Saturday, January 1, 2011

2011 A Year of Knowing Jesus!

As we counted down the seconds until the new year, my heart realized that one thing is for sure about 2011: we are one year closer to Jesus coming back and all things on earth being fulfilled. The clock continues to tick loudly.
Jesus’ first words to the disciples, when they asked about the time that all things would be fulfilled, was “Take heed that no one deceives you.” He further said that many will fall away in the last days. With a slight tremble on the inside of me, my heart silently cries, God do not let me(us) be deceived. What word has the power and persuasion to keep our hearts and minds from being deceived?

In Matthew the passages on the end times concludes with the sentence, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” When Jesus warns us about a problem He also gives the answer.
Yet many read the Bible only intermittently or superficially. Some may even be bored with the contents and don’t see how these words can direct their lives. May we suggest the simple way Jesus gave to let the Scriptures be the light He meant it to be.

Jesus, in John 5:39-40, stated to the Pharisees, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. So how do we “come to Him” while we read the words of God and taste this life? The Holy Spirit as author and teacher of all Scripture uses the Word to bear witness to Jesus. He invites us to interact with Him and through this relationship get to know Him. When the Bible verse gives us something to believe, such as “do not fear, only believe,” the Holy Spirit points us to Jesus and then we can stop right then and ask Him to help us believe. When the Word tells us to “forgive those who hurt us,” the Spirit reminds us of our weakness and that Jesus is available to pour that grace into our hearts. We cry out for His love and experience His forgiveness which enables us to do likewise. Often there are verses in between the commands that are just information which set the scene for us to realize the next opportunity to draw life from Him.

2011 will be a life-changing year if we heed the admonition to not be deceived by increasingly coming to Jesus through responding to the Word He has given. Schedule a daily time and deliberately choose to meet with Jesus by coming to Him in His Word everyday.

No comments:

Post a Comment