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Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
Apology: Yesterday I posted an incorrect DB reference. So I’ll post yesterday and today together. Col 1 & 2 52 verses….
Colossians 1:1-29
Greetings from Paul
1This letter is from Paul, chosen by God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy.
2It is written to God's holy people in the city of Colosse, who are faithful brothers and sisters F1 in Christ. May God our Father give you grace and peace.
Paul's Thanksgiving and Prayer
3We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 4for we have heard that you trust in Christ Jesus and that you love all of God's people. 5You do this because you are looking forward to the joys of heaven—as you have been ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News. 6This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is changing lives everywhere, just as it changed yours that very first day you heard and understood the truth about God's great kindness to sinners.
7Epaphras, our much loved co-worker, was the one who brought you the Good News. He is Christ's faithful servant, and he is helping us in your place. F2 8He is the one who told us about the great love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you.
9So we have continued praying for you ever since we first heard about you.
We ask God to give you a complete understanding of what he wants to do in your lives,
and we ask him to make you wise with spiritual wisdom.
10Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord,
and you will continually do good, kind things for others.
All the while, you will learn to know God better and better.
11We also pray that you will be strengthened with his glorious power
so that you will have all the patience and endurance you need.
May you be filled with joy,
12always thanking the Father, who has enabled you to share the inheritance that belongs to God's holy people, who live in the light.
13For he has rescued us from the one who rules in the kingdom of darkness, and he has brought us into the Kingdom of his dear Son.
14God has purchased our freedom with his blood F3 and has forgiven all our sins.
Christ Is Supreme
15Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before God made anything at all and is supreme over all creation. F4 16Christ is the one through whom God created everything in heaven and earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can't see—kings, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities. Everything has been created through him and for him. 17He existed before everything else began, and he holds all creation together.
18Christ is the head of the church, which is his body. He is the first of all who will rise from the dead, F5 so he is first in everything. 19For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, 20and by him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of his blood on the cross.
21This includes you who were once so far away from God.
You were his enemies,
separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions,
22yet now he has brought you back as his friends.
He has done this through his death on the cross in his own human body.
As a result, he has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.
23But you must continue to believe this truth and stand in it firmly. Don't drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed by God to proclaim it.
Paul's Work for the Church
24I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am completing what remains of Christ's sufferings for his body, the church. 25God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his message in all its fullness to you Gentiles. 26This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to his own holy people. 27For it has pleased God to tell his people that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. For this is the secret: Christ lives in you, and this is your assurance that you will share in his glory.
28So everywhere we go, we tell everyone about Christ. We warn them and teach them with all the wisdom God has given us, for we want to present them to God, perfect F6 in their relationship to Christ. 29I work very hard at this, as I depend on Christ's mighty power that works within me.
FOOTNOTES:F1: Greek faithful brothers. F2: Greek he is ministering on your behalf; other manuscripts read he is ministering on our behalf. F3: Some manuscripts do not include with his blood. F4: Greek He is the firstborn of all creation. F5: Greek He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. F6: Or mature.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living Translation
Colossians 2:1-23
1I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea, and for many other friends who have never known me personally. 2My goal is that they will be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have full confidence because they have complete understanding of God's secret plan, which is Christ himself. 3In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
4I am telling you this so that no one will be able to deceive you with persuasive arguments. 5For though I am far away from you, my heart is with you. And I am very happy because you are living as you should and because of your strong faith in Christ.
Freedom from Rules and New Life in Christ
6And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to live in obedience to him. 7Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with thanksgiving for all he has done.
8Don't let anyone lead you astray with empty philosophy and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the evil powers of this world, F7 and not from Christ. 9For in Christ the fullness of God lives in a human body, F8 10and you are complete through your union with Christ. He is the Lord over every ruler and authority in the universe.
11When you came to Christ, you were "circumcised," but not by a physical procedure. It was a spiritual procedure—the cutting away of your sinful nature. 12For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to a new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.
13You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ. He forgave all our sins. 14He canceled the record that contained the charges against us. He took it and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ's cross. 15In this way, God disarmed the evil rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross of Christ.
16So don't let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new-moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. 17For these rules were only shadows of the real thing, Christ himself. 18Don't let anyone condemn you by insisting on self-denial. And don't let anyone say you must worship angels, even though they say they have had visions about this. These people claim to be so humble, but their sinful minds have made them proud. 19But they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body. For we are joined together in his body by his strong sinews, and we grow only as we get our nourishment and strength from God.
20You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the evil powers of this world. So why do you keep on following rules of the world, such as, 21"Don't handle, don't eat, don't touch." 22Such rules are mere human teaching about things that are gone as soon as we use them. 23These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, humility, and severe bodily discipline. But they have no effect when it comes to conquering a person's evil thoughts and desires.
FOOTNOTES:F7: Or from the basic principles of this world; also in 2:20. F8: Greek in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living Translation
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
It seems that the thoughts and intents of the heart are more important than outward actions, and that outward actions reflect the thoughts and intents of the heart. I’m not speaking of a “put on” or a mask I’m speaking of day in day out living. Attitudes, responses or reactions, thoughts we meditate on, words we allow to come out of our mouths, like complaints or thanksgiving.
God wants to bring the first and most important changes to the inward man. He wants to go deep inside of us and change us into His image inwardly first with the fruits of the new life being the outward vision of loveliness. Only through a life deeply rooted and dedicated to Christ and to the word can one be changed so deeply, so inwardly.
New Day, New Life, new me, new you – In Christ!
Daily Meditation/Recital/Question
Isaiah 58:12 (New Living Translation)
12 Your children will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as the people who rebuild their walls and cities.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Eph 1 How Great is Your Love, Oh Lord, How great is Your love!
Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
Ephesians 1:1-23
Greetings from Paul
1This letter is from Paul, chosen by God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. It is written to God's holy people in Ephesus, F1 who are faithful followers of Christ Jesus.
2May grace and peace be yours, sent to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.
Spiritual Blessings
3How we praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we belong to Christ. 4Long ago, even before he made the world,
4God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.
6So we praise God for the wonderful kindness he has poured out on us because we belong to his dearly loved Son. 7He is so rich in kindness that he purchased our freedom through the blood of his Son, and our sins are forgiven. 8He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.
9God's secret plan has now been revealed to us; it is a plan centered on Christ, designed long ago according to his good pleasure. 10And this is his plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. 11Furthermore, because of Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, F2 for he chose us from the beginning, and all things happen just as he decided long ago. 12God's purpose was that we who were the first to trust in Christ should praise our glorious God. 13And now you also have heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. 14The Spirit is God's guarantee that he will give us everything he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. This is just one more reason for us to praise our glorious God.
Paul's Prayer for Spiritual Wisdom
15Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for Christians everywhere, 16I have never stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, 17asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. 18I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the wonderful future he has promised to those he called. I want you to realize what a rich and glorious inheritance he has given to his people. F3
19I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power 20that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly realms. 21Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else in this world or in the world to come. 22And God has put all things under the authority of Christ, and he gave him this authority for the benefit of the church. 23And the church is his body; it is filled by Christ, who fills everything everywhere with his presence.
FOOTNOTES:F1: Some manuscripts do not include in Ephesus. F2: Or we have become God's inheritance. F3: Or realize how much God has been honored by acquiring his people.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living Translation
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
I want to pick out a few verses today and concentrate on them.
Do we realize how great the love of God our Father is? Do we know what He truly thinks of us or how much He truly loves us and the great plans He has for us while we are living this life on the earth? Look again at this-
4 God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
5His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.
And this gave him great pleasure.
How can any human be holy and without fault in His eyes? Haven’t we always been told how faulty we are and when we think of God don’t we feel faulty? I want to ask you a good question - Who told you that?
Why did God send Jesus, and why did Jesus die for such imperfect people who very well may continue to reject God and His plans? He loved/s you!
His love is/was so great He had to take a chance on us for reciprocation of that love and hope with the greatest hope that we would at some point desire to be a participator in His plan. Reciprocation of His love gives Him GREAT pleasure. Obviously, or He would not have extended Himself so far for it.
So what is His plan then?
9God's secret plan has now been revealed to us;
it is a plan centered on Christ,
designed long ago
according to his good pleasure.
10And this is his plan:
At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth.
Why does it say at the right time? I believe that means the time IS now right, has always been right, but for me it is right when I decided it. When I finally decided it, it is right for me.
Bringing everything together in Christ is not at all an easy task. When was the last time you agreed with someone else so thoroughly that you could say you had no disagreements?
Yet there is something we all can agree on. The love of God and the great work of Christ! We can even agree that everyone needs to come to know this great truth.
Sin is a gap maker, sin is a breech bringer, sin is where darkness dwells. If the gaps are closed in, sin and its terrible separating power is nullified. In that place is peace, love, joy.
This is why everything needs to be brought together, that God will be shown victorious and sin’s effects annihilated!
I want to be a participant of the victorious, not of the defeated.
19I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe him.
When someone comes to see the great love of the Lord, they receive so much in the way of love, joy, and peace and that sensation continues as long as they walk in His light and it is wonderful and awesome, BUT there is so much more than just the sensations of love, joy, peace. There is life and that more abundantly.
To be born is great- wonderful, we are so thankful to be alive, but to have and raise a child is a whole ’nother world. You received and lived life when it was for yourself, but when you participate in the giving of life it is amazing. I’ve learned more from teaching than I ever did just learning for myself.
This is where the understanding really “kicks in”, when we reproduce the word of God-life in others! WOW
God’s #1 desire- children, us and others than us.
If we have truly understood the words of life we will show that fruit in our giving of that life for and to others. This will show how great our understanding is. Fruit is evidenced in that we have received and so we give, what we really got.
Daily Meditation/Recital/Question
Isaiah 58:12 (New Living Translation)
12 Your children will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as the people who rebuild their walls and cities.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
Ephesians 1:1-23
Greetings from Paul
1This letter is from Paul, chosen by God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. It is written to God's holy people in Ephesus, F1 who are faithful followers of Christ Jesus.
2May grace and peace be yours, sent to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.
Spiritual Blessings
3How we praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we belong to Christ. 4Long ago, even before he made the world,
4God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.
6So we praise God for the wonderful kindness he has poured out on us because we belong to his dearly loved Son. 7He is so rich in kindness that he purchased our freedom through the blood of his Son, and our sins are forgiven. 8He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.
9God's secret plan has now been revealed to us; it is a plan centered on Christ, designed long ago according to his good pleasure. 10And this is his plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. 11Furthermore, because of Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, F2 for he chose us from the beginning, and all things happen just as he decided long ago. 12God's purpose was that we who were the first to trust in Christ should praise our glorious God. 13And now you also have heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. 14The Spirit is God's guarantee that he will give us everything he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. This is just one more reason for us to praise our glorious God.
