Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
2 Kings 6:1-33 -
The Floating Ax Head
1One day the group of prophets came to Elisha and told him, "As you can see, this place where we meet with you is too small. 2Let's go down to the Jordan River, where there are plenty of logs. There we can build a new place for us to meet." "All right," he told them, "go ahead."
3"Please come with us," someone suggested. "I will," he said.
4When they arrived at the Jordan, they began cutting down trees. 5But as one of them was chopping, his ax head fell into the river. "Ah, my lord!" he cried. "It was a borrowed ax!"
6"Where did it fall?" the man of God asked. When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it into the water. Then the ax head rose to the surface and floated. 7"Grab it," Elisha said to him. And the man reached out and grabbed it.
Elisha Traps the Arameans
8When the king of Aram was at war with Israel, he would confer with his officers and say, "We will mobilize our forces at such and such a place."
9But immediately Elisha, the man of God, would warn the king of Israel, "Do not go near that place, for the Arameans are planning to mobilize their troops there." 10So the king of Israel would send word to the place indicated by the man of God, warning the people there to be on their guard. This happened several times.
11The king of Aram became very upset over this. He called in his officers and demanded, "Which of you is the traitor? Who has been informing the king of Israel of my plans?"
12"It's not us, my lord," one of the officers replied. "Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel even the words you speak in the privacy of your bedroom!"
13The king commanded, "Go and find out where Elisha is, and we will send troops to seize him." And the report came back: "Elisha is at Dothan." 14So one night the king of Aram sent a great army with many chariots and horses to surround the city. 15When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. "Ah, my lord, what will we do now?" he cried out to Elisha.
16"Don't be afraid!" Elisha told him. "For there are more on our side than on theirs!" 17Then Elisha prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes and let him see!" The LORD opened his servant's eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.
18As the Aramean army advanced toward them, Elisha prayed, "O LORD, please make them blind." And the LORD did as Elisha asked. 19Then Elisha went out and told them, "You have come the wrong way! This isn't the right city! Follow me, and I will take you to the man you are looking for." And he led them to Samaria. 20As soon as they had entered Samaria, Elisha prayed, "O LORD, now open their eyes and let them see." And the LORD did, and they discovered that they were in Samaria.
21When the king of Israel saw them, he shouted to Elisha, "My father, should I kill them?"
22"Of course not!" Elisha told him. "Do we kill prisoners of war? Give them food and drink and send them home again to their master."
23So the king made a great feast for them and then sent them home to their king. After that, the Aramean raiders stayed away from the land of Israel.
Ben-Hadad Besieges Samaria
24Some time later, however, King Ben-hadad of Aram mobilized his entire army and besieged Samaria. 25As a result there was a great famine in the city. After a while even a donkey's head sold for two pounds of silver, and a cup of dove's dung cost about two ounces F14 of silver.
26One day as the king of Israel was walking along the wall of the city, a woman called to him, "Please help me, my lord the king!"
27"If the LORD doesn't help you, what can I do?" he retorted. "I have neither food nor wine to give you." 28But then the king asked, "What is the matter?" She replied, "This woman proposed that we eat my son one day and her son the next. 29So we cooked my son and ate him. Then the next day I said, 'Kill your son so we can eat him,' but she had hidden him."
30When the king heard this, he tore his clothes in despair. And as the king walked along the wall, the people could see that he was wearing sackcloth underneath next to his skin. 31"May God kill me if I don't execute Elisha son of Shaphat this very day," the king vowed.
32Elisha was sitting in his house at a meeting with the leaders of Israel when the king sent a messenger to summon him. But before the messenger arrived, Elisha said to the leaders, "A murderer has sent a man to kill me. When he arrives, shut the door and keep him out. His master will soon follow him."
33While Elisha was still saying this, the messenger arrived. And the king F15 said, "It is the LORD who has brought this trouble on us! Why should I wait any longer for the LORD?"
FOOTNOTES:F14: Hebrew sold for 80 shekels [0.9 kilograms] of silver, and 1/4 of a cab [0.3 liters] of dove's dung cost 5 shekels [57 grams]. Dove's
dung may be a variety of wild vegetable. F15: Hebrew he.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
~ Lena’s Journalin’
The place where we meet with you is too small….
Unto Him shall the gathering of the people be…Genesis 49:10.
The Lord is Lord of the whole earth, the earth belongs to the Lord and all of the inhabitants also. Psalm 24:1.
We are made from earth. Adam was formed from the dust of the earth.
Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
If we do not realize why we were created, we will not fulfill our purpose in life. We were made for God. We were created as subjects of His great love and of His desire to conquer over the power of freewill rebellion. We are God’s hope that a freewill being will do as He has seen, amidst every opposing force.
Too small? Everything in life on earth that has not yet reached its fully purposed potential in Christ, is too small, has not grown into its fullness and stature.
So the invitation is given by the Lord, by His spirit in the earth, by prophets who hear the word, by leaders who hear the word. Let us (that’s plural) go up and build a larger place to meet with God. If we took over the whole earth with this meeting “place” it would hardly be large enough, because we’d have to move into the atmospheric realm and take that too.
How do we build or make room for God? By allowing Him to have His way 1st. The number one enemy of God’s purposes being accomplished is the will of people and time spent by the exercise of that will.
Whose time is it anyway? Yours? It belongs to you? You made it, deem it, can change it, and so you spend it on you? Wow. Then you have not yet seen Him clearly.
Our time is a tool to see who we love and serve. It is borrowed; we are stewards of it, because it does not belong to us. It is as the axe. We can use it to build places to meet with God, all over the earth. The places that would make His house as big as the whole earth is the hearts and minds and time of people. We are the dwelling places. It will never be big enough until He fills us all.
So they began to work the work of God on the borrowed time, building a place for God, by being available to serve Him, live for Him, spread the good news, become participators of the covenant “project”. Then something happens, circumstances come, there’s seemingly no time available, it is lost even smothered up by circumstances beyond our control, thus it sank out of sight. Then we might realize, “Oh No, that belonged to God”, but circumstances dictated it as belonging to circumstances rather than God. So what do we do? We’re swimming drowning in the circumstance.
Repent, Call out to the Lord for re-prioritization, for help. Go back to the prophetic words, the words of the vision. Insist they obey you, that circumstances come into line, that they do not take first place in the place that belongs to God and only God. Tell them what to do, rather than them telling you what to do. That is grabbing a hold of the purposes of God once again.
We have overcome. We have to let the enemies of time know that. If we submit our lives to them, they’ll take it and use it for their agendas, which are against God. They’ll make sure the vision of God is overwhelmed, we are overwhelmed. To whom we serve we obey, to whom we obey is whom we love, honor, respect and have given our lives to.
We must pray asking the Holy Spirit to speak to us ahead of time and see what will rise up to take away from the purposes of God being brought to fruition in our lives. We need to rise up to a new level of vision, a new view. We must see ahead to know what is up ahead of time. If one knows an enemy is going to come to steal from him, he’ll not only lock all doors, he’ll have a gun in hand, he’ll be ready to fight, he’ll be ready to win, he’ll gird himself, he’ll dress for victory.
Do we not know there is an enemy of our soul, who desires to steal the word from us, the vision of God for the earth from us? To bring us down to mere day to day existence? What should we do? Bar the doors, get out the guns, take the pajamas off and exchange them for armor.
If time were money, it is amazing what we spend it on and for. Donkey head, dove’s dung? It’s about that valueless, yet we give our whole lives, all of our energies over to them.
Seek ye first the Kingdom of God is not just a nice and good idea, we will all give an account. The price Jesus paid for us to be able to give this account is immeasurable. How much to we value the laying down of His life, enough to also lay ours down? Daily, giving of our time for His kingdom, or for our own, for His will or our own?
Daily Repetitive Verses:
Isaiah 58:12 You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again. THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language
Monday, June 26, 2006
Sunday, June 25, 2006
John 14 Today
Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
John 14:1-31 -
Jesus, the Way to the Father
1"Don't be troubled. You trust God, now trust in me. 2There are many rooms in my Father's home, and I am going to prepare a place for you. If this were not so, I would tell you plainly. 3When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. 4And you know where I am going and how to get there."
5"No, we don't know, Lord," Thomas said. "We haven't any idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?"
6Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. 7If you had known who I am, then you would have known who my Father is. F70 From now on you know him and have seen him!"
8Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and we will be satisfied."
9Jesus replied, "Philip, don't you even yet know who I am, even after all the time I have been with you? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking to see him? 10Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I say are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. 11Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of what you have seen me do.
12"The truth is, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. 13You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, because the work of the Son brings glory to the Father. 14Yes, ask anything in my name, and I will do it!
Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit
15"If you love me, obey my commandments. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, F71 who will never leave you. 17He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world at large cannot receive him, because it isn't looking for him and doesn't recognize him. But you do, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. 18No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. 19In just a little while the world will not see me again, but you will. For I will live again, and you will, too. 20When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21Those who obey my commandments are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them, and I will love them. And I will reveal myself to each one of them."
22Judas (not Judas Iscariot, but the other disciple with that name) said to him, "Lord, why are you going to reveal yourself only to us and not to the world at large?"
23Jesus replied, "All those who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and live with them. 24Anyone who doesn't love me will not do what I say. And remember, my words are not my own. This message is from the Father who sent me. 25I am telling you these things now while I am still with you. 26But when the Father sends the Counselor as my representative—and by the Counselor I mean the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I myself have told you.
27"I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give isn't like the peace the world gives. So don't be troubled or afraid. 28Remember what I told you: I am going away, but I will come back to you again. If you really love me, you will be very happy for me, because now I can go to the Father, who is greater than I am. 29I have told you these things before they happen so that you will believe when they do happen.
30"I don't have much more time to talk to you, because the prince of this world approaches. He has no power over me, 31but I will do what the Father requires of me, so that the world will know that I love the Father. Come, let's be going.
FOOTNOTES:F70: Some manuscripts read If you really have known me, you will know who my Father is. F71: Or Comforter, or Encourager, or Advocate. Greek Paraclete; also in 14:26.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved. For more information about the NLT, please click here.
~ Lena’s Journalin’
Sometimes isn’t it just good to say, “Ok now, what is this whole thing about anyway?” and then get a brief summary for a refreshed start, a re-centering?
So let’s once again ask, “What is all of this about?” This life, This Christianity, This timeframe we live in, etc.
It is all about reconciliation of what was lost between God and man. The eternal unhindered fellowship. God is Father, we must find our WAY back to the Father through His Faithful Son, Jesus Christ.
I mean everything is about that, every breath, every day, every trial, every decision, everything.
So Jesus says He is preparing a place for us to come and stay. It is an eternal place with the Father. Someone once said that all of our decisions here on earth are sending building materials heavenward for the builders to build our staying places of eternity. I expect that that picture is taken from the scripture that states wherever our true treasures are, so will our hearts be.
No matter what our heavenly homes would look like, we who believe in Him will move there after we’ve served our time here. We’re in but not of this world and its “ways”, but only IN it for a time frame to do the will of the One who sent us here.
Jesus had 33 years, How many do you have? Have you already had? Let’s all “get in the boat” Jesus rode in here on earth and serve our Father well, while we still have time left here.
