Life Lessons from God's Word
Friday, October 31, 2014
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: The Living Temple
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: The Living Temple: 2 Corinthians 6:1-10 New King James Version ( NKJV ) 6 We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the gr...
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: He Wants to Change Your Heart
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: He Wants to Change Your Heart: Proverbs 4:23 , New King James Version (NKJV) The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. 23 Ke...
He Wants to Change Your Heart
23 Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues
of life.
Ephesians
Proverbs 23:7a (NKJV)
7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.
Proverbs 27:19, (NKJV)
19 As in water face reflects face, so a man’s heart reveals the man.
Matthew 5: 1, 8 (NKJV)
5 And seeing the
multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came
to Him. 2 Then He opened His mouth and taught
them, saying:… 8 Blessed are the pure
in heart, for they shall see
God.
Galatians 2:20, (NKJV)
20 I have been
crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and
the life which I now
live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave
Himself for me.
Colossians 2:9-15, (NKJV)
9 For in Him
dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are
complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. 11 In Him you were
also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the
body of the sins[a] of the flesh,
by the circumcision of Christ, 12 buried with
Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith
in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being
dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive
together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped
out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to
us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having
disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them,
triumphing over them in it.
Psalm 8:6, (NKJV)
6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under
his feet,
2 Peter 1:4, (NKJV)
4 by which have
been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these
you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world
through lust.
1 Peter 1:4, (NKJV)
4 to an
inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved
in heaven for you,
Ephesians 3:14-19, (NKJV)
14 For this
reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the
whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would
grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might
through His Spirit in the inner man,17 that Christ
may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in
love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the
saints what is the width and
length and depth and height— 19 to know the
love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the
fullness of God.
1 Samuel 16:7, (NKJV)
7 But the Lord said to
Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I
have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks
at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the
heart.”
Psalm 16:7, (NKJV)
7 I will bless the Lord who has
given me counsel; my heart
also instructs me in the night seasons.
Romans 10:9, (NKJV)
9 that 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.
My Comments:
Jesus’ heart has been, is and always will be for us. When we come to Jesus and
believe His Gospel of death on the Cross for our sins and His Resurrection our
hearts are changed to reflect Jesus’ heart.
It can always
be seen who has really accepted or put of Jesus as their Savior and whose heart
has not been changed. I am not saying everyone shows signs quickly just that
when the heart is changed everything about a person starts to change.
They thirst
for the Word of God. They are pricked when they do something not pleasing to
Jesus the Son of God. They confess their wrongs. They are kinder more
considerate to others and reflect God’s love for mankind. They turn from the
lusts of the flesh and the desires of the heart to follow after evil, the world
and worldly pleasures. I remember how it was for me.
I was still in
the cult Soldiers of the Eucharist and really did not think I was doing anything
to hurt anyone else nor did I think the things I watched in movies or read in
books were separating me from God. I remember my heart being pricked to “purge”
my literature, movies and music so I listened to and read each one with an eye
and ear for how they measured up to the word of God and was ashamed know they
did not. So I got rid of almost everything. It felt good. Then a short time
later I felt the urge to purge again and thought, “How can I have missed any?”
I went through all the ones that were left, and you know it! I had to purge
more. He waited until my eyes were open to what came between He and I. He
actually had me purge four different times before I was free of the things that
fed the evil in my flesh.
Throughout the
years He has brought to mind things that hurt our relationship and I have had
to make the choice between feeding the flesh and feeding our relationship. He
is gentle and a gentleman and I make the choice to keep my heart for Him. Even
when going to the movies which I really enjoy doing once in awhile.
Movies are
harder because though it will say the movie does not have certain things in it
one can be sitting in a theatre and there it is. What does on do? I have bowed
my head, gotten up and asked for my money back and left. In books I have
brought home from the Library I have had to take them back when I would really
like to have burned them. Satan knows our weaknesses yet God is our strength.
If we rely on our strength we will fail miserably. If our hearts are bought for
the Father by the blood of the Son Jesus and taught by the Holy Spirit and have
His discernment we will by the grace of God persevere and our hearts will be
His. If our hearts are His our lives will reflect Him.
