Reflections

More on the Will of God

by leekierdorf

God wants you to live in relationships of love. He has done everything to allow you and me to return to a good relationship with him. Sin, guilt? He dealt with it. Conscience? Always evaluating which is better? Throw it away. It will never lead you to goodness. Eternal life is live, in the moment, in contact with the Spirit of God, proving the will of God is good by doing it.

They would bring either/or questions to Jesus. He never chose A or B. Do we pay taxes to Caesar? Yes or no, Jesus? Let’s look at a coin. It came from Ceasar. His name is on it. Give it back to him. But what did God give you? Give that back to him.

Or: Who is my neighbor? Ooh, it sounds so wise. It was more like, how big is my neighborhood? Jesus tells a nearly ridiculous story of kindness to one in need. The hero is a Samaritan! The question Jesus answers is a different one. How does a really good neighbor behave?

Why doesn’t Jesus answer like they want? He goes by life and death not good and evil. He was The Life. He lived in the moment with God. He never went by conscience. He never talked of bad, worse, better, best. He never said, go by your conscience, choose good over evil. No, he said, “Follow me.” Do what I do. He loved to do the will of the Father. The will of God is only one thing at any moment. The world of possible actions is swept away. I came to do the will of God. Did he look sorry or solemn? No, I think he looked joyful.

He created excitement around him. He attracted people. He was a magnet. Sometimes people lost track of the time. His disciples said, “It’s getting late, send the people on their way to find their dinner.” Jesus is caught up in the moment and says, “No, you feed them!” His faith is exuberant. They try to show him practicality. He won’t have it. It’s like water from a rock. Food from heaven time. Tell them to sit down. I ask you this: where is the ‘work by the sweat of your brow’? No, it’s manna time to Jesus. The next thing you know, food is being passed around. Plenty of it. This is Jesus doing the will of God.

The will of God is live in the moment. It is not a thing apart from God. That’s why you can’t separate the will of God from God. You can’t know the will of God as a possibility among possibilities. The will of God is connected to God at all times. It does not live somewhere that we can contain it as knowledge. It is quite different.

Rather than process possibilities, we live by inspiration. Why is Jesus always running afoul of ‘the rules’? Because they were added on later. Do you think God wanted to write some rules on a stone and give it to his people? That was what they wanted. Give us some rules and back off, God. We’ll take it from here.

When Jesus comes, they throw the rules in his face. The Sabbath was made for man not the other way round. Do good to others on the Sabbath. “Your disciples are harvesting, that’s working on the Sabbath.” Here was a day of rest used as a bludgeon. The will of God is not a means to condemn others and justify yourself. Jesus makes the astounding statement, “I judge no man.” Or woman. “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.”

The will of God comes forth from him for you in real time. You have the Spirit of God. If you don’t, you can. He will not have his will as a possibility among other possibilities for you to evaluate. You can be moved by his Spirit to act. Or you can decide for yourself what to do. Those are our choices.

Home

White Stone

by leekierdorf

In Revelation 2, each one receives a new name.

To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knows except he that receives it.

A name is what others call you but this name is known only to you and your Lord. So, God knows your unique name now. He has been building you into that name for your whole life.

It says to “him that overcomes”. The overcoming is the overcoming of self. Self is enticed by devil, the world system and the flesh.

How do we do it?

Only by the more powerful can we overcome the power of the self. God is most powerful. And to be filled with his Holy Spirit without any dark corners in our soul and for our hearts to become pure is the only way.

Jesus would not say “pure in heart” if there were no chance of it. Pure in heart means only one thing is in your heart. Only one love. Clear out all other loves. Jesus is so lovable, we can fill our hearts with that love, casting other loves out.

If we cast off evil desires, how light our hearts and souls will become. We will walk lightly on the earth. The pull of riches will weaken and fame and power can be left to Jesus.

Home

Living Water

by leekierdorf

As the Lord says “Whosoever believeth in Me, out of his belly shall flow streams of living water.”

And again: “Whosoever shall drink of the water which I give, he shall never thirst, and there shall be in him a spring of living water unto everlasting life.”

Here is a question: is the spring aware of itself? Why is Jesus concerned most about what flows out?

We focus on what comes in. We will take a big bucket of living water. But Jesus talks of a spring in us that flows out.

It is the nature of water to flow. From high to low. From under to up. From here to there. John’s letter makes it clear. If it doesn’t flow, it’s no go. If the love of God does not flow out of us, it’s not real.

Again, it is the nature of God’s love to flow out to others. If we say we enjoy the love of God for us, we must make way for that love to flow to others. If not, it will dry up.

James says, we don’t have wisdom because we don’t ask. Wisdom is what to do. In the moment. Jesus always knew what to do in every situation. He had wisdom and acted on that to meet every situation he was in.

Ask and you will receive.

Home

I am the What?

by leekierdorf

Lazarus was a friend of Jesus. Jesus received a message that Lazarus was very sick. Jesus does not go to see him for two days. Then he says that Lazarus is sleeping and he will go and wake him up.

Let us focus on his sister, Martha, who scolds Jesus for being too late. Jesus assures her that Lazarus will live again.

Martha answers that he will rise in the future resurrection. But Jesus exclaims, “I am the resurrection…” Martha has faith in Jesus but wonders what he means. Jesus goes to the grave.

What does Jesus mean by this remarkable statement? At the gravesite, he stuns everyone by calling for the grave to be opened.

He prays and calls out, “Lazarus, come forth!”

Lazarus comes forth as well as he can, encumbered by grave wrappings. Jesus tells the stunned people to help Lazarus remove the wrappings.

The impact of this is astounding. Lazarus is well known. Many have come from Jerusalem, not far away, to join the mourners. Fear gives way to faith in some. Others go to the leaders to report this event. The leaders say that Jesus has gone too far. He must be eliminated.

Jesus is well aware of the impact of raising Lazarus. But what did he mean by “I am the resurrection?” We, like Martha, believe in a future resurrection, as we should. But do we believe what Jesus said? That He IS the Resurrection. This moment. As Paul says, the power of the resurrection lives in us. What does that mean?

Home

God is What?

by leekierdorf

John was a young when he was called by Jesus. He later wrote a story about Jesus that focused on several people who were touched by Jesus. He called himself “the disciple that Jesus loved.”

But later, he wrote a letter. He was older. He made the simple statement “God is Love.” You have heard it. You have seen it.

But this profound statement summed up what John had learned about God. If we take this statement and add that we are made in the image of God, we are made by Love and for Love.

Although it sounds simple, it is not. What can you and I take from this? Yes, we are loved. But when God spoke from heaven, he said “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

This is the relationship of Father and Son. Again, the Father speaks on the mountain “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”

From this primary relationship comes all things. If we are made in his image, we are made for relationships of love.

It is no wonder that John, after a life of following Jesus, makes this statement and builds on it in his letter. Let us meditate on this and find how it affects us. Yes, God is Love, but what does it mean our lives?

Home

Glory

by leekierdorf

God sees us at our best. In the future, as we are glorified. How? He resides outside of time and so sees us glorified in our future.

Paul says we are seated together in heaven. Surely, if that is true, we are also glorified as he says elsewhere.

Of course, none of this is our own doing anymore than our salvation. But, this is our purpose, to glorify God.

Now, how can Paul be so sure as to make these astonishing statements? He is sure of God and his promises. Let us be just as sure of God’s promises by our faith in God as Paul is by his.

Home

Incognito

by leekierdorf

God allows us to bow to him voluntarily rather than automatically. That the Christ came incognito allowed many to simply form an opinion of him.

How different this was than to see and feel terror before a smoking mountain flashing lightning and feeling the ground shaking as God spoke.

But to hear “Thou shalt…” before the smoking mountain is really the same as hearing “Blessed are those…”. The speaker is the same One.

He says the most remarkable things in contrast to his unremarkable appearance. That is the parodox.

No one seems to fear Jesus. Yet, Peter speaks of the great moral difference between them, which compels him to bow.

But there is no bowing among the thousands who eat miraculous bread.

Home

What Are You?

by leekierdorf

Some say, I am only a sinner saved by grace. That is not true. You are also a child of God if you have believed in Jesus.

Your status has changed. In a dramatic way. You have passed from death to life.

A sinner is one whose life is characterized by sin. Is that you? Has there been no change in your behavior?

You were an enemy of God but now you have been reconciled to Him through the blood of his son, Jesus.

This is the greatest change that a person can have. No, you didn’t deserve it. But it is false humility to call yourself a sinner. You are now one of God’s own. Let your light shine.

Home

Gratitude is the Gateway

by leekierdorf

It says that Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened. They saw things differently.

How do we see things as believers? Do we see God’s hand providing for us?

Or do we just assume it?

We could develop an attitude of gratitude. It’s a simple way to keep in contact with God. Let’s look beyond how we get our daily needs and see God’s hand providing for us.

Who knows what this could lead to in our lives?

Home

Parables about Kingdom of God

by leekierdorf

Matthew 13:33

He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”

Matthew 13:44

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Mark 4:30

And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

Matthew 25:1

Parable of the Ten Virgins

Matthew 25:14

Parable of the Talents

Matthew 25:31

Sheep and the Goats

Home