Made Him Known

John 1:18 (NIV) 

18 No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known. 

Only God has seen God.  He has seen Himself, or knows Himself, yet here we are told He has been made known by the One Who sits at the Father’s side.  Does this make sense?  No.  Is it true?  Yes.  How can we know?  The Spirit teaches and confirms.  Do we know everything there is to know about this?  No.  Do we need to?  No.  It is enough to believe.  It is enough to bring us into faith.  Faith will take us beyond words into the presence of God the Father.

Grace And Truth

John 1:17 (NIV) 

17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 

The law is given so that we might understand our need.  Jesus comes with both grace and truth.  We cannot choose one or the other.  Grace is revealed in truth.  Jesus speaks the Word of God, the words of His Father.  His words are true, just as God is True.  

Knowing What We Think

John 7:27 (NIV)

²⁷But we know where this man is from; when the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from."


Sometimes we think we know, but we only know what we think..

Come, Eat And Drink

John 6:53 (The Message)

 ^53-58But Jesus didn't give an inch. "Only insofar as you eat and drink flesh and blood, the flesh and blood of the Son of Man, do you have life within you. The one who brings a hearty appetite to this eating and drinking has eternal life and will be fit and ready for the Final Day. My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. By eating my flesh and drinking my blood you enter into me and I into you. In the same way that the fully alive Father sent me here and I live because of him, so the one who makes a meal of me lives because of me. This is the Bread from heaven. Your ancestors ate bread and later died. Whoever eats this Bread will live always."


Jesus does not speak of eating bread as was done by the Israelites in the wilderness.  Though it fell from heaven, the bread that was picked up off the ground offered only temporary life.  He likens the acceptance of Who He is and His Words to eating and drinking, fully ingesting into our lives His life and the life of the Father.  This Bread fell to earth, but rose by the power of God.  He is poured out for us.  Come eat and drink.

So They Took Him On Board

John 6:20 (The Message)

 ^16-21In the evening his disciples went down to the sea, got in the boat, and headed back across the water to Capernaum. It had grown quite dark and Jesus had not yet returned. A huge wind blew up, churning the sea. They were maybe three or four miles out when they saw Jesus walking on the sea, quite near the boat. They were scared senseless, but he reassured them, "It's me. It's all right. Don't be afraid." So they took him on board. In no time they reached land—the exact spot they were headed to.


When we bring Him into our boat, our lives, we find our way; our exact spot.  The darkness recedes and the sea diminishes.

Unwrapping

John 11:44 (The Message)

^43-44Then he shouted, "Lazarus, come out!" And he came out, a cadaver, wrapped from head to toe, and with a kerchief over his face.

   Jesus told them, "Unwrap him and let him loose."


Jesus states earlier that He does this so that the people know He was sent from God.  Lazarus is brought from dead to life by the power of His word.  Jesus did the same for us through His obedience to God.  Obeying the command of Christ, we are able to leave our destined tomb and enter the light of life in the Son.  


We step into a fellowship with others who have responded to His call.  Notice that Jesus then tells the others to help complete the process.  He could have taken care of the unwrapping as well, but He chose to work through the disciples around Him.


The same is true with us.  We are to help unwrap each other,  exposing the riches of God's grace within.  We grow in that liberty, in the giving and receiving.  It is the power of God working in us.  It is mortality putting on immortality. 

Fear No Evil

Psalm 23:4 (NIV)

 ⁴ Even though I walk
       through the valley of the shadow of death, 
       I will fear no evil,
       for you are with me;
       your rod and your staff,
       they comfort me.


Our life can be seen as the valley, but we are led from the shadow of death to the light of life in Christ.  He calls us and leads the way.  We find our comfort and rest in the protection of His rod and the direction of His staff.  Evil is not to be feared for He is with us. 

The Difference

We must be the difference to make a difference.

What Do You Need To Know?

John 5:1-6 NIV

   Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there was a pool, in Hebrew called Bethesda, with five alcoves. Hundreds of sick people—blind, crippled, paralyzed—were in these alcoves. One man had been an invalid there for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him stretched out by the pool and knew how long he had been there, he said, "Do you want to get well?"

