The house is quiet today but I am not alone. Ever faithful Jake, our Velcro Dane, haunts my steps, following me from room to room, even to the bathroom. He lumbers to the garage door as I fold laundry, pacing, hoping in vain for an early dinner. I take him out and he chases a squirrel through the fence before taking care of business. He slurps his water down, leaving more on the floor than he swallows. He is predictable. I know what he needs and when he needs it and if I forget or delay, he reminds me loudly.
Quiet days are rarer than you might expect at my age. I love being part of my children’s lives. I adore spending time with my grandchildren and I have my husband’s full approval. He and I are one in Christ so he loves them vicariously through me until he can be physically present. Today is a Mother’s Day gift from my daughter-in-love. She knows my routine as well as anyone, especially since they moved in when their house sold out from under them earlier this year. She works diligently to lighten my load around the house and she plans family outings when she knows I need quiet to write or to rest. Knowing where to start, what to do when it’s just me, myself and I is more challenging. Many things cloud my mind in the silence but dismissing Martha with her expectations and demands, I choose with Mary the good portion. I sit at Jesus’s feet and learn from Him.
“In the beginning the Word already existed.
The Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He existed in the beginning with God.
God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.
The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone.
So the Word became human and made his home among us.
He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.
And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.”
John 1:1-4, 14 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.1.1-14.NLT
According to John, Jesus, the Word of God is God and He was with God in the beginning. Father, Spirit, Son have always existed. When the earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the face of the deep, the same Spirit of God who would raise Jesus from death was hovering over the surface of the waters. (Romans 8:11, Genesis 1:2) Our triune God was sufficient in Himself before creation. We were created out of His own desire. Earth and everything in it was spoken into existence but God formed man from the dust of the ground and woman from man’s rib. The same hands that would inscribe Ten Commandments on tablets of stone, the very hands that would be nailed to a cross at Calvary formed the first humans with care and precision.
“I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”
Psalm 139:14 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/psa.139.14.ESV
Male and female were uniquely designed to procreate by God and commanded to multiply, to fill the earth and to care for it. God did not need our help. He caused waters to flow from rocks and He watered the earth without rain in the beginning. He provided food to nourish every creature. We alone were made for fellowship with God and with each other. Self deception and self will tried to derail God’s good and perfect plan, still does, but Satan does not have final word. God foreknew our failing and He made a Way before He made our world.
“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.
They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.”
So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female.
God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it.
Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.
God also said, “Look, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the surface of the entire earth and every tree whose fruit contains seed.
This food will be for you, for all the wildlife of the earth, for every bird of the sky, and for every creature that crawls on the earth — everything having the breath of life in it.
I have given every green plant for food.”
And it was so.
God saw all that He had made, and it was very good.
Evening came and then morning: the sixth day.”
Genesis 1:26-31 HCSB
https://bible.com/bible/72/gen.1.26-31.HCSB
Even with every provision God made in the garden for the first man and woman, through the serpent’s cunning, discontentment entered, and along with it, sin.
“And the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit), knowing [how to distinguish between] good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take from the tree of life as well, and eat [its fruit], and live [in this fallen, sinful condition] forever”—”
Genesis 3:22 AMP
https://bible.com/bible/1588/gen.3.22.AMP
God in His love, His patience, His kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and from His glorious self-restraint removed Adam and Eve and therefore, you and me, from the certainty of eternity apart from Him by banning them from the garden and the way to the tree of life. In the curse, we find God’s grace and mercy. The seed of woman, the very Son of God born of a virgin by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, the Lamb slain before the creation of the world would crush the serpent, defeating sin and death for all who come into the Light.
“But Jesus replied, “My Father is always working, and so am I.””
John 5:17 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.5.17.NLT
“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.
Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.
This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.
So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.
He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.
He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.
God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill his own good plan.
And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth.
Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.
God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God.
And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you.
And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago.
The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people.
He did this so we would praise and glorify him.”
Ephesians 1:3-14 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/eph.1.3-12.NLT
I am created to give Him glory, honor and praise but I am nothing but an empty shell without Christ. Were I to choose my own way, attempting to hide my sinful humanity from my magnanimous Creator, I would be choosing a shallow, hollow, meaningless existence when I was made for a life of abundance. It may seem for all the world like I have found success, wealth even, but my end would be torment. Jesus gave His life for mine so that I could live now and forever with Him. Only in complete surrender evidenced by obedience to His commands can I find the life that is truly life.
“Remain in me, and I will remain in you.
For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.
Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches.
Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit.
For apart from me you can do nothing.
When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples.
This brings great glory to my Father.
I have loved you even as the Father has loved me.
Remain in my love.
When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.
I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy.
Yes, your joy will overflow!”
John 15:4-5, 8-11 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.15.4-11.NLT
How is this possible? Zechariah offered a message of hope to the remnant returning to Israel from exile in Babylon. It is the same message Jesus gave His first followers.
“Jesus looked at them and replied, “This is impossible for mere humans, but for God all things are possible.””
Matthew 19:26 NET
https://bible.com/bible/107/mat.19.26.NET
“So he said to me, “A message from the Lord came to Zerubbabel.
The Lord said, ‘Your strength will not get my temple rebuilt.
Your power will not do it either.
Only the power of my Spirit will do it,’ says the Lord who rules over all.”
Zechariah 4:6 NIRV
https://bible.com/bible/110/zec.4.6.NIRV
“Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?
You do not belong to yourself,”
1 Corinthians 6:19 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/1co.6.19.NLT
““I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord God.
“I am the God who is, and who was, and who will come.
I am the Mighty One.””
Revelation 1:8 NIRV
https://bible.com/bible/110/rev.1.8.NIRV
“But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.”
John 14:26 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.14.26.NLT
“And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness.
For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for.
But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.
And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
And having chosen them, he called them to come to him.
And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself.
And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.
What shall we say about such wonderful things as these?
If God is for us, who can ever be against us?
Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?
Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own?
No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself.
Who then will condemn us?
No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.
Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love?
Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?
No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love.
Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.
No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:26-35, 37-39 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/rom.8.26-28.NLT
“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives:
love,
joy,
peace,
patience,
kindness,
goodness,
faithfulness,
gentleness, and
self-control.
There is no law against these things!
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.
Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.”
Galatians 5:22-25 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/gal.5.22-24.NLT
“Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.
Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.
And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.””
Matthew 28:18-20 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.28.18-20.NLT
“Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.
Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away—all who have been called by the Lord our God.””
Acts of the Apostles 2:38-39 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/act.2.38-39.NLT
“But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time.
Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.
There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet.
For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.
And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so.
For he says, “This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.””
Hebrews 10:12-16 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/heb.10.15.NLT
“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.”
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/1th.5.24.ESV
“But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life.
In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love.
Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault.
All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord.
All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen.”
Jude 1:20-21, 24-25 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jud.1.20-25.NLT
Come Holy Spirit ~Patrick Mayberry https://youtu.be/KoTNHiFq0p0?si=-jO_tRsn2mVjeAUo
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