{"id":1283,"date":"2008-02-18T18:10:00","date_gmt":"2008-02-18T18:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worshipunrated.com\/?p=1283"},"modified":"2008-02-18T18:10:00","modified_gmt":"2008-02-18T18:10:00","slug":"god-sight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/natestephan.com\/worshipunrated\/2008\/02\/18\/god-sight\/","title":{"rendered":"God Sight"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI in them, and Thou in Me\u2026Thou didst send Me, and didst love them, even as Thou didst love Me\u2026that the love wherewith Thou didst love Me may be in them, and I in them.\u201d -John 17:23b, 26b <\/span>
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This past Sunday during communion I went searching in John (probably my favorite gospel, if you\u2019re allowed to have a favorite) for a Word that would ready my heart for \u201cremembrance\u201d. I couldn\u2019t help but wind my way back to the Vine and Branch speech; I love reading about how we are connected to Jesus and the ways in which He ensures our growth in Him! I then moved on to Jesus\u2019 prayer time, and I couldn\u2019t wait to get to the part where I am included. \u201cI do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in me through their word\u2026\u201d (John 17:20) <\/span>
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In my devotional time this past week I have been responding to questions about my \u201cearly years\u201d (those of you who know that I\u2019m 25 will get a kick out of that statement \u2013 well, now all of you know!). These questions have had me remember back and try and recognize GodSpots during that time. Well, I love doing this because I am always amazed at how my God, and yours, gets His hands dirty on our behalf. I lived in a mess of danger and chaos the first 5 years, and a few plus, of my life, but as I look back I see where God put His pure, holy, strong right hand right in the midst of a \u201cfear factor\u201d kind of situation and grabbed a hold of me. And guess what girls, He hasn\u2019t let go yet! I get chills, tears, and a smile just thinking about it. Ooh, got goin\u2019 on that, back to John chapter 17. <\/span>
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So Sunday, as I scanned that wonderful section of His remembrance of us, God shed light within my heart and mind on two verses, 17:23 and 26. In these verses Jesus speaks the Truth about how God sees us. Yes, God made us each individually unique and special to Him. He made Anastasia, He made ___________ (your name can go there!) and He knows us and our forms \u2013 even before we were thought of on this earth! But God also looks upon us with the same love and affection that He has when he gazes at His Son. If we are believers in Christ, we are as Christ is to Him. That means something. <\/span>
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I know for me, when I have watched another parent\u2019s child that though I may love them, teach them, and nurture them in my own way, I do not look at them with the same heart and mind as I do my 3 boys. I tell ya, at night I\u2019m exhausted and waiting for the slightest motion of a yawn from one of them so I can say \u201cBed time!\u201d, but by the time I lay my head down on my pillow, if I\u2019m coherent enough to have a thought, I\u2019m thinking about seeing them for the first time in the morning. So, it is hard for me to understand how our great God who\u2019s Son is perfect can look at me (us) and see the same image. Amazing! Nothing less than True Love right there! <\/span>
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I continue to meditate on those words now \u2013 right now actually. And I\u2019m so thankful I read them on Sunday \u2013 a time in which I was able to commune all the more with my God because I caught a glimpse of how He sees me; hence, how He feels about meeting with me over His Son\u2019s \u201cbody\u201d and \u201cblood\u201d. I\u2019m also so thankful that I am reading them now because it gives me strength in knowing who I am in Him. <\/span>
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Be blessed my sis\u2019s in Christ, and remember in those times when you\u2019re squinting to see anything good in the spiritual mirror to take a look through God\u2019s lenses. His vision never fails!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI in them, and Thou in Me\u2026Thou didst send Me, and didst love them, even as Thou didst love Me\u2026that the love wherewith Thou didst love Me may be in them, and I in them.\u201d -John 17:23b, 26b This past Sunday during communion I went searching in John (probably my favorite gospel, if you\u2019re allowed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/natestephan.com\/worshipunrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/natestephan.com\/worshipunrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/natestephan.com\/worshipunrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/natestephan.com\/worshipunrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/natestephan.com\/worshipunrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/natestephan.com\/worshipunrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1283\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/natestephan.com\/worshipunrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/natestephan.com\/worshipunrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/natestephan.com\/worshipunrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}