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RE: Thinking Out Loud about John - 3/4/2008 12:38:34 PM
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selahgirl
Posts: 834
Joined: 5/20/2005
From: God is with you, never forget that <3
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Hey, take this test
(John 6:1-11) KJV
1After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias.
2And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased.
The incident in the previous chapter took place in Jerusalem near the sheep gate. Which was interesting in itself, because that is the entrance where the sheep were bought in for sacrifice. Here we see that Jesus left that place and traveled over the sea of Galilee. Because of the miracle at the sheep gate and the many other diseased people that Christ had healed, crowds of people followed him across the sea. Some came to witness the miracles and to decide who this guy was that had such power... others came because they were sick or had a sick loved one that needed healing.
3And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples.
They cross the sea and get to the land on the other side (not sure where at the moment) but the point is that Jesus withdraws up into a mountain. The crowds seem to be left to camp at the base while the disciples accompany Jesus for a training session. They all sit down on the mountain and begin to talk with each other.
4And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.
5When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?
6And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.
We are told that passover was approaching, and we know that there must be a passover meal that takes place. On the side of the mountain, they could see the huge crowds that had followed them and camped at the base below. Jesus looked at the people and then turned to Philip and asked how they could get some bread to feed the people for the passover. The Bible clearly tells us that Jesus already knew that he was going to perform a miracle and multiply the bread, but he was testing Philip.
Would Philip respond with hopelessness, with impossibilities, with the obvious response, by stating the facts of the matter... or would he see the need, be moved with compassion because of it, realize who was asking him such a question, and be paying close enough attention to realize that Jesus could make it happen despite the appearance of things? Would he get the point of the lesson that in the midst of hopelessness, Jesus is our hope?... Jesus will not fail us, he will do something... whether the answer is something simple that we overlooked or even if the miraculous is necessary.
7Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.
8One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him,
9There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?
So here is Philip's response... we don't have the money, and even if we spent all the money we have it still wouldn't be enough to feed all of them... so he was still caught up in the appearance of things. He was still not in the mindset to remember who Christ is and to hope for the impossible. Rather than resolving that it was an impossible task... Philip should have looked to Jesus, even if Jesus had not performed a miracle, Philip should have taken more time to discern the point that Christ was trying to make. Don't be ruled by this world in any way... but be led by the Spirit of God.
Andrew overheard the conversation as they spoke openly, and the wheels in his little brain begin to turn. He is the first of the disciples that begins to glimpse that having Jesus in the mix changes everything... he understands the process of looking at what is at hand and then looking to Jesus for direction. Andrew's discernment is awakened and has begun to take baby steps toward the Truth.
He thinks, hmmm... "we need bread... alot of it." And he realizes that the loaves of this little boys lunch are all they have. He toddles a couple steps in the right direction, then BAM! he plops down on his pampers and succumbs to the natural laws of this world. The result is that he takes his eyes off of Christ and wonders at the impossibility of the situation rather than the hope that Christ is wanting them to glimpse.
And we thought that Peter walking on the water was the first time that one of the disciples had struggled to learn to walk by faith ^_^
By the time Peter got out on the water, he had reached a place where he was willing to risk his life to trust Christ... but he still didn't quite get the process of taking his eyes off of the workings and regulations of this world and keeping them focused on Christ above all else. Gravity is not in control unless Christ says it is in that moment. If Christ over rules gravity, gravity must let go. All authority in heaven and in earth belongs to Christ. He sets it to run it's course in order, but he commands it as he wills -- and it must yield and obey whatever God commands.
That was the test of Philip and Andrew and Peter and this group of disciples as they were separated from the crowds for Bible study... would they look to Christ first above all else realizing that everything in heaven and in earth runs according to a natural order ordained by God, but that it remains submissive to the will of God to change at any moment.
Basically, that Jesus Christ is God and God is in control.
10And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.
11And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.
And so Bible Study continues.... Jesus begins by posing a question all the while knowing the answer. The disciples/students weigh what they understand according to the rules and regulations of the world around them... all the while knowing and sensing that there is something more. Answering to the best of their ability with answers that they had been taught in their childhood and adulthood up unto this moment. But thinking out loud as they try to get their brain in tune with the stirring that is taking place in their spirits.
Jesus proceeds by preparing to reveal the answer to the question. But he doesn't stand up and run the show to prove his power and absolute authority (we could learn much from this example)... he tells them to strap on their goggles and he directs them as they walk thru the experiment. Jesus touches the supplies at hand, he gives thanks to the Father in his humility and in complete submission to the will of the God-head (Father, Son and Spirit). Then he hands it off to the disciples/students not so they can do the dirty work of digging the ditch or cleaning the bathroom... he hands it off so they can get dirty, so when it's all said and done they will have played a part, they will feel the thrill of the kingdom of God because they helped in the labor of it.
But they didn't get that at first.
When Christ posed the question, their brows were furrowed and their eyes asked questions of their own. They stood when he handed them the bread and they took it in obedience still forcing their bodies to move as though groping thru a dark room. They had still not seen the Light. They were still searching for understanding and trying to see beyond the shadows of this world. But Christ was about to enlighten them, he was walking them thru this whole process, this test, to help them flip the switch of their own understanding. That is something no one can do for you, not even God, you have to weigh it all and decide if you want to receive the Light in the darkness of your thoughts and your heart.
I'm sure the disciples felt slightly foolish as they took those scraps of bread and fish and turned to hand it off to the first couple of people they approached. What an example of faith! Our minds seldom understand the mind of God... but when we force our bodies to obey him, miracles happen. If you are a believer, if you walk by faith as you follow Christ, you've been there. You know exactly what I'm talking about don't you. How often Christ leads us into things or requires things of us that we simply don't understand (sometimes painful things), and we go because we trust that he has ordained our steps and that he is in control. We force ourselves sometimes to obey, our bodies and our minds fight violently against what he is calling us to perform, and yet we go, we walk the walk no matter the risk, no matter the pain, no matter the questions. That's the stuff. That's the place where miracles meet us face to face.
We will never know what the miracle of the loaves and fishes looked like, or how the process actually happened, until we are face to face with those who were actually there. But somewhere in the mix, it became undeniable that a miracle was happening as the bread and the fish never ran out. Perhaps it was handed out so quickly as the crowds reached out and pressed in upon each disciple that they themselves were somewhat unsure of how it happened exactly. It doesn't really matter as to the how.. the fact remains that it happened.
Faith that Jesus Christ is God and has all authority in heaven and in earth...
Obedience to all that he speaks even when we do not understand it all, even when it goes against all that we understand in this life and in this world...
Trust that whatever the outcome, God is in control and good things will always result...
Choose to follow Christ, take the risk, bust those pampers, learn to toddle, fall, get up, get in the boat, get out of the boat, walk on the water, sink, hear the leading of the Lord, reach up, get your eyes back on him, open your big mouth and mess up, learn grace, be restored, tell of his goodness, learn to be led by his Spirit, and then be and do the miracles.
Believe and keep moving toward Christ no matter what,
that's the test.
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RE: Thinking Out Loud about John - 3/14/2008 1:25:19 PM
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selahgirl
Posts: 834
Joined: 5/20/2005
From: God is with you, never forget that <3
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"MARRY ME," God.
(John 6:12-15)
12When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.
The first little styrofoam take home containers, how funny ^_^
And here we see a very key statement made by Christ in gathering up the fragments so that none are lost or wasted. Even in times of miracles or in times of abundance, we are to be wise and good stewards of the blessing. They could have left the fragments and thought, "wow, we're really worn out from all the excitement, surely someone will gather up what's left and it won't go to waste."
But Christ wanted them to understand the importance of insuring things were handled correctly down to the smallest task. They were to ensure oversight for every detail, much like an accountant must account for every penny when keeping the books. The blessings of God are to be treasured and never taken for granted in any way, never wasted, never handled sloppily or slothfully or gluttonously.
Waste not, Want not... I believe is what they used to say.
Those old-timers, the elderly, that gray and decrepid generation may actually be wiser than this generation gives them credit for. Maybe they're not so old-fashioned and out-dated and non-relevant as the cutting edge emergent church seems to think. Maybe the wisdom of God can actually be learned from their cheesey quotes and their demands for diligence and excellence.
Maybe they should be seen more as reflections of Christ, than stuffy old men and bitter old women.
Maybe they know a little more than trendy church movements give them credit for.
Maybe the younger generation would have spouted off some complaint of how unnecessary it was to gather up the fragments.
Maybe it was the faith and diligence and willingness to be called stuffy that caused former generations to propel this generation forward to this time of harvest in the church.
Maybe it was their blood and sweat that watered the ground for the contemporary church.
Maybe it was their fasting and prayer and sacrifice that nourished the soil and kept it a healthy place, despite the pollution of this world that fought so violently against them.
Maybe it was their courage to fall on their face and then get back up again that tilled the land and provided an inheritance at all, an inheritance for the emergent church to enter into as their own.
Maybe it was their bodies strewn and stacked high that lifted this generation up before the Lord so that his favor would be poured out upon them.
Maybe...
13Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.
Anything God touches doesn't just meet the need -- it OVERFLOWS with blessing, every time, without fail. God touches something with his fingertip and good things ripple from it for miles and miles beyond the present need. He breathes on one speck of dust and an entire world and universe is warmed by his affection and his nurturing love. One drop of God's favor can move mountains of opposition against you. One sparkle of his gaze in your direction can light up the deepest darkness of the deepest valley. We will never fully grasp the extent of his greatness or the privilege of being loved and favored by him. And yet, despite our small mindedness and our lack of awe and appreciation for his majesty... he remains with us, working all things for our good, showering his mercy on us in our ugliness and selfishness, hoping for us, changing us, guiding us, training us to be beautiful, to be heirs of royalty, to be married to Christ Jesus, sons and daughters of the Almighty God.
We are privileged beyond anything we could possibly deserve.
How dare we fail to love and appreciate and honor and respect and rejoice in his presence?
When he enters the room we should melt with affection, our thoughts should constantly hover around his goodness and his beauty and his power, we should always be craving his touch and excited by his forcefulness, our love should be forever submitted and obedient and giving and passionate and fully intimate... he is our lover, our heart, our soul, our joy, our very breath. That is how he loves us -- with excitement and zeal and completeness.
To take such love for granted is beyond understanding.
And yet, we do so often.
Forgive us Lord.
Help us.
14Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.
15When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.
I love that Jesus recognized the motives of men, and that he included this passage to teach us a glaring contrast concerning the affections of men. These men were caught up in the greatness and the glory and wanted someone or something to worship for it's power alone. They were not concerned about the will or plan of God. They thought it would be a privilege for Christ if they chose to worship him.
How backward.
It is our great privilege to worship God, not the other way around.
How just like the enemy to reverse or twist what is good and beautiful into something evil and grotesque. It was not the power and the praise for the sake of praise that Christ desired. He had that in heaven. He loves it when we praise him, but he wants so much more than just our praise. He wants our affection, our heart, our love. Our expression of praise is born out of our understanding of who he is, out of our relationship with him, out of our intimate interaction and fellowship and communing together about the things that are most important to him and to us.
He wasn't looking for us to make him King and set him up like the other stone idols mankind has worshiped in the past. He wanted us to see him. Just like it is so important to us that he see us.
God wants us to see him as one.
All the things about him that are so beautiful and good, all rolled up into the persons that he is.
You can't wrap your mind around that fully, so don't try, but you can glimpse it.
When our spouse looks at us, we don't want him to worship some part of our body that he likes so that all he sees in us or all that he does for us is centered around that one attribute. We want him to look above our neck line. We want him to see into our eyes, to hear our soul, to touch and caress out heart. We want him to love the smell of our hair, the curve of our body, the crookedness of our toes, the scars on our belly from carrying his child, the quirky way we dress, our cheesey high pitch laugh or squeal, the way we pout and then finally seek to understand his heart, our love for him that consumes us and causes us to sacrifice every selfish desire, our hunger for him, our need of him...
We want him to see us,
to love all of us,
as a whole package,
as the one unique individual that we are.
God is no different.
He wants us to love him for every amazing facet of who he is.
And yet, he wants us to see his One-ness,
the whole package,
God.
Not some idol dancing on a pole or some intricately carved stone that looks really cool.
He wants something real with us, something gritty, that will grip and hold on,
Something that will last.
Something that will affect us and him.
More than just a wedding,
He wants a Marriage,
a Bride,
a help-meet,
a companion,
a family...
children.
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RE: Thinking Out Loud about John - 3/20/2008 11:55:20 AM
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selahgirl
Posts: 834
Joined: 5/20/2005
From: God is with you, never forget that <3
Status: offline
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Behold the Brain Cramp
(John 6:16-21)
16And when even was now come, his disciples went down unto the sea,
17And entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them.
18And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew.
So Jesus has retreated alone up in the mountain. He is gone so long that the day is ending and it's starting to get dark. The disciples go down to the shore and pile in a boat and set sail. But suddenly a big wind started to blow, which usually happens as a storm blows in. I've heard that this region was known for sudden and violent storms that would blow up on the water ways, which was pretty treacherous in those days. Though many of the disciples were experienced fishermen and very familiar with the storms on the seas of that region, it remained a challenge and threat to maneuver thu such storms.
