Got A Hankering for the Word

I spoke with a chap, a student and mutual friend in the faith at Cornerstone Bible Institute (let's conceal his name to protect the innocent and call him "Pepe del Taco" because Spanish is the perfect language in which to conceal a person's identity), who is a buddy of my pal "Bud Stephens" (protecting the innocent again, but in English). "Pepe" inspired me to look back into the Old Testement for prophecy fulfilled, and suggesting Zechariah 10-12 as a place to read. One thing lead to another, and soon I was skimming to the Gospel of John, then to Isaiah. Always have I been uplifted in this book; in the midst of judgment, there is grace and mercy; sacrifice and the spilling, of the Holy Spirit upon the believers was prophesied in chapter 44:3 ("I will pour My Spirit on your descendants..." God says, and continues, "One will say, 'I am the Lord's'" it says in verse 5).

Another passage of the Redeemer coming, in Isaiah, reads:

"And now the LORD says, who formed Me from the womb to be His servant, to bring back to Him, so that Israel is gathered to Him (for Hi shall be glorious in the eyes of the LORD,And My God shall be My strength),Indeed He says,'It is too small a thing that You should be My ServantTo raise up the tribes of Jacob,And to restore the preserved ones of Israel;I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles,That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth'" (Isaiah 49:5-6).

I pray for more thirsting for the Word, as Christ has quenched my eternal thirst, the well of doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteous living, as Paul said, is fit for the man of God to be made complete, "thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16). If anyone reads this, I ask for your prayer in regard to my devotion to the Word and in reading and studying that which is of Him--the Bible.

MODESTO, CA--Sun down outiside town. Another Modesto shot shows that I am in a nostalgic mood at the present moment. This was taken at my Grandparents' place last December.  

MODESTO, CA--Outside of the city limits, my brother Jason (whose portrait has graced this site more than once) had snapped this shot around Easter. Very nostlagic. I'd like to walk a few miles down some dirt road, among the almond trees or in a field such as this.  

1 John 5:14-15

Such a night it was last night for prayer. Much prayer to God in thankfulness and petitioning came to a head once I stopped to read in the Journals of Jim Elliot, the book of the Christian missionary to the Quicha and Auca Indians in Ecuador in the 1950s who was killed by an Auca spear along with two other Christian men on a sand bar in Auca territory. The book, edited by his widow (now writer and speaker) Elisabeth Elliot, is a timeless classic of encouragement; each time I sit to read in it I find some learning from the man's mind as he had been compelled to log his discoveries and insights in the Word and in life with the Word.

Before going to sleep at 2 AM, I had that night been feeling discontent with my search for an apartment or room to rent here in the Puget Sound, tossing aside the renter's guidebook and praying to God for His provision. It will come. I finished praying and read this:

"Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything
according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we
ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him" (1 John 5:14-15).

Not much to say after that, except that I will rest easy in faith, in patience for the Lord. Inside I keep thinking, "Remember Isaiah 30:18!" I do remember it.

Tonight, and in a moment I'll leave, there's ongoing work to do at Milgard in almost my second month with the company. I will be taking the opporator's exam and interview sometime this week it is likely, since I had informed my supervisor I am interested in the position.

Good night.

1 John 1:5-10

Had some fellowship with a handful of Christians at the Rietzugs' house this morning and early afternoon, looking into the book of 1 John. Five verses below on fellowship with the LORD, which need no commentary from me, are particularly helpful to my mind this evening.

This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us (1 John 1:5-10).

OK. I will explain why they are helpful to me. Verse 6, reminding the man of God that double-speak tarnishes the truth and is not true to the fellowship with God and our Lord Jesus Christ. And as with true fellowship, true love, true salvation, the testing of spirits, identifiying the way of deceptive living is a recurring theme throughout the the epistle. This identifies deception: "If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen (4:20)?" Shall a man not overcome the world when he has become a Christian, child of God?

Paul challanged the Colossians all who have know Christ the Savior to "put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth" (Col. 3:8) as we have left our positions as "sons of disobedience" (those who still must worry of the wrath of God which is to come) and have stepped into eternity at the very instant when we first believed. In this reminder I know that I must carry out love, fighting the good fight of faith with a pure mind (for it is the mind that is the battleground of a man's soul), submitting myself to the Lord, and exemplifying Christ to my nonbelieving brothers and sisters in each meeting which come. I challange all Christians who might have chanced to read this to do the very same thing.