Category: Bible thoughts

We Are The Sheep

“The LORD is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His Name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your Rod and Your Staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the House of the LORD forever.” – PSALMS 23:1‭-‬6 NASB

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.” So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I Am the Door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I Am the Door; if anyone enters through 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. “I am the Good Shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My Voice; and they will become one flock with one Shepherd. For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My FATHER.” – JOHN 10:1‭-‬5‭, ‬7‭-‬11‭, ‬14‭-‬18 NASB

Image from The Kingdom – WordPress.com

A New Heart

“And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart [Hebrew a heart of flesh] And I will put My Spirit in you so that you will follow My Decrees and be careful to obey My Regulations.” – Ezekiel 36:26 NLT

GOD promised the Israelites a new heart and a new spirit, and that the Spirit would be in them to help them follow His decrees and regulations. Sound familiar? He promised this to His people, the people closest the His heart, hundreds of years before He sent His Son to earth to save all people.

Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” And again He says: “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.” – John 3:3‭, ‬5‭-‬8 NLT

GOD showed Himself to the Israelites many times over the centuries. He started by walking with Adam and Eve in the Garden, and He appeared through signs and miracles such as the burning bush, and pillars of fire and cloud that led the Israelites through the wilderness. He was in His Tabernacle in His Shechinah Glory [literally, His Presence], but the people still wandered away from Him and moved to idols and other gods…..

“For we live by believing and not by seeing.” – 2 Corinthians 5:7 NLT

We will see Christ, the Living LORD, when our physical bodies die, but the Israelites had Him there; His physical presence in the Tabernacle, and still couldn’t see Him. Blinded by the enemy, just as so many of us are today.

“For God made Christ, Who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.” – 2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT

LORD, grant me a new heart and a new spirit today. Grant me a tender, responsive heart and fill me with Your Spirit in order to follow Your Desires and Your Will. Amen.

Forever and a day….

“However, those the Father has given Me will come to Me, and I will never reject them. For I have come down from heaven to do the Will of GOD Who sent Me, not to do My own will. And this is the Will of GOD, that I should not lose even one of all those He has given Me, but that I should raise them up at the last day. For it is My FATHER’s Will that all who see His Son and believe in Him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day.” – John 6:37‭-‬40 NLT

I often struggle with worry, and I know that worry comes from thinking I have to “fix” everything and provide for myself. I worry about being rejected, both by GOD, and by people. I worry about being alone the rest of my life. I worry if I will ever be financially stable, or if I will be able to meet my basic, everyday expenses each month. I worry my health will deteriorate. My day-to-day life may be a physical challenge, and I don’t understand how I will survive financially, but there is one thing I know and hold on to: I don’t need to worry! Jesus promises He will take care of us. Of ME. He also promises He will never reject one of His own. Just as the father says to Jesus in Mark 19, so I say to Him also: “I DO believe; help my unbelief!!”

Do YOU believe? Have you taken hold of the Promise of JESUS; do you hold on to that Promise to be risen up by JESUS CHRIST on the last day, to have Life with Him forever and a day, for eternity?

Listening to Matt Maher sing “Lord, I need You, O I need you, Every hour I need You – My one defense, my righteousness, Oh God how I need You!” ☝️

Living With Expectation

There’s a lot of expectation today. We expect to be financially successful, with a big fancy house and car before we hit 30. We expect to marry Mr. or Mrs. ‘Right’, and we expect that person to be with us for our entire life. We expect to have the perfect child – and we expect to have the right number of children. We expect others to like us as we are, and we expect our friends to never disappoint us or betray us …… and we expect that God will make sure all these things happen.

Those are some massive expectations!

I say this. We have skewed expectations. The only thing we can expect in this world; the only thing that we can be assured of happening is that we will be disappointed, betrayed, and hurt. Look at recorded history. Read the Bible. GOD warns us over and over that we will have trouble in this world. Doesn’t that seem to counter that this same GOD Loves us and wants us to be with Him?

Have you ever had a friend that you would do anything for? Best friends. Bosom buddies. Someone you’d go the extra mile for. One day, you find out they have another ‘best friend’! That hurts ….. and yet, that’s exactly what we do to GOD. We choose of our own free will that we would rather hang out with the world. We choose sin over perfection. (Sounds rather brutal like that …..)

Okay, so this is a little depressing so far. I’ve had plenty of expectations, and I have experienced heartache and heartbreak, disappointment and betrayal by people I care about deeply. What’s the point? Our focus has to be above all of these earthly things; otherwise, we become bitter and angry. Our Great Expectation, our one expectation that is Truth, is this:

“All Praise to GOD, the Father of our LORD JESUS CHRIST. It is by His Great Mercy that we have been born again, because GOD raised JESUS CHRIST from the dead. Now we live with Great Expectation, and we have a priceless Inheritance—an Inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, Pure and Undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And remember that the heavenly FATHER to Whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of Him during your time here as “temporary residents.” ” – 1 Peter 1:3‭-‬4‭, ‬17 NLT

Listen to Shane and Shane’s new song “Is He Worthy?” from the 2019 album Hymns Live. (Authors Ben Shive and Andrew Peterson)

HE is Worthy!