I wonder why they would set sail without the Lord. Why did they not hang around and wait for him to come down from the mountain? For some reason, they were very comfortable with leaving him behind. Somehow they knew where they were going and that the Lord would catch up with them at some point. Maybe they discussed their destination earlier, idk. But they could have never guessed exactly how the Lord would catch up to them. It was pretty crazy as we're about to see in the next few verses.
19So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid.
It's dark, the sea is violent as a storm is blowing up. There is so much unknown about the sea and spooky stories always develop about the unknown... stories of ghosts and sea monsters and such. They are maneuvering for their lives, and suddenly they see a human form walking across the water toward them. Were they wrong to be afraid? I don't think so. It's a natural human reaction to fear the unknown. It is only as we develop maturity in Christ, that we are more able to control such fear.
20But he saith unto them, It is I; be not afraid.
I love that Jesus tells them not to be afraid. Every time I hear him say that in Scripture, it's a huge flag that something is happening so that it is perfectly logical to be afraid according to the natural, physical world around us. So yeah, first reaction is understandably fear.
Some people teach that it is a rebuke when Jesus tells his disciples not to fear in the Bible. But I don't think that's always the case. I think sometimes it is a rebuke, when they are being wimps or babies like we can be at times. But quite often, I think he says it more to comfort and encourage them (encourage: to instill courage, or to cause someone to have courage). This I think is one of those times. I think it was a lesson in courage in several ways. One was to not be afraid of the storm that was upon them, but more in this moment I think it was to not be afraid as the extent of who Christ is was revealed to them.
You see, the more you're around someone, the more they let their guard down and they are able to be themselves. I think that that happened with the disciples and Christ as well. He couldn't just drop the veil suddenly and completely or they would be blinded and unable to see him at all. But Christ in his wisdom allowed them to see the extent of who he was little by little. If you're gonna hang around someone, their character is gonna start shining through more and more. With every miracle, with every action that wielded authority over the physical world, the disciples were understanding more and more that this was not just a man. They were recognizing things in Jesus that set him apart and above, that revealed his person as God himself. Not just from one declaration, but by being exposed to the whole package glimpse by glimpse.
Relationship is something that grows... as they developed more personal and solid relationship with Christ by hanging out with him, their understanding of who he is grew along with their affection for him. What a beautiful thing. We often struggle with the simplicity of our relationship with Christ at times. I think we try to complicate it, when all we really need to do is to hang out with him, eat with him, talk with him, listen to him, develop relationship with him by constant interaction in every day stuff. In those moments is when we truly witness his character, his goodness, his person.
Some big revelation is not always the best way to build that intimate bond with someone... more often it comes through the mundane experiences of life that we trudge through together, over time. It is often the small and quiet moments that lead to circumstances that require character to shine though what is seen in the physical. As that character shines through from those inward places, from the deep places that were seemingly insignificant a moment ago, that's the true taste-test. That is the cement, the glue, the definition of who each of us is as individuals and as one in relationship.
There is no way to have an authentic relationship with Christ without eventually realizing that he is beyond just a man... he is divine, he is set apart, he is something other than, he is God... at the very same time that he is Friend.
That's something that everyone wants to put into words, but such a thing simply can't be boxed up nice and neat like that. It's kinda mind-boggling how that the most simple Truth in the universe is so beyond description or a formula. How brilliant of our God to design such a safe-guard for the core of all that is precious. So simple a concept that even a child can accept and embrace it, yet kept beyond the reach of the intelligent and arrogant who would try to reason it into something that it is not. It is something that must be experienced to be understood. You can hear about someone elses experience, but until you've encountered Christ for yourself and spent some significant, intimate time with him... you will never truly know him or the simplicity of how real he is.
21Then they willingly received him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went.
I can just see their faces at first glance, white with fear, drenched with sea-water, squinting and struggling to make sure that they were really seeing what they thought they were seeing. The gasp that must have escaped from their lips as they saw the figure approaching their boat, the realization that there was no escape and that they were about to encounter something from the spooky unknown, from the spirit netherlands, from something beyond their limited understanding. They braced themselves with baited breath, or stilled breath perhaps, not knowing if this being would be friend or foe.
And then came the voice of Jesus...
And the fear of the unknown must have given way to a tremendous brain cramp as confusion set in. Could it be? If it is, then we have no reason to fear. But if it is, and he is doing things so very impossible, perhaps there is reason to fear? Their minds must have raced, as their breath returned slow and deep as wonder overcame confusion, and questions out-ruled disbelief. And then suddenly he was upon them, at the boat, face to face, and it was him, they recognized him.
It was Jesus, their friend, their companion, their teacher, the man, one of them. And they immediately reached out to help him into the boat. Can't you just see them staring at him, frozen in awe, the water dripping from their hair and soaking their faces as they looked at him face to face, blinking, unable to even attempt to find the words to ask the many questions that filled their thoughts. In that moment of wonder, they were suddenly at the shore on the other side and all fear was gone.
Makes you wonder if "be not afraid" was an encouragement, a training session, or the Lord taking authority over the enemy's attempt to fill them with fear and doubt. Perhaps all three and much more.
Sometimes I think we get glimpses of who God is not because he wants to pull the veil back a little more to impress us or to cause us to worship him a little more. Sometimes I think he's just being himself and he just can't help it when miraculous things happen. I think goodness and the miraculous are like an aroma that just permeates from God, and the more we're around him, the more we notice and witness about who he truly is. When we hang out with him or around him, miracles are gonna happen. It's just his nature, who he is. He breathes in and with every breath he breathes out... the blessings and gifts of God bloom and multiply. I believe that that's the honey that Scripture describes... that golden sweetness that drips from the lips of a lover, from their words, from the nature of who they are, that cause us to passionately desire them... it is that Goodness that causes us to crave His words and His affection.
The goodness of God fills the air, the universe, in heaven and in the earth. No matter our situation, no matter the hardship we may be facing, no matter the darkness of the day or the night... his goodness is available and present and performing the miraculous... because he is here... with us... he has promised that nothing will separate us from his presence... that is the blessing and the power that Christ died to share with us... that is what he purchased... that is salvation from all that harms... justice, the righting of wrongs, healing, restoration, cleansing of sin, freedom in Christ... His presence, his beauty, his goodness... he is the center, the source, the heart, the life... of all that is good and strong and full of glory.
We stare blankly when we witness it, almost in shock, confusion gives way to wonder, which causes us to gasp in awe, to fall in love with him, to accept his proposal, to passionately return his affection, to praise him, to worship the One True God, the author, Creator, Beautiful One.
God is with us... there is no greater Truth,
there is no greater love <3
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RE: Thinking Out Loud about John - 3/26/2008 4:36:34 PM
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selahgirl
Posts: 834
Joined: 5/20/2005
From: God is with you, never forget that <3
Status: offline
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Good Morning Church
(John 6:22-27)
22The day following, when the people which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was none other boat there, save that one whereinto his disciples were entered, and that Jesus went not with his disciples into the boat, but that his disciples were gone away alone;
23(Howbeit there came other boats from Tiberias nigh unto the place where they did eat bread, after that the Lord had given thanks:)
24When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus.
25And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither?
Jesus was like celebrity. He couldn't make a move hardly without the paparazzi taking note. The crowds realized that there was only one boat. They knew that the disciples left without Jesus, but they were confused as to how Jesus disappeared completely.
Finally it occurred to them that where ever the disciples were, that that is likely where the Lord would show up. So as more ships came to that place where the miracle of the loaves had occurred, the crowds boarded ships and sailed over to Capernaum to look for Jesus among the disciples. And sure enough, there he was. So they asked him how in the world he got there.
26Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.
Jesus responds by bypassing their question and going directly to the heart of the matter. He discerns that they didn't really want to know how he got there, nor did they follow because they wanted to fellowship with him or to build relationship with him. Jesus knew that they were only following him for a free ride, to sponge off of the food that he somehow provides every time there is a need. They had witnessed and experienced for themselves that the people that linger in the presence of Jesus, want for nothing. They cared nothing for him, they just wanted a free meal.
We see this everywhere in America today, so many people wanting to follow a free meal.
There are help wanted signs and job opportunities every where in this country. Do something, work somewhere, and seek the free to supplement. But to do nothing to better yourself or to help with the provision of your needs is lame.
6In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching[a] you received from us. 7For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 8nor did we eat anyone's food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. 9We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow. 10For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."
11We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies. 12Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat. 13And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing what is right.
14If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of him. Do not associate with him, in order that he may feel ashamed. 15Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother. (2 Thess 3)
Somewhere along the way, the church has adopted the philosophy that Christians should be freely manipulated by those that choose to be idle, that we are obligated to give to anyone that asks and require nothing from them. But when we adopt such philosophy, we actually abuse them and all who labor overtime to multiply the supplies. We feed their sin and allow them to grow fat with it, rather than challenging them to better themselves. We should offer a measure of help, lavishly generous at first, but always leading to building up their character and integrity. Personal accountability as they become healthy and whole in Christ. That is Godly kindness, that is true discipleship, that is genuine love.
Somewhere along the line we have seen it as cruel to allow someone to be ashamed of their sin and sloth and laziness. But the actual cruelty is nurturing them in it until they become so obese with excuse (justification of their sin) that they die in it.
How is that helping them, how is that being like Christ to them? Since when is letting them feed like a tick until they pop from their greed and selfishness the definition of kindness and love?
The church has allowed the world and the enemy and our own sin to redefine the fundamentals of our faith and the teachings of the word of God. Just like our constitution and marriage and every principle of our nation is slowly being rewritten. And the result?... we as a people grow fatter and distracted and stressed and enslaved as we run on that hamster wheel that we have been manipulated to believe is simply life. The only hope for our nation is to turn it's heart back to God and Godly principles.
Cleansing begins in the house of the Lord, among the people of God, you and me.
It's time for the church to take back the principles of God and to define them according to his word.
Good Morning Church... the alarm is ringing, the blanket has been jerked back, your feet are on the floor and it's cold. But there is a new day ahead of you and the sun is bright and encouraging. So rub your eyes, stand and stretch, or whatever it is you do as you wake up after a long dark night...
go to the bathroom, shower, wash your face, brush your teeth, get dressed, primp in your mirror, have your coffee/breakfast, whatever you do to get it in gear to get out the door...
and get to work.
27Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
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RE: Thinking Out Loud about John - 4/2/2008 12:43:03 PM
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selahgirl
Posts: 834
Joined: 5/20/2005
From: God is with you, never forget that <3
Status: offline
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My Father's Will
(John 6:28-40)
28Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"
29Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."
God doesn't mind when we ask him sincere questions. Often times people distort the Truth that we should not question God, and they use it to manipulate people to obey something other than God. Often times when we ask such questions from teachers or pastors or leaders they direct the answer toward something they want us to do that they feel we should do rather than toward Christ. It is a fine line. I am convinced that some people don't even realize the error of such teaching, but others see only their own will and nothing else. Such people are the blind guides mentioned in Scripture by the Lord.
Instead, we should be bold in our freedom to ask anything about God, to talk to him as though he were that perfect parent or Father. As a mother, I have always stressed communication to my children and encouraged them to ask me anything as long as it is in sincerity and with a Godly measure of respect. Our heavenly Father is a far better parent than we are as earthly parents and a flawed humanity. We should not fear to ask him anything if we ask with a pure heart. He encourages us to ask such things in his word. Remember "Ask.. Seek... Knock...?" And he promises to answer every time. Our Dad truly is the greatest.
So... what must we do to be saved... believe Jesus, all that he did, all that he said, and all that he is. Remembering that that belief, that faith, goes far beyond just a confession. The words must be said and welcomed and embraced and cherished and owned.
30So they asked him, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"
"Seeing is believing." But not in matters of Faith. Faith is believing without having to see, believing simply based on the integrity and the character of the person who has testified to you... as they delivered the news... good or bad. Do we trust him? Would we stake our life and the lives of those we love on what he claims is Truth? Are we willing to give up our right to everything we have a right to if he says it is necessary? That's Faith. That's believing... Not merely saying, "I believe." People make that statement every day, that confession of faith, but they have not truly calculated the cost of the house. They have not invested themselves fully to the mission -- to the call -- to the God that sent the news/message.
The people were used to signs and wonders as proof. They did not realize that God was doing something new, that a new covenant was being fashioned. They did not realize that there would be no more ritual sacrifice, that the fulfillment of all had come, and the burden of postponing judgment for our sins was about to end. The final price was about to be paid, and everything would change... they were still looking to the past, to the old, instead of where their feet stood in that moment and forward into the future. All that God had promised was coming. It was at hand. God had returned to them in the flesh, he was with them again, Jesus had come to the earth.
32Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."
Jesus tried to explain to them that the old covenant, all things past, were given by God to point them to this moment. He tried to help them understand that the manna that Moses gave was simply sustenance until they could comprehend that it is Jesus Christ who gave them life and sustains them even to this day. The manna is not the giver of life. Moses is not the giver of life. God is the giver of life, and the work of Jesus becoming flesh is the manifestation of LIFE. The manna coming from heaven to the earth was simply a reminder of the promise of God since the fall of man... one day God would come from heaven and restore life to each of us... the death we partook of as we ate of rebellion would be washed from our bodies and our being by the only thing that could cleanse such a stain. The blood of God.
Death could only be stayed if a price was paid to bind it and cast it into the lake of fire for eternity... to remove it from existence... to make it no more. Something had to die. That was the price. Not a man or a woman or a child because death already owned all of us. It had to be something that he didn't have a right to, something he didn't own, something precious... innocence made flesh.