Paul's Prayer for Spiritual Wisdom
15Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for Christians everywhere, 16I have never stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, 17asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. 18I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the wonderful future he has promised to those he called. I want you to realize what a rich and glorious inheritance he has given to his people. F3
19I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power 20that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly realms. 21Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else in this world or in the world to come. 22And God has put all things under the authority of Christ, and he gave him this authority for the benefit of the church. 23And the church is his body; it is filled by Christ, who fills everything everywhere with his presence.
FOOTNOTES:F1: Some manuscripts do not include in Ephesus. F2: Or we have become God's inheritance. F3: Or realize how much God has been honored by acquiring his people.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living Translation
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
I want to pick out a few verses today and concentrate on them.
Do we realize how great the love of God our Father is? Do we know what He truly thinks of us or how much He truly loves us and the great plans He has for us while we are living this life on the earth? Look again at this-
4 God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
5His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.
And this gave him great pleasure.
How can any human be holy and without fault in His eyes? Haven’t we always been told how faulty we are and when we think of God don’t we feel faulty? I want to ask you a good question - Who told you that?
Why did God send Jesus, and why did Jesus die for such imperfect people who very well may continue to reject God and His plans? He loved/s you!
His love is/was so great He had to take a chance on us for reciprocation of that love and hope with the greatest hope that we would at some point desire to be a participator in His plan. Reciprocation of His love gives Him GREAT pleasure. Obviously, or He would not have extended Himself so far for it.
So what is His plan then?
9God's secret plan has now been revealed to us;
it is a plan centered on Christ,
designed long ago
according to his good pleasure.
10And this is his plan:
At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth.
Why does it say at the right time? I believe that means the time IS now right, has always been right, but for me it is right when I decided it. When I finally decided it, it is right for me.
Bringing everything together in Christ is not at all an easy task. When was the last time you agreed with someone else so thoroughly that you could say you had no disagreements?
Yet there is something we all can agree on. The love of God and the great work of Christ! We can even agree that everyone needs to come to know this great truth.
Sin is a gap maker, sin is a breech bringer, sin is where darkness dwells. If the gaps are closed in, sin and its terrible separating power is nullified. In that place is peace, love, joy.
This is why everything needs to be brought together, that God will be shown victorious and sin’s effects annihilated!
I want to be a participant of the victorious, not of the defeated.
19I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe him.
When someone comes to see the great love of the Lord, they receive so much in the way of love, joy, and peace and that sensation continues as long as they walk in His light and it is wonderful and awesome, BUT there is so much more than just the sensations of love, joy, peace. There is life and that more abundantly.
To be born is great- wonderful, we are so thankful to be alive, but to have and raise a child is a whole ’nother world. You received and lived life when it was for yourself, but when you participate in the giving of life it is amazing. I’ve learned more from teaching than I ever did just learning for myself.
This is where the understanding really “kicks in”, when we reproduce the word of God-life in others! WOW
God’s #1 desire- children, us and others than us.
If we have truly understood the words of life we will show that fruit in our giving of that life for and to others. This will show how great our understanding is. Fruit is evidenced in that we have received and so we give, what we really got.
Daily Meditation/Recital/Question
Isaiah 58:12 (New Living Translation)
12 Your children will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as the people who rebuild their walls and cities.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
Ephesians 6:1-24
Children and Parents
1Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do. 2"Honor your father and mother." This is the first of the Ten Commandments that ends with a promise. 3And this is the promise: If you honor your father and mother, "you will live a long life, full of blessing." F12
4And now a word to you fathers. Don't make your children angry by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction approved by the Lord.
Slaves and Masters
5Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ. 6Work hard, but not just to please your masters when they are watching. As slaves of Christ, do the will of God with all your heart. 7Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. 8Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free.
9And in the same way, you masters must treat your slaves right. Don't threaten them; remember, you both have the same Master in heaven, and he has no favorites.
The Whole Armor of God
10A final word: Be strong with the Lord's mighty power. 11Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies and tricks of the Devil. 12For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms.
13Use every piece of God's armor to resist the enemy in the time of evil, so that after the battle you will still be standing firm. 14Stand your ground, putting on the sturdy belt of truth and the body armor of God's righteousness. 15For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News, so that you will be fully prepared. F13 16In every battle you will need faith as your shield to stop the fiery arrows aimed at you by Satan. F14 17Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all Christians everywhere.
19And pray for me, too. Ask God to give me the right words as I boldly explain God's secret plan that the Good News is for the Gentiles, too. F15 20I am in chains now for preaching this message as God's ambassador. But pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for him, as I should.
Final Greetings
21Tychicus, a much loved brother and faithful helper in the Lord's work, will tell you all about how I am getting along. 22I am sending him to you for just this purpose. He will let you know how we are, and he will encourage you.
23May God give you peace, dear brothers and sisters, F16 and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24May God's grace be upon all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.
FOOTNOTES:F12: Exod 20:12; Deut 5:16. F13: Or For shoes, put on the readiness to preach the Good News of peace with God. F14: Greek by the evil one. F15: Greek explain the mystery of the gospel. F16: Greek brothers.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living Translation
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
Love is best expressed by obedience to God, whether directly or indirectly. We love God by loving people. The greater love is shown to those who DO NOT deserve it. So, how is the deserving gauged anyway, by us, or by God? Who truly deserves love? I can answer that, those whom God loves deserve love. So who deserves obedience? Only the obedient and kind? This is what the world has told us.
Don’t obey them if they don’t deserve it, they have to earn the giving of our obedience, right? Did you have to earn God’s great love? No way. We love as He loves; as demonstrators of His great love, we obey even those who have not earned our obedience, because we see beyond the here and now. We see into the realm of unconditional love, where our obedience here to natural men is offered up to God as a living sacrifice, a sacrifice of love and obedience.
Love the unlovable today in action, in word, from the heart that loves God unconditionally.
Each person stands before God for their responses and reactions. They do not stand before us. Yes they should do this or that, but that is their responsibility before God, they account to Him in this. Yet in love, we can encourage one another to stand before God now in behavior offered, reminding one another of the great and sacrificial love of Christ Jesus.
Such as is pictured here- it goes from the weaker to the stronger. Like when it is saying, children obey (or love) your parents, then it reminds parents, who may be hard to love and obey, please make it easier on your children to love and obey you. This “weaker to stronger” principle applies in any and every situation. The children will stand before God for their requested action, and so will the parents. This applies to slaves and masters also, but each cannot take the other into the presence of God with them, saying he or she caused me to not obey/love. That won’t work. Love is a command and a decision. It stands alone, there are no excuses.
Notice it goes beyond here, stating that in obeying God’s commands to love and obey, we are not just to offer it as a have to, but with the expression of willing love before God, and we know God sees all things, especially the heart. This means we may need to cry out to God for a heart change- continually.
How in the world can one behave and live this way? Love is a decision, because of the great and sacrificial love of the Father who sent His Son to die for and unlovely world, we choose love. That revelation of the depth, height and breadth of the magnificent love of God leads us. We believe what God has said, we trust and rely on Him, we dress ourselves to look like and be as He is in this world. He is no longer physically present in this world, but we are. We are the ambassadors of His love. We are the only Christ-like ones the world has to look at now. They so hope we look like our Father-God. They hope they can someday look more like Him too. We are the hope for the world.
The best part of this chapter is the reality of eternity. We’re offering to God a lifestyle of love, which will part spiritual seas and move spiritual mountains! God needs a people in demon-stration of Him to set Him on high displacing principalities, powers, mights dominions, and names, that have come to try and rule the earth in our place, in His place.
Are we, God’s children, going to allow that? Or will we choose love? Let’s dress up in the full armor of God! Today.
Daily Meditation/Recital/Question
Isaiah 58:12 (New Living Translation)
12 Your children will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as the people who rebuild their walls and cities.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
Ephesians 6:1-24
Children and Parents
1Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do. 2"Honor your father and mother." This is the first of the Ten Commandments that ends with a promise. 3And this is the promise: If you honor your father and mother, "you will live a long life, full of blessing." F12
4And now a word to you fathers. Don't make your children angry by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction approved by the Lord.
Slaves and Masters
5Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ. 6Work hard, but not just to please your masters when they are watching. As slaves of Christ, do the will of God with all your heart. 7Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. 8Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free.
9And in the same way, you masters must treat your slaves right. Don't threaten them; remember, you both have the same Master in heaven, and he has no favorites.
The Whole Armor of God
10A final word: Be strong with the Lord's mighty power. 11Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies and tricks of the Devil. 12For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms.
13Use every piece of God's armor to resist the enemy in the time of evil, so that after the battle you will still be standing firm. 14Stand your ground, putting on the sturdy belt of truth and the body armor of God's righteousness. 15For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News, so that you will be fully prepared. F13 16In every battle you will need faith as your shield to stop the fiery arrows aimed at you by Satan. F14 17Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all Christians everywhere.
19And pray for me, too. Ask God to give me the right words as I boldly explain God's secret plan that the Good News is for the Gentiles, too. F15 20I am in chains now for preaching this message as God's ambassador. But pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for him, as I should.
Final Greetings
21Tychicus, a much loved brother and faithful helper in the Lord's work, will tell you all about how I am getting along. 22I am sending him to you for just this purpose. He will let you know how we are, and he will encourage you.
23May God give you peace, dear brothers and sisters, F16 and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24May God's grace be upon all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.
FOOTNOTES:F12: Exod 20:12; Deut 5:16. F13: Or For shoes, put on the readiness to preach the Good News of peace with God. F14: Greek by the evil one. F15: Greek explain the mystery of the gospel. F16: Greek brothers.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living Translation
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
Love is best expressed by obedience to God, whether directly or indirectly. We love God by loving people. The greater love is shown to those who DO NOT deserve it. So, how is the deserving gauged anyway, by us, or by God? Who truly deserves love? I can answer that, those whom God loves deserve love. So who deserves obedience? Only the obedient and kind? This is what the world has told us.
Don’t obey them if they don’t deserve it, they have to earn the giving of our obedience, right? Did you have to earn God’s great love? No way. We love as He loves; as demonstrators of His great love, we obey even those who have not earned our obedience, because we see beyond the here and now. We see into the realm of unconditional love, where our obedience here to natural men is offered up to God as a living sacrifice, a sacrifice of love and obedience.
Love the unlovable today in action, in word, from the heart that loves God unconditionally.
Each person stands before God for their responses and reactions. They do not stand before us. Yes they should do this or that, but that is their responsibility before God, they account to Him in this. Yet in love, we can encourage one another to stand before God now in behavior offered, reminding one another of the great and sacrificial love of Christ Jesus.