Why greater works? Greater is of quantity. There are more of us, there was one human man of Him. He was here 33 years, we may be here longer. In this lies “greater”. There will be more accomplished with those who will get on board.
Have you seen the Son? Then you’ve seen the Father. Show forth the Son, show forth the Father. Show forth Love and you’ll have seen and shown the Father and Son! Everything is about “seeing” and seeing is believing, but it is not natural sight we believe with. It is spiritual light, spiritual understanding. This is not even found in the mind-man, but in the spirit-man. It is the heart of understanding, the truth found in the heart of man.
So, do you know the Truth? The Truth is not a principle or a great ideal. It- He is a person, THE Person of Jesus Christ!
Jesus told the disciples that the Holy Spirit lives with them now, and later on will live in them. Cool, huh? The spirit in man being filled with the Holy Spirit of God! Hey, we know about possession, and none of us would willingly desire to be filled with anything evil. We wouldn’t want to be controlled by an evil presence, would we? Knowing that, we cannot equate the Holy Spirit the same as a demonic force of evil and refuse Him living inside of us, because we don’t want to be possessed.
Hey, if you have to be possessed (or ruled) by someone, wouldn’t it be God’s spirit? If God’s spirit isn’t alive and in full active duty in us, who is? Us? If so, there is room for other spirits, if we are not on guard and awake. Having God inside of us is a guard against the evil forces.
A lot of people don’t want to “be controlled”, so they have a hard time receiving God’s spirit. There is no faith then if we struggle with the reception of Gods spirit. This is God we are talking about here.
If a person “sees” they’ll believe, to refuse is to not have seen. It would even be better for God to be alive and active in me than having my old self life alive and active in me. If he is truly Lord, as I have confessed, I want Him alive in me. I’ve lived in error for years, untaught, uncultured, disordered and unmannerly. He has come to knock on my door to teach me otherwise, to advise me as I walk through life. How could I ever live for God here without Him?
Trust is a fruit that comes from faith. Trust is gained yes, but with God there is no proving necessary. We all know He is faithful, He is true, He is Great, Almighty, etc. There is no excuse, except selfishness, and unwillingness for change. We MUST Trust God!
Trust Me, Obey Me, Love Me Obey Me, Follow Me Obey Me.
There’s not a whole lot of slack or options there. Everything outside of this is a struggle, a contest, a battleground on the lowest level of rank.
Obedience to the Word of God is the evidence of faith and trust in God. Disobedience, means we have not yet seen, and it is imperative we see. There will be no excuse, step out into the light, remove the dark clouds, shoo away intruders, put on kingdom glasses, something. It is seriously a time to be seeing as never before. God is not responsible to make us see. Yet we must see to believe.
Daily Repetitive Verses:
Isaiah 58:12 You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again. THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
John 14:1-31 -
Jesus, the Way to the Father
1"Don't be troubled. You trust God, now trust in me. 2There are many rooms in my Father's home, and I am going to prepare a place for you. If this were not so, I would tell you plainly. 3When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. 4And you know where I am going and how to get there."
5"No, we don't know, Lord," Thomas said. "We haven't any idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?"
6Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. 7If you had known who I am, then you would have known who my Father is. F70 From now on you know him and have seen him!"
8Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and we will be satisfied."
9Jesus replied, "Philip, don't you even yet know who I am, even after all the time I have been with you? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking to see him? 10Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I say are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. 11Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of what you have seen me do.
12"The truth is, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. 13You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, because the work of the Son brings glory to the Father. 14Yes, ask anything in my name, and I will do it!
Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit
15"If you love me, obey my commandments. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, F71 who will never leave you. 17He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world at large cannot receive him, because it isn't looking for him and doesn't recognize him. But you do, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. 18No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. 19In just a little while the world will not see me again, but you will. For I will live again, and you will, too. 20When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21Those who obey my commandments are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them, and I will love them. And I will reveal myself to each one of them."
22Judas (not Judas Iscariot, but the other disciple with that name) said to him, "Lord, why are you going to reveal yourself only to us and not to the world at large?"
23Jesus replied, "All those who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and live with them. 24Anyone who doesn't love me will not do what I say. And remember, my words are not my own. This message is from the Father who sent me. 25I am telling you these things now while I am still with you. 26But when the Father sends the Counselor as my representative—and by the Counselor I mean the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I myself have told you.
27"I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give isn't like the peace the world gives. So don't be troubled or afraid. 28Remember what I told you: I am going away, but I will come back to you again. If you really love me, you will be very happy for me, because now I can go to the Father, who is greater than I am. 29I have told you these things before they happen so that you will believe when they do happen.
30"I don't have much more time to talk to you, because the prince of this world approaches. He has no power over me, 31but I will do what the Father requires of me, so that the world will know that I love the Father. Come, let's be going.
FOOTNOTES:F70: Some manuscripts read If you really have known me, you will know who my Father is. F71: Or Comforter, or Encourager, or Advocate. Greek Paraclete; also in 14:26.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved. For more information about the NLT, please click here.
~ Lena’s Journalin’
Sometimes isn’t it just good to say, “Ok now, what is this whole thing about anyway?” and then get a brief summary for a refreshed start, a re-centering?
So let’s once again ask, “What is all of this about?” This life, This Christianity, This timeframe we live in, etc.
It is all about reconciliation of what was lost between God and man. The eternal unhindered fellowship. God is Father, we must find our WAY back to the Father through His Faithful Son, Jesus Christ.
I mean everything is about that, every breath, every day, every trial, every decision, everything.
So Jesus says He is preparing a place for us to come and stay. It is an eternal place with the Father. Someone once said that all of our decisions here on earth are sending building materials heavenward for the builders to build our staying places of eternity. I expect that that picture is taken from the scripture that states wherever our true treasures are, so will our hearts be.
No matter what our heavenly homes would look like, we who believe in Him will move there after we’ve served our time here. We’re in but not of this world and its “ways”, but only IN it for a time frame to do the will of the One who sent us here.
Jesus had 33 years, How many do you have? Have you already had? Let’s all “get in the boat” Jesus rode in here on earth and serve our Father well, while we still have time left here.
Why greater works? Greater is of quantity. There are more of us, there was one human man of Him. He was here 33 years, we may be here longer. In this lies “greater”. There will be more accomplished with those who will get on board.
Have you seen the Son? Then you’ve seen the Father. Show forth the Son, show forth the Father. Show forth Love and you’ll have seen and shown the Father and Son! Everything is about “seeing” and seeing is believing, but it is not natural sight we believe with. It is spiritual light, spiritual understanding. This is not even found in the mind-man, but in the spirit-man. It is the heart of understanding, the truth found in the heart of man.
So, do you know the Truth? The Truth is not a principle or a great ideal. It- He is a person, THE Person of Jesus Christ!
Jesus told the disciples that the Holy Spirit lives with them now, and later on will live in them. Cool, huh? The spirit in man being filled with the Holy Spirit of God! Hey, we know about possession, and none of us would willingly desire to be filled with anything evil. We wouldn’t want to be controlled by an evil presence, would we? Knowing that, we cannot equate the Holy Spirit the same as a demonic force of evil and refuse Him living inside of us, because we don’t want to be possessed.
Hey, if you have to be possessed (or ruled) by someone, wouldn’t it be God’s spirit? If God’s spirit isn’t alive and in full active duty in us, who is? Us? If so, there is room for other spirits, if we are not on guard and awake. Having God inside of us is a guard against the evil forces.
A lot of people don’t want to “be controlled”, so they have a hard time receiving God’s spirit. There is no faith then if we struggle with the reception of Gods spirit. This is God we are talking about here.
If a person “sees” they’ll believe, to refuse is to not have seen. It would even be better for God to be alive and active in me than having my old self life alive and active in me. If he is truly Lord, as I have confessed, I want Him alive in me. I’ve lived in error for years, untaught, uncultured, disordered and unmannerly. He has come to knock on my door to teach me otherwise, to advise me as I walk through life. How could I ever live for God here without Him?
Trust is a fruit that comes from faith. Trust is gained yes, but with God there is no proving necessary. We all know He is faithful, He is true, He is Great, Almighty, etc. There is no excuse, except selfishness, and unwillingness for change. We MUST Trust God!
Trust Me, Obey Me, Love Me Obey Me, Follow Me Obey Me.
There’s not a whole lot of slack or options there. Everything outside of this is a struggle, a contest, a battleground on the lowest level of rank.
Obedience to the Word of God is the evidence of faith and trust in God. Disobedience, means we have not yet seen, and it is imperative we see. There will be no excuse, step out into the light, remove the dark clouds, shoo away intruders, put on kingdom glasses, something. It is seriously a time to be seeing as never before. God is not responsible to make us see. Yet we must see to believe.
Daily Repetitive Verses:
Isaiah 58:12 You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again. THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
1 John 5:1-21
1Every person who believes that Jesus is, in fact, the Messiah, is God-begotten. If we love the One who conceives the child, we'll surely love the child who was conceived. 2 The reality test on whether or not we love God's children is this: Do we love God? Do we keep his commands? 3The proof that we love God comes when we keep his commandments and they are not at all troublesome.
The Power That Brings the World to Its Knees
4Every God-begotten person conquers the world's ways. The conquering power that brings the world to its knees is our faith. 5The person who wins out over the world's ways is simply the one who believes Jesus is the Son of God.
6Jesus--the Divine Christ! He experienced a life-giving birth and a death-killing death. Not only birth from the womb, but baptismal birth of his ministry and sacrificial death. And all the while the Spirit is confirming the truth, the reality of God's presence at Jesus' baptism and crucifixion, bringing those occasions alive for us.[(s15.7)] A triple testimony: 8 the Spirit, the Baptism, the Crucifixion. And the three in perfect agreement.
9If we take human testimony at face value, how much more should we be reassured when God gives testimony as he does here, testifying concerning his Son. 10Whoever believes in the Son of God inwardly confirms God's testimony. Whoever refuses to believe in effect calls God a liar, refusing to believe God's own testimony regarding his Son.
11This is the testimony in essence: God gave us eternal life; the life is in his Son. 12So, whoever has the Son, has life; whoever rejects the Son, rejects life.
The Reality, Not the Illusion
13My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God's Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, the reality and not the illusion. 14And how bold and free we then become in his presence, freely asking according to his will, sure that he's listening. 15And if we're confident that he's listening, we know that what we've asked for is as good as ours.
16For instance, if we see a Christian believer sinning (clearly I'm not talking about those who make a practice of sin in a way that is "fatal," leading to eternal death), we ask for God's help and he gladly gives it, gives life to the sinner whose sin is not fatal. There is such a thing as a fatal sin, and I'm not urging you to pray about that. 17Everything we do wrong is sin, but not all sin is fatal.
18We know that none of the God-begotten makes a practice of sin--fatal sin. The God-begotten are also the God-protected. The Evil One can't lay a hand on them. 19We know that we are held firm by God; it's only the people of the world who continue in the grip of the Evil One. 20And we know that the Son of God came so we could recognize and understand the truth of God--what a gift!-and we are living in the Truth itself, in God's Son, Jesus Christ. This Jesus is both True God and Real Life. 21Dear children, be on guard against all clever facsimiles.
