I remember being a teenager and thinking, 'Life is out there and once I get away from here I'll find it and be free.' I didn't put it in just those words. It was more like a kind of 'angst'. I see it everywhere. People live for the weekend. They long to be married if they are single. They want to retire if they are working.
"Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water." - Jeremiah 2:12-13 ESV
Oppression can cause depression and people seem to lose the ability to retain joy. Life seems to seep away and we go looking for it or perhaps we lose hope. We despair and think we will never have what we had before. We will never find that thing that will complete us or satisfy us.
"In him was life, and the life was the light of men." - John 1:4 ESV
I talk about Jesus a lot. You may have noticed. I'm not looking for a soulmate or the fountain of youth because I have Him. I have come to believe He Is that thing that was missing in my life. The Greek New Testament informs me that this is so and I have found it to be true. I still get dissatisfied with things, places and institutions. There is much I don't understand or even agree with about how life seems to be but He adds flavour to every dish. He floods my heart with joy when it becomes a barren wasteland. He causes me to love people even after having to drive next to them on the highway.
"But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit." - Acts 13:51-52 ESV
Actually, It is the Holy Spirit who does this. He Is this filling and is involved in it because of Jesus and Christ is the focus of it.
"But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me." - John 15:26 ESV
People who have everything and those who have lost everything can still have this and this is no 'second place' thing. The stuff won't mend that cistern. People can't either. God may use people in the process but Jesus is the key ingredient.
Jesus says things like this...
"All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." - Matthew 11:27 ESV
That is why I talk about Him so much. He is my favourite subject and I also worry about people who seem to be happy (and unhappy) without Him.
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Showing posts with label Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Life. Show all posts
Thursday, January 17, 2019
Friday, February 16, 2018
Abide And Believe In Him
"Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." - John 20:30-31 ESV
Words were given about who Jesus Is. The reason they were given was for you to hear them and have an opportunity to believe them. If you do believe them you also get 'life in His Name (character and nature)'.
"No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away." - Luke 8:16-18 ESV
Wow.
If God gives you these words and you reject them but take other things from Him and form false conclusions those 'possessions' will one day be taken away.
"Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made to us - eternal life. I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie - just as it has taught you, abide in him. And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him." - 1 John 2:24-29 ESV
Some use this passage to say we don't need leadership but in context I see it as talking about the need to believe and abide in Jesus and His ability to remove unessential issues from our life. Our spiritual life grows under certain conditions and shrinks under others.
Abide (live with) Jesus and Believe in Him and the subjective guidance will be there. God may use removal as a tool. We believe in the love and truth that has been revealed and we are led into the next thing knowing that what has been true before is still true now.
--
Words were given about who Jesus Is. The reason they were given was for you to hear them and have an opportunity to believe them. If you do believe them you also get 'life in His Name (character and nature)'.
"No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away." - Luke 8:16-18 ESV
Wow.
If God gives you these words and you reject them but take other things from Him and form false conclusions those 'possessions' will one day be taken away.
"Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made to us - eternal life. I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie - just as it has taught you, abide in him. And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him." - 1 John 2:24-29 ESV
Some use this passage to say we don't need leadership but in context I see it as talking about the need to believe and abide in Jesus and His ability to remove unessential issues from our life. Our spiritual life grows under certain conditions and shrinks under others.
Abide (live with) Jesus and Believe in Him and the subjective guidance will be there. God may use removal as a tool. We believe in the love and truth that has been revealed and we are led into the next thing knowing that what has been true before is still true now.
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Thursday, January 25, 2018
The Living God
"...we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." - John 6:69b NKJV
'Living God' caught my attention this morning. He isn't theoretical or outside of our reality so as to be detached from life. He Is Living. Jesus Is alive and has a living Father doing what living beings do but eternal, holy and undefiled.
"As he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish. The king declared to Daniel, 'O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?' " - Daniel 6:20 ESV
Our God delivers like a living person. He isn't impersonal or distant. Our prayers aren't languishing on some answering machine that hasn't been checked in a millennium.
"To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.
-
How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise!
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Selah
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Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion." - Psalm 84:1-7 ESV
Yes.
--
'Living God' caught my attention this morning. He isn't theoretical or outside of our reality so as to be detached from life. He Is Living. Jesus Is alive and has a living Father doing what living beings do but eternal, holy and undefiled.
"As he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish. The king declared to Daniel, 'O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?' " - Daniel 6:20 ESV
Our God delivers like a living person. He isn't impersonal or distant. Our prayers aren't languishing on some answering machine that hasn't been checked in a millennium.
"To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.
-
How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise!
-
Selah
-
Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion." - Psalm 84:1-7 ESV
Yes.
--
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Heart And Soul - Part 4
In the last 'Heart and Soul' post we spoke a little about God's word opening us up to reveal to us our need to enter into rest. There is much more to be said about joints and marrow.
Joints speak of a person's life up until now (because their condition is affected by life) and marrow speaks of future vitality because blood is made in the marrow of our bones.
"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account." - Hebrews 4:12-13 ESV
"Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips." - Psalm 63:3-5 NKJV
"In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones." - Proverbs 3:6-8 KJV
Joints also speak of individual relationships...
"Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 ESV
Each joint works a little differently. One limb bends this way and another rotates that way. Every 'relationship' supplies a certain type of movement. Speaking the truth in love is good for every relationship.
"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones." - Proverbs 17:22 KJV
Meditating on God, looking to Him for direction and discovering His heart of love gives us good bone marrow. We laugh with people and respecting the way the bones meet so that they are not pulled out of joint. Some toes wiggle and some don't. We can respect the boundaries while still exercising movement but our intention for each relationship is growth in grace. We speak the truth to reveal the Saviour and grow upwards into the Saviour's headship.
I thought of a few people this morning that I haven't spoken to in a while and prayed for them. I want to build them up when I see them and let them know they are loved. I want for them to have 'future vitality'. I want the 'bend' or 'turn' of our relationship to be one of honor and respect otherwise things may get pulled out of joint.
God please bless our joints and marrow today. Teach us to live. Fill us with joy and cause us to enter into Your rest. Give us wisdom for our dealings with one another and please organize laughter therapy sessions we can have with people this week. We praise You and worship You in the holiness that You have given by grace. Thank You Lord.
--
Joints speak of a person's life up until now (because their condition is affected by life) and marrow speaks of future vitality because blood is made in the marrow of our bones.
