When I read this in Jeremiah, it made me think of our wayward children and the love God has for them.  I pray they come to themselves while there is a time for repenting.

I have heard Ephraim grieving, ‘You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined, like an untrained calf; bring me back that I may be restored, for you are the Lord my God. For after I had turned away, I relented, and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh; I was ashamed, and I was confounded, because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’ Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he my darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do remember him still. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, declares the Lord.” Jeremiah 31:18-20

Bess

Pastor John.

I would like to share something that the Lord has been talking to my heart about tonight:

People believe that other people are just like them.  The person that uses foul and offensive language believes that everyone speaks that way, and they usually demonstrate that belief into the ears of others, wherever they go.  Folk that have their mind on stealing what belongs to others, assume that other folk are pondering the same about their goods. These folk usually have a hard time trusting their belongings around others.

People that do not lie do not assume that another is lying to them. And one who lies will never believe that others are telling them the truth. This is why a wise man knows that a false accusation is a confession. We generally believe that others are what we are.  And that never changes; it cannot change unless Jesus changes us.

The Lord showed me, some years ago, that if you believe people will misunderstand you when you testify, if you fear that they will label you as self-righteous, when it is the Lord’s standards and righteousness pouring out of your heart, it is only because you misunderstand yourself.  And you believe that others are seeing you the way that you see yourself.

One of the things that our little portion of the body of Christ here has experienced recently is the passing of a parent of one of our dear brothers in the Lord. It really struck me during this time, and blessed me, how this brother’s wife labored to keep us all up to date with the details of what was happening, both with him and with his father who was about to leave this world.  But now, I am able to appreciate what she did for us, even more, because of what Jesus has shown me today. That is: why our dear brother’s wife worked so hard at keeping us all informed. She did so because she knew that we all wanted to know.  She knew, without question, that we all cared, and wanted to know everything that our brother and his family were going through. She knew all of this because she cared, and because she would want to know, if it were one of us in that same situation!  Her feelings of love toward us served as her measuring stick in determining how much we cared about her and her husband, and how much we would want to know about what was happening with them during this painful and trying time in their lives.

As people always do, she anticipated that we were just like her – in love with the body of Christ and concerned with every aspect of each other’s lives, especially those parts that hurt.  And by her sharing all of that information with us the way she did, and treating us all like we unquestionably loved her and her hurting husband, she was just confessing that she is guilty of feeling that way about us 🙂

I love what Jesus has shown me today, and I want to love the body of Christ so much, that I know they love me!  🙂

Praise God…He is for us!

Speaking of which, I passed my Electrical Level 3 Inspector’s exam today!  That is the top-tier electrical certification for the state, and the end of the “electrical” testing road for me, forever (other than continuing education). Yay!

I knew you would want to know 🙂

Jerry

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I have also seen people be surprised to see how excited we were to hear about what was going on with them.  I remember thinking, “This person has no idea how much we love him and want to know how things are going with him.”   In the cases I am thinking of, it turned out that the person did not love others or have any interest in how they were doing – and thought everyone else was just like that toward him.  He could not imagine people loving him because he did not love people.

My father said it this way, “You see the world as being the color of the sunglasses you are wearing.  And as you say, that cannot change until Jesus changes it.

And congratulations on you electrical exam.  I DID want to know.

Pastor John

 

Hi Pastor John,

I don’t want to write you too much, especially since you are working on IK, but it’s not my fault.  Jesus keeps talking to me, and I cannot hold this in!

The other night as I began to cut up a green pepper, I looked at the heart of the pepper that had all the seeds inside of it.  It was like Jesus was right behind me and whispered, “Everything you need to grow I have placed inside.”  Then the next morning as I was blindly walking to get coffee, I glanced at a banana on the counter.  The peel was beginning to get dark.  Again it was as if Jesus whispered right into my ear, “When the outside is bruised and dark and many would throw it away, that is when it is perfect and ripe.”  That is what Jesus did for me.  Many had given up on me, including me, but that is when I was ripe for Jesus.

So, as I was driving for work today thinking about Jesus whispering to me, I thought of how beautiful it is that Jesus knows what stirs my heart, what it is that I find beautiful and hold dear.  What Earthly lover can so intimately touch the heart?  Only holy intimacy can go so deep within.  These are the feelings that flooded me.  I felt like I was feeling Psalms.  A pure intimacy with the Lord.

Beth

John,

A thought struck me just now as I was taking a walk outside during my lunch break. It’s a beautiful sunny day here in Greensboro, not too hot or humid. It’s one of those days when it feels so nice to sit under the sun’s rays. It almost feels like the sun’s rays have a rejuvenating power to them.

It made me recall how the new heavens and earth will be lit not by a new sun or moon but by God and Jesus emitting their own light.  I couldn’t help but think that what we feel from the sun today on earth will pale in comparison to what we’ll feel from the light of our heavenly Father.  If the sun can put a smile on my face, can you imagine what it will feel like to bask in the light of God!  Whew!  I was walking around the parking lot today speaking in tongues just thinking about it.

