Author: StephanieBBlake

I love to help others focus on the one thing that's most important in life through my ministry, teaching and writing. As Vice President of Xtend Ministries International - www.xtendinternational.com, I travel extensively with my husband. I maintain two websites: www.onefocusministries.com and stretchmoney.wordpress.com. On the One Focus site, you can find free Bible studies, devotionals and information about my first book, "The Prayer Driven Life". My book, "Money: How to Be Rich Without It and How to Stretch It Using Ten Hints from the Past and the Technology of Today" was the inspiration for stretchmoney.wordpress.com. Money saving hints are contained throughout the book and this site was created to continue to give helpful hints on stretching money or having the proper view toward money.
One Focus Blog

Resolutions You Have Kept

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The beginning of a new year usually sparks an evaluation of where you are and where you want to be in the future.

NewYearsResolution1915FirstPostcardAt the beginning of one year, I watched interviews of people queried about resolutions they were making. Most of them admitted their resolutions wouldn’t last long and many appeared to think the whole idea was funny. Their good intentions for improvement would not last through the first week.

Their predictions are generally true. January is a great month for gyms, diets and purchasing exercise equipment. The gyms start to empty out in February, diets go by the wayside in a few weeks and barely used exercise equipment can be snapped up at bargain prices by the second quarter of the year.

Resolutions can be life changing or they can be discouraging. Less than 10% of us who make New Year’s resolutions keep them. Experts are now recommending that you keep your resolution list short, simple and specific.

How you approach resolutions makes all the difference. Your evaluation process should not only include where you are (your present) and where you want to be (your future), but what has brought you to where you are (your past).  Many of us have been following through on resolutions for years without realizing it. The dictionary tells us so.

A resolution is a firm decision to do or not to do something. All of us have made decisions in the past – some good, some bad.

A decision is a conclusion or resolution reached after careful consideration. Decisions you have already made were choices – an act of selecting or making a decision when faced with two or more possibilities.

You live by the choices you make. Some choices have great reward – like an intimate relationship with God through Jesus Christ, a good marriage, parenting children, working at a job you love, living in a town or city that fits your personality, developing a desired skill, etc. The opposite is also true. When we make bad decisions, we have to live with the consequences.

You and I are where we are today by the resolutions – choices – decisions – we made yesterday. When we evaluate how we have made our choices and realize that it has put us where we are today, we can either stick with the process or revise it in order to get where we need to be in the future.

Making any decision on our own – without God’s help – can lead to bad choices. Asking God to help you make right decisions in the future is a resolution you can keep if you have a relationship with Him.

There is no decision too small or too big to take to God. If it concerns you, it concerns Him. We all need His help. I know I do.

Trust the Lord completely, and don’t depend on your own knowledge. With every step you take, think about what he wants, and he will help you go the right way (Proverbs 3:5-6 Easy-to-Read version).

Reflective Focus

Importance of a Forever Focus

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So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.  – For we fix our attention, not on things that are seen, but things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen lasts forever (2 Corinthians 4:18 HCSB and GNB).

From the time you wake in the morning until you go to sleep at night, a multitude of things and people compete for your attention.

  • If you have a job, pleasing management and keeping that job can be a constant concern.
  • If you have a family, spouse and children want and deserve a good chunk of your time.
  • If you are socially minded and volunteer either at church or in your community, what you have committed to demands your follow through.

These responsibilities can, at times, be overwhelming. Not only are you accountable for your commitments; in order to accomplish them you need to take care of yourself – eat well, sleep well, exercise and give yourself some down time.

Perhaps you have done everything you can to maintain good health, but you are not well. Perhaps you have lost your job, your marriage fell apart or your children do not want your companionship. Perhaps, as a Christian, you believe in the promises of God and know that He will work things out in due time for HIs glory. In the meantime, you want to know how to keep a proper perspective while you are waiting for “forever”.

Follow the Perfect Example

fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2 NASB).