Copyright Statement: THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary LanguageThis edition issued by contractual arrangement with NavPress, a division of The Navigators, U.S.A.Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language Copyright © 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
~ Lena’s Journalin’
The only “trouble” is disobedience. A will to do His good pleasure eliminates this trouble. The war is inside of the will. The will to do His good pleasure eliminates the war. We take authority over our wills by deciding to do His will. Decide with Him for His will to be done, His kingdom to come, through our yielded vessels.
We cannot just allow things to fall in line as they wish, that is foolishness, we decide the outcome. We allow and disallow death and life forces to take charge of us or us them. We’ve been give the authority of the word of God and the name of Jesus. If things overcome us, we allowed then to reign. We must forcefully allow Him to reign.
Love is a decision. Discipleship is a decision, Obedience is a decision. Decisive power is in the will, the will is the greatest human power available, united and ignited through Christ, there’s no limit at all in being united with the accomplishment of the will of God, no force can withstand us in that.
If we allow emotions and circumstances to rule us they will, they WILL. “They” have a will also, but not for His good pleasure. “They” have a self agenda, a self life to satisfy. Their call is to get us to be recruited and serve the self life call. This wars against the establishment of God’s righteous kingdom on earth. It is unjust for self life to rule, the earth groans out in pain, that God Most High has not been allowed to rule!
Did you read the passage, EVERY God Begotten person, CONQUERS the world’s ways! I want to leap inside! WOW! Conquering is also a decision. It is not based on reason, it is based on FAITH! Our FAITH IN GOD (not self, not abilities, not hopes that all will work out, ) Our Faith IN God overcomes the world.
Is Jesus Lord in your life or not? If He is, He rules.
He who has the SON has LIFE. Do you have the son? Then do not, I mean refuse to listen to lies that say, you have death working in you! Plug your ears and sing, “La la la la la”….I can’t hear YOU, I HAVE LIFE, La la la…”Then acknowledge God and disregard any other voice or presence in your mind heart and atmosphere. Why entertain evil words of darkness and death, why give them the time of day? Don’t.
Be on guard, stay on watch, open your eyes to see. Light-Dark, Death – Life. Make it clear. Live clearly stated, of clear purpose, of clear action. Don’t allow things to fall where they may. What you allowed is allowed. Do not blame God, at all ever. This is warfare we are engaged in,. Think about it. If you came out of darkness, any thing that can possibly bring you back makes satan happy. Any remote participation in his will and purposes make him smile, for he is at war with God. We are children of light, we don’t want him happy at all! Forget about his will, live for Christs’ will- period! Make a decision. Today.
Daily Repetitive Verses:
Isaiah 58:12 And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of [buildings that have laid waste for] many generations; and you shall be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of Streets to Dwell In. Amplified Bible
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
1 John 5:1-21
1Every person who believes that Jesus is, in fact, the Messiah, is God-begotten. If we love the One who conceives the child, we'll surely love the child who was conceived. 2 The reality test on whether or not we love God's children is this: Do we love God? Do we keep his commands? 3The proof that we love God comes when we keep his commandments and they are not at all troublesome.
The Power That Brings the World to Its Knees
4Every God-begotten person conquers the world's ways. The conquering power that brings the world to its knees is our faith. 5The person who wins out over the world's ways is simply the one who believes Jesus is the Son of God.
6Jesus--the Divine Christ! He experienced a life-giving birth and a death-killing death. Not only birth from the womb, but baptismal birth of his ministry and sacrificial death. And all the while the Spirit is confirming the truth, the reality of God's presence at Jesus' baptism and crucifixion, bringing those occasions alive for us.[(s15.7)] A triple testimony: 8 the Spirit, the Baptism, the Crucifixion. And the three in perfect agreement.
9If we take human testimony at face value, how much more should we be reassured when God gives testimony as he does here, testifying concerning his Son. 10Whoever believes in the Son of God inwardly confirms God's testimony. Whoever refuses to believe in effect calls God a liar, refusing to believe God's own testimony regarding his Son.
11This is the testimony in essence: God gave us eternal life; the life is in his Son. 12So, whoever has the Son, has life; whoever rejects the Son, rejects life.
The Reality, Not the Illusion
13My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God's Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, the reality and not the illusion. 14And how bold and free we then become in his presence, freely asking according to his will, sure that he's listening. 15And if we're confident that he's listening, we know that what we've asked for is as good as ours.
16For instance, if we see a Christian believer sinning (clearly I'm not talking about those who make a practice of sin in a way that is "fatal," leading to eternal death), we ask for God's help and he gladly gives it, gives life to the sinner whose sin is not fatal. There is such a thing as a fatal sin, and I'm not urging you to pray about that. 17Everything we do wrong is sin, but not all sin is fatal.
18We know that none of the God-begotten makes a practice of sin--fatal sin. The God-begotten are also the God-protected. The Evil One can't lay a hand on them. 19We know that we are held firm by God; it's only the people of the world who continue in the grip of the Evil One. 20And we know that the Son of God came so we could recognize and understand the truth of God--what a gift!-and we are living in the Truth itself, in God's Son, Jesus Christ. This Jesus is both True God and Real Life. 21Dear children, be on guard against all clever facsimiles.
Copyright Statement: THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary LanguageThis edition issued by contractual arrangement with NavPress, a division of The Navigators, U.S.A.Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language Copyright © 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
~ Lena’s Journalin’
The only “trouble” is disobedience. A will to do His good pleasure eliminates this trouble. The war is inside of the will. The will to do His good pleasure eliminates the war. We take authority over our wills by deciding to do His will. Decide with Him for His will to be done, His kingdom to come, through our yielded vessels.
We cannot just allow things to fall in line as they wish, that is foolishness, we decide the outcome. We allow and disallow death and life forces to take charge of us or us them. We’ve been give the authority of the word of God and the name of Jesus. If things overcome us, we allowed then to reign. We must forcefully allow Him to reign.
Love is a decision. Discipleship is a decision, Obedience is a decision. Decisive power is in the will, the will is the greatest human power available, united and ignited through Christ, there’s no limit at all in being united with the accomplishment of the will of God, no force can withstand us in that.
If we allow emotions and circumstances to rule us they will, they WILL. “They” have a will also, but not for His good pleasure. “They” have a self agenda, a self life to satisfy. Their call is to get us to be recruited and serve the self life call. This wars against the establishment of God’s righteous kingdom on earth. It is unjust for self life to rule, the earth groans out in pain, that God Most High has not been allowed to rule!
Did you read the passage, EVERY God Begotten person, CONQUERS the world’s ways! I want to leap inside! WOW! Conquering is also a decision. It is not based on reason, it is based on FAITH! Our FAITH IN GOD (not self, not abilities, not hopes that all will work out, ) Our Faith IN God overcomes the world.
Is Jesus Lord in your life or not? If He is, He rules.
He who has the SON has LIFE. Do you have the son? Then do not, I mean refuse to listen to lies that say, you have death working in you! Plug your ears and sing, “La la la la la”….I can’t hear YOU, I HAVE LIFE, La la la…”Then acknowledge God and disregard any other voice or presence in your mind heart and atmosphere. Why entertain evil words of darkness and death, why give them the time of day? Don’t.
Be on guard, stay on watch, open your eyes to see. Light-Dark, Death – Life. Make it clear. Live clearly stated, of clear purpose, of clear action. Don’t allow things to fall where they may. What you allowed is allowed. Do not blame God, at all ever. This is warfare we are engaged in,. Think about it. If you came out of darkness, any thing that can possibly bring you back makes satan happy. Any remote participation in his will and purposes make him smile, for he is at war with God. We are children of light, we don’t want him happy at all! Forget about his will, live for Christs’ will- period! Make a decision. Today.
Daily Repetitive Verses:
Isaiah 58:12 And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of [buildings that have laid waste for] many generations; and you shall be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of Streets to Dwell In. Amplified Bible
Friday, June 23, 2006
John 11 Decide
Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
John 11:1-57 -
The Death of Lazarus
1A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha. 2This is the Mary who poured the expensive perfume on the Lord's feet and wiped them with her hair. F48 Her brother, Lazarus, was sick. 3So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him, "Lord, the one you love is very sick."
4But when Jesus heard about it he said, "Lazarus's sickness will not end in death. No, it is for the glory of God. I, the Son of God, will receive glory from this." 5Although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, 6he stayed where he was for the next two days and did not go to them. 7Finally after two days, he said to his disciples, "Let's go to Judea again."
8But his disciples objected. "Teacher," they said, "only a few days ago the Jewish leaders in Judea were trying to kill you. Are you going there again?"
9Jesus replied, "There are twelve hours of daylight every day. As long as it is light, people can walk safely. They can see because they have the light of this world. 10Only at night is there danger of stumbling because there is no light." 11Then he said, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up."
12The disciples said, "Lord, if he is sleeping, that means he is getting better!" 13They thought Jesus meant Lazarus was having a good night's rest, but Jesus meant Lazarus had died.
14Then he told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead. 15And for your sake, I am glad I wasn't there, because this will give you another opportunity to believe in me. Come, let's go see him."
16Thomas, nicknamed the Twin, F49 said to his fellow disciples, "Let's go, too—and die with Jesus."
17When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days. 18Bethany was only a few miles F50 down the road from Jerusalem, 19and many of the people F51 had come to pay their respects and console Martha and Mary on their loss. 20When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed at home. 21Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask."
23Jesus told her, "Your brother will rise again."
24"Yes," Martha said, "when everyone else rises, on resurrection day."
25Jesus told her, "I am the resurrection and the life. F52 Those who believe in me, even though they die like everyone else, will live again. 26They are given eternal life for believing in me and will never perish. Do you believe this, Martha?"
27"Yes, Lord," she told him. "I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God." 28Then she left him and returned to Mary. She called Mary aside from the mourners and told her, "The Teacher is here and wants to see you." 29So Mary immediately went to him.
30Now Jesus had stayed outside the village, at the place where Martha met him. 31When the people who were at the house trying to console Mary saw her leave so hastily, they assumed she was going to Lazarus's grave to weep. So they followed her there. 32When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell down at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
33When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, he was moved with indignation and was deeply troubled. 34"Where have you put him?" he asked them. They told him, "Lord, come and see." 35Then Jesus wept. 36The people who were standing nearby said, "See how much he loved him." 37But some said, "This man healed a blind man. Why couldn't he keep Lazarus from dying?"
Jesus Raises Lazarus from the Dead
38And again Jesus was deeply troubled. Then they came to the grave. It was a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance. 39"Roll the stone aside," Jesus told them. But Martha, the dead man's sister, said, "Lord, by now the smell will be terrible because he has been dead for four days."
40Jesus responded, "Didn't I tell you that you will see God's glory if you believe?" 41So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, "Father, thank you for hearing me. 42You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so they will believe you sent me." 43Then Jesus shouted, "Lazarus, come out!" 44And Lazarus came out, bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, "Unwrap him and let him go!"
The Plot to Kill Jesus
45Many of the people who were with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw this happen. 46But some went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47Then the leading priests and Pharisees called the high council F53 together to discuss the situation. "What are we going to do?" they asked each other. "This man certainly performs many miraculous signs. 48If we leave him alone, the whole nation will follow him, and then the Roman army will come and destroy both our Temple and our nation."
