we need so that we know Christ and thus know the Heavenly Father. We Christians, many times, think that being "saved" is all we need to be. But it is a life transformation when we are saved. And our new life causes each of us to want to know the One who gave us a new life. We want to show gratitude by having a life of grateful hearts for His deliverance and devotion to knowing His Word. If we are truly rescued from darkness (as spoke about in the book of Colossians) and brought into marvelous light, we will be changed forever. Christ in us forever. We must live showing we are changed. To bring us to the center of this, we can start with JESUS....even His name is powerful enough to bring us back to center. Thinking upon His name, saying His name in reverence and humility brings us back to center.....a life and mind focused on our Maker and His divine good news.
This evening...this weekend, I just wanted to see Jesus and know Him more deeply than the day before. I confess, I haven't sat still and done this in several days. It is much needed each day and I haven't done that recently. However, God is still here waiting for me to meet with Him. He never walks away and gives up on me....or anyone for that matter. I began reading in the Gospel of John. I encourage you to do something of the same in your own pursuit of Christ.
I am going to share with you the parts of the book of John (of just the first 3 chapters) that I read yesterday and today to reconnect me with my Savior and Lord. I will copy the verses and parts of verses I journaled about this weekend; first using the English Standard Version of the Holy Bible and then, for another view of it, I will copy the same series of verses using The Message which is a paraphrase of the Holy Bible. Be blessed as you read along with me the Good News.
Speaking of my Lord Jesus Christ...
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John 1:10-14
4"How can anyone," said Nicodemus, "be born who has already been born and grown up? You can't re-enter your mother's womb and be born again. What are you saying with this 'born-from-above' talk?"
5-6Jesus said, "You're not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the 'wind-hovering-over-the-water' creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it's not possible to enter God's kingdom. When you look at a baby, it's just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can't see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.
7-8"So don't be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be 'born from above'—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it's headed next. That's the way it is with everyone 'born from above' by the wind of God, the Spirit of God."
_______________________
My thoughts journaled this weekend:
Jesus came to us clothed in skin, His Majesty veiled for a short time, to teach us His Father's will---that we all come to know Him our Savior, our Messiah, our Life---our Bread of Life...our "necessity of life", our only Hope of redemption from the wages of sin, which is death (Romans 6:23). Jesus came to show us He IS the way--the only way to redemption, to only way to eternal LIFE which is in the presence of our Creator and mighty God, the Heavenly Father. He knew we needed Him to come in our human shell to show us the Way----to show us Himself.
I am forever grateful from the deepest part of my soul for His life here on earth some two thousand years ago. I am grateful for His light in our darkness to lead us to the Father as we are just sheep in great need of a shepherd and are completely lost without His guidance, protection and provision.
And I proclaim again:
Jesus is life. Jesus is peace. Jesus came, died in our place/paid for our sin-debt, rose from the grave, defeating the grip of death and sits victorious at the right hand of the Heavenly Father.
God's Word tells us Jesus is what we need. Jesus' name is what we should speak into our hearts, into our minds each day. He is our necessity. His time here on earth was to show us the way to our necessity (my pastor spoke last week about this....Christ being our necessity of life). And now, as a believer in Christ Jesus, His Spirit, His blessed Presence stays with me...and you who believe...even as He sits as King of kings on His throne in Heaven. I am so grateful my Jesus not only made a way for me to have redemption and salvation from my sin, but He made a way for me and all believers to have His presence forever with us so that we do not walk through this life alone.....no matter how many friends we have or do not have. Jesus-the Victor is the best of friends, the best of companions, the best of champions, the best of leaders and the God of all gods. I am His and He is mine. And Jesus is coming back to earth for His people. Are you ready?
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Here are some verses that I found in my Study Bible's concordance about the Lord's name.
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Proverbs 18:10--"The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe."
Isaiah 42:8--"I am the LORD, that is my name;..."
Joel 2:32--"And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the LORD shall be saved."
Malachi 1:11--"For from the rising of the sun to it's setting my name will be great among the nations..."
John 20:31--"but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."
Acts 4:12--"And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
Philippians 2:9--"Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,"
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JESUS. The person---our God in the flesh. The Bible says He is our Prince of Peace, our High Priest, our Emmanuel--God With Us.
This weekend, I need to return the focus of my mind to the knowledge and understanding of who my Lord Jesus IS as much as meditate on the power even just in His name. I want to remember and profess to my heart today, that my LORD Jesus isn't weak in any way and will never be defeated or overcome because He holds the whole world in His hands. He is the Righteous One, our Redeemer and even my friend. He is so much more, but I will continue with my thoughts as best as I can.
The disciples of Jesus, the guys that walked with him, ate with him, found shelter with him, listened to him speak to masses of people throughout the lands of Israel, saw him transfigured into His glorious heavenly self on a mountain and saw him heal folks and raise people up from the dead....among these men, one--the apostle John wrote this:
1 John 1:1-10 ESV
"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."