"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account." - Hebrews 4:12-13 ESV
"Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips." - Psalm 63:3-5 NKJV
"In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones." - Proverbs 3:6-8 KJV
Joints also speak of individual relationships...
"Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 ESV
Each joint works a little differently. One limb bends this way and another rotates that way. Every 'relationship' supplies a certain type of movement. Speaking the truth in love is good for every relationship.
"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones." - Proverbs 17:22 KJV
Meditating on God, looking to Him for direction and discovering His heart of love gives us good bone marrow. We laugh with people and respecting the way the bones meet so that they are not pulled out of joint. Some toes wiggle and some don't. We can respect the boundaries while still exercising movement but our intention for each relationship is growth in grace. We speak the truth to reveal the Saviour and grow upwards into the Saviour's headship.
I thought of a few people this morning that I haven't spoken to in a while and prayed for them. I want to build them up when I see them and let them know they are loved. I want for them to have 'future vitality'. I want the 'bend' or 'turn' of our relationship to be one of honor and respect otherwise things may get pulled out of joint.
God please bless our joints and marrow today. Teach us to live. Fill us with joy and cause us to enter into Your rest. Give us wisdom for our dealings with one another and please organize laughter therapy sessions we can have with people this week. We praise You and worship You in the holiness that You have given by grace. Thank You Lord.
--
Friday, April 28, 2017
Wandering Immortals
There are several myths and legends that center around Christ's passion week. They imagine that a person who mistreated Jesus in some way (the Roman soldier who pierced Christ's side, a supposed Jewish merchant who struck Him on His way to the cross, etc...) are cursed with physical immortality. Some point to this passage as justification.
"From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, 'Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.' But he turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.' Then Jesus told his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.' " - Matthew 16:21-28 ESV
'...Some will not taste death...'
However, This concept doesn't line up with God's character and a careful reading of the scripture reveals that Christ came into His kingdom at the ascension. It isn't a scripturally supported idea. But we do see a temporary immortality that the disciples enjoyed during Jesus' 3 1/2 years of ministry.
"And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled." - John 17:11-12 ESV
"So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, 'Whom do you seek?' They answered him, 'Jesus of Nazareth.' Jesus said to them, 'I am he.' Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. When Jesus said to them, 'I am he,' they drew back and fell to the ground. So he asked them again, 'Whom do you seek?' And they said, 'Jesus of Nazareth.' Jesus answered, 'I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.' This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: 'Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.' " - John 18:3-9 ESV
The only disciple recorded to have died was Lazarus and Jesus came and raised him up. But if we follow this line of thinking other passages begin to stand out. Here is part of Martha's (Lazarus' sister) conversation with Christ.
"So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.' Jesus said to her, 'Your brother will rise again.' Martha said to him, 'I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.' Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?' She said to him, 'Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.' " - John 11:20-27 ESV
There was this sense of invincibility around Jesus. Jesus was keeping people safe.
There is no record, other than the Lazarus account, of any disciples dying or even or getting hurt during Jesus' ministry. That is amazing.
Jesus was going to lead the way into death but what He tells Martha has great meaning to us doesn't it. People aren't just safe in close proximity to Him. He IS the resurrection and the life. He plunged into death but came out again on the other side alive forever more.
If you believe in Jesus you will have eternal life. There is no fear of death because you can't die until God allows it to happen.
All believers are 'wandering immortals'. We aren't cursed with it. We are blessed with it. Our life has no beginning (because Christ has no beginning) and no end (because our destiny is forever intertwined with the everliving One). If death has no power over us fear also has no power.
Let's be bold. Why be timid if this is our heritage. They called James and John 'sons of thunder' (see Mark 3:17) because of their lives of wild abandon James was the first Apostle to die and John was the last. We have the freedom to live that way also. Let's plan like we have a long future but live like we have eternal life.
"Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."" - Luke 10:20 ESV
--
"From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, 'Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.' But he turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.' Then Jesus told his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.' " - Matthew 16:21-28 ESV
'...Some will not taste death...'
However, This concept doesn't line up with God's character and a careful reading of the scripture reveals that Christ came into His kingdom at the ascension. It isn't a scripturally supported idea. But we do see a temporary immortality that the disciples enjoyed during Jesus' 3 1/2 years of ministry.
"And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled." - John 17:11-12 ESV
"So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, 'Whom do you seek?' They answered him, 'Jesus of Nazareth.' Jesus said to them, 'I am he.' Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. When Jesus said to them, 'I am he,' they drew back and fell to the ground. So he asked them again, 'Whom do you seek?' And they said, 'Jesus of Nazareth.' Jesus answered, 'I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.' This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: 'Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.' " - John 18:3-9 ESV
The only disciple recorded to have died was Lazarus and Jesus came and raised him up. But if we follow this line of thinking other passages begin to stand out. Here is part of Martha's (Lazarus' sister) conversation with Christ.
"So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.' Jesus said to her, 'Your brother will rise again.' Martha said to him, 'I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.' Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?' She said to him, 'Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.' " - John 11:20-27 ESV
There was this sense of invincibility around Jesus. Jesus was keeping people safe.
There is no record, other than the Lazarus account, of any disciples dying or even or getting hurt during Jesus' ministry. That is amazing.
Jesus was going to lead the way into death but what He tells Martha has great meaning to us doesn't it. People aren't just safe in close proximity to Him. He IS the resurrection and the life. He plunged into death but came out again on the other side alive forever more.
If you believe in Jesus you will have eternal life. There is no fear of death because you can't die until God allows it to happen.
All believers are 'wandering immortals'. We aren't cursed with it. We are blessed with it. Our life has no beginning (because Christ has no beginning) and no end (because our destiny is forever intertwined with the everliving One). If death has no power over us fear also has no power.
Let's be bold. Why be timid if this is our heritage. They called James and John 'sons of thunder' (see Mark 3:17) because of their lives of wild abandon James was the first Apostle to die and John was the last. We have the freedom to live that way also. Let's plan like we have a long future but live like we have eternal life.
"Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."" - Luke 10:20 ESV
--
Tuesday, January 10, 2017
Something To Cast Into Bitter Waters
"When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah. And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, 'What shall we drink?' And he cried to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the LORD made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them..." - Exodus 15:23-25 ESV
Interesting.
Did God bring them to Marah? Yes.
The tree represents the cross.
"...saying, 'If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer.' Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water." - Exodus 15:26-27 ESV
Israel had national mandates but we have grace.
