Fence Post Devotional “The Gospel of John Cowboy Style”

Joy

“I keep sayin’ these things to ya so y’all can know My blessin’ deep down inside and be mighty pleased to overflowin’.” John 15:11 (The Gospel of John Cowboy Style)

“The New American Standard Version” says it like this . . .

“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.”

An informal survey was taken among a group of participants (a group of about 50) aged 25-65 and had all the basics covered, in terms of shelter, food and clothing. A single question was asked: What do you want “more of” in your life? The number one answer: “to be happy!”

We might let that go, with such a small group being surveyed. But in other similar surveys with essentially the same question, the exact number one answer kept popping up: “I want to be happy.” One survey listed the top ten, with happiness, again at the top of the list. Curiously at number 6 on the list was the wish for more “joy” in their life.

I find it interesting that on the night of His betrayal, when Jesus spoke these words (John 15:11) to His disciples, He didn’t talk to them about being happy, the number one greatest wish by most folks. Instead, Jesus desired for His followers that they would be “joyful.”

Why not happiness? Why didn’t Jesus say to His disciples as He was saying goodbye to them, “My wish for you is that you might be happy?” Well, it is likely because happiness is temporary; it is passing. You can be happy one moment and sad the next. Happiness is also dependent upon circumstances, situations, feelings, physical and emotional needs.

Whereas, joy comes from an entirely different source, at least the joy Jesus was speaking about to His disciples; a joy that is dependent not upon human resources and needs but upon the unwavering provisions and resources of God through the person of the Holy Spirit.

In fact, joy is one of those spiritual qualities listed in the “Fruit of the Spirit” that Paul says is inherited by those who “walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16, 22).  Here is a good Biblical definition of joy . . .

“Joy is a feeling of good pleasure and happiness that is dependent on who Jesus is rather than on who we are or what is happening around us. Joy comes from the Holy Spirit, abiding in God’s presence and from hope in His word.”                                                        – Avery Rimiller

You see, Jesus in the Upper Room that night knew what was coming. He knew what great tribulation and trouble the disciples would be facing. So, His prayer for them was that they would be filled up with the powerful presence of God’s joy so they would not lose hope in the following days.

Same is true for us. Just as the disciples, in this world we will go through troubling times. And in those times we may be tempted to give up hope. But Jesus’ promise, even and especially in trials and tribulations, says to us, “be of good cheer” (don’t give up hope) “I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

And with parting words as they left the Upper Room that fateful night, Jesus said to His disciples . . .

“Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.” (John 16:22)

“It is His joy that remains in us that makes our joy full.”     – A. B. Simpson

Fence Post Devotionals “The Gospel of John Cowboy Style”

Most Profound Truth of All Time

“Ya see, God loves this world so much, that he gave His one and only Son to die, so that every man, woman, boy and girl who believes in Him will not die, but will be a-livin’ forever” John 3:16 (The Gospel of John Cowboy Style).

One of our most familiar hymns and perhaps with the simplest message is a song usually regarded as a children’s song . . .

Jesus loves me! This I know, For the Bible tells me so 

These enduring words first appeared in a novel written by Susan Warner in the 1800’s called “Say and Seal.” They were penned by her younger sister, Anna Bartlett Warner who wrote them as a comforting poem to a dying child.

But the one to whom we owe thanks for arranging it as a song is William Bradbury. When he discovered the poem, he added a refrain and put it to music as one of the most beloved hymns of all time.

Maybe you remember singing this song as a youngster. Perhaps it brings back  memories of standing with other children in a musty church classroom and singing the words to this tune; words that have forever become etched in your mind, your heart and your memory.

Perhaps the reason that this song is so meaningful and so lovingly speaks to our heart is that the words and the message of the song comes from God’s heart. Yes, He loves us: children, adults, sinners and all. In fact, we don’t have to do anything to make Him love us. He loves us already; just like we are. John was later to write . . .

“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)

It is reputed that Karl Barth, a well-known twentieth-century theologian, was asked to summarize the most profound truths from the thousands of pages of Christian theology books he’d written, he said simply this . . .

“Jesus loves me! this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” 

That’s it: the Gospel message in one sentence. Even the most renowned theologian of all time acknowledged it to be so and so can you . . .

Jesus loves me! This I know, For the Bible tells me so 

Fence Post Devotionals “The Gospel of John Cowboy Style”

God with Skin On

“At the appointed time Jesus took on flesh and became a man. He lived here amongst us and lots of folks, includin’ cowboys and cowgirls, saw His glory and it was a sight to behold. It was the glory of the Son of God. His grace and truth done shined forth ‘cause He was plumb filled up with it.” (John 1:14).

I have heard the story and perhaps you have too or at least some version of it: A small child was reluctant to go to sleep by herself one night. After several bedtime stories, her mother told her it was time to turn out the light. “But I want you to stay,” the little girl protested. “Don’t worry,” the mom said, “Jesus is here, He will be with you all night long.” To which the child replied, “But I want Jesus with skin on!”

Have you ever wished that? That you could sit down, grab a cup of coffee and have a one-on-one talk with the God of the universe? Our first parents had that opportunity. Before their disobedience, the Bible describes those intimate moments when God visited with them in the garden, where apparently they walked together and talked with each other.

But after the fall, that changed. God’s warning was that no man could see Him and live. Moses, the “friend of God,” whom God hid in the cleft of rock allowed Moses only a glimpse of His backside as He passed by.