Such as is pictured here- it goes from the weaker to the stronger. Like when it is saying, children obey (or love) your parents, then it reminds parents, who may be hard to love and obey, please make it easier on your children to love and obey you. This “weaker to stronger” principle applies in any and every situation. The children will stand before God for their requested action, and so will the parents. This applies to slaves and masters also, but each cannot take the other into the presence of God with them, saying he or she caused me to not obey/love. That won’t work. Love is a command and a decision. It stands alone, there are no excuses.
Notice it goes beyond here, stating that in obeying God’s commands to love and obey, we are not just to offer it as a have to, but with the expression of willing love before God, and we know God sees all things, especially the heart. This means we may need to cry out to God for a heart change- continually.
How in the world can one behave and live this way? Love is a decision, because of the great and sacrificial love of the Father who sent His Son to die for and unlovely world, we choose love. That revelation of the depth, height and breadth of the magnificent love of God leads us. We believe what God has said, we trust and rely on Him, we dress ourselves to look like and be as He is in this world. He is no longer physically present in this world, but we are. We are the ambassadors of His love. We are the only Christ-like ones the world has to look at now. They so hope we look like our Father-God. They hope they can someday look more like Him too. We are the hope for the world.
The best part of this chapter is the reality of eternity. We’re offering to God a lifestyle of love, which will part spiritual seas and move spiritual mountains! God needs a people in demon-stration of Him to set Him on high displacing principalities, powers, mights dominions, and names, that have come to try and rule the earth in our place, in His place.
Are we, God’s children, going to allow that? Or will we choose love? Let’s dress up in the full armor of God! Today.
Daily Meditation/Recital/Question
Isaiah 58:12 (New Living Translation)
12 Your children will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as the people who rebuild their walls and cities.
Monday, August 28, 2006
2 Cor 10 Let's use our spiritual weaponry to heal deliver and go on
Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
2 Corinthians 10:1-18
Paul Defends His Authority
1Now I, Paul, plead with you. I plead with the gentleness and kindness that Christ himself would use, even though some of you say I am bold in my letters but timid in person. 2I hope it won't be necessary, but when I come I may have to be very bold with those who think we act from purely human motives.
3We are human, but we don't wage war with human plans and methods. 4We use God's mighty weapons, not mere worldly weapons, to knock down the Devil's strongholds. 5With these weapons we break down every proud argument that keeps people from knowing God. With these weapons we conquer their rebellious ideas, and we teach them to obey Christ. 6And we will punish those who remained disobedient after the rest of you became loyal and obedient.
7The trouble with you is that you make your decisions on the basis of appearance. F32 You must recognize that we belong to Christ just as much as those who proudly declare that they belong to Christ. 8I may seem to be boasting too much about the authority given to us by the Lord. But this authority is to build you up, not to tear you down. And I will not be put to shame by having my work among you destroyed.
9Now this is not just an attempt to frighten you by my letters. 10For some say, "Don't worry about Paul. His letters are demanding and forceful, but in person he is weak, and his speeches are really bad!" 11The ones who say this must realize that we will be just as demanding and forceful in person as we are in our letters.
12Oh, don't worry; I wouldn't dare say that I am as wonderful as these other men who tell you how important they are! But they are only comparing themselves with each other, and measuring themselves by themselves. What foolishness!
13But we will not boast of authority we do not have. Our goal is to stay within the boundaries of God's plan for us, and this plan includes our working there with you. 14We are not going too far when we claim authority over you, for we were the first to travel all the way to you with the Good News of Christ. 15Nor do we claim credit for the work someone else has done. Instead, we hope that your faith will grow and that our work among you will be greatly enlarged. 16Then we will be able to go and preach the Good News in other places that are far beyond you, where no one else is working. Then there will be no question about being in someone else's territory. 17As the Scriptures say,
"The person who wishes to boast should boast only of what the Lord has done." F33
18When people boast about themselves, it doesn't count for much. But when the Lord commends someone, that's different!
FOOTNOTES:F32: Or Look at the obvious facts. F33: Jer 9:24.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living Translation
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
Gentleness, kindness, boldness, even war & weaponry, obedience, loyalty, seeing beyond the now or the flesh, recognition of Christ, boasting of Christ Jesus, taking and exercising of authority, making demands in the spirit realm, seizing by insistent spiritual force, taking measurements, executing plans, promoting growth, enlargement & Going, are all kingdom activities and tools in the hands of kings and priests who live unto God.
There is ONE King, and many kings, There is ONE Lord and many lords. There is a High Priest Unto God and many priests. He has made us his Kingdom and his priests who serve before God his Father. Give to him everlasting glory! He rules forever and ever! Amen! Rev 1:6
These are our duties in this ministry unto Him.
Do we see beyond the flash, beyond what appears?
Do you know that when a person seems to be hateful to you that they are probably in a personal battle in their soul? They may not even realize it. Really, do we realize it when it is happening with us? We may feel irritable, but do not know why? Do we want to be faulted or helped? Or do we think faulting another is helping? Usually just pointing out a problem is not the way to “fix” it. It is in finding the source of that problem that will bring answers though.
Is there an influence that hinders healing? I’m not talking about an outward circumstances, I’m speaking of an inward work? A work of darkness that is hidden to the open eye. These are root causes of situations.
The kindness-goodness of God will lead us to repent. The goodness will seek that person’s good, not just to make them feel worse by telling them they are so wrong? Do you see that?
What is the source of their pain? Are they hurt? Are they weak?
Let’s heal and build up. So God can have a holy people that He can use for His glory & honor.
We are in a warfare for the souls of men and women recruited to fight the “Holy-war” for God. This war is about the salvation of Christ Jesus and the spreading of that good news throughout the whole earth.
R U all in? Then love, then fight, for what is righteous, the shed blood of the Lamb of God was more than enough to grow on from here, and overcome!
Let’s begin to Go all the way – today!
Daily Meditation/Recital/Question
Isaiah 58:12 (New Living Translation)
12 Your children will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as the people who rebuild their walls and cities.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
2 Corinthians 10:1-18
Paul Defends His Authority
1Now I, Paul, plead with you. I plead with the gentleness and kindness that Christ himself would use, even though some of you say I am bold in my letters but timid in person. 2I hope it won't be necessary, but when I come I may have to be very bold with those who think we act from purely human motives.
3We are human, but we don't wage war with human plans and methods. 4We use God's mighty weapons, not mere worldly weapons, to knock down the Devil's strongholds. 5With these weapons we break down every proud argument that keeps people from knowing God. With these weapons we conquer their rebellious ideas, and we teach them to obey Christ. 6And we will punish those who remained disobedient after the rest of you became loyal and obedient.
7The trouble with you is that you make your decisions on the basis of appearance. F32 You must recognize that we belong to Christ just as much as those who proudly declare that they belong to Christ. 8I may seem to be boasting too much about the authority given to us by the Lord. But this authority is to build you up, not to tear you down. And I will not be put to shame by having my work among you destroyed.
9Now this is not just an attempt to frighten you by my letters. 10For some say, "Don't worry about Paul. His letters are demanding and forceful, but in person he is weak, and his speeches are really bad!" 11The ones who say this must realize that we will be just as demanding and forceful in person as we are in our letters.
12Oh, don't worry; I wouldn't dare say that I am as wonderful as these other men who tell you how important they are! But they are only comparing themselves with each other, and measuring themselves by themselves. What foolishness!
13But we will not boast of authority we do not have. Our goal is to stay within the boundaries of God's plan for us, and this plan includes our working there with you. 14We are not going too far when we claim authority over you, for we were the first to travel all the way to you with the Good News of Christ. 15Nor do we claim credit for the work someone else has done. Instead, we hope that your faith will grow and that our work among you will be greatly enlarged. 16Then we will be able to go and preach the Good News in other places that are far beyond you, where no one else is working. Then there will be no question about being in someone else's territory. 17As the Scriptures say,
"The person who wishes to boast should boast only of what the Lord has done." F33
18When people boast about themselves, it doesn't count for much. But when the Lord commends someone, that's different!
FOOTNOTES:F32: Or Look at the obvious facts. F33: Jer 9:24.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living Translation
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
Gentleness, kindness, boldness, even war & weaponry, obedience, loyalty, seeing beyond the now or the flesh, recognition of Christ, boasting of Christ Jesus, taking and exercising of authority, making demands in the spirit realm, seizing by insistent spiritual force, taking measurements, executing plans, promoting growth, enlargement & Going, are all kingdom activities and tools in the hands of kings and priests who live unto God.
There is ONE King, and many kings, There is ONE Lord and many lords. There is a High Priest Unto God and many priests. He has made us his Kingdom and his priests who serve before God his Father. Give to him everlasting glory! He rules forever and ever! Amen! Rev 1:6
These are our duties in this ministry unto Him.
Do we see beyond the flash, beyond what appears?
Do you know that when a person seems to be hateful to you that they are probably in a personal battle in their soul? They may not even realize it. Really, do we realize it when it is happening with us? We may feel irritable, but do not know why? Do we want to be faulted or helped? Or do we think faulting another is helping? Usually just pointing out a problem is not the way to “fix” it. It is in finding the source of that problem that will bring answers though.
Is there an influence that hinders healing? I’m not talking about an outward circumstances, I’m speaking of an inward work? A work of darkness that is hidden to the open eye. These are root causes of situations.
The kindness-goodness of God will lead us to repent. The goodness will seek that person’s good, not just to make them feel worse by telling them they are so wrong? Do you see that?
What is the source of their pain? Are they hurt? Are they weak?
Let’s heal and build up. So God can have a holy people that He can use for His glory & honor.
We are in a warfare for the souls of men and women recruited to fight the “Holy-war” for God. This war is about the salvation of Christ Jesus and the spreading of that good news throughout the whole earth.
R U all in? Then love, then fight, for what is righteous, the shed blood of the Lamb of God was more than enough to grow on from here, and overcome!
Let’s begin to Go all the way – today!
Daily Meditation/Recital/Question
Isaiah 58:12 (New Living Translation)
12 Your children will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as the people who rebuild their walls and cities.
Friday, August 25, 2006
Luke 19 Comin' to your house!
Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
Luke 19:1-48
Jesus and Zacchaeus
1Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town. 2There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was one of the most influential Jews in the Roman tax-collecting business, and he had become very rich. 3He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowds. 4So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree beside the road, so he could watch from there.
5When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. "Zacchaeus!" he said. "Quick, come down! For I must be a guest in your home today."
6Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. 7But the crowds were displeased. "He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner," they grumbled.
8Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have overcharged people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!"
9Jesus responded, "Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a son of Abraham. 10And I, the Son of Man, have come to seek and save those like him who are lost."
Story of the Ten Servants
11The crowd was listening to everything Jesus said. And because he was nearing Jerusalem, he told a story to correct the impression that the Kingdom of God would begin right away. 12He said, "A nobleman was called away to a distant empire to be crowned king and then return. 13Before he left, he called together ten servants and gave them ten pounds of silver F85 to invest for him while he was gone. 14But his people hated him and sent a delegation after him to say they did not want him to be their king.
15"When he returned, the king called in the servants to whom he had given the money. He wanted to find out what they had done with the money and what their profits were. 16The first servant reported a tremendous gain—ten times as much as the original amount! 17'Well done!' the king exclaimed. 'You are a trustworthy servant. You have been faithful with the little I entrusted to you, so you will be governor of ten cities as your reward.'
18"The next servant also reported a good gain—five times the original amount. 19'Well done!' the king said. 'You can be governor over five cities.'
20"But the third servant brought back only the original amount of money and said, 'I hid it and kept it safe. 21I was afraid because you are a hard man to deal with, taking what isn't yours and harvesting crops you didn't plant.'
22"'You wicked servant!' the king roared. 'Hard, am I? If you knew so much about me and how tough I am, 23why didn't you deposit the money in the bank so I could at least get some interest on it?' 24Then turning to the others standing nearby, the king ordered, 'Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one who earned the most.'
25"'But, master,' they said, 'that servant has enough already!'
26"'Yes,' the king replied, 'but to those who use well what they are given, even more will be given. But from those who are unfaithful, F86 even what little they have will be taken away. 27And now about these enemies of mine who didn't want me to be their king—bring them in and execute them right here in my presence.'"
The Triumphal Entry
28After telling this story, Jesus went on toward Jerusalem, walking ahead of his disciples. 29As they came to the towns of Bethphage and Bethany, on the Mount of Olives, he sent two disciples ahead. 30"Go into that village over there," he told them, "and as you enter it, you will see a colt tied there that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31If anyone asks what you are doing, just say, 'The Lord needs it.'"
32So they went and found the colt, just as Jesus had said. 33And sure enough, as they were untying it, the owners asked them, "Why are you untying our colt?"
34And the disciples simply replied, "The Lord needs it." 35So they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments over it for him to ride on.
36Then the crowds spread out their coats on the road ahead of Jesus. 37As they reached the place where the road started down from the Mount of Olives, all of his followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen.
38 "Bless the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in highest heaven!" F87
39But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, "Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!"
40He replied, "If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!"
Jesus Weeps over Jerusalem
41But as they came closer to Jerusalem and Jesus saw the city ahead, he began to cry. 42"I wish that even today you would find the way of peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from you. 43Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you. 44They will crush you to the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you have rejected the opportunity God offered you."
Jesus Clears the Temple
45Then Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the merchants from their stalls. 46He told them, "The Scriptures declare, 'My Temple will be a place of prayer,' but you have turned it into a den of thieves." F88
47After that, he taught daily in the Temple, but the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the other leaders of the people began planning how to kill him. 48But they could think of nothing, because all the people hung on every word he said.
FOOTNOTES:F85: Greek 10 minas; 1 mina was worth about 3 months' wages. F86: Or who have nothing. F87: Pss 118:26; 148:1. F88: Isa 56:7; Jer 7:11.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living Translation
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
Zach was very rich. Possibly in all outward appearances he was not in great need of God’s help in life, but in every man is an inward call to come to where God is, to be brought back to His heart. Zach heard that call from God’s spirit to His own spirit. He wanted to see if Jesus was the one to bring him back into the heart of God, His true Father.
See, God is the only true Father any human can have. I mean He places us on earth by earthly fathers, but they are set as examples with responsibility before Him to govern righteously, leading men to Jesus and to Him. If they fail us in someway, since they are not God and merely messengers of God’s will. For only God can be God, and being He is the only one; seeking Him is required. For man to acknowledge His need for this Fathering is required. Man has to seek and search for this oneness, this completeness, which can only be found in Christ Jesus our Lord who leads us to our Father, our eternal spiritual life Father, God.
Zach could not find God alone, he had to go through seeking Jesus first, for there is only one way to God-Jesus Christ.
There is a tree that will lift us up, take us to a high enough lookout point, to be able to see Jesus. (the cross is that tree) It is not enough for us to merely gaze upon and see Jesus, We must also be seen and acknowledged by Him. He is the way to the Father, so we must make our desire to see God known by Jesus. We must say, “Take us there Lord”.
In order to go there we must come out of hiding.” Zach, where are you? Adam, where are you? Lena, where are you?” “Come down, I’m coming to your house today!”
Our house is our body, soul, spirit, that is the house of God, the house that the Eternal God desires to live in! It is time to invite Jesus to the house!
It is time for change, It is time for transformation, repentance. I walked this way, now I turn around and walk another way, a completely different direction.
How does one show himself a son of Abraham? The sons of Abraham are sons of the promise, sons God wants, sons God planned for, made way for. It is an answer to the heart call of God Most High. I am Yours, You are mine.
Let’s say the kingdom of God is like setting up a household with a head of household being God and the Lord being Jesus and the governor being His spirit. When would that kingdom have it’s beginning? The beginning would be when the household was set up, correct? When would it end? When the household dies off, correct? And so the kingdom of God is eternal, no end, no beginning. yet for us it does begin, as each household of faith is established. For us, there would be a beginning, but then no end. Who decides who rules the household?
The head of that house does. If we are head of our houses – our body, soul and spirit, then we decide if we want another to step in and take charge or not, correct? When we turn the affairs of our households over to the Lordship of Christ, the kingdom of God has begun for us! The kingdom has come. When we do His will, then also His will is done- on earth as in heaven! Remember we are made of earth.
We are stewards of His house, of His will. There will be an account given for the affairs of His house, for He owns rights to the house. He owns the house, whether the householder ever gives Him the keys or not; and so the accounts will be made. He’ll send messengers to the house to see if the householders are ready to give the keys to the Master or not. The messengers will only insist for the sake of the householders, but they won’t make them give over the keys of the house, though each house will give account. For the householders who do give the keys to the Master to come and go as He pleases, messengers will also be sent to those houses to see if the householders will take care of the houses as He deems it. They also will give account. He’ll let them run the households as they deem if they want, so the messengers will be somewhat insistent of these householders also, because they know each one will give account for the running of the house.
Did the house bring the increase of His government and of His peace? This is one thing that will be taken account of in the kingdom of God. Who governed the house? Who owned the house? Who’s house are we? Whoever rules the house now, is who the house gets given over to later on.
Have we given ourselves over to the kingship of Christ in God? Can He sit on the most stubborn place of our will and ride? Will we shout Hosanna when He does? Amen.
The Lord has need of the wills of people, especially those who are calling themselves by His glorious name. This would be how the kingdom comes to earth.
So what hinders? The pursuit of money? Does that keep you from being all His? That is a trust issue. It must be addressed, now or later, can’t serve God and money. Money so often is what keeps us from being His wholly governed temples. Throw out whatever keeps you from prayer, overturn whatever it is that steals communication with your Father. Let’s get it out of the way of going into a further intimate place with Him.
Daily Meditation/Recital/Question
Isaiah 58:12 (New Living Translation)
12 Your children will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as the people who rebuild their walls and cities.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
Luke 19:1-48
Jesus and Zacchaeus
1Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town. 2There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was one of the most influential Jews in the Roman tax-collecting business, and he had become very rich. 3He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowds. 4So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree beside the road, so he could watch from there.
5When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. "Zacchaeus!" he said. "Quick, come down! For I must be a guest in your home today."
6Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. 7But the crowds were displeased. "He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner," they grumbled.
8Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have overcharged people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!"
9Jesus responded, "Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a son of Abraham. 10And I, the Son of Man, have come to seek and save those like him who are lost."
Story of the Ten Servants
11The crowd was listening to everything Jesus said. And because he was nearing Jerusalem, he told a story to correct the impression that the Kingdom of God would begin right away. 12He said, "A nobleman was called away to a distant empire to be crowned king and then return. 13Before he left, he called together ten servants and gave them ten pounds of silver F85 to invest for him while he was gone. 14But his people hated him and sent a delegation after him to say they did not want him to be their king.
15"When he returned, the king called in the servants to whom he had given the money. He wanted to find out what they had done with the money and what their profits were. 16The first servant reported a tremendous gain—ten times as much as the original amount! 17'Well done!' the king exclaimed. 'You are a trustworthy servant. You have been faithful with the little I entrusted to you, so you will be governor of ten cities as your reward.'
18"The next servant also reported a good gain—five times the original amount. 19'Well done!' the king said. 'You can be governor over five cities.'
20"But the third servant brought back only the original amount of money and said, 'I hid it and kept it safe. 21I was afraid because you are a hard man to deal with, taking what isn't yours and harvesting crops you didn't plant.'
22"'You wicked servant!' the king roared. 'Hard, am I? If you knew so much about me and how tough I am, 23why didn't you deposit the money in the bank so I could at least get some interest on it?' 24Then turning to the others standing nearby, the king ordered, 'Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one who earned the most.'
25"'But, master,' they said, 'that servant has enough already!'
26"'Yes,' the king replied, 'but to those who use well what they are given, even more will be given. But from those who are unfaithful, F86 even what little they have will be taken away. 27And now about these enemies of mine who didn't want me to be their king—bring them in and execute them right here in my presence.'"
The Triumphal Entry
28After telling this story, Jesus went on toward Jerusalem, walking ahead of his disciples. 29As they came to the towns of Bethphage and Bethany, on the Mount of Olives, he sent two disciples ahead. 30"Go into that village over there," he told them, "and as you enter it, you will see a colt tied there that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31If anyone asks what you are doing, just say, 'The Lord needs it.'"
32So they went and found the colt, just as Jesus had said. 33And sure enough, as they were untying it, the owners asked them, "Why are you untying our colt?"
34And the disciples simply replied, "The Lord needs it." 35So they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments over it for him to ride on.
36Then the crowds spread out their coats on the road ahead of Jesus. 37As they reached the place where the road started down from the Mount of Olives, all of his followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen.
38 "Bless the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in highest heaven!" F87
39But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, "Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!"
40He replied, "If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!"
Jesus Weeps over Jerusalem
41But as they came closer to Jerusalem and Jesus saw the city ahead, he began to cry. 42"I wish that even today you would find the way of peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from you. 43Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you. 44They will crush you to the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you have rejected the opportunity God offered you."
