Comments - devotion RecentComments

January31 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Matthew:8:1-4 I WILL - Was the leper part of the show or part of the testimony? Jesus wanted him to be healed but, did not want him to tell anybody except as required by the Law. If part of the show, such a cleansing would garner great press and recognition. If part of the testimony a man would be healed and the Law fulfilled. Strangely, as a consequence, it seems that straight/honest fulfilling of the Law would bring greater press through controversy. The faith of our Lord does not operate on human terms of what will certain people think or what result will stir from this, it operates from the center of what is right to do. If it stirs controversy amongst this or that group, fine, it is because they are unaccustomed to seeing what is right being done. If ever you have opportunity to ask our Lord if He wilt.. be prepared for Him to say yes He wills it... oh and all of the consequence that comes along with that. The man might have better asked "do you want that I should stir up the hornet's nest by you doing simply what is right?" You see the faith of our Jesus do you not?

February14 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Matthew:11:20-24 UPBRAID - How could a God of love be so uncompromising and mad? Like no other time before the Lord pours Himself out in mighty works with the intent of convincing us His deity, His power, His worthiness, our standing within His love and mercy and judgment. It is not like He hasn't poured Himself out before, for He surely has. It is that this is the time for all times that His people have looked forward to and His people will look back on as the one time He really put it all out there face to face. This is His showing of love. This is His showing of full acceptance without any compromise; His full on love sent direct and in person. And what do the people do? They attempt to explain it away however they themselves see it. They attempt to contain it in a wrapper of improbability; try to make it something it is not; something to be disrespectful of. The faith of our Lord is that enough people will take a hold. What He is willing to offer is greater than any other thing that this life/death could hold. Some will take hold seeing Him in the smallest of His expressions. Some will require His largest efforts. Only one time will He present His case in person and if that is not enough what further then can He do? He will give it time for our decision, but, at some point it will be time to take His loved/loving ones and move along.

April12 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Matthew:26:14-16 BETRAYAL PART 1 - The betrayal of Jesus by Judas came in two stages, this stage is the arrangement, the next the actual act of leading them to His whereabouts. He has opportunity still at anytime to talk himself out of this and yet does not. In fact he goes back and congregates with the others and partakes at the Lord's table. Wouldn't you like to crawl into his head for a moment to know why he has gone as far as this first stage? Many have pondered and there are all sorts of varying theory's. In some respect it is amazing that of the primary twelve over this amount of time and under this amount of pressure and scrutiny eleven now remain intact, testament to Jesus' ability as a shepherd. I think it quite natural to have many tire out, move aside, resign to the rigors of the road. Perhaps not to the level of betrayal, but at least to a level of wanting to do something else. Given all the pitfalls and enticements and ravaging wolves along the way His achievement is substantial. Where, we must ask as well, in our own walk have we also turned aside if only in small measure betraying the Lord's faith and trust or image. In the next hours Judas will be watching on with particular interest of seeing his opportunity; surely a gut wrenching yet intoxicating en-devour. There will even be awkward moments where Jesus identifies him to the others without pointing directly at him. The faith of our Lord continues even knowing what is going on behind His back. Betrayal is but one of the many painful steps up toward the cross ahead. The road itself He sees even as from the Father. The same thorny road for Him may not end even as of today.

April13 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Matthew:26:17-30 THOU HAST SAID - The Lords supper is a monumental event for the disciples to look back on the remainder of their lives. You think back on all that they have seen and all the stories that they would have to talk about, what would be their most cherished moment of all? This would probably rate second after seeing Him resurrected/glorified. The memory would be tainted however with the undercurrent of betrayal throughout. Like when a close friend unexpectedly takes his life or is caught in a criminal affair, the shock that the others would later be left with regarding Judas and the clues that they would feel that they might have missed would be considerable. Jesus did not flush Judas out other than to Judas himself. Judas remained with the group for a good part of the evening trying to keep his cover. Some would conjure that Jesus somehow wanted him to betray Him. I rather think that Jesus was not going to stop him. The weight of the evening did not cause either man to buckle. The disciples surely, though it is undocumented, would have discussed this under current extensively in the weeks to come. The dipping could have been anyone of them at the time. The faith of our Lord is in Him being the sacrifice. The strength of our Lord is in holding true and not letting the gut wrenching emotion of this evening distract or sway Him. Satin's three previous tests were juvenile compared to these matters at hand this night. Judas's test comes after he finishes what he is about to do.

