RuthRW

I want to worship Jesus with all of my heart, my soul, my spirit and my body. This study has certainly enlarged my vision of our wonderful King. When I worship and adore Him I feel that living water welling up inside. I really want to praise and obey Him so much more and admit that distractions and busyness are so often getting in the way. I think we have to be very aware that the enemy loves to do this but I pray that we all will grow in sitting at His feet and adoring Him.

I am very grateful for this teaching, understanding for the first time what a watershed moment this was. I knew the prophecy but I didn't know the extent of what it signified, Jesus coming publicly as Messiah and King, revealing Himself as such to believing Jews but also to His enemies.What amazing love. It makes me think how important for us it is to know the prophecies which are yet to be fulfilled, understanding God's timetable and endtime purposes.

Judas must have thought how marvellous it would have been to siphon off some money from the sale of this ointment. When he criticised Mary he might have enjoyed the fact that this would make him appear extra caring for the poor. What a beautiful example for us to see that we can trust Jesus to defend us before our critics, in His perfect timing, providing we do what we do or say to honour Him. Mary wanted to give the utmost love gift to Jesus out of gratitude and in anticipation of His death. What an outpouring of love, no words could have said it better. I am thinking of the scripture in Romans 12:1, present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Apart from having the privilege to worship The Lord in church and in our prayer time we can worship Him during the day, if we do everything unto Him. I find that this transforms my day and everything becomes meaningful because I do it unto the Lord. Extravagant worship for me would be to do something beyond what is the norm or expected.

Up till now I believed that Jesus wept because His heart was touched with compassion for Mary. But if the word embrimaomai means indignant or angered I see this passage in a new light. It does make me sit up and I do wonder how much do I grieve Jesus when I give in to fear and unbelief, often so easily.

Up till now I have only thought of Martha as we know her from Luke 10, as being very busy and worrying about running the household. But today I realise that Martha showed incredible spirituality in John 11. Both sisters expressed that they believed that Lazarus would not have died had Jesus been there. But for Martha to add that she knows, even now, whatever Jesus asks of God He will give to Him, shows tremendous faith. In Luke 10 Jesus told Martha that Mary, in sitting at His feet, had chosen the better thing. It seems that Martha had listened to Jesus' advice and changed. It certainly would appear that way, reading this profound and beautiful discourse she had with Jesus at this most difficult time.

Just like wild animals, thieves and robbers snatch sheep in order to gain something for themselves, in the same way are people used by satan. Unbelievers would like to convince believers that their faith is wrong or over the top because their consciences are irritated and uncomfortable. Sects and false teachers will try to snatch Christians in order to boost their numbers or have financial gain. We are so safe in the Father's hand.

Sheep are very fearful creatures and are easily spooked. Apart from having good, nutritious pasture and clean, still water a good shepherd will watch over them very carefully and keep them totally safe. We have an abundant life because we are now living in the Kingdom of God and can receive all the benefits that that entails. To know that Jesus will never leave nor forsake us, to always have our wonderful Shepherd to guide us, turn to, to be allowed to dwell in His presence, now and forever, gives us an inner peace which is impossible to find anywhere else. In hardships and trials, if we stay close to Jesus, He will lead us safely through and give us the victory over our enemies. Unbelievers have a deep inner void without knowing it. They try to fill it with being very busy or all sorts of pleasures which often lead to addictions. But even if they seemingly have a "happy" life, when they face loss, illness or death, they have no answers.

When as a young Christian, getting to know the scriptures, I still remember how amazed I was that we can hear Jesus speaking in such personal ways through His Word. How the words would "jump off the page", becoming rhema words. It certainly is a learning process to hear Jesus' voice guiding us through our life, learning discernment, often through making mistakes. I think a big part of this is coming back to the scripture: If you hold to my teaching, you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. Satan is very quick to shout at us, making us feel guilty with a tormenting feeling, accusing us. What a blessing it was when slowly I learnt the difference, understanding that the Lord corrects and disciplines us, but always in such love and no condemnation!!!

