JESUS, the ANSWER (10)

Section Two: JESUS the ANSWER

4. Bread for the Journey 5. Light in a Dark Place 6. An Open Door 7. The Good Life 8. A Grave Buster 9. A One-Way Street 10. The Root of the Fruit

As I continue and finish with JESUS, the Answer in my "52 Weeks with JESUS" journey for 2023, today's 10th Chapter brings me hope to look forward to spring in the middle of this cold winter and realize that "The Root of the Fruit" is where my faith sprouts from my early foundation and the seed planted that needed to be watered and nurtured to develop good roots. The strength of the growth and how it flourishes seems to be connected to the root. Lysa TerKeurst shares about the True Vine in day 7 of YV's plan "Finding I AM".

We hope that any seed planted will have good roots, strength to grow & flourish into a healthy one as it was created to be. The principle Scripture for this chapter is found in John 15:1-11, 16, where JESUS says:

I AM the True Vine

and my

Father is the Gardener

...

{the rest of this passage is just as important for our growth}

The following are the segments:

"The Root of the Fruit"

..."Left Behind" "Fruit Bearers" "JESUS Wants to Connect with You Personally" "JESUS Wants You to Concentrate on Him Perpetually" "A Diligent Pruner"

I can tell that even though these are subtitles & quite brief that I definitely need to grow,
be pruned constantly as JESUS nourishes me
so that I can finally mature (in my old age)
to bear fruit - much better and truly good
yet I realize that sometimes the root
needs some work & checking
I need the seeds planted
to flourish & grow
to beautiful
FRUIT
this is
the purpose
God has placed people
on this planet as His Image bearers
<>
PRUNING
is a painful but very
necessary part of the process
LENT
can be a fruitful time
to deepen your faith roots & flourish
40 Days set aside to bloom on the other side of this time
Looking forward to JESUS, the Miracle Worker & the Answer found in Him
the great
I AM
💧
and the
Master Gardener

"Lord, help me to recognize You as the Master Gardener who is the caretaker of my soul."

🌞

May the Miracle Worker, JESUS, meet you & your needs during this Lenten season as you go & grow deeper, may your roots be firm in Him so you can bear good fruit & receive a plentiful harvest! Let's plant & see many miracles through the power of the Holy Spirit through JESUS! 

Let us remain in JESUS as He remains in us

Rest in the True Vine

Thank JESUS

for being

our

True

Vine

Stay close to the Vine & grow in
Holy Spirit
fruit
(Galatians 5:22-23)
Let's not be afraid to get a good
Pruning
during the
40 days of
LENT
the
Master Gardener
can be 
trusted
<>
{I thought in the song "The Merry Old Land of Oz" from "The Wizard of Oz" - that the words were"snip, snip here... snip, snip thereand a couple of  tra-la-las"but after all these years, I just found outthat I remembered it wrong(sigh)it was "clip, clip..." and I was going to add the "snip, snip" part here for our pruning time.So please allow me an author's prerogative to change these words to fit}
😏

JESUS, the ANSWER (9)

Section Two: JESUS the ANSWER

4. Bread for the Journey 5. Light in a Dark Place 6. An Open Door 7. The Good Life 8. A Grave Buster 9. A One-Way Street 10. The Root of the Fruit

Today in 52 Weeks ... I'm entering
"A One-Way Street"

with
JESUS

found in
John 14:1-6
more specifically verse 6
"I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life,
no one comes to the Father, except through Me."
And once again, this I AM statement is also found in day 6 of  "Finding I AM" by Lysa TerKeurst, where she writes that this I AM ... "is the clearest example in Scripture of the certainty of JESUS being the ONLY WAY to eternal life." Thus, the reason for a "One-Way Street" for #9 of 52 Weeks with JESUS and these are the segments (subtitles) for this one"

 

"Know This Street?" "You Do Know the Way" (John 14:5) "Religion is Not the Way to God" "Righteousness is Not the Way to God" "Only a Relationship will Get Us to God" (John 14:6)

JESUS
didn't just say that
He'd show us the Way
He clearly says:
I AM the WAY
the One-Way to 
God, 
the Father
🙏

"Lord, I believe that You are the Way. Give me courage & boldness to invite others to find life in You alone."

