PJP2 SEVEN - 170131 - RESTORE

SEVEN: Share/Seek; Encourage; Verily Verify the Victory; Evaluate NOW (Note On WORD)

RESTORE:
Rely Ever (on our) Savior's TRUTH. Only (He is able to) Restore/Redeem/Reconcile Everyone

Psalm 51:12 (ESV)...."RESTORE to me The JOY Of Your Salvation, And Uphold me With A Willing Spirit."....

If you Pause To Ponder God's Purpose in Sharing His WORD with us, One Theme His Holy Spirit Consistently Shares with us IS His Theme of RESTORE.  All Through His WORD, from Adam/Eve's first stumble and mankind's fall from God's GRACE, to the End of Days reflected in Revelation - God's Goal Has and Remains His RECONCILIATION/RESTORATION of His & our RELATIONSHIP with Him.

For example, as YAHWEH's instructing Moses on The Mission of Exodus, God The Father gives Moses a VFR-Direct Example of God's Goal To RESTORE us to Him.....Exodus 4:7 (ESV)...." Then God said, 'Put your hand back inside your cloak.'  So Moses put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, it was RESTORED like the rest of his flesh."

Now, granted, in Exodus 4:7, Moses was to employ This Sign From God as a means of Validation that What God Was Saying was Indeed TRUE and To Be TRUSTED.  BUT, as I read these POWS, I Also Hear His Holy Spirit Reminding us....

Isaiah 57:18-19 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."I have Seen his ways, BUT I Will HEAL him; I Will Lead him And RESTORE Comfort to him and his mourners, Creating The Fruit of the lips. 'PEACE, PEACE, to the far and to the near,' says the Lord, 'And I Will HEAL him.'"....

Thus, during these days that chaos, destruction, and ever-rising tensions seem to be the words of the day.....May we Grasp our Lord's All-Abiding-Reality of His Ability (and Desire) to RESTORE us......

Joel 2:25-27 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."And God Said, 'I Will RESTORE to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, My Great Army, Which I Sent among you.  You Shall Eat in plenty And Be Satisfied, AND Praise The Name Of The Lord your God, Who Has Dealt Wondrously with you.  And MY people Shall Never Again be put to shame.  You Shall KNOW That I AM In The Midst of Israel, And THAT I AM The Lord your God And There IS NONE else.  And MY people Shall Never Again be put to shame.'"....

So, I would offer up THIS Eternal Promise Of His to us..... BLUF:  Isaiah 26:3-4 (ESV)...."You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.  Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock."....

Today's PJP2 SEVEN/170131's Prayer is a Paraphrase of Prayer and Praise from Psalm 23:1-6 O Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, Father God - We Raise our Worship and Praise in Your Holy Name.  You, O Lord Jesus, You Are our Eternal Shepherd.  In You, Holy Spirit, we Shall Not want.  Father God, Thank You, for In You and Your Way of GRACE, You Make us to Lie Down In Ever-Green Pastures of LOVE.  O Lord Jesus, Thank You as In Your Way, You Lead us Beside Your Still and Living Waters. Thank You Lord, For In You, You RESTORE our Souls.  Holy Spirit, Open our Inner Hearts, Minds and Eyes to See as You Lead us In Your Paths Of Righteousness.  Father God, Thank You that For Your Name's Sake, You Have SAVED us.  Lord Jesus, Even Though we daily walk through the valley of the shadow of death, Because of You In our Lives, we Will fear no evil.  Oh Holy Spirit, we Praise You For You Are With us.  Father God, Continue to Teach us that Your Rod And Your Staff Protect us and You Provide us Eternal Comfort In Your GRACE.  Lord Jesus, we Are In Awe for You Prepare A Table of LOVE Before us, even in the presence of our eternal enemies.  Holy Spirit, we Are Humbled as You Anoint our heads With Your Oil of Your Presence within us.  Lord Jesus, By Your Life, Your Sacrifice and Your Resurrection, our Cup Of LIFE In You Overflows. Father God, Surely Your Goodness And Mercy Shall Follow us All The Days Of our earthly life and Beyond.  Lord Jesus, In You, we Shall Dwell In The Father's House Forever!  In Your Holy Name, Lord Jesus, we Raise our Prayers and Praise....AMEN and AMEN....jaj

Remember:  Isaiah 26:3-4 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."You Keep him In Perfect PEACE whose Mind Is STAYED/FOCUSED On YOU, Because he TRUST In YOU.  TRUST In The Lord Forever, For The Lord God IS An Everlasting ROCK."....

Bonus:  Galatians 6:1-2 (ESV/emphasis & paraphrase added/jaj)...."Brothers/Sisters, IF anyone is caught in any transgression, you who Are Spiritual should RESTORE them In A Spirit Of Gentleness.  Keep Watch on yourself, LEST you too be tempted.  Bear one another's burdens, And So Fulfill The Law of Christ ("Love one another as He Has LOVED us.")."....

PJP2 SEVEN - 170130 - REDEEMED

SEVEN: Share/Seek; Encourage; Verily Verify the Victory; Evaluate NOW (Note On WORD)

REDEEMED:
Remember - Every Day (we are) Enlightened/Encouraged (by the) Messiah's Diary....
(e.g....His WORD...The BIBLE)....

Exodus 15:13 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)....“You have led in Your Steadfast LOVE the people whom You Have REDEEMED; You Have Guided them By Your Strength To Your Holy Abode."....

Have you ever Pondered on His Holy Concept of Being REDEEMED?  Each time I See or Hear the Word...."REDEEMED", I sometimes get this thought of a coupon we might use to save a few dollars, or even to "Get One Free" after having purchased an item at full-price.

Please, do NOT Hear what I am NOT Saying....NOT Saying that God The Father's REDEMPTION Plan is cheapened to be a 'simple coupon'.  In Fact, What I am Saying Is His Plan Of our REDEMPTION Is The Ultimate REDEMPTION Coupon.....EVER.....He Paid The PRICE so we Could Be FREE of the debt of our sin and selfishness....

Check this out.....

Galatians 3:10-14 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."For ALL who rely on works of the law are under a Curse; for it is Written, 'Cursed be everyone who does Not Abide By ALL things Written in The Book of The Law, And DO Them.'  NOW It Is Evident That no one Is Justified Before God BY The law, For 'The Righteous Shall LIVE By FAITH.'  BUT The Law Is NOT Of FAITH, Rather 'The one who Does Them Shall live By Them.'  Christ REDEEMED us From The Curse Of The Law BY Becoming A Curse For us—for it is Written, 'CURSED Is everyone who Is Hanged On A Tree”— SO That IN Christ Jesus The Blessing Of Abraham MIGHT Come To the Gentiles, SO That we Might Receive The Promised Spirit THROUGH FAITH."....

Thus, once we come/express our FAITH in our Lord Jesus Christ, God's REDEMPTION PLAN comes Full Circle and He Says to us, His Adopted children....

Isaiah 44:22 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."I Have Blotted Out your transgressions Like A Cloud And your sins Like Mist; RETURN To ME, For I Have REDEEMED you."....

BLUF....SIGN me UP for His COUPON of REDEMPTION.....I am Thrilled to Proclaim...."I Have Been REDEEMED!

Please, join us in This FAITH....and You To can Say....."I am REDEEMED."

Our PJP2 SEVEN/170130 Prayer for today.....Psalm 31:1-5 (ESV/emphasis & paraphrase added/jaj)....O Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, Father God, In You, O Lord, Do we Take Refuge.  We Praise You, Lord Jesus, May we Never Be put to shame, for In You we Are REDEEMED.  O Holy Spirit, In Your Righteousness Deliver us and Protect us from the wickedness of this fallen world.  Father God, Thank You for Your Grace! Please, Lord, Incline Your Ear to us.  Lord Jesus, Continue to Teach us and Rescue us speedily!   Holy Spirit, Remind us that You Are Ever our ROCK of REFUGE.  Father God, In You LOVE and MIGHT, Be our REFUGE, our Strong Fortress, and Thank You for SAVING us!  Lord Jesus, Indeed You Are our ROCK, and our FORTRESS.  For Your Name's Sake, O Lord, Please Lead us and Guidance us In Your Way.  Holy Spirit, In Your Mercy, Take us Out of the net of sin we've created and even hidden from ourselves.  O Father God, we Praise You and Thank You for You Are our Refuge.  Lord Jesus, as You Proclaimed on Your Cross for us, we too would Surrender and Say: "Into Your Hand, O Lord, we Commit our spirit!"  Thank You Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, Father God, for You Have REDEEMED us.  In Your Holy Name, O Lord, our Faithful God, we Raise our Prayers and Praise....AMEN and AMEN....jaj

Remember:  Isaiah 44:22 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."I Have Blotted Out your transgressions Like A Cloud And your sins Like Mist; RETURN To ME, For I Have REDEEMED you."....

PJP2 SEVEN - 170129 - DOORS

SEVEN: Share/Seek; Encourage; Verily Verify the Victory; Evaluate NOW (Note On WORD)

DOORS:
Daily, Commit One's LIFE (Home; God's Work; Work Work)....
Overhead Direction/Guidance
Open One's Inner Eyes and Ears for Holy Spirit's INTEL (In, Around & Through us)
Request (Pray) moment by moment....LIFT All To Him
Serve God & Others (NOT self).....Self will Be Serve via God's GRACE)

The Shema....{Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)}...."'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, The Lord is One.  You Shall LOVE The Lord your God With ALL your Heart And With ALL your Soul And With ALL your Might.  And These WORDs that I command you today Shall Be On your Heart. You Shall Teach them Diligently to your children, And Shall Talk of Them When you sit in your house, And When you walk by the way, And When you lie down, And When you rise. You Shall Bind Them As A Sign on your hand, And They Shall Be as Frontlets between your eyes.  You Shall Write Them on the DOORposts of your house And on your gates.'"

It is hard for me to believe that in just two days Team Johnson's first month of being AF/Retired will come to a close.  Man, if I thought the 30-years of Duty with our Armed Forces went fast....the past 31-days have ROARED by!