49And one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said, "How can you be so stupid? 50Why should the whole nation be destroyed? Let this one man die for the people."
51This prophecy that Jesus should die for the entire nation came from Caiaphas in his position as high priest. He didn't think of it himself; he was inspired to say it. 52It was a prediction that Jesus' death would be not for Israel only, but for the gathering together of all the children of God scattered around the world.
53So from that time on the Jewish leaders began to plot Jesus' death. 54As a result, Jesus stopped his public ministry among the people and left Jerusalem. He went to a place near the wilderness, to the village of Ephraim, and stayed there with his disciples.
55It was now almost time for the celebration of Passover, and many people from the country arrived in Jerusalem several days early so they could go through the cleansing ceremony before the Passover began. 56They wanted to see Jesus, and as they talked in the Temple, they asked each other, "What do you think? Will he come for the Passover?" 57Meanwhile, the leading priests and Pharisees had publicly announced that anyone seeing Jesus must report him immediately so they could arrest him.
FOOTNOTES:F48: This incident is recorded in chapter 12. F49: Greek the one who was called Didymus. F50: Greek was about 15 stadia [about 2.8 kilometers]. F51: Greek Jewish people; also 11:31, 33, 36, 45, 54. F52: Some manuscripts do not include and the life. F53: Greek the Sanhedrin.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
~ Lena’s Journalin’
Love always goes beyond reason. It is amazing how the world tells us, if you love me you will….BUT with God it is not that way. Jesus said, but for the glory of God. One who will go all out no matter what to give God glory is loving, truly displaying love, even at the detriment of physical and mental relationships at times. His words caused offense, yet they were truth.
Do you wonder why Jesus said it was good for them that He didn’t go ahead and give them another opportunity to believe Him? Doesn’t that sound strange? It is/was only strange to the natural understanding. What was strange was that they could see Him, live by Him and watch miracle after miracle and not believe. God was holding them responsible for what they saw and did not respond to!
Did you know everyone who does not have the resurrection life of Christ in them is wrapped in grave clothes and must be loosed and let go?
Who will release them? Only the word of God. Only the man Jesus can loose death, the stench of death off of a man.
Oh dead man, be released in Jesus’ name! Call for the resurrection life and power of God to arise inside of your spirit man, be freed from the bonds of wickedness and its slavery!
Today
He died that we may live. He died as us. He rose and ascended to the Father as us, after going to hell as us, and conquering death, the power death had over men.
With the mere power of choice, man can now be free to choose Christ’s life!
The power is and always has been in the will.
Will you worship? Serve Him? Love? Forgive? Will you?
I will!
Let Thy Kingdom come and Thy will be accomplished in the earth, this earth suit- Amen!
Daily Repetitive Verses:
Isaiah 58:12 You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again. THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
John 11:1-57 -
The Death of Lazarus
1A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha. 2This is the Mary who poured the expensive perfume on the Lord's feet and wiped them with her hair. F48 Her brother, Lazarus, was sick. 3So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him, "Lord, the one you love is very sick."
4But when Jesus heard about it he said, "Lazarus's sickness will not end in death. No, it is for the glory of God. I, the Son of God, will receive glory from this." 5Although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, 6he stayed where he was for the next two days and did not go to them. 7Finally after two days, he said to his disciples, "Let's go to Judea again."
8But his disciples objected. "Teacher," they said, "only a few days ago the Jewish leaders in Judea were trying to kill you. Are you going there again?"
9Jesus replied, "There are twelve hours of daylight every day. As long as it is light, people can walk safely. They can see because they have the light of this world. 10Only at night is there danger of stumbling because there is no light." 11Then he said, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up."
12The disciples said, "Lord, if he is sleeping, that means he is getting better!" 13They thought Jesus meant Lazarus was having a good night's rest, but Jesus meant Lazarus had died.
14Then he told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead. 15And for your sake, I am glad I wasn't there, because this will give you another opportunity to believe in me. Come, let's go see him."
16Thomas, nicknamed the Twin, F49 said to his fellow disciples, "Let's go, too—and die with Jesus."
17When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days. 18Bethany was only a few miles F50 down the road from Jerusalem, 19and many of the people F51 had come to pay their respects and console Martha and Mary on their loss. 20When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed at home. 21Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask."
23Jesus told her, "Your brother will rise again."
24"Yes," Martha said, "when everyone else rises, on resurrection day."
25Jesus told her, "I am the resurrection and the life. F52 Those who believe in me, even though they die like everyone else, will live again. 26They are given eternal life for believing in me and will never perish. Do you believe this, Martha?"
27"Yes, Lord," she told him. "I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God." 28Then she left him and returned to Mary. She called Mary aside from the mourners and told her, "The Teacher is here and wants to see you." 29So Mary immediately went to him.
30Now Jesus had stayed outside the village, at the place where Martha met him. 31When the people who were at the house trying to console Mary saw her leave so hastily, they assumed she was going to Lazarus's grave to weep. So they followed her there. 32When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell down at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
33When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, he was moved with indignation and was deeply troubled. 34"Where have you put him?" he asked them. They told him, "Lord, come and see." 35Then Jesus wept. 36The people who were standing nearby said, "See how much he loved him." 37But some said, "This man healed a blind man. Why couldn't he keep Lazarus from dying?"
Jesus Raises Lazarus from the Dead
38And again Jesus was deeply troubled. Then they came to the grave. It was a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance. 39"Roll the stone aside," Jesus told them. But Martha, the dead man's sister, said, "Lord, by now the smell will be terrible because he has been dead for four days."
40Jesus responded, "Didn't I tell you that you will see God's glory if you believe?" 41So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, "Father, thank you for hearing me. 42You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so they will believe you sent me." 43Then Jesus shouted, "Lazarus, come out!" 44And Lazarus came out, bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, "Unwrap him and let him go!"
The Plot to Kill Jesus
45Many of the people who were with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw this happen. 46But some went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47Then the leading priests and Pharisees called the high council F53 together to discuss the situation. "What are we going to do?" they asked each other. "This man certainly performs many miraculous signs. 48If we leave him alone, the whole nation will follow him, and then the Roman army will come and destroy both our Temple and our nation."
49And one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said, "How can you be so stupid? 50Why should the whole nation be destroyed? Let this one man die for the people."
51This prophecy that Jesus should die for the entire nation came from Caiaphas in his position as high priest. He didn't think of it himself; he was inspired to say it. 52It was a prediction that Jesus' death would be not for Israel only, but for the gathering together of all the children of God scattered around the world.
53So from that time on the Jewish leaders began to plot Jesus' death. 54As a result, Jesus stopped his public ministry among the people and left Jerusalem. He went to a place near the wilderness, to the village of Ephraim, and stayed there with his disciples.
55It was now almost time for the celebration of Passover, and many people from the country arrived in Jerusalem several days early so they could go through the cleansing ceremony before the Passover began. 56They wanted to see Jesus, and as they talked in the Temple, they asked each other, "What do you think? Will he come for the Passover?" 57Meanwhile, the leading priests and Pharisees had publicly announced that anyone seeing Jesus must report him immediately so they could arrest him.
FOOTNOTES:F48: This incident is recorded in chapter 12. F49: Greek the one who was called Didymus. F50: Greek was about 15 stadia [about 2.8 kilometers]. F51: Greek Jewish people; also 11:31, 33, 36, 45, 54. F52: Some manuscripts do not include and the life. F53: Greek the Sanhedrin.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
~ Lena’s Journalin’
Love always goes beyond reason. It is amazing how the world tells us, if you love me you will….BUT with God it is not that way. Jesus said, but for the glory of God. One who will go all out no matter what to give God glory is loving, truly displaying love, even at the detriment of physical and mental relationships at times. His words caused offense, yet they were truth.
Do you wonder why Jesus said it was good for them that He didn’t go ahead and give them another opportunity to believe Him? Doesn’t that sound strange? It is/was only strange to the natural understanding. What was strange was that they could see Him, live by Him and watch miracle after miracle and not believe. God was holding them responsible for what they saw and did not respond to!
Did you know everyone who does not have the resurrection life of Christ in them is wrapped in grave clothes and must be loosed and let go?
Who will release them? Only the word of God. Only the man Jesus can loose death, the stench of death off of a man.
Oh dead man, be released in Jesus’ name! Call for the resurrection life and power of God to arise inside of your spirit man, be freed from the bonds of wickedness and its slavery!
Today
He died that we may live. He died as us. He rose and ascended to the Father as us, after going to hell as us, and conquering death, the power death had over men.
With the mere power of choice, man can now be free to choose Christ’s life!
The power is and always has been in the will.
Will you worship? Serve Him? Love? Forgive? Will you?
I will!
Let Thy Kingdom come and Thy will be accomplished in the earth, this earth suit- Amen!
Daily Repetitive Verses:
Isaiah 58:12 You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again. THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language
Thursday, June 22, 2006
John 8 Today!
Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
John 8:1-59 -
A Woman Caught in Adultery
1Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, 2but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. 3As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and Pharisees brought a woman they had caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.
4"Teacher," they said to Jesus, "this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. 5The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?"
6They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. 7They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, "All right, stone her. But let those who have never sinned throw the first stones!" 8Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.
9When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10Then Jesus stood up again and said to her, "Where are your accusers? Didn't even one of them condemn you?"
11"No, Lord," she said. And Jesus said, "Neither do I. Go and sin no more."
Jesus, the Light of the World
12Jesus said to the people, "I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won't be stumbling through the darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life."
13The Pharisees replied, "You are making false claims about yourself!"
14Jesus told them, "These claims are valid even though I make them about myself. For I know where I came from and where I am going, but you don't know this about me. 15You judge me with all your human limitations, F36 but I am not judging anyone. 16And if I did, my judgment would be correct in every respect because I am not alone—I have with me the Father who sent me. 17Your own law says that if two people agree about something, their witness is accepted as fact. F37 18I am one witness, and my Father who sent me is the other."
19"Where is your father?" they asked. Jesus answered, "Since you don't know who I am, you don't know who my Father is. If you knew me, then you would know my Father, too." 20Jesus made these statements while he was teaching in the section of the Temple known as the Treasury. But he was not arrested, because his time had not yet come.
The Unbelieving People Warned
21Later Jesus said to them again, "I am going away. You will search for me and die in your sin. You cannot come where I am going."
22The Jewish leaders asked, "Is he planning to commit suicide? What does he mean, 'You cannot come where I am going'?"
23Then he said to them, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not. 24That is why I said that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am who I say I am, you will die in your sins."
25"Tell us who you are," they demanded. Jesus replied, "I am the one I have always claimed to be. F38 26I have much to say about you and much to condemn, but I won't. For I say only what I have heard from the one who sent me, and he is true." 27But they still didn't understand that he was talking to them about his Father.
28So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man on the cross, then you will realize that I am he and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak what the Father taught me. 29And the one who sent me is with me—he has not deserted me. For I always do those things that are pleasing to him." 30Then many who heard him say these things believed in him.