There was none innocent. There was none who could become flesh. There was no one who could represent. No one among our ranks who was worthy and without guilt, without sin. And so Jesus came to earth and became one of us. The beauty of God confined and contained in a body of dust and clay. The miracle that is the incarnation. Clean and without spot, yet a man, possessing the right to have dominion over all that is in the earth.
Oh how he must love us!
And so he laid himself on the altar as the only thing that could do away with death once and for all... the only one who owned the one thing that could clean the stain of sin and break the chains that bound us to it... he offered himself like a gentle lamb, willingly, without a fight, in his perfection as God and his innocence as the second Adam... and the blood of God was poured upon our heads washing down into the lowest places of our being and the darkest places of our hearts --
and sin and death were no more...
for all who would believe.
34"Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread."
35Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. 36But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."
How great is our God...
Oh how I love him <3
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RE: Thinking Out Loud about John - 4/8/2008 10:35:59 AM
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selahgirl
Posts: 834
Joined: 5/20/2005
From: God is with you, never forget that <3
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What distinguishes Wise Counsel?...
(John 6:41-44)
41At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." 42They said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I came down from heaven'?"
43"Stop grumbling among yourselves," Jesus answered. 44"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.
At first glance, it makes it sound like God has predestined who will be drawn to him and who will be saved... and who will not. But I don't believe that. I don't have a theological degree and I have ZERO desire to debate doctrines. But just for me... reading the Bible, seeking to understand what he is saying in this passage to whoever reads it... I think it is saying something very different.
Jesus said that if he is lifted up on the cross, all men would be drawn to him (John 12)...
27"Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28Father, glorify your name!"
Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again." 29The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.
30Jesus said, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." 33He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.
so it's not that only certain ones have the chance for salvation or that God predestined only certain ones, it simply means that if anyone is following Christ they were led there by God the Father. Whether they remain faithful or not, whether they later fall away, isn't the issue... the bigger issue is that the Father has led them to this place so that they may have a chance at salvation thru Christ.
The Jews are offended at Christ claiming to be so closely linked to the Father. They are reminding everyone that he is just as human as they are, that he grew up with them from a child. They were trying to reason away the possibility that Jesus was the Christ. Jesus in the opening of this passage was simply saying that none of these people, this vast crowd, would follow him, unless God the Father had led them to do it.
Basically, he was saying for them to stop grumbling about the people that believed in him as Messiah, and to leave it for God to judge or determine. As is said by a man of God later in the Gospels, if Jesus was not of God, the crowds would eventually fall away. But if God is moving thru him, than there is nothing they could do about it. The Jews that were grumbling should have sought God and let him reveal the true heart of what Jesus was claiming. If they had, God would have revealed the Truth to them. But instead, they were consumed with arrogance and traditions and putting God in a box as to who he would choose to work thru and how he would manifest himself as Christ upon the earth.
We can learn much from this passage.
How often we look at something new and we measure it to traditions rather than asking God about it. How often we hear no immediate answer from the Lord and so we rush to judgments that were never ours to make. When that person rises to a place of prominence that isn't really violating the word of God but we feel is undeserving or awkward or not respectable enough to represent the current climate of the church... we grumble against them in our heart or to our neighbor in the pew. God have mercy on us all.
We cannot judge the Jews or the disciples or the people in Scripture whose sin is so blatantly laid out for all to see. We should be more concerned about learning from the sins of one another rather than casting blame and judgment or looking down our nose at people as though we are above them in some way. We are just as guilty of sin as they were and are. But... we can be just as forgiven if we would only seek God in all things rather than rushing to judgment and leading other blind sheep into the ditch with us. We, blind guides that we are, had better open our eyes before our own arrogance lands us face down in the dirt again.
If something new or strange or different is happening around us, whether in the church or at work or in the neighborhood or even at home... we need to talk to God about it as it manifests itself. We need to be asking God to judge it and to reveal the true spirit behind it. We should watch and pray, until God gives us discernment that it is clearly his will or not. Sometimes that happens in an instant, sometimes it happens over a substantial measure of time. Watch and Pray.. until God gives direction to act.
And even then... Watch and Pray and Act.
We must not judge the younger generation, nor should they judge the older one. We should not judge the new guy in town, nor should he judge us in our quirkiness. That is what it means to not judge... seek God first for the Truth of every situation and motive, whether your own or a stranger or a friend or a pastor. Let God judge it. Seek him to give you discernment in the matter. Discuss it with wise counsel, be patient and full of love toward all involved, even those who may need discipline in the matter, and then act on what God reveals to be his judgment of the issue.
In seeking wise counsel... how can you distinguish it from gossip?
Wise counsel always uses the word of God as it's foundation and ties it with common sense and truth. Wise counsel loves as I Corinthians 13 describes what it is to love. Wise Counsel is dominated by a spirit that is willing to sacrifice all to protect the well-being of everyone involved -- including anyone who has sinned or is an offense to the will of God. Wise counsel is unafraid to bring discipline in order to maintain the prominence of the will of God, but it refuses to set aside love or justice or mercy (because such is the heart of the will of God). It does not use one of those to justify neglecting the other two. There are no favorites, there is only the will of God. Because it is that will that ensures all three of the above for everyone involved.
Gossip is almost always masked with one of two things... righteous indignation or false humility. But the end result and hidden agenda is to tear someone down and murder something about them... either their reputation, their ministry, their relationship with someone. Gossip is the choice weapon of those that murder in the church. Gossip always wears a mask and hides it's true intent so well. It loves to appear as wisdom and mercy... but operates in direct opposition to both.
13 An evil man is trapped by his sinful talk,
but a righteous man escapes trouble.
14 From the fruit of his lips a man is filled with good things
as surely as the work of his hands rewards him.
15 The way of a fool seems right to him,
but a wise man listens to advice.
16 A fool shows his annoyance at once,
but a prudent man overlooks an insult.
17 A truthful witness gives honest testimony,
but a false witness tells lies.
18 Reckless words pierce like a sword,
but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
19 Truthful lips endure forever,
but a lying tongue lasts only a moment.
20 There is deceit in the hearts of those who plot evil,
but joy for those who promote peace.
21 No harm befalls the righteous,
but the wicked have their fill of trouble.
22 The LORD detests lying lips,
but he delights in men who are truthful.
23 A prudent man keeps his knowledge to himself,
but the heart of fools blurts out folly. (Proverbs 12)
Wise Counsel is to Love
1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (I Corinthians)
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RE: Thinking Out Loud about John - 4/11/2008 1:33:08 PM
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selahgirl
Posts: 834
Joined: 5/20/2005
From: God is with you, never forget that <3
Status: offline
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That Bad Taste in Your Mouth
(John 6:45-71)
45It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.' Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.
This is what Christ made reference to earlier and he alludes to it again later in this chapter. It is the Father who draws people, not to predestine them, but to expose them to the Truth, to lay the Truth before them as on a table. And everyone must choose what they will believe and what they will pick up and own, what they will consume and become intimate with so that they may live in that Truth, as part of it, reflecting it, joined to it, invested in it, married to it, one with it.
The Father gives everyone the opportunity to know the Truth and to possess salvation so that they may know eternal life. But not all will choose to believe and to follow his will and plan. Not all will choose to let Christ lead them, they are not willing to give up being their own god. And so they reject the one true God, refusing to follow him with their whole heart.
Those that choose to follow, have been taught by God like all men, but they are the ones that have submitted to his authority and teaching and leading.
46No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.
Jesus makes it clear that our walk is a walk of Faith, since none of us have actually seen the Father, the Godhead (Trinity) in it's fullness. Yet, those who believe in him without even seeing him, will receive salvation from death -- they will receive eternal life. And how will they believe?... because of the testimony of Jesus, Believing all that Jesus said is true is all that is asked of us. Keeping in mind that when you sincerely and wholeheartedly believe something to be true -- you live like it. The revelation of it changes you, everything about you. To believe so much more than just saying some words. Jesus drives this point home in the remaining verses of this chapter.
48I am the bread of life. 49Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. 50But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. 51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
Jesus is drawing a distinction between the physical and the spiritual, at the same time that he is revealing the divine connection between the two. Eating bread (manna) in the desert can sustain a person so that their body can live in this physical world. But Christ is the Living bread (spiritual sustenance) in the spiritual desert of this world. He is the one thing that can make things live in the spiritual realm. The living bread came down from heaven of it's own free will because it is truly alive, and offered himself as sustenance so that every spirit-man in this world can live in that spiritual realm that is forever.
Death in the physical is to return to dust and disappear, no more consciousness.
Death in the spiritual is to be separated from God and all that is Good, to disappear into shadow and flame where there is no light, no life-giving flow, and nothing that is Good. Aware of your loss forever.
What is that loss?..... God. Love. Hope. Life. Second Chances.
Second Chances, the door of Grace, the timeline of Salvation... has a limit, a time of closing, a definite and final end.
You will live and serve someone for all eternity, and you get to choose.
You can serve the God of Truth and Love and partake freely of his goodness as a citizen of his kingdom submitting to his authority as child, heir, bride, brother, and friend.
Or you can serve Satan (the father of lies) or some other dark spirit that has masked itself as something more powerful than it is, and you can partake of his inheritance in that place of torment and second death -- so completely cut off from God and all that is good that no exit door even exists.
Or you can serve yourself in your attempt to be your own god and you can enjoy all that you rightfully own -- which is absolutely nothing -- except for the same judgment and inheritance awarded to all who are in rebellion against the Creator of all that is good -- that same place of torment and second death which is so completely cut off from God that no exit door exists.
Yes, you will definitely serve someone. It's inevitable.
God in his mercy let's you choose. There is only one eternity. It contains God's domain and kingdom, and a small dark territory reserved for those who choose to reject the love and mercy and goodness of God. That's it. It's not like the grocery store in America with an endless assortment of customized choices to suit your mood or your whim. There is only one choice, two possibilities, and by the Grace of God two chances to make the right one. This life is that second chance, that final choice. Better make it a good one.
Reality is not a democracy, it's a monarchy, a kingdom, ruled by a perfect Father -- who is God and King.
You can be arrogant and determined to serve yourself.
Or you can join in blatant rebellion and follow some lying demon from who knows where.
Or you can recognize a sincere and loving Father, who paid with his own blood to bring you home.
52Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"
53Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever." 59He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
Jesus was trying to get them to see that the spiritual, the unseen that he spoke of, is just as real as the physical world that they could see and touch and handle. That the order and operation of the spiritual was just as definite and sure. They saw the spiritual bread, touched it and handled it, but they chose not to believe it or to partake of it. Physical food enters the mouth and goes into the stomach where it brings health and life. Spiritual food enters the mind and goes into the heart where it brings health and eternal life. They heard the word of the Father spoken by the Son, but their hearts refused to receive it.
60On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"
61Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you? 62What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. 64Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him."
The word of God was given, but they would not receive it, so they could not be taught the Truth of God. Even though the Father had drawn them to the Truth by his Spirit. They still could not accept in their hearts who Christ truly was, or the things he had been sent to teach them.
66From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
67"You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve.
68Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."
70Then Jesus replied, "Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!" 71(He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)
That's what you call a bad taste in your mouth. Many of his disciples refused to own what Christ was teaching, therefore they were unable to see that he was speaking of spiritual things... even though he clearly told them in verse 63. They took his words into their thoughts but refused to accept them into their hearts. They threw up the truth of God in a sense and rejected the authority of Christ. That was the bad taste that caused them to lose interest and walk away.
I think perhaps Jesus was asking them to truly commit to him, to God. I think they became indignant that such demands were being put upon them, to believe God's Truth instead of their own or what they wanted to call truth. They closed their hearts, which automatically closed their minds and prevented them from understanding the analogies that Christ was using. They were superficial Christians, following outwardly, listening and appearing to hear and to receive the word of God, but they had hardened their hearts and rejected Christ in the depths of their being.
The twelve were the exception. Actually the eleven.
Judas remained. He represented the extent of Christ's love and mercy. The known and determined betrayer given every possible chance to repent and change his mind, even to the death of Christ, even to his own cowardice act of suicide. Right up to the end, to his final breath, God offered him mercy and grace and a second chance... but he refused all.
It is God's heart to bless and to save every soul.
The loss of even one is no small matter to him.
He will lavish his love and every opportunity for salvation upon even the most wretched among us.
He gave all, he paid with his own blood, he emptied himself... even for Judas.
He loved even him
even me
even you.
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RE: Thinking Out Loud about John - 4/25/2008 10:23:12 AM
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selahgirl
Posts: 834
Joined: 5/20/2005
From: God is with you, never forget that <3
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BOOM BABY!
(John 7:1-15)
1After this, Jesus went around in Galilee, purposely staying away from Judea because the Jews there were waiting to take his life.
I love that God includes every detail and circumstance of wisdom in his word. The churchy thing would be to waltz right into the midst of Judea and defy any opposition because God's will needed to be preformed... but see, this was God who purposely avoided going there because the measure of the climate was too hostile at the moment. So he waited with patience until things cooled a bit, and it was the right time to push forward.
Even in childbirth and labor, there is a time to refrain from pushing, yet a time to continue to push forward in the birthing process. That is wisdom. Measuring the temperature and climate of any situation is wisdom and a necessary part of ministry in every setting. Refraining for a time or walking away until God leads you to return to the task is not always sin or cowardice... sometimes it is wisdom, sometimes it is the perfect will of God.
