August 19 Esight, 2007

By the opening of your hand, every living thing has its desire in full measure.—Psalms 145:16C.S. Lewis is reported to have said, “If I find in myself longings and desire for which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only probable explanation is that I must have been made for a different world.” Have you ever felt a vague longing for something more than you were presently experiencing, but then found yourself at a loss to put your finger on exactly what it was you wanted? You are not alone.

What we are truly longing for is not more of this world’s wares, but to drink deeply of the soul-quenching love we were created for. (For more on this topic, please download To Love and Be Loved from https://renewedheartministries.com/resources.asp?t=sermons.)

Haggai describes God and His love for us as the “desired of all nations.” “‘ …the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the LORD Almighty” (Haggai 2:7). David said that from God’s hand every one of us finds every one of our desires fully satisfied.

Yet, there must be a word of caution. An encounter with God, as the majority of Christianity portrays Him today, will not accomplish this satisfaction of the soul. On the contrary, we must experience God as Jesus came to reveal Him. It is only in experiencing the truth of what He really is that we stand in awe. To experience God as He is in Christ leaves us standing in the presence of love beyond description. In each of us, there will begin to be an awakening of deep resonance. Something inside us will begin to whisper, “This, this is what I’ve always been searching for.” We will begin to sense that this encounter, this love, is what we were made for. We will collapse into the embrace of His perfect love, while every fiber of our being says in harmony, “He truly is beautiful if we can just see Him as He truly is.”

Is your heart thirsty for more than this world can give, dear friend? Would you like to experience this deep, soul-quenching love? Embark on a quest of discovery. Make the goal of discovering the truth of God’s character, as seen through Jesus, your paramount goal in life. Then, and only then, will everything else pale in comparison.

“You who in heart long for something better than this world can give, recognize this longing as the voice of God to your soul.” (Ellen White, Steps to Christ, p. 28)

“Through influences seen and unseen, our Saviour is constantly at work to attract the minds of men from the unsatisfying pleasures of sin to the infinite blessings that may be theirs in Him. To all these souls, who are vainly seeking to drink from the broken cisterns of this world, the divine message is addressed, ‘Let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.’ Revelations 22:17.” (Ellen White, Steps to Christ, p. 28)

August 5 Esight, 2007

. . . where sin abounds, Grace much more abounds.—Romans 5:20Jesus stated that when He, the Comforter, would come, the first thing He would do is convict the world of sin (John 16:8). I don’t know whether this has ever struck any of you as a contradiction. As for me, I used to wonder how He can be convicting us of sin at the same time as He is the comforter. I believe the key to the secret lies in the story of Jesus’ interaction with the woman at the well in John 4.

Jesus offered her living water. Elsewhere we have shown in the Scriptures that this living water is the heart-quenching unconditional love of God that, once received, becomes a well, springing up inside us toward others. But before she could receive this living water, she first had to come to a realization of her own past mistakes while simultaneously realizing God’s unchanging, noncondemning love for her in spite of her past mistakes (for more on this topic, download Windows to His Soul, coming soon to the sermons/downloads page at http://www.renewedheartministries.com)

You see, in order for one to experience just how unconditional God’s love is, one must first realize his or her own sinfulness. Let me explain further.

The Bible never uses the phrase “unconditional love,” yet the concept is everywhere in the Scriptures. Instead of the phrase unconditional love, the Bible uses the word Grace. You see, Grace (or unmerited favor, as some define it) is still love, but it’s love when that love is not deserved. When humanity sinned, God’s love for us did not change. It simply became unmerited or undeserved. God continued to love us, but now it was in spite of our sin. His affection toward us never lessened along with His continued desire to help, bless, and save us. The angels are not the recipients of God’s grace, for they have never sinned. God simply loves them. God loves we who have sinned just as much as He does the angels, but we call the love He shows us Grace, because by our actions we should have forfeited His love, yet He loves us still the same. Paul tried to communicate this in his famous statement to the believers in Rome:

“… where sin abounds Grace does much more abound” (Romans 5:20).

