meandean

i'm not so sure that john is this mysterious disciple whom jesus loved. all the disciples ran for their lives when all this started. but what i do see is family there at the cross. and who i believe this disciple to be is his half brother james, who according to jewish ways and customs, was the next in line for kinsman redeemer. thus jesus is passing the responsibility over to james, and jesus continues to honor his mother as his word says too. mary was a widow by now, the family is all grown up, and about their own buisness, and he is making sure she will be taken care of. sometimes it is difficult to love the ones closest to you, but we must continue in his love or we can easily be snared and try to justify our wrongs. people know the difference of gods love and our own, his love is genuine-comforting warm and bold,while ours is shallow, empty, and reserved. love is an action choice, it is either growing or dying, it can never remain the same.and for me. i know i need to let go of the disappointments and just let gods love pour through me for others.

it was God's divine plan of forgiveness that put to death his son,Jesus. acts 2:23-24. jesus also said no man could take his life but he would gladly lay it down. Gods will allowed Jesus to be delivered into the hands of men. on this side of the cross we see the bloodied and beaten Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews. yet directly on the other side is the throne room of God. our responsibility is are we going to place all of our trust into who he is, and receive forgiveness or are we just gonna be a face without a name within the crowd, hurling insults in non belief. Jesus knows how weak we are. He understands our vulnerbility, He wants to be our shepherd. His love is at the center of his desire and we are that object of His desire. but we don't always see this in our lives when overwhelmed with tragic circumstances or hear him speak as we slowly grow cold and tired, and feel empty and alone. so we are constantly tempted to stray, yet we hear these words, Father forgive them for they know not what they do. and they are tremendously comforting to me.

he basically says have you ever seen a stressed out bird or a over worked tired flower? no because they are free to enjoy life as they simply trust the father.

oh yeah. i had seen a guitar at my friends shop with two autographs on it. it turned out that the two who signed this guitar was the lead singer and lead guitarist from my favorite band at the time. now i can't play a lick but i needed that guitar. i even bought a case for it as well. a couple of weeks went by and i started to think, why in the world did i do that for? it just so happened that a local church had their music ministry broke into and some things were taken. i was able to finally get rid of this guitar that controlled me, and its use went to the praise band. so what i thought would make me happy, actually made me heavy, and i was able to finally able to unload that heaviness with giving back to god with praise.

no, not at all. jesus never separates the two. he is warning us that whatever gets your attention will eventually get you. it takes us away from heavenly things and drowns us with earthly matters. rich people will have a harder time serving. they have much to give up. look at the rich man in luke 12, that jesus calls a fool. what was his dilemma? it was being so rich he didn't know what to do with it all. sadly, he never asks god what to do with it, or even offers it back to god, and in the end it controlled him. he used it for himself.

it means to use all that we have for the glory of god. you see, its not wrong to possess things,but it is wrong for things to possess us. look at the following verses v.22 they try to get your eyes, v.23 they get your eyes than sooner or later they get your heart, then in v.24 they get your will. its been said outlook determines outcome, and that is certain in this case.all blessings must be given back to god immediately for his glory or they will soon control us. heres a challenge to all saints, just go through your home and see what you cant give up to god immediately, then you will know what controls you.

he is hitting the bullseye of our hearts and mind. we are very selfish and insecure people.we try to do everything ourselves,for ourselves, with the mindset of lifting ourselves above everyone else. and jesus cracks our empty dry hearts with these loving words. it brings to mind jeremiah 2:13. we have to decide which cistern we are.

he was motivated by selfishness. it was all me, myself and i, leaving everyone else, especially god, out of the quotation. love is a choice and it is obvious this guy was in it for himself. so we have to be on gaurd against all covetness.whether it be people, places or things." not all treasure is silver and gold, mate."-captian jack sparrow in the curse of the black pearl.

there is a whole lot of " i wills" in this passage much like isaiah 14:13-14. selfishness is so hard to overcome, thats why jesus said it would be so much easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle. we all have it, sometimes its subtle, other times it shows itself before the person actually shows up.it could just show itself with a name, anybody have a person like this in their life besides me? you bet. if it is hard for us to give up our possesions, then they have become our god. we must quickly give them back to god for his glory, or they will eventually take over our lives.

thats our spiritual draino, it keeps the pipes clean from all the blockage.but we must also be free to forgive quickly, as he freely forgave us. if we choose not to forgive, we end up dry and bitter, critical and very sharp, pointing our fingers at others, telling the world it is their fault for their lot in life, and we want see justice on them, but sympathy for us.we are warped people for sure. thats why we need to understand grace and mercy

god said it is not good that man be alone, so inside us we dont want to be by ourselves. but on the contrary, we cry out" why can't you just leave me alone" because we don't want to be bothered by anyone. so their is a struggle on the inside to which voice is shouting loudest. we must choose who we will serve. if it is for us, then we will probably slam some doors and stomp our feet to let others know they better back off. now if it is unto the lord, then we will submit to the word of god and let the spirit of god come teach us and refresh us.

we are praying for peace. both inside us and then around us.that no weapon formed against us shall prosper...no matter the consequences, our peace surpasses all understanding, for it is from the lord.now that we are at rest in the lord, we have eternity to bring others to the knowledge of christ and his redemptive power, and truely love as he has loved us.

i believe it is having the single mind..when it is one on one before the father.and what throws it all out the door is when we let our minds wonder and hurry through our religious duty with empty talk. like he said, they honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me..we must make every effort to get close to him with all our mind, heart and strength. the enemy hates this so the attacks to draw us away are gonna get more intense and more crafty, for they know the power in prayer....

well he is not gonna twist our arms so we will come back. he doesnt use intimidation to get our attention. he draws us with his love and his kindness. and even though he knows all about our needs and wants, and secret sins, he is willing to wait on us to talk about them. i believe at first prayer is for our own encouragement and edification, for we dont really know if we can actually trust him. and once we find that we can, we open up more and more, by bringing all things and all people around us to him.

because we have a tendency to cover up and hide. we wont truely open up to him in front of a crowd of people. that would feel as though we were being exposed. and then we would only let the surface be messed with. but jesus wants the root of it all, and he deserves it, rightly so.as for public prayer in gatherings, i believe we must first be in agreement with him personally before we can be in agreement publically, with his gathered church.

its not so much as giving to the poor as it is giving back to the Lord. if i am holding on to a blessing from God, i must hurry and give it back to him before it turns to leftover manna. this way it will glorify him and not puff me up. i am blessed to be in his care and this frees me to share his grace with others still struggling to make ends meet. besides, i am not here to build store houses for myself, nor a mansion, i am just passing through, until i am called home.

we could never know love, until we surrender too it. all is amiss in our own power. we struggle to love, we try our best to relate to others as they hurt deeply, yet our compassion usually fades as we walk out the door in another direction. but HIS love refreshes and embraces,restores us in deeper relations with Himself and with others, as we yield to His spirit. you know its been said, see a need, fill a need. but what good is this without first being in line with His spirit? we must be in right relationship with God and His spirit will come through us. and giving will become so much easier without thinking about it.

i think its maturing in love. not that we are going to master this, but practice it alot.we will be given plenty of opportunities to do this, its just a matter of will we choose to do so.

evil is always on the attack.it never sleeps or takes a break. and not everyone respects gods word or way. so yes there will be times that we have to make a stand.

love as i have loved you.