The Truth Will Change You!

Week 13, Day 4 Reading: John 17:1-26

John 17:17  Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

If you ever wondered, "Should I make the effort to read the Bible on a regular basis?" Here is your answer - straight from the lips of the Lord Jesus himself. In this passage, Jesus is praying to His Father the night before His crucifixion. In the prayer, Jesus is asking on behalf of this small group of followers that he is leaving behind .... AND those who will one day believe in Him through their word (in other words, Jesus is praying for His Church ... which would include all of us who have chosen to follow Him). 

In the midst of this prayer for His Church, he asks the Father to sanctify them. This word means to "make separate" ... "to make holy." So Jesus is praying that God would make us different from the world in which we live (which we know from other Scripture, that means to make us like Jesus - see Romans 8:28-29). The key to this sanctification process is God's truth ... which Jesus identifies as God's Word. 

Now ... if you want to become more like Jesus, I can guarantee you that it will ONLY happen as you saturate your mind and soul with His Word. This is what the Spirit of God will use as His divine instrument to cultivate in us His fruit (Galatians 5:22-23). 

As you dig into the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit will use THE TRUTH (God's Word) to change you! 

Thanks for stopping by . . . 
pj

Don't Forget!

Week 13, Day 3 Reading: Luke 11:1-13

Luke 11:9-10  And I tell you,ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

Today's reading is very rich with truth and insights into prayer. I could easily have written an "Hour Devotional." But, since I want to stay on track with my promise of a "Minute Devotional," I decided to zero in on the two verses above. Here Jesus makes the straightforward promise that if we ask, seek and knock ... we will receive, find and encounter open doors!

Wow! This is a promise of which we all need to keep reminding ourselves. It is so easy to get discouraged as we are bombarded by need after need. And there are times when this parade of needs just keeps marching on, never missing a beat. We get knocked down and worn out. And all too often we can develop the attitude, "Does God even care?"

The answer to this is "YES!" He cares ... and cares deeply. But he knows what is always best for us. This means that there are times when he wants us to keep coming to him (as, in the parable Jesus tells here in this passage, the man boldly came to his neighbor late at night to ask for bread for his unexpected visitors). For God knows that if all we ever experienced were sunny days and warm breezes - our hearts would be tempted to lose sight of HIM ... the giver of those sunny days and warm breezes (see Deuteronomy 6:10-12). And we can ill afford to do that!

Thanks for stopping by . . .
pj

A Call to Pray ... A Call to Go!

Week 13, Day 2 Reading: Luke 10:1-24

Luke 10:2  And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."

Here is a call to pray that is just as much needed today as it was when Jesus gave it. He had just selected a group of seventy-two individuals to go out before him into the towns and villages he was planning to visit. Jesus wanted this group to realize that they were heading into God's harvest field AND that harvest was too huge for them alone! 

Wow! That's an encouragement. Although it might seem that God is doing little in our world today, we can take heart that God is NOT done with his harvest. There are still more souls to be won to Christ! We need to pray that God would raise up more who are willing to go into the world to do God's work. And like any prayer, we must realize that we can (and should) be part of the answer to this prayer. Remember ... the mission field is not simply lands that are far away spiritually dark places. The mission field is all around us! Let's respond as Isaiah the prophet responded when God asked, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Isaiah replied, "Here I am, send me!" (Isaiah 6:8)

Thanks for stopping by . . . 
pj

Make Time!

Week 13, Day 1 Reading: Mark 1:29-39

Mark 1:35  And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. 

No one familiar with the gospel record would ever accuse of Jesus NOT being busy. As his fame spread, crowds were constantly pressing upon him, demanding his time. Yet even in the midst of his very full schedule, he found (no, better said "MADE") time to be alone with His Father. My friend, there is a powerful lesson in this for every single one of us. Yes, we live in a very busy world. Most days all of us have places to go, people to see, things to do. The carousel of life never seems to stop. BUT ... stop we must unless we want to fall apart as the pressure of daily living mounts.

SOOO ... do you MAKE time to spend with God? Taking as little as 15 minutes each day to get into His Word and pray ... can be the difference maker in your day. And I am guessing once you experience the joy and benefits of a daily quiet time with God (even if only ten minutes) ... you will want more!

Thanks for stopping by . . .
pj

PowerPoint for The Parable of the Soils

Here are the slides for Sunday, February 24th .... enjoy!

The parable of the soils mark 4 - 1-20 - feb 24, 2013 from John Smith

Thanks for stopping by . . .
pj

I Am the Resurrection and the Life!

Week 12, Day 5 Reading: John 11:1-45

John 11:25-26   Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 

I find these two verses to be among the most powerful in the entire gospel record. Jesus is speaking these words to Martha, whose brother Lazarus had just died. Martha rebuked Jesus for not coming sooner, as seen in her words, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died." Jesus went on to assure her that Lazarus would indeed rise again. And even though Martha thought he was referring to the final resurrection, Jesus went on to show he had something more in mind than that when he raised Lazarus from the dead!

Jesus' statement, "I am the resurrection and the life" is the fifth of seven "I am" statements made by Jesus. And in stating, "I am the resurrection and the life" he was indicating that there is NO resurrection and life outside of himself. It is only through HIM that we can ever hope to conquer death! The Apostle Paul understood this as writes the following as he closes out the great "Resurrection" chapter of the Bible: "The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:56-57). 

Yes. Let's join the Apostle Paul and spend some time THANKING our merciful God. For in Him and Him alone we grasp our hope of resurrection and eternal life !

Thanks for stopping by . . . 
pj

P.S. ------ "Do YOU believe this?" 

Just a Simple Touch!

Week 12, Day 4 Reading: Mark 5:21-43

Mark 5:24-29   And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him.  And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment.  For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.

The woman Mark describes for us was a desperate woman. For twelve very long years she had suffered from some sort of blood disorder. Heaped on top of this suffering was all the physicians had put her through  in their vain attempts to heal her. So ... I am guessing you can feel some of her pain and frustration. And that desperation drove her to Jesus. She had heard reports of what he was capable of doing. And she "knew" that if she could get close enough to touch just his garments ... that she could be healed. So in spite of her apparent weakness, she fought her way through the crowd and touched him. Instantly she was healed!

In a very significant way, that woman is EVERY PERSON. For each one of us is desperately ill. We all suffer from a spiritual ailment that impacts every arena of this life .... and, if left unchecked, will doom us for all eternity. This condition is "sin." Unless we come to Christ, asking for his forgiveness and "healing" we will never be made whole ... and we will be lost for all of eternity.

Friend, if you have never come to Christ ... do so TODAY (Two ways to live: a choice we all face). And if you have ... then I encourage you to continue to follow this woman's example and press through the crowded corridors of your life and get (and stay) close to Jesus!

Thanks for stopping by . . .
pj