Jesus, every bit as human as we are, set the example for us on how to stay focused on God with a ‘forever focus”. Every circumstance, meeting, and trial had an eternal perspective.

  • Even as a young boy, He was focused on doing His Father’s will. His comment to His mother when she found Him in the temple at twelve was, “Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”
  • He was tempted just as we are, but HIs focus on God, His word and His will enabled Him to resist the temptations of the devil.
  • Even though He got hungry just like we do, there were times when He was so focused on the Father’s will that He skipped eating. My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work (John 4:34 NASB).
  • He needed sleep like the rest of us (so much so that He took a nap in the middle of a storm), but there were times when instead of sleeping, He spent all night in prayer.
  • He was surrounded by many who wanted His attention. In compassion, He stopped and met their needs, demonstrating His power and the love of God as He did so, but He never forgot His mission.
  • It seems contradictory to our senses that the author of Hebrews described His endurance of the cross as a matter of joy set before Him, but that was the way Jesus looked at it. Certainly, there was no joy in the cross itself. It was horrible and unjust. Christ’s focus, however, was always on what He knew would be accomplished once He endured the shame of the cross – the salvation of souls and the growth of His eternal family.

The circumstances of Jesus’ life on His journey to the cross – tempted by the devil in the wilderness, nowhere to lay HIs head, rejection by those He had created, misunderstood even by His followers – did not slow Him down because He never took His eyes off the Father and doing His will.

For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in His steps (1 Peter 2:21 NLT).

It should be the same with us. Just like Jesus, you choose each day what you will focus on. Know that whatever comes your way, if you are a child of God, He will make things right. Trust Him.

This life is not all there is.

Whenever this life on earth is over, those who rejected Jesus will experience an eternity without Him. Those of us who have chosen to follow Jesus will spend forever with Him. If you focus on Him now, your life will be so much richer than it would be otherwise. As a child of His, He is involved in your life now and He will be involved forever. He has promised to never – not ever – leave you or forsake you.

When your focus is on God and His forever purposes for your life, you start seeing life a little from HIs perspective. He knows the beginning from the end. He doesn’t reveal all there is to know about your future, but He doesn’t need to. Your experience with His faithfulness in your past is enough to trust Him for whatever will come in the future. He is not bound by time like we are so we know that what He says He will do will happen.

One of the reasons we have difficulty with a forever focus is because it is hard for us to see past the moment. We must, of course, live in the now, but having learned from the past, we can look to the future knowing that God is in control of it all.

I believe that this one focus is so important that my website is named One Focus Ministries and my blog One Focus. Naturally, this is a common theme throughout the devotionals and Bible studies on this site. Bible studies (under the Word Focus tab) One Day at a Time, Focus on the Shepherd’s Voice and Focus on Fullness of Joy and devotionals (under the Reflective Focus tab) Focus is a Choice, Trusting God: A Predetermined Choice and Trusting God Completely are a few examples of this theme. Every One Focus blog deals with seeing God’s hand in everyday life. We don’t need to wait until we have passed from the temporary to the eternal to experience a forever focus. Jesus showed us how that forever focus helps make sense out of today.

© Stephanie B. Blake

January 2013

Download The Importance of a Forever Focus

One Focus Blog

The Best Free Gift Ever

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There is sometimes a little letdown when Christmas is over. Family members go home and the house feels somewhat empty. The decorations need to be put away (not nearly as fun as putting them up). There is a possibility that some of the gifts need to be returned – either because they don’t work, you can’t use them, you already have one just like it or it doesn’t fit.
The opposite might also be true. If you have received a gift card or money for a Christmas present, now is the time to be able to choose something you really want or need for free. Redeeming the gift card or spending the money after Christmas often stretches your money because there are many after Christmas sales which are deeply discounted.

Everyone likes something free. The gifts you received didn’t cost you anything. You may have gotten something you have been wishing for and because it is something you would not have purchased for yourself, it is a true luxury. Some of my favorite belongings remind me of Christmases past and the thoughtfulness of a loved one.

