Appearance of a Naked Lady
Author: Jon
Awestruck son of the Sovereign of the universe, from whom all rights and responsibilities of men derive.
Nighttime at the Barn
Spirit of Life
I am grateful to have the lawn mower put back together. I pray You will help it to work correctly for a good long time. (Joel 2)
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death 3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
Romans 8
And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
Joel 2:28
Me: Good afternoon, Holy Spirit!
Holy Spirit: Good afternoon, Jon!
Me: Seems that what I mind (φρονέω, phonetic: fron-eh’-o) is a litmus test of whether I am walking with You.
Definition: to direct one’s mind to a thing, to seek or strive for; τά τίνος, to seek one’s interests or advantage; to be of one’s party, side with him.
Holy Spirit: Verses two and three are both using the word “law”, but they are showing a contrast between the Law delivered through Moses, which none could keep through human effort, and My work in the heart; the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus − meaning the spiritual principles by which I Am working.
So, yes. The things that are occupying your mind are like a barometer, telling you whether you are intentionally giving Me charge of your heart and mind, or taking charge of them yourself.
Me: Thank You Holy Spirit! I do want You to be in charge! I love You!
Holy Spirit: You are welcome! It is always your choice! I love you!
Live and Let Live?
I am grateful for the week to rest and seek to grow deeper in my relationship with You!
Me: Good afternoon, Jesus!
Jesus: Good afternoon, Jon!
Me: You are awesome beyond compare! Despite my tendency to focus on myself, You are endlessly faithful. Your mercy is great and Your love is obvious in that You gave Yourself in our place to the cruel death that would be just punishment for us. You are innocent of all wrong. I am not. Yet you have exchanged Your innocence for my penalty and my penalty for Your innocence. I recognize that time does not constrain you in the way that it does flesh. All eternity is present and open before You. I do not see how that would exclude the cross and the shame of my own transgressions. Let me shy away from every sin that I might not heap up more of my guilt for You to have to bear.
I do have a question for you. (Don’t I always?)
Jesus: Yes?
Me: I have heard several speak this week about the principle of “tacit approval”. (I think that was the way Bill Federer put it). He brought out a number of scriptures that dealt with the idea that the failure to object is taken as complicity or approval in law and that the principle derives from scripture. I know one scripture that he used was in Numbers 30; that if a woman still under her father’s authority made a vow and her father heard of it and failed to veto it – kept silent – then her vow would stand. Likewise with a woman and her husband. However, if the father or husband objected, then the woman would be innocent of the vow before You.
I think he also spoke of a duty to reprove. Here is an example where you have deferred Your reproval and yet make it clear that it is coming.
Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son. These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.
Psalm 50:20-22
Mr. Federer did talk of the passage that tells us to take the log out of our own eye before attempting to remove the spec of sawdust from our brother’s eye. And, of course, we all have our own sin.
So, my question is, what is our responsibility to call out the sin among us? You have given us free will to do the very things in question, things that grieve You when they are done.
Jesus: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you (Luke 6:31). Speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4).
I remind you Bill used this passage from Proverbs:
If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?
Proverbs 24:11-12
Are not those walking in habitual or intentional sin, who do not know Me, being drawn unto death? One who loves with My love will earnestly seek to point them to Me. If they refuse, it is upon their own head.
You know of the so-called “live and let live” philosophy. It supposes that the misdeeds of another are none of your concern. A better approach is to live and help live, if you are seeking to draw near to Me and the other will allow your exhortation. I will also point out that much of what you hear of is not within your sphere of influence. There is plenty, however, that is.
Me: Thank You Jesus! I love You! I pray that You will help me to have Your heart toward all.
Jesus: You are welcome! I love you! All that I Am working in you is toward transforming your heart in My love.
In His Image
And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
John 1:16
I am grateful to be on the receiving end of Christ’s immeasurable gift of Himself on our behalf!
Me: Good morning, Holy Spirit!
Holy Spirit: Good morning, Jon!
Me: This scripture is a deep well. Other passages talking about fulness in relation to Jesus come to mind. (Thank You!)
For in Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
Colossians 2:9
God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:
Hebrews 1:1-3
Holy Spirit: These are pointing out that in Jesus, the original intent for man is perfectly manifest.
And God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Genesis 1:26-27
John 1:16 spells out explicitly that in Him, all who will receive the gift of grace have that intent redeemed. Though not all have been renewed in it. Picture gifts presented, but unopened; understanding made available, but unconsidered; purpose commissioned, but unfulfilled; horizons unlimited, unseen.