Thank God this has never happened to me, but I've noticed (since moving back to USA from Mexico, 7 years ago this October already) more reckless driving, lack of courtesy, even disobedience of road signs & other vehicle safety regulation (laws-like speed limit) and one- way traffic accidents - where people are driving up a one-way in the wrong direction; it's even happened on a roundabout that I had to stop & wait for the driver to figure it out ... yet knowing JESUS as a One Way means the Only direction - the way to go & knowing Him as the One Way to the Father. Not an accident at all, but a purposeful decision and choice to follow Him & His Way. Many of the people that have one-way accidents, going the wrong way have head-on collisions that most often are fatal. I pray that more drivers know the One Way, the right way and have allowed JESUS to show them the right way Home (to heaven). Only following JESUS and having a personal relationship with Him will lead us to God, the Father - as it is meant to be since He created us to be One with Him, only through JESUS! It's our RELATIONSHIP with JESUS, not our own righteousness or any religion that gets us to God!

Stay clear of heading in the wrong direction, those earthly one-ways that turn us from heading the right way toward God and stay safely guided by JESUS, and I guess we all need to sing 

"JESUS, Take the Wheel" {I don't think the whole song fits, but the title sure does & it's a good song!} so we end up on the only One Way that leads us to an eternity with God! God gives us not just "one more chance" but multiple ones to find JESUS and surrender our way to His One way home. So let's make sure that we let JESUS be our One Way, every day - no matter what we face, we need to seek JESUS' One Way to the Father & eternal peace forever. 

JESUS

is

the

ANSWER

JESUS, the ANSWER (8)

Section Two: JESUS the ANSWER

in my "52 Weeks with Jesus"

4. Bread for the Journey 5. Light in a Dark Place 6. An Open Door 7. The Good Life 8. A Grave Buster 9. A One-Way Street 2/20 10. The Root of the Fruit 2/21

#8. A Grave Buster{seems more like one for after Good Friday}
That extra {comment} above is a bit misleading! But when I first read this title I thought of Jesus' Resurrection, however this is about someone else's grave - it's another very special friend and family to Jesus, from another familiar Bible story found in John 11:1-44; one of this week's Scriptures along with: Psalm 25:1-5; Psalm 37:1-11; Isaiah 40:27-31; Romans 8:18-25.

The key verse is John 11:25 - finished in verse 26 (also important):

... “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26

Powerful words from JESUS!
And YES! I do believe this!(oh, He was speaking to you too)
I AM the Resurrection and the Life!
Once again, this I AM statement is found in Lysa TerKeurst's Finding I Am on day 5; as Lysa points out that JESUS is intentional with this one woman (Martha) as He is with you and I also. "God still speaks. To each of us. Individually. Right where we are." JESUS has the final say - JESUS is our Life and Resurrection!
This Chapter is divided into these segments:

"One Hour a Day" * "The "Why" of Waiting" (John 11:6) "God is Glorified" (John 11:4) "Faith is Fortified" (John 11:21) "A Concern for Human Hearts" (John 11:23-26)

* "... Jesus took time to assure us that, no matter how long you wait, He is never late."
JESUSshows His concernfor Human Hearts through His Compassion in this passageand by HisLife💓
TrustJESUSin the midst ofwhatever challengeyou face

"Lord, grant me patience as I wait for You. Fill my heart with the certainty that despite what I can see, You are always on time."

I'm not one who is good with waiting
I tend to give up
so
looking forward to what this week holds in 
Grave Buster
from the
Tomb Buster

JESUS
<>
As I was looking ahead and setting up for the next section, JESUS, the Miracle Worker (and the 2 that are left in JESUS, the Answer), I realized that this Weds. is Ash Wed., which begins Lent, for 40 days ...

