24/ What Jesus Means to Me
He is my friend
He never gets tired of my complaints. What friend would listen to the same sob story over and over again? Jesus does! The words spoken by Jesus in John 15:13-15, mean a lot to me.
13/ The greatest love a person can have for his friends is to give his life for them.
14/ And you are my friends if you do what I command you.
15/ I do not call you servants any longer, because a servant does not know what his master is doing instead, I call you friends because I have told you everything I have heard from my father.
The above words and an incident relating to my mother have given the word "friendship" a deeper meaning. Late one Sunday evening my mother rang.
"Where have you been? I've been trying to reach you all evening." "At church mum, as you might have guessed. Why don't you try it some time," came my annoyed reply.
"If I want to talk to God, I can go to my room any time I feel like it. I don't have to go to church!"
The "I" 's said it all; here was a typical one-sided relationship, where my mother only talked to God if and when it suited her. Needless to say, when she was in need, it suited her!
Interestingly enough, only that same week I had mentally made a list of people who always seemed happy enough to visit or phone me. I decided to see what would happen if I didn't contact them for a few weeks. Seventeen years later they still haven't contacted me, so I guess they weren't interested in me as a friend. Just as well it didn't take me seventeen years to work that one out, but I did realise that friendship is based on a two-way relationship.
I treasure my friendship with Jesus, so I try to spend as much time with him as possible. Close friends want to talk to each other as much as possible. The constant contact helps to cement the friendship. The same principle applies to a relationship with Jesus Christ. During the week, before I go to work, I get up at least an hour earlier, in order to spend time reading the Bible, praying and praising God. At 7 o'clock I have breakfast and then get ready for work. I do this not out of habit, or obligation, but simply because I want to spend time with God. You get out of a relationship what you put into it. I guess the same principle applies to a bank account; you can only withdraw the money you have in the account. You can't withdraw money you don't have.
People constantly say to me, "Oh pray for me. God hears you, he won't listen to me." Not true, God loves to hear other voices besides mine. Good communication is essential in any relationship, that involves talking and listening. So often I hear people say, "Yes, I say my prayers every night." Just to rattle off a few words before you go to sleep is not having a relationship with God. We do the talking, but we also need to listen to what God has to say to us through reading the Bible.
Love Letters
While visiting my mother, God showed me the Bible in a way I had never seen it before. Curiosity runs in the family, so it came as no surprise when my mother felt the need to steam open her friend's mail. For months on end the person had received mail from overseas, but had never opened it. Eventually the letters had grown into a neat pile. While her friend was out, my mother decided to play detective.
Much to her disappointment the letter she had steamed open contained no earth shattering secret, or hint of a crime. As we went back into the kitchen the inevitable question came up. "Why do you think those letters are left unopened?" my mother asked.
"Maybe they're not interested in the information, or just don't want to hear the truth," was my suggestion.
At this stage God broke into the conversation and said, "I also send my children love letters, but they never open them either and read them."
Shocked I realised that most of the New Testament is written in letter form.
I can honestly say that now, I love Jesus, but that is only because I have gotten to know him. I encourage everybody to seek Jesus' friendship through talking to him, listening to him, reading his Word and obeying his commandments.
Hosea 6:3 Let us try to know the Lord.
6/ I want your constant love, not your animal sacrifice. I would rather have my people know me than burn offerings to me.
The following was a message from God for one of the students at Bible study.
Dearest Roseanne, it's been a tough year, hasn't it; trying to make friends and trying to get good grades. Well don't worry, because I'll be your friend eternally and if you'll try to be my friend and ask Me to allow you to fit in, it will be done the very second you ask. Don't be afraid of the world Roseanne. Learn to stand on your own feet now, and you'll find it even easier as you go on with me by your side, holding your hand.
Jesus is my friend and I can honestly say that he has never let me down in 20 years.
He is my strength
Many years ago I opened the Bible to find the following words staring at me:
My grace is sufficient for you; for my strength is made perfect in weakness (2Corinthians 12:9).
