Have You?

John 1:29-35 - The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.' I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water."

And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God."

Have you been touched by Jesus? Have you gone from not knowing Him, like John, to knowing Him through the power of the Holy Spirit?

I love the story about Mary and Elizabeth and how John in his mother's womb leaped when Mary came near with Jesus in her womb. Spiritually there was a connection. It's sort of like John's exclamation when he saw Jesus coming toward him above. He just knew, when he didn't know before, as he said about three times, "I did not know Him." We aren't definitively told whether John and Jesus had ever met before this time, except for that momentary meeting between Mary and Elizabeth. If anyone has any other explanation, please respond!

I did not know Him either for more than half my life even though I had heard of Him and how I am sure He was presenting Himself to me which I either didn't recognize or, most certainly,  rejected. I was well aware of Jesus, who He was, that He died for the sins of all mankind…and that, most amazingly, He rose from the dead, just like He prophesied He would.

But one day He baptized me with the Holy Spirit and I can bear witness myself to this. I suddenly knew Him intimately through this miraculous, personal rebirth, which was very unsuspecting. And out of obedience to the Word, I was baptized, symbolically in water, but of greater importance, in the Holy Spirit.

I also can testify that Jesus is the Son of God, that I have been reborn of the Spirit. Have you been touched by Jesus? Have you gone from not knowing Him to knowing Him through the power of the Holy Spirit?

Ezekiel 36:26-28 - I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.

Loving our Enemies

Matthew 24:12-14 - And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Ugh. As I read this scripture I contemplated the thought that has been repeatedly going through my head these days, Lord, I know we are to love as You do, but I can't do this without Your help. We are called to love our enemies but when they wreak havoc on innocent people, how do I do that? How do I speak Your word in love like You do? You used words of offense at times. You spoke directly, without sugar-coating Your words. You pointed out sin. And You spoke the truth. Everything You have said is truth. 

The part that bothered me in the verse above was the love of many will grow cold. I wondered if that applied to believers as well as unbelievers. I can see unbelievers growing angrier with enemies or governments or people who some would call idiots. We can so easily spout angry words.

Quickly, though, the thought came...what if this refers to believers? (It does not.) But, might it not be possible? If we do not maintain our focus on Him, couldn't this happen? It's why it's important to keep our minds planted in His Word. And then, aren't we also to love what God loves and hate what He hates? That's to be done with righteous judgment. How many of us truly have righteous ways of judging? Do I?? 

I spent the day with a friend this week and at lunch we talked about how we believe we are in some critical days. God is wanting to prepare His bride, His church, those who believe His return is imminent and possibly soon. He says He wants a bride without spot or wrinkle (Ephesians 5). He prunes us to remove unwanted, unnecessary faults or sins, that we might become spot and wrinkle-free, laundered, as it were, by His blood. If we reject the pruning, we basically reject Him. If we are not being pruned, well, maybe we aren't right with Him. 

So, this love thing has been cropping up a lot in my thoughts, along with criticism and judgment. They go hand in hand in hand! And yet, like I said before, Jesus spoke words that were difficult to hear. He spoke the truth in love. How did He do that? Was it His demeanor or a gentle voice? I can't help but think all a person had to do was look at Him to recognize a difference about Him. I think about if He were to enter my house how I would react. I think I could not stand but fall face down before Him.

This wasn't where I had planned to go with all this but it is linked...loving our enemies (and neighbors) and terrorism. Terrorism is defined as the use of violent acts to frighten people in an area as a way of trying to achieve a political goal, or as a means of coercion. (Webster) There is no place in this world free from terror. We can be angry with the senseless loss of lives if that happens, but we must also realize that these people, our enemies, are as lost as we were at one time, without Christ. They need Him too.

The good thing about knowing Christ is we do not need to be fearful. We will be disgusted, but we will also be constantly reminded that what we see happening in this world is to be expected; it has been prophesied.  The Word has shown us what we need to know and understand. He has and will reveal what is true to those who want to know. He will reveal His promises to those who believe, trust and have faith in Him. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17)...and faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)

And we who endure in these beliefs till the end will be saved...from not only the terror in the world but saved from our own destructive sin. There is a greater terror coming. It's one that happens when we are not secure in our belief about Jesus. I hate to imagine what that would be like. It's why knowing Jesus is so important. It's why I continue these blogs. In case someone "hears." The Word says there will be scoffers (2Peter 3:3). I don't mind. I know where my hope and peace comes from. I do what Jesus calls us to do.

There is a very real presence of evil in this world. We are all born into it, live it and sometimes die in it. If we know Jesus Christ, we can be secure in Him. Evil will always be around. So will Jesus! He is always available to someone who wants to know Him and trust Him.

John 14:1,27 - Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Not of the World

John 17:11-16

Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You, Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.

While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I come to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.

I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.


I still maintain there is a difference between knowing Jesus and believing in Him in our heads and knowing and believing in our hearts.

There is a definite transition and transformation that takes place when one truly knows Jesus. Something happens in our hearts and spirits. What we thought we knew becomes what we truly know.

Jesus was not of the world. That we can agree on. His disciples followed Him and were also considered not of the world. There were a lot of people who knew who Jesus was but rejected His words. They preferred the lifestyle they had always known over the one that Jesus offered. He has a way of changing a person's priorities by changing our hearts. Some don't want that change. Being in Christ means no longer being in the world and all it thinks is important. It's about priorities.

Only one of His disciples, Judas, failed. His love for money (he was treasurer for the group) did him in in the end. It is my understanding that he was the most intelligent of all the disciples. He had a wise business sense (although not always honest). It makes me think of the scripture that tells us God chooses the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise...and the weak things to put to shame the mighty. (1Corinthians 1:27)  It wasn't the intelligence or position in life Jesus wanted. It was the heart willing to change.

One might say, Oh, Jesus wanted the lesser people because He could twist them around His little finger and coerce them. Not so. If anything He coerced them into an exceedingly apparent knowledge of God, that could only have come from the Spirit, that these men used to preach the Gospel...and eternal life.

Judas remained of the world while his counterparts were no longer of the world, as Jesus has been saying. We are all a part of this corrupt world until we come to Christ. When we receive Him we are given a better knowledge through the power of the Holy Spirit. That Holy Spirit is the dividing factor between the earthly and spiritual. And that Holy Spirit only comes as a result of our coming to Christ, being born of the Spirit.

God chose me. I did not choose God. It was a struggle between He and me for awhile till "I got it." He sought me (He sought me and He bought me with His redeeming blood!). I chose to hear and receive what He offered me. I chose to be different being in relationship with Him. I chose to come out of the world. I chose to learn about Him. I have not regretted it. It's been an amazing journey. I may have lost ties with some friends or they keep me at arm's length, but I have won a whole new
family in my brothers and sisters in Christ, even those whom I've not even met.

We are called to not be of the world. Jesus prays that we will be protected from the evil one. The world hates the things of God. That is a very strong statement, I'm sure, to those who say they have nothing against Him but His way is not exactly the way they want to go; their lives are already filled. They just aren't filled with Jesus.

Ephesians 3:14-19 - For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height--to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.