"For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace." - Romans 6:14 ESV
We have a tree to cast into the bitter waters.
Sober thinking has a tree for the bitter places. Then we move on to Elim. Before the tree goes in the water Elim doesn't look possible but both places are in God's plan.
We have all been damaged along the way but the LORD (Yahweh - Strong's H3068) is our healer. Eygpt doesn't have him. Eygpt resists Him in futility because He Is irresistible. That tree is a sure remedy for all who take it and cast it into their situation.
There are theologies that claim that if you have enough faith you will never get to Marah but that isn't how it is. Marah and Elim are both destinations we will visit. The tree is what we look for when we get there. The tree is what we prescribe for those who have nothing but bitterness to drink.
--
Interesting.
Did God bring them to Marah? Yes.
The tree represents the cross.
"...saying, 'If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer.' Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water." - Exodus 15:26-27 ESV
Israel had national mandates but we have grace.
"For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace." - Romans 6:14 ESV
We have a tree to cast into the bitter waters.
Sober thinking has a tree for the bitter places. Then we move on to Elim. Before the tree goes in the water Elim doesn't look possible but both places are in God's plan.
We have all been damaged along the way but the LORD (Yahweh - Strong's H3068) is our healer. Eygpt doesn't have him. Eygpt resists Him in futility because He Is irresistible. That tree is a sure remedy for all who take it and cast it into their situation.
There are theologies that claim that if you have enough faith you will never get to Marah but that isn't how it is. Marah and Elim are both destinations we will visit. The tree is what we look for when we get there. The tree is what we prescribe for those who have nothing but bitterness to drink.
--
Thursday, May 12, 2016
Balance
I started reading another booklet this morning called, 'Taking Care of Your Soul' and it has me thinking about the desires we might have for balance in our life. The booklet starts off talking about Adam and how after the fall his spiritual development fell behind his emotional and intellectual development which caused imbalance.
"then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature." - Genesis 2:7 ESV
"but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."" - Genesis 2:17 ESV
Adam had lived as he was created. God's breath sustained him in the garden but after the fall his spiritual capacity was dead but his body was alive for a season without it and there was imbalance. The whole world became that way.
"Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned--" - Romans 5:12 ESV
We long for balance. Maybe we want more vacation or relaxation time. Perhaps we eat to much and exercise to little. It has been raining here so much lately and I'd like a little more sun to balance this rain.
Some think that full time ministry will fill a certain void and it is an understandable desire. I think what we really need is to have the breath of God regulating us again. We need what Adam needed. We will never have what he had but our needs can still be met because of what Jesus did. He took our bullet and there are many mansions in His Father's kingdom that we will see later but right here in the in-between of life we can have balance.
"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall." - 2 Peter 1:3-10 ESV
An intake of the Bible keeps our spiritual airways clear and functioning. Grace is oxygen for our spiritual life. If we are cut off from it in our thinking then we lapse back into a purely biological life of imbalance.
We don't have to strive. We inhale acceptance and then exhale in a steady flow. This simple balance is what we need to function and go forward in our calling.
--
"then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature." - Genesis 2:7 ESV
"but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."" - Genesis 2:17 ESV
Adam had lived as he was created. God's breath sustained him in the garden but after the fall his spiritual capacity was dead but his body was alive for a season without it and there was imbalance. The whole world became that way.
"Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned--" - Romans 5:12 ESV
We long for balance. Maybe we want more vacation or relaxation time. Perhaps we eat to much and exercise to little. It has been raining here so much lately and I'd like a little more sun to balance this rain.
Some think that full time ministry will fill a certain void and it is an understandable desire. I think what we really need is to have the breath of God regulating us again. We need what Adam needed. We will never have what he had but our needs can still be met because of what Jesus did. He took our bullet and there are many mansions in His Father's kingdom that we will see later but right here in the in-between of life we can have balance.
"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall." - 2 Peter 1:3-10 ESV
An intake of the Bible keeps our spiritual airways clear and functioning. Grace is oxygen for our spiritual life. If we are cut off from it in our thinking then we lapse back into a purely biological life of imbalance.
We don't have to strive. We inhale acceptance and then exhale in a steady flow. This simple balance is what we need to function and go forward in our calling.
--
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
Grace In Psalm 103
I'm reading Psalm 103 over and over again this morning.
"Of David. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's." - Psalm 103:1-5 ESV
This part really made me think of my youth. I could run all day. If I hurt myself it was just a matter of time and I healed up and was virtually new again. This is what God does. This is who He Is. He isn't ever old and frozen. He Is full of power. He Is eternal.
"The LORD works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust." - Psalm 103:6-14 ESV
Not only is He full of life. He Is full of high holy thinking and Moses got to see His ways. The people of Israel saw His acts but Moses got to know God's ways of love and compassion.
"As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments. The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all." - Psalm 103:15-19 ESV
Because of the fall we live but for a moment and generation follows generation. The flower we saw last spring is gone. The store we shopped at as a child might be gone when we get older but God's throne isn't like that. It is forever.
"Bless the LORD, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word! Bless the LORD, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will! Bless the LORD, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the LORD, O my soul!" - Psalm 103:20-22 ESV
I like this ending. The Psalmist is made bold by his vision of God. He starts telling the angels to worship God like some old man who attends the symphony commanding the orchestra to play. They are playing at the conductors command but he feels emboldened by the music. Worship emboldens us to take dominion and command our own souls to bless God.
As I read this Psalm vigor returns to me and possibilities start churning. I become a young man who know things that only an old man like Moses knows. The Moses spoken of here is the Moses we see at the Mount of transfiguration. He is the Moses that has passed through death and is alive forevermore because he has a Saviour.
Bless the LORD all you people reading this. Bless the LORD O my soul. Knowing God is full of benefits. Let the knowledge of who He Is and what He has done restore youth to our thinking.
--
"Of David. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's." - Psalm 103:1-5 ESV
This part really made me think of my youth. I could run all day. If I hurt myself it was just a matter of time and I healed up and was virtually new again. This is what God does. This is who He Is. He isn't ever old and frozen. He Is full of power. He Is eternal.
"The LORD works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust." - Psalm 103:6-14 ESV
Not only is He full of life. He Is full of high holy thinking and Moses got to see His ways. The people of Israel saw His acts but Moses got to know God's ways of love and compassion.
