God Spoke To Me Today

I want to share my heart with you today. I have been praying for my teenage grandson. He's made some mistakes; but I still love him. His choices haven't always been the best he could have made; but that's all of our history, right?

Right now he's getting another chance at life; it might be his last one. That's why I was praying for him. It's hot outside and he's over at the Illinois National Guard Challenge Academy for the next five months. It's like a military school; physically and mentally tough; that’s why it's called a challenge.

I guess you could say that he "stumbled" and fell; and now he is trying to get up. Life has a way of sometimes tripping us up. But God gave me a verse three days ago that has birthed a new hope for him in me.

1st Samuel 2:4 …"The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they
that stumbled are girded with strength."

Well he has "stumbled" … and God knows all about it … and He is going to give him the "strength" to complete the task in front of him.

Today he was on my heart again and I wanted to be alone with God; so I thought I would go out and mow my yard. But as I said, "it's hot today," so I thought I would put it off till tomorrow; but I really felt like God wanted to speak to me, so I started mowing anyway. It was hot; but I thought "Caleb's out in it" so it won't hurt me to feel what he's feeling.

I thought I was going to be talking to God, you know … praying, conversing with Him, sharing my feelings etc. Then He got my attention by asking me the following question.

"What's the best known and one of the most meaningful scriptures in the Bible?" Of course I responded with "John 3:16." And then God said this …"I'm going to give you some verses that will mean more to you and change your prayer life."

He then began to explain them to me; not with words I could hear, but in my heart, in my spirit.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1)

I said … "Right, I understand that."

"In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men." (John 1:4)

Just as I was going to say to God … If Jesus is the Word; Psalm 119:105 says … "Thy word is a Lamp unto my feet, and a Light unto my path"…

He spoke to my heart and said, "That Psalm is speaking of the printed Word that lights your pathway."

He continued …"I want you to know that although the spoken and printed Word of God is Jesus; it is not the Light of Men. My Word says … In Him was Life, and 'the Life' was the Light of men."

What He told me was right; it does not say that the "Word" was light … but that the "Life" within Jesus was the light. "… and the Life was the Light of men."

"Okay" I said, "Explain to me what you are talking about."

"… walk in the light, as he is in the light … and the 'blood' of Jesus Christ…" (1st John 1:7)
I felt He was saying … "The key is ... the Blood of Jesus."

God spoke again and said …"Doesn't My Word say in Leviticus 17:11 … For the life of the flesh is in the blood?" I answered … "Yes it does."

I was reminded of the words of Jesus … speaking about His own blood.

"Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you." (John 6:53)

God also asked me … "Do you know why after His resurrection, Jesus told the disciples … 'Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.' Would not most people have said … flesh and blood?"

I answered … "Because He had already shed His blood?"

He then said … "Exactly. Just as Moses sprinkled the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry with the blood of bulls and goats; the heavenly things themselves and the Mercy Seat needed to be sprinkled with better sacrifices than these.

How much better was the Blood of Jesus, when He entered into the Holy Place and sprinkled His own blood upon the Mercy Seat and by doing so, Jesus obtained eternal redemption for you."

I think the Lord was showing me … the "Life" that Jesus had in His earthly body; the "Life" that was the "Light" of men … was actually "The Blood of Jesus." The "life" of Mary, the mother of Jesus, was in her blood; her blood "type" coming from her earthly father, as does ours. Jesus, by virtue of not having an earthly father … got His blood "type" directly from God. This is why His blood was a "better sacrifice" to be sprinkled on the Mercy Seat; it was God's blood.

That's why John said the "Life" in Jesus was the "Light of men." The "Life" within Jesus was "the better sacrifice" that the writer of the Book of Hebrews wrote about.

People today call the Bible, "the Living Word" of God; well I believe "the Blood of Jesus" is also alive today and is crying out in similar fashion as did Abel's blood in Genesis 4:10 when God said to Cain …"the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground." I believe the blood of Jesus is speaking on our behalf.

So … as I am sitting here in front of this keyboard, what am I supposed to do with what God has given me?

I believe God wants me to not only know these facts … but put them to use when I pray. When I plead my case before God; when I am in prayer for a need; when I am praying for someone else … even my grandson who is being restored, being set free from his chains … God being the one who "untangles his feet from the net," the snare he was caught in … I am the one who pleads "The Blood of Jesus" over him.

The Blood of Jesus … the "Life" in Him that was the "Light of men."

It's always been about "The Blood." When God looks at us, He looks through the "filter" of the Blood of His Son.

The longer I live, the more I believe that we overcome all things … "by the word of our testimony and by the Blood of the Lamb."

Was what I learned today more important than John 3:16? If you are unsaved, no it wasn't. But where I'm at right now … for my prayer life … yes it was.

But maybe that's just for me.

Father … give my grandson the same "Life" that was in your Son, so that he may have "Light" in his life … and not darkness.