If Jesus had only used one method of healing it wouldn't be long and we would soon put our trust in the healing method, believing in the power of the method instead of fixing our eyes on Jesus knowing the healing comes from Him and through Him. As we follow Jesus through the gospels He shows us that there is nothing ever mechanical. Just as spending time with a friend is always different, so our relationship with the Lord is new every morning. I like what many mention in their posts, how important it is to seek first the guidance of the Holy Spirit to discern the Fathers will and then pray for healing. I certainly must put this more into practice.

Satan's main weapon is to deceive us, believers and unbelievers, with lies, twisting the truth or only using part of the truth. It is only the love of the word of God that will keep us out of deception. We who follow Jesus, in our fallen nature, can occasionally fall for the devil's scheme, not speaking the truth or omitting it, often out of fear of rejection or to gain advantage. But the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin and we feel terrible, repent and surely learn from it. A habitual sinner does not have God as his heavenly Father, he still follows the devil. I imagine he is not even aware of his habit or how wrong it is until he comes to true repentance in Jesus.

I realised that it is very easy to overlook or get used to our way of life. Deep down we know that certain things aren't pleasing to the Lord, like worrying too much, lack of patience or some long ingrained habits. Its good to come before the Lord and ask where we grieve Him and which is the next step He wants to show us. Then bringing it to the foot of the cross, trusting God will give us the strength and grace to change. When it doesn't happen quickly or our lives get too busy, it is easy to overlook these things again. But I find if I expectantly and seriously keep asking the Lord, He will give us the victory and be very patient and merciful in the process.

When we really hold to Jesus' teaching and follow Him as Lord He opens our spiritual eyes and enables us to see and live in the reality of the kingdom of God. His truth frees us more and more from the things that ensnare and entangle us in this world and it is wonderful that the Lord sets us free to live our life as His new creation, being transformed into His likeness. I often find that Christian use ...and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free, without quoting and being aware of the preceding verses. In doing so they pick and choose certain scriptures out of context and things can become very imbalanced.

I never realised that one of the main issues was the lack of witnesses and therefore the case "collapsed". Now Jesus was able to deal with the woman in love and mercy without violating the law. I am gaining so much from this study and find the posts of my brothers and sisters in Christ very enriching and helpful. A situation which the enemy tried to use to cause much harm to Jesus and the woman turned out to be a blessing, as happens so often in our Christian walk. Hopefully the woman did listen to Jesus and left her sin. When Jesus tells us to believe in Him, He means to stop following the world and our own self, instead making Him Lord of our lives.

It is wonderful that God wants everybody who comes to Him to be filled with the Holy Spirit to overflowing.In my experience this fulness didn't last and my Christian life became stale. I wondered why this happened and what this depended on. Often people go from meeting to meeting to find experiences and think they can maintain the fulness of the Holy Spirit. It was only when Jesus is the centre of my life, I sit at His feet and love absorbing and obeying His word that the streams of living water start bubbling up and flowing again.

These scriptures make me realise what an absolute privilege it is to know God's truth and hear His voice. Just like some special friends in our lives with whom we will only share profound and important things with because we know they are committed to us and we can trust them. I think if we do not obey Jesus' commandments we grieve the Holy Spirit and block His voice. In our Christian journey, if the Lord shows us something to obey or do and we fail to do it, we probably don't progress until we yield and are obedient.

Jesus showed in the gospels how grounded He was in the scriptures through being trained up in them. He defeated satan in the wilderness and the Jews who opposed Him with quoting passages from the Old Testament. The disciples would have had a solid grounding of scripture from their youth and now followed Jesus by listening and observing everything He said and did being very close to Him. The more we do the same and hear and obey the voice of the Spirit through hearing and obeying the voice of Jesus, the more we are filled with the Spirit to know Jesus intimately, being guided by Him every day and living in His will. If we abide in Him we will bear much fruit. I have to admit that often I get frustrated because I wonder if I really bear much fruit. But I can truly say that nothing gives me more joy and peace than hearing His voice in my life and following it.

