Finding Jesus

THE HEART OF OUR CREATOR

~ kathrynspen ~ Leave a comment

This is a special writing to me because I so see God the Father’s heart in this …. and I ask you to remember as you finish reading it – that even as Jesus gave the invitation to any who would hear “Come (to Me)whosoever will”  – the invitation still stands.

THE HEART OF OUR CREATOR

As I gave my Heavenly Father an hour just to “be with Him” and worship -almost immediately – I began to sense and to understand that He wants  to touch and to fellowship  with every single person in the world!  And that no one – NOT ANYONE – can stand in another person’s place with God!

I felt His love for,  and desire to fellowship with the multitudes of people around the world who do not know Him …. so many who do not know He is their Creator and Savior.  Yet there is a place with Him  for each one of them – a place that no other person can ever fill!

God our Creator so desires that fellowship with each one of us that He is “jealous” over just one hour …. so much so that He would say to those who do know Him as Savior – “Could you not take just one hour of your day and spend that time with Me?”  (Because) there will never again be an opportunity  like we have now in this time to CHOOSE  to fellowship with Him.

…… And to each one of the multitude of people that give their lives to so many other things – and live their lives with so many “unanswered ” needs – would He not say  (out of a heart of love) to each of them –  “How oft would I have gathered you “as a hen gathers her chicks and holds them close under her wings …. but you would not turn to Me so that I could take you there.”

I also understood this – that even as no one can ever stand in our place with God – even so,  neither can you or I ever give that fellowship that belongs to Him to someone or something else. But it is, and will remain an “unanswered” and “unsatisfied”  empty place in our life –  that we both live and die with – without Him.

THE ONLY STABLE THING

~ kathrynspen ~ 1 Comment

Oh Father, God in Heaven – to move forward with You is always “the thing to do” …. We cannot consider the right of our own reasoning alone to lead us – but steadfastly move in the direction that You give us.  For things have a way of changing … with danger all around us,  and those who were once simply our “competitors” have become – without true reason – our enemies!

Who would have thought that the outlook of “right” and “good” could change so quickly? … and take on such “different colors”?  (All the while Your righteous judgements  NEVER change – and will endure forever!! – and that in spite of what any one decides to do here…..  )  Oh, Father, for us who have seen the right paths You gave us to walk in – maligned and shaken as many are leaving those paths to walk in what has become “politically correct and socially acceptable” …. (But You love us all still – that is the wonder!  And You’re calling to  each of us – if we would – to “get still” and know just WHO YOU ARE ….- and to taste that incredible LOVE that defines  YOU and caused  You – to give Yourself for the world!)

There is the path on the left – and the path farther over, on the right …..  But lest we forget …. there is also the path in the center  – the one You gave us to embrace and walk – the path illuminated by Your light …. that path being steady and sure!  There grace abounds and Your love is our comfort and makes us secure … and in the end it will  “win out”!  And surely, for those who walk on it, this path grows brighter as we approach that “perfect day”… and surely it “tastes better” than any other way – for Your presence is there  ( and nothing in this world can buy such a priceless treasure!)!

….  And whilst the world around us is being shaken, You are our Rock and never change!  So that as things in the world look a little shaky or uncertain – we can do as the Psalmist did do – and press in to You…… acknowledging that “while I may be a little  afraid, I CAN,  I WILL –  trust in You!  Because in life, You are the ONLY thing – Lord Jesus – that does not change!!

“Jesus Christ, the same – yesterday, today and forever”  Hebrews 13:8   He does not change. In this day and hour that we live in, He IS …  the only stable thing! Jesus I am so so glad to know You!  And very very glad I am to know – that any one who reads this – only have to ask in order to know You too!!

“COME TO ME”

~ kathrynspen ~ 8 Comments

GOD’S CALL TO HIS PEOPLE ….

Come to Me.  Do not be afraid – I am “with you and for you.”  Do  not let fear or discouragement stop you.  I am  your God.

Come – and worship Me.  I will meet you.  You can be strong to rise up against fear – and the things that come in the door that “fear” opens.  My authority is in you to rise up over those things the enemy has planted to stop you.  Your fight is in the spirit realm – and that is where I operate to affect the natural realm…. So, come to Me!  You will find the strength that you need as you worship Me.

I love you!  Do not let people or pain from the past hinder you and rob you from returning to worship Me.  I love you.  I love you – and I am stronger than any of those things.

