John 16&17

In this world I will have tribulation but I am of good cheer, for you, my Lord Jesus, have overcome the world, and I have overcome the world in Christ.

God, the Father, loves me because I have loved you, Lord, and because I believe that you came forth from God.

I am not alone because you, Lord Jesus, are with me. You have sent to me the spirit of God, the spirit of Truth. He guides me into all truth. He speaks to me your words, Lord Jesus. He glorifies you in me, Lord, and he takes the divine things of you, Lord, and he shows them to me.

By the grace of God, my heavenly father, through Jesus, and by the presence of God the spirit, I have eternal life.

I have received from you, father, the very words of the life of God, which you sent to me through the life and incarnation of Jesus, my Lord, and subsequently through the writing of the apostles and Prophets. I have received your word and I believe your word.

I Corinthians 1 & 5

Now is the accepted time and behold, now is the day of salvation. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for becoming for me wisdom, righteousness, redemption and sanctification.

From now on, I do not regard myself according to the flesh. I concentrate on God, the spirit, and on being alive in the spirit and led by the very spirit of God. The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead.

That is, God, my father, was in Christ reconciling the world to himself not imputing my sins to me. Now he is giving that word of reconciliation to me to share with others. Therefore, I am an ambassador for Christ imploring others on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.”

By God’s grace, I am in Christ and I am a new creature, old things have passed away, behold, all of me that matters now has become new. All things about me are now of God, who has reconciled me to himself through Jesus, the Messiah. And now, God, my father, has given me a ministry of reconciliation.

1 Corinthians 6&4

Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. God both raised up the Lord and will also raise me up by his power.

My body is a member of Christ. I shall not take the members of Christ and make them members of sexual immorality. I will certainly not.

I am joined to the Lord and I am one spirit with him. My body is a temple of the holy Spirit who is in me, whom I have as a gift from God, my heavenly father.

I am not my own. I have been bought with a price, therefore, I glorify God in my body and in my spirit, which are both God’s provision and presence.

For I have nothing that I have not received from God. Since all that I have is from God, I do not glory in myself as if I were anything on my own.

2 Corinthians 1,3&4

Thank you, Father, that all your promises find their “yes” in Christ. You, father, have established me with you and Christ, and you have anointed me, and you have put your seal on me, and you have given me your spirit in my heart as a guarantee.

My sufficiency is from you, father. By your grace you drew me to you. I turned to you and the veil was removed from my heart. You are a spirit, father, and where your spirit is there is freedom.

I behold your glory, Lord, and I am transformed into the image of Jesus, my Lord, from one degree of glory to another. I proclaim Jesus as my Lord and me as his servant.

The presence of God shines in my heart and gives to me the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of my Lord Jesus. For though I live in the flesh, I am always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in my mortal flesh.

Ecc. 3; John 3

Thank you, Lord, that in your kingdom there is order, even in a world of disorder around me. There is just time enough for everything that is yours, and a time for everything that is of you.

You, Lord Jesus, be lifted up in my life. I believe in you and I am not condemned. Your life, Lord Jesus, is light and that light has come into my world. I have come to the light so that it may be clearly seen that you, Lord, are working in me.

Anything I have, and all that I have, has been given to me from heaven. I am Jesus’ disciple. I stand in Christ. I listen to his words. I rejoice in his voice. The joy of the Lord is complete in me. Christ increases in me and I decrease.

Lord Jesus, you are above all. Your word is the word of the eternal God of life. I believe in you, Lord Jesus, and thereby, I know I have eternal life.

John 1, Matthew 1 & Heb. 10

Father, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with you and the Word was you, Father God, Lord Jesus, and Holy Spirit. The word of the life of God was with you, Father, from the beginning.

In the Word, is life and the life was light for me. The Word became flesh and dwelt with me. He is Emmanuel. His name is Jesus and he has come and save me from my sins.

Father, by your grace and revelation, and through your words written by your apostles, I behold the glory of the Lord Jesus and your love for me, full of grace and truth.

Therefore, I draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, my heart having been sprinkled from an evil conscience and my body having been washed in pure water.

I hold fast to my confession of hope; unyielding because I know that you, father God, who have made the promises, are perfectly and divinely faithful.