John sought to communicate this truth in I John 2:1: “If any man sin we have a [comforter] along side the Father.”

Some will say, “Wait, the verse states that Jesus is our advocate, not our comforter.” Yet the word translated as “advocate” is parakletos. It is used five times in the New Testament and only in this verse was it translated as advocate. Everywhere else it was translated as comforter (AV). Jesus hints at this when He says to His disciples that when He departs, He will ask “the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever” (John 14:16, emphasis added). This brings us back to our original question. How is it that when the Holy Spirit comes as a comforter, His first job will be to “convict the world concerning sin”? (John 16:8). Ask yourself, why is He doing this? The Holy Spirit was given to usher in the fullness of our encounter with God and His love that Jesus began. Thus, as Jesus sought to have the woman at the well encounter God’s much more abounding grace in spite of her sin, the Holy Spirit is trying to accomplish this encounter for every person in the world! In order for the world to see God’s much more abounding grace, it must also see its sin along side God’s amazing grace which undeservedly much more abounds.

“No matter how greatly sin abounds, in that very place grace superabounds . . . the greater and more hideous and deadly sin is seen to be, the more is God’s superabounding grace magnified.” (E.J. Waggoner, The Everlasting Covenant p. 290)

“In the matchless gift of his Son, God has encircled the whole world with an atmosphere of grace, as real as the air which circulates around the globe” (Ellen White, Steps to Christ, p. 72).

The question for you this week is, will you choose to breathe it?

July 29 Esight, 2007

“For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”—Matthew 11:30Last week I had the privilege of speaking each evening at the Redwood Campmeeting in the Northern California Conference. Each night we pursued a deeply intimate encounter with God and His character of Love. One evening after my meeting, I had the opportunity to meet a dear sister who will remain nameless, but she will forever stand out in my memory. The reason is that her statements and questions summed up what I have found too many of us feel.

She came to me quite emotional and said, “I’ve been listening to you each night, and I don’t understand! I have been a Christian for the last 15 years, and not only have I never heard the things you are sharing before, but I have never experienced the things you speak of either . It’s like I’m hearing the Gospel for the first time! My walk with Jesus has been hard! I’m barely hanging on.” She couldn’t understand why she had such a hard time being a Christian when Jesus said His yoke is easy. The more we talked, the more I began to understand why her experience had been so hard. She had a focus similar to the one the disciples had in the beginning of their walk with Jesus.

Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” (John 6:28)

The disciples’ focus was on their own “doing.” In their misplaced emphasis on themselves, they had missed what Jesus’ mission was primarily about. The Apostle John wrote, “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” (John 1:18) Ever since the time of the Garden of Eden, humanity has had the wrong picture of God. The fall of the human race was rooted in deception concerning God’s character. Jesus came to reveal or “explain” to us what the Father is truly like. Just as our fall came through believing the serpent’s misrepresentation of the Father, our redemption is deeply grounded in believing the truth concerning our Heavenly Father. Thus God’s primary objective is that we be focused on something much greater than our own doing!

Jesus responded to the disciples’ question, not by telling them what they must do, but by offering them a reorientation concerning what following God was all about.

Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe….” (John 6:29)

Christianity is primarily about believing what Jesus stated concerning the character of God. All the “doing” comes as the result of what it is we believe about Him. You see, when we really begin to grasp the truth of what God is, amazement quickly turns into a deep, resonating gratitude and appreciation toward God for what He is. And this gratitude, this heart-level faith begins to change our orientation from our ceaseless self-centeredness to a passionate desire to live only for “Him who loved us.” (See 2 Corinthians 5:14, 15) Then all the “doing” rises out of this desire to love Him back. After that, the “doing” happens naturally and spontaneously.