Come to Me!   I will meet you – and you will know the peace and confidence I have to give to you.  There is a refreshing that comes to those who choose  to draw aside  to worship Me.  In My presence, you will find the answer to things that stop you from walking strongly with Me.

COME!   You “chase” other things – CHASE ME!   You’ll find Me waiting to touch you.

Come to Me and know how much  I LOVE YOU.

 

THE BEST BEGINNING OF ALL (1/15/15 Posts Continued)

~ kathrynspen ~ Leave a comment

As I ended the 2nd January 15 post, I told you that I would continue the subject of our beginning in Jesus by sharing some scriptures that “relate to or describe” what happened to you that moment you were born again.  There are more of those scriptures than most people would think – so I can’t bring in all of them on this post today, but I will try to make a good start on it – okay?

When you were born again – a new dimension was added to your life.  That new dimension being the capacity  to know and fellowship with God.  This fellowship is the desire of His heart for you and I – and the reason we were created.  In this new birth that took place when you received Jesus – His life, even that same life that came from God the Father – overshadowed and enveloped you, came into your spirit – producing the new birth.  That’s what the bible calls being “born again.”  (I Peter 1:23;  John 3:1-8).  This brought you into a “living relationship” with God.  That is why Jesus (in I Timothy 2:5) is  called “the mediator between God and men.”   Thank you Jesus!

Our interaction/relationship/fellowship with God and His Son Jesus Christ began in the spirit – and that is where God tells us in Galatians 3:3 that it not only started there, but we are foolish to think we can continue by just obtaining head knowledge of Him.   WHY?  Man’s head knowledge is in the flesh (natural) man as opposed to what we can hear and know by what God shows us by the Spirit.  In addition to that,  I Corinthians 2:14 tells us that “the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God because those things are foolishness to him/his understanding – neither can he know them because they are “spiritually discerned.”

Our relationship with God began in the spirit and that is where it will continue – and “flow out into our natural mind from.” And, YES, it will have effect on the whole of our being  – because we are a triune being – spirit, soul, and body  (I Thessalonians 5:23); and just like what happens to one of your body parts , such as a broken leg or back will have some effect on the other members of your body – even so, the rest of our being beyond just our spirit will be affected somewhat by our new relationship with God when we are born again.  But the degree to which you or I will be overall affected by this new relationship will  depend on what we choose to do  with this incredible thing that has happened to us.  Please don’t be offended – but it’s going to take more than just sitting on a church pew to go on with God. We have been given the privilege, right, and capacity  – John 1:12 says –  to go on and progressively get to know  God the Father, our Creator and Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer. That privelege comes with being born again – and although I could have done better with what has been given to me in this, yet I can honestly tell you that – there is no amount of money or earthly prestige that I would trade this relationship for!.  Now you decide what it’s worth to you – because that is  what each one of us will sooner or later do.

Even before you or I received Jesus, we were already spirit, soul, and physical body – but there was nothing “alive” or “working” in our spirit that we could know God – until we “bowed the knee” and asked Jesus to forgive our sins and come into our life. Then we were born again.  That was the whole point in His coming to earth – to give all men the opportunity to get reconnected to God – get that light back on in man’s spirit!

Proverbs 20:27 says that “the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord” …  Psalm 18:28  goes on to say that God will light our candle – and in so doing, He lights up the darkness that has been there.

The more that we understand these things that pertain to the new birth, the more we will be able to begin to understand many other things about God – and about our relationship with Him while we live on the earth.  I hope you will return to check out the next post and in the meantime that you will be looking in God’s word and asking questions yourself to God – as He loves to share and interact with us.

THE BEST BEGINNING OF ALL (Part 2 of Jan 15, 2015 Post)

~ kathrynspen ~ Leave a comment

We’ve been talking about what it means to be “born again” – and in this post, I will continue sharing where I left off in my January 15 post which I named “A Post About Beginnings.” It is pretty important that you read that before going further into this.