We must be careful to not be following the will of religion, or a congregation, or a pastor, or a man, or our family, or friends, or a culture -- if it contradicts the wisdom and will of God. That is a very weak point in the church today. We have reached a place of worshiping and following the voices around us, rather than the voice of God. But I see something emerging in this generation that is beautiful and right and good... a return to the Word of God and a zeal to commune with him in personal prayer time. Revival is definitely at the door of this generation, it is crossing the threshold this very moment.
2But when the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near, 3Jesus' brothers said to him, "You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. 4No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world." 5For even his own brothers did not believe in him.
BOOM! THERE IT IS... temptation.
Stepping out of the perfect will of the Father, doing it man's way instead of God's way, pressure, family, comparing your actions to the standards and norms of the world, fame, fortune and glory, accusations of being awkward and unauthentic and irrelevant... show yourself to the world.
Christ could have entered into pride at any moment and thought, "I'll show them." But he remained steadfast, just as zealous and full of passion about the mission, but determined and unwaivering to perform it with the wisdom of God. Would we be like Christ in such a situation? Do we act like he did when those same temptations are taunting us and sneering in our face, filling our ears and our thoughts with everything considered wise by the world's standard?... by the grace of God, I pray our answer is always no. I pray we always hear the firm but gentle voice in the core of our being as he whispers the wisdom of God instead.
Be careful who you listen to... the hissing in the grass or in that tree can be very appealing and very convincing.
6Therefore Jesus told them, "The right time for me has not yet come; for you any time is right. 7The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil. 8You go to the Feast. I am not yet going up to this Feast, because for me the right time has not yet come." 9Having said this, he stayed in Galilee.
wow, Christ is our example. At this time, his family did not understand the perfect will of God because Christ had not yet died and become that example. The time of this incident was a time of transition, during the process of transforming the old covenant into the new. But Jesus knew the Truth, the plan, the Spirit that lived in Him and that is part of Him. He saw the plan/fulfillment in it 's entirety, because he helped to fashion it.
Later, he tells us that the world will hate us too. After all is fulfilled, the Truth is revealed, and we are identified with Him in performing the perfect will of God. We will go against the grain and norms of this world just as he did, not conforming to religion and the world. We will not always do what everyone else is doing, we will not always be loud and bold when they expect it, and we will not always be mild and meek in matters that require Godly courage.
There will be times where we must go our separate ways for a season. There will be times when it is good and right for others to go the feast or that ministry event... but for us it would be sin. For us some times we will be required to go a lonely road, or to wait a lonely hour. Sometimes, everyone will leave you, the parade will march by you, the party will not include you... and you will be required to stay in that small and insignificant place for a season, maybe several seasons.
But that is not where you will stay, and that is what you must remember in the waiting, in your loneliness. Christ waits there with you. So refuse to let your heart and thoughts be troubled or discouraged. Instead, be cheerful that great things are coming, be thankful that God has lead you to walk in his perfect will, cherish that lonely time, that Gethsemane... without that garden, that place and time of prayer/soulful meditation, you will not have the strength and discipline to endure the cross.
Gethsemane, the beating, the cross, the scoffing... there is much to endure.
But Christ was our example and he promises that though he walked it alone, we will never be alone.
10However, after his brothers had left for the Feast, he went also, not publicly, but in secret. 11Now at the Feast the Jews were watching for him and asking, "Where is that man?"
Did he lie about going to the feast?.. no
It was not his time to leave when his brothers were leaving. His time was to leave after his brothers had left. God in his wisdom, knows how our enemies think and what pitfalls lay ahead. Christ knew that those in Judea that sought to kill him would be looking for him among his family. That was the standard, to go up with your family to the feast. Jesus not only outwitted his enemies, he was protecting his family. His presence was sure to endanger his brothers, or at the least cause them to be the object of ridicule and harassment.
Strategic?... yes
Wisdom requires a great measure of strategy. However, Godly wisdom confines itself to Godly strategies. The strategies of men are consumed with winning at all cost and the acceptance of expendable casualties. But Godly strategy, works every detail for the good of all. It does not sacrifice the small and unimportant soul to benefit and empower those that are more popular and vocal. Godly strategy accomplishes the plan and the victory so that goodness and righteousness can prevail equally for the small and the great. Sacrifice becomes an offering from both camps, such strategy binds the hearts and souls of men together in one love, one purpose, causing them to serve as one.
12Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, "He is a good man."
Others replied, "No, he deceives the people." 13But no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the Jews.
14Not until halfway through the Feast did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach.
15The Jews were amazed and asked, "How did this man get such learning without having studied?"
This part has not changed among people. Everything that happens will find supporters as well as opposition. Some thought Christ was good, others thought he was deceptive. They whispered among themselves but were afraid to voice an opinion that they were willing to stand by publicly. Their reputation was at stake, the well being of their families, the threat of being put out of the synagogue was real and intimidating.
How similar we are today.
Everyone watched and waited to see what Jesus would do. They wanted to hear him teach. Some because they were hungry to hear more of the Truth of God. Others wanted to hear more debate between him and the church leaders. And some were in desperation, hoping for a chance to receive a miracle for themselves or someone they loved. Yet, others longed to see miracles for the miracles sake, the thrill of it all. Christ speaks about all the various motives of why people follow him. He knows that there are tares among the wheat, but he also understands that grace requires both to be given place... for a time. He sees the difficulty caused by the presence of the tares. He sees the hardships put upon his people. He understands the pressures and the intimidation and the risk involved in following him. He knows what it is to sacrifice your very blood, to be separated from your family, to be beaten and robbed and laughed at and scarred.
There is no God like our God.
With all the wisdom and the love and the compassion and the mercy that fills his heart and his very being, he continues to put the will of God, the will of his Father above all else. No matter the motives or needs of people, no matter the temptations, no matter the attacks of the enemy, no matter the risk to those he loves. He risks all, he endures all... because he trusts the Father so completely. To the point of laying down his divinity, becoming a man, and emptying himself of his very life. He put himself completely into the hands of the Father, laid down all his rights and his power, trusting him to restore all and to accomplish the greater good.
Jesus is our example, and no one else.
We are to love all as he loved, but we are to love God above all else.
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RE: Thinking Out Loud about John - 8/7/2008 11:20:04 PM
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selahgirl
Posts: 834
Joined: 5/20/2005
From: God is with you, never forget that <3
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Hand it over...
(John 7:16-18)
16Jesus answered, "My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me.
Jesus was performing the Father's will. He had set down his authority and right and power to rule and reign and he submitted himself fully to the Father as a man. That's pretty incredible. How many of us can set down our right to something and resist the temptation to pick it back up at will... to go back on our word when things get tough, to snatch it back up in our weakness and our fear?
Christ is our model. Our perfection and our strength. He was tempted like us in all ways, but he resisted. Oh to be like him... he makes us able. As God, he understands the power of temptation, and he walks us thru resisting it every step of the way. We can perform the Father's will above our own, Christ teaches us and leads us in it as we call upon him, as we humble ourselves, as we acknowledge that he is God, as we reject our own will and follow his, as we follow him like sheep because we know that he loves us as the Good Shepherd. We make it too hard. Stubborn goats and mules that we are at times...
17If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.
That is so often the problem. We want to know for sure before we make a final decision, but that's just not how faith works. "Seeing is believing..." that is our comfort zone, but to believe Christ without seeing the evidence/proof of all he says requires us to trust, to risk, to hand over control, to give up our rights and position and power.
The instant we choose the will of God, the moment that we step out of our comfort zone and we risk and we trust him... then we know. Without words, without explanation... we just know Truth, with a capital T. It is when we hand over control to God, that everything begins to make sense and we gain a confidence that is beyond understanding. We just know that Jesus Christ is everything he says he is. We no longer have to see the evidence or the proof. We become people of Faith.
18He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.
It's not just a matter of faith, of trusting, of handing over control to God... it's a matter of handing over the spotlight as well. It's no longer about me and manipulating all things to serve my interests and wants. It becomes a matter of what can I do to fulfill the will of God... because it is in the fulfillment of his will that ALL of us are blessed and whole and full of every good thing. It really is all or nothing. We either work for the good of all, or we waste our efforts trying to work it some other way. The will of God will be fulfilled... and his will says ALL PEOPLE who call upon HIS NAME shall be saved. Who are we to seek our own honor, to think we deserve the spotlight or that everyone owes us the spotlight...
Reminds me of the verse I just posted on my myspace tonite:
(Psalm 8:1,4)
1 O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
above the heavens...
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
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RE: Thinking Out Loud about John - 8/19/2008 12:39:55 PM
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selahgirl
Posts: 834
Joined: 5/20/2005
From: God is with you, never forget that <3
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better and stronger and wiser
(John 7:19-32)
19Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?"
20"You are demon-possessed," the crowd answered. "Who is trying to kill you?"
21Jesus said to them, "I did one miracle, and you are all astonished. 22Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a child on the Sabbath. 23Now if a child can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing the whole man on the Sabbath? 24Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment."
25At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, "Isn't this the man they are trying to kill? 26Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Christ? 27But we know where this man is from; when the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from."
This scene reminds me so much of the movie HOOK, when Peter is trying to convince the Lost Boys that he is in fact their former friend, Peter Pan. The boys are torn, they run back and forth as each argument is presented. Everything sounds so convincing... but Truth prevails and they finally recognize him. Just as Christ said... people will reject the one who comes in the Father's name, but they will embrace the one that comes in his own name.
Jesus tells them that Moses gave them the law, they have the law, they should know the truth, and yet they deny the truth and the one that God has sent to speak that truth. The people approach him with a chip on their shoulder, denying that they doubt him and are rejecting him, as well as the fact that people were trying to kill him.... and yet a few verses later, they acknowledge that they knew that Jesus was the man that the authorities were out to kill. They were suspicious of him, and looking for something to accuse him of, knowing full well that death was a likelihood if they took a mind to kill him, or have him killed.
Suddenly it occurs to them that the authorities have presented him as such a villain, yet they have not arrested him, the chance remains that perhaps he is speaking the truth... perhaps he is who he says he is. But immediately they go back to interpreting the law as their church leaders had taught them... immediately looking at the appearance of things and using that to judge the heart and intent. The argument of knowing where he is from as proof that he was not Messiah, was an argument presented by the church leaders in other passages during their closed door meetings. You can feel the struggle within the people to sort out how their leaders interpreted the Scripture from the conviction of the Holy Spirit that was bearing witness with all that Christ was saying and doing. Jesus was wanting them to think it through for themselves. To consider how ridiculous it was to perform a religious rite on the Sabbath, and yet deny someone from helping someone else in need on the same day. It was a pretty intense moment.
28Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, "Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, 29but I know him because I am from him and he sent me."
So many today teach against being emotional in our witness or our stance for Truth. And yet, here is Christ crying out in the midst of the congregation, in a public forum, during intense teaching and a pivotal moment. He is fed up with their refusal to think it through, and declares that they know him but they have no clue why he has come or who has sent him... namely God. He is emotional yet completely in control of himself as he tries to help the people see the foolishness of what they have believed and how they have judged him wrongly.
30At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come. 31Still, many in the crowd put their faith in him. They said, "When the Christ comes, will he do more miraculous signs than this man?"
And so arrogance rises up in some of the people. Some stand for their religious rites rather than asking God about what they have just heard Christ say. They become angry and afraid of change and violent and rush in to shut him up. But God restrained them and caused them to not lay a hand on him. Others in the crowd understood what he was saying, they recognized the truth of it, they understood that there was something different about Christ. And they began to believe that he was who he said he was. He was proving it in everything he was teaching and everything he was doing.
32The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.
The motivation of the church leaders was not to know the Truth, it was to control what the people heard and believed. How frightening when I compare that to many leaders in the church today. To discipline motivated by love for the person, to take a bold stand on something in order to defend the Truth of our message as it lines up with the Word of God. Such integrity is anointed as watchmen and stewards and shepherd-leaders. But to do such things motivated by pride and arrogance and jealousy... merely protecting personal opinion and agendas... that steps so far out of the will of God. It sets up a chosen few as though they are gods. I truly believe that is the sin of the church that God is dealing with in this hour. It has wounded too many people and God is saying enough. His presence has come to expose the Truth and the Lies for what they are. He said that he came to bring division...
The cries of the dead and dying have reached the throne of heaven, and God himself has come to set things right in his church and among the leaders that he privileged with the power that they hold. I pray repentance and mercy for us all, in the name of Jesus. We, the people, have empowered the sins of such men. We have abandoned our first love... but he has not given up on us... he has not forsaken us... he calls to us and disciplines us and allows us to reap the bitterness of the harvest we have planted. All in an attempt to woo us back to him, to make us better and stronger and wiser so that we will not find ourselves in this same place ever again. He is restoring the church to wholeness, as painful as it is at the moment.
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RE: Thinking Out Loud about John - 8/26/2008 11:47:19 AM
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selahgirl
Posts: 834
Joined: 5/20/2005
From: God is with you, never forget that <3
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A Way Thru the Confusion
(John 7:33-53)
33Jesus said, "I am with you for only a short time, and then I go to the one who sent me. 34You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come."
35The Jews said to one another, "Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? 36What did he mean when he said, 'You will look for me, but you will not find me,' and 'Where I am, you cannot come'?"