Jesus and Abraham
31Jesus said to the people F39 who believed in him, "You are truly my disciples if you keep obeying my teachings. 32And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
33"But we are descendants of Abraham," they said. "We have never been slaves to anyone on earth. What do you mean, 'set free'?"
34Jesus replied, "I assure you that everyone who sins is a slave of sin. 35A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. 36So if the Son sets you free, you will indeed be free. 37Yes, I realize that you are descendants of Abraham. And yet some of you are trying to kill me because my message does not find a place in your hearts. 38I am telling you what I saw when I was with my Father. But you are following the advice of your father."
39"Our father is Abraham," they declared. "No," Jesus replied, "for if you were children of Abraham, you would follow his good example. F40 40I told you the truth I heard from God, but you are trying to kill me. Abraham wouldn't do a thing like that. 41No, you are obeying your real father when you act that way." They replied, "We were not born out of wedlock! Our true Father is God himself."
42Jesus told them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, because I have come to you from God. I am not here on my own, but he sent me. 43Why can't you understand what I am saying? It is because you are unable to do so! 44For you are the children of your father the Devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning and has always hated the truth. There is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45So when I tell the truth, you just naturally don't believe me! 46Which of you can truthfully accuse me of sin? And since I am telling you the truth, why don't you believe me? 47Anyone whose Father is God listens gladly to the words of God. Since you don't, it proves you aren't God's children."
48The people retorted, "You Samaritan devil! Didn't we say all along that you were possessed by a demon?"
49"No," Jesus said, "I have no demon in me. For I honor my Father—and you dishonor me. 50And though I have no wish to glorify myself, God wants to glorify me. Let him be the judge. 51I assure you, anyone who obeys my teaching will never die!"
52The people said, "Now we know you are possessed by a demon. Even Abraham and the prophets died, but you say that those who obey your teaching will never die! 53Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? Are you greater than the prophets, who died? Who do you think you are?"
54Jesus answered, "If I am merely boasting about myself, it doesn't count. But it is my Father who says these glorious things about me. You say, 'He is our God,' 55but you do not even know him. I know him. If I said otherwise, I would be as great a liar as you! But it is true—I know him and obey him. 56Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced as he looked forward to my coming. He saw it and was glad."
57The people said, "You aren't even fifty years old. How can you say you have seen Abraham? F41 "
58Jesus answered, "The truth is, I existed before Abraham was even born!" F42 59At that point they picked up stones to kill him. But Jesus hid himself from them and left the Temple.
FOOTNOTES:F36: Or judge me by human standards. F37: See Deut 19:15. F38: Or "Why do I speak to you at all?" F39: Greek Jewish people; also in 8:48, 52, 57. F40: Some manuscripts read if you are children of Abraham, follow his example. F41: Some manuscripts read How can you say Abraham has seen you? F42: Or "Truly, truly, before Abraham was, I am."
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
~ Lena’s Journalin’
Usually in the Bible whenever a “woman” is spoken of, one can use it as a metaphor for the church. If this were the church, would it apply at all?
Has she sinned? Has she been found in adultery? (adultery defined as: being intimately related with one whom you are not in a lifelong committed covenantal relationship with) Does not the world, even the religious world, put the church in the forefront, interested in exposing her for who they see she is, with all of her mistakes exposed? Does not anyone who has a chance, seeing the wrongs she’s done as a whole, desire to throw stones at her, especially in the form of words and judgments? Does not the world, even the religious world, demand an answer from the Lord about this supposed perfect institution?
His answer, summed up: Whoever condemns one is also condemned, judge as you’d like to be judged, and with the same condemnation and severity, or forgive as the Lord forgives and you will also be forgiven.
Yes she has sinned, have we not also sinned? Remember the main ploy of sin and the main outcome of its fall is separation from God. The greatest to the least sin separates and tears at the fellowship God and man were meant to have eternally. Forgiveness bridges this gap.
Do we not want the gap filled in? Do we want it filled in between God and ourselves? What we want for ourselves we must also strive for, for others, we reap what we sow.
We must cry aloud for mercy for the church, who may have fallen from grace. Lord, have mercy on us. We must sigh and cry at the altars for the bride to be forgiven her trespasses and horrendous sins! Repentance of unmerciful judgments should be the order of everyday. God will judge the earth righteously, until then, we must cry out for mercy. Everyday, she could choose that day to be saved.
I noticed today Jesus says, If THEY do not condemn you, then neither do I….. What if, just what if, we let go and had mercy as He also has given us mercy; what if, she would then be free to worship Him and make the necessary changes, repent and sin no more? What if our pre-judgments have bound her to her sin, she cannot see her freedom, until we loose her with our forgiveness and let her go? What if?
If you knew Me (Jesus the Son), you would know My Father (God) also….We must know Jesus, to know God. Our Destiny is the Father, through the Son, there is no other way. Knowing is not acknowledging only, knowing is intimacy. Into me - He sees. His light is able to shine on any dark spot in me. I do not resist His light searching me out in hopes of finding the real me, inside of the real Him. I welcome the Light, the Light is the Truth I need. His Light shining is to save me.
I must know the Father, I must know His desire. I must know His Son, Jesus Christ. There’s no other pursuit worth living for as much as this one. To Know the Father by knowing the Son, so much that He can go anywhere in me at anytime in any place, ever. I am His and He is mine, eternally, we are family.
The highest agreement anyone can ever have is the agreement between and man and God in His word. If and man agrees with God’s word he is empowered by the spirit of God supernaturally. He connects with the realm of God’s powerful spirit.
Is it easy for man to agree with God’s word? No wonder it is so easily contested. I wonder why it is always up for debate? I wonder why we don’t just trust Him and live by faith in His words so easily? Spiritual warfare. Enemies know that if we were to just swallow every word from God, or trust God at His word, the world will change. So contestants are all about whispering in ears, saying, don’t just swallow that, don’t accept that so easily, don’t take that, hook, line and sinker. If you listen to those voices, you’ve missed hearing the most important voice of all, the voice of Your Father! Now you still do not agree with Him, at His word level, and there’s a huge lack in the power realm in our lives. Might consider agreeing with God’s word by faith alone. Flesh and blood cannot comprehend the power of the agreement of the word, reason steps in the way every time! Tear down reasoning’s, if they are destroying the power of God’s word alive in your life. 2 Cor 10:3-6 We’ve got the power to overrule our wills that rise up against God’s will.
If we only speak about God alone, the enemy will hear – “god”. We must share Christ Jesus as Lord, through the cross. If we do not share God the Father, through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, people will die in their sins.
When Jesus spoke of discipleship here, the religious immediately likened it to slavery. Jesus did not say slavery, but they did, which shows that that was what was in their hearts. Do you think one who feels discipleship is slavery, will volunteer? Disciple means disciplined learner, one who comes under the hand for guidance, and rule. A slave is taken, inflicted upon, a disciple is a volunteer. Maybe the disciple will do some of the same activities as a slave would, but the motivation is different. The source of value is different. One is taken, the other given, freely. The only difference may be hidden, inside of the heart. An outsider may not be able to see a difference outwardly, except they come closer to taste the attitude in the air.
It reminds me of offering time. Jesus watched two people giving, one gave a larger amount than the other. It was noted that the one who gave the smaller amount, by all outward appearances, she gave very little, but God through Jesus, who looked on the heart, saw she gave much more than the one who gave much monetarily. He looked at the heart.
How we feel in our hearts, is who or what we are serving. If we feel enslaved, we are enslaved. If we feel freed, we are freed.
Sin is sin, if we serve sin, then we say it is our father, by default. The default being, we do not serve God as Father, we are not submitted under His command, because we cannot serve two Masters, if we serve sin, we do not serve God as Father, just as whomever we agree with is where the power, or lack of power in our lives lie.
Daily Repetitive Verses:
Isaiah 58:12 Your children will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as the people who rebuild their walls and cities. NLT
Who are our children? When those who follow after us in example grow up and build, get a revelation and build, we’ll know we have children taught by the Lord. They can take whatever mistakes of the past, the past of their ancestors, the past of their own lives and make the miraculous happen, not allowing their world to be shaped by it, but use it to go on differently. That is true blessing carried out.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
John 8:1-59 -
A Woman Caught in Adultery
1Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, 2but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. 3As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and Pharisees brought a woman they had caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.
4"Teacher," they said to Jesus, "this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. 5The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?"
6They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. 7They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, "All right, stone her. But let those who have never sinned throw the first stones!" 8Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.
9When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10Then Jesus stood up again and said to her, "Where are your accusers? Didn't even one of them condemn you?"
11"No, Lord," she said. And Jesus said, "Neither do I. Go and sin no more."
Jesus, the Light of the World
12Jesus said to the people, "I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won't be stumbling through the darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life."
13The Pharisees replied, "You are making false claims about yourself!"
14Jesus told them, "These claims are valid even though I make them about myself. For I know where I came from and where I am going, but you don't know this about me. 15You judge me with all your human limitations, F36 but I am not judging anyone. 16And if I did, my judgment would be correct in every respect because I am not alone—I have with me the Father who sent me. 17Your own law says that if two people agree about something, their witness is accepted as fact. F37 18I am one witness, and my Father who sent me is the other."
19"Where is your father?" they asked. Jesus answered, "Since you don't know who I am, you don't know who my Father is. If you knew me, then you would know my Father, too." 20Jesus made these statements while he was teaching in the section of the Temple known as the Treasury. But he was not arrested, because his time had not yet come.
The Unbelieving People Warned
21Later Jesus said to them again, "I am going away. You will search for me and die in your sin. You cannot come where I am going."
22The Jewish leaders asked, "Is he planning to commit suicide? What does he mean, 'You cannot come where I am going'?"
23Then he said to them, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not. 24That is why I said that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am who I say I am, you will die in your sins."
25"Tell us who you are," they demanded. Jesus replied, "I am the one I have always claimed to be. F38 26I have much to say about you and much to condemn, but I won't. For I say only what I have heard from the one who sent me, and he is true." 27But they still didn't understand that he was talking to them about his Father.
28So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man on the cross, then you will realize that I am he and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak what the Father taught me. 29And the one who sent me is with me—he has not deserted me. For I always do those things that are pleasing to him." 30Then many who heard him say these things believed in him.
Jesus and Abraham
31Jesus said to the people F39 who believed in him, "You are truly my disciples if you keep obeying my teachings. 32And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
33"But we are descendants of Abraham," they said. "We have never been slaves to anyone on earth. What do you mean, 'set free'?"
34Jesus replied, "I assure you that everyone who sins is a slave of sin. 35A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. 36So if the Son sets you free, you will indeed be free. 37Yes, I realize that you are descendants of Abraham. And yet some of you are trying to kill me because my message does not find a place in your hearts. 38I am telling you what I saw when I was with my Father. But you are following the advice of your father."
39"Our father is Abraham," they declared. "No," Jesus replied, "for if you were children of Abraham, you would follow his good example. F40 40I told you the truth I heard from God, but you are trying to kill me. Abraham wouldn't do a thing like that. 41No, you are obeying your real father when you act that way." They replied, "We were not born out of wedlock! Our true Father is God himself."