"As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments. The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all." - Psalm 103:15-19 ESV
Because of the fall we live but for a moment and generation follows generation. The flower we saw last spring is gone. The store we shopped at as a child might be gone when we get older but God's throne isn't like that. It is forever.
"Bless the LORD, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word! Bless the LORD, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will! Bless the LORD, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the LORD, O my soul!" - Psalm 103:20-22 ESV
I like this ending. The Psalmist is made bold by his vision of God. He starts telling the angels to worship God like some old man who attends the symphony commanding the orchestra to play. They are playing at the conductors command but he feels emboldened by the music. Worship emboldens us to take dominion and command our own souls to bless God.
As I read this Psalm vigor returns to me and possibilities start churning. I become a young man who know things that only an old man like Moses knows. The Moses spoken of here is the Moses we see at the Mount of transfiguration. He is the Moses that has passed through death and is alive forevermore because he has a Saviour.
Bless the LORD all you people reading this. Bless the LORD O my soul. Knowing God is full of benefits. Let the knowledge of who He Is and what He has done restore youth to our thinking.
--
Saturday, January 23, 2016
The Thief
"I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." - John 10:9-10 ESV
What does the thief come to do? Steal, kill and destroy. That is an interesting order isn't it? Naturally speaking we might think killing would be last in order of magnitude but it isn't.
A thief must cover their tracks and they use destruction to do that. They must destroy a reputation. They must start a fire to remove any traces of incriminating evidence.
Jesus came to give, impart life and build something in you and around you. He isn't a thief. He never was and never will be.
The thief wants to take Jesus away from people. He wants to destroy God's reputation by lies and diversions so that he can hide and operate in secret. The thief cares nothing for people and if they get hurt in the process he doesn't care.
I don't want Jesus to be stolen from you. I need to see Him and sometimes He becomes obscured in my life. In those times I look for Him until He finds me.
If you look for Jesus He will find you. It doesn't matter how far away you think you are. He wants to give you life.
--
What does the thief come to do? Steal, kill and destroy. That is an interesting order isn't it? Naturally speaking we might think killing would be last in order of magnitude but it isn't.
A thief must cover their tracks and they use destruction to do that. They must destroy a reputation. They must start a fire to remove any traces of incriminating evidence.
Jesus came to give, impart life and build something in you and around you. He isn't a thief. He never was and never will be.
The thief wants to take Jesus away from people. He wants to destroy God's reputation by lies and diversions so that he can hide and operate in secret. The thief cares nothing for people and if they get hurt in the process he doesn't care.
I don't want Jesus to be stolen from you. I need to see Him and sometimes He becomes obscured in my life. In those times I look for Him until He finds me.
If you look for Jesus He will find you. It doesn't matter how far away you think you are. He wants to give you life.
--
Friday, September 18, 2015
Entering Into Spiritual Quickening
I don't know about you but I rely heavily on spiritual quickening.
I quote this one verse often to myself...
"But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you." - Romans 8:11 NKJV
It is promise that I give back to God but it is only understood in context. God quickens our bodies in a whole spiritual dynamic that starts here...
"There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." - Romans 8:1-4 NKJV
We can't have spiritual quickening unless we have the Spirit. We have the Spirit because of what Jesus did.
Then the groaning moment comes.
"For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body." - Romans 8:22-23 NKJV
It is the moment when we are tired but more needs to done. It is the moment when a person is there who could hear but we have no words. All creation longs for redemption and we long with it. Jesus is dead. The healer isn't healing. He Is in the grave. The edifier is behind the stone. Wisdom is momentarily silenced. Then the Spirit quickens Him. Life comes into His body. The sunrise happens not only on the horizon but it happens inside the grave and that grave is not a grave anymore.
We have that! Those who believe in Jesus have that.
Thank you God!... Really... Really... Thank You.
Musts aren't our motivation. Shoulds are swallowed in light. We fold our grave clothes neatly and leave them in a tomb we will walk away from. We have no plans to return there. We are quickened ones moving in a new dynamic. There is a life where we are not alive this way and then there is a life where we are made to be alive by The Spirit. It is Jesus' life. It is the life where all requirements have already been met.
What will it be today? More living like Cain where we grow a garden of unapproved vegetables. More going as far as our talent and ingenuity can take us. More avoiding what we don't like. More making things happen or living in regret because we couldn't make them happen.
It doesn't have to be any of that. We can remember a resurrection and be quickened by the indwelling Spirit. We can move in new life and fresh perspective. We can groan in identification and pass from death to burial and into resurrection.
For now our bodies will stay here on Earth quickened as our minds ascend and sit with Christ at the right hand of God's approval.
--
I quote this one verse often to myself...
"But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you." - Romans 8:11 NKJV
It is promise that I give back to God but it is only understood in context. God quickens our bodies in a whole spiritual dynamic that starts here...
"There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." - Romans 8:1-4 NKJV
We can't have spiritual quickening unless we have the Spirit. We have the Spirit because of what Jesus did.
Then the groaning moment comes.
"For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body." - Romans 8:22-23 NKJV
It is the moment when we are tired but more needs to done. It is the moment when a person is there who could hear but we have no words. All creation longs for redemption and we long with it. Jesus is dead. The healer isn't healing. He Is in the grave. The edifier is behind the stone. Wisdom is momentarily silenced. Then the Spirit quickens Him. Life comes into His body. The sunrise happens not only on the horizon but it happens inside the grave and that grave is not a grave anymore.
We have that! Those who believe in Jesus have that.
Thank you God!... Really... Really... Thank You.
Musts aren't our motivation. Shoulds are swallowed in light. We fold our grave clothes neatly and leave them in a tomb we will walk away from. We have no plans to return there. We are quickened ones moving in a new dynamic. There is a life where we are not alive this way and then there is a life where we are made to be alive by The Spirit. It is Jesus' life. It is the life where all requirements have already been met.
What will it be today? More living like Cain where we grow a garden of unapproved vegetables. More going as far as our talent and ingenuity can take us. More avoiding what we don't like. More making things happen or living in regret because we couldn't make them happen.
It doesn't have to be any of that. We can remember a resurrection and be quickened by the indwelling Spirit. We can move in new life and fresh perspective. We can groan in identification and pass from death to burial and into resurrection.
For now our bodies will stay here on Earth quickened as our minds ascend and sit with Christ at the right hand of God's approval.
--
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Dead To Death
Have you ever died to something? There may have been things we tried to die to but couldn't shake the connection. Others that we wanted desperately to hold onto but found them slipping away until they were no longer in our grasp. Perhaps we woke up one day to find that a connection has been severed and we had no part in it at all.
"Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him." - Romans 6:8-9 ESV
As far as Jesus is concerned death is dead. His connections to death and all the fear and grief associated with it are severed.
"For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God." - Romans 6:10 ESV
He went to the cross 'as sin' because the sin sins of the world were placed on Him just like the sins of the nation were placed on a sacrificial animal.
"And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness." - Leviticus 16:21-22 ESV
Now those sins are gone and Christ is dead 'to sin' and every imperfection. He is alive and associated with living whole things not dead broken things.
You might say, 'Well, Then He can't have much to do with me.' but the crazy thing is that we were with Him when that death happened. We passed through death with Him! As a man He represented all humanity.
"So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness...
Or do you not know, brothers - for I am speaking to those who know the law - that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives?" - Romans 6:11-13, 7:1 ESV
When something dies and is truly disconnected the rules that governed that relationship or association also get disconnected. The law served it's purpose for Israel. Grace is how living people associate. Grace is how God functions toward someone who has been raised from the dead and passed from death into life.
We are all troubled by connections that are unhealthy. We can and must consider ourselves dead to those things and those things dead to us because in Christ that death has already taken place to make way for life.
"But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world... And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus." - Galatians 6:14, 16-17 ESV
Paul was beaten because of His association with Christ and the message of grace but we can make the same claim of co-crucifixion. We can and we should because then we can be free to live.
It is mathematics. The King James translates verse 11 this way.
"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." - Romans 6:11 KJV
We make a 'reckoning' in our minds by faith that the connection is broken and God creates a dynamic that truly breaks the connection so that it can't dominate us.
Thank you God! Salvation is Your work. We believe in You and what You have done. We are free.
--
"Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him." - Romans 6:8-9 ESV
As far as Jesus is concerned death is dead. His connections to death and all the fear and grief associated with it are severed.
"For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God." - Romans 6:10 ESV
He went to the cross 'as sin' because the sin sins of the world were placed on Him just like the sins of the nation were placed on a sacrificial animal.
"And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness." - Leviticus 16:21-22 ESV
Now those sins are gone and Christ is dead 'to sin' and every imperfection. He is alive and associated with living whole things not dead broken things.
You might say, 'Well, Then He can't have much to do with me.' but the crazy thing is that we were with Him when that death happened. We passed through death with Him! As a man He represented all humanity.
"So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness...
Or do you not know, brothers - for I am speaking to those who know the law - that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives?" - Romans 6:11-13, 7:1 ESV
When something dies and is truly disconnected the rules that governed that relationship or association also get disconnected. The law served it's purpose for Israel. Grace is how living people associate. Grace is how God functions toward someone who has been raised from the dead and passed from death into life.
We are all troubled by connections that are unhealthy. We can and must consider ourselves dead to those things and those things dead to us because in Christ that death has already taken place to make way for life.
"But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world... And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus." - Galatians 6:14, 16-17 ESV
Paul was beaten because of His association with Christ and the message of grace but we can make the same claim of co-crucifixion. We can and we should because then we can be free to live.
It is mathematics. The King James translates verse 11 this way.
"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." - Romans 6:11 KJV
We make a 'reckoning' in our minds by faith that the connection is broken and God creates a dynamic that truly breaks the connection so that it can't dominate us.
Thank you God! Salvation is Your work. We believe in You and what You have done. We are free.
--
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Shake Off The Dust And Live
"My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word!" - Psalm 119:25 ESV
Maybe we think the dust just sticks to us like mud sometimes sticks to our shoes. Our soul gets dusty also and it hangs on to that dust. Our soul has a great capacity to wallow there.
"And you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak, and from the dust your speech will be bowed down; your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost, and from the dust your speech shall whisper." - Isaiah 29:4 ESV
Then our speech becomes a past tense spirituality. Someone once alive with hope but now dead in oppression. A person who speaks muffled words that do not have life in the moment and have an old frame of reference.
"Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake yourself from the dust and arise; be seated, O Jerusalem; loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion." - Isaiah 52:1-2 ESV
It is the Word that gives us life and with our will we shake ourselves. We don't linger long in the bed of dusty thinking. We rise get a shower of grace from God and put on the beautiful white garments of salvation. The dust does not cling to those garments. They are new, clean and white and have an eternal quality to them that is stain resistant.
"Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him... When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, 'Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.' " - John 13:5, 12-14 ESV
That was such an act of service. Grace in action. People get dirty feet. We get dirty feet. Grace and mercy remove the grime. They don't assign blame... they just clean up the mess and wash the dirty puddle away so there is no trace there ever was any there to clean up. In the midst of all of this is God's Word that revives... it describes a life that is present tense, living and relevant to our moment to moment living.
God has given all who believe a robe of Christ's righteousness. It is a special garment that will be worn at a future wedding feast but it is also meant to be worn on a daily basis.
Today... We shake off the dust, get revived in grace, put on Jesus Christ and live in the freshness of a present tense life.
--
Maybe we think the dust just sticks to us like mud sometimes sticks to our shoes. Our soul gets dusty also and it hangs on to that dust. Our soul has a great capacity to wallow there.
"And you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak, and from the dust your speech will be bowed down; your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost, and from the dust your speech shall whisper." - Isaiah 29:4 ESV
Then our speech becomes a past tense spirituality. Someone once alive with hope but now dead in oppression. A person who speaks muffled words that do not have life in the moment and have an old frame of reference.
"Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake yourself from the dust and arise; be seated, O Jerusalem; loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion." - Isaiah 52:1-2 ESV
It is the Word that gives us life and with our will we shake ourselves. We don't linger long in the bed of dusty thinking. We rise get a shower of grace from God and put on the beautiful white garments of salvation. The dust does not cling to those garments. They are new, clean and white and have an eternal quality to them that is stain resistant.
"Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him... When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, 'Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.' " - John 13:5, 12-14 ESV
That was such an act of service. Grace in action. People get dirty feet. We get dirty feet. Grace and mercy remove the grime. They don't assign blame... they just clean up the mess and wash the dirty puddle away so there is no trace there ever was any there to clean up. In the midst of all of this is God's Word that revives... it describes a life that is present tense, living and relevant to our moment to moment living.
God has given all who believe a robe of Christ's righteousness. It is a special garment that will be worn at a future wedding feast but it is also meant to be worn on a daily basis.