What an interesting reaction among the crowd. They wondered about what Christ meant, where exactly he was going to go... but they failed to really listen to what he was saying. He told them that God had sent him and that he was returning to the one that had sent him. It would seem that they should have wondered if he was going to die, or how exactly he planned to return to God.
In stead they wondered if he would go into hiding somewhat, would he join others who had left Israel or been driven to wander in Greece. It kinda gives the impression that they still thought of him as a fugitive, especially since the church leaders were trying to arrest him. They even wondered if he would go to the Greeks and teach them instead of the Jews. They could sense that he was a gifted teacher and knew that he would teach somewhere. But they still held him at arms length and were willing to reject him at any given moment.
Even though they had never really given much thought to the depth of all that he was saying. Superficial... that's kinda scary when we see the reaction of people when Christ actually walked among them in the physical. How they trivialized him and all that he was saying.... how they were somewhat apathetic, willing to listen but not really willing to receive what he was saying... hearing but not understanding... Christ accurately describes them in later passages. I wonder how closely we resemble them in our modern day apathy to the leading of His Spirit and the Word of God...
37On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." 39By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
I love how Christ speaks of the ministry of His Spirit. How it is presented as such a refreshing. What a perfect picture of the comforting voice of our God. He walks along side of us and talks us through our fears and our confusions and our wrestling. He guides us by confirming the Word of God to our heart and reminding us of all that Christ has spoken. That Spirit, that Holy Spirit, is like living water. It enters our spirit as we partake of it and it flows through our bodies and our being and calms us, refreshes us, assures us. In turn, we are strengthened and clear-minded and full of zeal. Like a plant that is parched and withered in the heat and constant exposure in hot places... it goes from limp and lifeless to standing strong and tall and bearing fruit... it becomes a force, filling the ground, sinking it's roots deep, and blooming for all to see and be blessed.
Yet, they were still unfamiliar with the Spirit working in them in such a way. He had not yet manifested himself to that extent. He had not entered into their being, he still hovered over them in ministry. But very soon he would be in them... and that refreshing drink would no longer be a mist upon them, but would be streaming and flowing through them and out into the world around them.
40On hearing his words, some of the people said, "Surely this man is the Prophet."
Again, the reaction and the mindset of the people intrigues me. They heard him prophesying that the Spirit was going to come to them in such a manner. We may have to study it, but they understood what he was saying. And they acknowledged that Jesus was a prophet who was giving them a promise from God.
41Others said, "He is the Christ."
So as they are hearing him speak and they are convinced that he is sincere and full of power, some of them recognize that he is anointed by God, that he is the Chosen one, messiah perhaps. Despite all the controversy surrounding the rumors and the declarations made about him by the opposition... when people actually listened to him and heard what he was saying... they knew he spoke the Truth, they knew he was of God. But how easily doubts creep in when the moment has passed. How unfaithful we can be when life creeps in and prominent voices in our lives begin to lead our hearts in another direction. How sure we can be one moment, and then abandon what we knew to be truth on a whim... blown about by every wind of doctrine.
That is what happens when we fail to read the words of Christ, when we fail to meditate on what he said himself. When we choose to follow what someone else says that he said. Jesus first... First Love... remember?
Still others asked, "How can the Christ come from Galilee? 42Does not the Scripture say that the Christ will come from David's family and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?" 43Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. 44Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.
Again they doubted. Again, the dissenters spoke about things based on appearances. They missed the truth of it all. Jesus was descended from David's line through Joseph and thru Mary. He was born in Bethlehem. There was so much confusion and contradiction, rumors of an unusual conception, jealousies and competing ambitions that the people were divided. Obvious Truth became difficult to comprehend or discern. The enemy continues in such techniques today. He is the author of confusion causing the hearts of men to doubt and to make excuse, rather than to follow diligently after Truth. But God makes a way thru the confusion for those who truly desire Truth... he lights a path, his words are a lamp unto our feet then and now and always.
45Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, "Why didn't you bring him in?"
46"No one ever spoke the way this man does," the guards declared.
You really get a sense of the helplessness of the guards. When they approach Christ, when they stand in his presence, the Spirit of Truth swirls around them, speaking gently to their hearts and minds. And yet, their orders are in direct opposition to the leading of the Spirit of God. And so they wrestle to understand, and confess that Jesus speaks with an unrivaled power. They are unable to act in defiance, unable to lay a hand on him, unable to take action against the will of God until God says it is time.
47"You mean he has deceived you also?" the Pharisees retorted. 48"Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? 49No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them."
50Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, 51"Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?"
52They replied, "Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee."
53Then each went to his own home.
What manipulation of the church leaders. They make the assumption that no one with authority questions whether Jesus is guilty of anything. He emphatically shouts NO!.. to his own rhetorical question. He tries to make the guards feel like idiots, he tries to make the case that any educated person (anyone with spiritual authority) agrees that Jesus is a deceiver and should be silenced. But everyone is not in agreement in the matter... this Pharisee just wants to manipulate the truth and to intimidate his listeners to yield to his will. The truth reveals itself, the fruit hangs on the tree... self has been placed upon the throne rather than God. They had begun to think of themselves as gods.
Immediately, we see Truth shine into the situation as Nicodemus speaks. Here is one of the authority figures, the learned men that the Pharisee just said didn't exist, expressing himself in opposition to the emphatic statement just made. He doubts Christs guilt enough to give him the benefit of the doubt. He goes back to the true measure, the word of God (the laws given to Moses by God). Why did Nicodemus discern correctly when his peers did not?
Because he kept the word of God prominent in his walk and precious to his heart.
And yet, in their pride we see them continue blindly in verse 52. Still judging by the appearance, instead of searching out Truth before God. Jesus was born in Bethlehem. He fulfilled every Scripture about Messiah, even as a baby with no power to maneuver anything... it was the emperor that made a decree that caused him to be born in Bethlehem when his family was ordered to go there to pay taxes. Great with child, Mary made the difficult journey... and everything happened according to the will and plan of God.
That was Truth then, and such is Truth now.
But only when people measure their situation to the word of God will Truth reveal itself...
and then the Spirit of Truth will lead them step by step until all is fulfilled.
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RE: Thinking Out Loud about John - 9/3/2008 9:55:43 AM
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selahgirl
Posts: 834
Joined: 5/20/2005
From: God is with you, never forget that <3
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Quietly and Gently to the Slaughter
(John 8:1-11)
1But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.
Chapter 7 ended by saying that they all went to their homes... and here we see that Jesus went to the mount of Olives. He had no where to lay his head, he was not at home in this world, he was at home when he entered into prayer. What a picture for us... what a glimpse into what it is to follow his example... no matter where we find ourselves physically in this world... we are always home spiritually because home is being where he is... and as long as he is with us, we are always with him.
God with us...
I just never get tired of saying that. I never get tired of thinking about it for hours day and night. I never see it as anything less than a miracle and the greatest gift that could be created or thought up, given or received... all things are contained in that one Truth... every good work, every blessing, every concept of true peace and joy and contentment exists in that one thing that he came to fulfill
Emmanuel, God with us.
"18I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. (John 14)"
"18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matt 18)"
3The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?"
What a contrast we see... the way the Pharisee handled this woman with blatant disrespect, standing her in their midst with the smell of her sin still on her disheveled clothing.. shaming her, no mercy, no kindness, no move toward restoring her, forgiving her, and helping her to become a force to help others living in similar sin... what a deadness, how far an image from even the God of the Old Testament. They used her as a pawn, a puppet, to parade around for their own intent and purposes, to feed their own self-righteousness and arrogance. They use the law for their own selfish ambition, their own greedy gut. And they devour people in the process, they rob them of their hope, of who they could be if they would turn from their sin. How cruel...
That was never the intent of the law given thru Moses, that was never the heart of God, it was not him who tried to crush the very spirit of a fragile soul sick with sin. It was the corruption of a leadership entrusted with much. It was the sin of evil men that overshadowed that of a tainted woman. Even the law, was about reasoning together, about looking forward to that day of forgiveness, about turning from sin and crying out to a God of mercy, trusting his judgments. Moses begged the mercy of God on behalf of a people in sin... the Pharisees didn't even reflect the character of Moses (let alone God or Christ)... the very name they hailed as being the righteous law giver. They lacked his heart for God, to lead people to Him rather than themselves, to serve his kingdom and not their own, to work for his glory and not to horde glory for themselves.
6They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
Their motives were not Truth or the will of God. Their motives were rooted in self and in personal agendas and arrogance. Their question of "what do you say?" was about to be answered as we see the stark contrast between religion and Christianity, between darkness and the light...
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." 8Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
In his silence, he spoke. Their own conscience ate them up as the Spirit of God spoke to their thoughts... shining light upon the darkness that had consumed them... revealing their own sin and hypocrisy... not to shame them, but to convict them... to offer them the same opportunity to turn from their error and sin that Christ was offering to this woman whose spirit they were devouring. In that light, Truth cannot be denied.
Perhaps he wrote the sins of those men in the sand, perhaps he wrote the laws that each of them had broken. Laws that only they had known they had broken, laws that they thought no one else knew that they had broken. Perhaps the rocks were dropped in shock and shame, as they were forced to see their own filth and made aware that it was not as well hidden as they thought. Not a one could cast a stone, because in that moment, I believe the Christ and the Spirit of God swirled around these men so that their own guilt and sin was illuminated and undeniable.
9At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
11"No one, sir," she said.
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."
I love the sternness and yet the great compassion of Christ. I love that he does not enable her sin, but instead handles it as something undesirable and dangerous to everyone. He insists that it be gone and that she turn away completely from it. And yet, there is such a love and genuine kindness that cannot be denied. He is the only one among them that could have cast a stone at all, and yet he refused to take it in his hand or even consider such an action. Rather, he felt the sting of that stone in his heart, he knew it would be him that would suffer the blow of those stones in a very short time -- it would be him on a cross that would suffer the consequence of this woman's sin and that of her accusers.
But without hesitation, he releases her from her guilt and the debt of her sin and takes it upon himself (without anyone knowing the depth of what he just did, no one else but Father and Spirt). Just as he releases the Pharisee at the cross as he asks the Father to forgive them because they didn't know the depth of what they were doing. Just like he forgives me and you and all who will call upon his name. There was no question that he understood that every sin he forgave, every person he released from the bondage of the law, every soul that he gave the right to live to... was a person that he would have to take the place of... he died on that cross and became that arrogant, selfish Pharisee... he became that woman caught in adultery... that one who had an abortion... that one who pulled the trigger and took the life of another...
It was no small thing each time he said, "neither do I condemn you." Even though it was a very different dynamic when he said it. Because each time he said it, he willingly took on the sin, the punishment, the debt, of every person involved. He was the cleaner, the scapegoat, the door to freedom for each of us. This scene ends so quietly, so seemingly easy and without violence...
but it is only one example of the Lamb led to the slaughter.
Of the depth of what our Lord did for each of us, of the far-reaching violence of his sacrifice as he released this woman and each of us... only to turn and walk up that hill and lay down on a cross to die in our place. It was our sin. It was us. We did it. We clasped the hand of sin and made a deal with death. And Jesus freed us from it. We savored the sweetness of that sin... and he died from the poison of it. There is no one like him. There is no God like him.
I love you Jesus.
I LOVE YOU LORD!!!
<3
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RE: Thinking Out Loud about John - 11/25/2008 1:59:57 PM
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selahgirl
Posts: 834
Joined: 5/20/2005
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We Will Never Walk in Darkness
(John 8: 12-17)
12When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
I had a dream a couple years ago. It was in the am hours of the day, little did I know that the teenage son of a dear friend would pass away that night. I believe without a doubt that this dream was assurance of his salvation, as well as a glimpse into the revealing of Jesus as the Light of Life and of the world.
I dreamed that I was shivering violently and I was confused by it. I was in a terrible place, it was so black, the darkest black I had ever seen. There was no glimpse of light whatsoever. I was trying to understand why I was shivering and shaking… I remember thinking, I’m not cold but my teeth are chattering. I’m not afraid to the point of being terrified. I was actually kind of calm. (Later, I believe the shaking was the throws of death but I just didn’t realize it).
I could not see anything, but I was aware that I was standing on a big hill, facing another big hill across from me. There was no noise, and finally I spoke out loud for the first time. But something bizarre happened. I asked where am I? what is this horrible place? And a couple other questions out loud that I was thinking. But every time I opened my mouth to say anything, the only word I heard myself saying was JESUS.
I was even more confused, because it was like someone else was speaking instead of me.
Then, suddenly a light came from over the other hillside. The sky took on the appearance of twilight and grew in intensity. But it wasn’t a yellow, sunny light, it was a very white, diamond, or crystal, kind of light that was so intensely bright that I cannot describe it. But it didn’t hurt your eyes and it didn’t give you that “under the microscope” feeling like you were thrown into a spotlight.
It was a presence that approached. It was a warm and embracing presence like that of a great friend, and it was rushing to meet me, full of joy but with such a feel of grace and royalty. The entire hillsides lit up and the valley beneath us, although it wasn’t a place of greenery. It was a pretty barren place, and it went from the darkest dark to the brightest white. I knew it was Jesus, and he was coming in response to being called upon. He was coming to meet up with and welcome whoever it was that had called him. And the dream ended.
Needless to say the dream came that morning, and I had no way of knowing what would happen that night. So although I was confused by some of it, I immediately felt that maybe I was going to die that day or week or sometime soon. I told no one, because some dreams are simply symbolic, and some are pizza, and I didn’t want to alarm my family. They are aware of many dreams that I have had that have come true, and my health has been fragile from time to time. So I prayed about it and told the Lord that I trusted him fully with my life and with the well being of my family.
