3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. The word “clean” may sound familiar. It is the Greek word katharós, which we saw in 2d, meaning to cleanse or make pure, either physically, levitically, or ethically. It carries the concept of something being free from admixture or adhesion…
Author: ANNE
I'm a Jesus follower. Having a personal relationship with God, as opposed to knowing about God, is the most important decision you'll make. Did you know God wants to have a relationship with you? We have all kicked God out of his rightful place in our lives, making ourselves out to be our own god. He went through great lengths to forgive you so you can come back into a relationship with him. Ture peace and life can only be found in this rightful relationship with God. God doesn't disappoint. He is merciful, slow to anger, and forgiving. But you can only have this relationship by accepting that Jesus died on the cross in your place, taking your sin into hell where it belongs, taking your punishment upon himself. When you come to accept this and ask God to forgive you based on what Jesus did, he will forgive you, give you his very own life, and create in you a new person.
Understanding the Vine Discourse: John 15:2d: It’s all about relationships
This is the third post taking a deep dive into the Vine Discourse. You can read about who Jesus is referring to and the Father being our gardener here. In the second post, we looked at the word airo as meaning to “lift up” instead of the common understanding of “takes away.” You can read…
Understanding the Vine Discourse: John 15:2a-c. Does God take you away if you don’t produce fruit?
You can read commentary on Vs 1, Understanding the Vine Discourse where we take a look at who Jesus was referring to and who the gardener is. In this post, we take a look at the Greek word airo, to life up. (2a) Every branch in Me Here we are looking at the very beginning…
Understanding the Vine Discourse: A deep dive into who, what, why, and how in fruit production
Introduction These verses speak deeply to our hearts. Yet, they leave some uncertainty, a beautiful analogy, yet also disturbing. It gives general guidelines rather than concrete instructions. We desire to abide, but how? We long to bear fruit, but what is meant by fruit? And, we don’t want to be taken away, or even worse,…
Was Jesus Insensitive to Martha?
The story of Mary and Martha has spawned countless sermons on how to not be anxious about the cares of this life but rather to be intent on sitting at Jesus’ feet, receiving truth from the Holy Spirit. But poor Martha. She certainly gets a bad rap. To be honest, it seems Jesus was less…
Pursuing God: Things You Can Do to Hear God Speak
Do you desire to hear from God? Do you desire to walk in the Spirit? Do you desire to have eyes to see and ears to hear, to perceive what God is doing, saying, where he is moving, so you can do the work the Father is doing like Jesus did? Then good. That is…
Having Faith to Endure
In Hebrews 11 we read about men and women who exemplified great faith. These are the great cloud of witnesses who underwent often horrific situations because they held to a belief that wasn’t popular. Yet, often they didn’t even see what they were believing for take place in their lifetimes. Obviously they weren’t thinking that…
Jumping Into the Unknown
I’ve talked about writing for years now, so why haven’t I started? Because I’m afraid. I know I’ll get pushback and criticized. I hate being wrong or failing. It cuts me to my core. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past years is that I belong to God, and he helps me…
Benefits of Dying to Self
Why do I hesitate to give my all to God? Why do I not want to lose my life for the sake of God’s Kingdom? Jesus said, “If you seek to save your life, you will lose it, but if you seek to lose your life for the sake of the Kingdom, you will find…
Five Ways to Reinvent Valentine’s Day
(Originally published on TheScoop2017, February 2017) This is a continuation of Valentine’s Day chocolates do not help beat the sugar addiction. If we want to be helpful to those who are trying to kick the sugar habit, let’s forgo the chocolates and reinvent Valentine’s Day. Reading about Saint Valentine serves as a launching pad to fresh ideas to…