Tuesday, December 30, 2014

JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: When we have pain or lose someone

Saturday, December 27, 2014

JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: A Bondservant of God

A Bondservant of God

James 1, New King James Version (NKJV)

1 James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: greetings. ²My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, ³knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. ⁴But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. ⁵If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. ⁶But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. ⁹Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, ¹⁰but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away. ¹¹For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits. ¹²Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. ¹³Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. ¹⁴But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. ¹⁵Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. ¹⁶Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. ¹⁷Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. ¹⁸Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of His creatures. ¹⁹So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; ²⁰for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. ²¹Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. ²²But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ²³For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; ²⁴for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. ²⁵But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. ²⁶If anyone among youthinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. ²⁷Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

My Comments: This coming year I will try something different. I will take full Chapters and work through them and see how you all like working through the Bible that way. I am starting in James for this period of time.

Trials or tribulations and temptations seem to stumble many and mistakenly many believers and non-believers have a misunderstanding of them. Some believe God is tempting them when it is Satan. Some believe if they are Saved or Born Again then God the Father will protect them from and keep them from trials. And some believe that once they are Saved or Born Again then they can do anything they want and it is okay with Abba Father. Then there are the ones like the Pharisees of Jesus’ time who make up their own rules, regulations or “religion” and want others to follow them. All of these beliefs are not of Abba Father and are not what Jesus taught or exemplified.

The following are a few of the verses I go to when I contemplate or have trials or tribulations and temptations:

Hebrews 4:15, (NKJV)

¹⁵For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Mark 1:13, (NKJV) (This is about Jesus after He was Baptized by John the Baptist and went to the wilderness for forty days. If Jesus was tempted why do we mistakenly believe we will not be? Yet being tempted is not the sin. Giving into the temptation is. Knowing the Word as Jesus did and rebuking Satan by the Word of God will help us in times of temptation.)

¹³And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.

Galatians 6:1, (NKJV); (If we know of a Brethren or fellow Believer, who has fallen to temptation this is what we should do; it does not refer to people who are not Believers in The Way or are not Born Again.)

¹Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.

Romans 5:3-8, (NKJV) (This is why a true believer will find joy in trials and tribulations and how one knows if they have truly given themselves completely into the hands of our Lord Jesus to mold and grow us, and use us for His glory. Those who are totally His know that these things are allowed to happen to grow us closer to Him to give Him glory and to point others by our actions to the One True God the Father because Jesus is our Savior and He has shown us what we must do.)

³And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; ⁴and perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. ⁶For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. ⁸But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

John 16:33, (NKJV)

³³These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Acts 14:22, (NKJV) (We who are Believers cannot expect life to be placid and if it is we need to look inside ourselves to see how we have accommodated the worlds concepts verses the Lords teachings and examples.)

²²strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.”

2 Thessalonians 1:4, (NKJV) (Christ Jesus told us to pick up our Cross and follow Him. Can we do that without going through things as He did? Absolutely not! I am amazed at those who say, “Everything is going so good in my life. That must be God’s blessing on the way I live.” Abba Father may for a short time give us a breather but we delude ourselves if it goes on for long. How can be grow if we are not given more? A child is not just born and then not challenged to crawl, walk, use ones hands, feet and mind to work through challenges. So it is with us in our Spiritual lives that show in our physical lives.)

⁴so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure,

Colossians 3:2-14, (NKJV) (If we are His then we are doers of the Word which is Jesus the Christ. We live our lives as He lived His to do the will of the Father even if that means the world should hate us, revile us or our families turn on us. We set our minds on Him, His kingdom, His glory and turn our backs on a worldly life which now is becoming more and more like Sodom and Gomorrah.)

²Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. ³For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. ⁵Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.⁶Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, ⁷in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. ⁸But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. ⁹Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, ¹⁰and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,¹¹where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. ¹²Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; ¹³bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. ¹⁴But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.

Isaiah 1:17, (NKJV) (We live lives pleasing to and glorifying God by how we treat others. Have we learned from the teachings of Jesus? Our lives show what we believe about our Lord.)

¹⁷Learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.

