June 2010
From The Editor . . . by Tim Greenwood
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Window On The Word
In
John 17, Jesus is speaking to the Father during a very heartfelt prayer
before His death and resurrection. Jesus' last thoughts are not
focused on Himself but His apostles and those Christians coming into
the light of the gospel, that they will have protection from the evil
one.
He was very specific in His prayer. Vs. 9, I pray for them, for they are yours and not for those in the world!
What made these people that Jesus prayed for so special? Vs. 6,
says, I have revealed your name to those whom You gave Me out of the
world. These were Yours and you gave them to me and they have
obeyed Your Word.
They knew with certainty that I came from you and they believed you sent me.
John 1:1, In the Beginning was the Word and the Word was God…
Jesus is the Living word and He came to fulfill the written word, which is the will of the Father.
Vs. 11, I will remain in the world no longer, for I am coming to you,
Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name - the name you gave
me (Jesus) so that they may be one as we are one.
Jesus was saying - while I was with them I could protect. Now I
ask not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them
through the power that comes with using My Name, so they will be
sanctified, protected and be set apart from others.
Knowing Jesus, receiving Him as our Savior and Lord sets us apart from
the rest of the world. Our spirit man with in us is recreated at
this time. 2 John 3:10, We are, as Jesus told Nicodemus "born
again." This time we are born, not of the flesh, but of the
spirit. God is spirit and He comes to live in our spirit-man.
Our desires now change. We no longer want to sin - but desire to
live to please our Father. We desire to become perfect; working
towards holiness. We do this by making Jesus our Lord. We
want to follow His direction and lead.
We have an inheritance so great - our human minds cannot even begin to
comprehend it! But, as we begin to live by the spirit with the
Holy Spirit' guidance, we put away the things of the flesh and it's
lust.
This sanctifies us even deeper, as we - as the Bible puts it - live in
the world - but are no longer of the world. Our desire now is to
please the Father, not ourselves or others.
John 17:14, I have given them your Word, and the world has hated them,
for they are not of the world even as I am not of this world. Vs.
17, Sanctify them by truth, Your Word Is Truth. The word sanctify
in the Greek is Hagiazo and means to 'make holy, purify mentally,
consecrate, blameless, innocent, chaste and pure.
Jesus desire stemmed from the love of the Father in Him. You see God desired a family.
John 3:16 says that God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten son - so that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but
have everlasting life.
His desire for the Christians was to be protected from the evil one and
to be sanctified, set apart from the world and drawn near the Father -
to be one with Him. When we have the love of the Father in us and
we walk as one with Him then others will also be drawn to the Father
and be drawn to Jesus Christ.
Vs. 21, I have given them the glory so that they may be one as we
are. I in them and they in Me. May they be brought to complete
unity (complete and perfect), so that they may know that you (the
Father) loved them as you have Me.
God is all about love and we can have that love in us when we receive Jesus and His love is shed abroad in our hearts.
As believers, we must fully grasp the love of the Father towards
us. He has given us everything He owns and He owns the whole
world, everything in it and on it. What we see, and what we do not see.
John 16:5, Jesus said that He would not leave us alone. He would
send us the Holy Spirit. In verse 13, we are told that the Holy
Spirit will guide us into all truth. He will bring glory to Me by
taking from what is Mine and making it knows to you, for all that the
Father has is Mine.
Luke 11:13 The Holy Spirit comes to live in us when we ask the Father
to fill us. The Bible says that we have the same power in us that
raised Jesus from the dead. We have the Holy Spirit to teach,
guide, counsel, convict and comfort us - the same Holy Spirit that led
Jesus while He was on earth in a human body. He was filled with
the Holy Spirit and we can be also.
We are truly set apart from the world when we are Spirit filled.
It's like the rest of the world is running away from good and the
things of God and the believers are 'putting away' the things of the
past and leading a whole new life.
Too many people look at the Bible as a "holy" book - the book itself
and not the words contained within. They keep it around for
'show'. They may even kiss it if it falls, even may read it from
time to time, but they do not understand the power - the very life that
is contained in the words!
Proverbs 4:20 says, Keep My Word in your heart…
Hosea 4:6 says, My people (believers - Christians) perish for lack of knowledge.
What sanctifies a believer is not by reading the Word. That is
like a horse pulling a cart and the owner puts a carrot on a string
just out of his reach to keep him going. God wants us to have the
carrot - Life - Fullness - Joy - Peace - Prosperity - Health and so on.
To be continued... TGM
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Is A Publication of
Co-Editors
Tim Greenwood & Marcia Greenwood
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