18e et 19e chapitres de l'Évangile de Jean (fils de Zébédée)

More than 6 months ago (prior to taking on full-time work in childcare), I was engaged in not-frequent-enough personal study of Scripture.

The subsequent focus of a number of posts on this blog
- from January onwards -
was the 4th of the gospel accounts, as inspired by God & recorded by the apostle JOHN (son of Zebedee, brother of James). My quest was to find out the following:

* how to know God?
(principally in a relational sense, of experiencing Him)
&
* how to know God's will, desires, plans for His people; what He wants for them
(with us included, if we are Christians)

Back at the end of April this year, I had gotten up to some personal notes on chapter 17, but could not continue with the remaining chapters since the demands of my job kept me away from the Internet a lot more.

However, now that the pain in my feet has put an end to full-time work in the childcare industry (as of 8th November) .. it's full steam ahead!

________________


KNOWING (or experiencing) GOD

From reading JOHN 18 and 19, one deduces that
we can know/experience God by..

.. ..His choice to identify/show Himself to us
(as Jesus did in the garden, vv.4-8 of chapter 18)

.. ..accepting Him (God the Son) for precisely who He says He is
(i.e. Jesus acknowledges He is King, check out vv.29-38)
=> & also, this means responding to Him as He deserves
(not in the way the soldiers did, 19:2-3)

.. ..following Him
(though not at a distance, as Peter did in 18:15-18)

.. ..His speaking openly to the world
(& His words then being recorded for us to read from, e.g. vv.20-21 of ch.18)

.. ..LISTENING to His voice
- i.e. listening to all He said as recorded, and/or fulfilled, in Scripture for us
(e.g. 18:37; also inferred in v.9 and v.32)
=> & of course, listening to/believing in the testimony of those who saw Jesus' life & death (19:35 - also, they did see His resurrection, but that's in ch.20)

________________


KNOWING what GOD WILLS for His people

It seems that knowing what God's will is for His people is focused here on..

.. ..the salvation of His people through Jesus, who drinks the cup given Him
(the cup of God's wrath**, v.11 of ch.18

.. ..the importance of His WORD in revealing His will (v.9 in same chapter - a concern echoed also in v.32 and in 19:24 as well as 19:28-30 and 19:36-37
=> to indicate that His Word come to fulfillment in Jesus)


**
CUP?
This is a topic all its own - please comment if you require further explanation..

________________


Looking over related blog posts, there are certain things that just keep on repeating themselves from the preceding chapters of this gospel..!

Next up - the final notes on the final 2 chapters (twentieth and twenty-first).

L/T.

2 mille 7 cent EUR

If you knew Philippians 4:19, you'd be aware that it promises, "My God will supply all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus."

What I have needed (& what God has provided through today's mail - my tax return equiv. to 2700EUR) is enough to:
* pay my rent debt to my landlady
* update my health insurance into 2011
* tithe-with-interest into causes that I have always supported in the past but struggled to support in recent months.

It is also an answer to prayer.

May the Father enable His daughter and servant to be both wise and generous.

Great is Thy faithfulness,
Great is Thy faithfulness,
Morning by morning, new mercies I see;
All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided,
Great is Thy faithfulness, LORD, unto me.

L/T.

Une centaine des enfants juifs

For the 4th year in a row, I am rehearsing & performing Jewish children's songs of a highly religious nature at a Jewish school (where I worked as an Infants music teacher from 2007 to 2008).

I have been playing & singing with around 100 children (split into 4 classes), rehearsing songs about mitzvot (good works), shabbat (the day of rest - our Saturday) and Hashem (whom we call God, or the LORD).

Some of the songs (though definitely not all) are not only cute, but on the money:

BARUCH HASHEM (Blessed be The Name)
Baruch Hashem, I've got a Friend,
A Friend Who is always beside me,
Baruch Hashem, to the very end,
A Friend Who will always stick by me;
A Friend Who is kind, a Friend to share secrets with,
A Friend Who is always true blue,
A Friend Who is there, and He always cares -
Baruch Hashem, I've found it in You..

Of course, I think the theology could be deeper - but these are songs for Jewish children under the age of 7, after all..

L/T.

4 versets de Habacuc

HABAKKUK 3

(verses 16 to 19)

I heard and my heart pounded,
my lips quivered at the sound;
decay crept into my bones,
and my legs trembled..
..Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
He makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
He enables me to tread on the heights.
For the director of music. On my stringed instruments.
________________

L/T.