Thursday, January 29, 2015

Who is the Lord?

Exodus 5:2 - And Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, nor will I let Israel go.” 

Who is the Lord is the question we all ask in some way before we truly know Him.

Moses was in the process of working out the freedom of the people of Israel who were in captivity in Egypt. But he was dealing with an unbeliever in their God. Later Pharaoh would cave after he saw the many plagues and torments brought about by this God of Israel he did not know.

There was a time when I asked, Why do I need to go to church? I know who Jesus is. I know He died for my sins. I heard this in children's Sunday school. Isn't that all I need? If God is good and I'm basically a good person--certainly not the best, but better than others--then I believe I will go to heaven.

These are pretty much standard suppositions...We aren't all that bad. And generally that statement is not always followed by are we? But God has a higher standard than that. Since the incident in the Garden of Eden mankind has been separated from God. We lost our relationship with Him because there was a purity in that relationship between Adam, Eve and God. There was holiness because of obedience. God never changes. He is still holy. It is we who have since  changed and are born with sinful, unholy natures. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear. (‭Isaiah‬ ‭59‬:‭2‬) And we must be separated from God...until...

Pharaoh did not know the God Moses and Israel worshipped. He could not understand the plea to let Israel go to worship Him. I couldn't understand it either. Why do I need to follow this God? Why should I listen to Him? Why should I obey Him? Why do I need to?

I believed that until...the good news. God has given us an opportunity to be reconciled to Him, that the veil of separation would be torn down. It's a word called the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He sent His Son Jesus. He stands between sinful man and a holy God. He is the Mediator and the Way. Only through Him do we get to heaven. Only through our heartfelt belief, trust and faith in Him. And only that way. It is Jesus' blood that was shed on the cross that is spiritually poured over us to cleanse us of all unrighteousness.

So, I go to church. I go to be in His presence, to worship Him and to hear Him speak through a pastor who loves Him. I now know that I know who Jesus is. I realize now the importance of His death for my sins. No, I am not basically a good person. No one is and if they claim otherwise they lie. In God's eyes we are all on the same level playing field...But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised by the people. (‭Psalms‬ ‭22‬:‭6‬)  O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (‭Romans‬ ‭7‬:‭24‬)

Ah, but back to the good news...Jesus came that we would no longer be a reproach to God the Father. He will deliver us from this body of spiritual death. He will allow us to be able to say, It IS the Lord I will obey and be able to hear now His voice. I can know the Lord and be in right relationship with Him. Hallelujah!

Who is the Lord to you? Is He your Lord? Do you know Him? Receive Christ and see what He will do!

Exodus 6:6 - "Therefore say to the children of Israel: 'I am the LORD; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.'"

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

I AM WHO I AM

Exodus 3:14 - And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And He said, "This you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

Moses was commissioned by God to deliver His people Israel out of captivity in Egypt. Moses, despite a little personal struggle, was obedient and did God's will. He did it because Israel was his people also. 

I've written this before but it never gets old for me. Today Egypt is a type of the world. We are all in captivity in this world until we are set free through Jesus Christ. We may not even realize we are in captivity without God, but we are. Moses was to be Israel's deliverer. He was a type of Jesus. We are all called to do the same, to share the truth of God's Word to a lost and dying world that they might be set free.

In Sunday school we are going through the Book of Ecclesiastes. Fits right in here. You'll recognize some of these words: I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind. For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun? To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted... (‭‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭1‬:‭14‬, 2:22, 3:1-2)  In the end of the book, which we are far from, are these words: Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. (‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭12‬:‭13-14‬)  

Life is meaningless without Christ as the center of it, without I AM WHO I AM. If anyone has ever wondered why they exist, for what reason...He is the reason; we exist for Him. (‭1Corinthians‬ ‭8‬:‭6‬)

When we come to Christ whether it be through a sermon, an individual, a scripture, even a vision, the means that has gotten us there is the power of the Holy Spirit. God Himself has intervened. And when we then share our experience or our beliefs, we become the means to do the same for others, to be like Jesus. Not be Him, but like Him because we do His will. I cannot take credit for what He does in and through me. It is all Him, His Spirit...and my obedience. 