[but in case, you didn't know Sundays aren't included in the 40 days of Lent]

Since I do these on Sun. at 6 pm - I may move these to 3pm, but it shouldn't affect these blog posts; because once again, during Lent, I will be offline, from social media, which is blogging for me. However, focusing on JESUS is the goal and that's what this series of "52 Weeks with JESUS" is all about - JESUS! 

So because of this I will move the last 2 blog posts to Mon. & Tues. this week. Then I will set up the Sunday blog post to summarize the Weeks of JESUS, the Miracle Worker that are during Lent and then continue on Sunday, April 16, with the remaining in that section. It seems appropriate that during Lent, we focus on JESUS as the Miracle Worker. So today's #8 will be just for a day (not a week) followed by #9 tomorrow, Mon. 2/20 and #10 on Tues. 2/21, which means that we will finish JESUS, the Answer before Lent starts.

May JESUS work Miracles in your life this year and during Lent.

Agreeing with you in prayer for your Miracle!

JESUS ... GETS US & HE LOVES US

Today 
is a
very
special
day

💓

...but probably not because of what you're thinking about for today

💓🏈💖

For some of you, perhaps this past Sunday was a special day, depending on which side you were on ... since I do not know much about football, the final teams playing off, or the Super Bowl in general, I can't comment either way.

Yet for some reason I received at least 2 emails concerning Sun. and the big game. The first one caught a brief glance, but the next one read: "Did you see Jesus at the Big Game?" Now that one caught my attention - not because of the Big Game or that part, but the part on seeing Jesus. [In case you are new to me or this blog, my One Word for 2023 is JESUS] So naturally this intrigued me to open and read, which ended in that email with me joining them in prayer {and then quickly deciding I need to check this out some more & do my research}. I recall another recent football game and a special player that collapsed after a great tackle, which caused a circle of players of both teams to form around him, on bended knees, and a hush to come over the entire stadium (even a sports announcer) as most prayed. Yes, I do believe that prayer can move mountains & cause miracles! But let's get back to seeing JESUS at this Super Bowl game, that's estimated over 100 million people watch this big game. I was not one of them, however if I had opened that email sooner and knew that I might see JESUS, I just might have tuned in. As it happens, many that do turn on the game, do so to view the top commercials of the year. I don't even bother with those generally when watching TV but I had to find out now because that number of people seeing JESUS "seems incomprehensible" as I make a mental note that means an enormous number of people hearing the good news of JESUS - in a new way - by seeing JESUS at the Super Bowl. The intent was good & admirable (before I give you the controversy or the down side of people's remarks/reactions to the *commercial(s) shown, if I decide to do that, hardly worth it). Instead, I will return to the reason that today, February 14th, 2023 is a special day! 

💖

Max Lucado

is launching nationwide

an opportunity

to share

JESUS

with

selections

of Max's writings 

"... Experiencing the Confounding

LOVE

forgiveness & relevance of

JESUS"

 in

"HE GETS US"

Max Lucado is one of my favorite authors & is donating all his royalities of this book to the HE GETS US non-profit ministry (a movement of people sharing JESUS story & also to reintroduce people to Jesus in the Bible). IMO (in my opinion), this is much needed in the time in which we live, even church people seem to be getting further & further from being & seeing the real JESUS shown to our world. HE GETS US has an agenda (you can read this here)."This is one of the largest faith campaigns in history!" You can be a part of this, in conversations talking about the ads.

*One of the commercials did make it into the Top 10 of the Super Bowl commercials (#8, I think) entitled "Be Childlike".

