It Was Foretold

^{1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.}

^{2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.}

^{3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.}

^{4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.}

^{5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.}

^{6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.}

^{7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.}

^{8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.}

^{9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.}

^{10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.}

^{11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.}

^{12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.}

^{13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.}

^{14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.}

^{15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.}

^{16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.}

^{17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.}

^{18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.}

^{19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.}

^{20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.}

^{21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.}

^{22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.}

^{23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also.}

^{24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.}

^{25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.}

^{26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:}

^{27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.} 

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers.http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal

He’s Waiting for You

                                                     

John 4:4 And he must needs go through Samaria

 At the beginning of chapter 4 of the book of John, we are told that Jesus is on his way to Jericho and that he needed to go through Samaria. On getting to Samaria, he sits at a well tired while he sends his disciples off to get food for them to eat. He’s seating there at the well and along comes a Samaritan woman to draw water from the well for her household. Jesus breaks the conversational ice by asking the woman for a drink of water. She expresses her surprise that Jesus as a Jew does not mind speaking to her, a Samaritan. A conversation then ensues between them with Jesus revealing the intimate details of her life, including the ones that were not so salubrious.

By the end of the conversation, Jesus reveals to her that he is the Messiah, the one sent by God to save the world from their sins. In the end, having been set free from her past, she runs into the city as a missionary declaring the Messiah to the men of a city. There is a belief that if you get a man to believe, you have also got his family to believe. In the end, the entire city was saved. By the time his disciples got back, Jesus was no longer hungry or tired. I do not believe that Jesus met the woman by chance. Jesus made it clear that he never did anything arbitrarily. The Bible tells us that he was the one who needed to pass through Samaria. We also know that he sent his disciples away while he sat and waited. He waited patiently for the woman he knew was going to be the first person at the well. He waited because of what he wanted to achieve in and through her life. In spite of the things that potentially disqualified her, Jesus knew what she was capable of achieving.  

God told Jeremiah that before he was formed in his mother’s womb, God had known him and ordained him a prophet to the nations. Isn’t it wonderful to know that there is a Saviour who knows us and what we are capable of, even when we look down on ourselves? Isn’t it great to know that there’s a loving God who even in depths of our sins or despair, is looking on lovingly as he waits patiently for us? He waits patiently for us even as we go about surfeiting and carousing even as he knows that he has so much better in store for us. All he’s asking is that we honestly seek for his help to be able to come through the things that are holding us back from being all he has called us to be.

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers.http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal.  

Saint Know Thyself

3 John 1:1  The elder unto the wellbeloved Gaius, who I love in truth

At first reading, a man calling himself “the elder” seems quite pretentious. However, when I continued to look at this scripture it occurred to me that the words were not those of an ego driven man but those of a man who knew who he was, his position in the scheme of things and the responsibility that came with that position. At the point he wrote the letter, he was probably old and nearer the end of his life than near the beginning of his ministry. He could have called himself an apostle, the one whom Jesus loved the most when he was alive, anything. However he chose to refer to himself as an elder. This doesn’t even begin to describe who he was to the church and what he had done. By this time he and Peter had healed the lame man at the Beautiful Gate. He had done many things by this time although he had not received the revelations detailed in the book of Revelations. He had seen many things, he had experience. He knew the power there is in the name of Jesus.

A man came to Israel and said he was the Son of God. He impacted the life of a dozen men, eleven of whom went on to do great works in his name. People were impacted by the lives of these eleven men such that men in exponential amounts began to follow the Jesus that these men preached. These men made such an impact on the world that in one of the places where they went to, they were described as the people who were turning the world upside down. These were men who were beaten, went to jail, suffered all kinds of deprivation yet they never lost sight of what they were, men and women who had been privileged enough to be called and chosen by God for his purpose. Nothing was too much for them to suffer to bring glory and honour to God. Some of them were killed for the sake of the message they proclaimed.

In today’s era of social media and being concerned about what people think of us, the question I ask of myself is: what am I ready to give up to serve and honour Jesus? What do I think is too much to do for God? What am I ready to suffer for Christ? The apostles of old were totally aware of whom they were in Christ. Paul understood that his identity was to be found not in any thing he had achieved but his identity was to be found in a God who loved him enough to send Christ to die for him. I believe the there was a direct proportional relationship between the revelation  these man had of God to the understanding of who they were in him which was directly proportional to the exploits they did in his name.   

Every day, I have to keep reminding myself that it’s not really about me, it’s about him and his purpose. Until I let go and stop struggling to find relevance for myself and realise that it’s about what he wants me to become, I will never truly find myself in him. I will continually struggle to live this life that he has given me. But like Paul, every day I press on that I may be found in him. Every day, I hope to grow in the knowledge in of God that I might truly fulfil the reason for the call on my life knowing that he who loves me and called me is cheering me on.

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers.http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal.