Walking with the Way

Have you ever wondered if the Holy Spirit truly lives in you?  I have!  I mean....I am guessing he does...after all Jesus says he does. We read about that this week in John 14:17b, "But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you."   Yet, I get self-reflective at times and wonder if he really does because, I question if I exhibit the fruit of the Spirit in my life (Gal 5:22-23). I may exhibit some of them some of the time, but never all of them all of the time. And I certainly don't exhibit the Spirit by speaking in tongues or with prophecy (1 Cor. 12:4-10) at my weekly church service!  In addition, when I first heard the word of God, I didn't start speaking in tongues and praising God as those did in the household of Cornelius (Acts 10:46).  My conversion was quite uneventful in comparison. So, what confirmation do I have that the Holy Spirit lives in me?  Well, the answer was in our reading in that same section I first mentioned, chapter 14!!  I

Looking back at my notes for the week, I noticed I did the most writing on Tuesday, chapter 6. If you have a day where you wrote a lot of notes, I would love to hear them!! I think that John 6 is one of the hardest chapters of the whole gospel!  There are a lot of theological points one can dive into.  Apparently, I am not the only one who thought there were some hard concepts there. People of that time were so put off by what Jesus said, they stopped following him (vs.66). The verses that really stood out to me was, "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will...give you.", "Then they asked him, What must we do to do the works God requires?"  Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." (6:27-29) I think it's interesting that Jesus uses the words "The work of God is this: to believe..."  We all know that "works" don't get us into

But! Holidays always throw me off! I wrote this yesterday but forgot to post! Happy Veterans Day! This week of reading had a lot of great points to think on, but again, what I read today is fresh in my mind and worthy of comment. Jesus says to the woman at the well regarding the Messiah, "I, the one speaking to you- I am he." (John 4:26). Then she goes back to her town and says, "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.  Coud this be the Messiah?" (John 4:29) At first, I read those verses thinking, "How can she still be asking?  He told her straight out!  Did she not believe him? Did she need others to validate her feeling?  Did she value other's opinions so much that she couldn't make a decision on her own from the proof given? But then....my thinking completely flipped.  She did believe Jesus!  She was so excited to have others meet the Messiah, in her zeal, she left her jar! I then started analyzing how she went about sharing the

I was going to comment on what God expects from his followers (Luke 17) or about the verses regarding forgiveness (Luke 19), but today's reading is fresh in my mind and I got a lot of encouragement from it! So, I thought I would encourage you with it too! I've been asked to speak to a group of ladies this coming week.  The prospect of talking in front of a group of strangers puts me way out of my comfort zone!  Yes, I know that this is a far cry from being, "seized and persecuted" as Jesus warned his disciples would happen before "the kingdom of God is near." (Luke 21:31). But, regardless, I take such comfort in his words, "But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourself.  For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. (Lule 21:14-15) I love that!! It is my pattern to think ahead, play out all the potential outcomes of a situation and then worry about which way