Today... We shake off the dust, get revived in grace, put on Jesus Christ and live in the freshness of a present tense life.
--
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
A Life of Faith Rest
Live by faith. Rest in Faith.
Faith. Rest. Life.
"Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me." - Colossians 1:28-29 ESV
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith.' " - Romans 1:16-17 ESV
The Gospel reveals the grace of God and a faith to faith progression in grace reveals the righteousness of God.
Our struggle is often to enter in faith rest and live our lives from that place.
"We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions." - Romans 6:9-12 ESV
There is a reckoning involved in that struggle. We mentally identify with Christ's death and the new life that we can now live. The struggle is mental. The battlefield is the mind.
The witness of righteousness however is not mental it is a life of faith moving to faith in a progression.
I struggle with decisions... so do you I'm sure. Not all of them. Some are clear cut and obvious. Others are not. Situations are fluid and decisions must be made.
A believer has God's power working in them. Anyone can have God's power working on them. God is sovereign and does things with people all the time but the believer in Christ has the unique privilege of being a co-laborer with Christ.
"I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building." - 1 Corinthians 3:6-9 KJV
Faith. Rest. Life.
Life. Rest. Faith.
No passivity today... just rest. No mental laziness. We rise from sleep and move into faith. Situations and problems will try to move us away from faith rest but we toil to stay there... we cling to the anchor that holds... Christ inside the veil of Heaven and we remain tethered to Him by the Spirit in our thinking. Passivity would tempt us to keep our mouths closed today but we are standing under the waterfall of grace not beside it and others are bound to get wet when they talk to us.
The water flows from our belly... love resting in love making compassionate decisions. Our lives are not our own. This is our life... a life of entering into rest.
--
Faith. Rest. Life.
"Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me." - Colossians 1:28-29 ESV
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith.' " - Romans 1:16-17 ESV
The Gospel reveals the grace of God and a faith to faith progression in grace reveals the righteousness of God.
Our struggle is often to enter in faith rest and live our lives from that place.
"We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions." - Romans 6:9-12 ESV
There is a reckoning involved in that struggle. We mentally identify with Christ's death and the new life that we can now live. The struggle is mental. The battlefield is the mind.
The witness of righteousness however is not mental it is a life of faith moving to faith in a progression.
I struggle with decisions... so do you I'm sure. Not all of them. Some are clear cut and obvious. Others are not. Situations are fluid and decisions must be made.
A believer has God's power working in them. Anyone can have God's power working on them. God is sovereign and does things with people all the time but the believer in Christ has the unique privilege of being a co-laborer with Christ.
"I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building." - 1 Corinthians 3:6-9 KJV
Faith. Rest. Life.
Life. Rest. Faith.
No passivity today... just rest. No mental laziness. We rise from sleep and move into faith. Situations and problems will try to move us away from faith rest but we toil to stay there... we cling to the anchor that holds... Christ inside the veil of Heaven and we remain tethered to Him by the Spirit in our thinking. Passivity would tempt us to keep our mouths closed today but we are standing under the waterfall of grace not beside it and others are bound to get wet when they talk to us.
The water flows from our belly... love resting in love making compassionate decisions. Our lives are not our own. This is our life... a life of entering into rest.
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Thursday, May 22, 2014
Eternal Words
"He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for 'All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.' And this word is the good news that was preached to you." - 1 Peter 1:20-25 ESV
Jesus never had a beginning.
"Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.' " - John 8:58 ESV
What a statement to make.
We sure seem to have a beginning. We have 'earliest memories' and for some they are clear but for others they have jumbled cloudy recollections. The scriptures are clear that souls have no end. They spend eternity somewhere. These bodies are more like grass they have a life cycle... a short one at that.
God has given mankind an eternal vehicle for his everlasting soul. Words. Words that purify and words that multiply. We can be born again by words and those words will provide a structure for a forever life.
Amazing.
"And this word is the good news that was preached to you." - 1 Peter 1:25b ESV
The 'good news' here is one word in the Greek Rhema (Strong's G4487) a living word that illuminates.
Non-believers will get a last word from God and never hear Him again.
"And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." - Matthew 7:23 KJV
Believer will never get a last word from God. God will be forever speaking.
"His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.' " - Matthew 25:23 ESV
--
Jesus never had a beginning.
"Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.' " - John 8:58 ESV
What a statement to make.
We sure seem to have a beginning. We have 'earliest memories' and for some they are clear but for others they have jumbled cloudy recollections. The scriptures are clear that souls have no end. They spend eternity somewhere. These bodies are more like grass they have a life cycle... a short one at that.
God has given mankind an eternal vehicle for his everlasting soul. Words. Words that purify and words that multiply. We can be born again by words and those words will provide a structure for a forever life.
Amazing.
"And this word is the good news that was preached to you." - 1 Peter 1:25b ESV
The 'good news' here is one word in the Greek Rhema (Strong's G4487) a living word that illuminates.
Non-believers will get a last word from God and never hear Him again.
"And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." - Matthew 7:23 KJV
Believer will never get a last word from God. God will be forever speaking.
"His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.' " - Matthew 25:23 ESV
--
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Your Song Has Preserved Me Alive
"This is my comfort in my affliction, That Your word has revived me." - Psalms 119:50 NASB
The second part can also be translated 'Your Word has preserved me alive.'
"The words of the LORD are pure words; As silver tried in a furnace on the earth, refined seven times." - Psalms 12:6 NASB
Word is Imrah (Strong's H565) in the original Hebrew and is sometimes translated promise. It refers to little speech, poem or song that expresses something real and heartfelt.
When the pressures come in remember... God has a written a song just for you. It tells the story of the victory of His Son. You are in that story and so am I.
--
The second part can also be translated 'Your Word has preserved me alive.'
"The words of the LORD are pure words; As silver tried in a furnace on the earth, refined seven times." - Psalms 12:6 NASB
Word is Imrah (Strong's H565) in the original Hebrew and is sometimes translated promise. It refers to little speech, poem or song that expresses something real and heartfelt.
When the pressures come in remember... God has a written a song just for you. It tells the story of the victory of His Son. You are in that story and so am I.
