I Raised My Friend Lazarus from Death

Meditations based on readings from

The Story of My Life As Told by Jesus Christ

October 31, 2019

I Raised My Friend Lazarus from Death

Page 175-177

John 11:1-54

The request for Jesus to go to Bethany created a conflict for Jesus. Bethany is on the Mount of Olives, just a few miles from Jerusalem. When Jesus left Jerusalem, the religious leaders were seeking to arrest him and to stone him to death. For Jesus to return to the area of Jerusalem would have put him in harm’s way. While Jesus’ disciples feared for his safety, Jesus was calculating the time. Was it God’s time for him to return? Jesus resolved the conflict through prayer.

Jesus knew that no matter what happened to Lazarus, God would be glorified. Therefore, he did not let the circumstance determine his response. Jesus waited until the Spirit prompted him to return to Bethany. Jesus did not react; he responded. Jesus responded to every circumstance in his life out of his understanding of God’s will for his life.

Martha and Mary’s ‘if only’ statements to Jesus reveal an underlying trust in his supernatural powers, but do not reveal an intimate knowledge of the person of Jesus. When he raised Lazarus from the dead, Jesus was able to help them understand that the resurrection was not some future event that will happen some day; the resurrection is a person. Jesus, as God’s Messiah, was making the future hope of God’s restored Kingdom a present reality.

In the midst of this hugely difficult theological and doctrinal point to grasp, Jesus reveals the very heart of God. Jesus wept. Jesus fulfilled the words of the prophet Isaiah, “Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down” (Isaiah 53:4).

The Palmist tells us that God cares deeply for us: “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” (Psalm 56:8)

God keeps our tears in a bottle and Jesus weeps with us.

My Takeaway:

What wondrous love is this,

O my soul, O my soul,

what wondrous love is this,

O my soul!

What Wondrous Love Is This?

Dr. Alexander Means, 1835

(My ancestor and name sake)

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2019 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

• Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

• The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

I Taught My Disciples about Prayer

Meditations based on readings from

The Story of My Life As Told by Jesus Christ

October 30, 2019

I Taught My Disciples about Prayer

Page 171

Luke 11:1-13

Isn’t it interesting that the only thing the disciples ever asked Jesus to teach them was to pray? They never asked Jesus how to raise the dead or heal the sick or how to preach. They asked Jesus, "Teach us to pray," and Jesus taught them the Lord's Prayer. Then Jesus added a parable to help them understand how to pray.

In Israel’s covenant relationship with God, He taught them it was an honor to help their neighbors. This covenant responsibility to serve one another applied to strangers, even if they knocked on your door at midnight. Jesus says that while a neighbor may not open his door at night, even for a friend, he would open his door when his neighbor came seeking assistance in fulfilling his covenant responsibility. Within this covenant relationship, there is no shame in asking for help. Because the man in Jesus’ parable is without shame, he has no difficulty persistently asking his neighbor for help.

Jesus says this is what God is like. Jesus says you can have this same relationship with God. We have no shame as we go to God in prayer. We are not imposing upon God. The foundation of our relationship with God is not based on our tithe or perfect attendance or praying every day or reading the Bible every day. None of this improves our right-standing with God. Our right-standing before God is not helped by saying, “God if you'll just do this, I'll be good. I'll give more, I'll pray more, and I’ll do more if you'll just hear my request.” The man in the parable did not condition his request by saying, "If you will just give me some bread this one time, I will never ask you again."

The basis of our relationship with God is rooted in grace. God longs for us and desires a relationship with us, more than we could ever dream of longing and desiring a relationship with Him. Jesus says God delights in fulfilling our needs: “For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened” (Luke 11:10).

My Takeaway: Hebrews 4:16 is a good response to Jesus’ promise:  “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2019 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

• Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

• The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Jewish Leaders Tried to Kill Me

Meditations based on readings from

The Story of My Life As Told by Jesus Christ

October 29, 2019

The Jewish Leaders Tried to Kill Me

Page 164-165

John 10:22-42

In Jerusalem for Hanukkah, Jesus’ words reach new heights of controversy. Approximately 200 years before Jesus’ ministry, Israel had been overrun by an invading army. The army occupied Israel, desecrated the Temple, and put the people under oppression. A man named Judas Maccabaeus led a revolt against the foreign army and defeated them. The people made Maccabaeus their king, and his family ruled Israel until the Roman invasion 100 years later.

Maccabaeus led the people to purify the Temple and to hold a festival every year to commemorate the rededication of the Temple. This festival, Hanukkah, which means dedication, is held at a time on the Jewish calendar that is close to our December 25th date. Against this backdrop, Jesus continues to confront the people with the truth that he and the Father are one and that he has been sent by the Father to be the true Messiah King of Israel. Jesus tells the people if they will not believe him because of his teachings, then believe because of the miraculous signs of his authority.

In the midst of Jesus’ proclamation about being the Good Shepherd, Jesus gives his followers the assurance they will live eternally with him. Jesus’ followers can rest in the absolute assurance that they are safe and secure in his grasp. Jesus says that when we choose to follow him, because the Father and Jesus are one, we now find ourselves safely in the Father’s hand.

Brennan Manning, writing in his book, Ruthless Trust, says, “Faith in the person of Jesus and hope in his promise means that his voice, echoing and alive in the Gospels, has supreme and sovereign authority over our lives.”

My Takeaway: We are now at a jumping off point for such a life of faith. We can gloss over Jesus’ assertion that he is our Good Shepherd, or we can choose to make the Good Shepherd the supreme and sovereign authority over our life.

We get to choose this day whom we will serve!

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2019 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

• Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

• The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

I Am the Good Shepherd

Meditations based on readings from

The Story of My Life As Told by Jesus Christ

October 28, 2019

I Am the Good Shepherd

Page 163-164

John 10:1-21

Victor Hugo’s classic book Les Miserables, tells the story of Jean Valjean whose life was redeemed through the self-sacrificial love of the priest Bienvenue. Hugo developed the character Bienvenue so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in Bienvenue’s mortal flesh. (2 Corinthians 4:11b NRSV) In this way, Bienvenue became a model by which the priests of Hugo’s generation could measure their lives. The Bible uses this same literary technique.

Ezekiel 34 uses the metaphor of a shepherd and his flock for the King and his people. Unlike royalty in secular societies that were set apart from their constituents, the shepherd was in close personal contact with his flock. He knew his sheep and they knew their shepherd. When Jesus used this metaphor in his parable (John 10:1-6), the people didn’t understand, because in their generation the rulers were dictatorial tyrants. Little has changed over the two millenniums since Jesus spoke this parable. Religious and secular leaders alike abuse their power and authority and tend to live lives separate and apart from those they govern. But Jesus pressed on to make sure we could understand the nature of God’s sovereign rule over our lives. Jesus gives us the most compelling and enduring metaphor for God’s authority and love for His people: “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11a).

Jesus gives us his promise, that as the good shepherd, he has come that we may have a rich and satisfying life. Jesus assures us that he knows our name. Jesus assures us that we can learn to know his voice; we can learn to distinguish his voice from all the noise of life.

My Takeaway: Jesus, our Messiah, is different from every king that has ever lived. Our King is more interested in our lives than his own. Why would I want to follow any other voice?

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2019 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

• Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

• The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.