John 11:1-43

We tend to blame God when we experience the unpleasant&painful experiences of this life.Most of the time these things will have Eternal Truths associated with them!These painful emotions&feelings&thoughts r the very things that the devil will leverage so he can turn us away from the TRUTHS of GOD’s great love for us.N John11:1-43 this happens n the lives of a family that has known Jesus for a while,and they “thought” that Jesus loved them!What they KNEW of Jesus previously was challenged/put into doubt by a horrible illness that comes to their brother Lazarus.Lazarus’ sisters send for Jesus to come HELP!When Jesus arrives Lazarus’ sister Martha runs out to meet Jesus.The first thing she says to Jesus is,”if you had been here my brother would not have died.”Martha then runs back to tell Lazarus’ other sister Mary that Jesus had arrived,& she says the same thing to Jesus!Jesus never mentions the fact that before he heard that Lazarus was sick,Lazarus had actually died!When Jesus arrives at Lazarus’ home,Lazarus had been dead for 4 days!It had been 4 days since Lazarus’ sisters sent for Jesus.At that time the sisters send for Jesus it was a 2 day journey for the messengers to reach Jesus w the news,&Jesus arrived 2 days after that! This means that Lazarus has died shortly after his sisters sent the messengers!When Jesus heard from the messengers,Lazarus had already died!Jesus never mentions this!When Jesus arrives,there were some(including the sisters)that were maybe wondering why Jesus waited so long,if he really loved Lazarus?There was a “blame game” that was being stirred up by temporal pains&emotions&challenges. The first thing people do is place blame on Jesus!(John11:37,”But some of them said,’Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying’).The first thing that Jesus does is to try to get them to turn from their temporal pain,and turn to the eternal perspective & promises of God.Jesus says,”Your brother will rise again...I am the resurrection & the life.He who believes n me will live,even though he dies;&whoever lives & believes n me will never die.”(John11:23-25).N no way is Jesus discounting the temporal pain they r feeling!N fact Jesus FEELS the same thing when he goes to the tomb of Lazarus(John11:35,”Jesus wept”).No one knows better than Jesus what the eternal promises are for those who believe n Him,& the WONDER&BLESSINGS that await us n eternity(John14:32b,Jesus says,”I go to prepare a place for you...”).Yet,Jesus also knows the depth of our temporal pain,and fully feels it himself!Jesus is not cold nor distant from us when we r experiencing temporal pains&challenges! He feels our pain with us!The devil will do everything he can to get us to focus on the extreme pains of the temporal,& forget the TRUTHS of Jesus’ great love for us,especially that Jesus extremely expressed when He suffered & died for us...AND the ETERNAL PROMISES of God that were “LOCKED IN” by the resurrection & ascension of Christ!The devil will use every bit of temporal pain & despair that we will experience to start us down the path of faulting God someway,& further down the path of totally misunderstanding Our Father n Heaven,& ultimately deny ourselves His Great Love!Dear Jesus,it is not easy for me to find where You are when I am going through tough things of life,yet I easily begin to find “reasons” that You “should be” where I want You to be!Help me to know The Truth that You know my pain,& that You have PROMISES n and through these “things of life” that r TRUSTWORTHY expressions of Your great love for me!Help me to “lean on” these!

John 10

The Triune God of Creation)God The Father,God The Son,& God The Spirit) is a concept that I still sort of wrongly “RANK” these THREE as I go about my everyday life.This is so wrong!They are ONE!They do not have different “RANKS”!They have the very same AWESOMENESS of being ALMIGHTY GOD!The God that was before “The Beginning” of time...The God that made “The Beginning”...The God that knew me before I was knit together n my mother’s womb...God The Father is the “Triune-ness” of absolute HOLINESS&RIGHTEOUSNESS,that n His GREAT LOVE gave me life,& created everything to reveal HIS GLORY to me,so I would have every opportunity to personally realize His Love for me.And then have the opportunity to turn to the GREATEST EXPRESSION of LOVE that could ever be...that HE made through the “Triune-ness” of God The Son!Then,The Triune God,n His Great Love & Wisdom,knew that once I did receive the GREATEST EXPRESSION of LOVE ever,that I would need A LOT of help while I “navigate” my life n this world,since there is an enemy that seeks to “kill and destroy”me(John10:10).So, The Triune God sent God The Spirit to me personally..to b my Divine Helper!(John14:25-27)The Triune God personally sent His “Triune-ness” HELP for me through God The Spirit!All of this is coming up n my heart today as what Jesus says n John4:23 runs through my heart&mind&spirit.Jesus says,”that all May honor the Son just as they honor the Father,who sent him.”Dear Jesus,I confess that I usually do not give you the same HONOR & REVERENCE n my “thinking&living” that you should have, since you ARE GOD!Even though I know this,the TRUTH of this does not always make it’s way into the way I actually honor you n my “thinking&living”...n my life!The same is true with Your Spirit that you have sent to be my HELP.Dear Lord,let Your “Triune-ness” be realized more&more n my “thinking&living”...so more of my “thinking&living” may b blessed,& changed by Your Overwhelming Mercy&Grace!