--
Friday, December 20, 2013
Throw Some Flour In The Pot
Great time at Panera bread last night and when I got home I was thinking about two potent ideas:
- Flour thrown in the poison pot of stew (see 2 Kings 4:39f) as a picture of grace being added to my thinking to heal my mind
- Bread as a picture of grace and truth. Jesus is the true bread from Heaven (see John 6:32f)
It is amazing how helpful these kinds of pictures are. God built us and He knows we learn in different ways. Seeing, hearing and doing are three main avenues that are crucial to learning. We usually favor one of them but God often puts all three together and uses them as 'object lessons'.
Here He uses grain:
"One of them went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine and gathered from it his lap full of wild gourds, and came and cut them up into the pot of stew, not knowing what they were. And they poured out some for the men to eat. But while they were eating of the stew, they cried out, 'O man of God, there is death in the pot!' And they could not eat it.
He said, 'Then bring FLOUR.' And he threw it into the pot and said, 'Pour some out for the men, that they may eat.' And there was no harm in the pot.
A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing the man of God BREAD of the firstfruits, twenty LOAVES OF BARLEY and FRESH EARS OF GRAIN in his sack. And Elisha said, 'Give to the men, that they may eat.'
But his servant said, 'How can I set this before a hundred men?'
So he repeated, 'Give them to the men, that they may eat, for thus says the LORD, 'They shall eat and have some left.'
So he set it before them. And they ate and had some left, according to the word of the LORD." - 2 Kings 4:39-44 ESV
Here we see all three forms grain used: Ears of grain, Flour and Bread.
Notice the old testament multiplication of loaves in the last verses 43 and 44. What was done for a hundred men was done for thousands in the Gospels.
My thinking can get like that pot of stew. The wrong thing goes into it and suddenly it is poisoned. The remedy is to add Jesus but not the raw whole life of Jesus. What is added to is the crushed and evenly ground life of Jesus... His life that gave Himself over to the plan of God... His cross life. Thie flour is used for healing.
The raw life and the baked life are needed to sustain us and they are multiplied in our midst. Grace and truth are like a baked loaf. The parts have become a whole nourishing thing that feeds us. A portion prepared for us and served to us as a thought, concept or doctrine. The bread is the word (Logos) and the life experienced from the bread is the meaning it has (Rhema).
"Jesus then said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the BREAD from heaven, but my Father gives you the true BREAD from heaven. For the BREAD of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.'
They said to him, 'Sir, give us this BREAD always.'
Jesus said to them, 'I am the BREAD of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst." - John 6:32-35 ESV
Jesus is the bread of life but He is not bread prepared by human hands. Our bread is an object lesson to show us something Heavenly. He is bread that was not made or processed in any way.
Jesus is Heaven's bread. Jesus is Heaven's truth and He functions in Heaven's method. He is seamless and uncreated. He nourishes our soul and feeds our inner man. He is food and His blood is drink for us. A thought that offends the natural man and his thinking but causes the spiritual man to reverence God and partake of Him in an intimate way.
Our thinking can get weird at times can't it. Throw a little flour in the pot and take another spoonful. Grace has a way of giving our thinking perspective and removing the poison.
--
- Flour thrown in the poison pot of stew (see 2 Kings 4:39f) as a picture of grace being added to my thinking to heal my mind
- Bread as a picture of grace and truth. Jesus is the true bread from Heaven (see John 6:32f)
It is amazing how helpful these kinds of pictures are. God built us and He knows we learn in different ways. Seeing, hearing and doing are three main avenues that are crucial to learning. We usually favor one of them but God often puts all three together and uses them as 'object lessons'.
Here He uses grain:
"One of them went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine and gathered from it his lap full of wild gourds, and came and cut them up into the pot of stew, not knowing what they were. And they poured out some for the men to eat. But while they were eating of the stew, they cried out, 'O man of God, there is death in the pot!' And they could not eat it.
He said, 'Then bring FLOUR.' And he threw it into the pot and said, 'Pour some out for the men, that they may eat.' And there was no harm in the pot.
A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing the man of God BREAD of the firstfruits, twenty LOAVES OF BARLEY and FRESH EARS OF GRAIN in his sack. And Elisha said, 'Give to the men, that they may eat.'
But his servant said, 'How can I set this before a hundred men?'
So he repeated, 'Give them to the men, that they may eat, for thus says the LORD, 'They shall eat and have some left.'
So he set it before them. And they ate and had some left, according to the word of the LORD." - 2 Kings 4:39-44 ESV
Here we see all three forms grain used: Ears of grain, Flour and Bread.
Notice the old testament multiplication of loaves in the last verses 43 and 44. What was done for a hundred men was done for thousands in the Gospels.
My thinking can get like that pot of stew. The wrong thing goes into it and suddenly it is poisoned. The remedy is to add Jesus but not the raw whole life of Jesus. What is added to is the crushed and evenly ground life of Jesus... His life that gave Himself over to the plan of God... His cross life. Thie flour is used for healing.
The raw life and the baked life are needed to sustain us and they are multiplied in our midst. Grace and truth are like a baked loaf. The parts have become a whole nourishing thing that feeds us. A portion prepared for us and served to us as a thought, concept or doctrine. The bread is the word (Logos) and the life experienced from the bread is the meaning it has (Rhema).
"Jesus then said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the BREAD from heaven, but my Father gives you the true BREAD from heaven. For the BREAD of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.'
They said to him, 'Sir, give us this BREAD always.'
Jesus said to them, 'I am the BREAD of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst." - John 6:32-35 ESV
Jesus is the bread of life but He is not bread prepared by human hands. Our bread is an object lesson to show us something Heavenly. He is bread that was not made or processed in any way.
Jesus is Heaven's bread. Jesus is Heaven's truth and He functions in Heaven's method. He is seamless and uncreated. He nourishes our soul and feeds our inner man. He is food and His blood is drink for us. A thought that offends the natural man and his thinking but causes the spiritual man to reverence God and partake of Him in an intimate way.
Our thinking can get weird at times can't it. Throw a little flour in the pot and take another spoonful. Grace has a way of giving our thinking perspective and removing the poison.
--
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Choose Life
Why do people who would never think about playing the lottery start thinking about it when the winnings start getting really really high? Maybe it is because the cost to investment ratio becomes more and more disproportionate. Suddenly it seems worth it.
"See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. ... I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them." Deuteronomy 30:15, 19-20 ESV
Life is the greatest possible return and death is the greatest loss or risk.
I sat with a man recently who is angry about the slaughter of millions of people over the centuries... It is a contradiction that he can not reconcile against the existence of a good caring God. There either can't be a God at all or if He has the control He claims He must be immoral.