April22 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Matthew:27:32-44 HE TRUSTED IN GOD - King David seemed to have the clearest vision of what the Lord would have to suffer. Many of the articles he would pen into his songs at first reading would seem to point to David or else no one. But, when did David suffer these things he wrote of? Without what we see here happening unto Jesus we would have to conclude that David was near paranoid, highly over exaggerated, consumed with the pressures mounted against him, obsessed with the persecution of the wicked and the silence of a slumbering God. With Jesus we wonder what then is David somewhere in this audience that he can see these things sentenced onto Jesus by the Lord of His Lord? His descriptions are uncanny to the smallest of details; the parting of clothes, the offer of gall, the wagging of heads. Where is David? How did he see this? Who has believed his report? To whom had the arm of his Lord been revealed? While the sign above speaks the official accusation, the words on the ground heard spoken declare the actual accusation, that He trusted in God. This is apparently what one gets for trusting in such a far fetched notion as God, says even the Jews. What would it take for them to believe? For Him to save Himself and come down, but, wait... that would break the commandment of God and of the prophets. In other words, for them to believe in Jesus He would have to break every commandment and become like them. Why would God even want their belief if that is the case? David was deeply troubled by what he foresaw as were the other messianic prophets. Yet in every messianic psalm he come to the conclusion the seed - Jesus would hold true to the end and that the Father would avenge Him with all certainty. David took comfort and inspiration in that. The faith of our Lord is in His Lord the Father and in seeing the plan through to it's end. It is in the words He had had recorded long before hand to remind Himself and to tow us through the dark cloudy mist of perception and truth that we not loose sight of Him. How the Jews lost that sight, it is almost as if they were blinded for the sake of germinating this seed into the far reaches of the Gentile nations by their rejection. The more even that the report/arm of the Lord is being revealed.

April26 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus HAIL - I would think that Jesus imagined days like today as a young man; this day and the day after the judgement. Imagine the joy that He would have actually coming to this group of women. I love how the four gospels give an unintentional sense of confusion (not contradiction) and chaos over the events simply because there would be. Much like eyewitness testimony in a court case, we are left to piecing details together into a cohesive sequence, much is happening at one time. There is confusion, excitement, joy, fear, tears, relief, reverence, fulfillment, disbelief, new belief, all the emotions that one would expect. For the angels watching upon this, they have to be busting out in heaven don't they? This isn't the end of their work by a long shot but, this resurrection is a huge piece. Jesus seems very calm and dignified about this all, still focused on the task ahead. At the same time He has to be excited about seeing and revealing His living breathing glorified self to these loyal brethren. Like a liter of young pups they will be running up quite surprised and tails a wagging, barking gleefully thrilled to see their Master. After thousands of years of preparation for this, this has to be a big moment for Him too. And it seems only fitting that the first revelation was to these women who had been and were this dawn ministering so faithfully to Him. The faith of our Lord is very much like a Shepherd, very much like a parent, very much like a master. The work is hard but, the rewards very pleasing. The work continues but, our Lord of all people has to know how big and great this accomplishment of His is today.

May28 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Mark:7:31-37 ASTONISHED BEYOND MEASURE - It is most astonishing that the deaf and impeded/mute can be healed. I guess that you'd actually have to be there to know absolutely that it was so. This case is probably of a person who spoke and heard at one time previous as they know how to speak once released. Jesus pulls the man aside though so that not many actually saw what He was going to do. Those that did see were told not to say anything about it. To me the proof these many years after is the fact that it could not be contained. Surely there are enough people that saw the before and after who even though they did not see it happening first hand had no other explanation left for it and thus were astonish and vocal about it. After all, how do you keep something like this silent, one minute he is verifiable deaf/mute judging by the reaction and the next healed and the only thing that happened in between is that Jesus pulled Him aside? So that without any words spoken anybody that knew the sequence of event was going to add it all up. Beyond measure is the other indicator to examine as there is very little that can compare to this; the blind seeing, a withered hand immediately made whole, raising of the dead. He must have charged them more than once because the more He did it the more they published it. So is this reverse psychology on His part? Or, is this something about human nature and His judgments that He is revealing to the discerning pupil? The faith of our Lord is aware of the ears and the eyes in the future that will believe or not believe based upon these written testimonies. Words are spread, interpretations corrupt, fables develop. It is important to the Gospel that Jesus makes mention of this even though the people there are going to do whatever they want with this. It is stated for the record, if not for their sake then for our sake. Anyone else speaking to another about this off record would be disobeying the Lord Almighty.