I spent the day praying for my family and friends and for the plan of God to be accomplished in their lives with or without me. I prayed for them to be comforted and to know that I loved them and that we were at peace on all accounts. I prayed for the days of my children’s lives that I felt they might miss my presence the most… based upon the days of missing my mother in my own life. The hardest being the day I became a mother myself. And such went my prayer time, and my thoughts thru the day. And then I laid it all to rest before the Lord that evening and put it out of my mind.
The next morning we got the news about the son of our friend, whom I’ll call Josh. And immediately, I felt that the dream was his journey and I had been allowed to witness it for some reason. Without doubt, I knew that his salvation was sure and that he was with Christ. I knew that the prayers I had prayed for my own family was intercession for his. I knew that the odd sense in the dream that was causing me confusion was that I was standing in his stead, as I was witnessing his passing into the presence of Christ. When I tried to speak and ask those questions, it was him speaking and calling on the name of Jesus. And Christ came to meet him in that place of darkness, and Jesus drove the darkness away from him forever. Because Jesus is the Light of the world, and he waits to meet us when we make our journey from this life to the next.
Even with my confidence in what I felt the dream meant, I was afraid to share the dream with his family because their grief was so terrible. So I prayed for God to tell me how and what to do, to let me know without doubt if I was to say anything to them. That night I had another dream, which I later shared with his family. Here are excerpts from what I shared with them.
… I woke up early this morning and made myself send this email, because of a dream that I had about you guys. I was walking into a building and just as I came through the door I saw Josh on his way out. I said hey to him. He was tall and handsome and it was almost like he was lit up like a light was shining on him. I was surprised to see him but I was happy to see him looking so well. He said hi back to me to be polite, but he was distracted by something he saw outside the door. He never even really looked at me because he was staring beyond me with an excited anticipation on his face. Like he was about to smile real big and shout out to an old friend he just recognized and was rushing to grab a hold of. He kind of patted my shoulder trying to be polite and mumbled 'good to see you', still never really looking away from whatever he was seeing, and rushed past me toward the door.
I turned to see him walking out the door which was lit up really bright because it was so sunny outside. But when I turned back around I saw you and your family, and you were all so sad. I realized that we were at the church and the funeral, and your heart was so broken. And I realized that you guys couldn't see him, and you were missing him so terribly. And the dream ended.
When I woke up my thoughts were of you… I just wanted to touch base with you, and after this dream this morning I kind of felt like the Lord was wanting me to make some kind of effort to touch base and let you know what's been in my heart. I feel like Josh is well and happy and with a good friend that loves him (Christ), and I feel like he can see you guys and loves you. And that he sees and understands so much more as he spends time chatting and hanging out in the company of so many good friends and people of God. I think one of the things that he has asked the Lord is that He would comfort you and let you know that he is okay and that he loves you.
I feel like God has given me a couple unexpected dreams that lets me know without a doubt that Josh is with him and alive and talking and watching all that's going on with you guys. I am as sure of that than I have ever been about anything in my life.
13The Pharisees challenged him, "Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid."
I testify today as do so many other people of God that Jesus Christ is the Light of the World, of heaven, of earth, and all that is within them, now and forever.
14Jesus answered, "Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. 15You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. 16But if I do judge, my decisions are right, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. 17In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two men is valid. 18I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me."
God is our witness as well. When we testify of the Truth according to his word and his Spirit, our testimony is valid no matter how many oppose us. Sometimes we can feel so alone when we choose to take a stand for what is right and good and Godly. Sometimes we find ourselves in conflict with not only our enemies, but the very people that we love. Christ brings a unity, but he also divides all that opposes the heart and will of the Father.
He is the Light of the World. He is Truth. When we call upon him, his presence, Truth showers over us and floods all things with the brightest Light that drives away the darkness. Not even death can keep us captive in that darkness, when we call upon the name of Jesus Christ… when we commit ourselves to him during this time of decision… when we choose to believe in him and all that he said and did, we gain the right to call upon him in this life and the next. As his child, his follower, his people, we will never be held captive by the darkness, because he will rush to meet us with all power and authority and joy, and the darkness will flee.
Jesus is the Light.
His presence is beautiful and embracing, full of love and acceptance.
He waits for us beyond deaths door, and if we know him in this life, we will be able to call upon him in the next. That is what it means to come before his throne with boldness. There is no doubt, no fear, no question as to whether he will accept those who have been called by his name in this life. He loves us, and he waits with great anticipation for us to finish our task on this earth and to be with him again, in his immediate presence. He suffered, died, and lives again to make a way for it to happen. It’s all he thinks about.
(Rev 21)
1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
5He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."
6He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death." …..
22I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.
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RE: Thinking Out Loud about John - 7/8/2009 10:32:40 AM
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selahgirl
Posts: 834
Joined: 5/20/2005
From: God is with you, never forget that <3
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Speaking Through You
(John 8:18-20)
18I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me."
19Then they asked him, "Where is your father?"
"You do not know me or my Father," Jesus replied. "If you knew me, you would know my Father also."
Sometimes you will have to stand alone in the things that God is telling you are Truth. Sometimes there will be no one beside you to be that three strand cord, no one that you can actually see. Those are the times when your faith will be the test. That three cord strand will become God, You and Faith. Such a combination cannot be broken. Truth is Truth when God is in it, no matter who stands with you or against you. If God is for you, no one standing against you will overcome you. Victory is sure. The Good of all will prevail without question, though we seldom know for sure what the outcome will actually look like. He has promised that it will work something for good, and we can trust in that no matter how this world interprets it. God will bring understanding and right thinking in the end.
20He spoke these words while teaching in the temple area near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his time had not yet come.
This verse was interesting to me. Why would it matter where he spoke it, that he spoke it not just in the temple but in the area of the temple where the offerings were stored? I tried to relate that to our day and time and realized that in a bank where the money is stored there are lots of police and security measures and the slightest threat is removed and restrained immediately.
So here is Jesus challenging the most sacred authorities of the church. Speaking things that were very controversial and considered confrontational. Disagreeing and refusing to back down from his statements in the midst of the heaviest area of police and law enforcement. Yet, no one touched him. No one shut him up or escorted him out or threatened arrest. That was the norm, to keep all threats out of the money area... the procedure I'm sure was to squash any such uprisings at the first sign, and there were plenty of temple guards to enforce the laws.
That's the thing. Jesus was being led by the Spirit of God, his motives were pure and not tainted by selfishness or arrogance. That is our example in such cases. If we challenge the authorities around us in this world... or in the church... we had better be sure of our motives. We need to check ourselves honestly before God and ask whether our zeal is for the cause of Christ and the Truth of God as the Spirit leads... or are we caught up in a moment, in a trend, in proving a point, in a competition?
Sometimes God will stay the hand of our enemies and those that oppose us, and the miracle will be a wall of separation that keeps us from their judgments without explanation. Other times, we will find ourselves arrested and on trial, and the miracle will be that justice prevails even in the court of the enemy. And then there are times when we are persecuted or called to actually die for not backing down from the Truth of God, our relationship and service with him... and the miracle will be that the hardest of hearts witnessing our sacrifice will understand the sacrifice of Christ and cling to him.
In every instance, there will be fruit. In every instance, the Truth of God will go forth in some way, with some measure of impact, as God has ordained, in whatever ways the hearers need to hear the message. Beautiful are the feet of those that bring good news... feet that go to share the good news of peace between God and Man... that he has come to us, to reason with us, to invite us into relationship and communion again... that he is our salvation... Jesus. That he sacrificed all. That his beautiful feet willingly walked to the cross, thru hell, to heaven, and back to us. We as his church must follow that example. If we want our feet to be beautiful, we must go wherever he leads and do whatever he asks to present others holy and acceptable because of Christ and his example. He has called us to follow him in this example.
That Good News, That Spirit of Truth... it is our message and our passion. Not just ours, but the Father and Creator of all. He birthed it, fulfilled it, and it is his breath that keeps it alive. He speaks thru us as we yield to his will and not our own. No one touched Christ in this moment of confrontation, this clash of light and darkness, because the hearers needed to hear the Truth. It was a miraculous moment that could easily be overlooked, but we must picture the scene and realize that the abundance of guards, the immense power of our enemies, has no power over us, even when we must stand alone, if we are speaking the Truth (Word) of God, in his perfect timing, with a right spirit completely yielded and following the direction of His Spirit.
17"Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. 18On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. (Matt 10:17-20)
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RE: Thinking Out Loud about John - 7/14/2009 1:47:45 PM
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selahgirl
Posts: 834
Joined: 5/20/2005
From: God is with you, never forget that <3
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Die
(John 8:21-22)
21Once more Jesus said to them, "I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come."
Jesus had been speaking about following him, about walking into the light with him, Truth, not the truth of man but the Truth of God. There is so much symbolism and parable in his teachings that captivate the attention of the listener, but at the same time there is such a clear and simple message. Believe that Jesus is God, that he was sent as our example, for us to follow, to be the bridge that enables us to travel from darkness into the light, from ignorance into understanding, from deception into Truth. He made is simple. He put the message out there in creation, in a great cloud of witnesses, in the Jew and in the Gentile circles, and he came to even tell us himself face to face, heart to heart, spirit to spirit. We can't not hear it... he speaks it, sets voices everywhere to proclaim it day and night...
our part is to simply make the choice to believe Christ or not. Really truly believe... it's that kind of belief that results in symptoms such as passion and works and faith and service and devotion and sacrifice and every good thing that Christ demonstrated in his ministry and life on this earth. It's not just saying I believe what he said... Satan knew the Truth and believed... but it was a different spirit/level of belief... it didn't reach his heart, it was an acknowledgement without commitment... and that kind of belief causes rebellion and every evil things that hurts and destroys.
We are faced with the same choice. Do we BELIEVE Christ or not?
If so, the desire and passion to follow him will burn within us to follow him out of darkness and death.
If not, we will talk a good talk and look good strutting along as we meander all around the path looking for attention from this world... and we will never set foot on that bridge of salvation. We will die in the darkness, in our sin, in the consequences of serving our self.
Christ is speaking in the presence of the crowds, believers and unbelievers, but this direct warning is to the church crowd. They were following church leaders, religion, rules and regulation, things professed by men, traditions taught by mom and dad and the ppl they went to school with as kids. They heard the Truth, but chose to believe someone else.
It's a scary thing to be a Christian these days... to be tempted to walk the broad road to destruction by lying to yourself that you're following Christ as you follow a form of godliness and all that justifies feeding your flesh. The temptation is real, the ease of deceiving ourselves... it's nothing new. The word of God warns of it from the beginning... warnings usually directed at those who claim to follow Christ as children of God.
Each of us has a house to clean up. We as individual believers and as the Church as a whole have allowed the world to dictate holiness and the direction Christ should lead. We need a generation of REPENTANCE... not a mandate... a generation that is pieced to the heart and convicted of our lukewarmness and self-deceptions... a generation that will throw off every thought and reservation and begin to cry out to God for mercy and forgiveness and a right spirit. It's not gonna come from a pastor or in a church service or a movement. It's going to come from a generation that is called to prayer and repentance and holiness, one that responds in personal and individual ways, not concerned with pressuring others to follow their lead, not guilting those around them to walk it with them...
a generation (of all ages, all ppls), a generation that throws off every thing that touches them and their life except one thing...
following Christ.
22This made the Jews ask, "Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, 'Where I go, you cannot come'?"
The church crowd was so close. So close but still not getting it, still missing the mark. But that's exactly what needs to happen. Christ did willingly lay his life down and that's what we must do.
That's it. That's what we have to do. We have to kill our SELF. So easily said, so easily talked about and discussed and taught in a classroom... but seldom a reality in the life we actually choose to live each day. It's not even a matter of plunging the knife ourselves. It's a matter of choosing to die willingly and climbing up on that altar and trusting the will of God no matter how painful, no matter how bloody the outcome, no matter how demanding, no matter how far from our ability to understand... Willingly embracing the purpose of that altar, knowing that it is a place to die, that the pain will be real and deep and seemingly unbearable... that death will without doubt be the result.
Climbing up on that altar. Trusting and Accepting his will and direction. Putting our life in his hands. Committing our spirit to him just as Christ did... so that when we are not in line with his will our gut and our heart and everything in us begins to bleed and die and cry out... overcome with the throws of death that begin to overtake us when we choose to remain in the darkness rather than following him into the light... conviction and obedience and devotion to the cross... Death.
As war increases around the world just as Scripture warns, as the west once again is faced with funerals of those they love and of marriages and families that sin has ravaged.... those that once knew luxury and comfort and abundance of wealth, are suddenly waking up to the realities of living in the darkness. The torches are put out one by one and that eerie silence is creeping into their homes and their communities and their lives... and the stench of death cannot be ignored or denied any longer.
This life is dying. This world is dying. Each of us and those we love are dying. Physically, yes.
But peel back the flesh and look at the heart of what's happening. Examine the flood that flows unseen, because that is where the life really is... in the blood, in the flow of the Spirit of God. As all things physical are dying or dead.... all things spiritual are not.