John 5:19-20

One of the Gifts/Blessings of knowing&following Christ as Lord is the abundant life/life to the full  that Jesus talks about n John 10:10.Yet many times/seasons n our lives we don’t know the PEACE&JOY that such an “abundant&full” life should bring with it.We find ourselves wanting more,& or UNfulfilled!To the point that we r not “at rest”(no Peace&no Joy)w who we r;where we r;what we r doing;our circumstances;who’s n our life;what we have;where we r going,etc.!Not much,if anything brings us the authentic Peace&Joy that Jesus came to give us!AND we have little or no sense of true/trustworthy direction!When we r n these times/seasons of our lives we r seldom satisfied w much of anything! We want more!We want more out of/from the people around us!We r constantly “changing things up” n our lives n 1 way or another!We feel an entitlement for more!And these things lead us DOWN the path of asking questions like->WHERE IS GOD?IS GOD REAL;IF HE really does love me,then why this?Why am I not hearing or seeing anything from GOD?IF GOD is real then why does HE not answer my prayers?And we ask,”if Jesus died for me to know God and HIS presence;wisdom;discernment;etc. n my life,then where is GOD now?”And on and on...!NJohn 5:19-20Jesus give us a clue to what’s NOT goin on n our lives when we “feel” these things&think these things.HE says,”I tell u the truth,the Son can do nothing by himself;he can only do what he sees his Father doing,bcuz whatever the Father does the Son does also.For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.Yes,to your amazement he will show him even greater things.”Jesus is telling us that he will only do what The Father shows him to do!The intimacy between The Father & The Son is made possible bcuz The Son only does what he sees The Father doing!It is when we don’t follow Christ’s example that we will n essence distance ourselves from “knowing GOD&His Presence”,and end up with the the discouraging questions and complaints about God listed above!N 1John2:3-6,the Bible says that,”We know that we have come to know him(The Lord)If we obey his commands.The man who says,’I know him(the Lord)’,But does not do what he commands is a liar,& the truth is not n him....:Whoever claims to live n him must walk as Jesus did.”If we are to know the Presence of God n our lives,& steer our lives clear of the pitfalls listed above that take us away from from knowing God’s Presence n our lives,THEN we must “walk as Jesus did”! And Jesus looked to see what The Father was doing,and did THAT!When we DO NOT do THAT,our lives will always wander n2 the weeds away from knowing the abundant&full life that Jesus came to bless us with!Dear Lord,I am often NOT n the middle of the Joy&Peace/the abundant&full life that you desire me to have...that you promise for me!I know now that these times/seasons r when I am wondering away from what You show me and tell me via Your Word&Your Spirit.Do what it takes to bring me back during these times/seasons...so I will always know Your Presence n my life.

