While all around us leaves us unsettled and empty, let’s reflect on the One who fills us … and has always been the stabilizer of our souls.
Here is a piece I wrote several years ago in answer to a dear friend’s question : How does this whole thing called the Christian life fit together.
I would love to hear your thoughts as you interact with the truths that follow … and may you be encouraged and challenged by what you read!
Read MoreI’ve been thinking about the comments from my Honest Question post a few days ago.
I have one final thought — maybe it’s that some people are really reacting to “the CHURCH” more than “religion/legalism” or “God Himself.” And why might that be? What about the “CHURCH” turns people off?
I get it. We have been in many churches in various traditions. I’d like to share some of my own struggles with church. Maybe you can identify and so maybe we can all understand others’ issues.
Read MoreI’m still pondering my honest question (See my previous post and “Honest Question”).
Maybe many people are living without a “sense of religion / legalism” but they are mistakenly equating that with a “sense of GOD.”
I get that. Religion/legalism can be deadly. BUT relationship is Life-giving.
So I’m remembering and sharing the most pivotal point in my own spiritual journey … The smile that destroyed my religion. Here is my turning point:
Read MoreBack in 2012 when I was just beginning to write A Branch in the Vine, I did a series I called “Findings in the Files.” My sister and friend Tresca reminded me of this poem as part of the answer to my “Honest Question” (see my previous blogpost and the comments).
So here is a partial answer along with a beautiful response. May you be blessed as you read.
FINDINGS IN THE FILES, 2012
The following two findings are a true study in contrasts -- Invictus by William Ernest Henley and My Captain by Dorothea Day.
Read MoreHow does anyone make it in this life with any measure of peace and joy without a sense of GOD?
A sincere question … that’s all …
Read More…We are not cowed into timidity by death and life. Were we forced to rely on our own shabby resources we would be pitiful people indeed. But the awareness of Christ's present risenness persuades us that we are buoyed up and carried on by a life greater than our own.
Read MoreOne line of the lyrics for “Got to Let It Go” by MercyMe draws a picture that is in keeping with Jan’s most recent post “Are You Guarding an Empty Tomb?”
“Stop taking flowers to the grave of the old you that died.”
Read MoreIt is Finished!
But why are so many of us believers "guarding an empty tomb," trying to keep the shame of memories, regrets, sins of the past from impinging themselves on our present as if these offenses are still alive...and unforgiven?
Read MoreHe isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen.
Matthew 28:6 NLT
Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live.
John 14:19 NLT
Now I lay me down to sleepI pray the Lord my soul to keep If I should die before I wake I pray the Lord my soul to take
So goes a traditional nighttime prayer taught by American moms to their children for generations.
It may seem odd to us today that there would be the mention of death in a child's prayer. But scientists say that sleep is the closest we come to death while still alive. The Greeks even had a proverb,
Sleep and death are brothers.
However, in the first century, Jewish moms taught their children a different bedtime prayer...quoting Psalm 31:
Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit.
Sound familiar? It shou
Read MoreA few years ago, I came across an inspiring cartoon in my "Easter" file (See enlarged image below). I think my husband John, who had been the family reader of the Sunday funnies in years gone by, cut it out and gave it to me back in April 2001. So there in my file, this little treasure has been tucked away for all these years.
For those of you who have been following the Lenten Meditations on a branch in the Vine, this piece serves as a fitting climax during Holy Week.
Read MoreI just spent several hours in an exercise that I never would have dreamed would be so valuable. And so I would love to share the fruit of my “what I thought would be agonizing” afternoon and evening with you, my dear readers. My project? Transcribing just a ten minute sermon into pages of type. But in the process of it all, my mind received greater clarity and understanding and my heart just leaped with joy and thanksgiving for my beautiful Lord Jesus, who is my Savior and indwelling Life.
So please watch the video first. It is truly powerful. And then if you long to understand and relish the message on a deeper level, read the transcript that follows.
Read MoreI came up short . . . was she speaking to me?
No doubt about it as I saw her with her rolled down window, pausing before continuing on her way.
From the hosannas of the fickle crowd to the hallelujahs of the grateful, faithful ones, because of our King…praising HIM forever:
To the King who gave everything for me
Who's body crucified, high on Calvary's Tree
Who's redemptive blood makes way for me . . .
Tetelestai!* It is finished! The death of Christ on the Cross is the HINGE of human history...and nowbefore He breathes His last breath... a cry of victory,It is finished!
What's finished? It must be something BIG,...look at what happened when Jesus died:
At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead.
Read MoreWhile we are on this earth, we struggle. We struggle with circumstances, with relationships, with health, with finances, with emotions, with disappointments and expectations and we could go on.
And if we stop to think about it, our struggle takes place in our thoughts, in our minds.
Today I would like to share with you, my beloved readers, the study that my small ZOOM group did in our last lesson.
Read MoreThirst is a primal need in all of us humans...more demanding even than hunger! We can go quite awhile without eating, but a very short time without drinking. Jesus on the Cross had refrained up to this point from satisfying His thirst. Instead He drank the Father's cup to the very last drop! He became sin for us...the Sinless One! Jesus took our place, and the Father turned His back. The punishment for sin had been accomplished...spiritual separation from God....for US!
Now in fulfillment of prophecy, Jesus expresses His own physical need:
After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said ( to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. John 19:28-29 ESV
Read MoreWe are not cowed into timidity by death and life. Were we forced to rely on our own shabby resources we would be pitiful people indeed. But the awareness of Christ's present risenness persuades us that we are buoyed up and carried on by a life greater than our own.
The Christ within who is our hope of glory is not a matter of theological debate or philosophical speculation. He is not a hobby, a part-time project, a good theme for a book, or a last resort when all human effort fails. He is our life, the most real fact about us. He is the power and wisdom of God dwelling within us.
Read MoreAs we were beginning worship one morning at church, I was arrested by the beauty and the message of a song I hadn't heard or sung for many years.
Those of us who were young adults during the late 60s into the 70s and 80s may remember "Be Ye Glad" as a peaceful balm to our souls. So when those opening words and melody penetrated my consciousness, I had to stop and reflect on every word.
In light of all the upheaval in the world, along with the upheavals in your own world, why not take a few moments and listen, reflect on the message, and even sing along….
Read MoreAbandoned! Left on the "doorstep of Life"...but with no Rescuer in sight! What happens next in the unfolding drama of the crucifixion of our Lord is incomprehensible!
It's an abandonment so profoundly mysterious that it boggles the mind...but ravishes the believing heart! Let's watch it unfold...
It is noon. By this time, Jesus has already forgiven ...
Read MoreJanet Renner Loyd has been a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ most of her life. Her formal education includes a degree in education from the University of Arizona and also a degree in Bible & Theology from Moody Bible Institute. For more than thirty years, she has been involved in teaching and leading women’s Bible studies, retreats, and meetings…most notably Precept upon Precept and various studies that she has personally developed. Professionally, Jan recently retired from teaching language and writing to GED and adult ESOL students.
About her life, Jan says, “The most important thing about me is my relationship with my Father God through my Lord Jesus Christ. I am forever grateful to Him for His love, mercy, and grace to me and my family and friends...and the world.”
Jan has been happily married to John Loyd for more than forty years. They have two adult, married children and five lively young grandsons.
