Gleanings - John - Chapter 4

In chapter 3, verse 33, it says, "God is True."

In chapter 4, verse 24, it says, "God is Spirit."

These 2 statements started my brain on yet another trek I plan to take.

In tandem with reading John, I am re-reading Beth Moore's Believing God (for probably the 4th time).  In this book, she lays out 5 statements of belief one is supposed to memorize.  The 1st statement is the one the others hang on.  It is:  "God is Who He says He is."  So, in addition to my other studies, I plan to investigate everything God Himself says He is. 

A.W. Tozer says, "...faith is confidence in God's character.  And because we are not aware of what kind of God God is, or what God is like, we cannot have faith.  And so we struggle and wait and hope against hope.  But faith doesn't come, because we do not know the character of God.  'They that know what Thou art like will put their trust in Thee.'  It's automatic--it comes naturally when we know what kind of God God is....Ignorance and unbelief drag faith down, but a restored knowledge of God will bring faith up.  I don't supposed there is ever a time in the history of the world when we needed a restored knowledge of God more than we need it now (p.5, The Attributes of God, Vol. 2)."


Chapter 4 begins with story of the woman at the well.

Verse 21  "Jesus said to her, 'Woman, believe Me..."  THIS is what He is saying to me as well.

Verse 22 fits right into the Tozer thoughts.  "You worship what you do not know..."  I think this is true in every person's life to some extent.  We are NEVER going to totally know Someone Who is UNFATHOMABLE.  But there are so many things we can know about Him because He has taken the time to reveal them to us.  He has given me a way to get to know Him.  His Word.  And it is my job to ferret out all that I can.

Verse 23 (Message)  "It's who you are and the way you live that count before God.  Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of Truth.  That's the kind of people the Father is looking out for:  those who are simply and honestly themselves before Him as they worship."

Verse 26 says, " I Who speak to you am He."  In the original text, it says, "I Who speak to you AM (p.1486, William MacDonald, Believer's Bible Commentary)."  That is so powerful to me.  I wish the translators would always translate where Jesus says, "I AM" in just that manner.  I know the 'He' is implied, but I'd rather just leave it implied and let the power of "I AM" ring forth!


In verse 34, Jesus says, "My food is to do the will of Him Who sent Me and to finish His work."

I'd like this to be my fuel as well.

Verse 42 says, "They said to the woman, 'It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.'"  Every person must get to this place.  Most of us start out believing because someone took the time to tell us about Jesus and to help us see our need for a Savior.  But we cannot rest on their faith.  We have to get and to grow our own.  Someone else's faith will not support you when life throws you a hard ball.



In vv46-54, a royal official approaches Jesus to get healing for his son. 

In v50 Jesus says to him, 'You may go.  Your son will live.'  And I LOVE the next part!  It says, "The man took Jesus at His Word and departed."

O to have faith like that!  That is my GOAL!  To trust Jesus and take EVERY one of His Words as truth and TO ACT ON IT!

Verse 53 shows us that the official's active faith truly was rewarded.  Before he could even get all the way home, his servants were running out to tell him that his son was well!  Woohoo!!!

Faith as small as a mustardseed--

The initial step taken toward

OBEDIENCE!

GOD speaks; I obey.

I may not 'feel' belief, BUT

I can step out and act on

my belief and say

through my actions

that what GOD says

is more believable than

my feelings.

THAT'S FAITH!!!

Gleanings - John - Chapter 3

v2 Your miracles proved Your veracity.  (v33 “God IS True.”)

vv3,5,11 “Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the Truth...’”  79 times in the NIV Bible.
    ...must be born again. ...must be born of water and Spirit.  He speaks of what He knows and sees.

    Then He says, “But you do not RECEIVE our testimony.”  (ESV)

    Even as a believer, I find myself guilty of this.  He states many things clearly in His Word that I do not believe enough to step out in faith on.  Still I am guilty of worry which is the opposite of true God-honoring faith.  Every time I do not believe Him UTTERLY, I am not truly RECEIVING His testimony.

    receive–to take or acquire something offered; to meet with, experience; to take in, hold, or contain; to perceive or acquire mentally; to regard with approval; to be a recipient.
        acquire–to gain possession of; to get by one’s own efforts.
            possess–to own or master something; to have as a quality, characteristic, or other attribute; to gain or seize; to be controlled by another force or Spirit.

v8 “The wind blows wherever it pleases.  You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.  So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (NIV)
   

v11 “I tell you the Truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen...” (NIV)
    Jesus knows what He is saying because He makes up all the rules.  He came to reveal Himself to men and every Word He speaks is True.