June12 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Mark:10:46-52 MADE THEE WHOLE/SAVED - kjv@Matthew:20:29-34; kjv@Luke:18:35-43 also give the same account. Mark here says "whole", Luke says "saved", Matthew omits the response noting Jesus' compassion but, he says that there are two beggars. Is there contradiction? Only if you want there to be. Why would you want there to be? So that you don't have to believe it. Is it that you believe that sight can't be restored as in a communicable eye disease? Is it that two men can't be present and one remembered in particular by Peter because of his name and perhaps as reference to those who might know him further? Is that being made whole cannot mean being saved? Is it that you think the Holy Spirit would make such an obvious mistake? There are plenty of other seeming contradictions if you want there to be. I would rather see it that the fame of Jesus was known well enough to the many beggars along the road near Jericho that some called to Him causing a disruption to the caravan of pilgrims to passover Jerusalem. The more they called out the more people tried to quiet them until finally Jesus was close enough to call at least two to where He was. They gladdly came and made petition of Him. He had compassion on them and seeing their faith was assured Himself that they were made whole/saved through the encounter. As others later read the account those who knew Peter would recognize the one name and be able to certify that he indeed could see and did remain in the faith perhaps having done or become something significant/memorable. The faith of our Lord is in the testimony that both had preceded Him and would follow Him. Where things needed to be further explained He made sure to mention, even repeat. Where things did not need but the benefit of a doubt He left it alone as a testing point. There are certainly challenging areas in our faith as there needs to be to prove our sincerity and give us room to grow, but, not one is contradiction unless one wants it to be. I would ask are you certain that you want this particular challenge to be the point your two paths split?

August20 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:9:46-50 FORBID HIM NOT - The name of Jesus alone is enough to cast out devils in the hands of one whom has the firm faith. Where this man heard of Jesus we do not know. He may have even been healed somewhere down the road; it is just not said. The disciples are not only seeing things as "who is great and greater", they are seeing things as "us and everyone along with us". It may have been a good point to interject some "why does he not follow us yet does all this". Surely it is important for Jesus to establish these twelve men as His primary disciples, especially in view of the written testimonies some will write that will be canonized. He must establish order and unity. At the same time it must be encouraging to Him that some are beginning to figure at least part of His kingdom message and authority. The disciples had been given authority and did well except for the once. This man is concluding that the name of Jesus is enough authority combined with faith to do the job as well. Think of how much authority the disciples would have if they just latched on to both facts. The faith of our Lord is in these twelve (eleven) men to establish them in the true faith. At times it may involve the illustrations of others' faith to draw them out and challenge them.

August28 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:11:33-36 THAT THEY WHICH COME IN MAY - See the light. The whole purpose of the man lighting the candle is for they that come in seeing it. It does not say for them to see their way around the room or so they don't stub their toe. Here are some facts about the light Jesus speaks of: Jesus is the light kjv@John:8:12, the light of the world kjv@John:9:5. Believe in the light that ye may be children of the light kjv@John:12:36, he that follow Me shall have the light of this world kjv@John:8:12. He that doeth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest kjv@John:3:21, he stumbles not because he seeth the light of this world kjv@John:11:9. Take heed therefore that the light that is in you is not darkness kjv@Luke:11:35. There are many so called lights and enlightenment's. Not one of them do truth seekers come to to have their deeds made manifest nor where their belief is based upon what one person has done for them not what they have done for Him or themselves. Our eye must be single individually, collectively, for the purpose of those that come in to see His light. Focused on the insufficiency of our works and the supreme sufficiency of His. He is the light. The candle is not lit that those that come in can see "oh look they are doing supremely sufficient works now" rather "my works fail as well" and "this Lord may have done supremely sufficient for me as well". The eye will then feed this light to the body, the whole shall be full of light. Evil and darkness are tied to our works, light and fullness to His. Can you imagine the faith of our Lord that there will be all sorts of His children about His side filled with His light? From what was darkness of their own insufficiency into light of His total sufficiency? Works having been made manifest and surrendered to His great work? The joy He must anticipate on their faces as He brings them into the presence of His glorious Father? Sets before these His children their eternal inheritance? So now, when the others come in (and they will), what will they see from you? Your works or His? Your light or His? One last: quote kjv@Matthew:5:16. Do they glorify the Father because of our good works? Or that our eye and body being so filled with His light has produced now a spiritual fruit? His doing within us?