Image from The First Fruits of Zion

Could It Be Any More Simple?

Jesus spoke quite plainly to the Samaritan woman and to the people who followed Him, saying,

“If you only knew the gift God has for you and Who you are speaking to, you would ask Me, and I would give you Living Water.” Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the Water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them Eternal Life.” Then Jesus told her, “ I Am the Messiah!” – John 4:10‭, ‬13‭-‬14‭, ‬26 NLT

“I tell you the Truth, you want to be with Me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs. But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the Eternal Life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given Me the Seal of His approval.” They replied, “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?” Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the One He has sent.” – John 6:26‭-‬29 NLT

The Bread of God. Living Water. What is Jesus talking about? How can I never be hungry or thirsty again? It’s too simple. There has to be a catch. “….. ask Me, and I would give you Living Water. Believe in the One He has sent.”

We are so conditioned to everything having a price. Nothing is freely given in this world. It might be not be much of a price in the overall scheme of life, but still a price – and it could take everything a person has left to pay it. Even the love of our earthly fathers and mothers isn’t unconditional. That’s why it’s so difficult for us to believe that a gift so huge can truly be free! There is nothing to give up in order to receive this gift. All we have to do is open our hands and accept it. Freely given.

“The True Bread of God is the One who comes down from heaven and gives Life to the world.” – John 6:33 NLT

Painting “Christ and the Samaritan Woman” – Henryk Siemiradzki, 1890.

Have Patience – Be Blessed!

“God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the Crown of Life that God has promised to those who love Him.” – James 1:12 NLT

Do you believe it? Are you living it? A favorite mem of mine (all the way from the 70’s) is of two vultures sitting on a limb, with this caption: “Patience my a**, I want to kill something!” Patience is not a virtue of mine. Never has been. My little brown boy (he’s a dog – don’t go all PC on me) has much more patience than me. I can scoop him up and hug on him, and when I (finally) let him go, he just lets out this big sigh. He’s perfectly content to let me carry him around, and if he can spend his day in my lap – he’s good.

The little black boy (again, don’t judge!) is more like me – I want it now, and I’m willing to growl and climb all over you to get to whatever it is I’m trying to reach. Don’t try to hold him or keep him from doing his thing, because he’ll squirm and wiggle and express his displeasure over being kept from doing his thing over what I want him to do. Oh, he’ll mind me if I’m forceful, but he has a very strong will of his own.

I’m getting better. I can sit and wait for traffic to clear so I can pull into the road or turn, and rude drivers don’t cause me to go all road rage anymore. I do talk to them (like they can hear me – lol!), and ask them if they are setting a good example for their kids or if they are paying attention …… If I am waiting for an appointment or for a waitperson or a cashier or I’m on hold – as long as there isn’t an emergency – it’s not such a big deal anymore, because things often happen that are out of our control. Things don’t always get done in the timeframes I have set in my mind. Sometimes it’s because of my own physical limitations, sometimes because I have to wait on the availability of another person, and sometimes it’s a financial limitation.

God is in control. I’ve been reminded several times over the past week that His timing is not my timing. He doesn’t always say yes. Sometimes He says no, and sometimes He says wait. He allows temptation, and He allows testing. He gives us consequences when we don’t listen and when we disobey Him. Am I patient? No, not at all! Do I strive to be? I do, because I do love the LORD and I want Him to be proud of me, and I hope to show that love for Him in my life.

How patient and perservering are you? Give it to the LORD! He is all the help you need!

Child of GOD – 1 John 3

“We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was righteous.” – 1 John 3:12 NLT [Genesis 4:1-16]

Am I like Cain or Able, shepherd and caretaker or tiller of the ground? “Why are you so angry?” the LORD asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.” – Genesis 4:6‭-‬7 NLT

I’ve heard many questions about this passage – what was Cain doing that was so wrong, that GOD refused his gift but accepted his brother’s? I don’t know exactly what Cain did to anger GOD, but I think it is a warning to us to be careful about the how and the why when we do a thing. Being a gardener or a farmer, or a rancher or hunter – these are all noble occupations. GOD gave us the earth to be caretakers of it all. After all, they both feed us and clothe us; farmers with all the various plants, and hunters and ranchers with meat and hides. GOD wasn’t angry because Cain was a farmer. Was it pride that triggered Cain’s anger? In verse 7, it is very plainly said: “Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you.”

