Personal Note

Lesson #10

I had the opportunity to spend some quiet time with the Lord this afternoon as I began walking again following recovery from foot surgery. As I walked my thoughts were about the lessons I have written from the Gospel of John. I realized the joy that was growing in my heart as I prayerfully dug deeper and deeper into the text. I also experienced a greater sense of spiritual life and a greater brightness in my life. I realized that the Word is God, the Son of God, who became flesh and dwelt among us as Jesus Christ was becoming more meaningful to me. As I studies the Word I was learning more about Jesus and as a result was abiding more deeply in him and as a branch that is attached to the vine, I was drawing greater life from him and thus more light.

As I study the Word it is like sitting down to a great meal and since the Word and Jesus are the same it reminds me of a passage in John 6:53 – 56, which reads, “⁵³ So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴ Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. ⁵⁵ For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶ Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him” (ESV).

As God the Word is living and as I make it part of me through study it is like I am feeding on his flesh and drinking his life blood. He becomes one with me and I with him. Becoming one with him, his life becomes mine and the light of his glory fills my heart with understanding because he is the source of truth. I know and fully believe who he is and who I am in him. As I thought about this as I walked along, I nearly exploded with the sense of God living within me.

Prayer

Lord, as I feast on your Word through study I am deeply touched by your life and the light of its glory. Joy fills my heart as understanding deepens and the desire for more continues to grow. Life with you clears my focus as the things of this world become more like clutter that one needs to discard. Father, you knew that mankind would turn away from you in disobedience, but instead of turning away from us you were willing to pay the ultimate price to redeem back to you those who believe and accepted your perfect sacrifice in the person of your beloved Son. Father, only by giving my life completely to you can I even begin to thank you enough for what Jesus has done for me.