alone

Following Jesus Can Seem Lonely at Times, But There's Hope! {John 7}

9:30 AM

Following Jesus can lead you to lonely places at times. Have you ever felt the sting of persecution by those you love; family, friends, or neighbors? Sometimes we're called to take a stand, or step out in faith when no one is willing to stand with us, but take heart, Jesus knows all about that and this chapter is proof, and here in this chapter, He also offers us hope!



We see here in chapter seven, Jesus’ own brothers questioned His divinity and seemed to be mocking Him. No one seems to understand, and if they did, they certainly weren't willing to admit it, for Jesus was receiving death threats from the religious leaders who should have been on His side.

 In order for us to better understand all that's taking place here we need to know a bit more about this festival they are all celebrating: 
The Feast of the Booths or the Feast of the Tabernacles was actually a party in many ways for the Jewish people.  The people would moved out of their homes for a week and lived under shelters made of branches, similar to camping out today. The purpose behind this religious festival was to remind the nation of Israel of their time wandering in the wilderness living under God’s care.  
The Temple area would have been filled with large candles that were supposed to remind the people of the pillar of light God provided for them in the wilderness.  And each day during the seven days, the priest would carry water from the Pool of Siloam and pour it out in the Temple as a reminder of the water that miraculously came from the rock in the wilderness.
If we skip down to verse 37, we are on the seventh and last day of this feast.  It was called the great day because a lot of special things happened then. On this day the priests would march seven times around the altar chanting Psalm 118:25, "O LORD, save us, we pray. We beseech You, O LORD, cause us to prosper!"  On the seventh trip around the altar they would pour out the water.

 I believe it was at that moment that Jesus stood and shouted this incredible invitation, and invited all those who were thirsty to come to Him and drink. 
1 Corinthians 10:4 tells us that the rock in the Old Testament from which the water miraculously flowed was Jesus.  He was that rock, and now we know that the water that poured from that rock was the Holy Spirit. 
So, when we believe in Jesus, His Holy Spirit is given freely! Those of us who are in Christ possess His Spirit and His Spirit will freely flow through us onto others. 

 The people then couldn't have fully understood all that Jesus was saying at that time. But now we know the Holy Spirit literally dwells in every believer all over this world.  We aren't ever alone, for we are on a mission working with the Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent King of kings! 

 Just how cool is that?

 Blessings, 

 sue

2 Thessalonians

Teaching Our Young to Stand on Thier Own {2 Thessalonians 1}

10:00 PM

Paul writes this second letter to the church at Thessalonica shortly after his first. His reason for writing once more is to encourage the Thessalonian believers to stand firm in their faith in the midst of fierce persecution, which got me thinking… shouldn’t we be doing the same today? After all, Christians are hated, persecuted, even martyred more today than in the First Century and it’s only growing worse. Are we preparing our children, grandchildren and young believers to face such opposition? Are we teaching them how to walk so closely to the Lord that they will be able to stand firm in their faith when the trials come?  

Paul begins his letter by expressing a need to pray and give thanks for the believers there in Thessalonica, “We ought always and indeed are morally obligated to give thanks to God for you…”(1:3)    And then closes the chapter with a prayer for them, “ With this in view, we constantly pray for you, that our God will count you worthy of your calling [to faith] and with [His] power fulfill every desire for goodness, and complete [your] every work of faith,  so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the [precious] grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (1:11-12)

How is your prayer life? I know we often say we will pray, we should pray, but are we taking the time to pray for others; especially for our loved ones, as well as our own needs? I became curious, and discovered through my research, that Paul prays 42 times in his epistles. No doubt about it, Paul was a man of prayer, who not only prayed himself, but encouraged others to as well. Why is it many of us struggle to pass along a legacy of prayer?

Paul, himself has admitted prayer is warfare (2 Cor 10:3-5; Eph 6:10-20), and we know our enemy will do all he can to keep us from praying, but sometimes I think we tend to over complicate the simple act of prayer.

Take for example just the name of God revealed to Moses at the burning bush - YHWH - actually denotes breathing sounds in the Hebrew language. Linguists call them aspirate consonants. If you try to pronounce the name without the vowels, one simply breathes. So, every time we breathe in (YH) and breathe out (WH), we are speaking the name of God. (Try it) Every time we breathe, YHWH all of us; believers and skeptics alike are actually speaking the name of our God, the One who is the Breathe of Life.  

The highest name of our God is the sound of our breathing. Calling on our Lord is just a breath away! Here’s a little of what Scripture has to say about breath:
  •  “Cease to trust in [weak, frail, and dying] man, whose breath is in his nostrils [for so short a time]; in what sense can he be counted as having intrinsic worth?” -Isaiah 2:22
  • “[It is] the Spirit of God that made me, and the breath of the Almighty that gives me life”. -Job 33:4

Knowing this, can you see how sometimes man seems to complicate thing?

I learned these truths right about the time my son went off to school for the first time. He had a very sweet teacher, who was in her first year of teaching. The trouble was, she tended to allow the class to get out of control and then she began raising her voice to try to bring the children back under control. My son was not used to “a yeller”, as he called her, and began to get anxious the moment the class started getting chaotic. As he described it, he wanted to, “run out of the room and not stop running until he made it home”. Somehow, I had to help him at six years old to sit tight, and call on Jesus when the class got out of control and he began to grow anxious. 

The first thing I did was to pull out my Amplified Bible. It’s now referred to the Classic Amplified Bible and I highly recommend every home have one and here’s why:

Here’s Hebrews 2:18 in the English Standard Version, “ For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”

Here’s the same verse my son read in the Amplified Bible,
   
For because He Himself [in His humanity] has suffered in being tempted (tested and tried), He is able [immediately] to run to the cry of (assist, relieve) those who are being tempted and tested and tried [and who therefore are being exposed to suffering]. Hebrews 2:18 (AMPC emphasis mine)

I explained to him that God had a purpose for him in that classroom! He needed him to be an intercessor to help keep the class from getting out of control. I then referred him to God’s name, YHWH and that he didn’t have to go into a posture of prayer, or even pray a long prayer; all he needed to do was call out to Him with a deep breath and a whisper, and ask His help referring to Heb 2:18. I convinced him to go back to school the next day and give it a try, and you can bet I was praying throughout the day as well, until he returned home, and I'll never forget our conversation once he made it home:

Me: “So, how did your day go today? Did the class get chaotic again?”
JD (eyes growing bigger): “Yep!”
Me: “Did the teacher start yelling?”
JD, (Nodding): “Oh ya!”
Me: “Did you pray?”
JD: “Yep, just like you told me.”
Me: “Well, what happened!!?” (not being able to stand the suspense any longer!)
JD: “Jesus came running to the rescue, Mom! Just like the verse says! The class all of a sudden started quieting down!”

That day, not only did Jesus start to become more than someone JD learned about in Sunday School, but he also learned that the words in the Bible are true and can be trusted! And today, that little guy has four of his own children, and is doing a far better job than his mom at teaching his children how to stand on their own!

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Hi Everyone!
If you enjoyed this post I'd like to personally invite you to join me and a wonderful, eclectic group of women from all over the world on a Facebook site we call, Women in the Word . We are currently traveling through the entire New Testament - one chapter a day! It has been such an incredibly journey which we want to share with you! So, if you've ever wanted to know more of what God's Word has to say about everything, and meet and make new friends from all over the world, come join us by clicking on this link . 
There will always be someone there to welcome you! Oh! And please feel free to invite others!
God bless you,
sue