Verses From John

Many of us have probably read through the gospel of John and wondered what some of the verses meant. I know I have. But recently, as we have been going through that book as a family, the verses seem to come alive to me. I have started going back through the gospel by myself as well. There are some very precious and convicting verses!

He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. John 1:10, 11

"Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' " John 3:7

"He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." John 3:36

Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." John 4:13, 14

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst...All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out." John 6:35, 37

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life." John 8:12
These are some of the many beautiful verses and promises in John that I have been thinking about as I read through.

Adam Clarke: A Vessel From Ireland

      Adam Clarke was born in the early 1760's (because he was from a poor family we don't really know the year he was born) in Moybeg, Ireland. From a young age, his mother taught him and his six siblings to love and fear God. When he was around 10, he and his older brother, Tracy, offered to work in the fields to help their father. This was an important time in Adam's life, because he learned to be diligent and hard-working.
      Though Adam was often working and was from a poor family, he did get a little education. He had trouble learning, though, and did not excel in his studies. As he grew older, he began attending a church singing school. He soon began to take a class in dancing. From that point on for two years, dancing took over his entire being. Instead of work and study, he would dance or go to dancing parties. It led him into many sins until he realized how it was harming him. He then repented and turned from it.
      Two times during Adam's early adulthood he suffered serious injuries but was spared by God. When he was 17, he began working for his salvation, but soon learned that that was not the way. At last, after hearing a Methodist circuit rider, he totally surrendered to God. From then on he spoke to others about God and brought several to the Lord. For many years he went through some struggles, learning to be humble and take scoffing, as God prepared him for a special calling.
      Several years later, he traveled to England and studied to be a Methodist circuit rider under John Wesley. He took up his new task with zeal and was admitted to full time ministry after only 10 months instead of the usual 4 years!
      After a number of years he married a young lady by the name of Mary Cooke. Together they had 12 children, 6 boys and 6 girls, and 3 of each lived to adulthood. He served as a circuit rider for over 50 years, bringing many to the Lord and proclaiming the Kingdom of God. On Sunday, August 26, 1832, God took His faithful servant, Adam Clarke, home forever.

Openness and Drawing on God

Near the beginning of the year, I started reading the devotional book "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers (the revised edition). I have enjoyed all the readings, but several spoke to me more clearly. Below I have posted parts of one of the readings. (Since these are sentences from a whole reading, it may not make sense without context).

Sometimes we feel fresh and eager to attend a prayer meeting, but do we feel that same freshness for such mundane tasks as polishing shoes?...Jealously guard your relationship with God...Keep your whole life continually open to Jesus Christ. Don't pretend to be open with Him. Are you drawing your life from any source other than God Himself?... from Oswald Chambers "My Utmost for His Highest", January 20

Your First Love

I read something by J. C. Ryle this afternoon that I really appreciated. It is a good warning. I found a couple of the points especially convicting which I have shared here. I find myself caught up in things like these sometimes, and it was a good reminder to look to Jesus and make sure he is our first love and nothing is between us.

Are you careless about the second advent of Christ? Alas, many are! They live like the men of Sodom and the men of Noah’s day: they eat and drink and plant and build and marry and are given in marriage and behave as if Christ was never going to return. If you are such a one, I say to you this day, "Take care: remember Lot’s wife."

Are you lukewarm, and cold in your Christianity? Alas, many are! They try to serve two masters: they labor to keep friends both with God and mammon. They strive to be a kind of spiritual bat, neither one thing nor the other: not quite a thoroughgoing Christian, but not quite men of the world. If you are such a one, I say to you this day, "Take care: remember Lot’s wife."

Are you secretly cherishing some besetting sin? Alas, many are! They go far in a profession of religion; they do many things that are right and are very like the people of God. But there is always some darling evil habit which they cannot tear from their heart. Hidden worldliness or covetousness or lust sticks to them like their skin. They are willing to see all their idols broken but this one. If you are such a one, I say to you this day, "Take care: remember Lot’s wife."
Are you trusting to your religious knowledge? Alas, many do! They are not ignorant, as other men: they know the difference between true doctrine and false. They can dispute, they can reason, they can argue, they can quote texts; but all this time they are not converted, and they are yet dead in trespasses and sins. If you are such a one, I say to you this day, "Take care: remember Lot’s wife."
Are you trusting that you will have a deathbed repentance? Alas, many do so! They know they are not what they ought to be: they are not yet born again and fit to die. But they flatter themselves that, when their last illness comes, they shall have time to repent and lay hold on Christ and go out of the world pardoned, sanctified and meet for heaven. They forget that people often die very suddenly and that, as they live, they generally die. If you are such a one, I say to you this day, "Take care: remember Lot’s wife."

The Truth About the Truth

God is the Truth. The Bible is the truth about the Truth...
-Richard Wurmbrand

Richard (Reuben) Wurmbrand was a prisoner in communist Romania for 14 years as a follower of Jesus Christ. Thus, this man must have had some vivid experiences and close times with Jesus. People like this are ones to listen closely to. He had no Bible for 14 whole years, thus he says, "God is the Truth, the Bible is only the truth about the Truth". He remained close to Jesus for 14 years without the Bible. I am not saying we should not read our Bibles, we should! We should become familiar with God's Word while we have it, but are we more interested in the Truth or the truth about the Truth? Which do we know better? Which do we spend more time with?