This world is death and desert, but there is a stream that flows thru the midst of it. Running along and leading to a place of life and abundance. Most ppl are walking against the flow of that water... and the source gets smaller and more scattered and more difficult to see. But there are those ppl that follow the moving of that water, the moving of that spirit of life, and though the journey is hot and demanding, there is provision along the banks of that flow. It is not the fulfillment, it is not home, it is not where they are to camp and live and move and have their being... but if they continue in the journey they will find such a place.
There is an end.
There is a time of suffering on this earth just as Christ suffered those 33 years, from being hunted in the womb to being hated on a cross. We are no different. The good life isn't here. This is just the journey to reach it. And the more ppl that we invite to follow the brook with us, the more ppl to spend eternity with, and the greater the party. He experienced it all as he journeyed thru this life: betrayal, false accusations, physical pain, being hated, called a liar, arrogance from those entrusted with power and authority... every hurt we suffer that just rips our heart out. He knows. He understands. He led the way in showing us how to walk thru it, no matter the pain and challenges and disappointments... to get to that place that the Father has prepared for us...
Life.
The end of this temporary journey.
Men hate war. But they love the ppl fighting beside them. They love those that they are protecting. They love those among the enemy that turn from evil and join in what is good. They love freedom and safety and all things that they have determined are worth laying down their lives for.
I hate this world. But I love the ppl fighting beside me. I love those that Christ wants protected. I love those that are hurting others who change their heart and decide to help them instead. I love freedom and Truth and safety and all the good things that God has promised and prepared for us. He is worth dying for.
In this life... Death is the only reality.
We must die in every way, in order to reach the end of this journey, this life.
Only when we reach the end will we truly LIVE. Only then will there be no pain if we have poured ourselves out as Christ did. If our dying was for our God and those he loves.
Embrace death... there is no other way.
Climb up on that altar knowing that death is sure as you deny your self.
Commit your spirit, your life to him and to his will, to all that he has called good, trust.
That's what it is to truly live...
Die.
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RE: Thinking Out Loud about John - 7/16/2009 12:07:41 PM
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selahgirl
Posts: 834
Joined: 5/20/2005
From: God is with you, never forget that <3
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Does it sting
(John 8:23-32)
23But he continued, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins."
That statement just makes it so plain as to the separation between God and Man. He is above and we are below and between us is a great gulf. His inheritance and character and family are from that Heavenly Realm, ours is from this broken and fallen world. Even though he was in the world, he was not of this world. He was a different Spirit and heart and nature.
How easy he makes it for us to move from below, to join him in living above. He descended not only into the depths of this earth, but to hell itself, to affect EVERY soul ever created by God. The removal of that gulf, that distance, that separation... we're dying, that is the unavoidable sum of our existence and being, but we don't have to. He has made a way of escape from a very sure and dark destiny... He has invited us to be adopted into his family, to share in His inheritance and character and family. To trade. What a mystery, what a miracle, what an amazing and gracious thing! Knowing the great price he paid to buy us those freedom papers... the PERSONAL sacrifice of our God because of his love for us.
Makes you understand the tenacious love of a parent for their child on such a deeper level... tough love... unwavering love... merciful love... beyond the sin and yuck... beyond the drugs or disrespect or criminal record... despite the hate and anger and unthankfulness... always wanting God's best for them, your best for them... willing to die for them, willing to let them feel the burn of their sin to turn them from it...
There are no strings attached, there is nothing in it for Him... there is only love for His child.
25"Who are you?" they asked.
... and yet that child had journeyed so far from Him that they didn't even recognize who He is.
We were there once. We didn't know him. We had heard of him but he was nothing to us, despite his great love for us, despite the fact that he was combing the countryside searching for his lost lamb, despite that he was fighting and bleeding and suffering and sacrificing and dying to save us. Do we feel remorse for what we put him thru, do we regret the choices and the sin that we embraced that caused the price he paid to increase? Does it sting, when we think of rejecting that kind of love, when we realize what a fool we were to think that anything in this world possessed such love?
"Just what I have been claiming all along," Jesus replied. 26"I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is reliable, and what I have heard from him I tell the world."
27They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. 28So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. 29The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him." 30Even as he spoke, many put their faith in him.
Our Father, Our Friend, Our Companion.... Our God.
Together, they searched for us, planned and plotted and gave all to regain relationship with those who were lost but never forgotten, living low but not out of reach, worthless but worth life itself to Him and His family. Ironic that so many in the church crowd just don't get it... so many in leadership are too busy demanding their own way to hear the Spirit of Truth. That could be any of us, all of us, were it not for the mercy of God, his patience and refusal to give up on us.
31To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
Freedom.
Freedom from living low, freedom from the inheritance promised by this world that enslaves us and ensures our death. Freedom from separation from a God and Father and Family that loves us so much that they are willing to fight for us like that. Freedom from slavery and ignorance and bondage and injustice. Freedom to walk in the Knowledge and the Truth, in His Presence and Company. The freedom to choose who you will serve, who you are willing to die for, who you want to live for. That is freedom and it comes only thru Christ.
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RE: Thinking Out Loud about John - 7/28/2009 12:39:25 PM
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selahgirl
Posts: 834
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O that We Would Learn the Lesson
(John 8:33-37)
33They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?"
This is such a common statement even today... when raised in church we tend to rely on our family's good Christian name or our children rest in our title or reputation a little too comfortably... and we forget that each of us must work out our own salvation. Abraham's faith was not the determining factor of their relationship with God... they saw the law and the ritual as their inheritance and missed the Truth -- the salvation of Mankind has always rested in personal relationship with our Father. It's not in a name or title or denomination... it's in the love of family and the sacrifice and the interaction and the commitment.
Ppl had missed that Truth somehow. That is why Christ took so much time to teach and rebuild that relationship in tangible ways... he didn't come just to do the deed. He came to talk face to face with us, to appeal not to the ritual and the law, but to our hearts and our communities and our families as a whole. He missed us... and tho we often treat him just as callously as tho he is as common as the next man... he pressed in to love us and to be with us despite how unworthy we were... Emmanuel. His name becomes more and more beautiful the more I say it and the more I think about it. God with us... selah.
34Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37I know you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word.
Jesus tried to explain the Truth to these highly educated (aka: snobby) men... but their arrogance had consumed most of them and they refused to give thought to what he was trying to say. The church crowd/leaders had reached a place to where the Truth just didn't matter as much as the form and the ritual and the appearance of things. OH HOW THAT MAKES ME CRINGE when I measure it to so much of the church world today. It is a scary thing... so much similarity.
The law, the ritual, makes you a slave to sin... clinging to/ following things that have little to do with true relationship with our God and Father. Putting things before him... allowing the tools of relationship to become idols... worshipping those shiny things in the box and the adrenaline of holding such powerful things in our hands. Sound familiar? It feels like being in control... but it is slavery, to sin, to things other than God... there is no freedom, there is no life, no true hope, no Truth at all. But the deception of so much emotion and hype of the world makes it seem like truth.
"Now a slave has no permanent place in the family." How much plainer can he say it. That rush of the world is temporary, it's not real, it's not true relationship, it is bondage not family, it makes you a slave not free to enter into a marriage/commitment/family.
Relationship with Christ, not with the ritual and forms of godliness, is what sets us free. That is the image of entering a marriage with Him as a Bride. When he died, it ended all contracts/marriages that mankind had with sin and death. Death is the only thing that is sposed to end a marriage.
When he rose again, it changed us, we were re-born as new and different ppl. It made us new creatures, betrothed to no one, and made us free to marry who we would choose to marry. It was a second chance, an opportunity for a fresh and clean start. It created a bridge back to the Father, back to the family of God. Not just for us, but for all other children we helped to conceive and birth in the process. It opened the door to change the course of mankind for all of those who wanted to choose such a Life, such a freedom, such a relationship with Christ and their heavenly Father.
The church crowd may have had the right title and the right tools in the box, but they rejected any relationship with the carpenter. So despite their pedigrees and intense educations, they remained ignorant. Ignorant of the true purpose of the tools, of how to use them effectively, and of who to go to to learn. In their arrogance they squandered the gift of choosing salvation, a second chance at the Life that Christ purchased even for them. Rejecting Christ and the Good News he tried to tell them caused them to remain ignorant of how to enter into the promises and riches of God, the inheritance of the King, the rights and freedoms and authority as joint heirs, family. Relationship, communion, common good, Truth and Peace and Hope and Love in the purest sense of the words. They rejected the proposal from the only true and perfect man, a man who laid down his very life because of his great and faithful love.
What ignorance! What arrogance! God help us...
They had the right appearance and claim to fame... but they would not listen to the word of God. Not that we are any different... who have we wrestled in a death grip of gossip or unkindness or vengeance or abuse just because they came against our agenda or our comfort zone or our popularity among the congregation or the order of business that we were focused on. Whether they spoke the Truth of God on the matter or not. How often have we remained silent, when we thought we had no dog in the fight... allowing survival of the fittest to rule rather than the word of God and what is right and good. We stand silent and still... convincing ourselves that we have not thrown our lot in to endorse the murder of the innocent...
13Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." 16As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. 17Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.(James 4)
O that we would learn the lesson and once again return to the right path, the straight path, the simple and true path of following Christ and none other. Not the tools, not cold stone or dead wood, not man or beast, not agendas or man-made authorities, not self or ritual, but...
To truly follow Christ and His example.
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RE: Thinking Out Loud about John - 8/5/2009 10:51:12 AM
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selahgirl
Posts: 834
Joined: 5/20/2005
From: God is with you, never forget that <3
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Who's Your Daddy
(John 8:38-47)
38I am telling you what I have seen in the Father's presence, and you do what you have heard from your father."
39"Abraham is our father," they answered.
"If you were Abraham's children," said Jesus, "then you would do the things Abraham did. 40As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. 41You are doing the things your own father does."
"We are not illegitimate children," they protested. "The only Father we have is God himself."
If you follow these verses backward you can see the progression (or digression) from Father God, to Father Abraham who testified of Father God, to the great distance between He who is Christ's Father and him who had become father to the church crowd.
That subtle straying, that gradual falling away, unnoticed or acknowledged, such a small inching in the wrong direction that each generation failed to see the danger of such a drift. But as small and seemingly insignificant as some things can seem... they always lead to a vast chasm of separation from God when we put our will and the will of others above that of Father God.
Here the church crowd had followed the title and reputation of Abraham to the point of not being able to see what he had really taught. It was like the image of a serpent on a pole, all gold and shiny, but no one really understood what the heck it meant or what it stood for... why they were following it. They were unable to weigh what they were doing with what Abraham had taught with what God had directed. That is the drift.... generations later, that same inability remained, so that they ended up following blind leaders who had no spiritual insight or understanding or true relationship with God. Blindly following leadership had become a ritual... and greatly influenced the blindness of the generations that followed.
Who are we following? Who are you following? Some golden image on a pole paraded around in the desert... or the voice of a humble shepherd saying stop right there... you're lost... I've come to find you... the path is this way... follow me... follow my voice... I told you that shiny thing is a distraction that will only lead you astray... I have come to lead you in the way you should go... to green pastures... to Life...
May God open our eyes to see who we are truly following... who we have aligned ourselves with in the name of family and religion... may we recognize our fathers for who they truly are... and may we seek Father God to get us back on the path to sonship with him... even if it means feeling that shepherd's hook around our neck or digging into our backside. Whatever it takes... may he lead us and guide us as the Church and graft us back into a secure place among the family of God.
Satan can come as an angel of light... as a father figure... as something sweet and tasty, satisfying something inside of us... but there is always a darkside under that light... an abuse and slavery as the child of such a father... a bitterness and sourness deep in your belly and your spirit as the sugar coating quickly wears off. Such a father is not a Good Father... not a Good Shepherd... he has all the appearance of something wonderful... but is evil in truth... full of dead men's bones and all corruption... desiring only to steal and to kill and to destroy.
Christ tells us the Truth. We are not ignorant and we are not deceived so that we are unable to make a conscious choice... it's all about who you wanna believe. The enemy tells you his truth. and God tells you His. Evil would keep us in bondage and force our steps in the direction he chooses which is death and destruction and torment. The goodness of God paid all to give us the freedom to choose a family, a father, a future. Even among the church leaders of his day... some chose Life. I pray that each of us makes that same choice... Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Life. Hear Him. Believe Him. Trust Him.
42Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. 43Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! 46Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me? 47He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God."
Who do you belong to?
Who have you given ownership of yourself to?
Who owns those that you are following/trusting with your very soul?
Who have you embraced as True and Right and Good?
Who's your daddy?
Do you know? Do you even care?
I pray you do <3
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RE: Thinking Out Loud about John - 8/13/2009 10:38:48 AM
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selahgirl
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a cinema experience
(John 8 48-51)
48The Jews answered him, "Aren't we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?"
49"I am not possessed by a demon," said Jesus, "but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. 50I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death."
Just as Christ met with opposition more in the Church than outside of it... be ready because he has warned that we would face similar things. He is called a Samaritan which was an insult, basically saying a Christian who has rebelled against God and is outcast from his ppl, unclean, less than they are, having little worth. How many of us have heard such things from the pious and arrogant church crowds who stagger around ranting, drunk with power and popularity. They are unable to hear the voice of God, unable to feel the ****ing and leading of his Spirit, and unable to see their own sin and wretchedness....
Their accusations included that Christ was possessed by demons, and that all he was saying was inspired by evil. That crowd is the one that Christ was the most fierce in his rebuke and correction concerning... those who call evil good and good evil. And yet, he extended mercy even to them as Nicodemus and Joseph of Aramathea and other church leaders trusted and believed in him. He interceded for God's mercy for them even as they sanctioned his murder on the cross, as he prayed on their behalf, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do?"