42Jesus told them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, because I have come to you from God. I am not here on my own, but he sent me. 43Why can't you understand what I am saying? It is because you are unable to do so! 44For you are the children of your father the Devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning and has always hated the truth. There is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45So when I tell the truth, you just naturally don't believe me! 46Which of you can truthfully accuse me of sin? And since I am telling you the truth, why don't you believe me? 47Anyone whose Father is God listens gladly to the words of God. Since you don't, it proves you aren't God's children."
48The people retorted, "You Samaritan devil! Didn't we say all along that you were possessed by a demon?"
49"No," Jesus said, "I have no demon in me. For I honor my Father—and you dishonor me. 50And though I have no wish to glorify myself, God wants to glorify me. Let him be the judge. 51I assure you, anyone who obeys my teaching will never die!"
52The people said, "Now we know you are possessed by a demon. Even Abraham and the prophets died, but you say that those who obey your teaching will never die! 53Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? Are you greater than the prophets, who died? Who do you think you are?"
54Jesus answered, "If I am merely boasting about myself, it doesn't count. But it is my Father who says these glorious things about me. You say, 'He is our God,' 55but you do not even know him. I know him. If I said otherwise, I would be as great a liar as you! But it is true—I know him and obey him. 56Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced as he looked forward to my coming. He saw it and was glad."
57The people said, "You aren't even fifty years old. How can you say you have seen Abraham? F41 "
58Jesus answered, "The truth is, I existed before Abraham was even born!" F42 59At that point they picked up stones to kill him. But Jesus hid himself from them and left the Temple.
FOOTNOTES:F36: Or judge me by human standards. F37: See Deut 19:15. F38: Or "Why do I speak to you at all?" F39: Greek Jewish people; also in 8:48, 52, 57. F40: Some manuscripts read if you are children of Abraham, follow his example. F41: Some manuscripts read How can you say Abraham has seen you? F42: Or "Truly, truly, before Abraham was, I am."
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
~ Lena’s Journalin’
Usually in the Bible whenever a “woman” is spoken of, one can use it as a metaphor for the church. If this were the church, would it apply at all?
Has she sinned? Has she been found in adultery? (adultery defined as: being intimately related with one whom you are not in a lifelong committed covenantal relationship with) Does not the world, even the religious world, put the church in the forefront, interested in exposing her for who they see she is, with all of her mistakes exposed? Does not anyone who has a chance, seeing the wrongs she’s done as a whole, desire to throw stones at her, especially in the form of words and judgments? Does not the world, even the religious world, demand an answer from the Lord about this supposed perfect institution?
His answer, summed up: Whoever condemns one is also condemned, judge as you’d like to be judged, and with the same condemnation and severity, or forgive as the Lord forgives and you will also be forgiven.
Yes she has sinned, have we not also sinned? Remember the main ploy of sin and the main outcome of its fall is separation from God. The greatest to the least sin separates and tears at the fellowship God and man were meant to have eternally. Forgiveness bridges this gap.
Do we not want the gap filled in? Do we want it filled in between God and ourselves? What we want for ourselves we must also strive for, for others, we reap what we sow.
We must cry aloud for mercy for the church, who may have fallen from grace. Lord, have mercy on us. We must sigh and cry at the altars for the bride to be forgiven her trespasses and horrendous sins! Repentance of unmerciful judgments should be the order of everyday. God will judge the earth righteously, until then, we must cry out for mercy. Everyday, she could choose that day to be saved.
I noticed today Jesus says, If THEY do not condemn you, then neither do I….. What if, just what if, we let go and had mercy as He also has given us mercy; what if, she would then be free to worship Him and make the necessary changes, repent and sin no more? What if our pre-judgments have bound her to her sin, she cannot see her freedom, until we loose her with our forgiveness and let her go? What if?
If you knew Me (Jesus the Son), you would know My Father (God) also….We must know Jesus, to know God. Our Destiny is the Father, through the Son, there is no other way. Knowing is not acknowledging only, knowing is intimacy. Into me - He sees. His light is able to shine on any dark spot in me. I do not resist His light searching me out in hopes of finding the real me, inside of the real Him. I welcome the Light, the Light is the Truth I need. His Light shining is to save me.
I must know the Father, I must know His desire. I must know His Son, Jesus Christ. There’s no other pursuit worth living for as much as this one. To Know the Father by knowing the Son, so much that He can go anywhere in me at anytime in any place, ever. I am His and He is mine, eternally, we are family.
The highest agreement anyone can ever have is the agreement between and man and God in His word. If and man agrees with God’s word he is empowered by the spirit of God supernaturally. He connects with the realm of God’s powerful spirit.
Is it easy for man to agree with God’s word? No wonder it is so easily contested. I wonder why it is always up for debate? I wonder why we don’t just trust Him and live by faith in His words so easily? Spiritual warfare. Enemies know that if we were to just swallow every word from God, or trust God at His word, the world will change. So contestants are all about whispering in ears, saying, don’t just swallow that, don’t accept that so easily, don’t take that, hook, line and sinker. If you listen to those voices, you’ve missed hearing the most important voice of all, the voice of Your Father! Now you still do not agree with Him, at His word level, and there’s a huge lack in the power realm in our lives. Might consider agreeing with God’s word by faith alone. Flesh and blood cannot comprehend the power of the agreement of the word, reason steps in the way every time! Tear down reasoning’s, if they are destroying the power of God’s word alive in your life. 2 Cor 10:3-6 We’ve got the power to overrule our wills that rise up against God’s will.
If we only speak about God alone, the enemy will hear – “god”. We must share Christ Jesus as Lord, through the cross. If we do not share God the Father, through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, people will die in their sins.
When Jesus spoke of discipleship here, the religious immediately likened it to slavery. Jesus did not say slavery, but they did, which shows that that was what was in their hearts. Do you think one who feels discipleship is slavery, will volunteer? Disciple means disciplined learner, one who comes under the hand for guidance, and rule. A slave is taken, inflicted upon, a disciple is a volunteer. Maybe the disciple will do some of the same activities as a slave would, but the motivation is different. The source of value is different. One is taken, the other given, freely. The only difference may be hidden, inside of the heart. An outsider may not be able to see a difference outwardly, except they come closer to taste the attitude in the air.
It reminds me of offering time. Jesus watched two people giving, one gave a larger amount than the other. It was noted that the one who gave the smaller amount, by all outward appearances, she gave very little, but God through Jesus, who looked on the heart, saw she gave much more than the one who gave much monetarily. He looked at the heart.
How we feel in our hearts, is who or what we are serving. If we feel enslaved, we are enslaved. If we feel freed, we are freed.
Sin is sin, if we serve sin, then we say it is our father, by default. The default being, we do not serve God as Father, we are not submitted under His command, because we cannot serve two Masters, if we serve sin, we do not serve God as Father, just as whomever we agree with is where the power, or lack of power in our lives lie.
Daily Repetitive Verses:
Isaiah 58:12 Your children will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as the people who rebuild their walls and cities. NLT
Who are our children? When those who follow after us in example grow up and build, get a revelation and build, we’ll know we have children taught by the Lord. They can take whatever mistakes of the past, the past of their ancestors, the past of their own lives and make the miraculous happen, not allowing their world to be shaped by it, but use it to go on differently. That is true blessing carried out.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
John 1:1-51 -
The Life-Light
1The Word was first, the Word present to God, God present to the Word. The Word was God,
2in readiness for God from day one.
3Everything was created through him; nothing--not one thing!-came into being without him.
4What came into existence was Life, and the Life was Light to live by.
5The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn't put it out.
6There once was a man, his name John, sent by God 7to point out the way to the Life-Light. He came to show everyone where to look, who to believe in. 8John was not himself the Light; he was there to show the way to the Light.
9The Life-Light was the real thing: Every person entering Life he brings into Light.
10He was in the world, the world was there through him, and yet the world didn't even notice.
11He came to his own people, but they didn't want him.
12But whoever did want him, who believed he was who he claimed and would do what he said, He made to be their true selves, their child-of-God selves.
13These are the God-begotten, not blood-begotten, not flesh-begotten, not sex-begotten.
14The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.
15John pointed him out and called, "This is the One! The One I told you was coming after me but in fact was ahead of me. He has always been ahead of me, has always had the first word."
16We all live off his generous bounty, gift after gift after gift.
17We got the basics from Moses, and then this exuberant giving and receiving, This endless knowing and understanding--all this came through Jesus, the Messiah.
18No one has ever seen God, not so much as a glimpse. This one-of-a-kind God-Expression, who exists at the very heart of the Father, has made him plain as day.
Thunder in the Desert
19When Jews from Jerusalem sent a group of priests and officials to ask John who he was, he was completely honest. 20He didn't evade the question. He told the plain truth: "I am not the Messiah."
21They pressed him, "Who, then? Elijah?" "I am not." "The Prophet?" "No."
22Exasperated, they said, "Who, then? We need an answer for those who sent us. Tell us something--anything!-about yourself."
23"I'm thunder in the desert: "Make the road straight for God!' I'm doing what the prophet Isaiah preached."
24Those sent to question him were from the Pharisee party. 25Now they had a question of their own: "If you're neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet, why do you baptize?"
26John answered, "I only baptize using water. A person you don't recognize has taken his stand in your midst. 27He comes after me, but he is not in second place to me. I'm not even worthy to hold his coat for him."
28These conversations took place in Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing at the time.
The God-Revealer
29The very next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and yelled out, 30"Here he is, God's Passover Lamb! He forgives the sins of the world! This is the man I've been talking about, "the One who comes after me but is really ahead of me.' 31I knew nothing about who he was--only this: that my task has been to get Israel ready to recognize him as the God-Revealer. That is why I came here baptizing with water, giving you a good bath and scrubbing sins from your life so you can get a fresh start with God."
32John clinched his witness with this: "I watched the Spirit, like a dove flying down out of the sky, making himself at home in him. 33I repeat, I know nothing about him except this: The One who authorized me to baptize with water told me, "The One on whom you see the Spirit come down and stay, this One will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' 34That's exactly what I saw happen, and I'm telling you, there's no question about it: This is the Son of God." Come, See for Yourself
35The next day John was back at his post with two disciples, who were watching. 36He looked up, saw Jesus walking nearby, and said, "Here he is, God's Passover Lamb."
37The two disciples heard him and went after Jesus. 38Jesus looked over his shoulder and said to them, "What are you after?" They said, "Rabbi" (which means "Teacher"), "where are you staying?"
39He replied, "Come along and see for yourself." They came, saw where he was living, and ended up staying with him for the day. It was late afternoon when this happened.
40Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard John's witness and followed Jesus. 41The first thing he did after finding where Jesus lived was find his own brother, Simon, telling him, "We've found the Messiah" (that is, "Christ"). 42He immediately led him to Jesus. Jesus took one look up and said, "You're John's son, Simon? From now on your name is Cephas" (or Peter, which means "Rock").
43The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. When he got there, he ran across Philip and said, "Come, follow me." 44(Philip's hometown was Bethsaida, the same as Andrew and Peter.)
45Philip went and found Nathanael and told him, "We've found the One Moses wrote of in the Law, the One preached by the prophets. It's Jesus, Joseph's son, the one from Nazareth!" 46Nathanael said, "Nazareth? You've got to be kidding." But Philip said, "Come, see for yourself."
