Much ado about Jesus

So much ado about Jesus

“Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me.”

John 15:4

So nothing will be worth anything unless it is lived in Jesus.

No prayer will be heard apart from praying in Jesus Name.

“If you remain in Me and 

(I do this by faith in His enabling grace)

My words remain in you, 

(by faith in His enabling grace that keeps His words in me, and I can know His words by reading and meditating on His Word, aka the Bible is His Word!) 

ask whatever you want 

(I can ask in faith with His Words in me as the words I use to also ask and form my sentences)

and it will be done for you. 

(God gives us His words to ask so that we ask and it be done...but first we must learn how to ask with the words He gives us)

My Father is glorified by this: 

that you produce much fruit 

(When God gives us the words to ask He does so with the intention that we gain the most.  So as we learn to ask with His words we are gaining the most of His fruits, and when we are bearing much fruit God is pleased and glorified in us.)

and prove to be My disciples.”

(A child of God is a child of blessing, honor and abundance.  When we are bearing fruit because of the words God has given us to ask Him things we are in Him and He is in us and it is evident that this is so) 

John 15:7-8

So I've been reading about prayer. 

I've been thinking about prayer--mostly how little I pray and how I feel convinced that prayer is what I am lacking and what I need most. 

Basically, I need God--to be closer to His heart, so close in fact that I'm in His heart and living from that place.

My prayer is to love.  (As the Father loves and even with the Father's love) 

My prayer is to live. (As the Father lives and even from the Father's life source)

And when these times of desolation are upon me, my prayer is to remember the words given to me by Christ.  The gift of His words are the very things I need to reach the heart of God!  Imagine that!  We have been given access to enter into the Father's heart by the words of Jesus.  Do the words remain in you?  Do you know what the words are?  Where do you find the words that bring you into the Father's heart?  Ask the Father with the words He has supplied you with, because those words He gives so that you and I will be given the most in this life and the next.  

As water enriches soil, 

so His words enrich our hearts.  

His words are both the seeds and the water, and our hearts are the soil for where we begin to see life happen. 

Teach us to pray!

"So spoke the disciples to Jesus. In making this request, they confessed that they were not able to pray on their own, that they had to learn to pray. The phrase “learning to pray” sounds strange to us. If the heart does not overflow and begin to pray by itself, we say, it will never “learn” to pray. But it is a dangerous error, surely very widespread among Christians, to think that the heart can pray by itself. For then we confuse wishes, hopes, sighs, laments, rejoicings–all of which the heart can do by itself–with prayer. And we confuse earth and heaven, man and God. Prayer does not mean simply to pour out one’s heart. It means rather to find the way to God and to speak with him, whether the heart is full or empty. No man can do that by himself. For that he needs Jesus Christ." -Bonhoeffer 

Get the words of Jesus today. 

Pray the words of Jesus today.

Have His words remain in you, and walk into the God of the Universe's heart--a place unlike any other place....where God Himself is revealed to you!  A mere human being! 

Be floored.

Be awed.

Be.

Beloved. 

Jmegrey

Today's Word

Key words:

Formless (seen)

Remember (do not understand now, but will later)

Daughter Zion (chosen)

A new command (love people)

Spirit of Truth (honesty)

Your heart must not be troubled or fearful (peace) 

“Your eyes saw me when I was formless; 

all my days were written in Your book 

and planned 

before a single one of them began.”

Psalms 139:16

“When he has brought all his own outside, 

he goes ahead of them. 

The sheep follow him 

because they recognize his voice.”

John 10:4

“Jesus said to her, 

"Didn’t I tell you 

that if you believed 

you would see the glory of God? ”

John 11:40

“For there will never cease to be poor people in the land; 

that is why I am commanding you, 

'You must willingly open your hand to your afflicted and poor brother in your land.’”

Deuteronomy 15:11

“Fear no more, Daughter Zion. 

Look, your King is coming, 

sitting on a donkey’s colt.”

John 12:15

“His disciples did not understand these things at first. 

However, when Jesus was glorified, 

then they remembered 

that these things had been written about Him 

and that they had done these things to Him.”

John 12:16

“The one who loves his life will lose it, 

and the one who hates his life in this world 

will keep it for eternal life.”

John 12:25

“If anyone serves Me, 

he must follow Me. 

Where I am, there My servant also will be. 

If anyone serves Me, 

the Father will honor him.”

John 12:26

“Father, glorify Your name! ” 

Then a voice came from heaven: 

"I have glorified it, 

and I will glorify it again! ””

John 12:28

Most unfortunate truth in the Word:

“For they loved praise from men 

more than praise from God.”