Regardless of what you received this Christmas or past Christmases there will be a point where you will no longer use it. It will either wear out or you will leave it behind when you die.

The best free gift ever offered and received will never wear out or be left behind when you die. It was the most costly gift ever because it required the Son of God to die on the cross for your sin. Our free gift cost Him everything. His sacrifice enables you to spend eternity with Him in Heaven.

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Just like the gifts you got for Christmas, the only thing you have to do is receive this gift. As He offers it to you and you receive it by faith, you are able to have fellowship now with Him on earth and forever with Him in Heaven. If you have not received this most precious gift, why don’t you do so today?

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).*

*This post is duplicated on my other blog, http://stretchmoney.wordpress.com as well. As I try hard to give advice on how to obtain what you need for free, this post was also appropriate for that blog. Jesus Christ offers the best free gift ever!

One Focus Blog

Butterflies and Roses in December

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James M. Barrie began his rectorial address at St. Andrews University on May 3, 1922 with the following statement: “You have had many rectors here in St. Andrews who will continue in bloom long after the lowly ones such as I am are dead and rotten and forgotten. They are the roses in December; you remember someone said that God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December. But I do not envy the great ones. In my experience – and you may find in the end it is yours also – the people I have cared for most and who have seemed most worth caring for – my December roses have been very simple folk.” Barrie considered himself simple folk, but left his mark on the world with his stories, most notably Peter Pan.

Barrie’s reference to roses in December carries the implication that roses would not be available to view in December – thus the need for the memory of them. I will remember this year as the December where I did not have to use my memory to enjoy roses – they have been blooming in some areas of the south during December. Not only have I seen roses this month, but I have enjoyed watching the monarch butterflies in my backyard in recent days. Even in Texas where you can alternately use the air conditioner and heater in off seasons, roses have usually lost their bloom and butterflies are long gone by December.

Barrie related his December roses to people – those people who are worth caring for. In my life, I also have fond memories of these December roses. I have friends and family that I seldom see, but hear from periodically through cards, Facebook, phone calls or email. Every time I do, it brings a smile, similar to the smile that comes across my face when I see roses and butterflies in December. Their contributions to my life continues to bloom.roses-du-palmengarten

Family, friends, roses and butterflies are among many things I am grateful for. The greatest blessing I have ever received is a relationship with God through Jesus Christ His Son. Fellowship with Him makes me aware of the delightful gifts that He gives as well. So, whether I actually see them or I need to exercise my memory to enjoy them, through His grace I can experience roses in December.

I am the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valleys (Song of Solomon 2:1).

One Focus Blog

The True Spirit of Christmas

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Many people the world over look forward to Christmas. Time off from work, time spent with family, looking forward to special gifts and an occasion for parties may be the sole reason for the celebration.

Retail stores put out Christmas decorations earlier each year. They suppose – and they may be right – that makes it easier for customers to get in the Christmas spirit and desire to purchase their products.

Of course, merchandisers profit from the Christmas season. Many of us believe that it has, in fact, become way too commercial. On the other hand, generosity is expressed more freely by more people at this time of year than any other.

The signs of Christmas spirit may include:

  • making Christmas lists and checking off each present as it is purchased, wrapped, mailed or placed under the tree
  • preparing eggnog, special candies, cookies and a variety of other traditional family dishes
  • making elaborate preparations for parties, trips to see family, gifts for teachers, neighbors and others
  • decorating homes in and out
  • attending Christmas musicals and plays
  • looking for ways to help others through churches and charities

Part of the traditional Christmas celebration includes classic Christmas stories, which are read and reread to children at this time of year.

Charles_Dickens-A_Christmas_Carol-Title_page-First_edition_1843In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge, a grumpy old miser who preferred his own company, is visited by three Christmas spirits on Christmas Eve. What the spirits of Christmas past, present and future showed him so affected Scrooge that his life was radically changed. The result of their visits was that he became the exact opposite of what he had been before. “He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man as the good old City knew, or any other good old city or town in the good old world…. it was said of him ever afterwards that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed that knowledge.”

