Reflection

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God heals powerfully

The right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly.
The right hand of the Lord is exalted:
The right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly.
I shall not die, but live,
and declare the works of the Lord. Psalm 118:15-17 (KJV)

The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!
The Lord’s right hand is lifted high;
The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!
I will not die but live,
and will proclaim what the Lord has done. Psalm 118:15-17 (NIV)

On January 22, in our church, we were able to dedicate Raphaël, the 1-year old son of Jiska and Jonathan, in the midst of his family, to our heavenly Father. A happy event! During this service we again reflected about the great miracle our heavenly Papa did for Jiska.

Giving and receiving

Theo and Maria needed wood for this winter. Theo, at present 74 years young, healthy and strong, had already looked around here and there. One day in beginning of April that year he prayed for it. He remembered God His promise in Malachi 3 where stands “that you can test God when giving tenths and sacrifices”. He prayed frankly: “Lord, I give You faithfully my tenths and sacrifices; You promise that in that case You would open the windows of heaven and pour blessings in abundance over me. I ask this only once: I need wood badly”.

John, the disciple Jesus loves

For me and for many others, this is a stumbling block in the Bible. What to do about it? So Jesus seemed to love one of the disciples more than the others. Some even claim that Jesus had a homosexual relationship with John. But if you really want to understand the core of this verse, you just have to think twice and read carefully what it says. What's important is that it's not Jesus who makes this statement, but John. And nowhere in the Gospels do we read that Jesus says that He prefers one to all others.

So the saying and the conclusion come from John himself. Did he receive a special revelation? As far as I'm concerned, over the years it happened occasionally that someone said: "God is happy with you". It was a statement that I kept in mind because I was used to hearing sometimes "God loves you". But according to me there is a difference between loving someone and being happy with someone.

Recently an elderly lady came up to me after a meeting and said God told her to tell me He is happy with me. Usually I forget such a sentence quite quickly. But this time I began to think about it. I did not have a special revelation, but I did have the Word that clearly states that God loves us and is happy with us. So I decided to just accept that word.

Maybe the same happened to John. Maybe he was so proud that Jesus loved him that he felt the need to make it known, while the other disciples weren't so concerned about telling it. Nobody knows exactly how it went. It seems clear to me that Jesus did not love John more than the others. But one thing is for sure: John knew for sure that he was the disciple Jesus loved.

I just wanted to bring this to your attention and hope you will think about it. I wish you a lot of blessing with it.

Hugo, the disciple Jesus is happy with.