But has God remained hidden? Can we, like the young child in the story, know God with skin on? Well, yes we can. God the Father remains unseen by human eyes. But, through His Son the Bible promises that we can know Him. You see, He did reveal Himself to us, just as the little girl wished, God with skin on, in the person of His Son, Jesus.

That is the promise fulfilled at Christmas. The angel of the Lord said that the child born of Mary would be called Immanuel, “God with us.” God, though invisible to human eyes, is nonetheless present with us indeed. Through the incarnation, “God with skin on” in the person of Jesus was born in a manger in Bethlehem. And Jesus, the Son of God “became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).

Philip, one of Jesus’ disciples on an occasion asked Jesus, “Lord show us the Father.” In other words, Philip, like many of us, wanted to see God with skin. And Jesus answered him and us with these remarkable words, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9)

Yes, indeed, we do know God through His Son, who came into the world clothed in human flesh to show and reveal to us God the creator and sustainer of all things.

Fence Post Devotionals “The Gospel of John Cowboy Style”

Waterfall, Idaho

Living Well of Water 

“Jesus wanted her to understand. ‘Folks who drink this water will get thirsty again and again,’ He said. “The water I give has nothin’ to do with this well. Anyone who drinks My water will never have to be thirsty again in his soul, like you are right now. Ya see, the water I give will be like an everlastin’ spring that will take you right on through this life and the next” John 4:13-14 (The Gospel of John Cowboy Style). 

Have you ever seen an artesian water well? Years ago, in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, I saw what my kin folks explained was an artesian well. What I saw was water bubbling up and flowing through the crevices of a rock. And from that life-giving flow my Arkansas relatives obtained all the water supply they needed to maintain their daily activities.  

What John described in the fourth chapter of John was not an artesian well, but rather a hand-dug well. In fact, it was historically famous, having been dug centuries earlier by the Hebrew patriarch Jacob.  And through the years Jabob’s well faithfully supplied water for the region; particularly now for Sychar, a little Samaritan village that was close by the well.  

The story’s focus in the fourth chapter of John centers around that well. Scripture says that Jesus, after a journey, had set there to rest. He was alone, having sent His disciples into town to buy lunch. It was then that a woman, the Woman of Samaria, had come to draw water.  

At this ancient well, about noon, a conversation begins; a conversation just between the two of them: the woman of Samaria, an outcast of the village and Jesus, the sinless Son of God. One cannot imagine a more profound difference between two people, but perhaps that is the very reason Jesus is here, at this place to visit with this very woman and this very particular time.  

The subject of the conversation begins with water. After all, they are at a water well, and it is the water in that well that comes immediately to her mind when Jesus asks for a drink. But Jesus has a different source in mind when He promises water that will forever and eternally satisfy her thirst: “If you knew . . . who it is who ways to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water” (John 4:10).  

Water in the Bible is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was not talking about ordinary water, like that which could be drawn from Jacob’s Well. Rather, He was speaking about a living well of water drawn from the very heart of Almighty God.  

Ordinary water may satisfy for the moment, but the living water of God fills up our souls from the continuous flow that never ends. Like an artesian well, God’s abundant flow of abundant and abiding life will satisfy our needs now and forever throughout all eternity.  

That “Living water” satisfied the deep needs of the Samaritan Woman and eventually because of her testimony every soul in the village of Sychar as well. And it will satisfy your needs, too.  

Jesus said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink” (John 7:37). 

Are you thirsty? Come to Jesus and He will give you “Living Water” 

Fence Post Devotionals “The Gospel of John Cowboy Style”

Mystery of the Wind

“Just like the wind blows where it wants to and you hear the sound of it, but have no understandin’ of where it comes from or where it’s goin’; same is true for the birthin’ by the Holy Spirit of God” John 3:8 (“The Gospel of John Cowboy Style”).

I grew up on the plains of West Texas, near Amarillo, so I know something about wind. It is a rare day in the Panhandle of Texas when the wind doesn’t blow. It’s kind’a like when an Easterner traveling through a West Texas town asked a resident, “Does the wind always  blow this way?” He answered, “Nah! Sometimes it blows from the other way.”

As a kid, I always wondered what made the wind blow? Oh, yeah, I now know there are physical and meteorological reasons like high and low pressures. But still, wind remains something of a mystery.

Perhaps that’s something of what Jesus was saying to Nicodemus when he was visiting with him about the mystery of salvation. Jesus used the example of wind. Wind cannot be seen, but the effects of it can. In fact, that is the only way to know the presence of wind; we only know it by its effects, by feeling it and by seeing the results of it.

Jesus explained to Nicodemus that for someone to see the Kingdom of God, he must be “born again.” He goes on to say, “that which is born of the flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the spirit is spirit.” knowing that someone is “born of the flesh,” is no problem. It is evidenced by personal presence.

The same is true of the spirit. We may not know how the Spirit works, nor can we fully comprehend the mystery of the new birth, but we can see the effect of the Spirit and new birth in human lives.

We can point to a man or woman who has been re-made, re-created and re-born by the power and the effect by the inner workings of the Holy Spirit. We can say of that man or woman that “they are a changed person; there is something different about them; they don’t act like they used to.” That is the effectual change of “being born again.”

A preacher from the past used to tell of a workman, who had been a drunken scoundrel and who one day miraculously got saved. His workmates began to ridicule and make fun of him. “Surely,” they would say to him, “you don’t really believe in miracles, do you? You don’t really believe that thing about Jesus turning water into wine?”  The man answered, “I don’t know about Jesus turning water into wine, but I do know that He turned beer and whiskey into food and clothing for my family.”

The Apostle Paul says it like this . . .

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).