Me: Help me, Holy Spirit to better fulfill my stewardship of this grace. Help me to lay down every weight that holds back, to banish every limiting lie that I have internalized!
Holy Spirit: That is precisely what I AM about. You have said that this is stewardship. That is true. See here:
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Ephesians 2:8
And here:
Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
5 Therefore, treat the parts of your earthly body as dead to sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. 6 For it is because of these things that the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, 7 and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you also, rid yourselves of all of them: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene speech from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you stripped off the old self with its evil practices, 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created it— 11 a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, and free, but Christ is all, and in all.
12 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so must you do also. 14 In addition to all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. 15 Let the peace of Christ, to which you were indeed called in one body, rule in your hearts; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 Whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
Colossians 3 (NASB)
Me: Thank You, Holy Spirit! I love You!
Holy Spirit: You are welcome! I love you!
Health and Healing #17
Seventeenth in a series of posts examining how much the Bible has to say about God as Jehovah Rapha, God our Healer.
After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
John 5:1-6
Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?
We have talked a good deal so far about scriptural evidence of God’s unswerving willingness to heal. Indeed, for the born-again in Jesus, I am persuaded that in our spirits, now indwelt (and sealed) by the Holy Spirit, healing from sin and sickness was purchased, on our behalf by the sacrifice of Jesus, two thousand years ago. From God’s side, it is a done deal. Having given His Son, and with Him all things (Romans 8:32, 2 Peter 1:3). What more than “all things pertaining to life and Godliness” would a reasonable person expect? We are called to live in these truths by faith with thanksgiving. (If anyone needs some help with that concept please consider Habakkuk 2:4, Romans 1:17, Galatians 2:20, Galatians 3:11, and Colossians 2:7 for starters.)
Those at the pool are described as impotent by the King James version. (Which is the version I usually use here, primarily because it is in the public domain.) I can appreciate the sense of the sick being made impotent in their calling by some malady. The Greek translated “impotent” is ἀσθενούντων (asthenountōn) meaning weak or feeble, usually translated as “sick”. I mentioned the belief that healing was purchased by Jesus’ sacrifice at the cross. The healings recorded in the Gospels occurred before the cross. In my mind the answer to this puzzle is to not limit the work of the Holy Spirit in operation in the incarnate Christ by linear time. Jesus’ death on the cross and subsequent resurrection from the dead is a unique focal point in the fabric of all time. I am not surprised by a flurry of Divine activity in the temporal vicinity. And there is this:
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
Hebrews 13:8
Jesus is now returned to the throne, seated at the right hand of the Father. As He walked physically after His incarnation, I am relying on the fact that all His mighty acts were accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit who now indwells all believers. Otherwise, the call to follow Him is an impossible command, for He is God, and I am not. If the Holy Spirit of the Sovereign of the Universe resides inside believers, then the secret to a power-filled life is to learn how to believe wholeheartedly, yield to Him, cooperate fully, and persevere. I believe Jesus’ statement that He can do nothing of Himself except what He sees the Father doing (John 5:19) is highlighting that we should follow His example (of following vs trying to do anything in our own strength).
But back to Bethesda and the multitude of sick folk. Out of all of them, Jesus singled out one man with a question, “Do you want to be made well?” Does that seem like an odd question? Do not all sick people want to be made well?
If one continues reading in John 5, the man proceeds to explain his faith in healing by stepping into the pool first after some angel-induced waves in the water and his own inability to be first. He is at least acknowledging the need for help outside himself.
One cannot pass too many years without encountering someone who honestly doesn’t want to be well. The acquaintance who comes to mind first is one who told me she didn’t want to “lose her disability”. Jesus was asking this man to expand his expectations. Things that have beset us for a long time become ingrained in our self-perception. Mustering faith for something different is a tall order. Success demands a change of attention from the problem to the Solution. Focusing on the problem is a sort of negative “prayer”, always doing more harm than good. Exactly as it was for this man at the pool.
Will all your worries add a single moment to your life?
Matthew 6:27, Living Bible
I have another acquaintance who seldom passes up an opportunity to talk about his “diagnoses”. These are usually mental health related, given by some professional or other in years past. I don’t want to minimize anyone’s difficulties, but it is easy to see that continually emphasizing these issues serves to relieve this person of any sense of responsibility for growth or personal development, trapping him where he is in much the same way that the slave mentality that came out of Egypt with Israel kept them circling the wilderness instead of entering the Promised Land.
