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.
Acts 11:1-30
Peter Explains His Actions
1Soon the news reached the apostles and other believers F52 in Judea that the Gentiles had received the word of God. 2But when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, some of the Jewish believers F53 criticized him. 3"You entered the home of Gentiles F54 and even ate with them!" they said.
4Then Peter told them exactly what had happened. 5"One day in Joppa," he said, "while I was praying, I went into a trance and saw a vision. Something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners from the sky. And it came right down to me. 6When I looked inside the sheet, I saw all sorts of small animals, wild animals, reptiles, and birds that we are not allowed to eat. 7And I heard a voice say, 'Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.'
8"'Never, Lord,' I replied. 'I have never eaten anything forbidden by our Jewish laws. F55 '
9"But the voice from heaven came again, 'If God says something is acceptable, don't say it isn't.' F56
10"This happened three times before the sheet and all it contained was pulled back up to heaven. 11Just then three men who had been sent from Caesarea arrived at the house where I was staying. 12The Holy Spirit told me to go with them and not to worry about their being Gentiles. These six brothers here accompanied me, and we soon arrived at the home of the man who had sent for us. 13He told us how an angel had appeared to him in his home and had told him, 'Send messengers to Joppa to find Simon Peter. 14He will tell you how you and all your household will be saved!'
15"Well, I began telling them the Good News, but just as I was getting started, the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as he fell on us at the beginning. 16Then I thought of the Lord's words when he said, 'John baptized with F57 water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' 17And since God gave these Gentiles the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to argue?"
18When the others heard this, all their objections were answered and they began praising God. They said, "God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of turning from sin and receiving eternal life."
The Church in Antioch of Syria
19Meanwhile, the believers who had fled from Jerusalem during the persecution after Stephen's death traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch of Syria. They preached the Good News, but only to Jews. 20However, some of the believers who went to Antioch from Cyprus and Cyrene began preaching to Gentiles F58 about the Lord Jesus. 21The power of the Lord was upon them, and large numbers of these Gentiles believed and turned to the Lord.
22When the church at Jerusalem heard what had happened, they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23When he arrived and saw this proof of God's favor, he was filled with joy, and he encouraged the believers to stay true to the Lord. 24Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith. And large numbers of people were brought to the Lord.
25Then Barnabas went on to Tarsus to find Saul. 26When he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. Both of them stayed there with the church for a full year, teaching great numbers of people. (It was there at Antioch that the believers F59 were first called Christians.)
27During this time, some prophets traveled from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28One of them named Agabus stood up in one of the meetings to predict by the Spirit that a great famine was coming upon the entire Roman world. (This was fulfilled during the reign of Claudius.) 29So the believers in Antioch decided to send relief to the brothers and sisters F60 in Judea, everyone giving as much as they could. 30This they did, entrusting their gifts to Barnabas and Saul to take to the elders of the church in Jerusalem.
FOOTNOTES:F52: Greek brothers. F53: Greek those of the circumcision. F54: Greek of uncircumcised men. F55: Greek anything common or unclean. F56: Greek `What God calls clean you must not call unclean.' F57: Or in; also in 11:16b. F58: Greek the Greeks; other manuscripts read the Hellenists. F59: Greek disciples; also in 11:29. F60: Greek the brothers.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living Translation
~Lena’s Journalin’ ~
the Gentiles had received the word of God
while I was praying, I went into a trance and saw a vision
'If God says something is acceptable, don't say it isn't.'
The Holy Spirit told me to go with them and not to worry
He will tell you how you and all your household will be saved!'
the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as he fell on us at the beginning.
John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'
all their objections were answered
God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of turning from sin and receiving eternal life
So other of the believers began preaching to Gentiles about the Lord Jesus.
The power of the Lord was upon them, and large numbers of these Gentiles believed and turned to the Lord.
They saw this proof of God's favor
How is one’s household to be saved? 1st thing would probably be that you yourself would be saved. Then God would ask of you to intercede for and go to your family members.
When one receives the word, hears the word and does the word he will see visions, hear the voice of God’s spirit, receive power, favor, have objections answered.
