A Christ Follower: The Journey

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with them and them with me. Jesus: Revelation 3:20      Jesus had been revealing "The Revelation of Jesus Christ," which was one big revelation He gave to John.  It's not the book of "Revelations" as many like to say here in the USA.  It is The Revelation of Jesus Christ. At any rate, He had just finished speaking to the seven churches in Asia, and the last one to whom He spoke, He discussed with them about the problem of their wealth and self sufficiency.  He was not too happy with them either. It's not that having wealth is somehow wrong. Their problem was that the wealth had them.  It owned them.  It was like a God to them.  John reports they seemed to believe they were in need of nothing. So,  He was disciplining them and loving them by telling them what they needed to hear not what they wanted to hear.  ...

Allow the little children to come to me. Don't prevent them from doing so. For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are  like these little children. Matthew 19:14 - Jesus      Jesus had been teaching some important truths, and as usual there were crowds around him.  Sometimes these crowds were suffocating as they pressed forward to hear him, get a glimpse of him or even touch him.  Parents of small children were in the crowd.  They did what any loving parent would do under the circumstances.  They wanted to have Jesus touch their children and pray for them. I know that is what I would do as a parent of young children.     The disciples could have just been tired.  Maybe the cramped crowding together was taking its toll on them.  They knew the importance of Jesus' ministry and mission, and when they saw those children, it was more than they could take. So they were disrespectful to the parents and the chi...

I Am With You Always Even To The Very End of The Age. Jesus         I AM is speaking, and He is telling us something in this Jesus' Quote that will bring you and me that which ONLY God can promise:  Everyone else in our lives will be in this journey for only as long as their mortal frames continue to function, and then they will go to their eternal reward.        Once this happens, the process of grief takes place.  Shock and numbness will at first cushion the blow of the departure. Anger will not be far behind, and sometimes the anger will be focused at the one who left us. Darkness and depression (or the valley of the shadow) may come upon us, and sadness will soon settle in our souls for a while.  As we continue to trust God, we may just come to a place where some form of acceptance that allows us to journey on will take place.  And this happens because, as much as they may want to be with us, our precious love...

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one  another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one  another.  “By this all men will know that you are My disciples,  if you have love for one another.” Jesus--John 13:34 & 35           Jesus was habitually making things better.  One time he even said, "Look I am making all things new."   Revelation 21:5 (John Speaking.) Years prior to saying such words, he was followed by crowds seeking something new. His miracles made lives new and well ... better. His words were words that were new, refreshing and authoritative.  No one ever spoke like he spoke.  As a matter of fact, he spoke like no one had ever spoken before, with authority unequaled. Now, after John has written way over half of this gospel that he wrote about Jesus, and about whom he said, "And there also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose e...

Peace I Leave With You; My Peace I Give to you, And It Is Not The Kind of Peace The World Gives You.  Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled. Neither Let It Be Afraid. John: 14:27 Jesus       We live in an a time where peace seems more scarce than hen's teeth. Anxiety and depression seems to be overwhelming us.  Add to this the " wars and rumors of war " or violence that is spreading throughout the streets and cities of nearly every continent and or island, and lack of peace appears to be epidemic. Our times are not unlike the days when Jesus was born. Fear raged as Herod sought to destroy all the male children in the region in his attempts to kill Jesus.       Then we have the context of today's Jesus quote:  It's surrounded by a conversation he has with his disciples that could certainly be quite unsettling. Jesus talks to them about the Holy Spirit ... a topic they had not discussed much and t...

And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself. Jesus           Jesus had just worked a wonderful miracle.  He raised Lazarus from the dead.  He had just ridden a borrowed donkey through the streets of Jerusalem. Crowds celebrated him.  Mary and Martha (I suspect Martha did most of the work) had prepared a dinner in his honor.  Crowds from all over flocked to him by the thousands.  Religious leaders were stymied by his popularity, and they really wanted to kill both Lazarus and Jesus in hopes of toning down the Jesus fervor.  But they were VERY wrong. Persecuting him, punishing him, crucifying him would not damp down the power of God.  It would ignite a fire that would circle the globe.      Jesus observed all the goings on, including the behavior of the religious leaders, and he began to speak of his death on the Cross and the impact it would have.  He looked around,...

Why Should I Allow Satan Control?      Decades ago a comedian known as Flip Wilson use to cause people to roar with laughter as he excused his weird behavior by saying, "The Devil made me do it."   Sadly in real life a lot of Christ-Followers live defeated lives because they do not realize that the Devil cannot make a child of God do anything unless she or he allows it to be so.  John said it best when he proclaimed in 1 John 3:8, "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the Devil's work."  He went on to say, "Greater is He who is within me than he who is in the world." 1 John 4:4b.  James knew all this when he told us "Submit yourself to God, resist the Devil and he has to run from you." James 4:7. It's clear who really is in the driver's seat when it comes to standing up to that which is evil.      The problem arises for Christ-followers when they believe Satan's lies: He cannot defeat you, but he can lie to ...