Jan's Ponderings

 " I am the vine; you are the branches.  The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me". John 15:5 CSB This is a great memory verse but sometimes it helps to understand what it means when you are trying to memorize a verse.   I'm looking at John 15:1-17 CSB and this is exciting. "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.  Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so it will produce more fruit.  You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.  Remain in me, and I in you.  Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches.  The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.  If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown aside like a branc...

  Now the LORD gave the following instructions to Moses and Aaron while they were still in the land of Egypt:  "From now on, this month will be the first month of the year for you.  Announce to the whole community that on the tenth day of this month each family must choose a lamb or a young goat for a sacrifice.  If a family is too small to eat an entire lamb, let them share the lamb with another family in the neighborhood. Whether or not they share in this way depends on the size of each family and how much they can eat.  This animal must be a one-year-old male, either a sheep or a goat, with no physical defects.  "Take special care of these lambs until the evening of the fourteenth day of this first month. Then each family in the community must slaughter its lamb.  They are to take some of the lamb's blood and smear it on the top and sides of the doorframe of the house where the lamb will be eaten.  That evening everyone must eat roast la...

"Praise, the LORD, all you Gentiles!  Laud Him, all you peoples!  For His merciful kindness is great toward us, and the truth of the LORD endures forever.  Praise the LORD!  (Psalm 117:1-2 NKJV) Because of the gift God has given us in Christ, all Gentiles should praise Him!  For He has provided salvation to us all.  His merciful kindness truly is great toward us!

Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints.  O Lord, truly I am your servant, the son of Your maidservant; You have loosed my bonds.  I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD.  I will pay my vows to the LORD now in the presence of all His people, in the courts of the LORD's house, in the midst of you, O Jerusalem.  Praise the LORD!"  Psalm 116:15-19 NKJV Have you ever wondered how the psalmist could offer such devotion and praise to God when he mentions death?  Maybe he understood that to be 'absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.' and maybe he knew that 'death has lost its sting'.  Many times, we focus on earthly things because that is what we see and touch and hear but for Christians, there is so much more!  We have life after death.  Let's try to focus on eternal things today!

"What shall I render to the LORD for all His benefits toward me?  I will take up the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD.  I will pay my vows to the LORD now in the presence of all His people."  Psalm 116:12-14 NKJV How can we show our gratitude for all God has done for us?  We can rejoice in our salvation, call upon the name of the LORD and let our life be a witness for Christ!

"For You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.  I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.  I believed, therefore I spoke, 'I am greatly afflicted.'  I said in my haste, 'All men are liars.'"  Psalm 116:8-11 NKJV Do you cry out to God for help when you are in trouble?  The psalmist believed God and cried out to Him when he was afflicted.  Have you ever chosen to believe God when others thought it was foolish?

"Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yes, our God is merciful.  The LORD preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me.  Return to your rest, O my soul, for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you."  Psalm 116:5-7 NKJV Isn't it wonderful to know that when we are 'low' God saves us?  In this passage, the simple may refer to the humble or those with childlike faith.  I am asking myself if I have childlike faith because I want the last part of that passage, 'return to your rest, O my soul, for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.'  Rest.  Doesn't that sound marvelous?

"The pains of death surrounded me, and the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me; I found trouble and sorrow.  Then I called upon the name of the LORD: 'O LORD, I implore You, deliver my soul!'"  Psalm 116:3-4 NKJV When was the last time you were in pain and anguish?  Is it now?  Is trouble and sorrow surrounding you?  God is able to deliver us out of all our troubles.  Psalm 34:15-19 says, "The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry.  The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.  The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.  The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.  Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all."  Take comfort and know that God will deliver you!

"I love the LORD, because He has heard my voice and my supplications.  Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live."  Psalm 116:1-2 NKJV Do you ever stop to think of all the reasons you love the Lord?  Sometimes it is good to take a moment and reflect on all the prayers we have prayed that God has answered!  What has He delivered you from?  How has He provided for you?  What has He blessed you with?  God is so faithful and has proven His love for us in extraordinary ways not the least of which is the gift of His Son.  As we enter into the season of celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus, lets be very mindful of the gifts and mercies of our God!

Matthew 14:28-29 says, "And Peter answered Him and said, 'Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water'.  So He said, 'Come.'  And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus."   Some people say Peter was acting out of his impulsive nature while others say he was acting out of his faith and devotion to Jesus.  I think it is a little of both.   Peter was being impulsive because he had obviously not thought it through carefully because when he did, his faith faltered but his faith, although imperfect, is evident in that he trusted that it was Jesus and that Jesus had the power enable him to walk on the water.  Peter recognized that he was not the one in charge of water-walking...God is!  We all have a calling and God is the One who calls.  We cannot choose our calling so how do we know what our calling is?  First, we must recognize that we are a...

Regarding our spiritual growth, if we will risk our possible brokenness and failure, our faith will grow.  Our faith is like a muscle which needs to be exercised and fed in order to grow!  Peter chose to step out of the boat and because he did, he has walking on water to put on his resume'.  Peter's faith may have faltered, but the others who chose to stay in the boat were the real failures because they chose safety over growth.  How about us?  Are we willing to risk stepping out of the boat?  If we will not, then we risk stagnation and an unfulfilled life full of regrets.  There are a couple of questions that are worth taking a few moments to really consider.  When I get to the end of my life, what will be my biggest regret?  And, what can I do so that doesn't become a regret? Matthew 25:14-30 is the account of the parable of the talents.  Before a man left on a long journey, he decided to distribute his goods to t...