47When Jesus saw him coming he said, "There's a real Israelite, not a false bone in his body." 48Nathanael said, "Where did you get that idea? You don't know me." Jesus answered, "One day, long before Philip called you here, I saw you under the fig tree."
49Nathanael exclaimed, "Rabbi! You are the Son of God, the King of Israel!"
50Jesus said, "You've become a believer simply because I say I saw you one day sitting under the fig tree? You haven't seen anything yet! 51Before this is over you're going to see heaven open and God's angels descending to the Son of Man and ascending again."
Copyright Statement: THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary LanguageThis edition issued by contractual arrangement with NavPress, a division of The Navigators, U.S.A.Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language Copyright © 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
~ Lena’s Journalin’
There’s a big question here that each of us has to ask ourselves, “Do we believe the Word of God?” Really believe it? Or has it been like a story book or, a book of encouragement, or an honored ancient manuscript?
If we believe God’s words as Holy True words to us from the Father of all creation, do we regard it as His, for they are one and the same, and do we believe in what it says? Everything was created by God and for God, His Son is one with Him, as God?
There was darkness. Ever felt you are in darkness? He is the Light, whenever He comes bringing life, His light shines as truth in darkness. Every person coming into eternal life He brings into the light.
Does that make you feel a bit uncomfortable? Why? Light exposes whatever needs exposure, to live. If not exposed, we die. Such as in the case of cancer. If left hidden from the light, it does it’s work in darkness until darkness overtakes. Darkness’ desire is to overtake and overcome, BUT Jesus came to dispel all darkness and the powerful force it has to kill us, to destroy the life of God out of us. His light cannot be overcome with darkness, if we choose to walk into the discomforting light, be revealed for who we are, and saved, removing the deeds of darkness, and their effects, such as cancer, we can be saved.
If cancer does not come out into the light, meaning it is exposed in its works against the body, it will destroy the person, It must be revealed in order to deal with it, in order to destroy it! The light won’t allow it to destroy, but completely annihilate its destructive work in darkness!
When we walk in the light of Christ, however uncomfortable that is, we will find who we really are, only in Him. The real us may be hidden in darkness, but when we believe He is who God said He is then and only then will we find who we are. We can seek high and low far and wide and spend a whole lifetime searching for the real me, but the real me is only found in the real Him!
John knew who he was with no hesitancy. He knew His purpose, was sent to do it and accomplished it. He knew Christ was from God, and also found that He was sent by God.
We cannot even point the way to God until we find ourselves in Christ. Once we find ourselves we won’t be able to stop pointing the way.
It doesn’t even take long, If we seek, find, and follow Him, we can also reveal Him.
What are we after? Him or self satisfaction? He asked them leading questions to see why they’d even go after Him at all. Was it worth it to them, is it worth it to us? Jesus said, “Follow me”.
Can we do that, or do we want God to follow us wherever it is we are going?
It is childish to turn around and walk another way, hoping someone will run after you. We play games like that with daddy when we are young. When we are alder, we may even play that game, with people, hoping they love us enough to come after us or go get us, find us.
God is asking us to follow His son, come into the light, come out of hiding, stop running away, turn around and follow Him. It is time for maturity. Yes, God loves you. He loves you so much that He’ll let you live life your own way, do whatever you want however you want, whenever you want, just don’t be too surprised when you decide you’ve had the fill of your “oats” and you turn thinking you’ll; face Him now, but He and His followers are long gone, distance has widened its gap.
It is time to fill in all breeches! Amen!
Daily Repetitive Verses:
Isaiah 58:12 You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again. THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
John 1:1-51 -
The Life-Light
1The Word was first, the Word present to God, God present to the Word. The Word was God,
2in readiness for God from day one.
3Everything was created through him; nothing--not one thing!-came into being without him.
4What came into existence was Life, and the Life was Light to live by.
5The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn't put it out.
6There once was a man, his name John, sent by God 7to point out the way to the Life-Light. He came to show everyone where to look, who to believe in. 8John was not himself the Light; he was there to show the way to the Light.
9The Life-Light was the real thing: Every person entering Life he brings into Light.
10He was in the world, the world was there through him, and yet the world didn't even notice.
11He came to his own people, but they didn't want him.
12But whoever did want him, who believed he was who he claimed and would do what he said, He made to be their true selves, their child-of-God selves.
13These are the God-begotten, not blood-begotten, not flesh-begotten, not sex-begotten.
14The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.
15John pointed him out and called, "This is the One! The One I told you was coming after me but in fact was ahead of me. He has always been ahead of me, has always had the first word."
16We all live off his generous bounty, gift after gift after gift.
17We got the basics from Moses, and then this exuberant giving and receiving, This endless knowing and understanding--all this came through Jesus, the Messiah.
18No one has ever seen God, not so much as a glimpse. This one-of-a-kind God-Expression, who exists at the very heart of the Father, has made him plain as day.
Thunder in the Desert
19When Jews from Jerusalem sent a group of priests and officials to ask John who he was, he was completely honest. 20He didn't evade the question. He told the plain truth: "I am not the Messiah."
21They pressed him, "Who, then? Elijah?" "I am not." "The Prophet?" "No."
22Exasperated, they said, "Who, then? We need an answer for those who sent us. Tell us something--anything!-about yourself."
23"I'm thunder in the desert: "Make the road straight for God!' I'm doing what the prophet Isaiah preached."
24Those sent to question him were from the Pharisee party. 25Now they had a question of their own: "If you're neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet, why do you baptize?"
26John answered, "I only baptize using water. A person you don't recognize has taken his stand in your midst. 27He comes after me, but he is not in second place to me. I'm not even worthy to hold his coat for him."
28These conversations took place in Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing at the time.
The God-Revealer
29The very next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and yelled out, 30"Here he is, God's Passover Lamb! He forgives the sins of the world! This is the man I've been talking about, "the One who comes after me but is really ahead of me.' 31I knew nothing about who he was--only this: that my task has been to get Israel ready to recognize him as the God-Revealer. That is why I came here baptizing with water, giving you a good bath and scrubbing sins from your life so you can get a fresh start with God."
32John clinched his witness with this: "I watched the Spirit, like a dove flying down out of the sky, making himself at home in him. 33I repeat, I know nothing about him except this: The One who authorized me to baptize with water told me, "The One on whom you see the Spirit come down and stay, this One will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' 34That's exactly what I saw happen, and I'm telling you, there's no question about it: This is the Son of God." Come, See for Yourself
35The next day John was back at his post with two disciples, who were watching. 36He looked up, saw Jesus walking nearby, and said, "Here he is, God's Passover Lamb."
37The two disciples heard him and went after Jesus. 38Jesus looked over his shoulder and said to them, "What are you after?" They said, "Rabbi" (which means "Teacher"), "where are you staying?"
39He replied, "Come along and see for yourself." They came, saw where he was living, and ended up staying with him for the day. It was late afternoon when this happened.
40Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard John's witness and followed Jesus. 41The first thing he did after finding where Jesus lived was find his own brother, Simon, telling him, "We've found the Messiah" (that is, "Christ"). 42He immediately led him to Jesus. Jesus took one look up and said, "You're John's son, Simon? From now on your name is Cephas" (or Peter, which means "Rock").
43The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. When he got there, he ran across Philip and said, "Come, follow me." 44(Philip's hometown was Bethsaida, the same as Andrew and Peter.)
45Philip went and found Nathanael and told him, "We've found the One Moses wrote of in the Law, the One preached by the prophets. It's Jesus, Joseph's son, the one from Nazareth!" 46Nathanael said, "Nazareth? You've got to be kidding." But Philip said, "Come, see for yourself."
47When Jesus saw him coming he said, "There's a real Israelite, not a false bone in his body." 48Nathanael said, "Where did you get that idea? You don't know me." Jesus answered, "One day, long before Philip called you here, I saw you under the fig tree."
49Nathanael exclaimed, "Rabbi! You are the Son of God, the King of Israel!"
50Jesus said, "You've become a believer simply because I say I saw you one day sitting under the fig tree? You haven't seen anything yet! 51Before this is over you're going to see heaven open and God's angels descending to the Son of Man and ascending again."
Copyright Statement: THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary LanguageThis edition issued by contractual arrangement with NavPress, a division of The Navigators, U.S.A.Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language Copyright © 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
~ Lena’s Journalin’
There’s a big question here that each of us has to ask ourselves, “Do we believe the Word of God?” Really believe it? Or has it been like a story book or, a book of encouragement, or an honored ancient manuscript?
If we believe God’s words as Holy True words to us from the Father of all creation, do we regard it as His, for they are one and the same, and do we believe in what it says? Everything was created by God and for God, His Son is one with Him, as God?
There was darkness. Ever felt you are in darkness? He is the Light, whenever He comes bringing life, His light shines as truth in darkness. Every person coming into eternal life He brings into the light.
Does that make you feel a bit uncomfortable? Why? Light exposes whatever needs exposure, to live. If not exposed, we die. Such as in the case of cancer. If left hidden from the light, it does it’s work in darkness until darkness overtakes. Darkness’ desire is to overtake and overcome, BUT Jesus came to dispel all darkness and the powerful force it has to kill us, to destroy the life of God out of us. His light cannot be overcome with darkness, if we choose to walk into the discomforting light, be revealed for who we are, and saved, removing the deeds of darkness, and their effects, such as cancer, we can be saved.
If cancer does not come out into the light, meaning it is exposed in its works against the body, it will destroy the person, It must be revealed in order to deal with it, in order to destroy it! The light won’t allow it to destroy, but completely annihilate its destructive work in darkness!
When we walk in the light of Christ, however uncomfortable that is, we will find who we really are, only in Him. The real us may be hidden in darkness, but when we believe He is who God said He is then and only then will we find who we are. We can seek high and low far and wide and spend a whole lifetime searching for the real me, but the real me is only found in the real Him!
John knew who he was with no hesitancy. He knew His purpose, was sent to do it and accomplished it. He knew Christ was from God, and also found that He was sent by God.
We cannot even point the way to God until we find ourselves in Christ. Once we find ourselves we won’t be able to stop pointing the way.
It doesn’t even take long, If we seek, find, and follow Him, we can also reveal Him.
What are we after? Him or self satisfaction? He asked them leading questions to see why they’d even go after Him at all. Was it worth it to them, is it worth it to us? Jesus said, “Follow me”.
Can we do that, or do we want God to follow us wherever it is we are going?
It is childish to turn around and walk another way, hoping someone will run after you. We play games like that with daddy when we are young. When we are alder, we may even play that game, with people, hoping they love us enough to come after us or go get us, find us.
God is asking us to follow His son, come into the light, come out of hiding, stop running away, turn around and follow Him. It is time for maturity. Yes, God loves you. He loves you so much that He’ll let you live life your own way, do whatever you want however you want, whenever you want, just don’t be too surprised when you decide you’ve had the fill of your “oats” and you turn thinking you’ll; face Him now, but He and His followers are long gone, distance has widened its gap.
It is time to fill in all breeches! Amen!