I would like to start here by addressing “an unspoken question” that some of you that read my January 15 post likely already are asking – at least to yourself. I know that – because I used to ask the same question myself after I read John 3.  The Question:  Does being “born again” mean the same thing as “being saved”? Yes,  yes it does refer to the same thing.  So, why then did I not use the term “be saved” in the post yesterday – seeing that the word “saved” is used many times in the New Testament while the words (or the term) “born again” appears in only two places in the New Testament.   First in John 3:1-8, which we looked at in my last post – and once in I Peter 1:23 we see the term “born again” where it obviously speaks of a supernatural birth of the spirit as well – and not a physical birth.  Yes, this amounts to the same thing as “being saved”- but the importance in making a distinction between the two terms is this:  both are one and the same in the end result – but the term “born again” IS WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED  TO YOU  the moment that you believed and invited Jesus into your life.  It sheds a very descriptive light on what actually took place in me and in you when we received Jesus as Savior.  That we see this – and so understand that we generally speaking, need to understand the things of the spirit  more than we do  – is important to our personal growth in the things of God’s Kingdom.  It is equally important to the increase of God’s Kingdom as well,  because people do not generally advance very far in things that they do not understand very well.

After I was born again, I sure knew that something “way out of the ordinary” had happened to me – but what it was, I couldn”t tell you,  and no one around me had a real answer either – so I continued to ask God what it was that happened to me and to others when we are born again.  You can’t teach a baby that is still in diapers about “trigonometry,” but even so, He did answer me and  I grew enough to begin to understand the beginnings of things of the spirit over the years.  And of course, this learning involved God’s word and taking a little time aside to spend time with Him regularly – praying and listening when the Holy Spirit quickened something to me.  Then over time, these things begin to unfold in meaning together as He shined light on one scripture with another the more explaining.  This is a major way that the Holy Spirit teaches us – and when this is taking place in your life, there will  be “a change” – a transformation of your life from the inside out that takes place – but like renovating a house, it isn’t done in one afternoon!  The plans can be drawn up and the contract signed, but the process that lies ahead takes some time!  After all, we’re talking about “the best beginning of all!”

I will finish this on my next post where I have a number of scriptures to share with you that specifically relate to or describe what happens to you at the moment  you are born again.  Have a great evening and I hope to visit with you here again.

A POST ABOUT BEGINNINGS

~ kathrynspen ~ 1 Comment

In this beginning post, what shall I say?  Should I tell the people who come here – that tomorrow is my spiritual birthday?  It has been 37 years tomorrow since I was “born again.”  I would like to share that with them – because it’s a very special day to me – but even more importantly, I want each one of them to know what it means to be “born again”….. Such were my thoughts as I started this day.

Well, you  can see what won out in my thinking – for here I am writing to share with you about being born again.  The main thrust of this blog is to share with people who are already born again, but hungry for more help and information on how to go deeper in this life with Jesus Christ which they have begun; but there is nothing more important than mentioning to everyone that for one and all there is that beginning – a starting place – when our heart begins to want to “know Jesus” and we know  that we are in need of this Savior.  We’ve deeply realized that we’re not perfect – our faults, our “imperfections,” and some things even worse -* the word of God, the bible, calls these things “sin.” And it tells us that this applies to all men.  But the “invitation” is also to all – for the call goes out to us “Come, whosoever will”….. and “No one that comes to Me will I cast out,” *Jesus says.

What you do with this invitation is your choice, but I implore you to open your heart, and ask Him to come in – because I can assure you  that Jesus is who the bible says that He is.  For me, these 37 years (tomorrow!) of getting to know Him and God the Father, have more than sufficiently borne that out!  I’ll leave this part now about how to have your beginning in Him with these scriptures : Romans 6:23;  John 3:16,17;  John 6:37  to refer to for the things I mentioned from the bible between the two *  (in the last paragraph).

There are many things said in the  scriptures that can help you and I to better understand what the bible means when it says “you must be born again.”  Jesus said that to Nicodemus when Nicodemus came seeking Jesus one evening to inquire of Jesus who He was.  (John 3:1-8)  The explanation that followed Nicodemus’ question is so beautiful that it quiets our fears that anything and everything from the spirit realm is eerie and spooky, dark and haunting. Not so!  For Jesus made it clear that a man/human  must also be “born of the spirit” to enter into the Kingdom of God, or for that matter to even “see” the Kingdom of God (verse 3-5). He went on to further explain that there is the natural birth by which every man comes into this world – and there is a spiritual birth that comes to a person when they receive God’s plan of redemption in Jesus Christ.  “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit (of God) is spirit “ ( verse 6)– making a clear distinction between the two births a man can experience and the fact that “You must be born again ” to enter into the Kingdom of God!

I have more to share about this –  and I will take it up again in a post tomorrow. I hope to see you here then.