As we grow in our lives as Children of the LORD, we offer different gifts to Him depending on how we have been gifted. I would not offer to lead a choir (it would be disastrous!), but I could happily wrangle the animals for the Christmas pageant! If I insisted that I be the one to lead the choir and direct the pageant, would it be sinning? I expect so, because it would be pride alone speaking, not ability, because that is not where my talents lie. Was that where Cain got his anger? Was he jealous of his brother? It seems to me that much of our stumbling can be laid at these feelings of pride and jealousy. Stubbornness, too. I have kept on a path, knowing it was wrong, just to prove I could still reach the desired end – only it never works out well, because it is that sin crouching at the door that trips me up. Every time.

“But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the SON of GOD came to destroy the works of the devil. Those who have been born into GOD’s Family do not make a practice of sinning, because GOD’s Life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are Children of GOD. So now we can tell who are Children of GOD and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.” – 1 John 3:8‭-‬10‭ NLT

As Children of GOD, we want to break the cycle of sin. How do we do that, when it has such a strangle hold on us? Certainly not on our own power! When we accept JESUS as LORD of our life, the desire to do good and to follow in His example should – will – begin to grow, especially as we begin to study and learn His Word. Will we ever get it right? No. Sorry to disappoint, but no, not as long as we live in this sin-filled, imperfect world, with sin ready to waylay us at every corner. Don’t let that stop you! Every slip, every stumble, is an opportunity to grasp the Hand our LORD has extended to us and take another step up and forward. Remember, even though we may let go of Him, He never lets go of us! Now that’s a PROMISE.

“Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before GOD. Even if we feel guilty, GOD is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.” – 1 John 3:18‭-‬20 NLT

Again: “Even if we feel guilty, GOD is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.”

Guilt zaps confidence. GOD already knows our feelings, and He is greater than our feelings. He knows our heart. Guilt is not what He wants for us. He has taken away our sin, so why do we feel guilty? What do we have to feel guilty about? That feeling of guilt is not placed there by the LORD. It comes from the devil, the Enemy, and from the depths of hell. Guilt is not from GOD.

“Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to GOD with bold confidence. And we will receive from Him whatever we ask because we obey Him and do the things that please Him. And this is His Commandment: We must believe in the Name of His SON, JESUS CHRIST, and love one another, just as He commanded us. Those who obey GOD’s commandments remain in fellowship with Him, and He with them. And we know He lives in us because the SPIRIT He gave us Lives in us.” – 1 John 3:23‭-‬24 NLT

HALLELUJAH!

The Offering of Cain and Able, 12th Century mosaic, Palatine Chapel, Palermo

Are You Thirsty?

“My soul thirsts for GOD, for the Living GOD. When can I go and meet with GOD? ….. Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in GOD, for I will yet praise Him, my SAVIOR and my GOD.” – Psalm 42:2,11 NIV

Psalm 42 was written as a poem to be sung by the sons of Korah, the highest choir of the land for King David. The psalm tells us that though our road to heaven is trying, it is the same for the king. It helps to know that we aren’t alone in our struggles. However, we have a major advantage over King David and his people: we have seen JESUS, the Living GOD, MESSIAH, Who has come and fulfills the prophecies! JESUS is the embodiment of what the prophet Isaiah spoke of in this passage, which JESUS refers to in John 37.

“Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost. “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance.” – Isaiah 55:1‭-‬2 NASB

“Now on the last day, the great day of the feast [the Feast of the Booths], JESUS stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'” – John 7:37‭-‬38 NASB

Have you drunk of the Living Water, or do you depend on yourself and the world to satisfy your thrist? Without JESUS, you will never be satisfied.

Truth, unvarnished and unrepentent.

Good works, being a “good” person – these will not satisfy your soul, and at the the time of Judgement, when you face the LORD on His Throne – only one thing matters: have you received the Salvation freely offered, the Living Water of JESUS CHRIST? Not Buddha, not Muhammad, not Nostradamos or any other human prophet; not the greatest good deeds nor the best intentions…… only JESUS.

Are you thirsty?

References: https://www.biblestudytools.com and

https://bible.com/bible

Fear of the World?

There is so much violence. Every time I watch the news or open a social media app, war, violence against persons, terrorism – these grab the headlines. As Christians, followers of JESUS CHRIST, should we be afraid of this ugliness? I am concerned for the spiritual safety of our children as socialism and radicalism take center stage, because we have strayed so far from our moral, our Christ-centered base. I know where I will be when the LORD returns with His army to destroy the Enemy and the world as we know it. Do you? Are you certain, without a shadow of a doubt? What we are seeing now, this destruction of our society, is nothing – NOTHING – compared to what is coming. Are you experiencing fear for the present?

Read the Bible. Compared to the return of the LORD JESUS CHRIST, now is tame. Don’t be afraid of today, and look to JESUS so that you have no fear for the future. He is the only way to avoid what’s coming.

“Before them the earth shakes, the heavens tremble, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine. The LORD thunders at the head of His army; His forces are beyond number, and mighty is the army that obeys His command. The day of the LORD is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it? “Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to Me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” ” – Joel 2:10‭-‬12 NIV

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