Jesus Clears the Temple
45Then Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the merchants from their stalls. 46He told them, "The Scriptures declare, 'My Temple will be a place of prayer,' but you have turned it into a den of thieves." F88
47After that, he taught daily in the Temple, but the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the other leaders of the people began planning how to kill him. 48But they could think of nothing, because all the people hung on every word he said.
FOOTNOTES:F85: Greek 10 minas; 1 mina was worth about 3 months' wages. F86: Or who have nothing. F87: Pss 118:26; 148:1. F88: Isa 56:7; Jer 7:11.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living Translation
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
Zach was very rich. Possibly in all outward appearances he was not in great need of God’s help in life, but in every man is an inward call to come to where God is, to be brought back to His heart. Zach heard that call from God’s spirit to His own spirit. He wanted to see if Jesus was the one to bring him back into the heart of God, His true Father.
See, God is the only true Father any human can have. I mean He places us on earth by earthly fathers, but they are set as examples with responsibility before Him to govern righteously, leading men to Jesus and to Him. If they fail us in someway, since they are not God and merely messengers of God’s will. For only God can be God, and being He is the only one; seeking Him is required. For man to acknowledge His need for this Fathering is required. Man has to seek and search for this oneness, this completeness, which can only be found in Christ Jesus our Lord who leads us to our Father, our eternal spiritual life Father, God.
Zach could not find God alone, he had to go through seeking Jesus first, for there is only one way to God-Jesus Christ.
There is a tree that will lift us up, take us to a high enough lookout point, to be able to see Jesus. (the cross is that tree) It is not enough for us to merely gaze upon and see Jesus, We must also be seen and acknowledged by Him. He is the way to the Father, so we must make our desire to see God known by Jesus. We must say, “Take us there Lord”.
In order to go there we must come out of hiding.” Zach, where are you? Adam, where are you? Lena, where are you?” “Come down, I’m coming to your house today!”
Our house is our body, soul, spirit, that is the house of God, the house that the Eternal God desires to live in! It is time to invite Jesus to the house!
It is time for change, It is time for transformation, repentance. I walked this way, now I turn around and walk another way, a completely different direction.
How does one show himself a son of Abraham? The sons of Abraham are sons of the promise, sons God wants, sons God planned for, made way for. It is an answer to the heart call of God Most High. I am Yours, You are mine.
Let’s say the kingdom of God is like setting up a household with a head of household being God and the Lord being Jesus and the governor being His spirit. When would that kingdom have it’s beginning? The beginning would be when the household was set up, correct? When would it end? When the household dies off, correct? And so the kingdom of God is eternal, no end, no beginning. yet for us it does begin, as each household of faith is established. For us, there would be a beginning, but then no end. Who decides who rules the household?
The head of that house does. If we are head of our houses – our body, soul and spirit, then we decide if we want another to step in and take charge or not, correct? When we turn the affairs of our households over to the Lordship of Christ, the kingdom of God has begun for us! The kingdom has come. When we do His will, then also His will is done- on earth as in heaven! Remember we are made of earth.
We are stewards of His house, of His will. There will be an account given for the affairs of His house, for He owns rights to the house. He owns the house, whether the householder ever gives Him the keys or not; and so the accounts will be made. He’ll send messengers to the house to see if the householders are ready to give the keys to the Master or not. The messengers will only insist for the sake of the householders, but they won’t make them give over the keys of the house, though each house will give account. For the householders who do give the keys to the Master to come and go as He pleases, messengers will also be sent to those houses to see if the householders will take care of the houses as He deems it. They also will give account. He’ll let them run the households as they deem if they want, so the messengers will be somewhat insistent of these householders also, because they know each one will give account for the running of the house.
Did the house bring the increase of His government and of His peace? This is one thing that will be taken account of in the kingdom of God. Who governed the house? Who owned the house? Who’s house are we? Whoever rules the house now, is who the house gets given over to later on.
Have we given ourselves over to the kingship of Christ in God? Can He sit on the most stubborn place of our will and ride? Will we shout Hosanna when He does? Amen.
The Lord has need of the wills of people, especially those who are calling themselves by His glorious name. This would be how the kingdom comes to earth.
So what hinders? The pursuit of money? Does that keep you from being all His? That is a trust issue. It must be addressed, now or later, can’t serve God and money. Money so often is what keeps us from being His wholly governed temples. Throw out whatever keeps you from prayer, overturn whatever it is that steals communication with your Father. Let’s get it out of the way of going into a further intimate place with Him.
Daily Meditation/Recital/Question
Isaiah 58:12 (New Living Translation)
12 Your children will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as the people who rebuild their walls and cities.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Genesis 19 The Salvation Message is Here Today- Don't Wait!!! Read It, Give it away, Tell it, Pray it!
Sorry it’s a day late, we did some re-arranging and re-hooking up to internet yesterday. Can’t skip over this one !
Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’ ” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
Genesis 19:1-38
Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed
1That evening the two angels came to the entrance of the city of Sodom, and Lot was sitting there as they arrived. When he saw them, he stood up to meet them. Then he welcomed them and bowed low to the ground. 2"My lords," he said, "come to my home to wash your feet, and be my guests for the night. You may then get up in the morning as early as you like and be on your way again." "Oh no," they said, "we'll just spend the night out here in the city square."
3But Lot insisted, so at last they went home with him. He set a great feast before them, complete with fresh bread made without yeast. After the meal, 4as they were preparing to retire for the night, all the men of Sodom, young and old, came from all over the city and surrounded the house. 5They shouted to Lot, "Where are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out so we can have sex with them."
6Lot stepped outside to talk to them, shutting the door behind him. 7"Please, my brothers," he begged, "don't do such a wicked thing. 8Look—I have two virgin daughters. Do with them as you wish, but leave these men alone, for they are under my protection."
9"Stand back!" they shouted. "Who do you think you are? We let you settle among us, and now you are trying to tell us what to do! We'll treat you far worse than those other men!" And they lunged at Lot and began breaking down the door. 10But the two angels reached out and pulled Lot in and bolted the door. 11Then they blinded the men of Sodom so they couldn't find the doorway.
12"Do you have any other relatives here in the city?" the angels asked. "Get them out of this place—sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone else. 13For we will destroy the city completely. The stench of the place has reached the LORD, and he has sent us to destroy it."
14So Lot rushed out to tell his daughters' fiancé’s, "Quick, get out of the city! The LORD is going to destroy it." But the young men thought he was only joking.
15At dawn the next morning the angels became insistent. "Hurry," they said to Lot. "Take your wife and your two daughters who are here. Get out of here right now, or you will be caught in the destruction of the city."
16When Lot still hesitated, the angels seized his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and rushed them to safety outside the city, for the LORD was merciful. 17"Run for your lives!" the angels warned. "Do not stop anywhere in the valley. And don't look back! Escape to the mountains, or you will die."
18"Oh no, my lords, please," Lot begged. 19"You have been so kind to me and saved my life, and you have granted me such mercy. But I cannot go to the mountains. Disaster would catch up to me there, and I would soon die. 20See, there is a small village nearby. Please let me go there instead; don't you see how small it is? Then my life will be saved."
21"All right," the angel said, "I will grant your request. I will not destroy that little village. 22But hurry! For I can do nothing until you are there." From that time on, that village was known as Zoar. F61
23The sun was rising as Lot reached the village. 24Then the LORD rained down fire and burning sulfur from the heavens on Sodom and Gomorrah. 25He utterly destroyed them, along with the other cities and villages of the plain, eliminating all life—people, plants, and animals alike. 26But Lot's wife looked back as she was following along behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
27The next morning Abraham was up early and hurried out to the place where he had stood in the LORD's presence. 28He looked out across the plain to Sodom and Gomorrah and saw columns of smoke and fumes, as from a furnace, rising from the cities there. 29But God had listened to Abraham's request and kept Lot safe, removing him from the disaster that engulfed the cities on the plain.
Lot and His Daughters
30Afterward Lot left Zoar because he was afraid of the people there, and he went to live in a cave in the mountains with his two daughters. 31One day the older daughter said to her sister, "There isn't a man anywhere in this entire area for us to marry. And our father will soon be too old to have children. 32Come, let's get him drunk with wine, and then we will sleep with him. That way we will preserve our family line through our father." 33So that night they got him drunk, and the older daughter went in and slept with her father. He was unaware of her lying down or getting up again.
34The next morning the older daughter said to her younger sister, "I slept with our father last night. Let's get him drunk with wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him. That way our family line will be preserved." 35So that night they got him drunk again, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. As before, he was unaware of her lying down or getting up again. 36So both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father.
37When the older daughter gave birth to a son, she named him Moab. F62 He became the ancestor of the nation now known as the Moabites. 38When the younger daughter gave birth to a son, she named him Ben-ammi. F63 He became the ancestor of the nation now known as the Ammonites.
FOOTNOTES:F61: Zoar means "little." F62: Moab sounds like a Hebrew term that means "from father." F63: Ben-ammi means "son of my people."
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living Translation
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
WOW, what a passage!
The announcement has been made this way and that way, over and over again to deaf and dying people. It is so time to awaken to the dawning of the new day.
How long will we live for ourselves, our own desires, our own goals?
We don’t even have to answer one another, we live out our answers.
When God comes to visit do we recognize Him? Do we hear Him call us out of darkness, wickedness? He is calling day and night for those who will hear His saving voice.
I had a friend who went to another country. She was outside of familiar territory, she was alone in a hotel room and looked out over the city there, then she went to bed and began to hear a horrendous crying, a wailing, she wondered what it was, it got louder and louder, it would not stop. It was like hearing the cries of hell. It made her cry, made her cringe, at first she wondered if someone was being beaten, abused, or harmed in the streets, but then she realized it was not only one person, it was many, it was a city-full. God was allowing her to hear the groans of an unsaved city, of a city destined to hell for eternity if someone did not rise up in obedient response and pray, and speak, and save!
This is the very condition of our cities, towns, state, country and world. We are the saviors- the Christians. Do we hear the cry? The angel said the stench of this place has risen up to the heavens! Do we smell the sulfur? Hell smells like sulfur, that smell never stops, the senses do not become numb.
If we live out our own desires ignoring the cries of the earth, people will burn eternally, while hell was not made for people! Hell was made for satan and his angels, yet they work overtime looking for recruits, that they’ve lied to about it. What is tragic is there is a Savior who died to save men and women from hell.
I’ve heard people say, “Don’t pressure me!”
Dear God, why not? I see here the angel took a hold of Lot’s hand and grabbed him out of the darkness he was in. Lot was not yet able to see beyond his own flesh and through the sin he’d become a participator in.
He was giving his own children’s lives over to the stench of hell’s fire before they even died.