Abba Father,
we give ourselves to You through Your Son Jesus Christ who died for our sin. He
became sin who knew no sin that we may have life abundantly and eternally with
You. We give You our hearts and our lives to use as You know best because Abba
we do not and cannot live our lives well with out You in our Heart and Your
Holy Spirit filling us and guiding us at all times. Thank You Abba Father for bringing
us to Your Son and Salvation.
Lord Jesus,
Lamb of God, Son and Living God, you have purchased us with the price of Your
blood on the Cross. You have died in our place and we believe You rose again on
the third day and now sit at the right hand of Abba Father, God Almighty the
Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. We give our selves to You
knowing You will live in us and present us to the Father unblemished and
spotless and He will see only You in us. Thank You Lord Jesus for Your loving
heart and Your Sacrifice.
Holy Spirit,
You came to fill us once we accept Jesus as our Savior and become Children of
God. Guide us please and fill us with knowledge, wisdom, and discernment to use
the gifts Abba gives to each of us, as Children of God who are Justified and
Redeemed. Fill our hearts for what touches the heart of Jesus and fill us with
whatever is needed to do the things He asks of us. Thank You for always being
there for us and now we thank You for being in us and strengthening and guiding
us.
In Jesus Holy
and precious name we pray in union with His Holy Spirit. Amen.
Rebishka
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: Be not afraid
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: Be not afraid: Deuteronomy 31:6, New King James Version (NKJV) T he Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Be str...
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: Our mouths can be cruel or loving
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: Our mouths can be cruel or loving: Acts 17:13-14, New King James Version (NKJV) The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. , "...
Thursday, October 16, 2014
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: He became sin for us who knew no sin.
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: He became sin for us who knew no sin.: 1 John 1:9, New King James Version (NKJV) The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. "If we...
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: Inherit Life Everlasting through the Bread of Life...
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: Inherit Life Everlasting through the Bread of Life...: My Comment: He who finds the Son and goes through Him only will find the Father and life everlasting through The Bread of Life: John 6:3...
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: We Surrender All Because He Gave His All.
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: We Surrender All Because He Gave His All.: John 17:1-26 , New King James Version (NKJV) The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Jesus s...
We Surrender All Because He Gave His All.
Jesus
spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also
may glorify You, 2 as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give
eternal life to as many as You have given Him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4 I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which
You have given Me to do. 5 And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the
glory which I had with You before the world was. 6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out
of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your
word. 7 Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are
from You. 8 For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and
they have received them, and have
known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent
Me. 9 “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom
You have given Me, for they are Yours. 10 And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in
them.11 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. 12 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. 13 But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that
they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 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. 15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that
You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the
world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be
sanctified by the truth. 20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will[e] believe
in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me,
and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that
You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may
be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one,
and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You
have loved Me. 24 “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me
where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You
loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known
You; and these have known that You sent Me.
John 21:19, (NKJV)
19 This He
spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken
this, He said to him, “Follow Me.”
Matthew 16:24, (NKJV)
24 Then Jesus
said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me,
let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
Matthew 11:28, (NKJV)
28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest.
Romans 6:5, (NKJV)
5 For if we have
been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
2 Corinthians 12:9, (NKJV)
9 And He said
to me, “My grace is sufficient
for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore
most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may
rest upon me.
Philippians 4:19, (NKJV)
19 And my God
shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
My Comments: In the beginning God
created. Who was God? He was and is Father, Son and Holy Spirit; Three in One
the I Am, Savior, Comforter, Creator. He has always been, is and always will be
the One True God above all other gods. Why is this important to know?
Because to understand our need for
salvation and where it comes from and why we need to understand who made it possible
and why it is needed. God created everything and our forefather Adam who He
took Eve from. He told them not to eat one fruit and they could have the rest.
They listened to Satan the serpent and sinned and sin entered the world.
Because of sin animals had to be sacrificed until Jesus, God the Son came to
earth and was born in human flesh from a Virgin. He went through the same
trials and temptations we did even though He was God because He was fully God
and fully man. Yet He came so we might have life abundantly and forever with
Him. How was that possible?