Knowing the capacity of the mind to suppress things it can't reconcile I can understand how negating God's existence on a conscious or subconscious level would be the easier choice. The thought that God is immoral or evil would produce a fear I wouldn't want to live in.
Back to choices. What if all my choices are life or death ones? What if time is short and each moment is more costly than any lottery prize could ever hope to be.
Mankind has suffered like they have because of choices. God is not immoral... he is respectful. Yes, He has set the stakes very high because He wants each of us to get great returns on each investment of faith.
Without Jesus we could not find the right choice. It was death, death and more death. We were condemned already.
"I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus" 1 Corinthians 1:4 ESV
Grace was given in Christ so that we could say, "Yes and Amen'. Every time we do we win and live in the victory that is already ours.
"See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. ... I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them." Deuteronomy 30:15, 19-20 ESV
Life is the greatest possible return and death is the greatest loss or risk.
I sat with a man recently who is angry about the slaughter of millions of people over the centuries... It is a contradiction that he can not reconcile against the existence of a good caring God. There either can't be a God at all or if He has the control He claims He must be immoral.
Knowing the capacity of the mind to suppress things it can't reconcile I can understand how negating God's existence on a conscious or subconscious level would be the easier choice. The thought that God is immoral or evil would produce a fear I wouldn't want to live in.
Back to choices. What if all my choices are life or death ones? What if time is short and each moment is more costly than any lottery prize could ever hope to be.
Mankind has suffered like they have because of choices. God is not immoral... he is respectful. Yes, He has set the stakes very high because He wants each of us to get great returns on each investment of faith.
Without Jesus we could not find the right choice. It was death, death and more death. We were condemned already.
"I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus" 1 Corinthians 1:4 ESV
Grace was given in Christ so that we could say, "Yes and Amen'. Every time we do we win and live in the victory that is already ours.
Monday, September 2, 2013
Grace Is a Subtle Wonder
"After the two days he departed for Galilee. (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.) So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast. So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. So Jesus said to him, 'Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.' The official said to him, 'Sir, come down before my child dies.' Jesus said to him, 'Go; your son will live.' The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, 'Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.' The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, 'Your son will live.' And he himself believed, and all his household. This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee." John 4:43-54 ESV
If is one thing to be at the feast and it is another to believe. Results... we look for them. Jesus chides them about the need to see results. He doesn't want results like we do. He wants faith.
At Cana Jesus gave joy. He turned water into wine. He took a wedding that was going to end in disappointment and turned it into a great success. People remembered the success. Now, He returns and gives something else... Life. The family traces the timing of words and healing and all signs point to Jesus. Life from death is the ultimate sign and wonder but grace is subtle.
I awoke this morning thinking about Adam and Jesus. They are both men. They eat and drink. They sleep and go about their day. But, One grows old and dies and the other dies once and then lives in newness forever.
"And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit." 1 Corinthians 15:45 KJV
Jesus is the last Adam. The first would be last and would outlast everything.
In many ways Jesus looked just like everyone else. The little boy who was healed looked like he did before he got sick. This family did also. There was something new that would be revealed in time. Grace had done a work. There had been a quickening. A renewing that would forever renew. Those seeking a sign now got something else. They died once and now would live forever.
We look much the same after believing in Jesus. When by faith we touch Christ, the quickening Spirit, we are forever changed.
Adam can trace his moment of failure back to the moment he took that fruit and ate it. We can trace every victory back to the moment Christ was presented to us as he really Is and we believed.
If is one thing to be at the feast and it is another to believe. Results... we look for them. Jesus chides them about the need to see results. He doesn't want results like we do. He wants faith.
At Cana Jesus gave joy. He turned water into wine. He took a wedding that was going to end in disappointment and turned it into a great success. People remembered the success. Now, He returns and gives something else... Life. The family traces the timing of words and healing and all signs point to Jesus. Life from death is the ultimate sign and wonder but grace is subtle.
I awoke this morning thinking about Adam and Jesus. They are both men. They eat and drink. They sleep and go about their day. But, One grows old and dies and the other dies once and then lives in newness forever.
"And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit." 1 Corinthians 15:45 KJV
Jesus is the last Adam. The first would be last and would outlast everything.
In many ways Jesus looked just like everyone else. The little boy who was healed looked like he did before he got sick. This family did also. There was something new that would be revealed in time. Grace had done a work. There had been a quickening. A renewing that would forever renew. Those seeking a sign now got something else. They died once and now would live forever.
We look much the same after believing in Jesus. When by faith we touch Christ, the quickening Spirit, we are forever changed.
Adam can trace his moment of failure back to the moment he took that fruit and ate it. We can trace every victory back to the moment Christ was presented to us as he really Is and we believed.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Thirst
Ever coming back from vacation only to feel like you need another one right away. At times we live for the weekend even though we just had one a few days ago.
"Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away." 1 Corinthians 13:8-10 ESV
We live in a world filled with temporary provisions. When I see the richest and most glamorous people of our generation suffer the hardships that all people suffer from it reminds me that the human condition is the same at every tier of human existence.
"When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:11-13 ESV
My rest will pass away and I will need more. The meal I ate will pass away. My knowledge as good as it is will be old and I will want more. These things are not bad they just are temporary. It is childish to think these things are more than what they really are.
Faith is different. Faith invests in the eternal. Hope must rest on something that will never pass away. Love must come from a source that remains forever. These three abide. Not just for a time... they abide forever.
"Jesus then said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.' They said to him, 'Sir, give us this bread always.' " John 6:32-34 ESV
When Jesus spoke about eternal things people thought He spoke about temporary provision that would just never run out. Like a fountain of youth.
"Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.' " John 6:35-37 ESV
Like in John 4 when He spoke to the woman at the well about living water. He was speaking about a different life. A face to face life of love that only the Gospel brings and is expressed in the grace relationship. This life is not biological in origin. It is the very life that comes from God in a flow. As my late Pastor used to say 'un-created life'
"Jesus answered her, 'If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.' ... but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.' The woman said to him, 'Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.' " - John 4:10, 14-15 ESV
Knowing Him won't eliminate our need to sleep, eat, work or think but we will do it in a different way. Our though life will be fixed on the things that are above and the temporary can be put in it's right place.
"Jesus said to them, 'My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. 'Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!' " - John 4:34-35 NKJV
He did finish the work. Now our food is the will of God. Our goal is not satisfaction. We live for the harvest.
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