Are you tired of feeling that following Jesus is so “hard”? Would you like your walk with Him to be “easier”? Are you tired of “doing” it all on your own? I leave you this week with the words of Jesus, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me [come to know and believe the truth I am revealing about our Heavenly Father], for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

July 8 Esight, 2007

The heavens are the heavens of Jehovah; but the earth hath he given to the children of men.—Psalm 115:16

This past week, as our country celebrated our freedoms, I was contemplating what freedom really is and how we believe as Christians that God, in relation to Him and each other, has given us freedom universally as well.

The heavens are His, but he has given the earth to us. And although God is intimately involved in each of our lives, we human beings are the ones calling the shots down here–maybe not individually, but collectively as a whole. He grants freedom by default, unless we give Him control of certain situations in our lives. And yet this freedom must be understood. The control we give to God applies to us but not always to everyone else involved. Let me explain. We want a world where God won’t make us love Him but will make everyone else love us. We want a world where God won’t control our actions but will control the actions of others around us. What we still have yet to understand is that the abuse of this God-given freedom on our part has caused, whether intentionally or unintentionally, whether directly or indirectly, countless pain in the lives of others, as well as more misplaced blame upon God, than any other misunderstanding that exists.

Everything that happens on this tiny planet falls somewhere on a continuum between Divine control and human freedom depending on how much control those involved have given Him of a certain situation. Sometimes His hands are loose, and sometimes His hands become tied. His will is not always done. He does not always get His way. And yet, we find an interesting characteristic in ourselves as free moral beings when things go wrong. We blame God for things He hasn’t done. We blame Satan for things he hasn’t done. And, in the end, we take credit for things we don’t even have the ability to pull off on our own.

Why would God give us this freedom if it has such potential to go wrong. Without oversimplifying the answer, we must remember that you cannot have the potential for great good without also the potential for the opposite. And secondly, without freedom one cannot experience love. And to love is the purpose for which we were created (see Genesis 1:26 and 1 John 4:8).

And so this week, in the wake of celebrating our national freedoms, let us also keep in mind our universal God-given freedoms. May we remember that evil prevails when good men fail to act and pray the prayer Jesus taught us: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10)

*For more on this subject, please listen to To Love and Be Loved, Why Did God Allow This To Happen To Me? and God At War at:

https://renewedheartministries.com/resources.asp?t=sermons

July 1 Esight, 2007

“When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” —Isaiah 43:2, KJVI would like you to notice the phrase, “Thou shalt not,” in the above passage. What’s most interesting is that in this verse, that phrase is perceived as a promise. Why is this significant? Because this is the exact same phrase used in Exodus 20.

And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image . . .

Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them . . .

Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain . . .

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy . . .

Honour thy father and thy mother . . .

Thou shalt not kill . . .

Thou shalt not commit adultery . . .

Thou shalt not steal . . .

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour . . .

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house,

thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife . . .

(Exodus 20:1-17 KJV)

Why is it then that, when we read the phrase in Exodus 20, we perceive it as a prohibition, if the phrase used in Isaiah is a promise? Could the Ten Commandments actually be ten promises? Absolutely! These were never ten rules God expected us to live up to, but rather ten principled descriptions of how we would live if we could simply encounter God and His great love for us. By encountering His love, that same love is awakened in us, and love is the fulfillment of the law. This is why the Ten Commandments do not begin with the first “Thou shalt not” but the revelation of God’s love for Israel in bringing them out of bondage. It is by believing in His love and His love for us alone that the following principles will manifest in our life. Rather than trying to keep His commands, try focusing on His great love for you this week, and see if that awakens in you the other-centeredness described in those ten holy precepts.

“All His biddings are enablings.” (Ellen White, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 333)

“The law of ten commandments is not to be looked upon as much from the prohibitory side, as from the mercy side.” (Ellen White, Letter 96, 1896.)