Romans 9,10&15; I Peter 1

Thank you, Father, that you chose me and have mercy and compassion on me. This election is for your purposes and by your mercy. It does not come because of my will or exertion.

But now, by your call to me, and your gift of grace and faith, I do pursue the righteousness that comes by faith in Jesus, the Christ.

I believe in him and receive him as Lord of my life. Jesus Christ is the end of the law of righteousness for each of us who believe.

I say with my mouth and my life that Jesus is Lord and you, God, my heavenly father, raised him from the dead, according to the scriptures.

I glorify you, father, for your mercy to me and to all those who are yours. According to your great mercy, you have caused me to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

In Christ, my inheritance is imperishable, undefiled and unfading. I am guarded by your power, father, through faith, for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

I Cor. 15 & J. Piper

Christ lifted my sins and carried them to the cross and died the death that I deserve to die. That means my death is no longer punitive. My death is no longer the wrath of God against me, rather through Christ’s atonement my death, or the death of any of God’s children, is our entrance into full salvation, with no condemnation.

“This mortal body must put on immortality and death is swallowed up in victory for the child of God, through Christ Jesus.”

If Christ had not been raised then this would not be so, but Christ has been raised from the dead and I am raised with him.

At God’s appointed time I will appear, in this flesh, to die and this fleshly vessel will be sown like a kernal. What is sown is perishable, but what God raises from that is imperishable.

It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. This is because flesh and blood cannot inherit God’s kingdom nor can perishable inherit the imperishable.

John 10

Lately we have studied John chapter 10, considering the impact on our lives of Jesus as our Shepherd. In that study and in the context of the world events, I’ve seen things in the chapter that I had not seen before.

In verses 1, 2, 5, 8 & 10. There is a warning that there are thieves.

There are people or powers who would lead away the children of God. I’m sure Jesus is talking about false pastors or false religion or in the immediate context he is probably talkin about the Pharisees.

I believe that warning could be applied and extended today to, of all things, our media.

There may be in some of our media a sincere effort to keep us informed and to help the nation, but for the most part it seems obvious that the media is after power and money. What is called “the news” in our country has grown into a power seeking, self-serving preacher.

The news media has long been in their minds the “fourth estate”. In other words, they have elevated themselves to the same level as the Supreme Court, the President and the Congress.

And lately, as far as I can see, they consider themselves the only estate. They plan that the other branches of public service should bow down and cowtow to them. If a leader takes a position opposite the opinion of the media they are scorched for it by obviously biased reporting.

Anyway, what I’m getting at is, in my opinion, we need to be careful where we spend our worship. People don’t think of the time they spend watching the news as worship. They think of it as getting information.

But I ponder: how much information do I really need? Is this information doing me any good? Is anybody really going to call me from Washington and ask me my opinion on something. And what is this information fed to me six or eight hours(or more) a day doing to my soul and Spirit?

Where we spend our time and put our attention, and what we allow to affect our feelings and faith is worship. Most folks certainly aren’t spending an hour or two a day in communion with God. By God’s command we should be ceaselessly in prayer or communion. Certainly hours spent in front of the news interrupt that communion at the very least and destroy it at the very worst.

I don’t mean to go on too long with the false worship idea but it is interesting to me that we would be studying that part of John 10 during this time of international crisis.

I can see the potential of propaganda in this “preaching” and I can sense the fearful response of the people who stick with the “reports” of the media.

Based on my experience it is possible to watch almost no news and still stay informed. You see headlines, people call you and talk to you about things. It is not necessary to sit in front of the TV or to welcome this kind of fear-mongering into your home for hours at the time.

Instead, I want to spend my time seeking my shepherd, moving close to him, sensing his care and his touch for me. And in that worship choice, finding myself in green pastures, beside still waters, fully restored in my soul, and walking in paths of righteousness.

1 Peter 5; Heb. 9; 2 Tim. 4

Hallelujah, today I cast my cares upon you, father, so thankful that you care for me. I am not anxious, my refuge is in you, not in being anxious. I’m eager for your company and your lordship today, Father, son, and holy Spirit.

Just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes the judgment, so, Christ, you were offered once to bear my sins, and you will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save us who are eagerly waiting for you.

Therefore, by your grace, I fight a good fight, I finish my race, I keep the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which you, the Lord of righteousness, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but to all who have loved your appearing.