the gospel in Revelation 1:17-18

with passion in her eyes and conviction in her voice, my friend proclaimed her love for Jesus, His life, death, resurrection, Word, and His revelation to John... 

¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. ¹⁸ I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. Revelation 1:17-18 

She said, "I see the gospel here.  I get that Jesus loves me; I do, I get that.  But, my mom loves me, too.  Why should it matter that Jesus loves me?  Because He died for me, He rose, and He holds the keys of death and Hades; He is alive forever."

I love my friend, but I know You love her more.  Please keep her near You; remain in her...

her heart is pounding with love for You...

my heart is refreshed by her...

keep her...

quiet tears

the kind that form, gather, and fall unannounced

the kind that speak volumes on behalf of the heart

the kind that fall slow, steady

the kind that wet cheeks

the kind that reveal burdens, aching

the kind that fall quietly

my girl has quiet tears today...she doesn't feel well

Lord, please heal her...

intimate conversations

intimate conversations between two people known to each other

among true friends with a connection through Christ

between husband and wife

between believer and God.

if we are strangers to God, there is no intimacy

we don't know Him like we might know a good life-long friend

so, how do you talk with someone you don't know?  how do you share your heart, fears, struggles, joys with a stranger?

intimate conversations with God are possible when we really know Him, really know Him.

do you know Him?

"Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
 ⁸ Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
 ⁹ Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. ¹¹ Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. ¹² I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing..." John 14:6-12

I love how Jesus shows us that we know God through Him, they're One, which is such a beautiful picture to me.  They are united, undivided.  What a treasure that if we know Jesus, we know God, too.  

How do we come to know Jesus?  What does that mean?  

The Bible says that it's as simple as believing Him.  

I believe that He came from heaven to earth as a baby, growing through boyhood, into manhood.  He healed lots of people - from heart-healing to demon-driving-out-healing to skin-healing to hunger-healing and more.  

He came to broken people living in a broken world needing to be helped in it, through it.  

He was tried publicly because He stood for and preached Truth.  He was whipped till His flesh was torn, He was bloodied from spikes of thorns pressed into His head, skin, He was insulted in the most horrific manner, and He was attached to a cross of rough-cut wood.  He was nailed to it.  The soldiers with nailing and execution orders continued their murder of this Man.  They stood the cross, sliding its vertical post into the ground.  

Jesus was nailed to and hanging on the cross.  

Why was He there?  

If He didn't do anything wrong, what was He dying for?  

He was dying for the people He had created, the people who turned against Him and sinned, bringing a death curse on themselves and on the world.  He was dying so that His death, His sacrifice of Himself, would speak for us...on our behalf.  He died for sin once for all that day on the cross.  

I believe it.  I believe I need Him, the Savior, because I was born with sin.  I couldn't pay for my sin myself.  My kind deeds for others wouldn't ever be enough.  The death of Christ was recognized as payment for my sin, for the sin of all because He is "in the Father, and the Father is in" Him.  

His sacrifice/payment is complete when He snuffs out death by rising from it; the grave couldn't hold Him.  He is the Life-Giver.  His life gives life.  

So, believing in His death, His coming back to life, believing in Jesus, calling Him my Master, my King, my best Friend, leads me to knowing God...because Jesus says they're One.  It is then that I can talk with Him...I know Him.  We can have intimate conversations.  We listen to each other; we know each other.

Do you know Him? 

 

do you ever

Sometimes - lots of times - my tongue gushes folly (Proverbs 15:2).

My words pour out quickly, without restraint.

I release the tongue-belt, and soon my heart is aching with regret.

My mind is filled with anguish at what I just heard myself say.

And, I find myself praying that the words would be unheard, or forgotten, or used in some way by God for good.

Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. Proverbs 12:18

Please, Jesus, give me your wisdom, that the words from my mouth would bring healing...that they would be like honey to hearts around me.

Please give me wisdom to be quiet, gentle, kind.  Oh! how I need You.
keep me.

I love, and I love, and I love you.

I love you mountains high

I love you oceans wide

I love you valleys deep

I love you honey sweet

I love you blossoms bright

I love you starlit night

I love you sunny day

I love, and I love, and I love you.