For the first post of the year, I think I’ll start with John, so let’s continue with the prolog as he is talks about the Word.

John 1:10John 1:10
English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world knew him not.  

WP-Bible plugin  He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

One commentator (Gill) considers this phrase as referring to the Word’s presence in the beginning of the world, not at the time of His incarnation. Another commentator (Henry) thinks this phrase refers to the Word’s presence in the world from its very beginning.  While Henry’s claim is true, I cannot agree with either one.  I think John is focusing on the incarnate Christ only.  He shows in the next phrase Jesus’ role in the creation of the world, and finally tells us that in spite of all this, the world didn’t recognize Him.

1:11  He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

Now we are focusing on the time of the Word’s walk among the Jews.  Jesus revealed Himself to His own people: Not only the townspeople He grew up with in Nazareth, but to the nation of Israel.  This time, however, they would not accept Him for who he was even though He was revealing His true identity almost daily.  The religious leaders probably knew He was the Son of God, but refused to accept Him.

1:12  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Here we see an attribute of God that we see throughout the New Testament: The grace of God.   Jesus welcomes any and all that believe (receive) Him.  He is always ready to forgive and accept any who believe “on His name.”

1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Here is the key we gentiles must always remember: as Christians we were born of God. We cannot call Abraham our father, as the Jewish people do. We were born a second time into the family of God as co-heirs with Jesus.  This is the only way we can become sons of God.  Because we acknowledge and believe in Christ, we are adopted into the family.  Nothing we can do on our own will get us a position in the family.

1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

And the Word of God became Jesus the Christ, the Anointed One, and dwelt with us.  His glory was the glory of God. And again, attributes: “full of grace and truth.”   That is to say, God is love and God is the light which reveals our own foolishness and shows us the right path.

Thank you for reading. God bless you.

For the last few days, I have been reading Romans 8, to be specific, verses 37 through 39.  These are three verses that are a salve to the wounded heart and belong in the Christian’s spiritual warfare arsenal.

… we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Rom 8:37-39Rom 8:37-39
English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. ³⁸ For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  

WP-Bible plugin ASV)

I have been firmly convinced for several years now that the Christian must glom onto Jesus and never let go under any circumstances.

As you walk through this life as a Christian, you will be attacked by the enemy.  The enemy may take the form of a stranger who walks down the street as in the following true story.

A friend and her daughter made a shopping trip to a popular mall one Christmas.  As they walked through the crowds, there were two teenaged boys dressed in black with all the accoutrements of the basic Goth look walking towards them.  When they passed, both boys looked at the daughter, which isn’t unusual in itself,  but one of them made motions with his hand – as if crossing himself in a twisted sort of way – and said “Obey the Master” in a low and sinister tone. That was a little weird – even for Goth-types in a shopping mall.  It was very upsetting to the two ladies and especially to the daughter.  The lesson is that those two boys recognized the qualities of Christ in the daughter, who, by the way, has a very strong relationship with Christ.

Sad-to-say, the attack may come from someone you consider to be a good friend in the church you attend.  This happens, too!

I tell you this because you will be recognized for what you believe – sometime, somewhere, somehow – and you need to be prepared.  We must remember that those who do attack may be innocently subject to the whisperings and persuasions of the evil one and they, themselves, are not the enemy at all.  We need to have grace for them and not condemn them, for we are not to judge them – that is God’s domain.

But, by the same token, we do not have to suffer each blow they deliver and be beat down.  It may even be that they will not back down from their attack, even when you try to explain your actions or your beliefs.  Just make sure your beliefs are in step with the teachings of Jesus and of the Bible.  We need to stand and fight.

Others, like those my friends encountered, have given themselves over to evil.  From those, we need to flee.  There is no help that a single person can bring to them other than through prayer.

Know this: even though we are attacked, we have a Comforter to help us through the circumstance and these three verses in Romans can help us get back on track if we recall them to our memory when we become beat up and downtrodden.

Romans 8 is a wonderful chapter to read and re-read and carefully study.  I will look at some of the other verses in the future, but in the meantime, why don’t you read it a few times and see what you glean from it.  Try reading it through quickly a couple of times and then read deliberately and let each word speak to you.

I’d like to know your thoughts and insights as a result of your reading — perhaps something in the chapter resonated with what you are dealing with at this particular point in time.  If you feel free enough to share that, that would be good.

I will honor any and all requests for privacy, but I would say that the level of privacy that you would like must begin with you.  Don’t write anything that you would not want your mother to see!

The holidays are upon us …

and they can be very depressing for some people. If you are one of those who approach the holidays with a grimace in stead of a smile, perhaps these verses can help to dispel some of those depressed feelings.  For us in America, Thursday the 24th of November, is Thanksgiving and it sort of marks the beginning of the holiday season – at least in my mind.  It is a day set aside for us to be thankful for all that God has given us.

Then, of course, Christmas comes a month later.  In between there is plenty of time for fellowship with friends and family.  Unfortunately, some people cannot look forward to the holidays with anticipation and instead they cautiously approach it with fear driven by the prospect of being alone at a time when many people are with friends and family.  Let’s try to ease someone’s hurts this holiday season.  Remember that it is not always apparent when someone is hurting – they can be good cover-up artists!

Thank you for reading and God bless you all.

Sounds like a Tolkien phrase, doesn’t it?  Well, it is – at least a close approximation. Wasn’t it the title of a book that Bilbo Baggins was writing of the journey during which he discovered the ring.

I have just returned from a two week vacation near the coast of Oregon and am coming to grips with being back in the work-a-day world and schedules and routine.

My contributions to quietshout have always been in fits and starts and several weeks before leaving I began formulating ways of overcoming that tendency, trying to become more constant and consistent in article writing.  I think I was becoming relatively successful but the vacation threw a monkey wrench into the works and threw me off track.

The vacation was, in part, a necessary vacation.  Some business-related details had to be addressed, but since there were several facets to the details, they had to be addressed over a period of time.  These demanded attention at various times during the trip.

I did bring a laptop with the intent of doing some work, but the conditions were not conducive to writing.  It takes me some time to write a page about the Psalms or even to write a post, if I want to make it something that is not rambling and incoherent.  But more importantly, I need an environment that is relatively free of interruptions.  There were times available, but they were not many, nor were they for an extended period of time.  I suppose I could have slung my computer over my shoulder and hiked to the library, but I wanted to be friendly and see relatives that I hadn’t seen for a year or more, catching up on their activities and life.

So that’s what has been happening to me.  I do want to honor the time and effort you take to visit quietshout with a decent amount of new material posted in a timely manner and I think I have some interesting stuff coming up.

• I have discovered a new resource for the Psalms, from my quick glance at it it looks to be pretty thorough with lots of good stuff;
• there is a new (at least to me) writing software package out there that is free and it looks like it could be worthwhile for those of you who want to write fiction (perhaps even nonfiction? we’ll see);
• there is another bible study software resource similar to e-Sword! that I would like to look into and tell you about;
• I have a number of posts started that I think will stir some interest – I have been considering some of these for some time and now feel like I can take us down a proper track.  A couple of topics I want to expand on or introduce will be prayer and spiritual warfare;
• and then, there is always that piece of scripture that grabs me, giving me ideas and insights that I haven’t  had before.

I do appreciate all your visits and I say, “Thank you one and all.”  Please do not be afraid to comment on something that grabs you one way or another.  I may or may not reply, don’t be offended if I do not.

Thank you for visiting. God Bless You.