But here is something so easily overlooked by the emergent church and the mercy-mongers....
Jesus was pretty harsh in his dealings with those that called themselves children of God, who had access to the Truth and yet rejected it because of their own sin and pride. He called them names and got pretty sarcastic with them if you read the dialogue back and forth between them in the Gospels. And yet, he continued to tell them the Truth in very frank terms and warned them that they were gonna die in their sin, that they were gonna face judgment by the Father if they didn't straighten up.
He didn't water it down, he didn't sugar coat it... he pretty much blasted them and his emotions were flared and zealous and vocal. I just don't buy all this mumbo jumbo about ignoring your emotions, "if you feel something you need to deny it cause it will cause you to act with emotion"... Christ did all things with emotion... he wired us with emotion because he didn't want a bunch of robots moonwalking around him. Emotions have a place.
SELF-CONTROL is the key to feeling emotion... it becomes a risk and an open door to step off into sin when we fail to control those emotions. We cannot let our emotions control us, we cannot let our emotions lead us... we must be led by the Spirit of God, by the Truth of his word, and by Christ's example.
Jesus wasn't afraid to be straight forward with the church crowd when they were blatantly being headstrong and arrogant. And yet, he controlled his emotions enough so that things didn't escalate into an argument and violent encounter. He measured it by making sure they were exposed to the Truth and then leaving them alone so they could choose for themselves what they would believe and do. The goal wasn't to prove anything or to force their decision... it was to expose them to the Truth, to give them every possible chance to hear it and receive it, to allow them the freedom to still reject it.
That's where we miss it alot of times when we meet up with hypocrisy and sin in the church and outside of it. We often feel a need to hammer ppl until they see things our way and follow our will and change in that moment according to our timing. But that's not our place. That becomes a method of condemnation... while Christ's method is conviction.
Huge difference between the two.
Condemnation puts ppl in bondage. It affects all the externals and leaves the internals unchanged. So that eventually all the cords are broken and everything inside spills out again as sin continues to eat them alive.
Conviction is the door to freedom. It affects all the internals and causes the externals to change as they become outlets for the Life bursting forth from within. That is taking control, personal accountability, submitting your members and your life to the will of God... the freedom of choosing not only what to do... but what not to do as well.
Condemnation is an engine with all the yuck built up and remaining, with the air filters grossly clogged so that the Life that is trying to live in you is choked and smothered and lost.
Conviction sets all things in order, cleans out the inner workings, so that you have a smooth, clean running engine that powers your life to it's fullest performance.
It is so important to be exposed to Truth... to share it with others. Then it becomes the responsibility of each of us to hold on to it and embrace it and own it... or to drop kick it into the next city, rejecting the gift, choosing the mire rather than the seedbed of Life. That is what Christ did, he fought every enemy, he opened every locked door, he endured every hardship... to come to us and to put the Truth in our hands so that we could make that decision... to live or to die.
That's what this whole life and existence is about on this earth. Not a career, success, money, reputation, barbecues, vacations, popularity... and all that appears to be a good life. But finding the Truth that is Jesus Christ... so that we can really begin to live... so that we can start our journey now into eternity. The minute we recognize and choose to own that Truth that is Jesus... we Live forever, spiritually for now but physically as well in eternity. This life is like the pre-qual to all that matters... to the real world... to the Good Life... it's the story line that sets it up to be truly thrilled and satisfied and blessed by the Premiere.
Generations before referred to the ticket in terms of catching a bus or a train.
This generation understands that ticket as a cinema experience, with depth and laughter and tears and complete satisfaction. Eternity with Christ is that movie you wished would never end, that best day, that best date, that best relationship... the stuff you think you can only dream about... but I'm telling you it's real and it exists and you can live it and know it and experience it.
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RE: Thinking Out Loud about John - 9/9/2009 8:54:56 AM
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selahgirl
Posts: 834
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Zeal coupled with Self Control
(John 8:52-59)
52At this the Jews exclaimed, "Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that if anyone keeps your word, he will never taste death. 53Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?"
54Jesus replied, "If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. 55Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word. 56Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad."
57"You are not yet fifty years old," the Jews said to him, "and you have seen Abraham!"
58"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" 59At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
wow... this is not how a Christian is supposed to act... how could it be that the Jesus we so often hear about behaved in such a manner... calling pastors and church leaders liars... making them so mad they were ready to kill him and then hiding... actually HIDING and sneaking away...
maybe we have been taught the wrong Jesus.
Maybe we often get an idealistic picture in our mind of harps and angels and soft spoken airy saints and we miss the rugged, raw, passionate reality that was Christ. He was emotional -- always in control of his emotions -- but very often expressing himself with zeal. It was never about the latest fashion or about whining about how mistreated he was or how he didn't have the comforts of his heavenly home or that someone didn't like him... his passions were about injustice and the abuse of authority and the distortion of Truth. His zeal was to guard the faith and the well being of those whom he and his father love... each and every one of us. His creation, his children, his friends and family.
When passion rises up in us... our first reaction should be to test and examine the root and motive of it... are we passionate and zealous in a manner that is serving our self or our flesh or our spiritual pride... or are we honestly and truly defending the faith and the helpless, the broken hearted, the abused and oppressed, the poor and powerless? Such things are deserving of great passion and expression and it almost never looks like puppies and sunshine when such a clash occurs... it is war... and war is not pretty.
But always with self control.
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RE: Thinking Out Loud about John - 9/30/2009 12:20:41 PM
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selahgirl
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What does blame have to do with anything?
(John 9:1-2)
1As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
We as church ppl haven't changed a great deal from back then. When we see someone dirty or homeless, of a different culture or social class, how often we assume that they caused their own misfortune. We hear of someone with AIDS or some other sickness, and we cling to reservations because we feel that they have sinned in some way and are deviant.
I remember having ppl shy away from me when I was diagnosed with Hep C. Friends that had eaten at my home and would ask how I got my dishes clean... trying to be subtle but with faces consumed with fear that they had been exposed. I talk with ppl often and they hold their breath, waiting for me to share that i was a former druggie or that my disease was caused by some self-inflicted sin. And what if it was.... what was Christ's reaction?
He neither condemned this man for his blindness from birth... nor did he condemn the woman whom he described as having many sins. He healed them both, he saved them both, he loved them both, treating them both with kindness and respect and real relationship. He called them both to come out of their sin. He stood beside them and encouraged them and let them know that they had value and that their lives meant something to God.
What does blame have to do with anything?
When someone is wounded on the ground, focus on picking them up, seeking God to restore their strength, trusting him to guide them to better things, strengthening them to resist anything that would attempt to knock them down again. The past is only one thing on the list of what not to do. The vision and focus of our attention should always be forward, for ourselves and for others. Clean up the mess that is on you... repent, apologize to whoever you need to apologize to, change whatever needs changing in your life... always looking forward.
Right now where your feet are planted is where God is meeting you. This is the day. This is the place of a new beginning. Your life starts here and now, you have a beautiful open world of possibilities in front of you that God has filled with promise and hope. There is work to do along the way, you will change in ways you never expected. You will never lose who you are, who God created you to be, that person in your heart that is you.... but you will become cleaner every day, stronger, wiser, more equipped, handling every crisis with a greater skill. You will grow and mature and lead and follow and love and LIVE.
It's not about pointing out blame... it's about LIVING IN CHRIST.
It's not about wallowing in the pit.... it's about climbing out and pulling others out of it.
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RE: Thinking Out Loud about John - 11/5/2009 11:19:19 AM
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selahgirl
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K, so I haven't commented on this thread recently, but I am in the midst of a NEW TESTAMENT CHALLENGE, reading thru the NT in 63 days. It will wrap up just before Thanksgiving, Nov 22nd. I have just begun the book of John so I thought it would be a good time to back up and review and hopefully press thru thoughts on the entire book this time :o)
I will be quoting the KJV partly because there's no copyright issue, but will refer to other versions when they present a greater depth or a little more coloring within the lines. I use a parallel Bible, and I think I always will because contemporary versions leave so many pertinent things out for the sake of simplifying... personally I see that as a dangerous thing.
Parallel Bibles I think are an excellent safeguard from drifting from the full message/Truth that is communicated. KJV will always be a standard for me that I measure all other versions to. Altho I firmly believe that when a heart is sincere, the Spirit of God will find a way to make sure that person receives the Truth/Word of God somehow... he will open a door and lead them to correct the errors of men. It is his promise, and why his Spirit was sent... to lead us into all Truth one way or another. But when we know better, when we can see oversight in translation, it is our duty to do our part to secure and encourage safeguards to protect the integrity of the Gospel that we share and that we live by.
... so yeah, let the thoughts begin. haha.
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RE: Thinking Out Loud about John - 11/9/2009 10:08:59 PM
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selahgirl
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Never mind... there is too much to say within one chapter of Scripture, so much comes to mind as I read thru it... so I will have to continue on as I have in the past... several verses at a time rather than two chapters a day.
Slow going, but o so good stuff.
^_^
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RE: Thinking Out Loud about John - 11/9/2009 10:28:26 PM
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selahgirl
Posts: 834
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Could God be that cruel?... of course not.
(John 9:3-5)
3Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
First thought was that this sounds like God caused this man to be born blind just so he could show up and save the day. But I immediately realized that that is not the character and nature of the God I know and read about in Scripture. There had to a deeper explanation or insight.
As I thought on it, it became apparent that all things must be approved by God before the enemy is allowed to attack us with it. I don't believe that God caused this man to be blind. I believe that the sinful state of mankind opened the door for sickness to enter into the world and a petition was made -- as is with all things evil -- by the enemy to attack this man with it from birth.
We know that the enemy is allowed to approach the throne of God, which means he is allowed to make debate and requests of God.... I do not understand that, but Scripture is clear as in Job of the enemy's right to wander the earth and then to enter the throne room of God to ask permission to attack the children of God. There is a whole network of rules and regulations that are so far beyond our finite minds, but as God looks on the whole picture according to his righteousness and his mercy, he determines what is best for everyone involved as individuals and as a whole. And then he measures out such decisions with all justice and goodness.
I believe that is what happened in this man's life. I believe that God never wanted him to suffer with blindness from birth, but because God is bound by justice and can see beyond us, he allowed it to bring a greater good and blessing to this man and the many ppl that his life would touch. Every person that is struck with sickness, every person that undergoes some sin that is committed against them, I believe the enemy must petition God before he is allowed to attack us with it. God is just and merciful and we must trust him in his decisions... there is so much that he cannot explain to us at this time according to Christ. We are called to so much more than what we realize, but God reveals it in his timing as we are able to bear it.
This man's sickness was not due to anyone's sin... I believe that the enemy petitioned God at the time of this man's birth... and somewhere according to the legistics he was allowed to ask to strike him with blindness. God allowed the attack against this man for some reason that he will some day explain in full. For now, I trust that the suffering of this man up to th point where we met him as he encountered Christ was justified and spawned a greater grace and blessing than had he not been called to it.
It makes me wonder what hardships we suffer and are born into that God has allowed to bring some great and beautiful blessing into our lives and the lives of every person that our life touches. If you were called to such a thing knowingly, would you submit? If God needed someone to carry a certain burden to accomplish a great work in another's life, would you be willing to make that sacrifice? If you had a sick child that needed blood from it's sibling, would you ask that sibling to make such a sacrifice even if they were unable to fully understand what it would involve or the pain of that needle poke they were about to endure?
Trust. We must know that nothing happens to us that God is not overseeing. Even when someone sins against us in their sin, God had to allow it. We as his children have a hedge of protection around us according to the book of Job. And the enemy cannot cross that line without first petitioning God for permission according to things that we do not fully understand at this time. It is never God's will that we suffer sickness or evil or sin committed against us. But we are in a cursed world that has been delivered from evil, and yet, is in the process of being delivered from evil -- while protecting the freewill of mankind. It is complicated, but Christ keeps it simple for us. He takes it on himself and simply asks that we trust him. That is the most difficult and yet the easiest thing in the world =)
4I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
5As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
It is so important that we take note of that because very soon, he would leave this earth and commission us to be that light... to represent him... to shine in the darkness. The church would move and live and have it's being in him and much that we would begin to do, ppl would not understand. Even within Christian circles... sometimes God would begin to tell us to do things that our fellow believers would not understand. It is a personal walk, a personal calling, each unique and yet each completely in tune with the heart and will of God.
Just as the enemy had to petition God concerning his attack against this man, the enemy would have to petition for every attack made against us as individuals. God orchestrates all things for our good and the good of the whole church. That is why so often our callings are One and yet so very different, just like it was for the disciples. In war, each soldier has a job to do... each has a specific mission as a team, and yet a specific role and mission as an individual. You cannot try to understand the intimate workings of what someone else is called to accomplish. Your job is to work beside them, supporting them, assisting them as you are able to continue to succeed in your personal mission.
This is a war. We must trust our commander, knowing that he is aware and has put great thought and wisdom into what he has called our team to perform and what he has called us to do as individuals. He considers our personal abilities, our commitment, what we are made of as he sends us into combat. We are dependent upon trusting him, and yet at the same time, he is trusting in us to some degree.
It brings to mind 2 Timothy as quoted by Jim Elliot to his wife...
" 1You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. 3Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer. (2 Timothy 2)"
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