September4 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:12:54-59 THE FACE OF THE SKY - To put this in context we have the time of division flushing out the wickedness of men being used as a sure sign of the spiritual climate and times of fulfillment, a stern testing by our great adversary the accuser of the brethren, a debt owed to the last farthing if not covered by the blood of Jesus. The test of faith is not only seeing the times at hand and knowing what must be done, but being found doing what must be done when our Lord finally comes. It may be asked why in the end when the Lord knocked many did not open the door unto Him. Shall the answer be that they knew well the times, knew well the thing needing to be done, but delayed in the doing and now must face or hide from the terrible truth? kjv@Deuteronomy:32:29 "O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!". kjv@Acts:2:40 "...save yourselves from this untoward generation". kjv@Acts:13:26-38 "... be it known unto you therefore men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins". kjv@Luke:12:57 "... why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right?". The faith of our Lord sees of His Father all righteousness being fulfilled and therein the cause and direction of the turbulent weather all about us. All things work hand in hand to achieve His eternal purpose. His faith sees the Father's hand leading Him to His cross and the same hand leading His followers through the trying maze of hostile divisions and adversarial tribulations by the light of that same cross. Yet this storm to shall pass, the Sun of righteousness shall rise, the clouds of doubt shall be mightily put to rest for those that continue in His path.

September6 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:13:10-17 WHOM SATAN HATH BOUND - Jesus has said that He can only do what He sees the Father do. He sees the Father loosening here. #G630 The word means to send away, divorce, pardon. The woman goes one direction and the infirmity goes the other. The more classical view is that God would be causing infirmity either because she is a sinner or because there is a break down in His genetic codes. If we go back one passage to Jesus' talk regarding catastrophe and mayhem, the context may be that this is what it looks like having a fruitless tree. You will recall in the wilderness for forty years people did not get sick, their clothes did not fray, their shoes even did not wear. When they were in God's complete care infirmity did not appear. As they have removed themselves from God's complete care infirmity abounds more and more. You will recall all the many quotes through the prophets that God has always been willing to heal Israel if they would just keep things straight. Like with the collapse of the towers innocent people may be caught under societies rubble. In fallen societies (from God's view) normal sexual inhibitions lessen, diets change, fears of pain and infirmities and deformities and bad deaths rise and thus odd prescriptions and remedies worsen the situation, medicines and surgeries are mis-prescibed, the entire course of affairs have dire affects upon what was otherwise made to work by God's command. It is an environment dominated by abject fear. Worse yet the door is left wide open for Satan to operate at his will. If God's will is not being followed, whose other will is strong enough? Does this mean that this woman was a devil worshiper? Probably not. Does this mean that she was a sinner? Well we all are. Why are we not all folded over? When so much of God's creation works so well as designed, when it does not these relatively few times (and there is no apparent reason why it shouldn't have) it should be a sign that we have as a society left the door open to another's will. It is not as easy as any one person reaching up and closing that door, it is opened by the whole, it effects the whole, it is closed by the Lord when He sees fit (re-establishes a final closure) for the whole. We also have Israel receiving a double measure sworn from the Lord. God's blessings to us are magnified in them for our observation; so too His curses. Israel was given something Holy to possess: His Commandments, His Covenant, His Name, His Temple, His Seed. Moses warned them of how such blessings would turn to curse should they not fulfill their obligations to that covenant. We today possess a similar (extended) form of that covenant in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Should we not expect the same double measure or more should we as a group neglect so great a salvation as well? Jesus appears to be walking in an extraordinary time of infirmity and demonic possession. The fruitless tree as a whole is rotted from the core outward. Yet for now, His work was being done on a smaller individual level because that is what He saw the Father as doing. It is not the time yet to remove all sickness because it is not a time yet where we have all come back to HIM. The holiness of His that we hold is yet held by defiled and idle hands. That this miraculous and instantaneous healing was done on Sabbath better states the idleness that prevails week long because of defiled (dead) religious traditions. The faith of our Lord is simply beyond our capacity to understand; our perception of it is too short sighted if not blind. Signs and indications that we should be seeing as messages and proofs are seen rather as God abandoning us. The big picture healing for mankind is not as instantaneous; it has taken several thousand years already to develop. And each one of us (believer and non-believer) are swallowed up in that plan till it comes to full fruition. That it hasn't already is a sign of the size and scope of the problem.