He chose to be the ultimate and perfect
sacrifice for our sin. For the sin of the whole world past, present and future
He allowed Himself to be tortured, mocked, spit upon and nailed to the Cross.
His is the perfect love that sacrificed all that we could be bought by His
blood and be Children of God if we accept the Sacrifice of Jesus for our sin
and repent and follow Him. This is complete surrender. What happens when we
surrender?
Well, of course the best thing is we
are accepted into the Family of God so we know where our home will one day be.
We become aliens here doing all in the name of Jesus we can to let others know
of this wonderful gift of Jesus so others may find salvation in Him as well.
And there is more for us here as well.
We find rest for our weary souls. We no
longer are buffeted by the winds that tend to assault us in life. Not to say we
will not experience pain, suffering, loss, hunger or other things yet even in
them we will have peace because we know the one who bought us with the price of
His own blood will take care of our needs and we give Him permission to use our
lives for the glory of God the Father. The Holy Spirit that came into us when
we accepted the free gift of Salvation teaches us through the things we go
through and strengthens us in these times.
Remember Paul went through many ordeals
after he became a follower of Jesus. He was tortured, shipwrecked many times, imprisoned,
and had a “Thorn” in his side (we do not know the infirmity yet he was told it
would remain) so how can we expect life to be better than Christ Jesus or the
Apostles? We can only know that our lives will be with Jesus one day what our
time here is over.
There is the joy and peace that
sustains us through all the temptations and trials. We know we are Children of
God and we live our life to show His glory. We want nothing that is not of Him.
We do not want to do what He would not do. True surrender is being united with
Jesus in the likeness of His death and resurrection until absolutely nothing
that is not of Him will appeal to us. We surrender our will and our love to
Him. We love as He loves because He first loved us.
Abba Father, thank You for creating us
and for sending Your Son to take the punishment for our sin. Thank You for
loving us and making it so we can be part of Your family and know the joy of
Salvation and the peace of Redemption. Thank You for keeping Jesus’
disciples/us united to You through Him and filling us with Your Holy Spirit
that we may come to know always where our steps should go and what our hands
should be doing and helping us keep our thoughts always with You and on Him.
Thank You, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for keeping us as the apple of your
eye. In Jesus precious and Holy name in union with the Holy Spirit, I pray.
Amen.
Rebishka
Friday, October 10, 2014
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: Remember what Jesus did for you
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: Remember what Jesus did for you: John 19:31-42, (NKJV) The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. 31 Therefore, because it was...
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: Love God first and love your neighbor!
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: Love God first and love your neighbor!: Ten Commandments from the Old Testament: You shall have no other god’s before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, ...
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: Logos the Word
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: Logos the Word: John 1:1-18 (NKJV) The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Eternal Word 1 In the beginn...
Friday, October 3, 2014
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: On being "Born Again" and the blood of Jesus
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: On being "Born Again" and the blood of Jesus: All verses at the top of this posting are from the NASB (if you have access to a Bible it is recommended you read the whole chapters to ge...
Thursday, October 2, 2014
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: Names of God continued #3
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: Names of God continued #3: John 3:16, New King James Version (NKJV) The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. 16 For G...
Names of God continued #3
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Romans
6:23, (NKJV)
23 For the wages
of sin is death, but the
gift of God is eternal life
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
John
11:25, (NKJV)
25 Jesus said
to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He
who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.
Jeremiah
3:12, (NKJV)
12 Go and
proclaim these words toward the north, and say:
‘Return, backsliding Israel
Jeremiah
23:6, (NKJV)
Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Comment: Hebrew YHWH Tsidkenu
(or Jehovah-Tsidkenu meaning “The Lord our Righteousness”).
Judges
6:24, (NKJV)
24 So Gideon
built an altar there to the Lord, and called it The-Lord-Is-Peace.[a] To this day
it is still in
Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
Comment: Hebrew YHWH Shalom (or Jehovah- Shalom meaning “The Lord is peace”)
Malachi
4:2, (NKJV)
2 But to
you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall
arise
With healing in His wings; and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves.
With healing in His wings; and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves.
