Blood and Water

It’s an interesting combination…blood and water. In John chapter 19 – it’s recapping the crucifixion of Jesus, and it gets to the point where they are about to break Jesus’ legs to speed up the dying process, but when they get to him he’s already dead. So a soldier picks up a spear and pierces the side of this proclaimed “king of the Jews”. The the text goes on to tell us that when that happened “…blood and water gushed out of his side”.

God’s been dealing and working these verses into me the past couple of months. Blood and water- you see, I believe there’s something extraordinary happening here. The symbolism of blood and water are the two most necessary things for us to live our lives as followers of Christ. You see, the blood represents the forgiveness of sins- the redemption of our souls, but, the water is a representation of what we partake in after we have been saved. You see, in Rev. 22:1 John reports seeing a river (also in Ps. 46:4) in heaven that is the “river-of-life”. God knows that once an individual enters into salvation through the shed blood of Jesus, there is a maintaining that will still need to take place. I’m beginning to understand the large numbers of people that end up walking away from Christianity, those that after a while turn their back on their faith, they leave the cross, and forsake the blood that washed away their sins…………their thirst.

Thirst is an interesting thing because when someone becomes thirsty enough they’ll start to do and go through extraordinary measures to quench their thirst. Once a person comes into contact with God and is “born-again” or “saved”, that’s not enough. It’s kind of like this- I enjoy having an excess amount of things- so with that comes my appreciation for a store like Sam’s Club- where you can buy a 5 gallon bucket of mayonnaise and be good for like 3 years. The thing about Sam’s Club is that you can’t just walk in off the street and shop there- you need an id card to get in to shop there. The blood (not to minimize, but for the sake of analogy) is like our Sam’s Club ID card- it’s given us the availability and validation to get to the store. The store would be the presence of God. Just because you have the id card and access doesn’t mean your going to go there- you could sign up and become a Sam’s Club member and never-ever shop there. And this is where a lot of believers miss it. They have been washed in the blood, and have the ability to access the presence of God, but they never go “shopping”. Only when I go to the store can I pick up the things that I need- if you never participate in the presence or the river of life – which the water of Jesus’ side represents- you’ll eventually get thirsty for something else- and you’ll start shopping around to other places.

Acts chapter 3 says “…repent and turn to God so that your sins may be blotted out (this is what the blood does), so that times of refreshing may come” this is the representation of the water that came out of Jesus’ side). We as Christians need to continually access and get to the presence of God, the river of life, and get refreshed, filled up, and rested in him. It’s a daily thing that must take place- or else our “thrist” will lead us to something else, and pull us away from his presence- so I guess the question is – when is the last time you’ve been down by the river?

For Him,

Noah

The Resume of Relationships

So we're talking about relationships now on Wed. nights. I'm constantly learning the importance and need for others in our lives. As young people we get caught up in the idea and pattern of life and we start to attach ourselves to individuals without much thought. In the bible in Psalms 1:1 it says "Blessed is the person who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly." The crazy thing about this is during prayer and studying for this series God brought me to this verse and showed me the magnitude of what it's saying. You see Psalms is the largest book of the bible (150 chapters)- and to start off this massive book - the very first verse talks about relationships. I believe that if we as followers of Jesus determine in our lives to keep our counsel (our friendships) consistent with those of like faith (and there's a whole lot we can talk about with those who claim to be of "like faith") - then what we are doing is we are opening our lives up to allow God to bless us in ways we wouldn't otherwise experience.
You see, relationships are crucial- they're needed- YOU NEED FRIENDS!!!! If anyone tells you otherwise, well, sorry...but they're lying. In Genesis when God created Adam- he formed him and then walked with Adam, talked with Adam, engaged a relationship with Adam. He didn't form him and the say "yo Adam, good to form ya- gotta go make some more crazy creatures in heaven..text me sometime...peace." No, he stuck around and was involved with Adam's life- then he took another step and formed Eve (oh Jesus, help me- I don't have time to go there about the importance of a good wife) and said "i'm hangin' with Adam, but it's not enough, it's not good for him to be alone." So Eve comes about. We need other people, it's in our genes, in our existence as humans. The thing is, our relationships need to be founded in the idea that this person is a benefit to my life and i'm a benefit to them. We have too many surface relationships, I honestly believe we make friends too fast!!! Please pay attention to this next statment: "There is a process for friendships"- pals go through a process. Your friendship and what you have to offer someone is amazing, don't just give it and let anyone have it. Make sure they are going through a process where you evaluate there character, integrity, and most of all, their love for God. You need to ask youself this..."Since I've been friends with this person, am I closer to Jesus?" We need friends that challenge us, and hold us accountable to love God and walk in his ways. So..........do you love him more? And if not, then I would say there needs to be a healthy seperation. Paul and Mark were friends, both Christians, but they had a falling out on one of Paul's apostolic journeys and Mark took off under what I'd imagine weren't the greatest circumstances. Then you read at the closing of 2 Timothy in chapter 4- Paul says, "...and bring Mark to me, for he is a benefit to my ministry." Sometimes "Christian" friends need a seperation to make sure they are loving and following God whole heartedly in their own lives. Maybe there's some relationships you need to seperate from for a time. Becuase remember......your friendship is valuable.