On Diligence...

We are studying diligence as a family, and I thought I would share a bit of what we have been learning.

I thought the definition given in this certain material for diligence was quite interesting:

Visualizing each task as a special assignment from
the Lord and using all my energies to accomplish it.

Then were were to look up verses on diligence. These are some of what I found.

This has been our "family verse" as we have been studying diligence (the rest of the passage is good, but for the sake of room I left it out and only included the three verses with some form of the word diligent).

II Petter 1:5, 10, 15
Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in moral excellence, knowledge...therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble...and I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call these things to mind.

Here are some others, with commentary:

Deuteronomy 6:7
"You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up."
We are to teach the law of God diligently all throughout the day.

Deuteronomy 6:17
"You should diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and His testimonies and His statutes which He has commanded you."
We are to keep the commandments of God diligently.

Joshua 23:11
"So take diligent heed to yourselves to love the Lord your God."
We are to be always loving God-diligently heeding.

Proverbs 4:23
Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.
I found this to be an interesting verse. We are to watch over our heart diligently and carefully-why? Because from it flow the springs of life! Our life is from our heart.

Proverbs 8:17
"I love those who love me; And those who diligently seek me will find me."
If we diligently seek God, that is all the time, we will find him.

Proverbs 12:27
A lazy man does not roast his prey, But the precious possession of a man is diligence.Ah, diligence is a precious possession! Not roasting prey does not sound good, does it? A diligent person will do everything in the right way.

II Timothy 2:15
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.
What are we to be doing continually, carefully paying attention to with much of our mind? Presenting ourselves to God in such a way that we will be approved and not ashamed.

Hebrews 4:11
Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through the same example of disobedience.
We are to strive to enter the rest of Christ so that we will not fall.

II Peter 3:14
Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless.
This is interesting, we are to be diligent, that is careful and watchful, that at any moment He comes, we will be found in peace, without spot or blemish.

An Original Psalm

by Anna M. Misko

O Jehovah of Hosts,
I seek your truth and righteousness!
Be thou not far from me,
For my hope is in You alone.

May my deepest desire be-
And may the yearnings of my heart-
Be to know you, O Lord,
For you alone have rescued me.

God, my Redeemer came,
When I was in the lowest place
When my heart was burdened
With so many guilts and troubles.

Praise unto the Father
Who never leaves His sheep alone,
But rescues and supplies
According to His great mercy.

O make me more like You,
My Redeemer and Salvation,
That Your holiness may
My every thought and power consume.

This is not meant to rhyme, just to have a rhythm to it.

You May Have Noticed...

You may have noticed that I have not been posting as often. I will still post about three times a week, but not as often as I was before. As winter and a new year brought a different season of life, I am finding myself with a fuller schedule and different priorities. I would still like to have you all visit my blog and continue to give comments, though!

Acceptance

My family and I listened to a message on acceptance a few days ago, and some of the thoughts really convicted me. I don't all have my thoughts together, so I'll just write a few notes.

Jesus knew what it was like to be rejected, and He was rejected, but He always accepted everyone.

Seek, or do as much as you can to accept everyone that comes across your path.

Acceptance and Approval are different. Even though you are to accept everyone, you are not to approve of their sin. You can accept others without approving of what they do. Accept them first, then point them to the Bible to show them their sin.

Even just a smile or a small act of service can show someone that you accept them.

Don't seek for acceptance, give it.

People will go almost anywhere and do almost anything, no matter if it is wrong to get acceptance. That shows how important acceptance is to people and it is important that we give it. People will not stay where there is no acceptance very long.

We are to even accept our enemies. "Love you enemies, pray for those who persecute you..."

Do We Live What We Say?

Sometimes I think as I look at my own life and watch other Christian young ladies (and other people, but I have the most contact with young ladies) that we really aren't much different from the world.

God said, "Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues...". When He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, he told Abraham that he would take even 10 righteous people from there. In the parable of the sheep and the goats, Christ separates the sheep from the goats. God's desire throughout the Bible is to have his people be separate from others. He gives guidelines and examples of how we are not to be like the world.

Yet, when I look around, it seems like we dress the same way, we talk the same way, we eat the same things, we do the same things, we think the same things, we must have the same things, etc.

Do we really believe God when He says we are to be different? When people look at us, do they see us as the rest of the world, just eating and drinking, buying things, speaking unkindly, playing games and laughing, etc., or do they really see what we profess? Do they see Jesus and a Spirit-filled life? Do we just go to church on Sunday and listen to the message and say, "That was a good message, one that I need in my own life", but then go home and do nothing about it?

These are some questions and thoughts that have been provoking me recently, but I must say that I have in no way mastered or even begun to master these things. It is only something that God has been laying on my heart, and I have been asking Him to help me carry out.

A new year and a new opportunity to...