So glad you are here for another Morning With Jesus! The Promise: John 15:14-15 "You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything I have learned from my Father, I have made known to you." Such sweet words Jesus spoke! Here in this beautiful verse, He promises us friendship. He wants a real relationship with us . Not a superficial relationship, not a servant/master relationship, but a FRIENDSHIP. He wants us to get to know Him, and to share what He has learned with us. He wants a two way relationship that only comes with friendship. He offers us something so much more than servitude. He offers a genuine, intimate relationship with Him. I encourage you to go and read the verse before and after this promise. Verse 14 states there is no greater love than to lay down your life for a friend. And right after that we have our promise-that He wants to be our friend! He layed down His life for each of us and guess what? Verse 16? It says He chose us. Yes, He chose us. He chose you and me to be friends with, to lay down His life for. And what greater love is there than this?! If you don't truly know Him but want to, if you are feeling like your relationship with Him is a one way street, or it is lacking depth that you are seeking to have - let this promise remind you that Jesus wants more than that too! He wants a real relationship with you. One where He listens and you listen to Him. One where you seek to know Him more, serve Him because you love Him. One where He never leaves your side and walks along with you in this life. A friendship so precious he gave you the greatest gift-eternal life. You are chosen. You are loved. And when you follow Him, He calls you friend. Blessings, Elizabeth How do you get to know Jesus better? Be in the Word Pray Listen Worship The white hot chocolate recipe is below.....and it is so good! Make a cup, grab a blanket and get to know Jesus a little better this morning! The Recipe: White Hot Chocolate 2 cups milk 1 cup vanilla chocolate chips (or use shaved white chocolate pieces) 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract Marshmallows or whipped cream Place the milk, chocolate chips and vanilla in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir continuously until all the chocolate has melted. DO NOT BOIL. Once the chocolate is melted, remove from the heat and it is ready to serve! Add marshmallows or whipped cream as a topping. Or as I added in the photo above, add one big marshmallow (I found this one at Target). Next step: Enjoy! Next Hot Chocolate recipe? You can expect a Valentine's day inspired Morning With Jesus....
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Need a little Monday encouragement? Need to be reminded that God loves you? Read on... God sees you.
And He doesn't look away. We, when we look through lenses - on our cameras, phones, or even the lenses of our own judgement - we choose what we want to focus on. But God? His lens is Grace. And Grace is wide open to those who want to accept it. No subject is left out of the frame. It's a lens that sees all. Right now. Yesterday. Tomorrow. It's a lens that doesn't take its focus off the hard stuff and turn to something else. God sees you, friend. And His Grace will meet you right where you are. Your life doesn't have to be picture perfect. In fact, it can be a down right mess. Because His lens is a lens that sees through the mess. That makes a beautiful image out of broken things. He sees you. The girl you were. The woman you are. The woman you will be. He sees you. Sees your worth. Your potential. Your purpose. Your heart. He sees you. And calls you beautiful. Calls you His. He sees you like none other can. He sees the real you, not the one hidden behind a filter. And oh, how He loves you.❤️ . Blessings, Elizabeth . 1 Samuel 12:21
"Don't go back to worshiping worthless idols that cannot help or rescue you-they are totally useless!" I always take notice when a verse has an exclamation point.... There are as many seasons in our faith as there are in our life. I don't know what season you are currently in, but if it's one where your faith seems to have taken a step back or feels stagnant, read this verse again. And then again. And yet again. Samuel didn't give this warning to the Israelites because it was a slim possibility that they would fall back into old ways of worshiping some of those idols again. He warned them, because without guarding their hearts and having their eyes set on the Lord, it was a REAL possibility. And there is nothing like a stagnant season or a few steps back that can let our guard down. And in doing so, often a few of our own idols (something that becomes more important to us than God) seep back into our life. Take a few moments today, no matter what season you are in, to reflect about what idols might be lurking around that either 1. you have let back in your life, or 2.that you need to guard your heart against. Whether your feeling like your sitting in a stagnant season or not., if something is becoming more important than Christ in your life, I encourage you to pray about it! These "idols" as Samuel says are "useless"! They will never fill you with the completeness you are looking for. They are temporary and