A Christ Follower: The Journey

Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our LORD Jesus Christ .  PAUL So let's get this straight:  We have peace with God, when we have faith in Jesus?  I try to think about what this means, and a lot comes to mind.  First, I like being peaceful, especially when the being full of peace has something to do with relating to the ALMIGHTY.  Second, this peace is something we can obtain... we really can.  Third the faith factor produces this, so long as the object of our faith is Jesus.  But what about this "Justify?" What does this mean?  Now I could go into a whole lot of legalese about this, but it simply means that when all the above is accomplished and God looks at you/ me and our/my "record" it is " Just As If I " have never sinned.  Put it in the first person for you, and it is the same:  "Just as if I" never sinned. Now back in the day we said this was the same as God giving us a clean slate....

I no longer call you servant.  I call you friend because I have told you everything my Father told me. Jesus. Here is something most folks don't get.  Jesus thinks of you, among other things, as his friend .  Now, in the past He called us something less than friend.  He called us servant.  Whew!  That's a far cry from friend.  Servant is like... you know... something just shy of being someone in whom you would confide.  I don't know about you, but I can count my total number of people whom I call friend on less than my two hands.  Oh sure, I have acquaintances.  I have people with whom I work.  I even have a few folks I think of as Jerks.  But friend????  Now that is something special. Then again, God does consider those who follow Him as special.  In fact they are special enough to lay down HIS own life for.  Yup!  What a friend we have in Jesus.  Whew!  There is NO greater love than th...

A Christ Follower: The Journey: Figuring Out Some Of The Stuff. : He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, ...

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  Isaiah   Did you hear what this ancient Prophet said?  He is talking to you and me, 21st century Christ Followers.  He is talking about Jesus. He is talking about being up close and personal with our mourning or our grief and pain.  He is not talking about stuffing it or running from it like many of us are in the habit of doing. Think about what I am sayin: When you struggle, keep this in mind... get acquainted with your pain and suffering.  Endure it. Experience it.    It just might help you let the grief flow freely. You might just grow closer to being free.  Then you just might learn what Jesus meant by saying, " Blessed are they that grief. For they will be comforted. " In other words, let the one acquainted with sorrow, struggles and...

He came to his own, but His own simply did not receive Him; however, Those who receive Jesus will find that they receive the power, right and privilege to be Children of God. John 1:11 & 12 Let me take some time out to think about how I am thinking about what I am thinking about when I think about this portion of God's Ancient Wisdom.  First, it begins with Jesus being rejected by those who should have been most close to him.  Think about that.  Your first experience with your people is one of rejection.  I don't know about you, but given Jesus was in a human body that was perfectly tuned to experience feelings this first encounter with his earthy kin had to be painful.  Yet He did not let this get Him down.  He simply used this as a means of opening a door for those who were in darkness to walk through this door into new light. Think about it:  He opens this door and says, "Whoever wills to do so, may come."  He then gives the invitation,...

Hi Fellow Christ Followers, I have something I need talk with you about:  I want to talk with you about spiritual game playing and or The Worst Kind of Spirituality.  You can view this on the accompanying videos, but first let's "chew the fat" a bit... That's southern for, "let's have a chat." I did not believe spirituality, as sung by Joe South decades ago, could have existed.   In fact it use to irritate me a bit to hear his song that talked about this spirituality; yet I enjoyed singing the song.   I still do.  So I got to thinking, How in the world does this song impact me in two such polar opposite ways?  I don't like the message, but I love to sing the song. As I grew older, I intersected the lives of  people who claim to be spiritual who really like to talk about being "spiritual."  I mean these folks can really "strike a spiritual pose" or  Project Public Personna.  BUT their   P-P-P  is anything BUT spirituality re...

When trouble knocks us down, we can look up. God is there SoJourner