It is as if I AM WHO I AM has been sent. I AM is for everyone, whosoever believes...That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (‭John‬ ‭3‬:‭15-16‬)  He and this truth never change. What God opted to do for Israel in Moses' day He will do today also. If you believe in your heart, not your head...

Revelation 1:8 - “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” 



Thursday, January 22, 2015

Oh That Men Would Give Thanks to the Lord, Pt.2

Psalm 107:17-43

These are the last three examples Psalm 107 shows of physical or emotional distress/turmoil and God's wonderful ability to save us.

Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, were afflicted. Their soul abhorred all manner of food, and they drew near to the gates of death. Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. 
Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with rejoicing. (Verses 17-22)
- God can use our rebellion against Him to draw us to Him through trials of all sorts: drugs, alcohol, food, destructive behavior
- He sent His word and healed him...He sent His Son Jesus to heal the brokenhearted

Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business on great waters, they see the works of the LORD, and His wonders in the deep. For He commands and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up the waves of the sea. They mount up to the heavens, they go down again to the depths; their soul melts because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end. Then they cry out to the LORD in their trouble, and He brings them out of their distresses. He calms the storm, so that its waves are still. Then they are glad because they are quiet; so He guides them to their desired haven. 
Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! Let them exalt Him also in the assembly of the people, and praise Him in the company of the elders. (Vs. 23-32)
- the storms of life can cause us to despair
- cry out to Jesus 
He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. (‭Psalms‬ ‭23‬:‭2‬)

He turns rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground; a fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of those who dwell in it. 
He turns a wilderness into pools of water, and dry land into watersprings. There He makes the hungry dwell, that they may establish a city for a dwelling place, and sow fields and plant vineyards, that they may yield a fruitful harvest. He also blesses them, and they multiply greatly; and He does not let their cattle decrease. (Vs. 33-38)
- God can allow the distresses in our lives for the very point of turning our focus on Him
- He can turn the tables and bring refreshing upon those who hunger after Him

When they are diminished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow, He pours contempt on princes, and causes them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way; 
yet He sets the poor on high, far from affliction, and makes their families like a flock. The righteous see it and rejoice, and all iniquity stops its mouth. 
Whoever is wise will observe these things, and they will understand the lovingkindness of the LORD. (Vs. 39-43)

In some of these instances we are shown God has a place of rest for us, our haven, a city for a dwelling place...heaven. His desire is that none should perish and all who receive Him have eternal life. He unburdens us in only a way He can by: taking us out of darkness and the shadow of spiritual death and giving us life by breaking the chains of sin that bind us, healing and delivering, guiding, taking what the enemy meant for evil in our lives and turning it into good...if we want to receive His
help.

This is His plan of salvation! Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! 

Romans 3:10 - As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one." 
Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...
Romans 5:8 - But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 
Romans 6:23a - For the wages of sin is death...
Romans 6:23b - ...but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
Romans 10:9-10,13 - [But] if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.


Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Oh, That Men Would Give Thanks to the Lord, Pt.1

Psalm 107:1-3 - Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. 

There countless numbers of examples in the Bible that speak of salvation. Why do we need to be saved? Because we are all sinners. But we need to be told this. We need to understand and the Bible has the examples! As another scripture points out (about creation, but why not about the power of God for all things, too?), For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, (‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭20). So, if there are countless examples of God's redemptive qualities, His love for mankind, His plan for salvation, we are, pretty much, without excuse to know.

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!

There are five scenarios brought up in Psalm 107. They start out as a time of distress. When a people, or a person, come(s) to a low point in life, God is able to deliver them. He will deliver when we earnestly seek Him to be saved. Just because we say we know who God is does not always mean we really know Him. But God can get us to know Him in many ways. We may not know at first what we are being saved from but the instant we realize we need His help He steps in. For me it was not seeing my sin but being in a turmoil, similar to some of these instances. I called out for the help I realized only He could bring, which I so desired. The understanding that I was a sinner came later. Oh, yes, I did not think I was a sinner! 