So during these past 31-days, Team Johnson's been Praying, Listening, Observing and Waiting/Watching (PLOW by the way) for God's Revelation with regards to His Ongoing PLAN and ADVENTURE(s) for Team Johnson's Way Ahead.....Thus, we've been sort-of watching for What DOORS God The Father's Opening for us.

Now, my Point today isn't to go into those - that's for another PJP2 SEVEN coming soon....What I Clearly Hear His Holy Spirit Sharing with me today is His J-ACRONYM....DOORS.....From The Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-9), He Got me to Thinking about IF I were to 'Write God's WORD' on my DOORS, what would I Write?  So.....Got to Pondering about the Word DOORS with that in mind......(Also today's PJP2 SEVEN - 170129, is just a tad different.....so bear with me on that).....

Thus, as I Considered DOORS, here is (once more) the J-ACRONYM for DOORS:

Daily, Commit One's LIFE (Home; God's Work; Work Work);
Overhead Direction/Guidance;
Open One's Inner Eyes and Ears for Holy Spirit's INTEL (In, Around & Through us);
Request (Pray) moment by moment....LIFT All To Him;
Serve God & Others (NOT self).....Self will Be Serve via God's GRACE);

So.....IF I were to Write Down FIVE Items from His WORD on our Team Johnson's DOORposts.....here's the FIVE I would Do.....




Daily, Commit One's LIFE (Home; God's Work; Work Work)....

Matthew 6:33-34 (ESV)...."But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

Colossians 3:23-24 (ESV)...."Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ."


Overhead Direction/Guidance....

Isaiah 30:21 (ESV)....":And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left."

John 14:6 (ESV)...."Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."


Open One's Inner Eyes and Ears for Holy Spirit's INTEL (In, Around & Through us)....

John 14:26 (ESV)...."But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you."

Romans 12:1-2 (ESV)...."I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."


Request (Pray) moment by moment....LIFT All To Him....

Psalm 32:6-7 (ESV)...."Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah"

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (ESV)...."Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."....


Serve God & Others (NOT self).....Self will Be Serve via God's GRACE)....

Mark 10:45 (ESV)...."For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

2 Corinthians 5:17-20 (ESV)...."Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God."

Galatians 5:13-14 (ESV)...."For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Team PJP2, readily Your FIVE DOORS will most likely be very different from mine listed above.  Also, I can say without-a-doubt, my own FIVE DOORS would FLEX with my situation and circumstance with which God The Father, His Holy Spirit and our Lord Jesus is Working In, Around and Through me as He Molds/Transforms me Little-by-Little.  BUT for today, at this moment, these DOORS say it all.

Our PJP2 SEVEN-170129 Prayer for today would be a Paraphrase of Prayer/Praise as Shared by His Holy Spirit and Recorded by Nehemiah.....(Nehemiah 1:5-11 {ESV/emphasis & paraphrase added/jaj})....O Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, Father God, we Raise our Prayers and Praise to You.  Lord Jesus, You Are our Lord and God of Heaven.  Farther God, we Lift Up Your Name As The Great And Awesome God!  Holy Spirit, It Is You Who Keeps Covenant with us, regardless of our failures and stumbles.  Lord Jesus, Thank You for Demonstrating Your Steadfast LOVE towards those who LOVE You And Keep Your Commandments.  O Holy Spirit, Intercede for us and Let Your Righteous Ear Be Ever-Attentive And Your Eyes Open for us.  Father God, Thank You that You Do Hear The Prayers Of Your servants, Your Adopted children.  Lord Jesus, Continue to Teach us to PRAY.  Holy Spirit, humbly we Come Before You Day And Night In PRAYER for ALL the people, especially those who do NOT Know You.  Farther God, we Come Before You, Confessing our sins, Which we have sinned against You.  Indeed, Lord Jesus, as You Well Know, ALL have sinned and fallen short of Your Glory.  ALL have acted very corruptly against You And Have NOT Kept Your Commandments, The Statutes, And The Rules that You commanded even Your servant Moses with.  Holy Spirit, Help us Remember Your WORD that You Commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘IF you are unfaithful, I Will Scatter you among the peoples, BUT IF you RETURN To ME And Keep My Commandments And DO Them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost Parts Of Heaven, From there I Will Gather them And Bring them To The Place THAT I Have Chosen, To Make My NAME Dwell There." O Lord Jesus, we Are Your servants, and Your people.  It is You Who Has Redeemed us By Your Great Power.  Holy Spirit, Thank You, for B\y Your Strong Hand, we've Been Delivered.  O Lord, Father God, Please Let Your Ear Be Attentive to the Prayer of Your servant.  Father God, Thank You for Answering The Prayers of Your servants.  Lord Jesus, we Are Thankful to Be of Your Household Of HOPE, and we Delight to Faithfully Esteem, Adore and Revere Your NAME.  Holy Spirit, In Your GRACE, Give Success to Your Own, In Your Will.  Father God, Thank You and Ever Grant Your MERCY as You've Ordained.  Lord Jesus, Regardless of our job, be that Baker or Cupbearer, we Lift Up our Prayers & Praise in Your Holy Name....AMEN and AMEN.....jaj

Remember:  The Shema....{Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)}...."'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, The Lord is One.  You Shall LOVE The Lord your God With ALL your Heart And With ALL your Soul And With ALL your Might.  And These WORDs that I command you today Shall Be On your Heart. You Shall Teach them Diligently to your children, And Shall Talk of Them When you sit in your house, And When you walk by the way, And When you lie down, And When you rise. You Shall Bind Them As A Sign on your hand, And They Shall Be as Frontlets between your eyes.  You Shall Write Them on the DOORposts of your house And on your gates.'"

PJP2 SEVEN - 170128 - STEADFAST

SEVEN: Share/Seek; Encourage; Verily Verify the Victory; Evaluate NOW (Note On WORD)

STEADFAST:
Share (His) TALE (Gospel);
Encourage (one) Another Daily;
Follow Always (in the) Savior's TRUTH

Deuteronomy 7:9 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."Know Therefore That The Lord your God IS God, The Faithful God Who Keeps Covenant And STEADFAST LOVE With those who LOVE Him And Keep His Commandments, to a thousand generations,"....

Team PJP2, there are simply so many words to employ when one Thinks, Meditates and/or Talks with/and about God The Father, His Holy Spirit and our Lord Jesus, His Christ and our Savior.

One WORD though that The Holy Spirit has Caught my attention with today is: STEADFAST.

For example..... Exodus 15:13 (ESV)....“You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode."....

In fact if you Word Search STEADFAST, BibleGateway.com indicates there's 219 Passages Of the WORD, Select employing STEADFAST in their Wording.  Granted not all of these are Directly Speaking of God's Nature - BUT I would also submit, in one-way-or-another our own Reflection of Being STEADFAST Is A Statement of Validation of His Holy Spirit Within us, as we Rely On Him and His Strength to Work In, Around and Through us for God The Father's Kingdom.

Thus as I've been Pondering with The Holy Spirit this morning, He Proposed our use of the J-ACRONYM: STEADFAST as our 'outline' for today's PJP2 SEVEN posting....here we have it.

Perhaps note exactly in the order STEADFAST flows.....BUT here all the same.... :)

His Holy Spirit States Well The gist and core of these concepts.....

 2 Timothy 2:1-13 (ESV)....."You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself."....
And in Specific, His Holy Spirit Encourages us.....1 Thessalonians 5:5-11(ESV)...."For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing."

Let me Share 1 Thessalonians 5:11 one more time...."Therefore Encourage one another And Build one another Up, Just As you Are Doing."....

Such an Amazing Blessing and Promise our Lord Jesus Shares via His Being God's Living Example of His STEADFAST LOVE.  What an Encouragement and Opportunity for us To Also Be Able, In His Strength Via His Holy Spirit Within us, To SHARE and Encourage one another as well In His GRACE.

I would Offer Up Today's PJP2 SEVEN/170128 PRAYER for us employing His Holy Spirit's Inspired WORD as Recorded in Numbers 14:17-19 (ESV/emphasis & paraphrase added/jaj).... O Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, Father God, we Raise our Praise and Worship in Your Holy Name.  And Now, O Lord Jesus, Please Let The Power Of God The Father, Through Your Holy Spirit Within us Be Great in, around and through us, Lord, As You Have Promised.  Father God, we Praise You and Thank You, Saying, "The Lord our God IS Slow to anger And Abounding In STEADFAST LOVE, Forgiving iniquity And transgression."  O Holy Spirit, Help us to Be Your Witness, To Share our Lord Jesus' Gospel of GRACE, especially to those who are still guilty of sin and transgression.  Father God, Help us to Be Able To Reflect That You Are Ever Ready To Forgive, IF they will But Come To You.  Lord Jesus, Make Plain in hearts that Righteous Justice Demands one' sins be cleared, even visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.  O Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, Father God, we of Your Household Of HOPE, we Plead and Pray that You Please Pardon and Forgive the iniquity of this people.  Thank You, Father God, for According To The Greatness of Your STEADFAST LOVE, Just As You Forgave the Ancient Saints of old, You Have, Through Your Son, our Lord Jesus, His Life, His Sacrifice and His Resurrection, You Have Forgiven us and all of this people, from Egypt until Now.  In Your Holy Name, Lord Jesus, we Raise Up our Prayers....AMEN and AMEN....jaj

I would 'send-trans' or 'Sign-off' today with this....

REMEMBER/Bottom-Line/Up-Front (BLUF):  1 Corinthians 15:58 (ESV/emphasis & paraphrase added/jaj)...."Therefore, my Beloved brothers/sisters, Be STEADFAST, Immovable, Always Abounding In The WORK Of The Lord, Knowing That In The Lord your LABOR Is NOT in vain."...

PJP2 SEVEN - 170127 - BUT

SEVEN: Share/Seek; Encourage; Verily Verify the Victory; Evaluate NOW (Note On WORD)

BUT - BEHOLD the Underlying TRUTH....

Psalm 18:31 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."For Who is God, BUT The Lord?  And Who Is A ROCK, Except/BUT our God?"....