    He gives us something to believe in because He knows people believe what they see.  He works in our lives and gives us evidence of His guidance.  We have to be looking for it.

v12 “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things.”  (ESV)

    I don’t, even yet, take His Word as complete truth.  I seem to choose some things as things that I can camp on.  And other things, my spirit is still wobbly and unsure on.  NUTS!  That makes COMPLETELY NO SENSE.  Either He is 100% True or 0% trustworthy.  I KNOW that the first is right.  Yet I do not act like it.  Grrr!  Romans 7 in action here.  And I say, along with Paul, “What a wretched [wo]man I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?”  And having been increasingly encouraged by my study,  I, too, rejoice in Paul’s hope that Jesus can and WILL do it!

    Also, Jesus seems to be saying that He desires to reveal more and more to people as they believe, and I surely want that as well!

v22 Jesus took time to be with the disciples alone.

    Message “After this conversation, Jesus went on with His disciples into the Judean countryside and relaxed with them there.”

v27 “To this John replied, ‘A man can receive only what is given from heaven.’”
    Message “It’s not possible for a person to succeed–I’m talking about eternal success–without Heaven’s help.”

    God allows my circumstances to orchestrate the change necessary in me to become more like Jesus.  Romans 8:28-29   He began this good work in me and will complete it.  (Philippians 1:6) I know He is orchestrating this study and leading me through it.  And hope and trust are building in me that He WILL do the transforming work in me to believe Him FULLY!

v29-30 “That’s why my cup is running over.  This is the assigned moment for Him to move into the center, while I slip off to the sidelines.”  (Message)

    John was overjoyed to give glory to Jesus instead of himself.  This should be my attitude as well.  Like John, it is my continual job to point people to Jesus and to, then, step out from between them and let Jesus become their everything, just as He is mine.  No Savior-complex for me anymore!  I KNOW that I am NOT the One Whom they need.  They need the One Who can actually effectively transform them!

v30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.”  (ESV)
    His Spirit must take over dominion in me, and my flesh must give up the control!

v33 “The man who has accepted it has certified that God is truthful.”
   
    Amplified: “Whoever receives His testimony has set his seal of approval to this: God is True. [That man has definitely certified, acknowledged, declared one and for all, & is himself assured that it is Divine Truth that God cannot lie.]”
        seal–to grant, certify, or designate under seal or authority; to establish or determine IRREVOCABLY.

    Message: “anyone who examines this evidence will come to stake his life on this: that God himself is the truth.”

    When I come to the place where I trust every Word You say, worry will have no place in me because I will be believing You will provide through every circumstance!  Trust will mend the chink in my armor that has been allowing the fiery darts to get through and pierce me.

    Titus 1:2 (Amplified) “Resting in the hope of eternal life, life which the ever-truthful God Who cannot deceive (‘Who does not lie’ NIV), promised before the world or the ages of time began.

    God alone provides for me.  “For your Maker is your Husband–the Lord Almighty is His Name.”  Isaiah 54:5

v34     “For He Whom God has sent utters the words of God...”  (ESV)
    I’m glad to know He gives me the words I need to help others when I need them as well. 

    “...God gives the Spirit without limit.”    without bounds!


v35 “The Father loves the Son extravagantly...”  (Message)
    I love this translation of that statement!  It reminds me of 1John 3:1, which says, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on US that we should be called children of God!”  (NIV)

    And Jesus says that it is the same kind of love.  John 17:23 “I in them and You in Me, that they may become perfectly one so that the world may know that You sent Me and loved them even as You loved Me.” (NIV)  (This FLOORS me every time I read it.  Think of it!)

v36 “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the truth will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.’  (NIV)
    ESV/NASB    ‘does not obey’
    KJV        ‘believeth not’
    AMP        ‘disobeys–is unbelieving toward, refuses to trust in, disregards, is not subject to’


    Now, I believe and am saved; but, as I already said, I have times where I am unbelieving toward something God has said.  My GOAL is to grow to the point where, in Christ’s strength,  I have complete and utter trust in every Word out of the mouth of God, just as He deserves.