“The ten commandments,” “Thou shalt,” and, “Thou shalt not,” are ten promises . . .” (Ellen White, Bible Echo, June 17, 1901 par. 3)

June 24 Esight, 2007

For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.—Romans 10:10Here at Renewed Heart Ministries we have recently received many inquiries concerning Faith. “What is it?” “How do I exercise it?” There are a few Biblical principles that teaches what one needs understand in order to comprehend exactly what Faith is and what it isn’t.

First what is Faith? There are three passages that give us a clue.

For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness . . . (Romans 10:10)

And He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! (Luke 24:25)

And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” (Acts 8:37)

What all three of these passages tell us is that Faith is something that a person experiences on a heart level. This is not to say that Faith does not involve a person’s intellect, but that it goes deeper than a mere intellectual response to the gospel. It touches and engages the heart, not just the head. This must be held in the forefront in order to understand the words of James.

You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.

(James 2:19)

James is referring to a mental assent to God. Again, Faith is much more than simply believing something in your mind, it’s a belief that engages your heart as well.

So how does one experience Faith? Three more verses make it simple enough for a child to understand.

So Faith comes from hearing . . . the word [or message] of Christ. (Romans 10:17)

What was Christ’s message? ” . . . God is love.”(1 John 4:8)

What Paul is simply trying to have us understand is that Faith, being a heart level response, is the heartfelt reaction that we experience in response to the message of God’s love for us.

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith which works by love. (Galatians 5:6)

Or as William Tyndale’s New Testament reads:

“. . . faith, which by love is mighty in operation.”(Galatians 5:6)

Faith is the heartfelt response in each of us, the gratitude and appreciation activated by the realization of God’s great love for us that also awakens in us the desire to love God back.

For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)

This means that Faith is more than what some call “Trust.” Trust is all about me! It’s egocentric. I trust that God will save me, but I’m still concerned only about myself. (This is the problem with most of traditional Christianity’s focus.) Biblical faith, on the other hand, is believing in God’s love for me, with my heart not just my head, which leads me to want to no longer live for myself but only for Him and others. This is “Faith which works by love.”

“As we behold the glory of Christ, we become changed into His image. We have that faith which works by love, and purifies the soul. Our hearts are renewed, and we are made willing to obey God in all things.” (Review and Herald, Dec. 15, 1896)

Yes, Faith is not feeling. We choose to believe God loves us regardless of how we feel, but once that belief has been decided, God’s love does touch our heart and awakens in us the desire to love Him back.

Faith is more than mental assent to a list of doctrines. (Even the demons do this and tremble.)

Faith is more than mere trust that Jesus will save me. (This is primarily egocentric)

Faith is the heart level response we experience to the truth of God’s character of Love and His love for us! (Awakening in us the desire to love Him back!)

Do you want to experience deeper Faith, my friend? As odd as this may sound, stop trying so hard to believe this week and instead start focusing on God’s great love for you. Let God’s love for you activate or rather awaken a deeper Faith within you. “God has allotted to each a measure of faith.” (Romans 12:3) He has given it to you. It is a sleeping giant deep within you, waiting to be awakened by the realization of God’s great love for you, for “by love is love awakened.”

June 1 Esight, 2007

A.T. Jones”I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

It may not be amiss to emphasize what this scripture does say, by noting what it does not say.

It does not say, I want to be crucified with Christ. It does not say, I wish I were crucified with Christ, that He might live in me. It does say, “I am crucified with Christ.”

Again, it does not say, Paul was crucified with Christ; Christ lived in Paul, and the Son of God loved Paul and gave Himself for Paul. All that is true, but that is not what the scripture says nor is that what it means, for it means just what it says. And it does say, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Thus this verse is a beautiful and solid foundation of Christian faith for every soul in the world. Thus it is made possible for every soul to say, in full assurance of Christian faith, “He loved me.” “He gave himself for me.” “I am crucified with Christ.” “Christ liveth in me.” Read also 1 John 4:15.

For any soul to say, “I am crucified with Christ,” is not speaking at a venture. It is not believing something on a guess. It is not saying a thing of which there is no certainty. Every soul in this world can say in all truth and all sincerity, “I am crucified with Christ.” It is but the acceptance of a fact, the acceptance of a thing that is already done, for this word is the statement of a fact.