 7The sick man said, "Sir, when the water is stirred, I don't have anybody to put me in the pool. By the time I get there, somebody else is already in."

 8-9Jesus said, "Get up, take your bedroll, start walking." The man was healed on the spot. He picked up his bedroll and walked off.

 9-10That day happened to be the Sabbath. The Jews stopped the healed man and said, "It's the Sabbath. You can't carry your bedroll around. It's against the rules."

 11But he told them, "The man who made me well told me to. He said, 'Take your bedroll and start walking.'"

 12-13They asked, "Who gave you the order to take it up and start walking?" But the healed man didn't know, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd.

 14A little later Jesus found him in the Temple and said, "You look wonderful! You're well! Don't return to a sinning life or something worse might happen."

This man has been in his condition for a long time. His world is reduced to what he has known.  Jesus changed that for him and for all of us, healing the man of the spot.  What the man knows changes.  So what do you need to know? 

Heirs

We are not heirs to the riches of God through a denomination, but by faith and belief in Jesus. 

Fountain Of Life

The fountain of youth is Jesus, the fountain of living water.

Into Question

Romans 10:9 (NIV)

9That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

When we confess and believe in Jesus we will be saved.  There can be no disconnect between heart and mouth.  We are to love Him with everything we are.  Doing something less brings into question where we are and where we are headed.

Fooling Around

Ecclesiastes 10:3 (The Message)

3 Fools on the road have no sense of direction.
   The way they walk tells the story: "There goes the fool again!"

Words communicate, but our walk tells the story.  Blessed is the one who’s message is the same.

To Worship The Big Lie

Jeremiah 18:11-17

 11"So, tell the people of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem my Message: 'Danger! I'm shaping doom against you, laying plans against you. Turn back from your doomed way of life. Straighten out your lives.'

 12"But they'll just say, 'Why should we? What's the point? We'll live just the way we've always lived, doom or no doom.'"

 13-17God's Message:

   "Ask around.
   Survey the godless nations.
Has anyone heard the likes of this?
   Virgin Israel has become a slut!
Does snow disappear from the Lebanon peaks?
   Do alpine streams run dry?
But my people have left me
   to worship the Big Lie.
They've gotten off the track,
   the old, well-worn trail,
And now bushwhack through underbrush
   in a tangle of roots and vines.
Their land's going to end up a mess—
   a fool's memorial to be spit on.
Travelers passing through
   will shake their heads in disbelief.
I'll scatter my people before their enemies,
   like autumn leaves in a high wind.
On their day of doom, they'll stare at my back as I walk away,
   catching not so much as a glimpse of my face."  MSG

Jeremiah warns the Israelites of the consequences of disobeying God.  The message applies equally today.  What did He say?  All will be judged by His Words.

Knowing

Now scientists and doctors are coming to realize that chronic fatigue is not just a problem in the head.  They assumed this in the past because they could see no other explanation with their methodology and mindset of the day.  Viral and physiology revelations have taken place, of facts which were always there, but not understood.  I myself was told that some doctors thought the difficulties brought on by my MS were in my head, until I was finally diagnosed.

It is a common tendency to doubt what can't be seen.  The more we "know" does not decrease the challenge in knowing.  Sufferers of chronic fatigue knew long before the experts knew.  I knew something was wrong, even suspected what it was long before the official diagnosis.

Putting faith in God offers the same challenge.  Nothing can be "proved".  It is faith.  Yet that faith opens the eyes and confirms that reality of God.  We will all come to understand.

But Seriously Folks

James 4:1-10

 1-2Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves. You lust for what you don't have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn't yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it.

 2-3You wouldn't think of just asking God for it, would you? And why not? Because you know you'd be asking for what you have no right to. You're spoiled children, each wanting your own way.

 4-6You're cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way. And do you suppose God doesn't care? The proverb has it that "he's a fiercely jealous lover." And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you'll find. It's common knowledge that "God goes against the willful proud; God gives grace to the willing humble."

