Week 14

Posted on April 11, 2017 by PJ

Week 14 The Great Mystery

Jn 14:15-24. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.”

The Lord showed me a lovely example of my place in the mystery of oneness through a set of matryoshka dolls. You know, those lovely Russian nesting dolls?
Two years ago I drew this in my Bible, but today I have a better revelation of it.

The outer figure of these dolls contains increasingly smaller versions of itself within itself. Apparently, it is essential that the full set of dolls be made from one piece of wood because of the characteristics of the wood are unique. If you use different pieces of wood the doll will not fit together properly!

Now, I can visualize Jesus in the Father and the Father in Him. Jesus is the second doll within the First, made of the same wood as the first. I too am in the Father because I am in Jesus, while the Father (wood) is in me. And finally, Holy Spirit, the Father’s mind and heart, dwells in me because Jesus returned to the Father.

We are one as He is one. When I rest within Him, wherever He goes, I go. When I am separated from the set, He is still in me for I am of the same wood. I cannot be separated from His love, He CANNOT leave me or forsake me. Wow! I love this revelation.

Week 6

Posted on February 8, 2016 by PJ

February’s theme is Abide.

The week 6 verse is :

‭‭1 John‬ ‭4:13-16‬ ‬‬

This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

The word ‘live’ is also translated ‘abide’ and ‘dwell’ depending on which version you read.

We dwell in God, and He dwells in us. Find out more and share your lovely creative moments here this week!

Week 5

Posted on February 4, 2016 by PJ

Week 5 John 15:1-11 NIV

I have an NIV journaling Bible and the word ‘abide’ is not used in this translation. In the Greek ‘abide’ is ‘meno’ and means: abide, dwell, remain in, continue in.

In studying, I learned so much that I decided on a simple illustration as I know that I will want to put more on that page later.

The whole passage boils down to abiding in the Lord, His Word, and His Love. I decided that was the crux of all of it: abide. And not only should I dwell in Him, but He will dwell in me. We are one when I follow His commands, with His love, and allow myself to be cleansed through the pruning of His Word.

The thing about a vine is that the branches don’t try to grow, they just do because the nutrients come from the vine. Sometime branches die, and they need to be cut off and thrown out; they’ve outgrown their purpose. A dead branch takes up nutrients it doesn’t need. It’s time to make room for a healthy one to grow.

When a branch does bear fruit it needs to be pruned afterward so that new fruit can grow in the next season.
So, all this cutting is not a bad thing. Healthy fruit will grow after the branch has been pruned. Dead or fruitful, either way, branches will be cut. And cutting is unpleasant, but necessary. When the new fruit grows you forget the pain and, instead, rejoice.

How do we, the branches get trimmed? In verse 2 the word ‘pruned’ or ‘purged’ is kathairo and really means ‘cleaned out’. In verse 3 Jesus tells us that we are already clean by His words. The Greek word for ‘clean’ is kathoros. His spoken words to me have already pruned me. And, according to verse 7, if the Words I actually heard stay inside me, I can ask anything of the Lord and it will be done for me.

I can go on and on. But I’ll let you hear from Him yourself. That is why I didn’t want to fill the page yet. I’m getting so much out of this I could fill an art journal.

*** I got a new toy I wanted to use, a Silhouette Portrait ‘die’ cutter. I had it cut out the word so I could use my Red Folk Art metallic acrylic paint for the lettering. I applied stencil adhesive to the back of my die cut and placed it on the page so it wouldn’t move and paint wouldn’t bleed beneath the letters. Well, it ended up tearing a bit of the page and still leaking under a couple of letters. At first I was disappointed, but then I remembered that this process isn’t about perfection, but learning to express His heart even in my imperfect way.
I used a small angled brush with metallic copper acrylic and slowly dragged it across the page for the branch. I twisted the brush a bit to give it a branch-like quality. Added leaves and a small bunch of grapes later. I felt it needed something else, so I wet and put Gelatos onto a piece of Mylar and smeared it over the page.