Michael D.

Hi Pastor John,

I was driving down the road today and the spirit started talking to me.  Last night Michelle and I cleaned your office, so I had the thought, “I wonder if Barbara might see something that needs to be done differently, maybe offer us a little constructive critique.” As soon as I had the thought, this is what the spirit said (paraphrased):

To construct is to build up. To destruct is to tear down. Man thinks destructive criticism is always bad, but what is it that the criticism is tearing down?  If it is tearing down pride and self-will, then it is constructive criticism.  Or even if it is something you think you don’t need help with, but it is keeping you from the next good place with Jesus, it is still constructive. Whether the criticism you offer is constructive or destructive, just don’t let it be obstructive. 

Then it just got really, really quiet. I still feel really quiet. 

destructive–criticism. Noun. Criticism given with the intention to harm someone, derogate and destroy someone’s creation, prestige, reputation and self-esteem.

Beth

Pastor John,

This weekend was wonderful!  I loved seeing the videos of Haskell’s dad as he was feeling the power of God, singing, and speaking in tongues, preparing to leave this world and go be with Jesus.  Then praying together last night, and reading in Revelation was so very good! And what wonderful, wonderful feelings were present as we sang together this morning!  Being in one accord and singing praises to God with all our hearts – I loved every minute of it.  I love the family God has placed us in, to live and learn and grow together as one in Him. 

What a wonderful Savior we have!  He has blessed us more than tongue can tell.

Donna

Hi Pastor John, 

Today I was driving down the road and I saw a beautiful purple tree among many trees with no leaves or color. They just looked dead and dried up. Immediately Jesus gave me thoughts of the wheat among the tares. Jesus has such beautiful vibrant trees so full of life right next to the lifeless drab trees. The purple trees are so beautiful against the other that you are just drawn to them. I spent some time talking to Jesus about how much I want to be like his purple trees, so beautiful and full of life, easily identified from the lifeless.

As I drove across Greensboro I saw these little purple trees here and there and always among the other trees. I kept thinking “It is no coincidence Jesus let those trees spring up where they did”. Just like it is no coincidence we sprung up where we did. Then I got to the dealership and saw an area that was so overgrown and dead. It looked like something just overtook it smothering the life out of it. The trees were covered, the ground was covered. There really was no sign of life. It struck me when I saw it. It was so lifeless. That is what this world would look like without the spirit. 

I love hearing from Jesus. Hearing this today makes me so thankful to have life.

Beth

Pastor John,

This morning on my drive into work I was listening to the November music cd.  Gary’s song “Feelings” came on and a sweet flood of feelings fell on me in my car.  I felt like that song is a story of my life.  The song starts off when I was a child feeling the power of God and then going into a “church” and how those feelings faded away.  Then how Jesus lead me to a group of saints who praised the Lord and those feelings rushing back in!  My spouse left and my children grew up and moved out and left me alone……but with my feelings!  Wow……what a sweet story of God!!  I LOVE the feelings that Jesus gives, they are strength, love, joy and have healing power in them!

Michelle H

Pastor John,

Jesus gave me a thought this morning, I wanted to share it.

Before God had appointed the Israelite named Saul to rule as king over God’s rebellious children, the Israelites possessed the real thing (or perhaps I should say, the real thing possessed them!)  They had the “King of kings” and the “Lord of lords” already judging for them, watching over and protecting them, and providing for all of their needs.

But their flesh was not satisfied, and they preferred an imitation, (“make us a king to judge us like all the nations,”) to the real love, authority and protection from God (their true King), who had faithfully kept them and provided for them all of those years. 

God gave them what they wanted; the Bible states it was with a heavy heart. But, nonetheless, the Lord God himself, in His continued love for His people, chose for them a man from among them to stand in the place that belonged only to Him. And while that man, Saul, now stood as the object of adoration of God’s children, God, in His unwavering love for them, silently continued providing for their needs as he always had done, and protecting them as he always did, from the unseen dangers that surrounded them.

Today, it is the same way. With God’s real authority, real love, real protection and blessings being offered freely, and in abundance, here in the Earth, through a life in the Spirit that his Son purchased for us all, many men, if not most, still prefer an imitation.

And God in His infinite goodness has even provided for that, for rebellious men. Though it be not good for man, God has given him that which he demands, to wit, “a form of Godliness, that denies the power thereof.”   Or, as God Himself put it in the book of Samuel,  “..they have rejected Me.”

And while men praise a powerless God that cannot save them, and give their obeisance to that which was fashioned by their own hands, the only true God, the King of all kings, still sends the rain and the sunshine to us all, the warmth and the cool breeze in its time, and the meat and the crops in their due season.  He is always there for those who truly seek Him, and He is always ready to forgive those who repent.  He is ever so “Real”,  and He is available, full of power and full of love that can be felt and that can change lives and heal broken hearts, for any and all that grow weary of powerless christian imitations, and come to Him.

He is our God. Praise His name forever.

Jerry