Saturday, March 23, 2013

'AND, AND, AND...!'

While presenting a devotional Bible study this past Wednesday, I was reading aloud through the central section of the NICENE CREED where  it makes statements pertaining to our LORD JESUS CHRIST. As I did, something suddenly struck me.. Here the text..

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father, before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.
Who, for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again with glory to judge the quick and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end!
As I was reading, I realized all the 'ands,' resulting in my exuberant proclamation of, "And, and, and, and.. isn't HE GRAND?!" I was both amused, and amazed as I had experienced this spontaneous praise exuding from my being! The attendees in this session were refreshed as I had allowed our LORD to delight me!! How about you today? Will HE delight you in such a manner that you JUST CAN'T CONTAIN IT!?

PS- It had taken 7 sessions (7 weeks!) to present all of those statements about JESUS to the attendees in a devotional Bible study format!! They were awesome weeks, and so was this last Wednesday's 'study' on the statements about the Holy Spirit in the NICENE CREED. (BTW, this creed is recited weekly in thousands of churches all over the world during liturgically-based worship services. It is a corporate statement of faith..)

'And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.' In this study, I 'let' JESUS speak 'for me,' in  JOHN 14 and 16 as HE let his disciples know of the promised Holy Spirit and the joy they'd experience after his departure..