September8 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:13:22-30 THRUST OUT - If the question presented is how few will be saved, the answer given is to just make sure that you are one of those who do enter. No number is given, we are told that many will not be able to enter. Why not? One common belief today is that all people will make it through. This presupposes that God wants the next life to be just the same as this life, we are free to be and do and believe whatever we want and will therefore spend eternity suffering these same consequences. Another common belief is that only good people will make it through and that this can be any good person of any good faith. This presupposes that Jesus' death and resurrection was not necessary and that Jesus is a liar about nearly everything He taught and said, but oddly His lies may have produced the will in some to do good. A view held by the people in this parable is that because they ate with Him and He taught in their cities that this brief familiarity should suffice for entry. It would be like us today saying because we greeted each other in an elevator you should consider me as friend that you know or that because my Grandmother believed I should be proxied. The thing that strikes me is that suddenly these people realize that they have to get in through the gate to the master. Suddenly they storm the gate demanding concessions from the master. Suddenly there is weeping and gnashing of teeth for seeing who does enter. In the case of these Jews those entering are those that they themselves presumed to be in league with but were not. What a terrible crashing down of all that you've believed in. They are called workers of iniquity. Is there any good that can be worked without God Himself working it? Is there any good that be worked if the work of Jesus Christ is denied or lessened, commingled or distorted? Is there any good that can be worked that in the end still must call/demand upon the concessions of God? Mercy is not a concession to allow one to remain the way that they are. Mercy is a person that is a "stand in" substitution receiving the penalty better deserved to us. The faith of our Lord is in being this stand in substitution for us without which we will in no wise enter into His Kingdom. There is no other good work than that. Separate yourself from that and you have essentially thrust your own self out the gateway of His Kingdom.

September12 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:14:25-35 HE THAT HATH EARS - How does the salt losing it's savor fit in with the bearing of one's cross? Counting the cost before hand makes perfect sense. Putting Him before all else makes perfect sense. I would think that most of us would say that we are doing that. The question though is are we really? There is a great multitude of people going along with Jesus. You would think that it would be encouraging to see these numbers right now walking the final distance with Christ, but the numbers do not reflect the sincerity, the true understanding and commitment to the true cause, the lasting type of solidarity and sacrificial devotion of each heart there. Only the seventy, perhaps only the twelve disciples, have paid the first installment of the initial investment. Translate that into today and the hard numbers are probably much the same unbalanced ratio good salt to un-savored salt. The problem with the un-savored salt is that it didn't before hand count the cost, it went about being both salt and everything else at the same time. The problem with that is now that they think that they are good salt how do you tell them any different? They have the best of both worlds and no need to be any thing different. Spiritually though it doesn't have anything to do with what they now have, it has to do with what all they have forsaken. I can imagine the sight of this multitude crossing the horizon as one large caravan in the heat of the day. I can imagine one of the twelve disciples looking over the ridge and seeing even more, thinking that this is all looking good; more like what he had imagined to see all along. I can imagine Jesus knowing that disciple's encouragement, pulling him aside and filling Him in on the harsher truth of the matter. The faith of our Lord knows that there is a long way for the heart of man to go before there is a caravan this big of real disciples. Numbers may be impressive to those watching on, but it is the condition of the heart of each one in that number that matters most to this Savior. His faith is invested forward toward that day. What a different number that disciple/Apostle will see stretching over the horizon in the triumphant Christ's glory!

September28 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:19:1-10 IS SALVATION COME - The Son of Man is come to seek and to save them that are lost. Here is a man that was lost but is now found. He is putting Jesus' word into daily action. If it was just the works Jesus would have been more corrective. There must be something that Jesus is seeing that is encouraging about this man's faith; he is a son of Abraham in the truer sense. As for the others they are operating from the standpoint that they are already Sons of Abraham and that this tax collector and tax collectors as a whole are sinners. I suspect that Zacchaeus has heard of Jesus and is familiar with His teaching; he is now seeking to see who He is. There are people who shy away from situations where the temptations may be too great. They neither sin as such nor do anything good. Many times good is being in a position to do bad and unexpectedly do good. Good is then taking advantaged of the opportunity to do good when evil is expected. The religious heart seeks out the safe ground where the opportunity to sin is minimal but so too is the opportunity to do good. Zaccheaus remains a tax collector, chief of them in fact. Plus, remains rich; he is a camel that God has brought through the eye of the needle. He does not shy from either the opportunity or the public perception. He is intrigued with the teachings of Jesus and seeks to see Him this day as Jesus passes through on His way to the cross. The faith of our Lord is seeking these types of people for His salvation. They are animated, they are engaging, they take chances, they seek every opportunity. They take His word as directives and apply them to whatever position they were found by Christ in.

October18 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:23:50-56 BEGGED THE BODY - There is some guess work here to be done as to the faith of Jesus in the execution of this burial matter. One, all the arrangements could have been left in the hands of the Holy Spirit. Joseph and Nicodemus did as they were led of the Holy Spirit. Two, we had mentioned previously with securing the donkey on Palm Sunday and or the upper room at passover that Jesus easily could have made arrangements himself for these matters apart from the disciples. Knowing these two men He could have asked them to do this. Three, the men could have done this of their own volition seeing that other arrangements (or the lack of) were unsatisfactory. In this case the Holy Spirit would have supported their ambition. Four, it may have been the combination of any or all of these things that the Holy Spirit used to perform the necessary task. To one extent it wouldn't have mattered who or where that they buried him, thirty feet of cement, and He still would have come out. It could have been the vaults at Fort Knox with an entire division of Marines guarding it, it was still going to happen. What would be important is for more than just a few followers to have witnessed it in order to testify of it and I am sure that the Spirit would have made sure of that. It may even be better for the critics to know that there wasn't any set up to this alleged magic trick, that it happened quite organically. In this regard we may not fully know the faith of our Lord as to the means, I do not know of any prophecy prescribing how this played out, we can however know His faith in the outcome and results.