Matthew 7:13/14, 21-27, (NKJV) (We are Children of God because of the Sacrifice of Jesus and when we accepted His sacrifice we were Born Again. And as such we follow Him and no long practice lawlessness or do the things the world teaches that contradicts the teachings of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and we continue to stand strong in trials, tribulations and temptations. Because of the strength of God in us and our dependency on Him when the rain descends, floods come and winds blow in our lives we remain trusting Him. Our house meaning our faith and trust in God stands firm and does not fall because we are founded on the rock which is Jesus. Then when we depart this world or He comes for us He will say, Well done good and faithful servant.”)

¹³“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. ¹⁴Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

²¹“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²²Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ²³And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ ²⁴“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: ²⁵and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. ²⁶“But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: ²⁷and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

Luke 6:40, (NKJV)

⁴⁰A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.

Luke 6:46, (NKJV)

⁴⁶“But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?

John 1:9-14, (NKJV)

⁹That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. ¹⁰He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. ¹¹He came to His own, and His owndid not receive Him.¹²But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: ¹³who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. ¹⁴And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

My Comments: When we are the Lord Jesus’ disciples we learn from His life, death and resurrection. We read the Scripture and we are in fellowship with other Believers who like us are at different stages of their walk with the Lord. Some are babies only able to crawl and as they read the Word and the Holy Spirit enlightens them as they put into practice the teachings and let the essence of God guide them then they will walk, then run and if they and we preserve we will run the race well.

We are to help each other on this walk. Sometimes that is with quiet words. Sometimes it is in discussing the Scripture. Sometimes one needs redirecting gently and rarely some need to be put out of the body until they realize the error of their ways and repent, then they are brought back into the body. If they were truly the Lord’s they will see the sin and repent in time. Like children growing up we all stumble and fall or give into temptation and the worst temptation is to think we are god.

This is why Satan fell, this is why Adam and Eve fell and this is why we fall into sin, because we want to be in charge. This is the sin of pride. To be Christ Jesus’ we give Him ourselves, trusting in Him to work out our training as it should be so we can grow in the Word and be more like Christ Jesus who gave all glory to the Father and turned to the Father for everything and even in His Crucifixion Jesus trusted His Father. “Not my will be done but thine,” He said. It is what we all who say we are Born Again must learn to say and live. As James we become the bondservant of Jesus the Christ and we live our lives doing for others and glorifying our Abba Father.

Abba Father, thank You for showing us the way through the life, death and resurrection of Your Son Jesus our Messiah. Thank You for always being there to guide us, strengthen us and walk with us through all trials, tribulations and temptations. Thank You for Your Word that saves. Strengthen us in Your Word. Help us to take up our Cross and follow Jesus. Fill us with Your Holy Spirit. Instruct us in Your ways, desires and may all we do, think and feel bring You our Abba Father, Glory and praise.

Jesus our Messiah, You have told us what is true in the Word. You are the Word. You have given us freedom through Your life, death and resurrection. Thank You for coming to earth to show us the You are the Way the Truth and the Life. May we live our lives in Your truth and light growing in Your way so one day we will hear, “Well done good and faithful servant.”

Holy Spirit, Holy Wind, enlighten and bring us to the full knowledge and understanding of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ. Thank You for Your patience and for giving us knowledge and wisdom to understand the Word of God. Give us discernment so we will stay away from stumbling blocks and temptations. Give us the words as Jesus had the Words of God to keep Him from the evil ones snares. We thank You for filling us with Your presence and our lives.

In Jesus Holy and precious name in union with the Holy Spirit we pray. Amen

Rebishka

Friday, December 19, 2014

JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: Reborn in Christ Jesus

Thursday, December 18, 2014

JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: God's Love is the same yesterday, today and foreve...

JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: God's Love is the same yesterday, today and foreve...: Genesis 26:9 , New King James Version (NKJV) Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used...

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: Love and Respect

JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: Love and Respect: Hold fast. Hebrews 10:23-25 Hebrews 10:23-25 "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who prom...

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: Have faith

JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: Have faith: Galatians 3:5 Does He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- ju...

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: The Eyes of the Lord

The Eyes of the Lord

Psalm 33:18, New King James Version (NKJV)

¹⁸Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him,
On those who hope in His mercy,

1 Peter 3:12-18, (NKJV)

¹²For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” ¹³And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? ¹⁴But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.” ¹⁵But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; ¹⁶having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. ¹⁷For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.¹⁸For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us^[d] to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,

Psalm 11:4, (NKJV)

⁴The Lord is in His holy temple, the Lord’s throne is in heaven;
His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.