A Christmas Carol is one of the movies that is on my Christmas season watch list, always saved for Christmas Eve. Of course, it is not the original Christmas story, but it does illustrate what happens when the true Spirit of Christmas visits someone. There is a radical change. To truly know how to keep Christmas well, one must be born of the Spirit of the Christ of Christmas.

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”(John 3:5). Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Reflective Focus

The Christmas Story Told by John

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Families gathering around the Christmas tree usually turn to Matthew or Luke to read the Christmas story. Angelic visitations, the birth of Jesus in a manger and the search for the Christ child by shepherds and wise men are pictures that come readily to mind. Descriptions given by Matthew and Luke have resulted in magnificent artwork of the nativity scene.

Joseph’s visitation by an angel of the Lord in his dream was to let him know that Mary’s child was of the Holy Spirit. Matthew said this event fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy. “BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL,” which is translated, “GOD WITH US” (Matthew 1:23).

Where Matthew and Luke record the birth of the baby Jesus as fulfilled prophecy, John takes a different approach to the event. IMMANUEL didn’t appear on the day Jesus was born. IMMANUEL has always been. With a bodily form, we could now set our eyes upon Him. Jesus Himself created the prophets and it was His Spirit that gave the prophecies to them.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made (John 1:1-3).

In John’s gospel, it was Jesus Himself who gave us details about why He came the way He did. His birth was His plan. When the right time came, He fulfilled His plan.

The Bread of Life

“I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world” (John 6:51).

The birth of the Christ child put flesh on the Son of God so that He could accomplish His redemptive plan.

The Light of the World 

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it…”I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (John 1:4-5;6:12).

In the Old Testament, a man could not see the light of the eyes of God and live. Righteous men of the past looked forward to that day; we who have been born since His return to Heaven have His word and the word of His witnesses that the Light became flesh; those who walked and talked with Him in person could actually peer into the eyes of the light of the world. His birth made that possible.

The Door

“I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:7-9).

Without the birth of the baby Jesus who grew into the man who became our Savior on the cross, mankind would have been unable to have fellowship with God. There is no other door.

The Good Shepherd 

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep” (John 10:11).

The good shepherd existed long before the Christ child was born because God is the good shepherd. David described Him. It was the body of the good shepherd that hung on the cross for us – the body that was conceived by His Spirit and birthed by Mary on Christmas day.

The Resurrection and the Life 

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11:25-26).

Jesus came to die for our sins. He did that as a man – a substitute for the sinner. If it had ended there, He would only have proven that He was our loving replacement. It was in resurrection that death – our penalty for sin – was conquered.

The Way, The Truth and The Life

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).

Man has tried and continues to try to find a way to God other than through Jesus. It is not possible. As Immanuel, God in the flesh, He explained why.

The True Vine

Jesus lived on earth as a man. He walked and talked with His followers. He became our Savior and example. By His life and His words He showed us how we could share in His kingdom and His joy. “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11).

In Jesus’ prayer to the Father in John 17, He gives the real reason He came in the flesh: to glorify the Father, to finish His work, and to share His glory with those who believe. This is the purpose of the Christmas story. The child in the cradle became the Savior on the cross, the Redeemer who rose and the Immanuel who shares His glory with those who love Him.

© Stephanie B. Blake

December 2012

Scripture quotations taken from the New King James version of the Bible.

Download The Christmas Story Told by John

One Focus Blog

The Painful Path to Empathy

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A Christmas Carol was the first of five Christmas books written by Charles Dickens. The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain, a lesser-known work, was the last of that series.

300px-Hauntedman_front_1848The Haunted Man, Professor Redlaw, is haunted by his sorrowful past. The only redeeming feature of his youth was a sister who died. The memories are continually brought before him by a Phantom who offers him relief. When he allowed the Spectre to cancel his remembrances, Redlaw made a surprising discovery. Not only did his memory of sorrow and wrong leave him, so did any element of softness and caring for others. Even worse, that gift was passed on to others around him with similar consequences.