We are, as it were, in distress and feeling at our lowest point when God hopes our eyes look up. It's a very well used analogy: where else can we look but up when we are so down. And spiritually we look to God for our help. God has given us some amazing examples all throughout His Word.

So, several examples in one Psalm. Examples of God's salvation. One difference...while these were physical distresses in need of physical help, it points to His spiritual salvation, His free gift to each of us when we choose to receive it.

I will do two examples today and the other three tomorrow. Picture what these people were going through. 

Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. (Verses 1-3)
- the hand of the enemy=satan, who is the root cause of our sin, even today
- for all people
- only God can redeem

They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way; they found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses. And He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city for a dwelling place. 
Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness. (Vs. 4-9)
- we wander a wilderness without God
- man cannot deliver, but the Lord can
- He is the Way
- only He thoroughly satisfies with His goodness (through salvation and later His Word)

Those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, bound in affliction and irons—because they rebelled against the words of God, and despised the counsel of the Most High, therefore He brought down their heart with labor; they fell down, and there was none to help. Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke their chains in pieces. 
Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He has broken the gates of bronze, and cut the bars of iron in two. (Vs.10-16)
- our sin ensnares each of us
- when we rebel against God, refuse Him, we are in captivity
- like Israel in their captivity in Egypt...slaves, in bondage
- only God can release us
- when we call out He is merciful

Only Jesus can release any bondage to sin we have. We cannot hope we are good enough. We are all sinners in need of a Savior. We cannot compare ourselves to anyone else because all are sinners and
all sin is just plain sin to God. Because of His goodness and His choice to be crucified for our sins, are we saved, not our own. Our hearts must be inclined first to God...Jesus...allow Him to bring us out of our sinful bondage. 

More examples tomorrow. Let's give thanks to God! His mercy endures forever.



Saturday, January 17, 2015

Because of One Man's Faith

Matthew 8:8,10-11 - The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed." When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven."

Jesus healed this man's servant. He did not see him nor touch him. But He saw only the faith this centurion had in Him. What a testimony this man now had and I'm sure he shared the account with anyone who would listen. And this Jesus and His Gospel was heard, shared and drew more into this same faith.

If people would hear our testimony of God having redeemed, healed, delivered and provided in our lives, how many more would seek Jesus? Because of this one man's faith there have been about two thousand years' worth of people who have come to this same faith, of whom I am one. 

Anyone who turns to Christ with this same faith will be able to sit down with some very prominent men and women in the Bible someday in the kingdom of heaven. Oh, that people would wonder in our faith and would want to hear our testimony, believe in it and believe the truth of God's Word. 

Roman's 10:16-18 - But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “LORD, who has believed our report?” So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed: “Their sound has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” 


Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Abraham Believed

Genesis 15:5-6 - Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. 

Abraham. A barren wife, therefore childless. God named him the father of many nations. God told him his descendants would be more than the stars he could try to count. Abraham believed and as history has shown, it has been done. You will find this throughout the pages of the Old Testament. While Abraham saw the beginning of this promise/covenant, he did not see the final outcome, which is still unfolding. But he trusted God. That was the most important choice he made, to just believe. 

There is another account where we are told to believe. Imagine if all would, like Jesus said, Believe in Me. Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (‭John‬ ‭11‬:‭25-26‬)

Because Abraham believed we are here. And to God it was counted as righteousness. What if we believed in Jesus the same way? What if we put our trust and faith in Him the way Abraham did in God? Aren't we told the same thing...it would be counted as righteousness?

This belief, again, is not just knowing who Jesus is. It's a deeper knowing Him. It's putting faith and trust in Him for everything. Illness strikes, death occurs, job is lost...the bottom of life falls out. What do we do? Panic, fret, lose hope? Or do we go to God and ask for His strength and wisdom to get through this? If we know and believe in Jesus, we trust Him for it all. If we do not know Jesus we can't fathom the notion that He can still provide, heal and comfort, miraculously. 