Jn 5:1-11
I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.
I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

I don’t want a mansion

Posted on February 15, 2015 by PJ

Have you heard that Jesus is preparing a Mansion for us in Heaven? (John 14:2) Well, if you study the KJV word for “mansion,” Mone, you find that it actually means a dwelling place or a place of remaining. But whose dwelling place?

When I think of a Mansion I think brick and mortar, extravagant furniture and large rooms. Nice thought BUT not what Jesus was saying. There is something better than a Mansion that awaits us.

In verse 23 Jesus tells us that IF we love Him, then we’ll obey Him AND then Father (Abba) will love us too and LIVE with us NOW. The word LIVE (or remain, abide) in this verse is… tada! Mone. I believe Jesus had to go to Heaven so that all of us (the many “mansions”) would be able to be a dwelling place for God. That means we have a new home in Him and He has a home in us.

My body is a temple? Read John 15. Specifically, let’s look at verses 4-11:

4 Remain (abide, dwell) in Me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

Check this out – the Word ‘remain’ is the root-word for the word ‘mansion.’ So the whole ‘going to prepare a place for you’ means that He is going so that we can have constant fellowship with Him: A never-ending stream of fellowship between us and God. Not later, but now! This is a present tense paragraph.

We must REMAIN in the vine in order to produce fruit. The Father’s love, power, word, whatever He has, flows through the vine just like the nutrients through a plant. If we live connected to that vine, guess what…We get that love, power, word, etc. flowing through us. Then we can produce love fruit, power fruit, word fruit, wtvr! What joy we have when we are remaining in Him! Way more joy than thinking about some mansion we might inherit up in heaven.

What will we need a house for when we’re in heaven anyway? When I go there, I hope to stay 24-7 at the feet of my Lord and enjoy His presence.

Unfortunately, due to our beloved King James and his translators, the poor masses were given hope that they too would live in a mansion one day. But because the word was incorrectly translated many in the Body of Christ today are waiting for their mansion in heaven someday instead of dwelling in Christ today.

He abides in you and you in Him; you are a Temple of the Holy Ghost. YOU are the place that the sinner can come to meet Jesus. Christ IN you the hope of glory. Stop putting off the responsibility for the lost onto the Church Infrastructure. No more excuses! The fields are white and ready to harvest let’s go get ‘em.

The Girl in the Mirror has the Key

Posted on December 5, 2014 by PJ

The key to freedom is His Love, not some love I work up. I can’t just copy what Jesus did. That’s my interpretation of how He shows Love. In reality, He went to His Father in prayer each day and kept their connection fresh. He only did what He saw His Father doing, said what His Father said. He stayed vitally connected, and then he told his followers to stay vitally connected to the same vine.

In that connection we don’t figure out Love, we draw it out from the Jesus vine and it seamlessly flows out of us just in time of need. That’s what the world needs again. That’s what I need, the Love of the only one who really aches for the lost, hurting, disappointed, every race, rich and poor. Each person and situation requires agape Love straight from the throne and Christ, the reigning one who lives in me, the hope of that glorious Love.

It’s going to take some work on my part, more time in prayer on behalf of others, an intentional relationship with my Heavenly Father and His Word, giving away what I have been given, stepping out of my comfort zones, stepping into a raging lost world.

Lord help me stay united with you in such a way today that I just let your compassion and love flow through and out of me to produce fruit in and for your name. Amen.

Inspirational thoughts:

Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. (Luke 5:15-16 NIV)

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:10 NIV)

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13 NIV)

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing… If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. (John 15:5-8NIV)

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. (John 14:12 NIV)

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give. (Matthew 10:8 NIV)

Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. (James 1:23-25 NIV)

Birds and Pigs Don’t Mix

Posted on November 28, 2014 by PJ

Is Angry Birds even a thing anymore?