It is a fact that Jesus Christ was crucified. And when He was crucified we also were crucified, for He was one of us. His name is Immanuel, which is “God with us”–not God with Him, but “God with us.” When His name is not God with Him, but “God with us,” then who was He but “us”? He had to be “us” in order that God with Him could be not God with Him but “God with us.” And when He was crucified, then who was it but “us” that was crucified?

This is the mighty truth announced in this text. Jesus Christ was “us.” He was of the same flesh and blood with us. He was of our very nature. He was in all points like us. “It behooved him to be made in all points like unto his brethren.” He emptied Himself, and was made in the likeness of men. He was “the last Adam.” and precisely as the first Adam was ourselves, so Christ, the last Adam, was ourselves. When the first Adam died, we, being involved in him, died with him. And when the last Adam died, we, being involved in Him, died with Him. And when the last Adam was crucified, He being ourselves and we being involved n Him, we were crucified with Him. As the first Adam was in himself the whole human race, so the last Adam was in himself the whole human race, and so when the last Adam was crucified, the whole human race–the old, sinful human nature–was crucified with Him. And so it is written, “Knowing this, that our old man IS CRUCIFIED WITH HIM, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.”

Thus every soul in this world can truly say, in the perfect triumph of Christian faith, “I am crucified with Christ”; my old sinful human nature is crucified with Him that this body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth I should not serve sin. Rom. 6:6. Nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ liveth in me. Always bearing about in my body the dying of the Lord Jesus–the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus, for I am crucified with Him–that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in my body. For I who live am always delivered unto death, for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in my mortal flesh. 2 Cor. 4:10, 11. And therefore the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

In this blessed fact of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus, which was accomplished for every human soul, there is not only laid the foundation of faith for every soul, but in it there is given the gift of faith to every soul. And thus the cross of Christ is not only the wisdom of God displayed from God to us, but it is the very power of God manifested to deliver us from all sin and bring us to God.

O sinner, brother, sister, believe it. Oh, receive it. Surrender to this mighty truth. Say it; say it in full assurance of faith and say it forever. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Say it, for it is the truth, the very truth and wisdom and power of God, which saves the soul from all sin.

May 31 Esight, 2007

A.T. Jones”Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” Eph. 4:7. The measure of the gift of Christ is “all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” This is true whether viewed as the measure of the gift which God made in giving Christ or as the measure of the gift which Christ Himself gave. For the gift that God gave is His only begotten Son, and in “him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” Therefore, from this standpoint the measure of the gift of Christ being only the measure of the fulness of the Godhead bodily and this being only the measure of the grace that is given to every one of us, it follows that unto every one of us is given grace without measure, simply boundless grace.

Viewed from the measure of the gift in which Christ Himself gives to us, it is the same, because “he gave himself for us.” He gave Himself for our sins, and in this He gave Himself to us. And as in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and as He gave Himself, then the measure of the gift of Christ on His own part is also only the measure of the fullness of the Godhead bodily. It therefore follows that from this standpoint also the measure of grace that is given to every one of us is only the measure of the fullness of the Godhead; that is, simply immeasurable.

Thus in whatever way it is viewed, the plain word of the Lord is that unto every one of us He has given grace to the measure of the fullness of the Godhead bodily; that is, boundless, immeasurable grace–all the grace He has. This is good. But it is just the Lord; it is just like the Lord to do that, for He is good.

And this boundless grace is all given, given freely, to “every one of us.” To us it is. To you and me, just as we are. And that is good. We need just that much grace to make us what the Lord wants us to be. And He is just so kind as to give it all to us freely that we may be indeed just what He wants us to be.