Believing is a heart change. It's a knowing deep inside when God knows your true intent toward Him and at the time of that giving of your heart to Him, He fills you with His Holy Spirit who begins the process of this heart change. For me it started as a sudden strong desire to learn more about God. I got hooked up early in Bible studies. I took classes because I wanted to know more about Him. That alone doesn't make me better but it gave me a foundation that has shown me from Old Testament to New why it is important to know Christ, God's entire plan of salvation...and most important, why. 

This world will end someday soon, I believe. We see the signs that the Bible has pointed out for the last days. It's in the Word of God. He is Alpha and Omega, Beginning and End. All the days are in His hands. Our days are in His hands and He has the final judgment. He is the Judge who doles out our final resting place in the end...heaven or hell. If that is so why wouldn't one want to trust in Him alone? 

Philippians‬ ‭3‬:‭8-11 - Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. 

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Babel

Genesis 11:4 - And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth." 

The story of the Tower of Babel is interesting. The name Babylon comes from the name Babel and Babylon biblically is a type of the world, a type of worldly things, ideas. Babel means confusion. We must remember that it is God's desire we be in unity...and He is not the author of confusion. So, we either are of the world and all its confusion, it's varied cultures, lifestyles and beliefs, or we are in God's world of order and truth. I might lose some readers at this point!

The Bible is God's Word to us. It reveals His heart for mankind and specifically for His people, whom we are if we follow Him. Just before the story of the Tower of Babel is Noah and the Ark. God could see how evil was spreading throughout the world and was determined to stop it and start over with one very godly man and his family; a man whose intent was to obey God. Obedience to God is not a negative thing since He knows all things, knows what is good and knows what each of us needs. There is no confusion in obedience to God.

But time after time man chooses to do his own thing. They stray from God's perfect plan and we throw ourselves into confusion...throw ourselves into the world....Babylon. There was one language and unity among them before they chose to go out on their own. But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the LORD said, "Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." (Genesis 11:5-7) Let Us...go down. He and the Word. The Word made flesh. The Word who is Jesus. The Word who we are to seek.

The prophet Malachi talks about the coming day of the LORD. He talks about those who do not fear God, who choose not to heed His warnings: “Your words have been harsh against Me,” says the LORD, “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against You?’ You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God; what profit is it that we have kept His ordinance, and that we have walked as mourners before the LORD of hosts? (‭Malachi‬ ‭3‬:‭13-14‬)  Are our words harsh against Him? If we do not truly follow Him, it is a form of rejection... Do we use His name in vain...that's a harsh word against Him. There's no reverence for Him. We might say we know there is a God...but how well is that? So, what profit is it to seek God? When we come to our last day will we truly know. 

We all will stand before God some day and He will pass judgment on all we've done in our lives. Anything apart from Him will be like hay, stubble...it will be burned up, meaningless. Even our good works done apart from God, as a friend reminded me yesterday, will be as filthy rags and will also be burned in the fire of God's judgment. 

In that day of the LORD followers will be spared but the unrighteous, those who choose to "do, build and make a name for ourselves," will experience ...the day [that] is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble, and the day which is coming shall burn them up...that will leave them neither root nor branch. (Malachi 4:1) And our works will also be revealed. ...the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. (1Corinthians 3:13) Wicked in this instance in God's eyes is not believing, not seeking, living in the world's opinion of what one seems important...anything that excludes Him. 

We need first to seek God. Know Him, know His heart, know what He requires, move from the world and into His kingdom. Show an interest in Him. Opt to do His will...and this only comes from seeking Him, asking of Him what His will is for our own lives. Will we make mistakes? Yes. Will we always know if this is His will or ours? No. But He can lead us in the right direction even after we've made a mistake. 

This all seems harsh, but it is so outlined in His Word. Some churches today don't want to ruffle feathers for fear of offending so they won't preach this. Sometimes we don't want to know the truth. Or we fear the truth. Or we recognize we are not worthy and try to hide from God. He knows that and He still loves us. 

He loves us more than we can imagine. We have all built our own tower, wanted to make a name for ourselves. It can be our job, our hobby, our sport, our family. I used to pride myself in my bicycling from point A to point B under my own power. Yes, it was an accomplishment. I'm glad I could have done those things. But now I know He had to have given me the strength to do it. Do we glorify self or God in our endeavors?