I have never been a video game person, but when I first started playing Angry Birds a few years ago, It didn’t take long to get addicted. I found short bursts of time to annihilate those nasty pigs and their ridiculous structures. Oh the joy in watching every stick and stone in those structures crumble while I racked up stars! The problem arose when short minutes became long ones because I couldn’t defeat those ham hucksters in the first round. I had to replay the level until, whalla, defeat came to those porkloining, err purloining, pigs.

Oooh, then they came out with Star Wars Angry Birds! My geekdom was complete, I had crossed over to the dark side. Not only did I need to destroy structure and Pig Vader, but I had to overcome the physics of outer space. Anti-gravity and gravity, centrifugal force, momentum and everything else that Sir Newton could throw at me, with a little Einstein on the side. Sometimes I spent a round just to spy out weaknesses or gain tools and power points.

As the challenges became harder I sought help. I discovered angrybirdsnest.com, a site full of cheats. I learned about structural weaknesses, hidden tricks, and the best shot angles for annihilation. Even so, leveling up became harder and harder, really just too much work for a mere game. After months, I gave up and haven’t touched the game in years.

I was stumped at the numbers of children, and some adults, that are addicted to video games. They joyfully go back day after day to repeat their trials at the same level, just so they can move up a new level to defeat the same evil foe again on another playing field. Why?

Well, I read James 1:2-5 for the thousandth time the other day. Consider it wholly JOYFUL, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations. Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience. But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing. If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God who gives to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him.

Wait just a second… New perspective time. What if I took a gamers’ attitude towards real life? Every day there is a temptation, trial or foe. They don’t stop coming at me or putting obstacles in my path just because I won’t play the game. In fact these trials are supposed to keep me from playing, make me hang my head and quit.

If I recognize the trial up front, before I confront, I can run to my Daddy for His cheats, the Wisdom Toolbox that He prepared just for the big hairy green guy blocking my path. This isn’t about how smart I am or how brave. It’s about Father’s wisdom only. I’ll end up stuck on the same level fighting shadows till I get that one fact straight. His wisdom helps me defeat That temptation. Either way I can’t quit half way through. I must endure until I’ve won that level. I might want to run from the trial, bury that temptation, or bury my head. But it won’t go away. That thing WILL come back.

Why? God isn’t sending the temptation, it comes out of the unfinished parts of me. If I don’t confront it it will stay inside of me as an obstacle in my race. I must face it joyfully expecting my opportunity to level up and start another chapter.

God actually wants me to be the victor. He desires that I know my own faith is real, that I become fully developed, crown included. (I would like to have one of those so I’ll have something to throw down at his feet someday.)

Note to self:
See the trial’s purpose
Get Wisdom
Tear down that obstacle
Become more complete in who I am in Christ
Level up
New trial, no sweat, He’s got this, until I receive that Crown of Life.

Anyway, what’s a good adventure without an antagonist?

Let us learn from the ever so wise emperor Kuzco:

Pacha: [eyes widen] Uh-oh.
Kuzco: [resigned] Don’t tell me. We’re about to go over a huge waterfall.
Pacha: [also resigned] Yep.
Kuzco: Sharp rocks at the bottom?
Pacha: Most likely.
Kuzco: …Bring it on. [As they go over] Boooooo-yaaaaahahahahahahahah!

So a joyful Boo-ya to you too.

Turn Aside

Posted on November 2, 2014 by PJ

Strolling through a canopy of fire.
Leaves, like sparks, pop and swirl,
Surround and entwine me within
Glowing gold, red, orange.
Breathe it in; Oh the beauty!

I have traveled long distances
To seek the burning bushes before.

But I’ve discovered bushes burn in my own backyard.
And gilded sidewalks line my own city.
I need not search the ends of the earth
For a beauty that presents itself in this local place.

This place, this time, now…
If I turn aside to see.