 7-10So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God and he'll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it's the only way you'll get on your feet.  MSG

At His feet we can rise and stand.  At His feet we find what we seek, even when we don’t know what we seek.  Substitutions become apparent.  Folly comes into view.  We find ourselves when we find Him.

Food For Thought

Ecclesiastes 6:7
 7 We work to feed our appetites;
   Meanwhile our souls go hungry.

Feeding one will keep us alive a lot longer than the other.

He Leaves It With Us

John 19: 25-27

25Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," 27and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

John is to assume Jesus‘ earthy role.  Jesus is leaving His place as son to journey on as the Son of God.  He leaves His mother with the disciple He loved.  Jesus entrusts her into John’s hands and loving arms.

We are likewise called to serve, to be the hands and feet of Christ.  The world has been given to us to love as Jesus loves.  It is a world that is precious to Him.  God loved the world enough to send His Son to offer love and grace.  He leaves it with us, but He is always with us.

Lost Love

Don’t let a minute go by without loving,  for that is love lost.

God With Us

John 3:1-8 God With Us

John 3 1-2 There was a man of the Pharisee sect, Nicodemus, a prominent leader among the Jews. Late one night he visited Jesus and said, "Rabbi, we all know you're a teacher straight from God. No one could do all the God-pointing, God-revealing acts you do if God weren't in on it."3Jesus said, "You're absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it's not possible to see what I'm pointing to—to God's kingdom."4"How can anyone," said Nicodemus, "be born who has already been born and grown up? You can't re-enter your mother's womb and be born again. What are you saying with this 'born-from-above' talk?"5-6Jesus said, "You're not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the 'wind-hovering-over-the-water' creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it's not possible to enter God's kingdom. When you look at a baby, it's just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can't see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.7-8"So don't be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be 'born from above'—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it's headed next. That's the way it is with everyone 'born from above' by the wind of God, the Spirit of God." MSG

One does not see the wind, but one experiences the wind.  The kingdom is confirmed in the heart, spirit with Spirit.  

The Holy Spirit hovered over the waters in creation, over-shadowed Mary, descended on Jesus, and was given to us.  It is the same Spirit with us.  It is God with us.

Believing And Doing

James 2:25-26 The same with Rahab, the Jericho harlot. Wasn't her action in hiding God's spies and helping them escape—that seamless unity of believing and doing—what counted with God? The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse. MSG

Remember the demons that Jesus cast out of the man driven to madness?  They asked to go into the pigs and He gave them permission.  They don’t have a body of their own.  The herd then dashed into the water and drowned.

Body and spirit are required for life here on earth. Separation means death, just as separation from God means death.  Union with God results in life.  Works are the turning to God and walking in His light.  No longer are we to be separate, but joined with His Spirit.  As said here, it is “that seamless unity of believing and doing.” which indicates life, just as not breathing is an indication of death. Breathing in the “Spirit” is an in and out process.

Sanctuary

Psalm 73:16-17 (NIV)

16 When I tried to understand all this,
       it was oppressive to me 17 till I entered the sanctuary of God;
       then I understood their final destiny.

Understanding comes when we meet with God in the sanctuary.  Sanctuary is the presence of God.  His Spirit is given to the one who believes, which is the seal of promise.  The temple of the new covenant is the heart.  His commandments are written on the heart, fulfilled in the coming of Jesus.  True worship begins and ends there.

Looking For Jesus

If I look for Jesus in others, they are more likely to see Jesus in me. 

Here's What I Have To Say

Luke 22:66-69(The Message)

66-67When it was morning, the religious leaders of the people and the high priests and scholars all got together and brought him before their High Council. They said, "Are you the Messiah?"

 67-69He answered, "If I said yes, you wouldn't believe me. If I asked what you meant by your question, you wouldn't answer me. So here's what I have to say: From here on the Son of Man takes his place at God's right hand, the place of power."

Asking a question does not automatically mean that one is seeking an answer to that question.  That was the case here.  Jesus saw through the words and into their hearts.  He answered in truth to a question arising from malice.  

He said what He came to say, sent from the Father, full of mercy and grace.