November3 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:4:39-42 BECAUSE OF HIS OWN WORD - It could well be that the towns folk knew of the woman's past and to hear her testimony that a stranger was able to tell her of all the things that they already knew was quite curious. It could be that they had attempted to rebuke her at times themselves, but until she heard it from this stranger it had no effect on her. Clearly now there has been an effect and they too are being drawn into the possibilities that this man is the Christ. Our exposed and honest testimony of ourselves in light of His gift of transformation can be this type of draw to others also, especially to those who have known our secrets all along. It may not be the final thing that wins them over, but it may be the very thing that interests them into a more serious examination of the words that the person of Jesus is speaking. Any serious examination of the man Himself is going sway the sincerest of inquirers, of which there are a great many. There is a difference in how we rebuke one another (or not) (even as well intending Chrsitians) and how Jesus presents His great and precious gift by grace to all the world even in the light of what could otherwise personally and socially condemn-able. These people, like all people have faults and iniquities of their own. It may be easier to see these trespasses and indiscretions in others without seeing them in ourselves. The glorious message of Jesus is that (taking all this sorted earthly business into account) He has been/will be/is now indeed "the Christ" (one most anointed of God) and "the Savior" (ultimate deliverer) of all the world (not just the Jews). The faith of our Lord is in the real and honest sincere seekers of this world giving Him a good and thorough look over, inviting Him to stay for a time to hear Him out completely, to not just take the words of those that are drawn to Him, but to take the "Word" direct from Him as a whole and to then decide upon that. If we by our personal testimony which much gratitude can help inspire others to search Him out the deeper... then why not let the sincerity gush/flow!

November4 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:4:43-54 EXCEPT YOU SEE SIGNS - I do not believe that Jesus was attempting to rebuke the nobleman by what He said, but was preparing Him. It is not as if the man had come to Jesus, sought a sign in order to have the confidence afterward to ask Jesus for a miracle then on his son's behalf. The man had heard of the wedding miracle in Cana and the buzz from the pilgrims returning from the Feast in Jerusalem and had enough belief so as to wait for Him during His brief delay in Samaria. The statement is to focus the man upon the Messianic claims and not on all the observable things done up to this. The strength of faith is not in what has been done prior, but in what is about to occur and why. As to why, many would consider that they like the man because they believe strong enough to receive the healing that the healing takes place; like a partnership with the healer, our faith/His power. Here you will notice that Jesus told the man of the healing before the mention of the man believing. What if the man had delayed in his believing until further down the road? Would the healing have occurred two hours later? I fear that people who believe that their faith in healing must be there in order to receive the healing are the same type of people who seek signs and evidences to buttress up their faith prior. They are close kin to the people have to have a healing or observe directly a miracle themselves before they would ever consider that the performer to be in the class of a Messiah. John has verbally taken us to three distinct spiritual climates so far, the hyper religious in Jerusalem, the distant and half bread in Samaria, and now returns to a commoner's middle ground in Galilee. He has had tremendous success in all three and now previous successes are beginning to compound or multiply on top of each other. Knowing these distinct base climates now, we should begin seeing strange evolution's and twist's of these bases as people begin to talk themselves out of what appears to be the long awaited messianic fulfillment and the efforts of the elite to regain their control. The faith of our Lord is that He can compel us toward the core belief in His Lordship. It is not all about His showmanship and what we might be able to have Him do for us personally, it is about His being and presence and authority over all creation.

