Friday spiritual thoughts

i always chat with the ladies up front in my office who are the assistants to my office's director. i sent her some pictures of me from camping, including the one in the sleeping bag...and this is what she sent back to me saying "why didn't you send us the real picture?"

i thought it was funny.


I'm reading the entire bible with two buddies - we started in November and now are into Acts. I've appreciated the discipline very much. FRESH offa the Gospels. They're wild after having read the entire Old Testament. How does it go? the NT is concealed in the OT and the OT is revealed in the NT? I'm understanding Jesus and appreciating Him and loving Him more now than I ever did before. I'm convinced that Jesus won't strike you as radical, contradictory, revolutionary or amazing unless you understand the law and Jewish thinking. In Matthew 15 when the Pharisees confront Jesus about His disciples not washing before eating - as the legalistic tradition demanded - Jesus answers "Hear and understand: 11it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person"....(18 now in private to the disciples) "what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone." I was standing on the metro platform waiting for a train when I read this. I lowered the book, shook my head, smiled and said aloud "Jesus, you are so cool." I could hear Him say that last sentence with an incredulous tone, like "are you kidding me, Pharisees? Get real. It doesn't defile anyone." Poof - legalism and stupid rules are gone. I was so refreshed by His words.


Then John blew my gourd open. It was different from Matthew, Mark and Luke. More explicit in the theological aspects...emphatic, almost frenetic in its repetition of certain ideas. I'll give you my paraphrase highlight reel: "I and the father are ONE! I am in the Father and the Father is in Me, the Father has everything, and the Father has given everything to me and everything I do and say is of the Father because we are ONE, you don't receive because you don't ask, if you ask in My name it will be given to you, I tell you this so My joy may be in you and your joy may be full! All His is Mine and Mine is His, and if you ABIDE in me you will ABIDE in the Father, because I ABIDE in the Father's love. God will glorify me! The Father has given Me authority over all flesh to give eternal life and THIS IS ETERNAL LIFE: that they know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. If you believe in Me you believe in Him who sent Me! ABIDE! ASK! JESUS=GOD!"


I left a lot out, but that was my personal "John highlight reel" from this reading. Next time I'm sure it will be a bit different, thanks to the Holy Spirit's nuanced illumination.... I want this reading to change me - and I think it will change the way I pray. Jesus was adamant that you don't receive because you don't ask, and if you ask in Jesus' name, it will be given to you. Pray boldly. I've started doing that. The prayer request is a slam dunk when you pray for things He already says he wants to give you. This is what it sounded like: "Jesus, this is me praying boldly. Give me more of yourself, fill me more with the Holy Spirit! Fill me up and use me radically for your purposes and for my joy!" Simple.


does anyone read this anymore? throw a comment atcha boy, would you?