1
John 2:1,
(NKJV)
2 My little
children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone
sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
1
Peter 2:4,
(NKJV)
4 Coming to Him as to a living
stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious,
1
Peter 2:25, (NKJV)
25 For you were like sheep going astray,
but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer[a] of your
souls.
Footnotes:
a. Comment: Greek Episkopos
My Comments: As you are learning
God has many names and they all speak to who He is to us and what He has done,
is doing and will do for us. He is the same today, yesterday and tomorrow. He
knew Satan would fall and take a third of the Angels with him and that he and
those fallen angels would seek to devour and lie so man would go astray
starting with the very first ones, Adam and Eve, God created. Yet because He is
all knowing and all seeing and can do all things He made it so we could find hope
through the truth of Jesus Christ His Son who is the Redeemer, The Righteous
One, the Living Stone, the Shepherd and Overseer, the Advocate, the Lord is
Peace, the Resurrection and the Life and in Him, Jesus Christ the Son of God
and through Him came hope.
We look all around us for
something to satisfy, protect or fulfill us and all of it comes up empty and as
dross because the only one that fulfills or satisfies us or who can protect our
souls is Jesus Christ the Son of God the great I AM. He is The Righteous One
who went to the Cross for our sin and willingly took all our sin upon Himself
and died on the Cross and fulfilled all prophecy foretold about Him in the Old
Testament. The chance of any one man doing that is astronomically impossible
yet He did because He is God made man. He came to give life abundantly yet not
as man thinks in abundance. He brought life abundantly to those who receive His
gift of new life.
When one confesses their sin
against the God of the Universe (called repentance) and asks Jesus to be their
Savior (not just the words, but with a contrite or broken heart) then they are
Born Again. How do we know someone is truly Born Again?
They get rid of everything that
holds them from the Lord. For some that is money or the love of money, some it
is vanity, drugs, alcohol, temper, anger, unforgiveness, wanting to be in
control, pride, lust, sex outside of marriage, and many other ways people go
astray from the Living God who loves them so much. We were created in His image
to be with Him always. We chose to disobey Him and separate ourselves from Him
and Christ made it so we can be with Him again. Praise be God the Father, the I
AM, the Righteous One, Sun of Righteousness, Savior and Resurrection. He is the
Lord our Righteousness and The Lord is Peace.
First with Jesus He gave us His
Righteousness and with that we then have His Peace that passes all
understanding that takes us through trials and challenges that will assail us.
Many who follow Jesus are being persecuted all over the world and it will
happen here in America
as well. Even now we see signs of it starting as it started in other places in
the world. In many countries Christian believers thought it would never happen
to them and now they are being persecuted, imprisoned and even murdered for
speaking the truth of Jesus and His Gospel. Yet we see in God’s name His
provision for all of us and we read in the Word what He wants us to do.
When the rich young man said he
kept all the commandments and Christ told him to give his riches away and
follow Him the rich young man went away sad because he valued his riches more
than the riches of Heaven and being with Christ Jesus we see a parable of our
unwillingness to leave all behind and follow God until we are broken and have
no where else to turn. I know the young man did not have any peace thereafter
unless at some point he turned to Jesus which the Bible does not say he did.
There comes a point for all of us where there is no turning back. If time goes
on longer then many will have a chance or even second and third chances yet
there will come a time when the last Gentile comes to the Lord and there are no
more chances. The Lord gives us so much information in His names from the
beginning of the Old Testament to the end of Revelations studying His names
will show us what He can, has and will do for us and how much He loves us.
Abba Father, thank You for giving
us Your word for us to know You more. There is so much in a name and I think
some countries understand it more than some yet I know You will give
understanding and knowledge if people just take the time to study Your names.
You enrich us and increase us by the knowledge of Your names and what they say
about You to us. Show us through Your Holy Spirit how Your names speak about
You, what they tell us about You and how to use that knowledge to glorify You.
Lord Jesus thank You for showing us the power of Your names and Redeeming us
from sin. Help us to take Your names and study them until we understand all You
are teaching us in Your names. In Jesus name I pray in union with the Holy
Spirit. Amen
Rebishka
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: We need to love God first and others second
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: We need to love God first and others second: Ten Commandments from the Old Testament: You shall have no other god’s before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or...
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