God's Word gives us what we need so that we know Christ and thus know the Heavenly Father. We Christians, many times, think that being "saved" is all we need to be. But it is a life transformation when we are saved. And our new life causes each of us to want to know the One who gave us a new life. We want to show gratitude by having a life of grateful hearts for His deliverance and devotion to knowing His Word. If we are truly rescued from darkness (as spoke about in the book of Colossians) and brought into marvelous light, we will be changed forever. Christ in us forever. We must live showing we are changed. To bring us to the center of this, we can start with JESUS....even His name is powerful enough to bring us back to center. Thinking upon His name, saying His name in reverence and humility brings us back to center.....a life and mind focused on our Maker and His divine good news.
This evening...this weekend, I just wanted to see Jesus and know Him more deeply than the day before. I confess, I haven't sat still and done this in several days. It is much needed each day and I haven't done that recently. However, God is still here waiting for me to meet with Him. He never walks away and gives up on me....or anyone for that matter. I began reading in the Gospel of John. I encourage you to do something of the same in your own pursuit of Christ.
I am going to share with you the parts of the book of John (of just the first 3 chapters) that I read yesterday and today to reconnect me with my Savior and Lord. I will copy the verses and parts of verses I journaled about this weekend; first using the English Standard Version of the Holy Bible and then, for another view of it, I will copy the same series of verses using The Message which is a paraphrase of the Holy Bible. Be blessed as you read along with me the Good News.
Speaking of my Lord Jesus Christ...
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John 1:10-14
"10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." -ESV
John 1:9-14 The Message
" 9-13The Life-Light was the real thing:
Every person entering Life
he brings into Light.
He was in the world,
the world was there through him,
and yet the world didn't even notice.
He came to his own people,
but they didn't want him.
But whoever did want him,
who believed he was who he claimed
and would do what he said,
He made to be their true selves,
their child-of-God selves.
These are the God-begotten,
not blood-begotten,
not flesh-begotten,
not sex-begotten.
he brings into Light.
He was in the world,
the world was there through him,
and yet the world didn't even notice.
He came to his own people,
but they didn't want him.
But whoever did want him,
who believed he was who he claimed
and would do what he said,
He made to be their true selves,
their child-of-God selves.
These are the God-begotten,
not blood-begotten,
not flesh-begotten,
not sex-begotten.
14The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
true from start to finish."
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
true from start to finish."
John 1:29-31 ESV (speaking about John the Baptist's encounter with Christ)
"29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”
John 1:29-31 The Message
"29-31The very next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and yelled out, "Here he is, God's Passover Lamb! He forgives the sins of the world! This is the man I've been talking about, 'the One who comes after me but is really ahead of me.' I knew nothing about who he was—only this: that my task has been to get Israel ready to recognize him as the God-Revealer. That is why I came here baptizing with water, giving you a good bath and scrubbing sins from your life so you can get a fresh start with God."
John 3:1-8 ESV
"Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
John 3:1-8 The Message
"1-2 There was a man of the Pharisee sect, Nicodemus, a prominent leader among the Jews. Late one night he visited Jesus and said, "Rabbi, we all know you're a teacher straight from God. No one could do all the God-pointing, God-revealing acts you do if God weren't in on it."
3Jesus said, "You're absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it's not possible to see what I'm pointing to—to God's kingdom."
5-6Jesus said, "You're not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the 'wind-hovering-over-the-water' creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it's not possible to enter God's kingdom. When you look at a baby, it's just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can't see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.
7-8"So don't be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be 'born from above'—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it's headed next. That's the way it is with everyone 'born from above' by the wind of God, the Spirit of God."
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My thoughts journaled this weekend:
Jesus came to us clothed in skin, His Majesty veiled for a short time, to teach us His Father's will---that we all come to know Him our Savior, our Messiah, our Life---our Bread of Life...our "necessity of life", our only Hope of redemption from the wages of sin, which is death (Romans 6:23). Jesus came to show us He IS the way--the only way to redemption, to only way to eternal LIFE which is in the presence of our Creator and mighty God, the Heavenly Father. He knew we needed Him to come in our human shell to show us the Way----to show us Himself.
I am forever grateful from the deepest part of my soul for His life here on earth some two thousand years ago. I am grateful for His light in our darkness to lead us to the Father as we are just sheep in great need of a shepherd and are completely lost without His guidance, protection and provision.
And I proclaim again:
Jesus is life. Jesus is peace. Jesus came, died in our place/paid for our sin-debt, rose from the grave, defeating the grip of death and sits victorious at the right hand of the Heavenly Father.
God's Word tells us Jesus is what we need. Jesus' name is what we should speak into our hearts, into our minds each day. He is our necessity. His time here on earth was to show us the way to our necessity (my pastor spoke last week about this....Christ being our necessity of life). And now, as a believer in Christ Jesus, His Spirit, His blessed Presence stays with me...and you who believe...even as He sits as King of kings on His throne in Heaven. I am so grateful my Jesus not only made a way for me to have redemption and salvation from my sin, but He made a way for me and all believers to have His presence forever with us so that we do not walk through this life alone.....no matter how many friends we have or do not have. Jesus-the Victor is the best of friends, the best of companions, the best of champions, the best of leaders and the God of all gods. I am His and He is mine. And Jesus is coming back to earth for His people. Are you ready?
_______________
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