The Lord wants every one of us to be saved, and that with the very fullness of salvation. And therefore He has given to every one of us the very fullness of grace, because it is grace that brings the salvation. For it is written, “The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.” Titus 2:11. Thus the Lord wants all to be saved and therefore He gave all of His grace, bringing salvation to all. The marginal reading of this text tells it that way, and it is just as true as the reading in the verse itself. Here it is: “The grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men, hath appeared.” All the grace of God is given freely to every one, bringing salvation to all. Whether all or any one will receive it, that is another question. What we are studying now is the truth and the fact that God has given it. Having given it all, He is clear, even though men may reject it.

The Lord wants us to be perfect, and so it is written: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Desiring that we shall be perfect, He has given us, every one , all the grace that He has, bringing the fullness of His salvation, that every man may be presented perfect in Christ Jesus. The very purpose of this gift of His boundless grace is that we may be made like Jesus, Who is the image of God. Even so it is written: “Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. . . . for the perfecting of the saints. . . . till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”

Do you want to be like Jesus? Then receive the grace that He has so fully and so freely given. Receive it in the measure in which He has given it, not in the measure in which you think you deserve it. Yield yourself to it, that it may work in you and for you the wondrous purpose for which it is given, and it will do it. It will make you like Jesus. It will accomplish the purpose and the wish of Him who has given it. “Yield yourselves unto God.” “I beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.”

Review and Herald 1894/04/17

May 27 Esight, 2007

“For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.” John 17:19

The Greek word for “sanctify” here is hagiazo. It means, “To set apart for a holy purpose.” Did you catch that? It says a “holy” purpose. What is holiness? Holiness is godliness or God-like-ness. What is Godlike? God is love; therefore the foundation of holiness is love. And this being true, the Apostle John is here stating that Jesus was setting Himself apart for a purpose whose root principle was love!

What was that purpose? This setting Himself apart, fixing His gaze on Calvary, was “to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:35). Jesus’ desire was that we might see the heart of God, that we might encounter the love that surges in His heart and the Father’s for each of us. That we might see the complete self-abandonment, the immense selflessness, the disinterested benevolence, and sheer concern for only our well-being and salvation with no thought or concern for Themselves. This is the Father’s heart toward you, dear friend. You are the most important thing to Him. You are the “apple of His eye” (Zechariah 2:8). He will risk and has risked all for you.

What is His hope in all this? Notice, not His motive, but His hope. That you might see “the truth” of what His inmost thoughts toward you are, and that this would awaken and inspire in you, His beloved, this same love; that by His love for you, love would be awakened. That the setting of Himself apart for you would cause you to also set yourself apart for Him. Seeing all He has given to us, without thought of Himself, His hope is that we, too, will take this life that He has given us with deep appreciation, and give this life back to Him in love. Do you want to be more deeply devoted to Him, dear Christian? Take time this week to notice how deeply devoted He is to you. May God bless your week. You are truly in my prayers.

May 20 Esight, 2007

Therefore, Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.” — John 5:19Even for Jesus, His doing was dependent on His seeing. Here Jesus gives us an insightful glance into a universal law of human behavior. No matter who we are, we only do as we see. Especially in matters of spirituality, a person will reflect in their life only the type of person he or she perceives their God to be. We truly can do nothing of ourselves unless it something we see God doing.

Why? It’s quite simple. How we see determines how we think. How we think determines how we feel. And how we think and feel together determine how we ultimately behave. This adds special importance to the picture one possesses of the character of God. To see God differently and correctly will set in motion a most incredible chain of events in our lives. A change in how one pictures God will produce a change in their thinking, feeling, and behavior, toward God.

Have you been trying, dear friend, to fix areas of your behavior without first giving attention to the picture of God you hold in your heart? Don’t give up hope. Try putting first things first. Do you long to live differently? Are you tired of feeling imprisoned to the same self-destructive behaviors? Jesus stated, “…you will know the truth [about God], and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:32) This week try focusing your attention and emphasis, not on fixing you behavior, but on seeing the truth concerning God and His unfathomable love for you. May it set in motion a world of change.