Matthew 13:16, (NKJV)

¹⁶But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear;

My Comments: This short study came about because of a painting I recently finished. As some of you know, around 2008 the Lord had me start painting and wanted Scripture placed on the art. Well, the painting I recently finished was of the ocean at sunset with the sun down on the horizon. I felt a nudge from the Lord that the sun was like an eye and the large wave had the eye in it as well so off to study Scripture to do with the eye. I only placed a few of the ones I studied and encourage you to look for more. If you do not have access to a Bible there are several sites where you may read for free. The main one I use is https://www.biblegateway.com

Our Lord came to earth to save us from our sin. He did this by taking on humanity and even being born in a lowly manger. He was raised by a carpenter and his Mother with brothers and sisters. When He was 33 years old His Ministry started and He called men to follow Him as He still calls each of us. In His Ministry He said, “He who does not take is cross and follow after Me is not worth of Me.” (Matthew 10:38). He did not say our way after being Born Again would be an easy one in fact if we are following Him our way will not be easy. Yet there is joy in it because we know where our true home is when we leave this world. You say, “What does this have to do with eyes and painting?

When I paint I use my eyes to see what I am doing and to make sure of the colors, balance and form. We all use our eyes to tell us what is around us or for reading or even to see what we are eating (that is if we have the gift of sight and then there are other ways of seeing but that is for another time). Now the Lord has eyes that see everything and He beholds everything and as the Scripture says His eyelids test the sons of men. Our eyelids do not test anything yet His test us. When we become His followers we learn to test things around us and even that which is in us. We walk closer to the Lord and as we do so, we become more discerning about what we say and do and who we are with in relationship. The closer our relationship to the Lord God Almighty the more we want to please Him by living righteously (not religiously or self-righteously) as He lived.

Our walk here though not perfect becomes Holier and we become more loving even to people who revile, curse or even harm us or our loved ones. We see this happening in Iran to those who are being raped, beaten, and even murdered because they refuse to renounce Jesus as their Savior. This has happened since Christ Jesus was Crucified on the Cross and it will get worse as the end times come closer yet we are called by Christ to hold tight to Him and love our enemies. His eye does not miss what happens to us nor can anything happen to us He does not allow ( I did not say He causes because that is not what always happens) yet He uses it all for our benefit and growth as well as for others (as He did for Joseph, Daniel and many others in the Bible and through out time). Because we are His we know this, accept this and when they happen we pray for our eyes to be open so we learn the lessons within any situation as well for us to be a source of praise for our Lord the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last, our Creator God who is the I Am.

All of this did not go through my minds eye as I was nudged into noticing the eye of the sun and the eye of the wave yet it did go through my minds eye as I searched the Scripture for what God wanted to use to reach His own and the lost. I pray you open your eyes to what God is showing you in your life and that as your eyes open so will your ears and your heart.

Abba Father, thank You for keeping Your eyes on the righteous. Thank You for Your inspirations. Open our eyes to see what You want us to see in the world around us, within us and what You want for us to do. Open the eyes of our hearts Lord so we will Love as You love and perceive where You are working and what You would have for us to do.

Lord Jesus, thank You for giving of Yourself completely and showing us how to be Holy as You are Holy. Thank You for calling us out and giving us Your heart for others even when they are harming us, reliving us or even worse. Keep our eyes on You Lord that we may not falter when the times get more than we can bear as we know You will and have bore them for us.

Holy Spirit, thank You for coming to fill us with Your knowledge, wisdom and understanding and discernment so that our eyes will always remain on the Lord Jesus and the purpose of God in our lives. Let us never lose sight of doing things for His glory and praise.

In Jesus precious name I pray in union with the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Rebishka

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: His yoke is light and He lightens our load.

JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: His yoke is light and He lightens our load.: Matthew 11:28 "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, fo...

Friday, November 28, 2014

JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: We Are Only Sojuourners.

JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: We Are Only Sojuourners.: 1 Peter 1, New American Standard Bible (NASB) 1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, t o those who reside as aliens, scattered througho...

JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: If you are of God's family, show it.

JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: If you are of God's family, show it.: Romans 12:1-21 New King James Version (NKJV) Living Sacrifices to God 12 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God...

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: Jesus Lays His Life Down That We May Live.

JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: Jesus Lays His Life Down That We May Live.: Isaiah 59 , New King James Version (NKJV) Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by ...

Jesus Lays His Life Down That We May Live.

Isaiah 59, New King James Version (NKJV)

Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. ²But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear ³for your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies,
Your tongue has muttered perversity. ⁴No one calls for justice, nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies;
They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity. ⁵They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web; he who eats of their eggs dies, and from that which is crushed a viper breaks out. ⁶Their webs will not become garments, nor will they cover themselves with their works;
Their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. ⁷Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. ⁸The way of peace they have not known,
and there is no justice in their ways; they have made themselves crooked paths; whoever takes that way shall not know peace. ⁹Therefore justice is far from us, nor does righteousness overtake us;
we look for light, but there is darkness! For brightness, but we walk in blackness! ¹⁰We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes; we stumble at noonday as at twilight; we are as dead men in desolate places. ¹¹We all growl like bears, and moan sadly like doves; we look for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us. ¹²For our transgressions are multiplied before You, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them: ¹³In transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing from our God, speaking oppression and revolt,

conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. ¹⁴Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. ¹⁵So truth fails, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. Then the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no justice. ¹⁶He saw that there was no man,
and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; and His own righteousness, it sustained Him. ¹⁷For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head; He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak. ¹⁸According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay, fury to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies; the coastlands He will fully repay. ¹⁹So shall they fear
The name of the Lord from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun; when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. ²⁰“The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” says the Lord. ²¹“As for Me,” says the Lord, “this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,” says the Lord, “from this time and forevermore.”

Ephesians 2:8-16, (NKJV)

⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹not of works, lest anyone should boast. ¹⁰For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.¹¹Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— ¹²that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, ¹⁵having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.

Isaiah 60, (NKJV)

Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. ²For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. ³The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. ⁴“Lift up your eyes all around, and see: they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be nursed at your side. ⁵Then you shall see and become radiant, and your heart shall swell with joy; because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you. ⁶The multitude of camels shall cover your land, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah;
All those from

Sheba

shall come; they shall bring gold and incense,
and they shall proclaim the praises of the Lord. ⁷All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together to you, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you; they shall ascend with acceptance on My altar, and I will glorify the house of My glory. ⁸“Who are these who fly like a cloud, and like doves to their roosts? ⁹Surely the coastlands shall wait for Me; and the ships of Tarshish will come first, to bring your sons from afar, their silver and their gold with them, to the name of the Lord your God,
and to the Holy One of Israel, because He has glorified you. ¹⁰“The sons of foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you; for in My wrath I struck you, but in My favor I have had mercy on you. ¹¹Therefore your gates shall be open continually;
they shall not be shut day or night, that men may bring to you the wealth of the Gentiles, and their kings in procession. ¹²For the nation and kingdom which will not serve you shall perish, and those nations shall be utterly ruined. ¹³“The glory of

Lebanon

shall come to you,
The cypress, the pine, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of My sanctuary; and I will make the place of My feet glorious. ¹⁴Also the sons of those who afflicted you shall come bowing to you, and all those who despised you shall fall prostrate at the soles of your feet; and they shall call you The City of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel. ¹⁵“Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, so that no one went through you, I will make you an eternal excellence, a joy of many generations. ¹⁶You shall drink the milk of the Gentiles, and milk the breast of kings; you shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. ¹⁷“Instead of bronze I will bring gold, instead of iron I will bring silver, instead of wood, bronze, and instead of stones, iron. I will also make your officers peace, and your magistrates righteousness. ¹⁸Violence shall no longer be heard in your land, neither wasting nor destruction within your borders; but you shall call your walls Salvation,
And your gates Praise. ¹⁹“The sun shall no longer be your light by day,
nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you; but the Lord will be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory. ²⁰Your sun shall no longer go down, nor shall your moon withdraw itself; for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended. ²¹Also your people shall all be righteous; they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified. ²²A little one shall become a thousand,
And a small one a strong nation. I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time.”