This means War!!!

2Corinthians 10:3-6

NIV
³ For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. ⁴ The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵ We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. ⁶ And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.


The Message
^3-6The world is unprincipled. It's dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn't fight fair. But we don't live or fight our battles that way—never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren't for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity.

There's victory to be had!  Let's learn how to wage battle and win!

Beth Moore is talking about this very thing on

Wednesdays with Beth Moore.

Yesterday was her 1st lesson.

She is going through the material

in her book, Praying God's Word.

SO GOOD!!!

Here is where you can go to watch.

I'm going to try to catch it each week.

God is True

John 3:33 (amplified)  "Whoever receives His testimony has set his seal of approval to this:  God is True.  [That man has definitely certified, acknowledged, declared once and for all, and is himself assured that it is Divine Truth that God CANNOT lie.]

  This verse started me on a journey today.  I began looking up verses that refer to the impossibility of God lying.  After all, Chapter 3 of John, Jesus says thrice, "I tell you the truth"  (vv 3, 5, 11).

The first Scripture that popped into my head was John 17:17:  "Sanctify them by the Truth; Your Word IS Truth!"  Then John 14:6:  " I AM the Way and the Truth and the Life..."

After that I went to the concordance and looked up lying in reference to God and found:

Numbers 23:19(amp.)  "God is not a man that He should tell or act a lie..."

1Samuel 15:29(amp.)  "And also the Strength of Israel will not lie or repent..."

Titus 1:2(NIV)  "a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, Who DOES NOT LIE, promised before the beginning of time"

Hebrews 6:18(amp.)  "This was so that, by two unchangeable things [His promise and His oath] in which it is impossible for God ever to prove false or deceive us (i.e. LIE), we who have fled [to Him] for refuge might have mighty indwelling strength and strong encouragement to grasp and hold fast the hope appointed for us and set before [us]."


His COMPLETE truthfulness means EVERY Word He has spoken is true.  NOT just the ones that are easy to believe.  ALL OF THEM!!! WOOHOO!!!

The next verse in the Hebrews passage is the challenge in light of KNOWING that God will not lie and will keep His promises (every last one - 2Corinthians 1:20).

Hebrews 6:19 (amp.)  "[Now] we have this [hope] as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul [it cannot slip and it cannot break down under whoever steps out upon it--a hope] that reaches farther and enters into [the very certainty of the Presence] within the veil..."

My paraphrase of this is:  "So STEP OUT in faith Woman!  The ice is 4 billion feet thick and entirely safe.  BELIEVE!!!"

Gleanings - John - Chapter 2

Reading John 1 was wonderful; many gleanings from the Spirit.  Chapter 2 contained many new thoughts as well.  I also chewed on thoughts that I've heard before.  Chapter 2 starts out with the story of the first miracle Jesus performed--turning water into wine at a wedding, His 1st display of His total mastery over the physical world.  He can alter matter.  Woah!!!

Verse 3 is an example of a previous teaching meditated on afresh.
   "When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to Him, 'They have no more wine.'

Now, I can't remember where I heard this (from Beth Moore or Nancy Leigh DeMoss or someone else), but whomever it was said that Mary just presented the problem to the One Who could do something about it.  She didn't beg.  She didn't tell Him HOW to fix it.  She just brought it to Him.  And then she waited, with expectation.  It reminds me of Psalm 5:3 "In the morning, O LORD, in the morning I lay my requests before You and wait in expectation."  Well, it wasn't morning, but the rest of the verse is there in this idea.  I love it.  Submissive expectant waiting SCREAMS faith.

I'm not sure how to deal with the whole interchange between Jesus and Mary.  It sounds like He is saying "No, Mom, I'm a grown man now.  You can quit trying to order things for Me in My Life.  I AM God, and I'll say when it is time to act."  But, He does something (maybe He had an expression on His face that let her know) that prompts her next statement.  She says to the servants, in verse 5, "Do whatever He tells you."  Again, she does not try to control or orchestrate what happens next.  (It is no secret that Mary is a better woman than I!  It seems like, in my prayers, I'm always telling God what I want, how I want it, and when I want it.  No wonder I get disappointed sometimes.  I want to take a lesson from Mary in this.)  So that's Mary's part.  Enter the servants.