I have expressed before how I marvel at God's Questions to us that He Poses Throughout His WORD.....in fact His Holy Spirit Shares God The Father's First Recorded Question to mankind....

Genesis 3:9 (ESV)...."BUT The Lord God Called to the man and Said to him, 'Where are you?'”

Now PJP2 SEVEN.170127 isn't delving into God's Questions today.....we're focusing on BUT

....BEHOLD the Underlying TRUTH.....

IF you do a word-search (i.e. BibleGateway.com {BG}) on a two-word search (But God), BG states there's at least 656 Passages Of the WORD, Select (POWS) that have "But God" in the POWS!  Yikes, 656 times God The Father, His Holy Spirit, and our Lord Jesus Christ's striving to get our attention to Look To HIM for His TRUTH.....

Now these 656 "But God" range throughout our human continuum in regards to WHAT God's Addressing in our LIVES and Relationship, our WALK with Him.  From my view, it strikes me that the two most common and overarching Themes He Presents:  (1) LOVE {HIS LOVE for us and our Response To HIS LOVE}; (2) SIN {HIS Redemption and Reconciliation (By HIS GRACE) of our fallen state due to our selfishness....SIN}....

Yep, That IS A LOT Of BUT (BEHOLD the Underlying TRUTH)....

In evidence, Consider just this one "BUT God" as a validation.....

Genesis 50:19-21 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."BUT Joseph said to them, 'Do Not fear, for am I In The Place Of God?  As for you, you meant evil against me, BUT God Meant it For GOOD, To Bring It About That many people Should Be Kept ALIVE, as they are today.  So Do Not fear; I Will Provide for you and your little ones.'  Thus he Comforted them And Spoke Kindly to them."....

Clearly Joseph's eleven hooligan brothers intended to either off-Lil' Joe, or profit from their selling-him-off to the Ishmaelites.....Either way, earthly circumstances would seem to indicate Lil' Joe was toast.....

BUT God Had A Different Outcome In Mind (as indicated in the POWS above)!

(IF you aren't familiar with Lil' Joe and The Eleven Hooligans....Check out Genesis Chapters 37 through 50/jaj)

Ok, Here's The Bottom/Line-Up/Front (BLUF) Of BUT God.....John 8:31-32 (ESV)...."So Jesus Said to the Jews who had Believed Him, 'If you ABIDE In My WORD, you Are Truly My disciples, AND you Will Know The TRUTH, And The TRUTH Will Set you FREE.'”....

Amen and Amen....

Thus, allow me, if you will, Just One More example of The Marvel of "BUT God" via His Holy Spirit's Inspired WORD as Recorded by Brother Paul, as Paul writes to the Ephesian Believers....

Ephesians 2:1-10 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we ALL once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. BUT GOD, Being Rich In MERCY, BECAUSE Of The Great LOVE With Which HE LOVED us, EVEN when we were dead in our trespasses, Made us ALIVE Together With Christ—BY GRACE you Have Been SAVED— And Raised us UP With HIM And Seated us With HIM In The Heavenly Places In Christ Jesus, SO That in the coming ages HE Might Show The Immeasurable Riches Of HIS GRACE In Kindness Toward us IN Christ Jesus.  FOR BY GRACE you Have Been SAVED Through FAITH.  And THIS IS NOT your own doing; IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD, NOT a result of works, SO That no one may boast. For we Are HIS Workmanship, Created IN Christ Jesus For Good Works, WHICH God Prepared Beforehand, THAT we Should WALK In Them."....

In A Word....OUTSTANDING.....

So Team PJP2 - I would Lift Up and Pray we Be Encouraged by His WORD of HOPE, MERCY and GRACE.....He Can Transform ANY circumstance in our Lives....May we, O Lord, Ever Surrender these to You.....

Psalm 20:1-2, 4-5, 7 (ESV/emphasis & paraphrase added/jaj)....O Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, Father God, we Raise our Praise and Worship in Your Holy Name.  O Lord Jesus, we Thank You and Know, O Lord, You WILL Answer us in our day of trouble!  Holy Spirit, In Your Holy Name, we Pray, Please Continue to Cover us In Your Protection, as You Have Throughout Time, O God of Jacob, Moses, Abraham, Noah et al.  Father God, Thank You and May You Ever Send us HELP From Your Sanctuary.  Open our Inner Eyes, O Lord, That we May See and Know of Your Support From Your Mighty Mountain, Your Son, our Lord Jesus.  Lord Jesus, we Surrender ALL to You.  May You Grant our Heart's Desire.  May our Desires, O Lord, Be Filled With Your GRACE and WISDOM.  Father God, Thank You for Your Promise, and May You Fulfill All Your Plans for our Lives with You!   Holy Spirit, May we Shout For JOY Over Your Revelation of our Salvation Through and In our Lord Jesus Christ.  Lord Jesus, In Your Name, The Name Above All other names, The Name of our Lord and God, May Your Holy Spirit Raise Your BANNER of LOVE!  O Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, Father God, we Come Before You and Ask You to Graciously y Fulfill All our Prayers and Petitions!  May we, as Your Witnesses, Reflect and Further Your Kingdom in Your Way.  O Lord Jesus, HELP us To Share Your TRUTH.  Hear us, Oh people -  Some do trust in "chariots and some in horses", the strength and illusion of man's earthly ways.  BUT Know, we, OF His Household Of HOPE, we TRUST In The NAME of The Lord Jesus, His Holy Spirit, and God The Father, our Lord and our God....Come Join Him.....Lord Jesus, in Your Holy Name we Pray....AMEN AND AMEN....jaj
Remember:  Psalm 20:7 (ESV/emphasis & paraphrase added/jaj)...."Some trust in chariots and some in horses, BUT we TRUST In The Name Of The Lord our God."....

PJP2 SEVEN - 170126 - DOOB

SEVEN: Share/Seek; Encourage; Verily Verify the Victory; Evaluate NOW (Note On WORD)

DOOB: Do, Obey, Observe, Believe

1 Chronicles 16:36 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."'Blessed Be The Lord, The God of Israel, From Everlasting To Everlasting!'  Then ALL the people said, 'AMEN!' And Praised The Lord."....

As I am reading through His WORD to us on my Annual Pilgrimage, one of the additional Devotionals His Holy Spirit has Shared is "The Book of Mysteries" by Jonathan Cahn.  The reason I'm bringing that to mind is I am fascinated How His Holy Spirit Weaves His WORD, as well as these additional Devotional Readings all together.  Today is a Perfect Example.....Bear with me, Team PJP2, as we meander through this....

IF we go back to the very Beginning (Genesis 1-2) we Witness that God The Father put Creation All Together for one purpose - To Shower His LOVE upon His Creation AND to Have A Right Relationship with us, His Created children.  Genesis 1-2 Reflect what Jonathan Cahn shares with us that Creation Reflects God's EMUN (Hebrew for 'That which is Solid, Sure, TRUE).  Adam and Eve Believed/Had FAITH (EMUNAH) do to all that they saw around them AND their personal Relationship With Him.

Then the Fall, our selfishness and selection of our own way (sin) fractured our Right Relationship with God The Father.  In His TRUTH, He drove us away from The Tree Of Everlasting LIFE to Protect us from becoming Eternally Lost to Him by our own foolishness.

BUT (Behold the Underlying TRUTH), God's PLAN for His Reconciliation/Redemption of mankind had already Begun.....Even as Adam/Eve left Eden, God's GRACE and MERCY were already well ahead of them (and us).  Every step of our way through this earthly life, God The Father, Through His Son, our Lord Jesus, and His Holy Spirit within us, God's Ensuring that His EMUN ("That which is Solid, Sure, TRUE) is Evident in our Lives and we can BANK on....

....Hebrews 11:1 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."Now FAITH (EMUNAH) IS The Assurance of Things HOPED For, The Conviction Of Things Not Seen."....

In Response to God's EMUN and our EMUNAH (FAITH) we can Readily Respond - AMEN.....

(By-the-way....AMEN comes from the same root-word in Hebrew as EMUN....AMEN literally means: "It Is TRUE.  I Agree/Believe!  YES!!!!".....Thus, in essence, our Saying AMEN is our saying YES to God!)

{J-Note: The intel on EMUN, EMUNAH and AMEN all courtesy of J. Cahn's 'Book of Mysteries'}

Ok.....so....where does DOOB, our J-ACRONYM for the day work into all of this, Jeff?  Thanks Team for Asking.....YOU ROCK!

Well.....have you ever noticed that God The Father, His Son, our Lord Jesus and His Holy Spirit makes a Simple Statement (be that on how we're to Follow Them, Pray, Live) - YET we find Their Simple Statement a Puzzle....For Example.....

Luke 12:22-31 (ESV)...."And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you."....

I can just See our Lord's disciples going...."AMEN....HooAh...HUH?....OH"

BUT, God The Father has Been Consistent (EMUN) within our EMUNAH (which also means Steadfast, Stable, Steady, Established) and AMEN with our Relationship with Him.....Check out His Guidance via His WORD to us.....

Deuteronomy 5:32-33 (ESV)...."You shall be careful therefore to do as the Lord your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. You shall walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess."

Leviticus 19:37 (ESV)...."And you shall observe all my statutes and all my rules, and do them: I am the Lord.”....

Colossians 2:6-7 (ESV)...."Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving."....

Acts 17:28 (ESV)...."'For In Him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are indeed His offspring.’"

Yes (AMEN), Consistently Throughout His Old Testament AND New Testament to us, God's EMUN has Steadily/Steadfastly Revealed That He IS THE LORD and He LOVES us.

Which Brings us back to our FAITH/EMUNAH and our AMEN.....BLUF, as Oswald Chamber shares with us in "My Utmost For His Highest" - "The Way for us to Maintain The Simplicity of Jesus IS By Receiving His Holy Spirit.  As we Recognize/Rely and Obey (Do, Observe, Obey, Believe) Him, He Brings To us (via His WORD) God's TRUTH....we Find our LIVES Become Amazingly Simple."....