People comment that I have a strong character. At all times I remind them that my strength comes from Jesus.
As I look back over my life I thank God for giving me the strength to study for my Higher School Certificate, then an Arts Degree and a Diploma of Education, as a mature student, while I was raising three little children. I also thank God that he gave me the strength and persistence to stand against corruption while at university. One of the History lecturers had not bothered to keep records for the whole student body. At the end of the year he simply took a stab in the dark as to who he should pass or fail.
The amount of corruption in this world is unbelievable. What is even more unbelievable is the fact that very few people speak up for what is right and against that which is wrong. In my twelve years of teaching for the N.S.W. Department of Education I spoke up against child sexual abuse, the teaching of satanic activities in drama, a satanic book and yoga being incorporated in sport. Other supposed Christians knew that such activities were going on, but never spoke up. Apparently there are those people who fear man more than they fear God. Eventually I lost my job, not just because I spoke out but because I also dared to have Bible studies at lunchtime. Almost two years later and $41,000 in legal expenses, I won my case against the Education Department in the Australian Arbitration Court.
The moments of victory were short lived however, as the Department appealed against the decision and took the matter to a higher court. The judge was very selective in the evidence he listened to. My barrister was constantly cut off, whereas the barrister from the Department was allowed to trot out as many lies as he chose. We lost the case. At the insistence of my solicitor and barrister I prepared and presented my case before the Full Bench of the Australian Federal Arbitration Court. With God's help I won. Only God's strength saw me through this time of hardship and stress.
Turning the other Cheek
Turning the other cheek takes strength. I was worried about the fact that I might not be strong enough to turn the "other cheek", so I had a chat to God about it.
"You've been doing it for years. When you forgive those who have persecuted you and you treat them as if nothing has happened, you are turning the other cheek."
I hadn't expected an immediate answer from God, but I'm grateful that he gave it to me anyway.
Over twelve years of teaching in public schools I've had plenty of opportunity to "turn the other cheek". If I wasn't the butt of people's jokes, I became their whipping post, when things went wrong. For people to abuse me for no particular reason was not a rare occurrence. You might say, "Hey, let's hear the other side." A fair comment; but unless a person has been persecuted because they follow Jesus, they will not understand.
Five classes had assembled in the library, to listen to a visiting Aboriginal speaker. As participation was required I put up my hand. The man asked me what my first name was. I responded by giving him my married name. I hesitated when he insisted on knowing my first name. As I did so a student yelled out, "It's Jesus, it's Jesus." The cry was immediately taken up by 150 chanting mocking voices. Even other teachers laughed and found the scene highly amusing.
God gave me the strength to stand there, propped up against a filing cabinet, smiling. When the laughter had finished I had the added strength to give my mockers a little bow. If they had expected to see me run out in tears it didn't happen; instead my response brought dead silence. How true the Word of God is: "I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me." To simply rattle off Bible verses is being religious. Putting the Word of God into practice is a different matter altogether.
I put the Word of God into practice when I went into the morgue to pray over a corpse. By rights the person should have been buried, or at least been in the funeral parlour, considering he had been dead for three days. As it turned out the coroner was examining the corpse, so my daughter and I were asked to wait till he had finished. Instead of hanging around waiting for the coroner to finish, God put it on our hearts to pray in the car. Prayer knows no distance.
As we sat in the car God told us how to pray. Firstly, we were to command the spirit of death to leave his body. God also caused my daughter to pray that Peter would have the desire to want to live. We both prayed in tongues and English for some time, battling against doubt and unbelief.
God assured Rachael that Peter would receive life, but that she would not see him, "just yet". We prayed for about three quarters of an hour. Our prayer session finished with John 15:7 and John 14:14. Then I found myself saying, "Oh Lord God, please honour your word." God caused me to pray in this way, for never would I have dared to do so otherwise. By 4 p.m that afternoon I had total faith that Peter was alive. So you can imagine my sadness when I found out that the man had been buried two days later. Nonetheless, I didn't question God.