Dear God, if we do not pressure and save people and they die in their sin, they’ll burn forever without God.
We met a man this past year, he lived in our community, just a few blocks from our church. A girl in my cell befriended him, because he came into her place of employment for a service. As she served him in her business, she felt he needed Jesus. She wanted to take it easy on him where that subject was concerned because she didn’t want to “offend or pressure” him. All of us told her to be careful, he is a single male, etc….He was nice, he even cooked! She was casual with him, but really wanted to break the ice and tell him about Jesus. He came to church one Weds night and brought his nice motorcycle. Our pastor even invited him to go on a ride with a group of the riders at church, to ease him into a relationship with us so maybe he’d trust us enough to hear the gospel message from us someday. He didn’t show up for the ride. As the business relationship grew the lady decided to get a little more forward and tell Him she wanted him to come to church, she’d lead in here and there about the gospel message of salvation and Jesus, but he didn’t want to hear it. Finally too much “pressure” from her and he stopped coming around. Last night she said he died of a sudden heart attack. He was young. She hadn’t seen him in over 6 mos. His friend stopped in the store to say he was gone and she might want to know. He’d passed away in May!
This IS the state of people. They are dying and going to hell if we do not take them by the hand and lead them out!
Come on what is at risk, your reputation? Wow! Jesus said no greater love does a man have for another man, than he lay down his life (desires, reputations, etc) for a “friend”.
Lot was willing to throw his girls to the “dogs”. We think that night was the only night that they were being thrown to the “dogs”, in reality they lived there amongst the “dogs”, willingly. They were thrown out there everyday. They had tasted sin and liked it, all of them, but there was a family member who had come out from darkness, who was interceding for them, who would not take no for an answer! God heard that prayer.
The girls, those meant to be used to reproduce Jesus in the earth, were infiltrated, infused and under the influence of the mixture, a little of God- rescued, but a lot more world. A little God in a lot of world won’t do! It won’t do, especially where our children are concerned.
Parents- Get out of Sodom! Jesus is the only way out, or else what will come forth will not be of God, or from God and the consequences will be far reaching.
Sodom and Gomorrah was burned to the ground, but the family took it with them, because it was not rooted out of them.
We cannot live in and of this world and just go to church once a week and be ok.
Dear God our generations are at stake! We’ve got to dive into the life of the spirit of Christ, become Him in the earth. That will take more than a once a week, 1 hr. “program”.
Be bold, you have no idea how short life is for someone or how serious the hour is now. People are dying all around us everyday, and if they aren’t physically dead yet, they are already spiritually dead.
If we rescue them now spiritually and they live on longer on earth, then they can join us and rescues some!
Jn 3: 3b..Unless a person is born from above, it's not possible to see what I'm pointing to--to God's kingdom."
4"How can anyone," said Nicodemus, "be born who has already been born and grown up? You can't re-enter your mother's womb and be born again. What are you saying with this "born-from-above' talk?"
5Jesus said, "You're not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation--the "wind hovering over the water' creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life--it's not possible to enter God's kingdom. 6When you look at a baby, it's just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can't see and touch--the Spirit--and becomes a living spirit.
7"So don't be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be "born from above'--out of this world, so to speak. 8You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it's headed next. That's the way it is with everyone "born from above' by the wind of God, the Spirit of God."
9Nicodemus asked, "What do you mean by this? How does this happen?"
10Jesus said, "You're a respected teacher of Israel and you don't know these basics? 11Listen carefully. I'm speaking sober truth to you. I speak only of what I know by experience; I give witness only to what I have seen with my own eyes. There is nothing secondhand here, no hearsay. Yet instead of facing the evidence and accepting it, you procrastinate with questions. 12If I tell you things that are plain as the hand before your face and you don't believe me, what use is there in telling you of things you can't see, the things of God?
13"No one has ever gone up into the presence of God except the One who came down from that Presence, the Son of Man. 14In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up--15and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life.
16"This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. 17God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. 18Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.
19"This is the crisis we're in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. 20Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won't come near it, fearing a painful exposure. 21But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is."
Tell someone unsaved today- Jesus loves you!
Daily Meditation/Recital/Question
Isaiah 58:12 (New Living Translation)
12 Your children will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as the people who rebuild their walls and cities.
Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’ ” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
Genesis 19:1-38
Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed
1That evening the two angels came to the entrance of the city of Sodom, and Lot was sitting there as they arrived. When he saw them, he stood up to meet them. Then he welcomed them and bowed low to the ground. 2"My lords," he said, "come to my home to wash your feet, and be my guests for the night. You may then get up in the morning as early as you like and be on your way again." "Oh no," they said, "we'll just spend the night out here in the city square."
3But Lot insisted, so at last they went home with him. He set a great feast before them, complete with fresh bread made without yeast. After the meal, 4as they were preparing to retire for the night, all the men of Sodom, young and old, came from all over the city and surrounded the house. 5They shouted to Lot, "Where are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out so we can have sex with them."
6Lot stepped outside to talk to them, shutting the door behind him. 7"Please, my brothers," he begged, "don't do such a wicked thing. 8Look—I have two virgin daughters. Do with them as you wish, but leave these men alone, for they are under my protection."
9"Stand back!" they shouted. "Who do you think you are? We let you settle among us, and now you are trying to tell us what to do! We'll treat you far worse than those other men!" And they lunged at Lot and began breaking down the door. 10But the two angels reached out and pulled Lot in and bolted the door. 11Then they blinded the men of Sodom so they couldn't find the doorway.
12"Do you have any other relatives here in the city?" the angels asked. "Get them out of this place—sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone else. 13For we will destroy the city completely. The stench of the place has reached the LORD, and he has sent us to destroy it."
14So Lot rushed out to tell his daughters' fiancé’s, "Quick, get out of the city! The LORD is going to destroy it." But the young men thought he was only joking.
15At dawn the next morning the angels became insistent. "Hurry," they said to Lot. "Take your wife and your two daughters who are here. Get out of here right now, or you will be caught in the destruction of the city."
16When Lot still hesitated, the angels seized his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and rushed them to safety outside the city, for the LORD was merciful. 17"Run for your lives!" the angels warned. "Do not stop anywhere in the valley. And don't look back! Escape to the mountains, or you will die."
18"Oh no, my lords, please," Lot begged. 19"You have been so kind to me and saved my life, and you have granted me such mercy. But I cannot go to the mountains. Disaster would catch up to me there, and I would soon die. 20See, there is a small village nearby. Please let me go there instead; don't you see how small it is? Then my life will be saved."
21"All right," the angel said, "I will grant your request. I will not destroy that little village. 22But hurry! For I can do nothing until you are there." From that time on, that village was known as Zoar. F61
23The sun was rising as Lot reached the village. 24Then the LORD rained down fire and burning sulfur from the heavens on Sodom and Gomorrah. 25He utterly destroyed them, along with the other cities and villages of the plain, eliminating all life—people, plants, and animals alike. 26But Lot's wife looked back as she was following along behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
27The next morning Abraham was up early and hurried out to the place where he had stood in the LORD's presence. 28He looked out across the plain to Sodom and Gomorrah and saw columns of smoke and fumes, as from a furnace, rising from the cities there. 29But God had listened to Abraham's request and kept Lot safe, removing him from the disaster that engulfed the cities on the plain.
Lot and His Daughters
30Afterward Lot left Zoar because he was afraid of the people there, and he went to live in a cave in the mountains with his two daughters. 31One day the older daughter said to her sister, "There isn't a man anywhere in this entire area for us to marry. And our father will soon be too old to have children. 32Come, let's get him drunk with wine, and then we will sleep with him. That way we will preserve our family line through our father." 33So that night they got him drunk, and the older daughter went in and slept with her father. He was unaware of her lying down or getting up again.
34The next morning the older daughter said to her younger sister, "I slept with our father last night. Let's get him drunk with wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him. That way our family line will be preserved." 35So that night they got him drunk again, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. As before, he was unaware of her lying down or getting up again. 36So both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father.
37When the older daughter gave birth to a son, she named him Moab. F62 He became the ancestor of the nation now known as the Moabites. 38When the younger daughter gave birth to a son, she named him Ben-ammi. F63 He became the ancestor of the nation now known as the Ammonites.
FOOTNOTES:F61: Zoar means "little." F62: Moab sounds like a Hebrew term that means "from father." F63: Ben-ammi means "son of my people."
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living Translation
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
WOW, what a passage!
The announcement has been made this way and that way, over and over again to deaf and dying people. It is so time to awaken to the dawning of the new day.
How long will we live for ourselves, our own desires, our own goals?
We don’t even have to answer one another, we live out our answers.
When God comes to visit do we recognize Him? Do we hear Him call us out of darkness, wickedness? He is calling day and night for those who will hear His saving voice.
I had a friend who went to another country. She was outside of familiar territory, she was alone in a hotel room and looked out over the city there, then she went to bed and began to hear a horrendous crying, a wailing, she wondered what it was, it got louder and louder, it would not stop. It was like hearing the cries of hell. It made her cry, made her cringe, at first she wondered if someone was being beaten, abused, or harmed in the streets, but then she realized it was not only one person, it was many, it was a city-full. God was allowing her to hear the groans of an unsaved city, of a city destined to hell for eternity if someone did not rise up in obedient response and pray, and speak, and save!
This is the very condition of our cities, towns, state, country and world. We are the saviors- the Christians. Do we hear the cry? The angel said the stench of this place has risen up to the heavens! Do we smell the sulfur? Hell smells like sulfur, that smell never stops, the senses do not become numb.
If we live out our own desires ignoring the cries of the earth, people will burn eternally, while hell was not made for people! Hell was made for satan and his angels, yet they work overtime looking for recruits, that they’ve lied to about it. What is tragic is there is a Savior who died to save men and women from hell.
I’ve heard people say, “Don’t pressure me!”
Dear God, why not? I see here the angel took a hold of Lot’s hand and grabbed him out of the darkness he was in. Lot was not yet able to see beyond his own flesh and through the sin he’d become a participator in.
He was giving his own children’s lives over to the stench of hell’s fire before they even died.
Dear God, if we do not pressure and save people and they die in their sin, they’ll burn forever without God.
