That’s because being these things is directly linked to KNOWING God.

‘Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart. (Jer 24:7)

Something about Nazareth had clouded Nate’s mind but Jesus brought in the light, swept away the clouds and Nazareth was no longer an issue. This is the doubt that many people hold to who want the truth but can’t get past the prejudice of their ‘logic’ or the frustration of ‘rabbit-holes’ that turn up empty.

When you look into that mirror of your soul, who do you see reflected? The greater you learn to trust and submit your ‘all’ to Him, the clearer the view of Him will be. Oh, He’s always there in your spirit in utter perfection.

So how you perceive yourself is very important to your overall health. Do you think Christianity is a self-improvement program? Do you continue to try to overcome sin? I hope not because Jesus settled that once and for all. Do you just continue in your sin? I hope not because if so, you haven’t realized who you are – your identity in Christ.

Now, we can read this “heavenly thing” and even if we don’t quite understand it, we can accept it and trust the Lord. But Nick is a Pharisee, a “teacher of Israel”. His cohorts condemned Jesus to death. For him to ‘hang in there’ with Christ was more challenging than it was for the disciples. So when he accompanied Joseph of Arimathea to bury the body of Jesus in the garden tomb when all the disciples were hiding in fear, you can’t help but sense that the change he went through was stunningly profound.

So, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.

In one moment, He Who is perfect unleashed the truly cosmic destruction of darkness and establishment of the perfection of God’s light and life into the tainted creation.

Check it out – the foolish, weak, base, despised and the NOT - these are God’s elite, His chosen.

As I cautiously approached the car, the rear window on the passenger side came down and a man in the back of the limo asked me in English if I needed help. It was about another half hour or so into Rome where we were headed so I reluctantly said, “Si, grazie Signore,” and we climbed into the limo.

This is the big war. This is the war in each individual with God. And the only way for there to be peace is with our surrender, surrender to God’s grace through Jesus Christ. Each of us individually can make peace with God this way. It is, in fact, the only way to make peace with Him.