And we Learn His TRUTH (in our LIVES, as well as The Saints who've gone before us).....Hebrews 11:6 (ESV)....."And without FAITH (EMUNAH) it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would Draw Near To God MUST BELIEVE (AMEN) That HE Exists And That HE Rewards those who SEEK Him."....

So in conclusion.....

I would Lift Up this Paraphrase of Prayer and Praise for us today....Psalm 36:5-12 (ESV/emphasis & paraphrase added/jaj)....O Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, Father God, Your Steadfast LOVE, O Lord, Extends To The Heavens.  Lord Jesus, we Thank You, for Your Faithfulness Goes Beyond the clouds.  Holy Spirit, we Are In Awe, for Your Righteousness Is Like The Mountains Of God The Father, Towering Over us to Infinity and Beyond.  Father God, we Praise You for Your Righteous Judgments Are Like The Great Deep of the Largest Ocean.  Lord Jesus, Thank You for You Have SAVED Both man and beast.  O Lord, How Precious IS Your Steadfast LOVE!  O God The Father, The children of mankind Take Refuge In The Shadow Of Your Mighty Wings.  Holy Spirit, By Your GRACE, we Feast On The Abundance Of Your Spiritual and Holy House.  Lord Jesus, God The Father's Living River of LIFE, Thank You for You Give us Drink From The River Of Your Righteousness.  Indeed, O Lord, For With You IS The TRUE Fountain Of LIFE.  Holy Spirit, Open our Inner Eyes, For In Your LIGHT Do we SEE God The Father's LIGHT.  O Father God, Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus, Please Forever Continue Your Steadfast LOVE To those who Know You, And Your Righteousness to the Upright of Heart By Your GRACE!  Lord Jesus, Help us to Be Your Witness.  May our AMEN Share and Reflect Your Mercy and GRACE, Calling to those who do Not Yet Know You!  Holy Spirit, Let NOT the foot of arrogance ever come upon us.  Father God, May the hand of the wicked NEVER drive me away from You. Lord Jesus, May we Share Your Story and Reflect, should man NOT Choose You and Your WAY for LIFE, The End is the evildoers will lie fallen; they will be thrust down, unable to rise.  Lord Jesus, Thank You for Your LOVE, MERCY and GRACE.  We Raise our Prayers and Praise in Your Holy Name....AMEN and AMEN....jaj

Remember:   Acts 17:28 for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

1 Chronicles 16:36 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."'Blessed Be The Lord, The God of Israel, From Everlasting To Everlasting!'  Then ALL the people said, 'AMEN!' And Praised The Lord."....

PJP2 SEVEN - 170125 - HIS STORY

SEVEN: Share/Seek; Encourage; Verily Verify the Victory; Evaluate NOW (Note On WORD)

HIS STORY: He Is (the Only) Son & Savior; Tell Of (our) Redemption (via) Yeshua's (GRACE)

Romans 15:4 (ESV)...."For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have HOPE."....

Team, those of you who know me know my passion for History (and HIS STORY).  Sir Edmund Burke said, "Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it."

One could say that defines our human condition post-The-Fall-From-GRACE.....Even though we do know the history of the human condition - that is a fallen creature surviving in a broken world, we, the human race, are in essence cursed to repeat what all mankind before us has done, and all that follow after us will as well.....here's three Passages Of the WORD, Select (POWS) that encapsulate this thought.....

Genesis 3:19 (ESV)...."God Said to Adam, 'By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.'”...

Ecclesiastes 1:8-9 (ESV)...."All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun."....

Romans 7:14-20 (ESV)...."For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me."....

BUT (Behold the Underlying TRUTH) - God The Father IS One Who Specializes in Redemption, Reconciliation and Restoration of what has become useless, YET in His Hands, The Hands Of The Master, Become USEFUL....Thus God The Father has (and Still Is) taking our failed human history, via HIS STORY, He Has Transformed our history Into a Phenomenal Scenario Fully Reflected in HIS STORY, that is The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.  AND what's the significance of us coming in contact with, embracing and beginning to, ourselves, Reflect HIS STORY?.....

Ephesians 2:1-10 (ESV)...."And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."....

So, Team, as we witness today our earthly history continuing to bumble along, it is indeed Refreshing to our Hearts and Souls to Come To Realize That HIS STORY has and continues to be of Significance to our history.  May we Ever Remember that, and May He Embolden and Empower us to Share HIS STORY to Reach those who have yet been Transformed By His GRACE.

If you will, permit me to Share His Holy Spirit's Bottom-Line/Up-Front (BLUF) as recorded by our Brother Paul in Philippians 2:1-11 (ESV)...."So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Today's Prayer (Paraphrase of Prayer and Praise - Psalm 104:27-34 (ESV/emphasis & paraphrase added/jaj)....O Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, Father God, we All Look To You and Praise You, for It Is You Who Gives us our collective "Food" in due season. Holy Spirit, When You Provide for us all, we Gladly Gather Up Your Support  for us.  Father God, Eternally, When You Open Your Hand, we Are Blessed and Filled With Your Good Things for our Lives.  Lord Jesus, If Ever we Sense That You Have Hidden Your Face from us.  We are Dismayed!  When You, Father God, Take Away Your Breath of Life within us, we do die and return to the dust from which we came.  O Lord, When You Send Forth Your Holy Spirit, Then we Are Re-Created and Renewed In You!  Lord Jesus, as our Master Artisan, You're Power Renews our very world Day after Day/Night after Night.  Thank You, Father God, Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus For Your STORY that we Reflect in our Every Breath, Every Heartbeat, Every Thought, Word and Action.  May Your Glory O Lord Endure Forever.  May You Rejoice In Your Works!  Holy Spirit, Help us to Ever Reflect to All Your Presence within us.  May those who study our earth and our history, Tremble When we Make The Connection Between HIS STORY and history.  May we Share Your Revelation of Your Son's Second Coming, such that when we Witness the earth trembling, our mountains crumbling/smoking at Your Touch.  O Lord Jesus, Help us To Sing To You, O Lord, as Long As we LIVE.  Again, we Will Sing Praises to our Lord and our God, while we have being. Lord Jesus, May our Meditations Ever Be Pleasing To You.  In Your Holy and Precious Name, Lord Jesus, we REJOICE and Lift Up our Prayers.....Amen and Amen.....jaj

PJP2 SEVEN - 17012324 - FEAR

SEVEN: Share/Seek; Encourage; Verily Verify the Victory; Evaluate NOW (Note On WORD)

FEAR: Faithfully Esteem, Adore, Respect (our Lord Jesus)

Isaiah 41:10 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."Fear NOT not, For I AM With you; Be NOT dismayed, For I AM your God; I Will Strengthen you, I Will HELP you, I Will Uphold you With My Righteous Right Hand."....

Proverbs 1:7 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."The FEAR Of The Lord IS The Beginning Of Knowledge; fools despise Wisdom And Instruction.".....

Joshua 1:9 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."Have I Not Commanded you?  BE Strong And Courageous.  Do NOT be frightened, And Do NOT be dismayed, For The Lord your God IS With you wherever you go.”

I don't know about you, Team, BUT, right now, in our generation, the word 'fear' is getting a LOT of air-time.  It seems we, as a human-race, are fearful about a lot.  I will not deny, especially as Team Johnson continues down this recent transition to the Rank of AF/Retired, we have had our own set of anxiety and challenges to consider.

As we read through His WORD - there's multiple instances of fear/anxiety present.  I mean check-out this event with our Lord Jesus and His disciples....

Mark 4:37-41 (ESV)...."And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.  But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion.  And they woke him and said to him, 'Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?'  And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, 'Peace! Be still!'  And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.  He said to them, 'Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?'  And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, 'Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?'”

BUT, again, God The Father's PROMISE is Repeated to us over 400 times.....

Isaiah 41:10 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."Fear NOT not, For I AM With you; Be NOT dismayed, For I AM your God; I Will Strengthen you, I Will HELP you, I Will Uphold you With My Righteous Right Hand."....

Proverbs 1:7 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."The FEAR Of The Lord IS The Beginning Of Knowledge; fools despise Wisdom And Instruction.".....

Joshua 1:9 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."Have I Not Commanded you?  BE Strong And Courageous.  Do NOT be frightened, And Do NOT be dismayed, For The Lord your God IS With you wherever you go.”

And out Lord Jesus' Own Bottom-Line/Up-Front WORD.....John 16:33 (ESV/emphasis & paraphrase added/jaj)...."I Have Said These Things to you, That In ME you May Have PEACE.  In the world you will have tribulation. BUT Take Heart (Be of Good Cheer / Don't be afraid); I HAVE OVERCOME the world.”

So, Team, regardless of what circumstances, challenges, bumps-in-our-road we may be facing individually, collectively, even as a Nation and a Global Community - may we GRASP HOLD of HIS TRUTH.  May we Be Open to HIS Transforming GRACE, giving HIM our fear and Watch/Experience as HE Will CHANGE our fear into The FEAR {Faithfully Esteem, Adore, Respect (our Lord Jesus)} Of God.....And Then we will Sense His Beginning of Wisdom/Understanding Blossoming and Expanding across our barren fields of dismay and despair.

Come Lord Jesus.....Come!