We met a man this past year, he lived in our community, just a few blocks from our church. A girl in my cell befriended him, because he came into her place of employment for a service. As she served him in her business, she felt he needed Jesus. She wanted to take it easy on him where that subject was concerned because she didn’t want to “offend or pressure” him. All of us told her to be careful, he is a single male, etc….He was nice, he even cooked! She was casual with him, but really wanted to break the ice and tell him about Jesus. He came to church one Weds night and brought his nice motorcycle. Our pastor even invited him to go on a ride with a group of the riders at church, to ease him into a relationship with us so maybe he’d trust us enough to hear the gospel message from us someday. He didn’t show up for the ride. As the business relationship grew the lady decided to get a little more forward and tell Him she wanted him to come to church, she’d lead in here and there about the gospel message of salvation and Jesus, but he didn’t want to hear it. Finally too much “pressure” from her and he stopped coming around. Last night she said he died of a sudden heart attack. He was young. She hadn’t seen him in over 6 mos. His friend stopped in the store to say he was gone and she might want to know. He’d passed away in May!
This IS the state of people. They are dying and going to hell if we do not take them by the hand and lead them out!
Come on what is at risk, your reputation? Wow! Jesus said no greater love does a man have for another man, than he lay down his life (desires, reputations, etc) for a “friend”.
Lot was willing to throw his girls to the “dogs”. We think that night was the only night that they were being thrown to the “dogs”, in reality they lived there amongst the “dogs”, willingly. They were thrown out there everyday. They had tasted sin and liked it, all of them, but there was a family member who had come out from darkness, who was interceding for them, who would not take no for an answer! God heard that prayer.
The girls, those meant to be used to reproduce Jesus in the earth, were infiltrated, infused and under the influence of the mixture, a little of God- rescued, but a lot more world. A little God in a lot of world won’t do! It won’t do, especially where our children are concerned.
Parents- Get out of Sodom! Jesus is the only way out, or else what will come forth will not be of God, or from God and the consequences will be far reaching.
Sodom and Gomorrah was burned to the ground, but the family took it with them, because it was not rooted out of them.
We cannot live in and of this world and just go to church once a week and be ok.
Dear God our generations are at stake! We’ve got to dive into the life of the spirit of Christ, become Him in the earth. That will take more than a once a week, 1 hr. “program”.
Be bold, you have no idea how short life is for someone or how serious the hour is now. People are dying all around us everyday, and if they aren’t physically dead yet, they are already spiritually dead.
If we rescue them now spiritually and they live on longer on earth, then they can join us and rescues some!
Jn 3: 3b..Unless a person is born from above, it's not possible to see what I'm pointing to--to God's kingdom."
4"How can anyone," said Nicodemus, "be born who has already been born and grown up? You can't re-enter your mother's womb and be born again. What are you saying with this "born-from-above' talk?"
5Jesus said, "You're not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation--the "wind hovering over the water' creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life--it's not possible to enter God's kingdom. 6When you look at a baby, it's just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can't see and touch--the Spirit--and becomes a living spirit.
7"So don't be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be "born from above'--out of this world, so to speak. 8You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it's headed next. That's the way it is with everyone "born from above' by the wind of God, the Spirit of God."
9Nicodemus asked, "What do you mean by this? How does this happen?"
10Jesus said, "You're a respected teacher of Israel and you don't know these basics? 11Listen carefully. I'm speaking sober truth to you. I speak only of what I know by experience; I give witness only to what I have seen with my own eyes. There is nothing secondhand here, no hearsay. Yet instead of facing the evidence and accepting it, you procrastinate with questions. 12If I tell you things that are plain as the hand before your face and you don't believe me, what use is there in telling you of things you can't see, the things of God?
13"No one has ever gone up into the presence of God except the One who came down from that Presence, the Son of Man. 14In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up--15and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life.
16"This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. 17God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. 18Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.
19"This is the crisis we're in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. 20Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won't come near it, fearing a painful exposure. 21But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is."
Tell someone unsaved today- Jesus loves you!
Daily Meditation/Recital/Question
Isaiah 58:12 (New Living Translation)
12 Your children will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as the people who rebuild their walls and cities.
Isaiah 58 - Who makes the 2nd move?
Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
Isaiah 58:1-14
True and False Worship
1"Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast. Tell my people Israel F119 of their sins!
2Yet they act so pious!
They come to the Temple every day and seem delighted to hear my laws. You would almost think this was a righteous nation that would never abandon its God. They love to make a show of coming to me and asking me to take action on their behalf.
3'We have fasted before you!' they say. 'Why aren't you impressed?
We have done much penance, and you don't even notice it!'
"I will tell you why! It's because you are living for yourselves even while you are fasting.
You keep right on oppressing your workers. 4What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling? This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me. 5You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance, bowing your heads like a blade of grass in the wind. You dress in sackcloth and cover yourselves with ashes.
Is this what you call fasting?
Do you really think this will please the LORD?
6"No,
the kind of fasting I want calls you to free those who are wrongly imprisoned
and to stop oppressing those who work for you.
Treat them fairly and give them what they earn.
7I want you to share your food with the hungry
and to welcome poor wanderers into your homes.
Give clothes to those who need them,
and do not hide from relatives who need your help.
8"If you do these things,
your salvation will come like the dawn.
Yes, your healing will come quickly.
Your godliness will lead you forward,
and the glory of the LORD will protect you from behind.
9Then when you call, the LORD will answer.
'Yes, I am here,' he will quickly reply.
"Stop oppressing the helpless
and stop making false accusations
and spreading vicious rumors!
10Feed the hungry
and help those in trouble.
Then your light will shine out from the darkness,
and the darkness around you will be as bright as day.
11The LORD will guide you continually,
watering your life when you are dry
and keeping you healthy, too.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like an ever-flowing spring.
12Your children will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities.
Then you will be known as the people who rebuild their walls and cities.
13"Keep the Sabbath day holy.
Don't pursue your own interests on that day,
but enjoy the Sabbath
and speak of it with delight as the LORD's holy day.
Honor the LORD in everything you do,
and don't follow your own desires
or talk idly.
If you do this,
14the LORD will be your delight.
I will give you great honor and give you your full share of the inheritance I promised to Jacob, your ancestor. I, the LORD, have spoken!"
FOOTNOTES:F119: Hebrew Jacob.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living Translation
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
Amen – so be it, among us!
Daily Meditation/Recital/Question
Isaiah 58:12 (New Living Translation)
12 Your children will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as the people who rebuild their walls and cities.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
Isaiah 58:1-14
True and False Worship
1"Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast. Tell my people Israel F119 of their sins!
2Yet they act so pious!
They come to the Temple every day and seem delighted to hear my laws. You would almost think this was a righteous nation that would never abandon its God. They love to make a show of coming to me and asking me to take action on their behalf.
3'We have fasted before you!' they say. 'Why aren't you impressed?
We have done much penance, and you don't even notice it!'
"I will tell you why! It's because you are living for yourselves even while you are fasting.
You keep right on oppressing your workers. 4What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling? This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me. 5You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance, bowing your heads like a blade of grass in the wind. You dress in sackcloth and cover yourselves with ashes.
Is this what you call fasting?
Do you really think this will please the LORD?
6"No,
the kind of fasting I want calls you to free those who are wrongly imprisoned
and to stop oppressing those who work for you.
Treat them fairly and give them what they earn.
7I want you to share your food with the hungry
and to welcome poor wanderers into your homes.
Give clothes to those who need them,
and do not hide from relatives who need your help.
8"If you do these things,
your salvation will come like the dawn.
Yes, your healing will come quickly.
Your godliness will lead you forward,
and the glory of the LORD will protect you from behind.
9Then when you call, the LORD will answer.
'Yes, I am here,' he will quickly reply.
"Stop oppressing the helpless
and stop making false accusations
and spreading vicious rumors!
10Feed the hungry
and help those in trouble.
Then your light will shine out from the darkness,
and the darkness around you will be as bright as day.
11The LORD will guide you continually,
watering your life when you are dry
and keeping you healthy, too.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like an ever-flowing spring.
12Your children will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities.
Then you will be known as the people who rebuild their walls and cities.
13"Keep the Sabbath day holy.
Don't pursue your own interests on that day,
but enjoy the Sabbath
and speak of it with delight as the LORD's holy day.
Honor the LORD in everything you do,
and don't follow your own desires
or talk idly.
If you do this,
14the LORD will be your delight.
I will give you great honor and give you your full share of the inheritance I promised to Jacob, your ancestor. I, the LORD, have spoken!"
FOOTNOTES:F119: Hebrew Jacob.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living Translation
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
Amen – so be it, among us!
Daily Meditation/Recital/Question
Isaiah 58:12 (New Living Translation)
12 Your children will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as the people who rebuild their walls and cities.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Genesis 18 Can God tell you anything?
Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena's Journalin' , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
Genesis 18:1-33
A Son Promised to Sarah
1The LORD appeared again to Abraham while he was camped near the oak grove belonging to Mamre. One day about noon, as Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent, 2he suddenly noticed three men standing nearby. He got up and ran to meet them, welcoming them by bowing low to the ground. 3"My lord," he said, "if it pleases you, stop here for a while. 4Rest in the shade of this tree while my servants get some water to wash your feet. 5Let me prepare some food to refresh you. Please stay awhile before continuing on your journey." "All right," they said. "Do as you have said."
6So Abraham ran back to the tent and said to Sarah, "Quick! Get three measures F60 of your best flour, and bake some bread." 7Then Abraham ran out to the herd and chose a fat calf and told a servant to hurry and butcher it. 8When the food was ready, he took some cheese curds and milk and the roasted meat, and he served it to the men. As they ate, Abraham waited on them there beneath the trees.
9"Where is Sarah, your wife?" they asked him. "In the tent," Abraham replied.
10Then one of them said, "About this time next year I will return, and your wife Sarah will have a son." Now Sarah was listening to this conversation from the tent nearby. 11And since Abraham and Sarah were both very old, and Sarah was long past the age of having children, 12she laughed silently to herself. "How could a worn-out woman like me have a baby?" she thought. "And when my master—my husband—is also so old?"
13Then the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, 'Can an old woman like me have a baby?' 14Is anything too hard for the LORD? About a year from now, just as I told you, I will return, and Sarah will have a son." 15Sarah was afraid, so she denied that she had laughed. But he said, "That is not true. You did laugh."
Abraham Intercedes for Sodom
16Then the men got up from their meal and started on toward Sodom. Abraham went with them part of the way.
17"Should I hide my plan from Abraham?" the LORD asked. 18"For Abraham will become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him. 19I have singled him out so that he will direct his sons and their families to keep the way of the LORD and do what is right and just. Then I will do for him all that I have promised." 20So the LORD told Abraham, "I have heard that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah are extremely evil, and that everything they do is wicked. 21I am going down to see whether or not these reports are true. Then I will know."
22The two other men went on toward Sodom, but the LORD remained with Abraham for a while. 23Abraham approached him and said, "Will you destroy both innocent and guilty alike? 24Suppose you find fifty innocent people there within the city—will you still destroy it, and not spare it for their sakes? 25Surely you wouldn't do such a thing, destroying the innocent with the guilty. Why, you would be treating the innocent and the guilty exactly the same! Surely you wouldn't do that! Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?"
