God Lives In Us! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Acts 1:4-5,

"On one occasion, while he [Jesus] was eating with them, he gave them this command: 'Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'"
 
How astonishing that our God has decided to dwell within each of us as believers through his Holy Spirit! In this passage Jesus tells his disciples, after the resurrection and just prior to his ascension into heaven, that they would be “baptized with the Holy Spirit”!
 
A few days later, when Peter preached the gospel message to the Jews in Jerusalem at Pentecost, we read this exchange in Acts 2:38, "Brothers, what shall we do?" Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
 
And so throughout the New Testament we read of the baptism all believers receive when they embrace Jesus Christ through faith, as we read in 1 Corinthians 12:13, “For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.”
 
This is life-changing! We are all possessed of the Holy Spirit who is busy changing us from the inside out! As we read in 2 Corinthians 5:17-18a, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ…”
 
How fantastic is this?! What a God!!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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Jesus Proves Himself To Be Alive! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Acts 1:3,

“After his suffering, he [Jesus] showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.”

Following his predetermined and planned sacrificial death on the cross to take the penalty of God’s justice for our own sin, Jesus came back from the dead. Prophesied in many places in the Scriptures and foretold by Jesus himself, it came to pass just as he said it would. “As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Matthew 12:40.

All four gospels provide the account of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.”

Death is the penalty for sin. God told Adam that if he sinned he would die. All people are born with the certainty of facing both physical and spiritual death. That Jesus Christ rose from the dead demonstrates God’s satisfaction with the ultimate payment for sin. We still face physical death, and we all do until resurrection day, but none of us have to face certain spiritual death any longer. The resurrection of Jesus Christ authenticates all he said and did while here and is the seal of God’s satisfaction with his payment for our sin.

Did God have to prove his satisfaction of Jesus Christ’s payment for our sin by revealing him to us in his resurrection? Wasn’t it enough that the Lord foretold these events, brought them about, and following, couldn’t he have just ascended into heaven? But he stayed here for a period of forty days providing “many convincing proofs that he was alive.”

As always, our loving and merciful heavenly Father provides for us in our weakness. He held up his Son to us to let us know, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” Matthew 17:5.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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God Brings Wonderful Things - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in 3 John 11b-12a,

“Anyone who does what is good is from God… Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone—and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.”
 
I don’t know who Demetrius was, but I know a few things about him. Just as we all come into this world, he started life as someone who had a sinful nature and indulged that sinful nature, as we all do - as slaves to it, Romans 6:17-23. He was a condemned man, subject to the judgment of God as a member of the human race, and unable to live life in any manner pleasing to God.
 
At some point in his life, some faithful brother or sister in the Lord shared with him the gospel message: as a sinner and enemy of God he could embrace Jesus Christ in faith, have his sins washed away, be forgiven of any wrong-doing and become a child of God. As a child of God he would receive eternal life, inherit all that heaven will bring us as a co-heirs of Jesus Christ, be indwelt with the Holy Spirit, be freed from slavery to his sin nature and have freedom to live a life both worthy of and pleasing to God (and did!).
 
How wonderful that faithful brother or sister was that shared the gospel with Demetrius. But how much more wonderful our loving and merciful God is that brought these things into Demetrius’ life! So much so that Demetrius will be eternally remembered, being captured in God’s word, as “one who is well spoken of”!
 
My point isn’t that Demetrius was a wonderful person, though he certainly was. He received John’s endorsement as one who was “from God”, one who did “what is good”. My point is that God is wonderful and has touched the lives of many like Demetrius over the ages, including you and me!

That we should be called someone who is “from God” and someone who does “what is good” is just astonishing and only possible by the wonderful things God has brought to our lives!
 
What a wonderful God who brings these wonderful things to us!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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"The Truth" - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in 2 John 1,

"The elder, To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth."

In John's salutation to Gaius in this letter, he identified this man as someone he loved "in the truth."

Truth was important to the apostle John. He commended Gaius as one whom he had heard was faithful to the truth, verse 3, and that it brought him great joy that his "children" walked in truth. Possibly Gaius was one that John had led to the Lord himself.

John goes on to say that believers should work together "for the truth", verse 8, that believers ought to work in concert to that end.

There are two contrasting individuals John highlights to Gaius in this letter, Diotrephes and Demetrius. Diotrephes was apparently someone who had seized control of the fellowship John was concerned about. He had spread malicious rumors about John and his team, and refused to welcome them, considering himself the most important of all, even above apostolic authority, "I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us." Verse 9. He also excommunicated members of that fellowship that wanted to welcome other believers.

In contrast, John points to a man named Demetrius. Demetrius had a good name with John and his team (and everyone), and consistent with John's focus on truth, personified truth as commending him as well. John referred to his comments about Demetrius as truthful, something Gaius would know.

In John 14:6, John quotes Jesus as saying, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." We see in Acts 9:2, 19:9, 19:23, 24:14, 24:22, that the church, the gospel enterprise, God's plan of redemption, taking the name "the Way". Here in 2 John I get the feeling that the apostle John is using "the truth" synonymously with "the Way", in a manner of, "the Truth."

How does it sound to you?

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.