John 4:1-42

N John4:1-42,Jesus talks w a Samaritan woman.She is surprised that Jesus,a Jew,would talk w her.Because of their differences,Jews usually would not talk w Samaritans bcuz of their differences.Yet,Jesus not only starts a conversation w this lady,Jesus looks beyond “WHAT” this lady is & where she is from...,and sees n2 WHO she is and what her deeper needs are.Their discussion begins about temporal things(“Will you give me a drink of water?”,John4;7),& segues into much more!Jesus desires to look past the temporal in our lives,and to the more significant issues of life!He is totally capable&willing to linger n temporal conversations as He probably did when he ate w a bunch of tax collectors at Matthew’s house,but He is also tuning Himself n2 deeper heart issues as He spends time w people.With this woman at the well,Jesus had obviously done just that(tuned n2 deeper issues of her life/concerns/hurts,etc.).And He ends up having a conversation w her that “introduces” her to The Savior Jesus Christ!N our lives we are constantly coming n2 contact w people,& 4 one reason or another we do not consider the possibility that our “passing by” w them may have a more significant purpose than just passing by,or talking about temporal things w/out wondering if there might b “more” to our chance “passing by” or “moment of engagement”.Jesus always has the heart of every person on His Heart&Thoughts” when He “passes by”...ALWAYS!Most of the times this will lead to “having a heart” for those we “pass by”!But sometimes it will also lead to our personal “conversations at the well” with people!Just as Jesus’ “conversation at the well” with this woman led to this lady,AND a bunch of people that this lady knew coming to know Christ as Savior,so may our “chance encounters” become opportunities for our lives to reflect and tell of GOD’s great Mercy&Grace through Christ...what Jesus has done n our lives!Only if we are constantly looking to see past the temporal...and n2 the heart of those we “pass by”.Dear Lord,I fail so many times to even wonder if a “chance encounter”,or a “conversation at the well” may b more than just that!Help me to b prayerfully wondering about this...always!And may I,with Your help,not miss any more “conversions at the well”,bcuz of my never looking past the “conversations at the well”,for deeper things.

John 3

N chapter 3 of John, an intelligent and influential member of the community comes to Jesus under the cover of dark.Nicodemus has seen the miracles that Jesus performed,& what he witnessed has convinced him that Jesus is from God(John3:2).Nicodemus has become a “believer” that Jesus is from God,but he hasn’t settled what this should mean for his life!Jesus knows the question(s) that have compelled Nicodemus to seek Him out this night,so Jesus goes right to the heart of why Nicodemus has come!N verse 3 Jesus “declared,’I tell you the truth,no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again’.”Nicodemus doesn’t understand what Jesus is talking about,with the “born again” statement! This is the intersection of faith that Satan creates traffic snares and misdirections that take us away from the realities of our being body AND spirit,and the realities of our being created to be ETERNAL!In Jesus declaration,He is reminding Nicodemus of what he should be aware of since he is a leader in the Jewish/religious community!As a Jewish Leader, Nicodemus knew what had been written by Moses,David,& the Old Testament Prophets!And he knew the evidences of our being body AND spirit spoken of/witnessed to throughout the Scriptures!Nicodemus knew Proverbs21:16 that says,”A man that strays from the path of understanding comes to rest in the company of the dead.”And he knew Proverbs2:1-5that says,”If you accept my words(God’s Word revealed through The Bible&through the Birth/Life/Ministry/Suffering/Death/Resurrection/Ascension of Christ),& store up my commands w/in you,turning your ear to wisdom & applying your heart to understanding...,then u will understand the fear of(reverence)of the Lord & find knowledge of God(God’s Grace&Mercy).He would also have known the ending verses of this Proverb that have God telling of the contrasting lives between those that do not “turn their ear to wisdom”, nor “apply their hearts to understanding”...& those that do!Verse 18 says that those who do not “turn & apply” will follow a life path that leads to spiritual death!Whereas verse 20-21 says that those that “walk n the ways of good men(the faithful examples n the Bible)& keep to the paths of the righteous(made righteous by their FAITHFULNESS n The Lord)...these will “live in the land...&remain in it”(Spiritually Alive forever!).Nicodemus should also have known what The Old Testament says about resurrection of our bodies to be united with our spirit(Isaiah26:19 “But your dead will live;their bodies will rise.You who dwell in the dust,wake up and shout for joy.Your dew is like the dew of the morning;the earth will give birth to her dead.”)The fact is that Nicodemus should have known what Jesus was taking about,if he had sought to know true history,& God’s Word revealed through the lives of the faithful that had lived before him!He would’ve known that we are made spiritually dead by sin,and the only way to spiritual life is through our trust n God’s revealed Mercy&Grace...prophesied through the Scriptures & fulfilled/revealed through Christ!When Jesus says,”unless he is born of the water & the Spirit”,Jesus is saying that all who are born(birth mother’s water breaks as we are born),must turn to Christ with their hearts/minds/lives n order to be counted as those who r Spiritually Alive...ultimate being reunited as Body&Spirit when Jesus  returns to set up The Kingdom of Heaven on the New Earth!Dear Lord,as n the life of Nicodemus,these TRUTHS do not effect/impact my heart/mind/life as they should! May Your Word & Spirit b “made alive” n my life...so I will have the Peace&Joy throughout all of life’s ups & downs...& remain one of “The Faithful”!