What Just Happened?

Judas and a contingent of soldiers came to the Garden of Gethsemane to arrest Jesus. I love how John describes the scene in John 18. Jesus knew what was about to happen…and he stepped forward. Jesus stepped INTO the Father’s plan for his life. He stepped FORWARD. 

Jesus asked who they were seeking and they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus responded with, “I AM.”  Now the New King James says that Jesus said, “I am He.” But when you look up these words in the Greek, it says, “I AM.”  Remember what God told Moses to tell Pharoah when he went to ask for the release of Israel?  He said, “Tell him I AM WHO I AM sent you.” Jesus was declaring at this moment who he was!  I AM!

Now this is the exciting part! When Jesus declared who he was, it says they all fell backwards! I picture them being like a run of dominoes falling all over each other! What just happened? Was it the atoms in their bodies responding to the voice of the One who created them? Was it God displaying His authority? Was it Jesus declaring he didn’t have to die—but he was choosing to die for our sins?

I don’t know. It’s one small verse tucked away in John…and we’re left wondering, “What just happened?!?” Jesus stepped forward while his captors fell backwards. They were never in control.  

Eternity

Eternal death began the moment you were born physically. Because the first man, Adam, sinned, we were then all subsequently born into sin. Romans 5:12 says death spread to all men because of Adam’s choice. So eternal death begins the moment you are born physically. Everyone will reach a point of understanding the truth that we’re a sinner and need a savior. Do NOTHING…and you will die and go to hell.  

But…if you recognize you are a sinner and realize that Jesus, the Son of God, lived a perfect life without sin and died on the cross, taking the sins of the world upon Himself, you’re faced with a choice! Your eternity depends upon that choice.  Do nothing and you have an eternity of DEATH and torment. Choose to believe Jesus’ death was for you and you ask for His forgiveness and choose to follow Him—and eternal LIFE begins at that moment.  

YES!!  Eternal LIFE begins when you repent and give your life, your allegiance, to Jesus!  Eternal life begins here on earth! And what is eternal life? What will we be doing now and in heaven? According to Jesus’ last prayer for His followers in John 17, eternal life is knowing God the Father and God the Son. He wants to reveal Himself to us. We will never know the depths of God—but we should be trying—even now! As we begin to plumb the depths of who God is, faith expands, relationship is built, and intimacy grows. We will never know all of the expanses of God—David says He is unsearchable. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t search. It just means we’ll never come to an end of knowing Who He is.  

Eternal life begins at the point of salvation. Knowing God is our ultimate satisfaction and fulfillment. 

Truth Cards

Are you in a crisis? Maybe you’ve been there a long time! It could be with parents who constantly put you down, a marriage where you’re verbally abused, a prodigal son or daughter dealing with addictions, or a crisis of faith where you no longer know what is true. Or maybe there’s no crisis—you just need truth! 

I want to make a suggestion. Go and buy a package of 3x5 cards. On each card, write a truth from the Word of God. It may be as simple as “God loves me! John 3:16.” Each card should contain one truth that God says about you. You will have to open your Bible and search it to do this exercise—which is exactly where you will find TRUTH!  God’s Word IS truth and He wants you to know truth!  John 17:17 says we are sanctified (set apart from profane things) by truth. 

After you are armed with dozens of truth cards, begin reading them daily. It takes WEEKS of reading these cards out loud before your mind begins to believe them. Put them on your mirror, in your car, in your kitchen—wherever you will see them every day. Read them out loud so your soul (mind, will, and emotions) and spirit hear them and begin to believe them. 

Satan wants nothing more than to fill your mind with lies. He’s been doing it since you were a small child. It’s time to fill your mind with TRUTH!  “You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free!” John 8:32. You can’t imagine the kind of freedom that moves in when you fixate on truth. Chains will fall off!

Truth cards are a simple tool to transform and renew your mind and bring you to that place of freedom. Make truth cards with your children—give them a jumpstart to freedom! 

In My Name

Kaye Smith is my friend. If I were to ask her to do something—knowing she COULD do it—what would that be? Well…I could ask her to write her name  mirror image. She’s left-handed and amazes people with that skill. I would ask her to make a cheesecake—because she makes the very best! I would ask her which wildflowers to plant together because she has beautiful gardens. I would go to her with ALL of my medical questions because she’s the best diagnostician I know!

What would I NOT ask of her? I wouldn’t ask her how to repair my car. I wouldn’t ask her about mountain climbing…and she knows nothing about building a roller coaster. I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that she wouldn’t help me rob a bank! That would be unthinkable to her. 

Jesus told us in John 16:23 to ask anything in His name. The Hebrew means to ask in “the name used for everything that name covers.” I know what Kaye’s name covers—and what it doesn’t.  What does Jesus’ name cover? He owns everything and is over everything. What does it not cover? Anything illegal to His name—sin or selfishness.  

Kaye is a beautiful friend and is willing to help anyone who calls on her. Everyone who knows her knows her strengths and we’ve all called on her for some pretty amazing help. 

How much more can Jesus do?! Ask in His name…and all that His name covers.  

Abide

Just as these grapes won’t grow unless they’re attached to the vine, we won’t grow if we’re not attached to Jesus. In fact, John 15 says, “He who abides in Me and I in him bears much fruit; for without Me, you can do nothing.”

Think about that! If we’re not attached to Jesus with His life flowing through us, WE CAN DO NOTHING! (Not even one thing, according to the Greek.) In fact, Jesus said if we don’t abide in Him, we’re like a dead branch that’s cast into the fire. And if we DO bear fruit, He prunes us so that we’ll bear more fruit. Come to think of it—those hard things that happen in our lives may not be Satan attacking us.  It may be God using His pruning shears on us for a very good purpose—to create more fruit. 

We can do NOTHING apart from Jesus…but then He tells us that if we abide in Him and His words abide in us, we can ask for whatever we desire and it will be done for us. WOW! His desires become our desires. 

The Greek for “abide” means to remain, dwell, sojourn with, tarry, continue with, to wait for, to endure, to continue to be present, to last. Stay with Jesus. Stay in His Word. Walk with Him and remain with Him. Don’t leave! 

And then ask and it will be done. I love what the Greek says about this. It will come into existence, it will appear in history, it will come upon the stage!

There’s so much power and LIFE in abiding and asking!!

God is Greater

Jesus was preparing His disciples for His departure. He’d told them that the Holy Spirit would come and teach them all things and that He wouldn’t leave them as orphans—He’d be back. And then He told them to ask the Father anything in His name, He would do it. And then He says this: “If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I.”

I read that verse and wondered what it means that the Father is greater than Jesus. I asked the Holy Spirit to teach me. Blue Letter Bible says greater means greater. Jesus and the Holy Spirit both submit to the Father. Jesus said he only did what He saw the Father doing. The Holy Spirit said he brings messages from the Father and not on His own authority.  

I was driving to the grocery store this morning and was complaining to God about a situation that affects me. I’d gotten to a place of forgiveness and letting go, and God spoke to my heart, “My plan is greater than your plan. I am greater than you.” I actually started laughing!  The Holy Spirit has a powerful and quick way of teaching!!

God is good and only does good. God is greater. His plan is greater. Thank You, God!!

Dust

In John 13, Jesus washes the feet of the disciples. Peter, believing it’s too servile a task for Jesus to be doing, exclaims, “You will never wash my feet!”  Jesus responds with, “If you don’t let me wash your feet, you will have no part with me.”  So Peter responds with, “Then wash my head and hands, too!” Jesus says, “He who is bathed, needs only his feet washed—not his whole body.”

I believe Jesus uses this as a metaphor for what happens to us as we walk through the world. When we accept God’s gift of salvation, our “whole body” is cleansed. We’re saved for all of eternity!  We are His and He will never leave us. But then our “feet” get dirty from walking in this world which is dominated by sin. Our spirit is saved and made new…but we still walk in the flesh. We still sin. And we need God’s forgiveness—and the forgiveness of others. That’s why Jesus told his disciples that they must wash one another’s feet. Forgive one another.  

Dust is so interesting. Genesis 2:7 says man was made from dust.  The Hebrew word is āpār which means dry earth, dust, ashes, mortar. So man’s flesh, his body, was made or built from dust. Man also creates dust when he sins (flesh).  Genesis 3:14 says that because the serpent (Satan) caused man to sin, he was cursed. He would now eat dust for the rest of his days.  Some scholars believe that through the years, the serpent has eaten so much dust that he has grown exponentially and has become the dragon in Revelation 12:9.  

Let’s not give the serpent dust to eat. Let’s keep our hearts pure and forgive one another quickly. Let’s wash one another’s feet.