In my search, I found that their website has so much valuable information (so that will take me awhile to cover & learn all that's there)but I discovered that You Version also has 5 reading plans:

JESUS: He Gets Us #1 (7 day plan)  He Gets Us: #2 Diving Deeper (7 day plan) He Gets Us: #3 Questions Jesus Asked (7 day plan) He Gets Us: #4 Who Did Jesus Love? (9 day plan) He Gets Us: #5 Who Did Jesus Say He Was? (9 days)

{*my apologies that these links are to GB English rather than US}

I've already chosen reading plans for the 40 days of Lent but these would have been perfect (totalling 39 days) but since they are on JESUS, I will be doing them sometime this year. I thought that the reading plans were by Max Lucado but after looking at HE GETS US, I'm not sure so I'm thinking they are not. I'll know more when his book launches today. If Max is willing to support or back this, then I think it's worth my time to at least read. 

On HE GETS US website, there is a topic section and the first one listed is #LOVE - appropriate for today, but far from the romantic ideal of love celebrated. There are two videos to watch & articles besides the main one. The first one goes with the commercial: "Be Childlike". HE GETS US also connects to these reading plans.

... "Love is the underlying theme of every great story. But to be honest, the story gets *messy. That's what you'll see with a closer look at the life of JESUS. ..." #4

* we are well acquainted with MESSES here & messy love but mostly 
JESUS
HE GETS US
"... Take a closer look at how Jesus Loved ...
and see how the lines defining and dividing us can disappear!"

💓

I have shared this many years on this blog & have seen it everywhere but
 it's the best Valentine ever written or given

I hope this inspires you to
LOVE ONE ANOTHER
as
JESUS LOVES
YOU
💖

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

JESUS, the ANSWER (7)

Section Two: JESUS the ANSWER

4. Bread for the Journey 5. Light in a Dark Place 6. An Open Door 7. The Good Life 8. A Grave Buster 9. A One-Way Street 10. The Root of the Fruit

This week's Scriptures:
John 10:10-18
Psalm 23; Isaiah 40:9-11; Ezekiel 37:24-28; Micah 5:1-5

Now that's the
Good Life
<>
Here's one of the emails I received

The Good Life [Jesus said,] “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep” John 10:14-15 "The first century shepherd who began a journey with a flock of sheep met many obstacles along the way, some of which could prove fatal to his charges: sickness, rushing water, wild animals.    We twenty-first century sheep are likewise on a long trek. Our journey too is filled with dangers along the way: health issues, troubled relationships, the threat of nuclear destruction.    And yet, through all this we have a Good Shepherd who knows the pathway ahead. He knows each bump in the road, each sharp turn, each valley or mountain—and he will bring us through safely. We will only falter when we take our eyes off the Shepherd and look through eyes of fear at the troubles surrounding us.    The good life happens only when we turn our eyes back to our Shepherd and follow his steps closely." 52 Weeks with Jesus, James Merritt

"The Good Life" shares the above Scriptures and the following segments, yet I skimmed through these without clearly finding any part defining the "good life", which as you know if you know me at all, causes me to do a search of what is biblically the good life. For now, I will share what a C.S. Lewis(college) article stated that "the Christian tradition's understanding of a good life involves us being in loving relationships with God and others."{it's somewhat of a deep philosophical writing} so perhaps the one written by Randy Alcorn (for his book) is better to help us understand "What is the Good Life?" yet that chosen quote is a good start for me. God has the answer to "the good life" and we should live an honorable life as God defines it. For me, the abundant life is more than our earthly life offers now; it may begin here but it's the one that we will have in full after this life.

 

"An Unfortunate Comparison" "Cowboy or Shepherd?" "Protector, not Preventer" "Known by Name" "Guaranteed Security"

Perhaps after I complete this week, I will have a better grasp of
"The Good Life"

"Lord, I am lost without You. This day, and this week, I need You to guide me and to feed me. Thank You for being the Shepherd who is Good."

... and that is enough
🎵
You are Enough
JIREH
Forever Enough
Always Enough
More than Enough
🎵

this is
"The Good Life"
for me
52 Weeks
with
JESUS