Verse 7 "Jesus said to the servants, 'Fill the jars with water'"; (and without knowing what to expect) "they filled them to the BRIM."  These are servants who knew HOW to OBEY!  (I need that too!)  And because they obey, they are blessed to see His glory when He acts.

Verse 8 "Then He told them, 'Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.'  They did so."
Obedience, again.

Verse 9 "and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine.  He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew."  Their obedience had positioned them for knowing deeper and being blessed.

So Mary wait with expectation, and she was blessed to see His glory revealed.

The servants obeyed fully in the process, and they were blessed to see His glory revealed.

And the disciples were there, taking this all in.  And when "He thus revealed His glory...His disciples put their faith in Him."

God's revealed glory ALWAYS results in our increased faith, IF we don't miss it.

My final thoughts on this part of the chapter were:  Not understanding 'how' God is going to act in a situation is not a lack of faith.  Even if I don't understand, I can obey to the fullest, like the servants did, and, thereby, open up my life to the blessing He desires to pour into it.

If Mary hadn't brought all her cares to Him (like He says to in 1 Peter 5:7 and Philippians 4:5-6) and if the servants hadn't obeyed Him to the fullest, playing their roles in the situation, they wouldn't have had the privilege of watching Him work through them.  And their faith wouldn't have grown as much.  And as I obey Him and watch Him work, my faith will deepen too.  Every time He 'comes through' for us, it serves to deepen our faith, to enrich it.

As my mom told me the other day, the longer you live and look back and see His provision, the more confidence in Him and courage you will have.  And life is a process of deepening faith.  You will never arrive until you step into His Presence at the end.  (And yet, in all my imperfection, He loves me!  Glory!!!)

Active remembrance of His Word and His deeds increases our faith, shores up our belief.  Verse 22 says, "After He was raised from the dead, His disciples recalled what He had said.  Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken."

My prayer:  Lord, break down, tear out the stronghold of fear in my life.  Replace it with confident, trusting, obedient belief.  Change me and give me victory.  Help me make the daily choices required to overcome this bondage.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Before I move on to the rest of the chapter, here is a song we learned recently in church that mentions this miracle and others.




One of my favorite lines says, "There's no one like You."  I love the bridge as well.  "And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us?  And if our God is with us, then what could stand against?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Between the 2 main parts of this chapter is tucked one little verse that I love.  Verse 12 says, "After this He went down to Capernaum with His mother and brothers and His disciples.  There they stayed for a few days."  How great is that?!  Jesus need a break to rest and refresh with friends and family too.  He needed down time with his loved ones.  He managed to minister even in that time I have no doubt.  They learned just by watching Him.  But He was there to enjoy them and to re-energize for His next public encounter.  He WAS fully man, as well as fully God.  AWESOME!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next event in the chapter is when He went to the temple and kicked all the money-lenders and sellers out.  Bold.  Authoritative.  Verse 17 sums it up best, "Zeal for Your House will consume Me."

The 'powers-that-be' wanted a sign to back up His authority.  Here's the one He gave them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in 3 days (verse 19)."  Of course, they didn't get that He was talking about the Temple of His body.  (I wouldn't have got it either.)

He was so courageous to go against any one who was not right, to His own peril.  "Why was He so courageous?" I wondered.  I struggle to be courageous.  So I want to find 'the secret'.  I think the answer was in verse 19.  He knew what He came to do, and He knew what the 'end' would be.  Yes, He would lay down His life, but He would also 'take it up again' (John 10:17-18).  We know the end result too!  Heaven!!!  And so I pray for more boldness to exercise the authority He has granted me.  (Psalm 8:6  "You have give him (man) dominion over the works of Your Hands; You have put all things under his feet.")

It was NOT because He trusted in man's 'innate goodness'.  What a crock!  It says, in verses 24 & 25, "But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men.  He did not need man's testimony about man, for He knew what was in a man."  (And it wasn't good!  Genesis 6:5 "The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that EVERY inclination of his heart was ONLY evil ALL the time.")  He was even talking about people who profess belief in Him in this instance.  He has seen us in action since we were created.  We cannot deceive Him.