November9 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:6:16-24 BE NOT AFRAID - Between the point where Jesus left the people and where the people catch up to Him, there are three interconnected miracles (four if you count allowing Peter to walk on water); the walking on water, the submission of the wind, the immediate landing negating 3-4 miles of water. I would imagine each one of these fearful in their own right. You could imagine someone among your group standing up and commanding the wind to stop; and it does. You could imagine hitting shallow beach in the dark when you knew that you still expected more than 40 minutes of clear weather paddling left to do. Why these miracles were expended in conjunction on the same eve as the five loaves miracle is not hinted at; unless miracles just tend to string together or unless it was a continuation of the previous examination. Symbolically, if the loaves show God's heavenly provision when there is no earthly way to do it, then perhaps these show that when there is a earthly way (keep paddling or sink) but the tempest is prevailing it is God's heavenly provision that will both calm the storm and get you to the other side. What would keep us then from calling for that heavenly provision and receiving it? Either pride or fear; likely both. These lessons are only for the disciples and the true followers, the "Jesus for President" crowd don't need to be more emboldened. There is a point where one's (or the team's) confidence and ability will only get so far; likely to the point of drowning. That is when one must face their fears. Not with more self determination and effort but with Jesus as Lord. We, like they that night, seem more afraid of Jesus walking alongside us than we do our own boat capsizing. This comes from only seeing through our natural eyes. A man is simply not supposed to walk upon water storm or not. At the same time why wouldn't the Lord of Heaven and Earth be near to His disciples in their time of greatest need, even if it meant Him doing what can not naturally be done? There are going to be many tempests ahead of these men of various sorts. Their lives will constantly be on the edge of danger. That edge of danger however is often the crossing point between the natural and the supernatural (or the natural beyond how we define it). They will need to know this lesson. They will need to be fast learners and I believe that they are. Are we though? That's the question nowadays. Maybe right now our tempest is a much smaller situation, but our ability is being proven to be short of the need. Is our pride and fear going to keep Jesus outside of that boat or is He going to be allowed to do His thing? The faith of our Lord is that His truer nature is sufficient for calming the fear within us that we have against Him and the "extended natural". It is not that He has to create these situations to make us to realize this, there are plenty of these situations that we row into or create ourselves out there anyway. If you are going to try to go somewhere, be someone, land in the spot to which He pointed you, you are going to have to cross the edge into the supernatural at times. You will have to know this lesson... BE NOT AFRAID FOR IT IS I.

November12 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:7:1-13 AFTER THESE THINGS - Fast forward about six months after the fall out. We are reacquainted with Jesus' own family. They do not believe either. There are two reactions likely when one does not believe the claims of Jesus, hate enough to tempt Him into that which He is not or will not do, hate enough to seek to pull Him down or hold Him aside or eliminate Him altogether. There is a reason for this hate in the world, because He testifies of the evil in it. It is against the Law for the Jews to hate each other the way that they hate Jesus. Jesus has deliberately kept Himself from Judea to keep this hate from festering too soon (or in the wrong way). It clearly illustrates what Jesus is up against even at this point of His ministry. This is not a delay in the ministry it is the work of His ministry taking effect. The leaders certainly expect Jesus to return either to His family or to Jerusalem direct. What a prize it would be for them to both have Jesus caught on their own terms and to have His dissenting brethren bring Him in. Willingly or not, consciously or not, the brethren's words ring with the provocative entrapping tone that the leadership would have planted all around them. They have become the Pharisee's messenger. It is important to the grand scheme for us later that Jesus' half brothers eventually did believe and played active roles in the early church. Far to often the popularity of an icon for good is countered and tarnished by a brother or son or nephew for the bad; and the opposition knows just how to play it. Jesus does secretly go; on His terms not theirs. I feel to be there for His family and for His champions near enough by. The pressure on them is immense. In a sense it is risky having left His group behind. In another sense it simply is not yet His time, it is all to happen on the Father's time clock. We benefit from this visit as well by seeing a glimpse of the not so disguised hatreds that Jesus is up against even to this day. The faith of our Lord is keenly aware of what He is up against and remains mindfully present to keep matters on His terms and not anyone else's. His faith is working forward publicly when it needs to be, reserved and patiently at others, even secretly and undercover when it serves the greater purpose. His ministry is not only about the words and the miracles, it is also about timing and using the processes of the heart to the fullest.

November22 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:9:35-41 FOR JUDGMENT I AM COME - Think back to kjv@Matthew:11:25 and Jesus saying that God has hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes. If something is hidden then there is no seeing it. What one does see is something other than what God has hidden. So why would God hide it to begin with? The answer is in to whom He does not hide it, where it is revealed. The earthly wise and prudent seek their own answers and therefore are never in position for revelation. The babe is in a constant receiving state filled with curiosity and immersed absorption. Imagine the man now blind from birth and the many visually deprived conclusions and perceptions made over these many years. Imagine what it is like for him now being able to see. Imagine his wonder and awe and the newness of all the things he thought till now that he knew. On the other hand let's imagine him trying to explain what he visually sees to his blind friends of the color red or of sky or of mother. What the Pharisees are missing is that what should be evident to them instead is hidden because they believe not in God's Holy Son Jesus Christ, they have their own answers, blind as those answers are to the reality of all spiritual matters surrounding them. God does not have to make them to be blind because they are blind by their own self limiting definition. Worse yet, blindness itself does not have to mean sin, it could simply mean not having been presented occasion with Jesus as of yet, but sin can be added to one's blindness once having occasion with Jesus to reject and despise Jesus outright. Judgment in this respect is automatic and immediate. The judgment is like stepping out of the flying plane without a parachute after being told the absolute consequences; if you are wise and prudent enough not to need Jesus then you are wise and prudent enough not to see impact with the ground. The faith of our Lord is that if we become willing to see Him in His true light as if we were mere babes that He will be able to show us the things that are otherwise hidden, as if our eyes are opened for the very first time. Note that Jesus is asking this man of this in a spiritual sense after He has opened his eyes in a physical sense and he has seen for himself the darker side of those who he thought were his spiritual guides.