26And the LORD replied, "If I find fifty innocent people in Sodom, I will spare the entire city for their sake."
27Then Abraham spoke again. "Since I have begun, let me go on and speak further to my Lord, even though I am but dust and ashes. 28Suppose there are only forty-five? Will you destroy the city for lack of five?" And the LORD said, "I will not destroy it if I find forty-five."
29Then Abraham pressed his request further. "Suppose there are only forty?" And the LORD replied, "I will not destroy it if there are forty."
30"Please don't be angry, my Lord," Abraham pleaded. "Let me speak—suppose only thirty are found?" And the LORD replied, "I will not destroy it if there are thirty."
31Then Abraham said, "Since I have dared to speak to the Lord, let me continue—suppose there are only twenty?" And the LORD said, "Then I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty."
32Finally, Abraham said, "Lord, please do not get angry; I will speak but once more! Suppose only ten are found there?" And the LORD said, "Then, for the sake of the ten, I will not destroy it."
33The LORD went on his way when he had finished his conversation with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his tent.
FOOTNOTES:F60: Hebrew 3 seahs, about 15 quarts or 18 liters.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living Translation
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
The promise of the “son”, what is that?
Dreams fulfilled? Who’s dreams? Ours? Yes. God’s? yes!
Who gives the dreams we have anyway? Do we get them on our own?
Do we make up the dreams ourselves? Or are they given us by God because they were His intent anyway? Yes.
So when God sends angels/messengers (God uses people as messengers) with a message, a word, to give us from heaven, from God’s heart, where dreams are made, what do we do?
Do we make preparation to receive it?
Do we want to hear what He has to say?
What if what they say is from God is a hard thing to hear or do? It’s not so much the consideration or hearing that is hard, it is the being responsible and doing part that is hard.
Like what if God tells them to say something and we hear God speak to us through that word to do a hard thing? Are we willing to go all the way with God through words He’s given His messengers? Then if it is a seemingly impossible thing, are we also willing to increase our faith in God for God’s dreams to be accomplished? Did it not take faith to believe an 75 year old person could actually birth a baby?
So if we know ahead of time that what God is gonna tell us through His messengers might be hard for us to take, will we still prepare to hear it, or will we be offended like Naaman was, saying it isn’t supposed to be that way. God doesn’t tell me stuff that will be hard for me to take, or make me uncomfortable? Will we make God feel at home in us, at home telling us anything He wants to tell us. Will we make the Holy Spirit welcomed to say what needs to be said? Are we a safe place for God to speak? Or can He only speak the way we want to hear Him?
Will we ask Him to speak to us further than just the first few words, which will be words about our personal life and how His dreams affect us personally? What about going beyond the personal to me part and allowing Him to say whatever He wants? What about being open to Him to tell us more, like a friend does a friend? Even going to the extent of asking about His plans, hopes, dreams, and His wishes. What about being as concerned as He is, about what He loves and what He wants to do using us to do it?
See, so many of us have never gone up on that overlook with God. We’ve stayed in the place of our own need for Him. We want Him to come when we want Him to come. We want Him to meet us when we are ready. He is looking for those who will be opened to listening when He wants to speak, receive Him when He calls to visit, set a table for Him, when it is not convenient, and go for a walk to see what He has in mind for the places where we live and beyond.
When we find it isn’t so much all about us, do we still want to hang around the people of God, becoming more of a giver than a taker? That is a good maturing question to ask.
I’ve noticed on a daily basis I have 2 choices over and over again. 1 to think about myself, 2 to think about God, 1 to think about my circumstances, 2 to think about the goodness and greatness of God. 1 to think about my needs, 2 to meet other’s needs – not with my own strength, but through being a vessel for the use of Christ!
So God wants to save the world? Hmmm? How can that be done? Through one man? Yes! That man Jesus, gave us all we need, we just need to participate. If I participate, that’s one more participator than before. So, are we all in?
Daily Meditation/Recital/Question
Isaiah 58:12 (New Living Translation)
12 Your children will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as the people who rebuild their walls and cities.
If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena's Journalin' , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.
Genesis 18:1-33
A Son Promised to Sarah
1The LORD appeared again to Abraham while he was camped near the oak grove belonging to Mamre. One day about noon, as Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent, 2he suddenly noticed three men standing nearby. He got up and ran to meet them, welcoming them by bowing low to the ground. 3"My lord," he said, "if it pleases you, stop here for a while. 4Rest in the shade of this tree while my servants get some water to wash your feet. 5Let me prepare some food to refresh you. Please stay awhile before continuing on your journey." "All right," they said. "Do as you have said."
6So Abraham ran back to the tent and said to Sarah, "Quick! Get three measures F60 of your best flour, and bake some bread." 7Then Abraham ran out to the herd and chose a fat calf and told a servant to hurry and butcher it. 8When the food was ready, he took some cheese curds and milk and the roasted meat, and he served it to the men. As they ate, Abraham waited on them there beneath the trees.
9"Where is Sarah, your wife?" they asked him. "In the tent," Abraham replied.
10Then one of them said, "About this time next year I will return, and your wife Sarah will have a son." Now Sarah was listening to this conversation from the tent nearby. 11And since Abraham and Sarah were both very old, and Sarah was long past the age of having children, 12she laughed silently to herself. "How could a worn-out woman like me have a baby?" she thought. "And when my master—my husband—is also so old?"
13Then the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, 'Can an old woman like me have a baby?' 14Is anything too hard for the LORD? About a year from now, just as I told you, I will return, and Sarah will have a son." 15Sarah was afraid, so she denied that she had laughed. But he said, "That is not true. You did laugh."
Abraham Intercedes for Sodom
16Then the men got up from their meal and started on toward Sodom. Abraham went with them part of the way.
17"Should I hide my plan from Abraham?" the LORD asked. 18"For Abraham will become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him. 19I have singled him out so that he will direct his sons and their families to keep the way of the LORD and do what is right and just. Then I will do for him all that I have promised." 20So the LORD told Abraham, "I have heard that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah are extremely evil, and that everything they do is wicked. 21I am going down to see whether or not these reports are true. Then I will know."
22The two other men went on toward Sodom, but the LORD remained with Abraham for a while. 23Abraham approached him and said, "Will you destroy both innocent and guilty alike? 24Suppose you find fifty innocent people there within the city—will you still destroy it, and not spare it for their sakes? 25Surely you wouldn't do such a thing, destroying the innocent with the guilty. Why, you would be treating the innocent and the guilty exactly the same! Surely you wouldn't do that! Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?"
26And the LORD replied, "If I find fifty innocent people in Sodom, I will spare the entire city for their sake."
27Then Abraham spoke again. "Since I have begun, let me go on and speak further to my Lord, even though I am but dust and ashes. 28Suppose there are only forty-five? Will you destroy the city for lack of five?" And the LORD said, "I will not destroy it if I find forty-five."
29Then Abraham pressed his request further. "Suppose there are only forty?" And the LORD replied, "I will not destroy it if there are forty."
30"Please don't be angry, my Lord," Abraham pleaded. "Let me speak—suppose only thirty are found?" And the LORD replied, "I will not destroy it if there are thirty."
31Then Abraham said, "Since I have dared to speak to the Lord, let me continue—suppose there are only twenty?" And the LORD said, "Then I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty."
32Finally, Abraham said, "Lord, please do not get angry; I will speak but once more! Suppose only ten are found there?" And the LORD said, "Then, for the sake of the ten, I will not destroy it."
33The LORD went on his way when he had finished his conversation with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his tent.
FOOTNOTES:F60: Hebrew 3 seahs, about 15 quarts or 18 liters.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living Translation
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
The promise of the “son”, what is that?
Dreams fulfilled? Who’s dreams? Ours? Yes. God’s? yes!
Who gives the dreams we have anyway? Do we get them on our own?
Do we make up the dreams ourselves? Or are they given us by God because they were His intent anyway? Yes.
So when God sends angels/messengers (God uses people as messengers) with a message, a word, to give us from heaven, from God’s heart, where dreams are made, what do we do?
Do we make preparation to receive it?
Do we want to hear what He has to say?
What if what they say is from God is a hard thing to hear or do? It’s not so much the consideration or hearing that is hard, it is the being responsible and doing part that is hard.
Like what if God tells them to say something and we hear God speak to us through that word to do a hard thing? Are we willing to go all the way with God through words He’s given His messengers? Then if it is a seemingly impossible thing, are we also willing to increase our faith in God for God’s dreams to be accomplished? Did it not take faith to believe an 75 year old person could actually birth a baby?
So if we know ahead of time that what God is gonna tell us through His messengers might be hard for us to take, will we still prepare to hear it, or will we be offended like Naaman was, saying it isn’t supposed to be that way. God doesn’t tell me stuff that will be hard for me to take, or make me uncomfortable? Will we make God feel at home in us, at home telling us anything He wants to tell us. Will we make the Holy Spirit welcomed to say what needs to be said? Are we a safe place for God to speak? Or can He only speak the way we want to hear Him?
Will we ask Him to speak to us further than just the first few words, which will be words about our personal life and how His dreams affect us personally? What about going beyond the personal to me part and allowing Him to say whatever He wants? What about being open to Him to tell us more, like a friend does a friend? Even going to the extent of asking about His plans, hopes, dreams, and His wishes. What about being as concerned as He is, about what He loves and what He wants to do using us to do it?
See, so many of us have never gone up on that overlook with God. We’ve stayed in the place of our own need for Him. We want Him to come when we want Him to come. We want Him to meet us when we are ready. He is looking for those who will be opened to listening when He wants to speak, receive Him when He calls to visit, set a table for Him, when it is not convenient, and go for a walk to see what He has in mind for the places where we live and beyond.
When we find it isn’t so much all about us, do we still want to hang around the people of God, becoming more of a giver than a taker? That is a good maturing question to ask.
I’ve noticed on a daily basis I have 2 choices over and over again. 1 to think about myself, 2 to think about God, 1 to think about my circumstances, 2 to think about the goodness and greatness of God. 1 to think about my needs, 2 to meet other’s needs – not with my own strength, but through being a vessel for the use of Christ!
So God wants to save the world? Hmmm? How can that be done? Through one man? Yes! That man Jesus, gave us all we need, we just need to participate. If I participate, that’s one more participator than before. So, are we all in?
Daily Meditation/Recital/Question
Isaiah 58:12 (New Living Translation)
12 Your children will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as the people who rebuild their walls and cities.
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