Category: Bible, Gospel, Life

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have looked upon, and our hands have touched, concerning the Word of life — the life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and announce to you that which we have seen and heard, that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. We are writing these things to you so that our joy may be complete.” (1 John 1:1-4 MEV)

The previous two posts have been about this passage, but there is one more thing that I want the Lord to unfold for us here.

The Apostle ends this paragraph by saying that he was writing these things to them so that his joy could be complete. I know it says “our” and some of our translations say “your,” however, in my Greek text, the word is in the first person and could be translated “that the joy of I may be complete.” I know that is not good English and not good Greek either, but it gets the singular first person across to us. He is saying that in order for him to be absolutely filled up with joy, we must be in fellowship with that joy and the emphasis is that we too will experience that same completeness of joy in the fellowship.

This is no small little-light-of-mine thing!  It is a totalness of being – lost in joy – a filling with joy that has no lack, no want and nothing missing at all. As we fellowship in Jesus in our prayer time, this is the overriding emotion that the Apostle wants us to experience in Him.

Joy is not a “happy feeling,” but a knowing of well-being and power that surpasses “happy” on every level. Remember Isaiah 12:2-3, (MEV – link above):

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have looked upon, and our hands have touched, concerning the Word of life — the life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and announce to you that which we have seen and heard, that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. We are writing these things to you so that our joy may be complete.” (1 John 1:1-4 MEV)

There is much, much to ponder in this passage. The first thing that should be obvious to us, is the fact that everything about the Apostle John was wrapped up in the message he had to share. He did not share something he just had thought about, or pondered for a while. He did not share something he did not thoroughly experience. Notice what all he included in that experience; his hearing, his seeing, his touch. He thoroughly experienced the Lord Jesus.

So often our learning is hear-say, or something we heard someone teach or preach, or our background, or some book we have read. The Apostle John had no such references. He was sharing what he had experienced as he walked and lived with Jesus for over three years of life – including the Lord’s death, burial, resurrection, ascension and the out-pouring the the Holy Spirit. He experienced it all and now that is what he is sharing.

The purpose of his sharing it with these folk (and now all of us) is so that through fellowship together in these matters, we might experience what he will experience — the completeness of joy.

I will write on fellowship and this complete joy in other posts to come. But it is sufficient for us to embrace John’s way of sharing. The expectation is that we would also hear, see and touch in such a way that the revelation of Jesus would be ever present and ever experiential in our daily living. Then what we share as we live in and among others would be the precious fullness of the person of Jesus.

John did not experience something that is not available to us now! We will discover more of that as we work on another day with “fellowship” – what it means and where it takes us, and then the matter of “complete Joy,” – again what it means and where it takes us in Him. It is enough to now understand that He is personally present to hear, see and touch. He has not gone away and left us to a book. He poured out the Beloved Holy Spirit to guide us into all such truth – so much so that we hear, see and touch Him and eternity as we dwell in Him.

Lord, open our hearts and spiritual eyes, so we can see what is very plain in the Spirit realm. Thank you for enabling and empowering us to be people of person, power and presence.

No, this is not a post about smoking! Instead, I want to share with you my Lord’s insight in me as I was cleaning off the payment in front of my office this morning. You see, each Monday morning, after a full week-end, the pavement in front of our building is full of some leaves, dirt etc… that just blows across the lot, and then a lot of these: cigarette butts. It is not unusual to have a good number of them on the pavement. So I get my broom and begin to clean the place up for the week. When I first started doing this, I had a “grumble” attitude. You know what I mean. Then the Lord began to work with me – these are specific prayer reminders. I am to bless all who stop here for a smoke, and bless them with all the love and blessing Jesus can give them. I pray specifically if the Lord shares specifics with me. Otherwise, just a general blessing for hope and healing.

I have been doing this for a while, in our good weather, but this morning there was an added thankfulness, as someone had shared a heart-ache with me, yet sent me a text this morning about their choice to bless and be a blessing. What joy it brought to my heart! What a deeply spiritually profound understanding and it releases in us the joy of His heart through-out our day. The reminder gave me even a fuller joy in my prayer with the Lord in our building. Yes, I pray and release our Lord’s presence in a seemingly empty building. But this is what I am called to do – first. To have a precious fellowship in Him. He does the work, I just get to enjoy the blessings! How marvelous is that!

Lord, you allow many things in our lives that normally would be causes for discouragement and  the “grumble attitude.” Yet, you turn just those things into “joy-tasks” as we learn to just be You in the situation. Thank you! Bless all who read this, and Lord encourage their day, wherever you have them in your Kingdom!