In closing today - I would Offer up a Paraphrase of Prayer and Praise from His Holy Spirit's Inspired WORD as Recorded in Psalm 91:1-6, 9-10, 14-16 (ESV/emphasis & paraphrase added/jaj)....O Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, Father God, Thank You and we Praise Your Holy Name.  May we Ever Dwells In The Shelter Of Your LOVE, Lord Jesus.  O Most High Father God, May we Abide In Your Shadow, The Shadow Of The Almighty.  Holy Spirit, we Will say To You, O Lord: "You Are our Refuge And our Fortress."  Lord Jesus, we Thank You, for You Are our God, in Whom we Fully Trust.  For Holy Spirit, we Know You Will Deliver us From the snare of the evil one.  Father God, Thank You, for In You and Your Protection, the deadly pestilence of our sin and selfishness will pass-us-by.  Lord Jesus, Like God's EAGLE, Your GRACE Covers us With Your Pinions, And Under Your Righteous "Wings", we Will Find Refuge.  Holy Spirit, Encourage us and Help us REMEMBER That Your Faithfulness IS our Shield And Buckler.  Father God, Because of Your Presence In, Around and Through us, we Will NOT fear the terror of the night, NOT the arrow that flies by day, NOT the pestilence that stalks in darkness, NOT the destruction that wastes at noonday.  BECAUSE, Lord Jesus, By Your Life, Sacrifice and Resurrection, You Have Made it possible for us To Dwell Forever In and With You!  O Father God, Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus, You Are The Most High!  It Is In You, O Lord, You, Who IS our Refuge!  Lord Jesus, Thank You, For You Ensure No evil Shall Be Allowed To befall us In You, NO plague can come near us as we Remain in Your Tent of Salvation.  O Father God, we Thank You as You Share with us Your Word and Say: “BECAUSE you Hold Fast To ME In LOVE, I Will Deliver you; I Will Protect you, BECAUSE you Know MY NAME."  Lord Jesus, Thank You for Your Assurance that When we Call to You, You Still Answer us.  Holy Spirit, Thank You that You Are Ever Faithful and True and Remain with us, even in our days of trouble.  Father God, Thank You that You Have and Still Rescue us.  Lord Jesus, we Honor and Praise You.  May we, in All of our Lives on this earth, and Your Next, Praise and Exult You.  Thank You Lord Jesus that You Satisfy us with Your GRACE, and Have Shown us Your Salvation.  We Raise our Prayers and Praise in Your Holy Name....Amen and Amen....jaj

PJP2 SEVEN - 17012021 - FAITH

SEVEN: Share/Seek; Encourage; Verily Verify the Victory; Evaluate NOW (Note On WORD)

FAITH: Follow Always In Touch (with) HIM

Hebrews 11:1-3 (ESV)...."Now FAITH is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.  For by IT the people of old received their commendation.  By FAITH we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible."....

Inauguration Day - 2017 and D-Day +1....., regardless of our politics, yesterday we witnessed the Founding Father's work being repeated.  The peaceful transfer of leadership as guided by our U.S. Constitution, a unique and at times perplexing exercise in democracy.

There is, albeit, a tense sense of expectation with the new U.S. Administration.....some have great expectations, others not-so-much.

Thus, what I have Heard His Holy Spirit Share with me this morning is His Question to me:

"Jeffery, WHO do you have FAITH in?".....Yikes!

BUT more on that in a moment...

IF we take Hebrews 11:1-3 ( above) as our Baseline.....The Answer seems quite Obvious.  BUT (Behold the Underlying TRUTH).....bear with me as we go down this path....

Throughout God's WORD, He Shares with us His Principle of Having More than just One Witness (Check out: Numbers 35:30; Deuteronomy 17:6-7; 19:15; Matthew 18:16).  Our Lord Jesus sums this Concept up.....

Matthew 18:20 (ESV)...."For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”....

Thus, IF we take a Broad-Brush Look - God The Father Ensures we have Multiple Witnesses in Regards to Him, His Nature, His LOVE & GRACE towards us, and His Eternal Engagement in our Lives.....

From the Days of Noah and The Flood....

Genesis 9:16-17 (ESV)...."When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” God said to Noah, 'This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.'”....

To the Days of Moses and God's Children of Israel's Exodus from Egypt....

Exodus 2:24-25 (ESV)...."And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew."....
We Serve a God and Savior Who Is Not Only Watching Over us, He Calls to our Mind That He Has a Binding Contract, a Holy Covenant AND He Is Ever Faithful and True to His WORD....

1 Chronicles 16:15 (ESV)....."Remember his covenant forever, the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,"....

One more Brick for God's Foundation of FAITH in our LIVES.....Here's God's Own Statement of Witness to us.....His Holy Spirit Inspired His Psalmist to Record This Quote of God's Heart.....

Psalm 91:14-16 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)....“Because he Holds Fast To ME In LOVE, I Will Deliver him; I Will Protect him, Because he Knows MY NAME.  When he Calls To ME, I Will Answer him; I Will Be With him in trouble; I Will Rescue him And Honor him.  With Long LIFE, I Will Satisfy him And Show him MY Salvation.”

Look at PROMISE and Be Encouraged.....HE PROMISES us....To Deliver us; To Protect us; To Answer us when we Call Upon Him; To Be WITH us; To Rescue us; To even Honor us (in His Mercy and GRACE); To Satisfy us AND Show us His SALVATION.....

And The Kicker - The Ultimate Witness for us to Confess our FAITH in Him?

2 Corinthians 1:20 (ESV/emphasis & paraphrase added/jaj)....."For ALL The Promises of God Find Their YES In Him (our Lord Jesus Christ).  THAT Is WHY It Is THROUGH Him that we utter our AMEN to God for His Glory."....

In a Word.....OUTSTANDING.....

Thus, May I Offer Up this Paraphrase of Prayer and Praise in Response To our Lord's Awesome PROMISE of which we Can Stand Upon in Total Confidence - Following Always In Touch (with) HIM....Psalm 22:25-28 (ESV/emphasis & paraphrase added/jaj).....O Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, Father God, we Lift Up Your Praise in the great congregation.  Lord Jesus, May we Confess our Vows of FAITH to You.  Holy Spirit, Strengthen us and Help us to Perform/Reflect our FAITH to All, Standing With You and those who Faithfully Esteem, Adore and Respect You as Lord.  Father God, Thank You for Your LOVE.  For Through Your Son, our Lord Jesus, the afflicted Shall Eat of Your GRACE And Be Satisfied in our Souls.  O Lord Jesus, May those who Seek You, Find You and Lift Up Praise In Your Name, O Lord our God!  Holy Spirit, May our Inner Hearts Live Forever In Your Presence!  Father God, Revive us that All the ends of the earth Remember And Turn To You, Lord.  Lord Jesus, May we Share Your Story and Be Your Ambassadors that ALL the families of the nations Shall Come and Worship Before You.  Indeed, Lord Jesus, May we Proclaim Your Kingship.  We Belong to You, O Lord!  You Do Rule Over All.  In Your Holy Name we Pray....Amen and Amen....jaj

Bonus:  Hebrews 12:1-2 (ESV)...."Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."

PJP2 SEVEN - 170118 - PIN

SEVEN: Share/Seek; Encourage; Verily Verify the Victory; Evaluate NOW (Note On WORD)

PIN: Power In (The) NAME

Proverbs 22:1 (ESV)...."A Good NAME Is To Be Chosen Rather Than great riches, And Favor/GRACE Is Better Than silver or gold.".....

Have you ever stopped to Ponder the how and why you were given the NAME you have?  I will not go into the long details of how I became JEFFERY, though it is a hoot of a story.  BUT, suffice to say, I had little choice in what Pops and Mom Johnson had determined to NAME me.

I am making the presumption most of us, at our birth anyway, had little opportunity to share our input with what our NAME should be.

BUT (Behold the Underlying TRUTH) our Lord Jesus is an Exception.

Not only did our Lord Jesus (Hebrew Name: Yeshua....more on that in a moment) fulfill well over 400 Old Testament Prophecies......Here's one where God's Angel Shared with Joseph, Jesus' earthly step-father......Matthew 1:21-23 (ESV)...."She will bear a son, and you shall call his name JESUS (Yeshua), for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet (Isaiah): “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” which means, God with us."....

So God The Father Shared what His Only Son's Name would be upon His Birth.

And so what?  What's In This NAME of Jesus/Yeshua?

Great Question, thanks for asking.....

Yeshua itself means: "To Rescue; To Help; To Defend; To Preserve; To Set Free; To Assure/Attain Victory; To Bring To Safety; To Heal; To SAVE

When we utter "Yeshua" we are Proclaiming: "He Has Become my SALVATION."

Our Lord's Holy Spirit Affirms this....

John 3:14-17 (ESV)...."And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be SAVED Through him."....

And once more, even more direct....

Acts 2:21(ESV)...."And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the NAME of the Lord shall be saved."....

Oh, and one small bit of Prophecy connecting the Old and New Testaments, to include Revelation and The Last Days.....

 Philippians 2:1-11 (ESV)...."So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."....

In a Word....OUTSTANDING!!!!

Ok, so what's In The Name of JESUS/YESHUA?

Let me summarize my Ponderings, borrowing just a bit from J. Kahn's 'Book of Mysteries'.....
God The Father Sent His Only Son, our Lord Jesus, His Christ/Messiah, to Become The One and Only Answer we would ever Need for each and every Question of LIFE.  

Philippians 4:19 (ESV)...."And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus."....

Our "Mission" (and Team I know it is NOT an easy one) Is To Learn, Little-By-Little to Take Every Question and True Need we have in our LIVES To Him and Join them To His NAME.....

Oh my Dear Friends, do NOT hear what I am NOT saying....NOT saying I have arrived at this point yet.....not even close.....BUT what I am Saying.....His Holy Spirit Says Best as Paul Records in Philippians 3:12-16(ESV)..."Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained."

Thus my Prayer for us today would be.....O Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, Father God, we Raise our Prayers and Praise in Your Holy Name, our Yeshua!  Lord Jesus, Thank You for Surrendering and Obeying Fully Your Call from God The Father.  Holy Spirit, Thank You for Strengthening our Lord Jesus as He Walked Among us, Lived as one of us, and Gave The Ultimate Sacrifice, Once and For ALL Time and All our sins upon His Cross.  Father God we Praise You for Your Power of Resurrection Poured Upon Your Son, our Lord Jesus, which Assured Your VICTORY over darkness and death.  Lord Jesus, Help us and Encourage us to Always Bring Every Question and Every True Need to You.  Holy Spirit, Align our Thoughts with Your Thoughts.  Father God, Open our Inner Minds to Little By Little Be Transformed to Be More Like Your Son, Day by Day.  Lord Jesus, we Do Praise You, Yeshua.  We Lift Up our Prayers in Your Holy Name....Amen and Amen....jaj




BONUS:  Short Version - HIS STORY....

