“We will come to them and make our home with them.”

 

 

John 14:23.   Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.

 Psalms 91:1     He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

 Isaiah 57:15     For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.

 Romans 8:9   You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

 1 John 2:24      Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.

 1 John 4:15-16    Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.  So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

 Revelation 3:20  Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

 Revelation 7:15-17    “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.  They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.  For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

 Revelation 22:3    No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.

 Jhn 14:26  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Is there any greater promise than salvation, forgiveness, restoration, in-dwelling Holy Spirit, and eternal life? Grace, mercy, and love are offered to us through Jesus Christ. While we were yet sinners Christ died for us.  

Think about this! While we were going about our sinful lives doing sinful things, thinking sinful thoughts, giving no thought to Jesus Christ being beaten, whipped, nailed to a cross, and dying as a sacrifice for our sins, He did this. There was nothing in us or about us that was worthy of Him giving His life so that we could have a new birth and eternal life. Our lives were a mess, our actions were not God-honoring. Our thoughts were only with selfish desires. We gave no thought to or about God, and if we did, it was in passing. We gave no thought to eternity, eternal life, or eternal torment. There was nothing, absolutely nothing, in us worthy of such a sacrifice, and yet, in our worthless, sinful, ungodly lives, God reached out to us through His Son Jesus Christ for our redemption. Not only that, but God, promises to indwell those who invite Him into their lives through faith, trust, obedience, and reliance in/on Jesus Christ.

If you think you are not worthy of the Love of Jesus Christ. You are right, but PRAISE be to God, He knows all about every single worthless and sinful thing about you and still stands at the door of your heart, knocking and offering eternal life. His grace, mercy, and love are greater than anything you have done in the past.  Listen for His knock and offer of salvation, forgiveness, restoration, in-dwelling Holy Spirit, and eternal life. Trust His promises! 

Your life will be forever changed.

45.z. “Wilderness” – 10.e. ” Jealousy – Adultery”

Num 5:11-31   And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel, If any man’s wife goes astray and breaks faith with him,  if a man lies with her sexually, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and she is undetected though she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her, since she was not taken in the act,  and if the spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife who has defiled herself, or if the spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife, though she has not defiled herself, then the man shall bring his wife to the priest and bring the offering required of her, a tenth of an ephah of barley flour. He shall pour no oil on it and put no frankincense on it, for it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of remembrance, bringing iniquity to remembrance. “And the priest shall bring her near and set her before the LORD. And the priest shall take holy water in an earthenware vessel and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. And the priest shall set the woman before the LORD and unbind the hair of the woman’s head and place in her hands the grain offering of remembrance, which is the grain offering of jealousy. And in his hand the priest shall have the water of bitterness that brings the curse.  Then the priest shall make her take an oath, saying, ‘If no man has lain with you, and if you have not turned aside to uncleanness while you were under your husband’s authority, be free from this water of bitterness that brings the curse. But if you have gone astray, though you are under your husband’s authority, and if you have defiled yourself, and some man other than your husband has lain with you, then’ (let the priest make the woman take the oath of the curse, and say to the woman) ‘the LORD make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the LORD makes your thigh fall away and your body swell. May this water that brings the curse pass into your bowels and make your womb swell and your thigh fall away.’ And the woman shall say, ‘Amen, Amen.’ “Then the priest shall write these curses in a book and wash them off into the water of bitterness. And he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings the curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain. And the priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand and shall wave the grain offering before the LORD and bring it to the altar. And the priest shall take a handful of the grain offering, as its memorial portion, and burn it on the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water. And when he has made her drink the water, then, if she has defiled herself and has broken faith with her husband, the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain, and her womb shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away, and the woman shall become a curse among her people. But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, then she shall be free and shall conceive children. “This is the law in cases of jealousy, when a wife, though under her husband’s authority, goes astray and defiles herself, or when the spirit of jealousy comes over a man and he is jealous of his wife. Then he shall set the woman before the LORD, and the priest shall carry out for her all this law. The man shall be free from iniquity, but the woman shall bear her iniquity.”

This unique passage deals with the problem of a spirit of jealousy in a marriage. Part of the foundation for marriage is the expectation that one’s spouse will be romantically and sexually faithful, and there is a justified jealousy that comes from this expectation. However, there may also be unfounded jealousy that can damage a marriage. This passage gave Israel a way to deal with a spirit of jealousy that may or may not be justified. “This law was given partly to deter wives from adulterous practices, and partly to secure wives against the rage of their hard-hearted husbands, who otherwise might upon mere suspicions destroy them, or at least put them away.” 