eventually will leave you wanting more. But Jesus? He will satisfy. A deep, down to the bone kind of satisfaction that we will find NO where else! Don't go back! Keep moving forward and "fill" up with Him that truly satisfies! Blessings, Elizabeth After taking a break over the holidays, "Mornings With Jesus" is back again! The promise in John 14:16 is one of my favorites! Read below to discover and learn more about the promise Jesus gives us regarding the Holy Spirit - it is a good one! Keep reading and you will find a recipe for mint hot chocolate. Make yourself a cup, curl up with a blanket and sip this tasty treat while digging into God's Word! The Promise: John 14:16 NIV "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever -" But let's not stop there! Let's continue on to verse 17, "-the Spirit of truth. the world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you." *bolding is mine for emphasis. Ok, There is so much here I could unpack, but this is just a blog post, so I will try to keep it short and sweet. But I encourage you to dig deeper on your own and at the end of the post you will find a digging deeper section with references to do just that! Jesus promises us an advocate. A helper. The Greek word in the original text for advocate is parakletos. It means "one who is called beside." See the Spirit isn't just there when we need Him. He lives INSIDE us, beside us through it all. He indwells in us (1 Corinthians 3:16, 2 Timothy 1:14, Romans 8:11). The Spirit of truth. Notice how the in the bible, the word "Spirit" is capitalized? That's important to take note of. It's capitalized because the Spirit that Jesus promises us IS God. Is Jesus. Is part of the trinity. The Spirit isn't new here in the New Testament. The Spirit has been alive and active throughout the bible - new and old. In the old testament, the Spirit would dwell in people for a limited time to inspire them, to help them accomplish tasks by strengthening them or giving them gifts, or for prophseying. But the Spirit didn't dwell in these people forever. That is different than what Jesus promised here. And after pentecost, when the promise is fulfilled, the Spirit was staying. Jesus was leaving but He was not leaving the disciples-or us-alone! He promises that the Spirit will be with us forever. And in verse 17, He tells us that the Spirit will be IN us. What a beautiful gift! One who lives inside us, goes with us everywhere. This is comforting and such a blessing! But it also means He goes with us even into our sin. Ephesians 4:30 tells us not to grieve the Holy Spirit- which means to not cause Him pain by bringing Him into our sin. Stew on that for a moment. As a believer, when we put our faith in Jesus Christ and give him our hearts, and the Spirit dwells inside of us....when we sin, the Spirit is brought into that sin with us. The Spirit isn't just there when we need Him. He is always there. He dwells in us. So when we stumble into lies, into anger, into cheating, adultery, drunkenness, lust, ect, we are bringing the Spirit into it with us. And this causes Him pain. We will never be perfect, and I am certainly not, but understanding that in my sin, I bring the Spirit with me, has most definately shed a new light on my own sin. How about you? The good news is that while we may stumble at times and bring the Spirit with us in that stumble, the Holy Spirit does so much more for us! And one of those things is helping destroy the power of sin in our lives! Can I get an Amen?! But He does so much more than that! He guides, teaches, and comforts. He gives us an assurance of salvation, sanctifies us and makes us aware of that sin in our lives. He speaks truth to us, leads us, and gives us each gifts. And He empowers us. Wow. Now that's a promise. (Read below in digging deeper for the verses on the works of the Holy Spirit) To have the Spirit, is to have Jesus living inside you. It is to be empowered and to never walk alone. Ask the Spirit each day to rise up in you, embrace His leading and watch what He will do! Blessings, Elizabeth Keep reading for the hot chocolate recipe! Want to dig deeper? ~Read the entirety of John chapters 14,15,16, Luke 24, and Acts 2. ~Read the following verses on the work of the Holy Spirit: 1 John 2:27 Acts 8:29 2 Thessalonians 2:13 John 16:18 Acts 1:8, 4:31 Romans 8:2-6 Galatians 5: 16,25 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 The Recipe:
Mint Hot Chocolate 1 cup whole milk 1/2 cup chocolate chips 1/4 cup mint chocolate chips 1 tsp peppermint extract Heat the milk, add the last three ingredients, mix them all together, and enjoy! *I love to add a little whipped cream and some Hershey's syrup on top! Click the button below for "Mornings With Jesus" and enjoy a few more promises and recipes! |
Meet ElizabethWife. Mother. Writer. Photographer. Child of God. Encouraging others in faith through a lens of grace and seeing beauty in the ashes. All images and content belong to me (Blue Jean Gypsy), unless otherwise noted. You may use an image ONLY if it is linked back to this blog! Thank you for your understanding and cooperation!
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April 2020
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