Acts 2:36-39(ESV)...."Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

PJP2 SEVEN - 170118 - SPIRIT

SEVEN: Share/Seek; Encourage; Verily Verify the Victory; Evaluate NOW (Note On WORD)

SPIRIT: (Holy) Spirit's Special Purpose - Instills (His Presence/WORD), Reminds/Revives (us),  Inspires (God's) TRUTH (Within us)...

Job 33:4 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."The Spirit of God Has Made me, And The Breath Of The Almighty Gives me LIFE."....

Have you ever Pondered about God's Holy Spirit?  I mean, when we consider God's Holy Trinity (God The Father, God's Only Son, our Lord Jesus, and His Holy Spirit) - The Holy Spirit, at times, seems to be The One in the background, working behind, in and through the Scenes of our lives.  Now that is NOT in anyway to minimize or trivialize His Workings and His Part of The Holy Trinity.....

Check out our Lord Jesus' Response to Nicodemus.....

John 3:1-8 (ESV)...."Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, 'Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.'  Jesus answered him, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. '  Nicodemus said to him, 'How can a man be born when he is old?  Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?'  Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.  So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.'”

As I've been mulling Jesus' Response, it strikes me that what I'm reading here is man's wisdom being placed side-by-side with God's TRUTH and REALITY.  You could also say we are in some ways comparing man's earthly nature With God's Righteous and Eternal Nature.  Which, as we drill further Really Becomes a Question of FAITH and TRUST.  Which do we have FAITH and TRUST In.....man's wisdom and nature OR God's TRUTH and NATURE of GRACE?

Our Lord Jesus went on to Share His Promise with His Disciples, as well as with us....,

John 16:7-8, 13-14 (ESV)....."Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you.  But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.  He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you."

Now THAT's a Promise we can all be Encouraged by.

And This Promise even comes with a God The Father Backed Guarantee!

Ephesians 1:11-14 (ESV)...."In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.  In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory."....

Flat-out, Team, it doesn't get much better than that.....

So, when we Ponder His Holy Spirit.....Perhaps His Own Inspired WORD to Paul, as Paul Records in  1 Corinthians 2:7-16 (ESV), will also Provide us a Bit More Solid Train-of-Thought....

"But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ."

I would offer up today this Paraphrase of Prayer and Praise - May we Be Open to God The Father, His Holy Son, our Lord Jesus and His Holy Spirit Working In, Around and Through us....

Psalm 34:1-4, 6-8 (ESV/emphasis & paraphrase added/jaj)....O Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, Father God, we Will Bless You O Lord At All Times.  Your Praise, Lord Jesus, Shall Continually Be In our mouths.  Holy Spirit, May our Souls makes its Boast In You and You Alone, O Lord.  Father God, May our Witness of Your GRACE in our LIVES Be Uplifting and A Joyous Noise that the humble Hear And Are GLAD Because Of You.  Oh, Fellow Household of His HOPE, Join Together and Magnify the Lord as one.  Let us Exalt His Holy Name together!   Lord Jesus, Thank You, for we Sought You, O Lord, And You Have Answered us.  Holy Spirit, Thank You, for By God's GRACE and POWER, You Have Delivered us From ALL our fears.  Father God, we are poor men and we Cry Out To You, O Lord.  Thank You, Father God, for In Your Mercy You Heard us and Sent Your Son, our Lord Jesus, as Your Yeshua, Your Salvation, and You Saved us out of ALL our self-inflicted troubles.  Lord Jesus, Open our Inner Eyes That we May See Your Angel, The Angel Of The Lord Encamped Around us who Faithfully Esteem, Adore and Revere Your Holy Name.  Holy Spirit, May we Taste And See That You, O Lord, Indeed Are GOOD!  Father God, Help us Ever Remember: "Blessed is the man who Takes Refuge In YOU!"
Lord Jesus, In Your Holy Name, we Lift Up our Prayers and Praise....Amen and Amen....jaj

PJP2 SEVEN - 170118 - CWRS

(SEVEN: Share/Seek; Encourage; Verily Verify the Victory; Evaluate NOW (Note On WORD))

Today's PJP2 SEVEN Topic: Crawl-Walk-Run-SOAR

Micah 6:8 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."He has told you, O man, What Is GOOD; And What Does The Lord Require of you BUT To Do JUSTICE, And To LOVE KINDNESS, And To WALK HUMBLY With your God?"....

Share/Seek; Encourage; Verily Verify the Victory....

I am so very Thankful that God The Father, His Son, our Lord Jesus, and His Holy Spirit Fully Understands us, His Creation, mankind.  He Understands that for us to come into a Revived/Reconciled Relationship with Him, as our Lord Jesus explained to Nicodemus....

John 3:1-3 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, 'Rabbi, we know that You Are A Teacher Come From God, For no one Can Do These Signs That You Do Unless God Is With Him.'  Jesus Answered him, 'Truly, Truly, I Say To you, Unless one Is Born Again he cannot See The Kingdom Of God.'”

Once we do come to Accepting Him as our Lord and Savior (more on this in a future PJP2 SEVEN)....Behold....2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."Therefore, IF anyone Is In Christ, he Is A New Creation.  The old has passed away; BEHOLD, The New Has Come."....

CRAWL:
(Christ's Reconciliation/Redemption (provides) Access (for us to) WALK (in His New) LIFE)....

And, Team, as we all know simply from LIFE - we aren't (well I know I wasn't) as geniuses, or full-grown ready to take on LIFE full-bore.  Nope we start out CRAWLING....Just like The Holy Spirit Shares via His Inspired Word as Recorded by Peter..... (1 Peter 2:2-5 {ESV/emphasis added/jaj})...."Like Newborn Infants, LONG For The Pure Spiritual Milk, That By IT you May Grow Up Into Salvation— IF Indeed you Have Tasted That The Lord IS Good.  As you Come To Him, A Living STONE rejected by men BUT In The Sight Of God Chosen And Precious, you yourselves Like Living Stones Are Being Built Up As A Spiritual House, To Be A Holy priesthood, To Offer Spiritual Sacrifices Acceptable To God THROUGH Jesus Christ."....

WALK:
(Walk (in FAITH) Always Looking (at The) KING)....

As we GROW in our FAITH and our Reconciled Relationship With God The Father Matures, we find ourselves, just like in our earthly lives, going from CRAWLing to WALKing.....Thank The Lord, His Holy Spirit Has Prepared our Path for this as well.....

Colossians 2:6-7 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."Therefore, As you Received Christ Jesus The Lord, SO WALK In Him, Rooted And Built Up In Him And Established In The FAITH, Just As you Were Taught, Abounding In Thanksgiving."....

Ephesians 5:1-2 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."Therefore Be Imitators Of God, As Beloved children.  And WALK In LOVE, As Christ LOVED us And Gave Himself Up For us, A Fragrant Offering And Sacrifice To God."....

2 Corinthians 5:6-7 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."So we Are Always Of Good Courage.  We Know That While we Are At Home In The Body we Are Away From The Lord, FOR we WALK By FAITH, NOT by sight."....

1 John 1:7 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."BUT IF we WALK In The LIGHT, As HE Is In The LIGHT, we Have Fellowship With one another, And The Blood Of Jesus His Son Cleanses us From ALL sin."....

Don't Hear, Team, what I ain't saying....ain't saying our WALK with our Lord Jesus is by any means a 'cake-walk'.  Nope.....In fact.....John 16:33 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."And Jesus Said, 'I Have Said These Things to you, That IN ME you May Have PEACE.  IN the world you WILL Have tribulation.  BUT Take Heart; I HAVE Overcome the world.'”

RUN:
(Redeemed (In Him Are) Unstoppable Now)

Thus, once we've Grown through the CRAWL and WALK (NOTE:  Doesn't mean, though, we won't have to Cycle Through CRAWL and WALK again.....just saying.....) We start to RUN With and For our Lord Jesus.....Hebrews 12:1-2 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."Therefore, Since we Are Surrounded By So Great A Cloud Of Witnesses, Let us Also Lay Aside Every weight, And sin which clings so closely, And Let us RUN With Endurance The Race That Is Set Before us, LOOKING TO JESUS, The Founder And Perfecter Of our FAITH, Who For The JOY That Was Set Before Him Endured The Cross, Despising the shame, AND Is Seated At The Right Hand Of The Throne Of God."....

SOAR:
(Seek...Obey....Apply...Rely....}

As we continue to GROW through God's Stages in our LIVES with Him - I know there will be Times where, indeed, we will SOAR with Him, His Son and His Holy Spirit Within us......For me, Isaiah 40:28-31 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj) captures this best........"Have you Not Known?  Have you Not Heard?  The Lord IS The Everlasting God, The Creator of the ends of the earth.  He Does NOT faint Or grow weary; His Understanding IS unsearchable.  He Gives Power To the faint, And to him who has no might He Increases Strength.  Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; BUT they who WAIT For The Lord Shall Renew their Strength; they Shall Mount Up With Wings Like Eagles; they Shall RUN And NOT be weary; they Shall WALK and NOT faint."....

Evaluate NOW (Note On WORD))

So Team, let me conclude today's PJP1 SEVEN: CRWS with His Holy Spirit's Inspired WORD of Encouragement for us....1 Thessalonians 2:11-12 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."For you Know How, Like A Father With His children, we Exhorted Each one of you And Encouraged you And Charged you To WALK In A Manner Worthy Of God, Who CALLS you Into His Own Kingdom And Glory.".....
Be Encouraged Team....We Have A Lord And Savior in Christ Jesus Who Not Only Is With us Each Step of our way - BUT He Himself WALKED in our shoes and KNOWS our every scenario first hand.