Sometimes jealousy in a marriage is revealed to be justified; other times it is found to be false. Either way, God gave Israel a way to dealt with this spirit of jealousy. Sometimes a husband or wife knows by intuition if their spouse has been unfaithful, through interpreting dozens of subtle indications. Yet, this intuition is not infallible – it is sometimes wrong. Accusations of infidelity that can’t be “proven” should be rightly resolved, and God gave Israel this unusual procedure to resolve such matters. This unusual law is evidence that God does not want couples to live in an on-going state of jealousy. The LORD gave a ceremony to resolve jealous feelings in a marriage, by either proving them or disproving them. This meant that the husband did not have the right to do as he pleased with his wife. He had to bring his wife to the priest and have the matter resolved by a higher authority. It was a serious, solemn thing to bring before the priest, discouraging groundless or frivolous accusations. The water was made bitter in two ways. First, it contained the dust from the floor of God’s holy tabernacle. Second, it contained the ink from the scroll containing God’s curse upon the sinner. The combination of seeing the holiness of God and the just penalty upon sinners is bitter.

Notably, if the woman was guilty, her punishment was not in the hand of her husband or even the community. Under the law of jealousy, the punishment of the woman was only in the hand of God. If the woman was innocent, it was known the entire community. At the very least, because this was a public ceremony, it made the entire community aware of the evil of adultery – and the seriousness of trying to hide your sin. The existence of the ceremony itself was an incentive to faithfulness in marriage, and therefore it was good for the entire nation.

 Surely, both the holiness of God and the perfection of His word testifies against us. We should be forced to drink a bitter cup that would destroy us – but Jesus drank it for us. (Guzik)

You will receive power

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

“Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him”

“With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”

John 7:37  On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”  Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

John 14:16     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.

John 14:26    But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you

Proverbs 1:23    If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.

Isaiah 44:3     For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.

Joel 2:28     “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;

Ephesians 1:13    In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

This is the verse that has me thinking; “If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.”  If we turn at His reproof – How do we know of His reproof?  How do we understand that we have done something wrong, or are doing something we shouldn’t, or not doing something we should, or thinking something we shouldn’t??????  How do we know we are on the path and in the purpose God has for our life?  First we must have a heart, soul and mind deep desire to know, humbly serve, honor, follow and obey Him.  Second, we must understand to know Him we must have a mind that trusts in , clings to, and rely on Him.  Third, we must stay in His word.  Fourth, we must want to hear His leading in our life on paths which are in line with His word.  Fifth, we must talk to Him in prayer.  Sixth, we must believe He is able to guide, direct, lead, instruct, protect, and be our refuge, hope, joy, and power.   We do not get His leading through complacent neglect of His word.  It takes faith and commitment and time in His word each day to overcome the dilution affect this culture we live in has on our life.

Pay Attention

“And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.”

” let us not pay attention to any of his words.”

Psalms 56:5  All day long they injure my cause; all their thoughts are against me for evil. They stir up strife, they lurk; they watch my steps, as they have waited for my life. For their crime will they escape? In wrath cast down the peoples, O God! You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me.

Job 16:20   My friends scorn me; my eye pours out tears to God,

Matthew 22:15   Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words

Luke 11:54   lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.

Jeremiah 18:18   Then they said, “Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words.”

Luke 22:3  Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve.  He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them.  And they were glad, and agreed to give him money.  So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd.

Isaiah 63:9   In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.

Hebrews 11:13   These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

Malachi 3:16   Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name.

Psalms 126:5  Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy  He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

Revelation 7:17    For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

It is obvious there are those who seek God and those who do not.  For those who do not, they have closed their ears, eyes, heart, soul and mind.  they have closed all of these to His creation, His word, and what He has placed within our heart about Him.  Their heart and mind have hardened to the point of not only rejecting God’s call but to reject, mock, and cause issue with those who walk by faith in the one true God.  In Romans it says that they have chosen to reject God because He has made it clear to them through creation and by placing initial knowledge of Himself in their heart and mind.  Romans continues to say that because they have rejected Him, He has given them over to this debase and eternally harmful mindset.  For those who have chosen to humbly serve, honor, follow and obey there is another course/path for their lives.  God is ever present in their heart, mind, and soul.  They know there is more to life than what is experienced this side of eternity.  They hold on to that which is promised – not seen. They come to God with their heart cry and know He is their strength, rock, refuge, joy, peace, and place of rest.  They live this side of eternity with hope and expectation of eternity promised with God.  Keep strong, stand firm, seek God, and CHOOSE to keep your heart, mind and soul focused in this life on Him.  Do not allow your heart and mind to be pulled away by things of this world and culture.  Do not get so busy that you lose sight of God and eternity.  Do not neglect His word.  Keep your life in check with His word.