The disciples understood that Jesus came from God and looked up to Him, wanting to learn and seeking for Jesus to change and mould their lives, He was their authority no matter what. Whereas the crowds were happy to hear Jesus as long as His teaching fitted into their thinking and lives, as soon as they didn't agree or understand they rejected Him. A true disciple of the Lord hears and obeys Jesus words out of love for Him and totally submits to authority of the Son of God.

Jesus being the bread of life is not just live eternal because of His sacrifice on the cross but if we feed on Him also new life here on earth. Jesus giving His flesh and blood to us to eat speaks of Him wanting to totally impart His life to us. It speaks of His desire to be at one with us and we with Him which never ever ceases to amaze me. When I pondered about Jesus giving His flesh and blood to eat and drink, it made me think that God ordained it that we eat and drink several times a day! :-)

To eat the Bread of Life means to absorb every word Jesus gave us and to inwardly digest it. To see how from infancy our bodies grow into adulthood because we eat food is a beautiful example how we grow from baby Christians into mature Christians through abiding in Jesus and in His word. For our physical bodies to grow, all we have to do is to eat but it is God who nourishes our bodies in the most miraculous way causing the growth and building it up. It is the same with eating our spiritual food. Nibbling at food is something we often associate with children. We know when as child nibbles at food, it only chooses a few bits which it fancies, often the nutritious and healthy bits are untouched and there isn't usually a lot of enjoyment in eating. It is so sad that this is a picture of many Christians and therefore not much spiritual growth happens. And yet the Lord prepares the most beautiful table for us and wants us to come with anticipation and joy as we have the privilege feasting with Him every day.

It is such a blessing to be reminded that it is the Father who draws people to Jesus. Sometimes when witnessing to people I think they are my responsibility that they come to Jesus and the danger is to "overdo" it. When I first became a Christian, I did that with my husband and of course it didn't work. (Many years later he became a Christian by the grace of God.) A good lesson to learn though as I hopefully don't repeat the same mistake with the young members of my family. Knowing that it is the Father who draws them according to His will and purposes, frees me to just say or do what I hear the Lord telling me and I gladly leave the rest in His wonderful hands.

The people were drawn to Jesus because of miracles and having their needs met. Jesus takes time to explain and tries to direct them in the right path. Many would not have been interested but some no doubt would have gained understanding and eventually followed Jesus for who He is. I think many of us start off like this, myself included. But the right motives of course are to love Jesus with all our heart because He is the Son of God and to serve Him out of gratitude and love for what He has done for us on the cross.

I think it might also be possible that Jesus broke the loaves and fish and distributed them amongst the disciples telling them to start handing it out. For the disciples it would have been a real step of faith to start giving out the food being faced with so many people. As they trusted Jesus and obeyed maybe it was then that He continued multiplying the loaves and fish, similar to the oil and flour of Elijah and the widow at Zarephath. I feel really spoken to about doing better not wasting food, in our culture we can be so careless and it is so easy to do.

The Lord used this miracle to speak to me about sharing my faith and witnessing. Often I would not say anything when the opportunity arose as I could not think clearly what to say. Then the Lord reminded me how He only needed a little bit of myself like an opening sentence and He will multiply the words and thoughts.I started trusting Him more, stepping out in faith. It works :-).

Every time we come to the scriptures we come to Jesus and receive God's word straight from the mouth of Christ. Just like the disciples did 2000 years ago. We grow in our relationship, have fellowship with Him, receiving much love, encouragement and guidance and discipline. His word is alive and active. It has all to do with our relationship with Him and living in Him. There was a time when I saw the scriptures to a great extent as being God's history book and rule book for Christian living and instead of searching for Jesus Himself I was searching for His promises and healing. Then slowly I learnt that everything centres around Jesus and the bible took on a whole new meaning. Our churches must preach the whole truth and stand on the word of God, helping people to understand that everything God tells us or commands us to do, He told us out of love and for our protection and our good and as we obey His commandments we do it out of love for what Christ has done for us.