May I leave us today with this Paraphrase of Prayer and Praise from His Holy Spirit's Inspired WORD to His Psalmist as Recorded in  Psalm 103:1-5 (ESV/emphasis & paraphrase added/jaj)....O Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, Father God, we Bless You, O Lord.  May our Collective Souls and ALL that Is Within us, Bless Your Holy Name!   O Lord Jesus, Again we Say, "Bless You, O  Lord.  Holy Spirit, In The Core of our Souls, Remind us, May we Never Forget ALL Your Benefits in our Lives.  Father God, we Praise You and Thank You As It IS You Who Forgives ALL our iniquity.  Lord Jesus, we Praise You, for As our Great Physician, It Is You Who Truly Heals ALL our Diseases of our Souls.  Holy Spirit, we Thank You, for Through our Lord Jesus' LIFE, SACRIFICE and RESURRECTION, It Is You Who REDEEMS our LIFE From the pit of despair and destruction.  Father God, Thank You, for It Is You Who Has The PLAN for our LIVES and Who Crowns us With Your Steadfast LOVE And MERCY.  O Lord Jesus, Thank You, For IT IS You Who Satisfies us With Your Goodness.  O Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, Father God, May we Ever Be Your Witness as we Learn to CRAWL, WALK, RUN and SOAR In You and Your WAY, even when we've aged, In You our youth Is Renewed Like Your Eagle's.  In Your Holy Name, Lord Jesus, we Raise our Praise and Prayers......Amen and Amen.....jaj

PJP2 SEVEN Series - 170116 - SEVEN

Psalm 119:164 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."Seven Times A Day I Praise You For Your Righteous Rules."....

A Good and Blessed Day Team PJP2 to you and yours.  You are Ever in my Thoughts and Prayers.  It has been a very interesting past four-months as Team Johnson's gone through the Transition, even Transformation from Active Duty/Air Force to now Air Force/Retired.

In the Midst of this, I have also Sensed His Holy Spirit Working via a Transformation of our collective approach of the PJP2 Series.

As I mentioned last week (and yesterday) I have Been Feelings His Wind of Change blowing through (sometimes gently, sometimes at gale-force strength) about the foundations of the PJP2 Series.  Thus, last week, as Cindy and I were visiting with our Daughters and Step-Daughters, I heard His Holy Spirit Saying His Change of PJP2 Had At Last Arrived.

SEVEN

IF you do a Word Search (biblegateway.com is my favorite WORD Search Engine) of SEVEN, we find that there's a least 483 times the word SEVEN is employed throughout God's WORD. (First use: Genesis 2:1 and Last use: Revelation 21:20) There's some fascinating Passages Of the WORD, Select in which we Find SEVEN.  In Numerology, SEVEN is God's Number - SEVEN is Viewed as Representative of God's Holy Nature....

BUT, as I'm sure you're anticipating that there's a J-ACRONYM SEVEN....and there is - And Oh-By-The-Way, SEVEN is also the New Outline for the New PJP2 Series.....

Ok, first things first.....J-ACRONYM for SEVEN

Share/Seek; Encourage; Verily Verify the Victory; Evaluate NOW (Note On WORD)

The New PJP2 SEVEN Series will do a couple of things slightly different from our previous PJP2 7 Praises Entires.....The most significant Transformation I'm Hearing HIs Holy Spirit Guide me with is that the PJP2 SEVEN Series will be just one entry (versus PJP2 7 Praises was actually eight individual entries).  Thus instead of what you'd grown accustomed to via PJP2 7 Praises (Prelude; God's Nod; PBJ; SIP; RECALL; LIGHT; THANKS; PROLOG) - PJP2 SEVEN will incorporate Share/Seek; Encourage; Verily Verify the Victory; Evaluate NOW (Note On WORD), ending each time with a SIP Prayer in Conclusion.

I am certain you will see similarities in between the two PJP2 7 Praises and PJP2 SEVEN Series - since your's truly is the writer, that would only stand to reason to be the case.  BUT, I also sense that the PJP2 SEVEN will have a more consistent FLOW since there's 'FIVE' points to hit in ONE Entry (versus EIGHT entries hitting sometimes EIGHT points).

One interesting factoid.....SEVEN years ago this month I returned from my OEF Deployment to Afghanistan.....So this is the Year of SEVENs..... :)

So, Crew - Tomorrow (170117) - Together we'll dive-into the New PJP2 SEVEN Series....More than likely I'll retain the Lead Off J-ACRONYM for each PJP2 SEVEN Series, that's been helpful to help keep my FOCUS on Where The Holy Spirit's Leading in my Devotion Time.  I'm still drinking around with if I'll do a 'Work-Sheet' where I have SEVEN going down the page as 'headers' for the sections - or if I'll incorporate SEVEN in the body of the entry, parenthetically highlighting the SEVEN as we come to it in the PJP2 SEVEN Entry.....Then again, might go back and forth just to see how they come together.

BLUF - The Overall Goal/Purpose that His Holy Spirit Started me on doing the PJP2s remains the same.....

Share/Seek; Encourage; Verily Verify the Victory....

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 (ESV/emphasis & paraphrase added/jaj)...."Now Concerning The Times and The Seasons, Brothers/Sisters, you have no need to have anything written to you.  For you yourselves Are Fully Aware That The Day Of The Lord Will Come Like A Thief In The Night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” Then Sudden Destruction Will Come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, And they Will Not escape.  BUT you Are NOT in darkness, Brothers/Sisters, For That Day To Surprise you Like A Thief.  For you Are All children Of LIGHT, children Of The Day.  We Are NOT of the night or of the darkness.  So Then Let us NOT sleep, as others do, BUT Let us Keep Awake And Be Sober.  For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. BUT Since we Belong To The Day, Let us Be Sober, Having Put On The Breastplate Of FAITH And LOVE, And For A Helmet The HOPE Of Salvation.  For God Has NOT Destined us For Wrath, BUT To Obtain Salvation THROUGH our Lord Jesus Christ, WHO Died For us So That whether we are awake or asleep we Might LIVE With Him.  THEREFORE ENCOURAGE one another And BUILD one another UP, Just As you Are Doing."....

Evaluate NOW (Note On WORD)....I would conclude today's 'introductory' PJP2 SEVEN 170116 with this Paraphrase of Prayer and Praise from His Holy Spirit's Inspired WORD to His Psalmist as Recorded in Psalm 90:10, 12-17.....

Psalm 90:10, 12-17 (ESV/emphasis & paraphrase added/jaj)....O Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, Father God, we Lift Up our Voices in Worship and Praise.  O Lord, You Know that The years of our Life, here on earth, can ranges from new-born to seventy, or even, Holy Spirit, by reason of strength  or Your Grace eighty, or more.  Yet, Father God, as your earthly children, due to our sin and selfishness, their span is often but toil and trouble.  All too soon, Lord Jesus, our days on this globe are so soon gone, and we fly away.  Lord Jesus, Please Open our Inner Minds and Teach us To well-number our Days, That You Have Blessed us with.  Holy Spirit, Open our Hearts that we May Get/Gain A Heart For Your Wisdom.  Father God, Please, Return, O Lord, Soon!  O Lord Jesus, How long - How much Longer Will You Be?  Holy Spirit, Please Have Pity/Mercy on us Your servants!  Father God, Thank You and Remind us that Each Moment of Each Day You Do Satisfy us in the morning & evening With Your Steadfast LOVE.  Lord Jesus, Help us to Focus our Inner Eyes On You, That we May Rejoice And Be Glad ALL our days Because of You!  Holy Spirit, Make us Glad even through the many days we may be afflicted due to our own selfishness.  Father God, Thank You for Your Forgiveness, even for the many years we have seen and even done evil.  Lord Jesus, May we Ever Reflect Your Work Of Grace and Help Your Mercy to Be Shown Through us Your servants.  Holy Spirit, May our Words, Thoughts and Actions Ever Share Your Glorious Power to ALL the children of Adam.  Father God, May Your Favor and Grace Ever Be Upon us.  Holy Spirit, Please Establish Your Work In our hands.  Lord Jesus, Indeed, May our Efforts By Your WORK Through us.  In Your Holy and Precious Name, Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior, we Raise our Praise and Prayers.....Amen and Amen....jaj

Psalm 12:6 (ESV)...."The WORDs Of The Lord Are Pure WORDs, Like Silver Refined in a furnace on the ground, Purified SEVEN times."....

PJP2 “7 PRAISES” - 17011015 - PRAYER

PRAYER: Praise/Prayer & Rejoice/Request All to YOU, Eternal Redeemer

Philippians 4:4 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."REJOICE In The Lord Always; Again I Will say, REJOICE."....

Ah with Thanksgiving - Christmas - New Years once more behind us, there may be a tendency to ease-up, catch-one's-breath, and simply try to re-connect with the 'normal flow' of daily life.
BUT, as we all know and have experienced, trying to to do that can be even more of a challenge than all the craziness we find through the Holidays.  There can be simply way-to-many distractions for us to simply focus on any one particular 'thing'.  I will readily confess, over the past 120-days, with Team Johnson making the rounds through Transition Leave, Retirement Process, Praying/Pausing, Listening, Observing/(Striving to) Obey, Waiting on God's Revelation of His Next Adventure for Team Johnson....There's be a boatful of distractions keeping the normal flow in seeming perpetual flux....

Praise God, though, He Understands The Human Conundrum that we often create with no help from anyone but ourselves.  Take a look, His Holy Spirit Helped Job who was deep in the midst of a raging storm REMEMBER Who his True REDEEMER really was, even at that moment in time His REDEEMER seemed far from him (which, By-The-Way, HE WAS NOT)....

Job 19:25 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."For I Know That my REDEEMER LIVES, And At The Last HE Will Stand Upon the earth."....

Job's Prophecy that his (and our) REDEEMER LIVES and Will At LAST Stand here on the earth is Quite the Comfort and Encouragement for us - we do, after all, Serve A LIVING Lord and Savior.

As I am pondering Job's Proclamation, I am Hearing His Holy Spirit mention that Job, though outwardly he was being plastered by the attacks of the evil one, Job was well 'encased' in The Whole Armor Of God.  I also Hear His Holy Spirit Reminding me that He Stands Ready Each Moment of Each Day to Help us 'Put On' God's Whole Armor.....AND His Reminder that, what I call The Cape of God's Armor (Historic Note:  The Roman Soldier often wore a Red Cape, which from afar the enemy could not tell the Roman Soldier was injured since the Cape covered and prevented the enemy for being able to see the Soldier bleeding.....)....Prayer is ever our Cape of Communication, sort of that 'outer-shell' of our Connection with/to God and He with us.  I also find it of interest that as The Holy Spirit Provides us with His Roster of our God's Gear, Prayer is The Last Piece He Provides us, Yet One Of The Parts of our Gear Up that we Employ Constantly.....