Krispy Kreme and Jesus

Posted on October 28, 2014 by PJ

Real Hunger cannot be satisfied with a snack. Hunger stems from a desire to live and not die, and searches for a means to do that. “The Hunger Games” portrays a brutal picture of what a man will do to live, to no longer be hungry.

Rarely have I felt the gnawing pain of hunger. I have known cravings, but those aren’t intended to fill my belly, they fill my soul. Late night Krispy Kreme runs to the other side of town evidence the power of a craving. But death does not come from a craving unfulfilled.

The Bible claims “A worker’s appetite works for him because his hunger urges him on.” (Proverbs 16:26 HCSB) We give away our time and energy because we want to eat. We want to live and not die.

So it’s interesting that God tells us to “hunger and thirst for His righteousness.” (Mt 5:6) He is suggesting that we will die if we do not eat of the righteousness of God. We should be starving for it.

Just how hungry am I? “Starving to death?” What will I do to satisfy this churning emptiness in my spirit? Am I just filling up with snacks that have no profit to my soul? A smackeral of Jesus cannot nourish me; that’s just empty spirit calories with no sustaining power. Can I ‘play church’ forever and have what it takes to bring the Light into a dark world? “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4 HCSB)

I pray for a holy HUNGER TO DO WHAT IT TAKES to FULLY LIVE by feasting on His righteousness in His Word. That we would be filled up with the Bread of Life that came down from Heaven.

It’s not snack time, it’s dinner time. The bell is ringing, dig in.

Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed, for they will be filled. (Matthew 5:6 HCSB). For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things. (Psalms 107:9 NLT). Ill-gotten gains do not profit anyone, but righteousness rescues from death. The Lord will not let the righteous go hungry, but He denies the wicked what they crave. (Proverbs 10:2-3 HCSB)

Olive Oil 100% pure

Posted on August 3, 2014 by PJ

I love extra virgin olive oil. I could drink it. Because of its health properties, I have been researching the best brands. Surprise! Most of the oils out there aren’t pure at all. No matter what the label says. So how is a Mediterranean girl to know what to purchase? (I’m going somewhere with this so don’t quit reading now.)

Here are just a few tests to find out if it’s really pure:
4. Put it in the fridge and it should solidify
3. Put it in an oil lamp and it should burn
2. Look for an olive estate seal, or name on the bottle
1. Buy from a local grower, the source

According to tests, 75% of the extra virgin olive oil sold is fake: adulterated, something else besides olive oil is added. Because of this, the benefits of using extra virgin olive oil are lost.

Matthew 5:8 blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

I’m thinking, like that fake EVOO, there have been things added to my life that have nothing to do with Jesus: Religion, knowledge, possessions, and titles (etc. etc. etc). If I cling to Jesus only, I should be able to pass a few tests.

4. In the cold places, when I’m numb and I can’t feel Jesus, I would like to say I am full of faith, still standing on a solid foundation. Let the storms come and I can’t be moved. But, most of the time what really happens is that I melt down, and using those additives, hastily try to put myself back together. I usually end up like that silly snowman on Frozen. Parts in all the wrong directions.

3. When the Light is needed in dark places, I should be able to burn bright. Instead I often flicker out and join the darkness. I end up with that proverbial basket over my head. But His Word is a separating sword, a lamp, if I stay in it, the Truth will set me free to shine again.

2. When the world looks at me, I hope they see Jesus and His seal is upon me as His daughter. But sometimes I feel I’ve been run through the washer so much that the seal has peeled off the bottle. I say I have no evidence, but forget the bottle is embossed with His name. Nothing can separate me from His love. I’ve just been showing off the temporary religious seal instead of the permanently embossed one.

1. Jesus is the only source I get my supply from. He is the author and finisher of my faith. His word is Truth and Holy Spirit is His distributer. Any other voice or influence is suspect, selling the cheap stuff just to fill a bottle.

So when I look at a bottle of olive oil, I hope to remember I am the ‘good stuff.’

Nothing But A Mist

Musings about life for life

Tag Archives: jesus