Gleanings for September 19

JESUS has given us Authority!

As I turned to the Worship Channel on Sky Angel one morning, I sensed a confirmation in regard to the scriptures I use when writing Grandma’s Gleanings. Featured along with Hymns and other worship songs that day, were picturesque scenes from our nation as well as some of the scriptures we share in Gleanings.

One of our goals as we share these devotions is to remind all who read them, how very much God loves everyone. The difficulty comes when people don’t have a correct understanding of WHO God is. Jesus came to earth to show us THE FATHER. He said in John 14: 9: “He who has seen ME has seen the Father.”

Jesus tells us in verses 20 and 21 of John 14:

“I am in My Father and you in Me, and I in you. Anyone who has My commandments and keeps them, it is they who love Me. And those who love Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love them and manifest Myself to each one of them.”

To “manifest” means: “to cause to shine, thus, to ‘appear, to come into view’, to reveal, exhibit, and make visible, to present oneself to the sight of another.

A secondary meaning of the word is “to declare, to make known” That definition comes from the Word Wealth found in the SFLB Bible.

It is God’s desire “to declare and to make Himself known” to all who are ready to receive the Truth of His Word; the main truth (as I see it) is that:

GOD IS LOVE!!

It was LOVE Who created the universe and Mankind in the beginning. It is LOVE Who is sustaining and keeping the planets in orbit.

People are the only part of creation with special “freedom of choice” God gave all authority to Mankind when He created them—He told them to “have dominion over everything.” (See Genesis l: 26)

.Many people have read about the “FALL” in the Garden of Eden. It was God’s LOVE for mankind that kept Adam and Eve from eating the fruit from the Tree of Life after they had chosen to listen to the enemy---can you imagine what the world would be like if everyone had continued to live on the earth after an unregenerate person was given authority?

But Praise God, Jesus paid the price for Mankind to come back to new life and when He ascended into heaven He left this message for all who will receive it:

Matthew 28:18-20 NLB: “I (Jesus) have been given complete authority in heaven and on earth. Now, you go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

“Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Tomorrow’s Gleanings will continue on this subject. Till then, know this:

THE JOY OF THE LORD IS YOUR STRENGTH