2/20/2012

John 3:20-21 “For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God,”

Wow, this verse really made me question how I am living my life in all areas. What do I tolerate to be said around me? What occurs in my heart…because God deals with the thoughts of the mind and intentions of the heart and not solely our outward actions.

Clearly in verse 20, if you are practicing evil, you hate the light. If we are not for Jesus, we are against Him. I need to be continuingly asking the Lord to search my heart for any wicked way in me like David did in Psalm 139:23. For it says in verse 21, that those who know the truth come to the light that their deeds may be clearly seen. When we come before God in the light, our works are transparent before His throne. I don’t want to have anything to hide from Him but to be open and honest because He knows all, it is just a matter of me recognizing and admitting my wrong.

Application: I am going to take some time today asking God to do a heart search of areas in my life that I needed to be open about and communicate with Him. I want to keep doing this continually…it is not meant to be a one- time act, but a continual life process (in fact daily).

2/21/2012

John 3:23 “Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there. And they came and were baptized.”

Here John is being obedient to the last call he heard which was to prepare the way for the Lord…one of the ways he was obeying this call was by baptizing. John is baptizing in Aenon because there was a lot of water there. I think it is interesting how it adds….”because there was much water.” Obviously, a voice didn’t come out of heaven saying, “John baptize in Aenon”. No, he was going where there was obvious supply for what God had called him to do.

How often I want an answer to come out of the sky….”Janessa, go do this or that…”, but other than examples from the Bible, I have not yet experienced this. God most often speaks to me through His Word, Godly leaders/ mentors in my life, or my prayer time. Sometimes, it is also when I see an “open door” and his provision is present in whatever He last called me to do.

 I think this is important to keep busy with what the Lord has last told me to do instead of thinking about the next step. I have often been told that the majority of the time, the Lord just gives you the next step not the big picture because if He did give us the big picture, we wouldn’t believe it. God’s ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts higher than our thoughts (Isa. 55:9).

Application: God, I pray that you would open my eyes to continue to see where you are providing open doors…. I don’t want my thoughts to crowd out Your vision and provision for my life.

2/22/2012

John 3:25-26 “Then there arose a dispute between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purification, And they came to John and said to him, ”Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified - behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him.”

How interesting this is to me that conflict arose even though so many great things were happening in the name of the Lord… numerous people were getting baptized! Oh, what an important lesson this is about spiritual warfare. Until I came to Costa Rica, I don’t think I had seen this much spiritual warfare. Often, it seems that when the greatest things for God are happening, there is the greatest spiritual warfare. It is as if Satan’s attention is caught and he hones in on the areas that he thinks will weaken and tear apart the greatest progress for the Lord.

It is also interesting to me what this conflict is about. The verse first addresses it as purification but then the following verse (26) reveals the deep motive of the Jews. The Jews were trying to plant a seed of jealousy.  John and Jesus were a team in saving souls for the kingdom, but it is interesting to me how the Devil often works within a team to divide. He knows that people united in the name of Jesus are much more powerful together; and therefore, he tries to create division.

Application: When team division comes up, I need to remind myself where these attacks are coming from. God places certain people together on a team, in a Bible study, or ministry for specific reasons and it is the Devil that tries to corrupt something beautiful. We need to see each other through the eyes of the Lord and not at each other’s humanness. But, we can only do this by pressing into Jesus even stronger and using the armor of God that He has given us.