About Monday or Tuesday the following week, God explained to us what had happened in the morgue the previous Friday. For a start God had made sure that Peter had been kept in the morgue till my return from overseas. As we prayed God did give Peter momentary life in order to ask Jesus into his heart. God then let Peter die physically, but had made him alive spiritually. That is why God had said to Rachael at the time of our prayer in the car that Peter would receive life, but she would not see him just yet.
There will be those people who won't accept this incident, but if Jesus can call Lazurus out of the world of the dead after four days, why not Peter? God is greater than any religion, for if He had not intervened this young man would have gone to hell for committing suicide. What a waste of life to die in your early twenties.
Jesus is my protector
There have been many instances when the children and I were in great danger, yet Jesus protected us. On one occasion the children and I had gone for a drive with a friend. The car skidded on the gravel, hit the bridge and then the railing. Although several windows were broken and we were covered in glass not one of us had even received a scratch.
Another instance where God protected my daughter and myself was when the brakes and steering locked. The car, on two wheels, skidded across the road, ready to mount the gutter and hit the wall in front of us. All I could say in my mind was, "Jesus!" Instantly the car was in control again. As I reversed from the curb and pulled back into the right lane, three cars came towards me. If they had come one minute earlier while my car had been out of control, there would have been a four car pile-up.
Jesus is my Lord and Saviour
God used my granddaughter, Sarah, to explain to me why we need Jesus as our Saviour. While cleaning my flat, I saw a vision of my granddaughter in her high chair, at the age of twelve months. In reality Sarah was about two and a half years old. The child was in the process of feeding herself and food was everywhere, her hair, face and body. She looked a mess. God asked me, "Do you love Sarah?"
My answer was immediate. "Oh yes Lord."
"Kiss her."
Horrified I answered, "Oh no she's dirty Lord."
"But you do love her, don't you?"
"Yes Lord."
In my vision I picked Sarah up by the scruff of the neck and carried her to the bathroom. Peeling off her clothes, I bathed her. As I dried and powdered the baby on the lounge, God said to me, "You see, it's like that with me too. I love all whom I have created, but I am a Holy God and they are stained with sin therefore I cannot hug and kiss them."
A bath will wash the outside of the body, but only the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ will wash the heart clean.
Isaiah 1:18-20
18) The Lord says, "Now let's settle the matter. You are stained red with sin, but I will wash you as clean as snow. Although your stains are deep red, you will be as white as wool.
19) If you will only obey me, you will eat the good things the land produces.
20) But if you defy me, you are doomed to die. I the Lord have spoken.
In the Old Testament of the Bible we are told God required the sacrifices of an animal to take away the sins of the people.
Leviticus 9:7: Then he said to Aaron, "Go to the altar and offer the sin offering and the burnt offering to take away your sins and the sins of the people. Present this offering to take away the sins of the people, just as the Lord commanded."
Mankind no longer needs to bring a sacrifice to God for our sins. God, himself has provided a perfect sacrifice.
Hebrews 9:25-28
25/ The Jewish high priest goes into the Most Holy Place every year with the blood of an animal. But Christ did not go in to offer himself many times,
26/ for then he would have had to suffer many times ever since the creation of the world. Instead, now when all ages of time are nearing the end, he has appeared once and for all, to remove sin through the sacrifice of himself.
27/ In the same manner Christ also was offered in sacrifice once
to take away the sins of many. He will appear a second time,
not to deal with sin, but to save those who are waiting for him.
1/ Fiji
2/ Egypt
3/ Israel
4/ Papua New Guinea
5/ Forgive or I cannot forgive you
6/ Jesus still heals today
7/ Suicide
8/ Long Bay Gaol
9/ Attempted murder
10/ Bathurst Gaol
11/ Angels
12/ How to pray
13/ Cords
14/ Counting the cost
15/ The heart condition
16/ Lorraine
17/ Dracula - fact or fiction
18/ If you love me
19/ Being gay
20/ Faith
21/ Roots
22/ Malaysia
23/ Fiji revisited - 1997
24/ What Jesus means to me
25/ My diary entries
26/ Conclusion