December7 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:14:5-14 HE THAT BELIEVE ON ME - This passage ties together two concepts of great similarity and importance, what we believe in Jesus and what we know Jesus to be. As you see the disciples are still yet struggling with the knowing Jesus in the Father and the Father in Jesus, more so than say Martha, Mary or the bind man. All of this time with Him yet the way, the truth and the life are still unknown to them; the ones His future ministry truly relies. Then comes the believing Jesus even to the point where they will be able to do works similar to Jesus. It seems odd that today we take this to mean just miracles, the disciples had already performed miracles and been quite successful at it without fully believing. Works do not have to equal miracles, in fact works could tie back to the previous passage of loving one another in ways that totally glorify the Father. Greater works than these could tie into the numbers of "loving one anothers" and their depth considering that the human heart was unable to do this ahead of Jesus' work upon it. Let me ask you this, is the greater proof of Father in Son and Son in Father that we can make the sun return six hours back to it's noon position or that millions of hearts that were once at complete and inescapable enmity with God irreversibly set in the clutches of sin and death have been made to believe on the name of Jesus to salvation and gratefully spread His word to the four corners of earth to the glory of God? If we first set our eyes and feet upon doing this the greatest of works then we would know in those times when for the sake of those others nothing remaining will do but the miraculous that certainly Jesus would do anything asked in His name to glorify the Father, that it would be done. We tend to read through this passage in a frame of mind similar to the disbelieving disciples. Where is HE? Show us to HIM? Prove it? Jesus is instead saying I've shown you all along, it is all here and now, it is taking place, you've seen Me so you've seen HIM, know and believe it, go therefore, do what I have commanded you. The faith of our Lord is quite literally for the full fledged believing and the knowing of man. How far the heart must go from where it was to where He needs it to be to start. Some it may take three years down the same road seeing the same things, being gifted the same spiritual gifts, before they come to the place of starting to pull these things together into one whole. Others it takes thirty years. For some four painful days. Either way that is the journey the heart must take from here to there to the start. Believing and knowing and then works (obedience's) greater than these, that is His faith in us.

December12 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:16:17-33 DO YE NOW BELIEVE? - The disciples are caught at two things, they have questions they are not asking and they say that they now understand when they really don't. Could these traits be universal among believers? Just how much do we really understand of what Jesus just said two thousand years after the fact? What about the second reprise of going to the Father is different/plainer than the first? Jesus declares that hereto we have asked of Him nothing and He will be gone away (days of sorrow?) and in the same breath exhorts them in another day (day of joy when I see you again, shew you plainly of the Father?) to ask anything of the Father in His name. This comes moments after discussing the importance of having the Holy Spirit indwelling and the Spirit's role in bringing the new life in Jesus into our daily life. What day today is this? For these men it is hours ahead of being scattered and left to their own. For us it is a time of their tribulation when we believe in His ascension and the indwelling of His Spirit, but the world is set against us/Him. It is a time that the Spirit uses for gestation. A day ahead of seeing Him again. Then there is a day when we see Him again, a day when the promise and gestation is completed. There are many questions that in that joyous day we will want to ask and will finally be able to. How was this? Why did that? Is this going to be? And the Father who is plainly shown will answer. These things He has presented to us ahead of time that in the midst of these things we might have cheer knowing that He has overcome the world. So what are we assuming to hear from this passage that is not there or we barely yet understand? The faith of our Lord is in our voluntary submission (even blind) to the times and processes He has laid before us, depending solely upon the Holy Spirit for guidance and teaching/revelation and comfort. It is a new life similar for us to the wind where we do not always know where we have come out of or to where it is leading us, but we know that no matter where it blows us it is by God's breath. This even if scattering for a moment or travailing for days and months. DO YE NOW BELIEVE?