John 10:14-18, (NKJV)

¹⁴I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. ¹⁵As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. ¹⁶And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd. ¹⁷“Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.¹⁸No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”

John 11:25-26, (NKJV)

²⁵Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. ²⁶And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

Matthew 16:24-27, (NKJV)

²⁴Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. ²⁵For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. ²⁶For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? ²⁷For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.

Matthew 18:3, (NKJV)

³and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 18:3, (NKJV)

³and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

Mark 1:14-15, (NKJV)

¹⁴Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom^[a] of God, ¹⁵and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

John 3:3-7, (NKJV)

³Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ⁴Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” ⁵Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

John 3:15-21, (NKJV)

¹⁵that whoever believes in Him should not perish but^[a] have eternal life. ¹⁶For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ¹⁷For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. ¹⁸“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. ¹⁹And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. ²⁰For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. ²¹But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

My Comments: I am sure some will find this study to be long yet I would even have made it longer as I felt it was very important to salvation for all to understand why we need a Savior. We are walking, talking, thinking and acting sin machines or as you may have heard we have sin natures and as such we are separated from God the Father. In order to be His children we need a Savior and God the Father knew we would continue doing what we wanted and never be united to Him unless He sent the Messiah. Yet who would be “good enough” to remove all our sin?

The Ten Commandments could not be kept completely and time and time again people showed that. Even the greatest of the great, who loved God and whom He loved, sinned. David sinned though he repented when confronted with his sin, yet he continued to sin. Only God Almighty Himself was “good enough” to be the sacrifice for the whole world for all time. So God as man, fully God and fully man, who loved us so much, chose to come to earth. He chose to be born in a lowly birth. He suffered and died in our place on the Cross and rose again as prophesied, on the third day and rose to Heaven so we could be with Him forever. How amazing is that? We go from dooming ourselves because of our sin nature to Salvation by following Jesus.

In the Old Testament we read many of the prophecies about the Messiah and I chose these two sections (Isaiah 59 and 60) with the other verses to show our need for a Savior because of how we in sin separate ourselves from God, to Salvation through being Born Again through Jesus. This is redemption which comes through Jesus the Christ. It is ours when we choose life in Jesus. This is what He showed us in the Gospel must happen if we are to be Born Again. We serve an awesome God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are not saved by works that we may “do,” or by being the best people anyone knows or by being good, because only God our Father, is good. There are things He wants us to do when we are saved but not to be saved.

When we are saved we desire to do good works and to show the face of Jesus to glorify God in all we do. The more we walk, talk and read His words and study with the Holy Spirit the stronger our walk becomes and the more we reflect Jesus and bring God the Father glory. The more we are with Him the more we want to be like Him and be with Him even more. We are with Him when we pray, sing praise and worship songs or just listen to them, read His Word in the Bible, talk to Him, about Him and rest in Him. When we become Children of God by believing the Gospel of Jesus and being Born Again then we are filled with the Holy Spirit who works in us to bring us to Sanctification. The Work of God in us goes on until He calls us home to be with Him. Come Lord Jesus Come.

Abba Father, to be all the glory forever and ever. May we hear Your Spirit in us and follow Your Son as we grow in your love and are filled with Your presence. We are but babes, help us to grow in Your Wisdom. Feed us with Your Word. Fill us with Your Light. May Your living Waters flow through us to a dieing world so more will come out of the world and shine with Your light. Thank Your Abba Father for all You give us daily and forgive us as we stumble and fall and grow in You.

Jesus Savior, Redeemer, Messiah, thank You for all the things You undertook and endured so we might be with You and You with us eternally. Fill us with Your love for the world and all peoples and lead us where You would have us to go. Make us what You knew us to be from the beginning of the World.

Holy Spirit, thank You for coming to guide, teach and show us how to be more like Jesus. Fill us with wisdom. Give us knowledge and understanding to use the Wisdom You fill us with. Help us to strengthen in the Will of the Lord and You bring us through the lessons to grow us in our Sanctification and Relationship with the Father through the Son in union with You.

In Jesus name in union with the Holy Spirit we pray to You Father. Amen

Rebishka