He knows me.  Every last blemish, wrinkle, laugh line, wart, etc.  I cannot deceive Him.  He knows how completely untrustworthy and fickle I can be.  I'm so grateful that He is the complete opposite and is totally trustworthy, and that He has covered me with His righteousness.

 One final Scripture to encourage us all to cling to His Word:

Psalm 12:6-7a(amplified) "The words and promises of the Lord 

are pure words, like silver refined in an earthen furnace,

purified seven times over.  You will keep them

and preserve them, O Lord..."

Peace & Rest

Soon I plan to do word studies on peace and rest.  I think these are the byproducts of trust and belief.

And OH how I long to be peaceful, consistently.  And OH how I long to rest in Jesus.  I feel I too quickly lose these blessings whenever circumstances feel terrorizing.  I serve the same God Who works on my behalf regardless of circumstances.  He promises to take care of me through every circumstance.  Yet my flesh freaks out in fearfulness so easily.

 And I'm sick of it!  

I feel my distrust is a slap in the face of the God I love.  He is utterly true and utterly trustworthy.  To worry that He will not live up to His Word is to call Him a liar.  In the old west, 'them's fightin' words!'  And how much more horrible to imply by my thoughts and actions that the Holy God is a liar.  Arrrggghhhh!

I am SO thankful that He knows that I am dust and that He is rich in mercy and in love.

It is ridiculous to me how I can believe Him SO completely about some things and not about others.  His veracity doesn't waver subject to subject.  But my trust level does.  Why?

Why?

Why???

Gleanings - John - Chapter 1

Well, 1 week into my plan,

I STILL LOVE IT!!!

Just started Chapter 2 today.

Looking forward to what God reveals.

Now for my Chapter 1 gleanings:

Before I get started breaking down what I learned by verses, I just want to throw in a warning disclaimer:  I am known to be wordy at times.  Also I want to share my favorite verse in the chapter:

v14 "The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.  We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only Who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

So, here we go...

vv1-2  In the beginning was the Word, and Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.

These verses always swing my mind back to Genesis 1:1.  To the beginning of creation.  To where it ALL started.   God's love story with man begins there.  Where, knowing all that would happen and what His Son would have to suffer, He created us anyway.

AMAZING!

That leads to verse 3, which refers to the beginning of Creation confirming that v1 was alluding to it:

"Through Him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made."

This calls Hebrews 11:3 to my mind:  "By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible."

Only God can create SOMETHING out of NOTHING!  And He created EVERYTHING out of NOTHING!  

Mind-boggling!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

vv4-5,9  In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it....The TRUE Light that gives light to every man was coming into the world."

1John 1:5-6 says:  "God is light; in Him there is NO darkness at all.  If we claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth."

John 3:19  "This is the verdict:  Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.  Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.  But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."

He has given EVERY man the opportunity to walk 'in the light' with Him.  It is SO sad to me that most men will refuse to accept this gift.

(An aside:  I LOVE how I cannot think of 1 verse without several others popping into my head these days.  I attribute this to spending time in His Word on an almost daily basis for the last 5+ years.  I feel like, as I am thinking, the Holy Spirit is talking to me by inserting other pieces of the Word into my mind.  Thank You, Spirit!)

The KJV of verse 9 says:  "That was the true Light, which lighteth every man..."

This made me think of how we are filled with Him as we spend TIME with Him, and then He can pour forth from us, light spilling out all around us.

My prayer is that I will allow Him to help me to be an effective conduit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

v10  "He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him.  :(

v12  "Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His Name, He gave the right to become children of God..."  :)  That's me.  WOOHOOOOOOO!!!

The Message version says:  "But whoever did want Him, who believed He was Who He claimed AND would do what He said..."

It is not enough just to believe that He is there.  We are to believe He can and will do what He says He will do.

IMPLICIT TRUST.  UNRESERVED CONFIDENT BELIEF.  My Goal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Verse 14 talks about Jesus being full of grace and truth.  Verse 16 says we have all received His fullness.  When I pondered that, my heart was thrilled to realize that because He fills me, I too am full of grace and truth in His empowering.  COOL!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As always, I was impressed with John's repeated denial of being the Christ and continued pointing people to the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world.  He did not get on a power trip and try to keep 'his' disciples.  He just preached repentance and sent them to Jesus.