I was asking Jesus about the minimal response of the man at the pool, where his desire to be healed was only implicitly stated by his explanation about his inability to get into the water first. Jesus answered me that He works with whatever consent He can get from a person. He really does meet us where we are! That said, Jesus would never heal anyone against their will. He also told me that He doesn’t set up competitions to get in first, clamor for the head spot at the table, or anything like that.
“But many who are first will be last, and the last, first.”
Matthew 19:30, Mark 10:31, Luke 13:30
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; Not of works (being first), lest any man should boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9, parentheses mine
“And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.”
Exodus 33:19 (speaking to Moses)
If in our born-again spirits, we are already made whole, what is to be done about the flesh which can still be sick and injured? That is what this series is about. May we all walk in the light of these scriptures and in complete faith in the goodness and mercy of God.
Memorial Day, 2023
My Dad’s older brother John Bennett Stanford was killed in action at Saint Lo France on the 14th of July of 1944 as US troops were fighting to wrest the area back from German control. My grandmother never talked to me about his loss, and my Dad’s mention of it only told me where he was. The graphic above lists the WWII war dead for Lubbock County Texas, for the Army only. The list contains 171 names, with my uncle listed in the second set of the last column. My uncle was far from alone in his sacrifice. There are similar lists for the other branches of the military in the national archives, but I can’t comment on those since I haven’t investigated them. In 1940, the census count for Lubbock County Texas was just over fifty-one thousand.
The Germans were heavily fortified at St. Lo and the fighting was grueling in the period in July known as the Battle of the Hedgerows. There was a subsequent period called Operation Cobra in which many perished from friendly fire, discussed in the linked article.
Well-researched article on the battle for Hill 192 which includes my uncle’s regiment. They had failed to take the hill in mid-June with heavy casualties but succeeded July 10th-12th. The date on the John Bennett Stanford’s tombstone is July 14th. If accurate, that would indicate he may have been killed in the fighting to take Saint Lo itself.
It is fitting that we should remember these fallen and that we should resist the current efforts to destroy the liberty they died defending.
Sweet Potato Saturday
Looking North in the garden.
Got forty sweet potatoes in the ground today. Have been propagating slips from four sweet potatoes in front of a south facing window since mid-February. The red-skinned potatoes are behind me. They are up as of two days ago.
Body, Heart, Soul & Spirit
I am grateful that You have redeemed those of us who have accepted your gift of salvation, that in our spirit we are all that the scripture says we are.
Keep the heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.
Proverbs 4:23
A sound heart is life to the body, but envy is rottenness to the bones.
Proverbs 14:30
6 Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:
– Proverbs 23
7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.
8 The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.
Me: Good afternoon, Father!
Abba: Good afternoon, Jon!
Me: Can you help me understand these references to the heart? How does the heart relate to the spirit, to the mind, our will, even our emotions? After all, we have the expression, “I love you with all my heart!” There seem to be lots of opinions out there. What do You say?
Abba: Here are some New Testament scriptures to look at to go with the proverbs you have quoted:
20 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.
2 Corinthians 1
21 Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God;
22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Ephesians 1
14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
Ephesians 4
30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
So, you see, the heart contains the earnest (awareness) of the Spirit. Your born-again spirit is sealed (kept, preserved, protected) by My indwelling Spirit. You mentioned at the start the common understanding of emotions as being in the domain of the heart.
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12
And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Genesis 6:5
Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
Psalm 139:23
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
Matthew 15:19
This verse in Hebrews 4 shows you two things. First, thoughts and Intents (plans, will, desires) are in the domain of the heart. Second, My word helps you sort these questions out.
Here is something else you might meditate on:
O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
Matthew 12:34
Even as My words tell you what is in My heart, so do yours.
Here is another example of My Heart:
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
John 3:14-21
And one example concerning My Will:
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9
Me: Thank You Father! These are awesome assurances! I love You!
Abba: You are welcome! I love you!
Apple Tree Blossoms
Shot of the pear (nearest) and the two apple trees. The center one is a Honey Crisp, and the far one is a Granny Smiths. Late afternoon, looking west.
It is still early in May. If we don’t have frost from here on, we will probably have a good apple crop this year. The pear was blooming last week and those have dropped off the tree already. I say dropped, which kind of ignores the help they received from high wind.
Missionary Sojourn 