Ephesians 6:18 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."PRAYING At ALL Times In The Spirit, With ALL PRAYER And Supplication.  To That End, Keep Alert With ALL Perseverance, Making Supplication For ALL the saints,"....

So.....BLUF....I clearly hear The Lord Reminding me, regardless of how crazy, or hectic our lives seem to be (AND Even during those lulls, the quiet before the storm), we CAN (and indeed should) be Coming To Him In PRAYER....Thus I would offer up the following Paraphrase of PRAYER and Praise based on His Holy Spirit's Inspired WORD as Paul Records in Philippians 4:6-7 (ESV/emphasis & paraphrase added/jaj)....O Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, Father God, we Pause and Praise Your Holy Name.  Lord Jesus, Thank You for Your Living Example That we May Follow In Your Steps of Prayer and Praise.  Holy Spirit, Calm us With Your Presence.  Help us, Lord, to Not be anxious about anything.  BUT, Father God, Remind us That In Everything By PRAYER And Supplication With our Proclaiming our Thanksgiving To You, May we Let ALL our Requests Be Made Known To You, O Lord, our God.  And Lord Jesus, As You Promise, May The PEACE Of God The Father, Your PEACE, Which Surpasses ALL our human understanding, May You, Through Your PEACE, GUARD our Hearts And our Minds In You, O our Lord Christ Jesus.  In Your Holy Name we Lift Up our PRAYERS and Praise....Amen and Amen....jaj

PJP2 PROLOG - 17010809 - PROLOG Focus: John 15:12-17........FRIENDS -

PJP2 PROLOG POST - 17010809 - FRIENDS - John 15:12-17 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...." “Jesus Said, 'This Is MY Commandment, That you LOVE one another As I Have LOVED you. Greater LOVE Has no one Than This, That Someone Lay Down His LIFE For His FRIENDS. You Are MY FRIENDS IF you Do What I Command you.  NO longer Do I Call you servants, For the servant Does NOT Know What his Master Is Doing; BUT I Have Called you FRIENDS, For ALL That I Have Heard From MY Father I Have Made Known To you.  You Did NOT Choose ME, BUT I Chose you And Appointed you That you Should GO And Bear Fruit And That your Fruit Should Abide, SO That Whatever you ASK The Father In MY Name, HE May Give It to you.  These Things I Command you, SO That you Will LOVE one another."....

FRIENDS: Fellow Redeemed (by) Immanuel's Engagement, Now Devoted (to our) Savior

This is such a Transformational POWS - As we Read John 15:12-17, our Lord Jesus makes it Crystal Clear He's Transforming us from servants to FRIENDS.  That's so powerful, to come to the reality that our Lord Jesus Considers us HIS FRIENDS.

As I ponder that, it is easy, unfortunately, to begin to Take This Friendship for granted, as well as to presume, then, since we are FRIENDS that provides us a familiarity that leads to potentially dangerous thinking.

BUT (Behold the Underlying TRUTH) - His Holy Spirit Inspired Paul to Record God's Plan for our Thoughts, lest we, left to our own earthly designs, should get carried away down a negative rabbit-hole.....check it out....

Philippians 4:4-9 (ESV/emphasis & paraphrase added/jaj)...."REJOICE In The Lord Always; Again I Will Say, REJOICE.  Let your Reasonableness Be Known to everyone.  The Lord IS At Hand; Do NOT Be anxious about anything, BUT In Everything By Prayer And Supplication With Thanksgiving Let your Requests Be Made Known To God.  AND The PEACE Of God, Which Surpasses ALL Understanding, Will Guard your Hearts And your Minds IN Christ Jesus.  Finally, brothers/sisters, Whatever IS True, Whatever IS Honorable, Whatever IS Just, Whatever IS Pure, Whatever IS Lovely, Whatever IS Commendable, IF There IS Any Excellence, IF There IS Anything Worthy Of Praise, THINK About These Things.  What you Have Learned And Received And Heard And Seen in me—Practice These Things, And The God Of PEACE Will BE With you."....

There it is......To BE our Lord Jesus' FRIEND, as He Provides His Guidance....FIRST: LOVE One Another (Don't Hear what I am NOT saying - Not Saying that is at ALL easy.....I know it isn't.....BUT LOVING One Another AS our Lord Jesus LOVED us.....There's the Key.....); SECOND: PRAY; THIRD: THINK On Him and His WORD to us' FOURTH: LEARN, RECEIVE, HEAR, SEE What ALL He Is Sharing With us via His WORD, His SPIRIT and Those of His Household Of HOPE; FIFTH: PRACTICE Being One With Him......

Thus let this be our Prayer today.....Philippians 4:4-9 (ESV/emphasis & paraphrase added/jaj)...."REJOICE In The Lord Always; Again I Will Say, REJOICE.  Let your Reasonableness Be Known to everyone.  The Lord IS At Hand; Do NOT Be anxious about anything, BUT In Everything By Prayer And Supplication With Thanksgiving Let your Requests Be Made Known To God.  AND The PEACE Of God, Which Surpasses ALL Understanding, Will Guard your Hearts And your Minds IN Christ Jesus.  Finally, brothers/sisters, Whatever IS True, Whatever IS Honorable, Whatever IS Just, Whatever IS Pure, Whatever IS Lovely, Whatever IS Commendable, IF There IS Any Excellence, IF There IS Anything Worthy Of Praise, THINK About These Things.  What you Have Learned And Received And Heard And Seen in me—Practice These Things, And The God Of PEACE Will BE With you."....

Lord Jesus, in Your Holy Name we Lift Up our Prayers....Amen and Amen....jaj

PJP2 THANKS - 17010809 - THANKS Focus: Mark 5:19-20........FRIENDS -

Psalm 86:12 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."I Give Thanks To You, O Lord my God, With my Whole Heart, And I Will Glorify Your Name Forever."....

PJP2 THANKS TEXT - 17010809 - FRIENDS - Mark 5:19-20 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."And Jesus Did Not Permit him But Said To him, 'Go Home to your Friends And Tell them How Much The Lord Has Done for you, And How HE Has Had MERCY On you.'   And he went away and began to Proclaim in the Decapolis How Much Jesus Had Done for him, and everyone Marveled."....

I am Thankful and Relate to the healed demoniac Legion.  For I too can Proclaim what all our Lord Jesus has Done in my Life, and Continues to do.  For those who Know our Lord Jesus as Savior, I know you Can As Well.

IF you do Not Yet Know our Lord Jesus - we Can Assure you, He's Patiently Awaiting, all you need do is Call Upon Him.  He Will Respond.

My Prayer of Thanks for us today - would be - Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, Father God, Thank You that You Have Been and continue to Be so Engaged in our Lives, Even When we are so distracted by the our internal demons, You Still Await The Opportunity to Cleanse and Free us.  Holy Spirit, Thank You for Lighting our Way today and forever.  Father God, Thank You for Your Loving Mercy and Grace that Frees us to Be One With You Through Your Son, our Lord Jesus' Life, Sacrifice, and Resurrection.  Lord Jesus, Open our Hearts To Accept and Receive You.  In Your Holy Name, Lord Jesus, we Raise our Prayers....Amen and Amen....jaj

PJP2 LIGHT - 17010809 - FRIENDS - Psalm 36:9 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."For With You IS The Fountain Of LIFE; In Your LIGHT Do we See LIGHT."....

PJP2 RECALL - 17010809 - FRIENDS - Proverbs 17:17 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."A Friend LOVES At All Times, And A Brother Is Born For adversity."....

PJP2 SIP -17010809 - FRIENDS - Psalm 25:1, 4-5, 8-10, 14-15, 21 (ESV/emphasis & paraphrase added/jaj)....To You, O Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, Father God, we Lift Up our Souls.  Lord Jesus, we Pray, Make us to Know Your Ways.  O Holy Spirit, our Lord, Teach us Your Paths. Father God, we Pray that You Would Lead us In Your Truth And Teach us In You Grace, For You Are The God of our Salvation.  Lord Jesus, we Will WAIT for You All The Day Long.  Holy Spirit, Indeed You Are Good And Upright.  Father God, In Your LOVE, Therefore O Lord, Instruct us, we sinners In Your WAY of LIFE.  Lord Jesus we Thank You as You Lead us, Your humble servants, In What Is Right.  Holy Spirit, Teach us, Your humble ones, Your WAY Of Righteousness.  Father God, Help us to Know and Learn From You, for All Your Paths, O Lord, Are Steadfast LOVE And Faithfulness.  Lord Jesus, Thank You and Help us to Ever Keep Your Covenant of GRACE, and To Share our Testimonies of Your Working In our LIVES.  O Holy Spirit, Strengthen our Friendship with You, O Lord our God.  Father God, we Are those who Faithfully Esteem, Adore and Revere You.  Thank You Lord Jesus for Your Living Example of Being In God The Father's Covenant Relationship with Him.  Holy Spirit, May our Inner Eyes Ever Be Toward You, O Lord.  Father God, Thank You for Plucking us Out of the net of sin.  Lord Jesus, May Your Integrity And Uprightness Preserve us as We WAIT for You and Your Second Advent.  In You Holy Name, Lord Jesus, we Raise our Prayers and Praise.....Amen and Amen....jaj

PJP2 PBJ - 17010809 - FRIENDS - John 3:29-31 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."John the Baptist said, 'The One Who Has The Bride IS The Bridegroom.  The friend of The Bridegroom, who stands and hears Him, Rejoices Greatly At The Bridegroom's Voice. Therefore This JOY of mine Is Now Complete.  HE Must Increase, BUT I must decrease.  HE Who Comes From Above IS Above ALL. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way.  HE Who Comes From Heaven IS Above ALL.'"....

God’s Nod - 17010809 - FRIENDS -   Exodus 33:11a (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."Thus The Lord Used To Speak to Moses Face to face, As a man Speaks to His Friend."....