It is 75 degrees! Wonderful! I am enjoying it deeply. Yesterday I was able to have a pleasant walk around my neighborhood and plan to do so again today. Meanwhile, I am out and about getting ready to attend the Elim Oasis Conference Tuesday – Thursday Evening in Lima, NY. So am out and about getting some things ready for that time.

I do plan to blog some of the conference, so those of you who follow, will at least get a taste of the richness of this time. So stay tuned and we will see and hear all the Lord will do during this time dedicated to learning His heart deeper and deeper with those of like mind. I am so blessed!

I did change the header to this blog as you can see. These are my miniature iris’ that are just about finished at this point in time. They have multiplied and I look forward to taking time to replant them and space them out a bit. I took this photo last spring, but they look the same this spring. So very beautiful and about 3-4 inches high. So tiny.

Enjoy and I will be back here between Conference sessions if possible. I will be blogging on my iPad, so have some nitty-gritty’s to get straight there. Should work well.

Blessings!

I changed the header above a few minutes ago, just because I am soooooooooo ready for any signs of spring. We have continued to have cold temps here in Syracuse, NY. ( Right now my iPhone says its 17 degrees outside). It has snowed the last two mornings. I do love snow, but am really, really, really, really, really, really etc… ready for some green and for the snow to go. I am not complaining, mind you, just longing. Our bodies, long for sun warmth.

The sun has been shining today, which has encouraged everyone. Syracuse is the 2nd cloudiest city in the USA – Seattle holding the #1 title. They can keep it. No competition to reverse that at all. We have had more snow than Boston during the month of February (our crews are just really, really good at removing it and taking care of our roads). So you can see why we long for spring. Our snow mountains have invaded much of our parking space everywhere and many will be into July before they all melt. Such is life in the North East.

I do love it here, so again no complaints – just need some green and some warm. Now that I have that off my chest, thank you for reading and for following this blog. I have a number of posts forming, but it will be a few days before I am able to take the time to post them. Stay with me – we will do this thing.

Bless you.

“Incline thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thy heart to my knowlledge. For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall be altogether fitted on thy lips. That thy confidence may be in Jehovah, I have made them known to thee this day, even to thee.” Proverbs 22:17-19 (Darby)

We have been working with this passage for several weeks and I am continuing to be caught by its truth. It is in a bit of a different form as well as version today. As to form I am using my iPad with an unfamiliar keyboard. Hence all the tools that are normally available to me are not yet discovered. I am certain they are here, but I must spend some time to discover them in this program. As to the version, it is by J.N. Darby who completed his work in 1890. I enjoy reading it as it has many Hebrew and Greek helps in his notes. So I have chosen to use it as I write our letter. It is Friday morning and very, very cold outside. I am sitting in my easy chair in the bedroom with an extra heater going so my feet can stay comfortably warm. Such are the joys of living in Central NY this winter.
Our understanding of the above passage continues to unfold. The reason the writer wants us to incline our ear and hear the words of wisdom, then to apply to our heart knowledge is because when we do so our inward man is exposed to things that are exceedingly thought-worthy and pleasant and then they will be “fitted” to our lips. We will begin to speak them, not so much as quotes, but as our own processed thoughts. But wait, there is more! All of this has been so that we will take great confidence (trust) in the Lord. I am reminded of Romans 10:17 “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” So not only does the sayings and knowledge of the words of the wise make me a wise person, but they also give me faith – confidence in our Father!
So we all need to be deep students of the Word. If we want our words to mean something and we want deeper faith/trust to take “walk on water” confidence in the Lord, we need to be thinking on His wisdom. I know we are all busy, but many times we all want the best of life from the Lord and we want to say meaningful things, but we give little more than lip service to His marvelous Word. Lord we place ourselves before you to be a willing student of your heart – your Word. Thank you for the printed page, and we see you as you manifest yourself to us through and in the pages – then unfolded from the Sacred Page into our life shared intimately with you. Thank you

“Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. 

For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips.”
Proverbs 22:17-18 (KJV)

I used the first part of the above quote a couple of weeks ago, but wanted to return to it to see what else is in the text. I have purposely chosen to use the KJV simply because it reads differently in the last line than any of our modern translations. All the modern ones I have read recently read something like this, “Let them be fixed upon your lips.”(NKJV) or “That they may be ready upon your lips.” (NASB) While these give us one meaning, (that of speaking the word purposely – our effort in doing so) when I read the KJV I understood another meaning. When I keep the wisdom of the Book within me and ponder it often and much, then its words, thoughts and concepts become much of my conversation. The Words are “fitted” to my lips. It becomes natural to me. I not only learn to speak them, but they sound like me when they are spoken. They are fitted to me. This is so like our Father. He lives within us through the power of Jesus and the person of the Holy Spirit, yet it is His greatest joy when my heart has so embraced HIs words that when I speak, my words not only reveal Him, but reveal me as well. He wants to express Himself through us, not as robots – sounding just as if we did not exist at all, but He wants those words, concepts, dreams, ideas which we have received and embraced to be reflections of our time in Him thinking with those words etc…. It is not intended to be “me and Him” but to be “us.” So in this I see a deep longing in HIs heart that our fellowship in Him would become so real and vital that the “us” is evident. This walk as “Him in our world” is all about “being” in Him and Him in me – true infusion of His life into mine and mine into His. Such wonder. There is much, much more to be discovered, I think.