John 12:43

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. 

Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. 

Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”

Luke 6:37

“Jesus knew that the Father had given everything into His hands, 

that He had come from God, 

and that He was going back to God.”

John 13:3

“Jesus answered him, 

“What I’m doing you don’t understand now, 

but afterward you will know.”

John 13:7

“When Jesus had washed their feet and put on His robe, He reclined again and said to them, “Do you know what I have done for you? 

You call Me Teacher and Lord. 

This is well said, for I am. 

So if I, your Lord and Teacher, 

have washed your feet, 

you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 

For I have given you an example 

that you also should do 

just as I have done for you.”

John 13:12-15

“Children, I am with you a little while longer. You will look for Me, 

and just as I told the Jews, 

'Where I am going you cannot come,’ 

so now I tell you. 

“I give you a new command: 

Love one another. 

Just as I have loved you, 

you must also love one another. 

By this all people will know 

that you are My disciples, 

if you have love for one another.”

John 13:33-35

Self-deception:

“Lord,” Peter asked, 

“why can’t I follow You now? 

I will lay down my life for You! ” 

Jesus replied, 

“Will you lay down your life for Me? 

I assure you: A rooster will not crow 

until you have denied Me three times.”

John 13:37-38

“In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; 

if not, I would have told you. 

I am going away 

to prepare a place for you. 

If I go away and prepare a place for you, 

I will come back and receive you to Myself, 

so that where I am you may be also.”

John 14:2-3

“God replied to Moses, 

"I AM WHO I AM. 

This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 

I AM has sent me to you.”

Exodus 3:14

“Whatever you ask in My name, 

I will do it 

so that 

the Father may be glorified in the Son.”

John 14:13

“He is the Spirit of truth. 

The world is unable to receive Him 

because it doesn’t see Him or know Him. 

But you do know Him, 

because He remains with you 

and will be in you.”

John 14:17

“But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit — 

the Father will send Him in My name — 

will teach you all things 

and remind you 

of everything I have told you.”

John 14:26

“Peace I leave with you. 

My peace I give to you. 

I do not give to you as the world gives. 

Your heart must not be troubled or fearful.”

John 14:27

“On the contrary, 

I am going away 

so that 

the world may know that I love the Father. 

Just as the Father commanded Me, 

so I do. 

“Get up; let’s leave this place.”

John 14:31

Amen.

 These were a few verses that caught my eye and helped me see the beauty of Christ all over agin as if for the first time. 

Jmegrey

Israel 2016 (summer with Talbot) day 12

So I've been in Israel for about 12 days now, but it feels more like 3!  Our schedule has been non-stop on the go and up a mountain, in the desert and back down in time for dinner and either fellowship with my peers or a lecture.

It's been a fast pace trip, hitting up almost 5 different cities a day in Israel.  (They're closer together, but the climbs are still long and the sun is still hot haha)

Israel was not what I had expected it to be.  I thought I was literally going to be embarrassing myself (but I don't really care) by crying non-stop at every site where Jesus had once stood, but instead it felt less alive for me.  The places felt more like ghost towns and abandoned buildings (because most of them are, the Tels are literally just remaining ruins of ancient history haha).  

What I found most enjoyable were the people.  

It's strange, but I remember the first few meetings when all of us were back at school and gathered together to talk about what was going to be happening I thought that the group felt slightly uncomfortable for me.  No one looked very friendly, and I was okay that it might just be me and Jesus on this trip haha.  But I was so wrong!  I mean it's me and Jesus but Jesus has been showing up on this trip through His broken vessels!  The friends I've made and the people I have come to care so much for and love are what have really made this trip for me.  

Don't get me wrong I love the learning experience and the geography and history (to a degree), but I love the people.  These souls have personalities and histories of their own, a beating heart that speaks and a mind that thinks in such wondrous ways of the glory of God.  These people are precious.  I wish I could love each of them the way God has loved me--to know their stories and laugh and cry and be still with them, but I can only get close to a handful of people because intimacy takes time and I only have so much on this earth.

This makes me realize how much of my time am I investing in the things I love?  I want to be friends with everyone! Haha but I end up getting close to some and not to others because that's just the way it works.  I wonder if in heaven it will be awesome because we will have an eternity to love every single soul.  Who knows, only God knows...hehe.

So I have 5 days left in Israel.  

It's bittersweet because I love the way things were different here (sleep schedule, day schedule, food schedule, friend/fellowship schedule, etc) but it's sweet because I know God is going to use this to take me even deeper into His story.  

Shalom.

Jmegrey