“Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me” Psalm 23:4. The rod and staff were the symbol of a shepherd; while the staff may have been used by the shepherd in walking, or as something to lean on, the obvious message here is their function in caring for the flock, and by their use the […]
“He restores my soul” verse 3; when a sheep would fall sick, break a leg, or face some other calamity, the shepherd would be there to treat, dress the wound, and nurture that sheep back to health. God our “good shepherd” is the greatest restorer ever! From the moment our relationship with Him was broken […]
Last week we saw Jesus as the life, the restorer of the life of God to mankind because there had been a spiritual death in which we became separated from God and we needed restoration. Today we hear Jesus words “I am the resurrection and the life”, spoken in the face of the death of […]
In introducing Jesus John 1:4 says “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” This shows us that in the original creation of Genesis 1 and 2 life came from God through Jesus. The life of the new creation in 2 Corinthians 5:17 also comes from God through Him; as the […]
Sheep and shepherds were a big part of ancient Israel, the nation of whom God had said was “the flock of My pasture” Ezekiel 34:31, and His commitment to them through the prophet Isaiah was that He would “feed His flock like a shepherd” 40:11. Then in Psalm 100:3 they acknowledge that “we are His […]
No less than seven times in John’s gospel did Jesus identify Himself as “I am”, I see these powerful statements linking Him with God the Father who in Exodus 3:14 indentified Himself to Moses as “I AM WHO I AM”. As “God manifest in the flesh” 1 Timothy 3:16, Jesus is everything God the Father […]
In Isaiah 58 God lays out the details of a fast He has chosen, which entails a lot more than just abstaining from food or some other pleasure and luxury; the fast that meets God’s approval will be followed by deeds of His heart in service and ministry to others! What I see here is […]
The Bible says, “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven” Ecclesiastes 3:1. Yes, this includes the time to seek the Lord. Isaiah 55:6 says “Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.” The season to seek Him will not always be available […]
“But the fruit of the Spirit is…faith” Galatians 5:22 KJV. Today we are again looking at the fruit of the Spirit called faith that is implanted in us by the Holy Spirit Himself. Colossians 2:7 says, “rooted and built up in Him (Christ) and established (stabilized) in the faith, (truth and truthfulness of God) as […]
“But the fruit of the Spirit is…goodness”. This fruit obviously is closely related to kindness, actually we can look at goodness as kindness in action; indeed all of these fruit are related to each other, they are the fruit of the Spirit (singular) not fruits (plural) with each manifestation working together with the others to […]