I mentioned He likes unity. There is no unity without Him. Whenever people in the Bible strayed from Him there was distress. It may not have cropped up right away but it always did. Sometimes the people turned back to Him. Others chose not to. Somehow the one people and one language of the people in Babel is what He would like to see again. The people and language of our God. True believers. And in the end, when He returns for His people, that is what it will be like again.

1Corinthians‬ ‭3‬:‭11-15 - For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is l said, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with 
gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he 
will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. 

Friday, January 2, 2015

The Light

Genesis 1:3-5 - Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. 

In this world there is not only a physical day and night, light and dark, but a spiritual darkness and light.

I said in the last blog we are all in spiritual darkness until we receive Jesus as our Savior. In darkness is where evil resides. Most evil takes place at night, in the shadows of the dark where it is hoped it will not be seen.

We can live in darkness until the light of Christ shines bright in our lives. It is often said that we continue to live in this darkness because we do not wish for others to see our sin. We do not want to call our sin what it is so we try to hide it; we try to tell ourselves, and others, that everyone does this so it can't be that bad. When Jesus exposes that sin in the light of His truth, people run from Him to hide in the darkness. 

But His light that exposes our sin is good. When we accept our sin as sin and accept His forgiveness for that sin, it is good! Any sin acknowledged and exposed to our Lord frees us from captivity of that darkness which we run to with the thing we want to hide. Jesus longs for all to ask for His forgiveness. He longs to give it. 

Sin can be anything from a white lie, an awful thought, a misplaced word, to murder. Anything that is against the will of God. We will never be perfect in everything we do. That's why we have Jesus. He's as close as a realization of what we've said or done to our asking for His forgiveness and turning from that sin.

For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. (Colossians 1:9-12)

Sometimes my patience runs thin, sorry to say. There is such a longing to see others freed from their sin, to know Christ. I acknowledge this lack of patience before God right now, although He knew before I even thought it. Everything is done in His time. He is there for any to receive His free gift of salvation. Through Him only can it be obtained. But it's a choice we all must make to receive. It will not happen just by hoping or wishing or believing we are good just because... He must humbly be acknowledged and received for true salvation to happen.

Put away the darkness and let the light of Christ come into your life. 

Colossians 1:13 - He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love... 

Made Well

Genesis 1:1-2 - In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

It's a new year and the time to make all those resolutions. Instead of all the self improvements of proper eating and exercise, which are good to do, why not exercise self improvement on a different level by opening up a Bible and improving one's knowledge of the Word. There is truth in this Word, as well as encouragement and many other wonderful things. 

As I read just these first two scriptures I saw something applicable to us all. Before we know God, before we are filled with His Spirit, we are in darkness. We are without spiritual form and devoid of spiritual truth. But somehow, somewhere or through someone, God's Spirit hovers over us all. He would not have said that He sent His Son to take away the sins of the world (John 1:29) and that His desire is that none should perish (2Peter 3:9).

This does not mean that all will be saved. It takes a commitment on our part, a responding to the stirring of the Holy Spirit when we recognize it. Then God will fill us with His Spirit and remove the void between God and man that came as a result of Adam and Eve's sin in the garden. The darkness of souls and minds will be replaced by the truth of His Word. Those who respond will be able to say they have seen the light (Isaiah 9:2, Matthew 4:16). 

There is an account in John about a lame man who sat for 38 years by a healing pool. He claims that he never got into the water fast enough to be healed by the angel of the Lord who stirred the waters. Jesus met this man there and asked if he wanted to be healed. The man said, yes, but... Could it be all these years he truly didn't want to be healed...and then he met Jesus? I know this happened to me on occasion until God's Spirit stirred my heart. I "stepped into the stirred waters" and life has not been the same since. Is there a stirring within you? Is there a desire to be healed of all your sins? If you say you have no sin, you have sinned! 

We are all sinners without spiritual form and devoid of the truth until God's stirring awakens us, we step into His waters and are healed. God created the earth; He creates us that we might have fellowship with Him. Let Him make you well. 

John 5:4 - For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.