It did strike me that, by referring to Jesus (twice) as the Lamb of God, he was indicating what role God was having His Son play at this time in history.  He wasn't coming as conqueror, yet, but as savior.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When I got to verse 32, I was taken with the word abode that was used in the KJV to describe how the Spirit came down like a dove and remained on Jesus.  My mind flitted over to Chapter 15 of John, verses 4-5.  Abide means:  remain, dwell, continue sure or firm, endure, make yourself at home in.

"Remain (abide) in Me, and I will remain in you.  No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the Vine.  Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.  I AM the Vine; you are the branches.  If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do NOTHING."

As I am typing, John 5:19 comes to me:

"Jesus gave them this answer: 'I tell you the truth, the Son can do NOTHING by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the father does the Son also does."

The Father, Son, Spirit, and I are all interconnected, and God expects me to utterly depend on Him for everything I do, down to my last breath.  If even Jesus did nothing without the Father, who am I to think I can walk independent from Him?

However, the great news is that WITH Him I can do EVERYTHING.  (Philippians 4:13 "I can do everything through Him Who gives me strength!)

WITH HIM:  Everything!

WITHOUT HIM:  Nothing!

WITH HIM:  Everything!

WITHOUT HIM:  Nothing!

WITH HIM:  Everything!

WITHOUT HIM:  Nothing!

Hmmmm?  Whatever shall I choose?

DUH!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The last verse that leaped off the page for me was verse 38, which says:

"Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, 'What seek ye?'"

And the disciples' answer to this momentous question was...

"Where are you staying?"   HUH???

The King of Glory asks what you are seeking when you are following after Him.

What is MY answer?

It needs to be:  YOU, Lord!!!

Is it?

Since I am just a weak-willed human, probably not.
But, I WANT IT TO BE!

And like King David in Psalm 27:8, I want to say,

"My heart says of You, 'Seek His face!'
Your face, LORD, I will seek."

2011 Bible Reading Plan

What to do, what to do?  I had the hardest time deciding.  But, I decided not to read through the whole Bible this year.  Whew!  That was a relief and a sorrow all at the same time.  I have read through the Bible for the past 5 years.  But, I felt like I was doing too much 'skimming' last year, just to get through the check off list.  I didn't have time to really stop and meditate, or I would fall behind.  THAT is not productive spiritually.  God's not interested in my checklist.  He wants my heart.

So I prayed.

And talked to the dh.

And prayed.

And talked to myself.  (Scary, I know.)

Background:  Our family has been watching/discussing the Truth Project at church on Sunday evenings.  In this series, Dr. Tackett was quoting the book of John and talking about all the 'nuggets' of insight you can find in that book.  So the idea came into my head to do what I had done with my friend Brandy once (only with all the John books).  She and I read through James chapter by chapter.  We read 1 chapter a week.  Then we discussed it.  Well...I don't have anyone to discuss with this time, but I still thought this method would be enjoyable.

So instead of getting the broad overview, this year, like a submariner, I am heading for the depths.  I read a quote that "Wednesdays with Beth Moore" sent me over on Facebook.  It says, "We live two miles wide and an inch deep.  We are totally caught up in a thousand different things, and not doing any of them well.  You and I become effective when we become selective."  I have been meditating on that, off and on, for about 6 months.  I want to be like a deep, refreshing well, not just a little trickling brook.  And this year's scheme will help me to accomplish that in God's Word.  Maybe it will help me to apply it in other areas of my life as well.

I figure it will take me about 1/2 the year to get through John, 1John, 2John, and 3John.  I will read Revelation as well, but I doubt I read each chapter of that for a week.  We'll see.  I also plan to read a Psalm each day and part of a chapter in Proverbs.  Each of those goals will be flexible.  If I am meditating on a verse and don't have time to get through the whole regimen, FINE!

FREEDOM!!!

I have been doing this for all of 5 days so far...and so far...I LOVE IT!

So, join me, if you'd like.  And whenever I post my nuggets, we can discuss it in the Comments option on here or over on FB.  Or you can just read what I'm learning and do the thing God has challenged you to do.  Either way, GET IN THE WORD!!!  It will work in you and change you and help you be like Jesus.

GOD'S WORD IS AMAZING!!!

AND

SO IS HE!!!