“I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear:but now my eyes seeth thee.” (Job 42:5)  He that hath my commandments, and kept them, he it is that liveth me: and he that liveth me shall be loved of my Father,and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.” (John 14:21 KJV)

I often get taken by surprise by our Lord Jesus. Part of that is very pleasant and part of that is very humbling and well, surprising. His Word is so alive and the Spirit continually blows it within us as we choose to think, read, meditate and study what is written. Yet, he holds little secrets that occasionally pop up to “blow me away” and bless me. He does say “The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant.” (Psalm 25:14 KJV) He is so very faithful!

I believe it delights Him to have more and more to unfold for us and yes, surprises for us. I have been very aware lately of His delight in giving us His presence is such knowable ways. He is always with us, but there is a knowable aspect to His presence that in the past few years I have become aware of more and more. He loves to show up in tangible ways and delight us with Himself. Yet, I believe, there is so much more in this “seeing” aspect. We too often are content to know through reading and study (and those are so very essential), that we forget that He wants to actually show up – with us individually as we take time for Him, and with us in a meeting with the Body. Oh how He loves us and wants to reveal more and more.

The immediate response in me, and I suspect in you, is how do we provide a platform for such a meeting? While the question is valid, I believe it misses what He intends. He is calling us personally and corporately to expect Him and to allow Him to be present in ways we have not known before. It is called – believing the Word! This will call for some discomfort and many shy from this – both personally and corporately. May I urge us to embrace the scriptures above and expect them to continually take us to more and more “seeing” and “being” in Him and with Him. Moses said, even in the Old Covenant, “…If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.” (Exodus 33:15 KJV) Moses knew that if there was no manifestation of presence, there would be no distinction between them and the other people around them. (v. 16) The presence of the LORD was to be the mark of the Israelites belonging to HIm. If that was true in the Old, how much more in the new. It goes with the glory given to us (John 17:22)

So LORD we receive your Word, and we expect encounter; an encounter that will unfold your person more and more to us. We give ourselves to being with You and in You in such a way that the revelation of you is clearly known and seen.

“Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips. That thy trust may be in the LORD, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee. Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge, that I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth; that thou mightiest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee?” Proverbs 22:17-19 KJV

There are several items in this passage that I wish to work with during the next few blog posts. We will just take them as they have impacted me as I have sat with this passage and pondered (Biblical meditation) their words.

The first few words, “Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge.” The words that rose in me in response were, “We lay ourselves down then rise in strength.” The principle we need to know is the same principle that governs our physical bodies. If we do not lay down to rest, we will run out of strength and become very weak. It is imperative that the human being rest if they are to function.

So it is in the Spirit of God. Unless there is a “bowing” or “laying down” of ourselves in trust, there will be no reception of His knowledge. His words are spirit and truth, and according to 1 Corinthians 2:12-16 only those born of the Spirit can possible know and receive the truth of His heart. So when we “lay ourselves” down, it is an action of trust that allows our interior to receive truth. Yes, it is true humility. It is not a thing of public display that I am speaking of, but what happens in the private life between the LORD and our hearts.

Lest one misunderstand what I am saying, I am not talking about becoming empty. That is never a thing of Spirit. We are not to be empty, but instead to allow Him to become in us all He is through our unique personhood. We lay down our understanding that it can receive truth. When we think we know truth about amatter or a passage, we may not be open to receive what He might have to say about that item. There are probably fuller, broader, deeper, and more thorough understandings of that truth available, which will make it seem as if  what we understood before was so shallow that it was almost not truth. I am, of course, speaking from experience.

The action of “bowing down” the heart and life is as essential as the beginning of resting, reception, empowerment and life. It is the way through – whatever we are experiencing, bowing down and allowing Him to instruct His Word through our heart, is the essential beginning.

Lord, we bow ourselves. Thank you for immersing us in your Presence with Your Spirit to rest us and reveal to us your heart and your Word! May it always be so for us – that first we bow to lean and rest, then we rise to become all you have in mind for our moment.