Unaffected by this desire to forget sorrow is Milly Swidger who had lost her only child. A sweet simple woman, Milly tells her husband, “I am happy in the recollection of it…All through life, it seems by me, to tell me something. For poor neglected children, my little child pleads as if it were alive, and had a voice I knew, with which to speak to me. When I hear of youth in suffering or shame, I think that my child might have come to that, perhaps, and that God took it from me in His mercy…that even when my little child was born and dead but a few days, and I was weak and sorrowful, and could not help grieving a little, the thought arose, that if I tried to lead a good life, I should meet in Heaven a bright creature, who would call me, Mother!”

Observing her unusual application of loss, Redlaw comes to himself, praying, “O Thou who through the teaching of pure love, hast graciously restored me to the memory which was the memory of Christ upon the Cross, and of all the good who perished in His cause, receive my thanks, and bless her!”

At the end of the story, Dickens suggests, “that the Ghost was but the representation of his gloomy thoughts, and Milly the embodiment of his better wisdom.”

I have seen Dickens’ moral carried out in everyday life. Many kindhearted people attempt to sympathize with those in sorrow and pain, but it is those with similar experiences who make the largest contributions to healing. A mother who has had a stillborn child can comfort another mother like no one else can. Military families who have sent their loved ones to war can understand each other’s needs – often knowing what to do without being asked. A parent who has a wayward child can sit with another parent with a unique bonding and empathy. Those who have lost their jobs in an economic downturn are able to help each other in a special way. Homeless people can band together to become a community. And on it goes. People who have “been there, done that” are those who understand the most.

Christians have a Lord who empathizes with our sorrows and pains. His suffering was a choice – so we knew that He could understand, empathize and give guidance and comfort when comfort is needed.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows (2 Corinthians 1:3-5 NIV).

One Focus Blog

OJT Parenting

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Skills for two of the most important roles in life are developed after we have already entered the relationship. On-the-job training is the norm for both marriage and parenting.

Some of us had good examples of parenting modeled before us. Others had terrible models. I had a mixture. When I became a parent, I found the overwhelming responsibility overridden by pure joy.

How many of us felt we could not measure up to the standards set by our parents – we were never good enough at music, art or sports? Do negative comments keep popping up in your mind? That is preventable in your relationship with your own children. Don’t say anything untrue, but every positive action can prompt a compliment from you. “I really enjoyed hearing you practice the piano,” is better than “You played that piece perfectly.”

US_Navy_090722-N-8467N-006_Culinary_Specialist_1st_Class_Joseph_Appold_hugs_his_1-year-old_son_Kameron_upon_the_return_of_the_Virginia-class_attack_submarine_USS_New_Hampshire_(SSN_778)_to_Submarine_Base_New_LondonRaising children is a bit like growing an orchid. One expert said growing an orchid requires experience, education and to be preventive in respect to problems. In raising children, add a great deal of nurturing, time and love.

As a Christian, I tried to find guidelines given in scripture. These are some of the ideas that came out of that study.

Life is tough. Children need someone to lean on, to count on. Children need to learn how to handle difficulties while at home. It prepares them to handle the challenges of the outside world.

Although you should be the primary teacher in your child’s life, many others are also training him: teachers, neighbors, people at church. Some reinforce your training. Some do not. It is easy for a child to be confused. Lead by example and your child will see the difference. If you tell your child not to lie, but you lie, he will not trust you nor will you be able to adequately comfort him when he encounters trials in his life. It is important that you let your child know you also need God and His comfort – you are a sinner and you also need His guidance.

Accept your child for who he is. His personality may be the opposite of yours. God gave your child his personality, his temperament. Your job is to help him build his character. He needs to know you respect him.

A child who knows he is loved and accepted will be able to take the discipline necessary to mold his character. Reinforcing positive behavior often prevents the need for discipline. If he makes his bed (even if it is not as you would have done), take note of it. Don’t remake the bed. If he is careful to watch after a sibling, say something about it. Praise goes a long way with a child.

