Jacobs Thoughts and Doings

 No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.  However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived the things God has prepared for those who love him.” 

I Corinthians 2:7 – 9

“For our glory.”  As Anna Ruth and I read this word from God via Paul this morning were amazed.  This amazing promise is for me, and you, and all who believe. I was impressed with the word “our.”  This is for us, me and you, now!  Scriptures are often pointing to the future.  This passage is for now, for us, those redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.

Paul explains that none of the rulers of this age understood it.  It takes new eyes to see this amazing truth, that Jesus died, rose again and is now with us.  Is this not amazing!   The door is open for all man and women in any culture, educated and uneducated to be blessed by this unbelievable truth, we are all saved by the grace of God!  It has nothing to do with our status at all! Jesus came to save all who would believe.  The mystery is revealed – God has prepared the way for all men and women to receive full salvation.  All.  Forever.

No mind could have come up with this salvation, it is God’s revelation to us who believe. We receive it and are changed, top to bottom!

My soul, ponder this grace, rich and pure.

 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.

John 17:9

 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

This message of hope and comfort are for those who believe in Jesus and are living in Him.

John 17: 20

This for me, for you, for all believers who follow Jesus as his thankful disciples.  This is true and will not be changed.

I am convinced that God is the Father of all who believe, all who are in Jesus. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Jesus prayer for his disciples is stronger than we might imagine, much stronger!  The great delight of my soul is knowing that I am in the loving hands of Jesus Christ.  HE Prays For Me!  This is a blessing indeed.

A quick update.

This morning I have an appointment with Dr. Roeschel, my dermatologist of several decades, ever since we left Africa, in fact.   We have become more than just Dr. /patient.  He is growing older himself!  85 or more!  That relationship helps me to stand the pain that often comes from a condition like mine, in which case I need to have growths removed from my scalp.  Today is such a day.

It is Friday, when we gather around our table to taste and eat the goodies that Anna Ruth has prepared.  Blessed day.  I think David will be with us.  We have heard nothing about his employment.  We pray that he will have work, hopefully with the group he has been in for some time now.  Lord, give us hope and patience!

Paul will not be with us today because of work.  Jane will be, of course. In fact she will take me to Ephrata for my dermatology work.  Glenn, bless him, worked almost every day this week!

Your prayers will be appreciated!

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.  Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

1 Peter 2:2, 3

Who can possibly meet this standard? It is meant for you and me! It is for those who crave spiritual milk like eager babies who thrive on that pure spiritual milk.  That milk enables those who drink it to taste the goodness of the Lord.  The milk is so precious that they want no other!

In a way, we remain babies!  Babies live on that milk.  Without it we die. There is no substitute!  Our entire race works like that.  Jesus is our milk.

I do not think that I will ever mature enough that I no longer crave this spiritual milk.  Children stop using their mother’s milk.  We never do.

So, soul, taste, again the precious milk of God.  Enjoy its freshness until we enter glory!

Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.  May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

2 Corinthians 13:11, 14

This is one of Paul’s earliest letters.  It ends with an encouraging word, “Strive for full restoration.”  This probably refers to Paul’s encouragement to the brothers and sisters in Christ in Corinth, that great Roman city, to simply lean heavily on Jesus as they build the community of faith there.

But before this word, Paul encourages the believers to rejoice.   He may have in mind their new status in Jesus Christ, believers in Jesus and all that God has done through them. He is not calling them to judge one another, but to rejoice – every believer!

Being one in Christ opens marvelous doors to peace and unity.  “Be of one mind.”  Not one culture, but one “mind.”  The believers in Corinth were a mixed lot, Jews, Gentiles, etc.  In Jesus they can find true unity.  That enables them to live together as one body of believers in that great Roman city. He reminds them that the God they worship is a God of love and peace.

All of this possible because of the grace of God that is there for all.

This closing word of Paul is for us today, especially me!  I am a blessed part of the new thing on the earth, the body of Jesus Christ.

Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation.

Isaiah 12:2

I love Isaiah.  It is as though Isaiah has made the promises of God his message to himself and to Israel, even though he lived several centuries before Jesus came among us and purchased our pardon, our salvation, by the shedding of his own blood!  Isaiah could see that clearly and wrote his wonderful words in that context.   He is almost a New Testament writer!

He lived when Israel was being threatened on every side.  Their land was being divided and robbed by foreign powers.  It was not a nice time for the sons of Abraham, that is for sure.

All that gives poignancy to his writings.  As Israel was reeling and afraid, but Isaiah had good news – the gospel.  The Lord loves his people and will never desert them.

I believe that at the center of all Isaiah’s prophecy was the result of seeing, in his eyes of faith, that God was in Christ reconciling all to himself.  His description of the coming of Christ, even noting his nativity, is a faith-builder.

What is the Lord saying to me?  That I need not be upset nor worried when I hit hard times.  God is God, my God, and will never desert me and I would never be so foolish as to desert Him!

Thank you, Lord, for opening my eyes to see your salvation.  That has been and ever will be, the center of all my hopes and dreams.

“My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

John 14;2, 3

Is there a more blessed thought than this, that we will be with Jesus where He is forever?  I think not.

Jesus speaks in imagery that his followers can understand, a house with many rooms is their eternal home. Of course, it is not a physical house like we have here, but a domicile that is prepared by the Lord of All to receive us and make a place for us that is near to Him, forever.

The Lord will return to earth in those days, not to stay but to take into glory those who are saved by the Blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ.  God longs to be with those who love Him.  That is one of the most precious thoughts we can imagine.  Do you agree?

Being received by Jesus for ever is one of the most wonderful words a human being who follows Jesus can imagine. That puts everything into perspective.  Our hardships are real but only for a moment.  They will definitely pass away.  We will be with the Lord forever in the place He has prepared.  I am amazed!

We enjoyed the flowers that Jane left us to tend while they were on holiday.  We did really enjoy them.  Now it is time for them to beautify Jane’s place.  It was a joy this flower-sitting.

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

1 Corinthians 1:27

What appears to be weak is strong in the eyes of God.  What appears to be strong is weakness in the eyes of God!  As believers, we must keep this constantly in mind as our press ignores this truth completely!

In the babel, we hear clearly, What appears to be weak is strong in the eyes of God.

I find news of the day sailing across my computer screen, strong and compelling. But, in the eyes of the Lord, not so!  That kind of news comes and goes.  This is Monday morning.  The news in heaven this morning has to do with the Body of Christ on the earth, its resilience, it’s growth, its challenge to all structure that do honor Christ as Lord of all.

Worldly wisdom is not divine wisdom!  What looks to be strong is, in the Lord’s eye, is weak.  What appears to be weak in the world is strong in the eyes of God.

I am blessed as I ponder this.  Are you?  Truly culture sets things on their head.  Jesus puts all things right.  I embrace that.  I have determined to follow the Lamb, wherever He goes!

This dainty yellow beauty is a volunteer in our garden.  I have no idea what it is.  I like the way an insect is on the very top blossom. In simple beauty there is a door to so much more!