Ortberg tells the story of his mother being offered some blue dishes by his grandfather. After his grandmother’s death, his grandfather was going through her things in the attic and found some dishes. He was planning to take them to the Salvation Army when he thought of his daughter-in-law and her love of blue. She expected some run-of-the-mill dishes but when she opened the box, she saw exquisite china! He writes, “Each plate had been individually painted with a pattern of forget-me-nots. The cups were inlaid mother-of-pearl. The dishes and cups were rimmed with gold. The plates had been handcrafted in a Bavarian factory that was destroyed during the Second World War, so they were literally irreplaceable.” The story goes on to reveal that her own husband and son had never seen the china and didn’t even know of its existence! They found some older family members who told them how she came to own this china. When she was young, she began receiving this china one piece at a time as gifts...

Do we ever look at how bad a situation is to determine if God is able to or is willing to be with us and deliver us? I think many times we do but I have never found a scripture to back up that kind of philosophy. God loves to show Himself strong on our behalf. He is God after all!! For me, one of the most discouraging and encouraging scriptures in the Bible is Matthew 13:58 which says, "Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief."   It is discouraging because the people who knew Jesus best didn’t believe in Him and yet it is encouraging because it compels me to believe…I mean really believe! I don’t want God to NOT do something He was willing to do because I couldn’t seem to muster up enough faith to trust Him. Let’s remember that in Matthew chapter 14, the storm was raging when Peter stepped out of the boat! When God calls us to do something, don’t let fear (fear of what others may think, fear of failure, etc.) keep us from being obedient. ...

I am writing a series of lessons based on John Ortberg's book, If You Want To Walk On Water, You've Got To Get Out Of The Boat and teaching them on Wednesday nights.  Please read Matthew 14:25-32 about Peter walking on the water to be with Jesus. Have you ever put your life in someone else’s hands and just hoped for the best? (maybe a doctor or fireman or policeman). You can only hope they are qualified and capable of saving you. Sometimes it is difficult to put so much trust in mere mortals. We are all fallible, are we not? What about putting our trust in God. Is that any easier for us? We must remember that God promises to always be with us. I love Jeremiah 33:1-3 which says ,“Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the prison, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD who made it, the LORD who formed it to establish it (the LORD is His name): Call to me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which yo...

If and when we sin, God's Word promises us in 1 John 1:9 that God is faithful to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness if we will confess our sins. As Christians we all know that but sometimes it can be difficult to understand why God would choose to forgive us when we really blow it. I'm sure you know what I mean - when we do something we are really ashamed of. One of the great things about God is that He forgives us for His sake! It's not about whether or not we are really worthy of His forgiveness (although we are because Jesus made us worthy!!!). It's about God loving us and desiring a relationship with us so much that He is willing to forgive us for His own sake. The proof is in God's Word. 1 John 2:12b reads, "your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake." and Isaiah 43:25 reads, "I, even I, am He who blots our your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins." King David really under...

Our Ladies Bible Study Class this week was pretty exciting! We began the second part of our lesson, Press On, discussing whether or not God is ever ashamed of us. Luke 9:26 tells us that if we are ashamed of Jesus then He will be ashamed of us. He is not ashamed of our occasional bad behavior. What a relief! He is, however, ashamed of us if we are ashamed of Him. We discussed ways we show we are ashamed of Him. Should we share the Gospel with someone who is of another religion? What about tolerance? What about respect? I could not think of an example in Scripture when Jesus or His disciples did not share the Gospel out of respect for someone's belief. We determined that since there is only one way to heaven and that is through faith in Jesus Christ we must share our faith with others because souls are at stake. We must, however, share our faith in love out of a genuine concern for others.

Last Wednesday night, I was inspired by something Denise said. She spoke about how we should allow God to use our sin and weaknesses to help others not fall into the same pit we have fallen into. Yet, so many times, instead of allowing God to use our experiences to help others, we use them as excuses as to why God could never use us. We don't feel worthy. Our past is too shameful. I think, many times, we do want to be used of God to make a real difference in His kingdom, but we feel too ashamed of our behavior. I have chosen two examples in scripture to examine; King David in the Old Testament and Paul in the New Testament. II Samuel 11:1-5 says, "It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king'...

"Praise the LORD, all you Gentiles! Laud Him, all you peoples! For His merciful kindness is great toward us, and the truth of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD!" (Psalm 117) What a wonderful scripture on which to meditate. God is worthy of our praise! He is worthy of our praise in the good times and He is worthy of our praise in the bad times. He is worthy. One thing I have always trusted in and counted on is that God's truth endures forever. That is something to always take comfort and joy in knowing. I remember even as a very young girl, I would always read the scripture my pastor or teachers used to make sure I knew what was being taught was truth. The one thing I have never doubted was the truth of God's Word. I am so thankful to have God's Word so available to us in America. How else would we know how to live and love and get along with others? How else would we know God and His mercy and lovingkindness? God's Word is so precious a...

If you are anything like me, then you, at times, go through a season where things just don't go as planned. It can be discouraging but then I remember the beauty of the Lord and how much He has done for us and I remember how He cares for us and delivers us. No one could ever love us the way He loves us and if we are going through something and we have prayed for deliverance from it, but there has been no deliverance then that means He will walk us through it. Isaiah 43:2-3 says, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior". There is a scripture that I always return to in times of discouragement. These are the words of Psalm 27. "The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be af...

What a week! Have you ever had a week with a lot of good stuff and a lot of not so good stuff? That has been my week so far! The good stuff has to do with my daughter. Since the weekend, she has learned to pull herself up to a sitting position with no help! She has also learned to pull herself up to a standing position and she has learned to wave! I am so proud of her because this has been a lot of work for her to learn all of these things. She has fallen over and bumped her head several times with a bruise to prove it but she has been determined to do these things. She has persevered and won! That's my girl! James 1:2-4 says, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience (or endurance or perseverance) . But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect (or mature) and complete, lacking nothing." Sometimes we go through some difficult things in life and some not-so-pleas...