The Bible is life’s operating manual and a parenting guidebook. Humans are tri-dimensional: physical, mental, spiritual. Some parents make sure their children are nourished physically, send them to school to get education, but leave the spiritual until they can make the decision for themselves. God makes it clear He expects parents to be in charge of their spiritual development. There is no greater calling.

Each generation can make known Your faithfulness to the next (Isaiah 38:19). Children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward (Psalm 127:3).

One Focus Blog

Logistics and Progress in Poland

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Logistics in Poland is very well thought out. On a road trip from Lwówek Śląski (a small town close to Germany on Poland’s western border) to Warsaw, Poland, I passed through the center of Poland and saw a landscape filled with warehouses – distribution centers for many retail stores. 

Central Poland is home to millions of meters of warehouse space. Major cities in Poland plan to add more warehouses as their economy continues to improve.

Un-polandAccording to an August 2012 issue of The Warsaw Voice, by 2020 Poland will become the main logistics center in Europe. Colliers International, a real estate services company who conducted the research, expects distribution centers to grow the fastest in Gdańsk/Gdynia, Łódź, Katowice and Wrocław.

Twice as much warehouse space was constructed in the first half of 2012 as the year before with the largest amount of new space built in the vicinity of Warsaw. The midwestern city of Poznań, central Poland and Upper Silesia also gained a significant amount of warehouse space.

I have been to most of the cities mentioned in the article I read. I love Poland and the Polish people. Some of my best friends live there.

It wasn’t too long ago shelves were empty and goods were difficult to obtain in this country. I am thrilled to see progress come to Poland. To me, these warehouses do not mar the beautiful countryside as they are strategically placed simply to make it easier to deliver goods throughout the country.

As a Christian, I know where everything I need is located. Every material, physical or spiritual need that I have comes from one source.



Every good and perfect gift is from above…(James 1:17). Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’… for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you (Matthew 6:31-33).

One Focus Blog

The Joy of Food, Fellowship and Family

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There’s something about sitting together around a table full of food that invites conversation – especially with family. When our sons got married, I made a family recipe book for my new daughters. It occurred to me that many of our best memories were around meals celebrating Christmas, Thanksgiving, birthdays or traditions we had created for meals on Friday nights, Saturday mornings or Sunday after church. Those memories were of great joy when we were all gathered around the table.

Now the joy is magnified because the family has grown. On rare occasions when we have mealtimes together again, it is with grandchildren and all the delightful contributions they make to the conversations.

This last week was another reminder of this truth. I attended two fellowship meals with our church family here in France. There was a covered dish luncheon on Sunday after church. So much good food and time to visit with friends around the table is a great treat. On normal Sundays, people have to be out and about and visiting time is limited. On covered dish Sundays, people make an effort to stick around, visit and enjoy a meal together.On Tuesdy, our ladies Bible study group got together at a member’s lovely home for lunch. Again, there was time to discover more information about my sisters in Christ. People I had grown to love I love even more because I know them better now – they shared their testimonies and experiences with the Lord. It was truly a joyful time.

Jesus had similar experiences. He never was in a hurry, but it was at mealtimes we see him having the luxury of sharing life with those He loved. He spent time in fellowship and meals with His friends Mary, Martha and Lazarus. Those were times of rest and restoration for Him, just as times of food and fellowship with family are for us.

There was one very special meal where Jesus was able to have a time of very needed fellowship. It was just before His betrayal and crucifixion. In the upper room, after Judas left, Jesus had an opportunity to share some special revelations of Himself to elIMG_5919even of His closest friends. He had come so they might be adopted into His family. As He left His brothers with incredible words of encouragement and promise, He told them that His intended purpose for doing so was that they might share in His joy.

Food, fellowship and family are perfect settings for experiences of joy.

 

These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full (John 15:11). But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves (John 17:13).