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!!!
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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!
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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."
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