Daily Repetitive Verses:
Isaiah 58:12 You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again. THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Hebrews 10 Today
Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
Hebrews 10:1-39
Christ's Sacrifice Once for All
1The old system in the law of Moses was only a shadow of the things to come, not the reality of the good things Christ has done for us. The sacrifices under the old system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. 2If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.
3But just the opposite happened. Those yearly sacrifices reminded them of their sins year after year. 4For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5That is why Christ, when he came into the world, said,
"You did not want animal sacrifices and grain offerings. But you have given me a body so that I may obey you. 6 No, you were not pleased with animals burned on the altar or with other offerings for sin. 7 Then I said, 'Look, I have come to do your will, O God— just as it is written about me in the Scriptures.'" F43
8Christ said, "You did not want animal sacrifices or grain offerings or animals burned on the altar or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them" (though they are required by the law of Moses). 9Then he added, "Look, I have come to do your will." He cancels the first covenant in order to establish the second. 10And what God wants is for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time.
11Under the old covenant, the priest stands before the altar day after day, offering sacrifices that can never take away sins. 12But our High Priest offered himself to God as one sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down at the place of highest honor at God's right hand. 13There he waits until his enemies are humbled as a footstool under his feet. 14For by that one offering he perfected forever all those whom he is making holy.
15And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so. First he says,
16 "This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts so they will understand them, and I will write them on their minds so they will obey them."
17Then he adds,
"I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds." F44
18Now when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.
A Call to Persevere
19And so, dear brothers and sisters, F45 we can boldly enter heaven's Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. 20This is the new, life-giving way that Christ has opened up for us through the sacred curtain, by means of his death for us. F46
21And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God's people, 22let us go right into the presence of God, with true hearts fully trusting him. For our evil consciences have been sprinkled with Christ's blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.
23Without wavering, let us hold tightly to the hope we say we have, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. 24Think of ways to encourage one another to outbursts of love and good deeds. 25And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near.
26Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received a full knowledge of the truth, there is no other sacrifice that will cover these sins. 27There will be nothing to look forward to but the terrible expectation of God's judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies.
28 Anyone who refused to obey the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29Think how much more terrible the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God and have treated the blood of the covenant as if it were common and unholy. Such people have insulted and enraged the Holy Spirit who brings God's mercy to his people.
30For we know the one who said, "I will take vengeance. I will repay those who deserve it."
He also said,
"The Lord will judge his own people." F47
31It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
32Don't ever forget those early days when you first learned about Christ. Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering. 33Sometimes you were exposed to public ridicule and were beaten, and sometimes you helped others who were suffering the same things. 34You suffered along with those who were thrown into jail. When all you owned was taken from you, you accepted it with joy. You knew you had better things waiting for you in eternity.
35Do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord, no matter what happens. Remember the great reward it brings you! 36 Patient endurance is what you need now, so you will continue to do God's will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.
37 "For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay. 38 And a righteous person will live by faith. But I will have no pleasure in anyone who turns away." F48 39But we are not like those who turn their backs on God and seal their fate. We have faith that assures our salvation.
FOOTNOTES:F43: Ps 40:6-8. F44: Jer 31:33-34. F45: Greek brothers. F46: Greek his flesh. F47: Deut 32:35-36. F48: Hab 2:3-4.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved
~ Lena’s Journalin’
It is impossible to save ourselves without receiving Christ. The only way to salvation is Christ. That narrows it down a lot, huh? Should be easy, but life offers so many choices it is sometimes hard for us to choose only one savior. Our society cannot even seem to choose only one house, car, spouse etc. Even at the grocery store they boast of 57 varieties of mustard alone.
So many choices to make, yet only one is truly, eternally important.
Is Jesus Christ our Lord? Savior and Lord? Have we chosen Him?
The sacrifice we now make is a life given continually over to His use. Old sacrifices were a body dead and burned, now it is a life alive unto the purposes of God and that takes the choice of obedience. Obedience is not fulfilled by obeying only once, but every time I hear His voice. I look to hear His voice and see what I may obey, rather than hiding from His voice and per chance I may hear it, I’d be required to obey it. No, this is purposeful relational hearing with intent to do. A lifestyle of hearing and doing.
Jesus Christ Himself left this earth, leaving us with the full supernatural ability to hear and do whatever His Father’s voice inside of us and confirmed inside of the word of God, tells us to do. We do not have to seek Him so far off, as though we’d have to go to heaven to hear and do, but He now is alive through His Holy Spirit in the earth, he lives inside of each man who has received Him. His voice is heard inside of our inner voice, He speaks to us from within us. We can’t now say, when I go work to get my animal and make the journey to bring it to the priest and then when I wait for my turn in line and I sacrifice it, then I will hear God’s voice telling me to obey. No we don’t have to go far at all, we listen to the heart of God within our own hearts.
Christ died, for us to have the ability to hear the voice of Our Father God.
We do not have to wait for a priest to intercede or to translate or to interpret for us. We have a Priest higher than any other priest on earth. This priest opened the door to God the Father for us and kept it open for anyone who would go commune with Him daily. We have full unhindered access by faith in His one time for all sacrifice for sin. We’ve been granted full access to our Father through the blood of Christ.
If we do not speak with and listen to our Father, we may not yet believe in the provision made for our fellowship with Him. We must receive the provision made for us and go there, there’s no other place to go.
If we choose not to go there daily, we will find our lives in the seeking mode continually, for we were created by Him to seek and find Him. If we think we can choose later on it may be too late. If we think we’ve chosen by not choosing Him, we will find we should have, wish we would have given our lives to him while we are alive.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. Why not run into His arms, rather than fall there later on?
Daily Repetitive Verses:
Isaiah 58:12 You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again. THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
Hebrews 10:1-39
Christ's Sacrifice Once for All
1The old system in the law of Moses was only a shadow of the things to come, not the reality of the good things Christ has done for us. The sacrifices under the old system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. 2If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.
3But just the opposite happened. Those yearly sacrifices reminded them of their sins year after year. 4For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5That is why Christ, when he came into the world, said,
"You did not want animal sacrifices and grain offerings. But you have given me a body so that I may obey you. 6 No, you were not pleased with animals burned on the altar or with other offerings for sin. 7 Then I said, 'Look, I have come to do your will, O God— just as it is written about me in the Scriptures.'" F43
8Christ said, "You did not want animal sacrifices or grain offerings or animals burned on the altar or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them" (though they are required by the law of Moses). 9Then he added, "Look, I have come to do your will." He cancels the first covenant in order to establish the second. 10And what God wants is for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time.
11Under the old covenant, the priest stands before the altar day after day, offering sacrifices that can never take away sins. 12But our High Priest offered himself to God as one sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down at the place of highest honor at God's right hand. 13There he waits until his enemies are humbled as a footstool under his feet. 14For by that one offering he perfected forever all those whom he is making holy.
15And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so. First he says,
16 "This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts so they will understand them, and I will write them on their minds so they will obey them."
17Then he adds,
"I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds." F44
18Now when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.
A Call to Persevere
19And so, dear brothers and sisters, F45 we can boldly enter heaven's Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. 20This is the new, life-giving way that Christ has opened up for us through the sacred curtain, by means of his death for us. F46
21And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God's people, 22let us go right into the presence of God, with true hearts fully trusting him. For our evil consciences have been sprinkled with Christ's blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.
23Without wavering, let us hold tightly to the hope we say we have, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. 24Think of ways to encourage one another to outbursts of love and good deeds. 25And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near.
26Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received a full knowledge of the truth, there is no other sacrifice that will cover these sins. 27There will be nothing to look forward to but the terrible expectation of God's judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies.
28 Anyone who refused to obey the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29Think how much more terrible the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God and have treated the blood of the covenant as if it were common and unholy. Such people have insulted and enraged the Holy Spirit who brings God's mercy to his people.
30For we know the one who said, "I will take vengeance. I will repay those who deserve it."
He also said,
"The Lord will judge his own people." F47
31It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
32Don't ever forget those early days when you first learned about Christ. Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering. 33Sometimes you were exposed to public ridicule and were beaten, and sometimes you helped others who were suffering the same things. 34You suffered along with those who were thrown into jail. When all you owned was taken from you, you accepted it with joy. You knew you had better things waiting for you in eternity.
35Do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord, no matter what happens. Remember the great reward it brings you! 36 Patient endurance is what you need now, so you will continue to do God's will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.
37 "For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay. 38 And a righteous person will live by faith. But I will have no pleasure in anyone who turns away." F48 39But we are not like those who turn their backs on God and seal their fate. We have faith that assures our salvation.
FOOTNOTES:F43: Ps 40:6-8. F44: Jer 31:33-34. F45: Greek brothers. F46: Greek his flesh. F47: Deut 32:35-36. F48: Hab 2:3-4.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved
~ Lena’s Journalin’
It is impossible to save ourselves without receiving Christ. The only way to salvation is Christ. That narrows it down a lot, huh? Should be easy, but life offers so many choices it is sometimes hard for us to choose only one savior. Our society cannot even seem to choose only one house, car, spouse etc. Even at the grocery store they boast of 57 varieties of mustard alone.
So many choices to make, yet only one is truly, eternally important.
Is Jesus Christ our Lord? Savior and Lord? Have we chosen Him?
The sacrifice we now make is a life given continually over to His use. Old sacrifices were a body dead and burned, now it is a life alive unto the purposes of God and that takes the choice of obedience. Obedience is not fulfilled by obeying only once, but every time I hear His voice. I look to hear His voice and see what I may obey, rather than hiding from His voice and per chance I may hear it, I’d be required to obey it. No, this is purposeful relational hearing with intent to do. A lifestyle of hearing and doing.
Jesus Christ Himself left this earth, leaving us with the full supernatural ability to hear and do whatever His Father’s voice inside of us and confirmed inside of the word of God, tells us to do. We do not have to seek Him so far off, as though we’d have to go to heaven to hear and do, but He now is alive through His Holy Spirit in the earth, he lives inside of each man who has received Him. His voice is heard inside of our inner voice, He speaks to us from within us. We can’t now say, when I go work to get my animal and make the journey to bring it to the priest and then when I wait for my turn in line and I sacrifice it, then I will hear God’s voice telling me to obey. No we don’t have to go far at all, we listen to the heart of God within our own hearts.
Christ died, for us to have the ability to hear the voice of Our Father God.
We do not have to wait for a priest to intercede or to translate or to interpret for us. We have a Priest higher than any other priest on earth. This priest opened the door to God the Father for us and kept it open for anyone who would go commune with Him daily. We have full unhindered access by faith in His one time for all sacrifice for sin. We’ve been granted full access to our Father through the blood of Christ.
If we do not speak with and listen to our Father, we may not yet believe in the provision made for our fellowship with Him. We must receive the provision made for us and go there, there’s no other place to go.
If we choose not to go there daily, we will find our lives in the seeking mode continually, for we were created by Him to seek and find Him. If we think we can choose later on it may be too late. If we think we’ve chosen by not choosing Him, we will find we should have, wish we would have given our lives to him while we are alive.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. Why not run into His arms, rather than fall there later on?
Daily Repetitive Verses:
Isaiah 58:12 You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again. THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language
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