The power of the Holy Spirit in men is essential, essential to spirit led living. There’s no way one can walk as Jesus walked, in the power and with the presence of God’s spirit, unless that very presence and power is alive and active inside of the believer. Why were these men called Christ- like –ones? Christ-ians? They were unhesitant to be filled with His glorious spirit. There are churches nowadays that say we don’t need Him. That’s like saying we don’t need God! That’s like saying we can do all things through me who strengthens me. Where’s the dependence upon God’s spirit? Where’s the overflowing fountain of Christ’s love? Where are the signs and wonders which are to help those who do not yet believe? They are available to those who invite, welcome, and embrace the powerful flow of the Holy Spirit which is Divinely offered to each man. Whoever wills can, be Christ-like. You don’t HAVE to, but don’t we want to?
Free-will, can both welcome and prevent God. Wow!
Holy Spirit we welcome your presence in our lives today. Use us Lord in Your hands, Do what you wish today. Minister to those we meet who need to see Christ today. Let them be amazed when they see you at work in human form again, of those who have the power of God that they can also have, to live this life here through and through and go all the way with You! Amen.
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 17, 2006
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Acts 26 What accusation does he have against you?
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.
Acts 26:1-32
1Then Agrippa said to Paul, "You may speak in your defense." So Paul, with a gesture of his hand, started his defense: 2"I am fortunate, King Agrippa, that you are the one hearing my defense against all these accusations made by the Jewish leaders, 3for I know you are an expert on Jewish customs and controversies. Now please listen to me patiently!
4"As the Jewish leaders are well aware, I was given a thorough Jewish training from my earliest childhood among my own people and in Jerusalem. 5If they would admit it, they know that I have been a member of the Pharisees, the strictest sect of our religion. 6Now I am on trial because I am looking forward to the fulfillment of God's promise made to our ancestors. 7In fact, that is why the twelve tribes of Israel worship God night and day, and they share the same hope I have. Yet, O king, they say it is wrong for me to have this hope! 8Why does it seem incredible to any of you that God can raise the dead?
9"I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the followers of Jesus of Nazareth. F124 10Authorized by the leading priests, I caused many of the believers in Jerusalem to be sent to prison. And I cast my vote against them when they were condemned to death. 11Many times I had them whipped in the synagogues to try to get them to curse Christ. I was so violently opposed to them that I even hounded them in distant cities of foreign lands.
12"One day I was on such a mission to Damascus, armed with the authority and commission of the leading priests. 13About noon, Your Majesty, a light from heaven brighter than the sun shone down on me and my companions. 14We all fell down, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, F125 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to fight against my will. F126 '
15"'Who are you, sir?' I asked. "And the Lord replied, 'I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. 16Now stand up! For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant and my witness. You are to tell the world about this experience and about other times I will appear to you. 17And I will protect you from both your own people and the Gentiles. Yes, I am going to send you to the Gentiles, 18to open their eyes so they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God's people, who are set apart by faith in me.'
19"And so, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to that vision from heaven. 20I preached first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that all must turn from their sins and turn to God—and prove they have changed by the good things they do. 21Some Jews arrested me in the Temple for preaching this, and they tried to kill me. 22But God protected me so that I am still alive today to tell these facts to everyone, from the least to the greatest. I teach nothing except what the prophets and Moses said would happen—23that the Messiah would suffer and be the first to rise from the dead as a light to Jews and Gentiles alike."
24Suddenly, Festus shouted, "Paul, you are insane. Too much study has made you crazy!"
25But Paul replied, "I am not insane, Most Excellent Festus. I am speaking the sober truth. 26And King Agrippa knows about these things. I speak frankly, for I am sure these events are all familiar to him, for they were not done in a corner! 27King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do—"
28Agrippa interrupted him. "Do you think you can make me a Christian so quickly?" F127
29Paul replied, "Whether quickly or not, I pray to God that both you and everyone here in this audience might become the same as I am, except for these chains."
30Then the king, the governor, Bernice, and all the others stood and left. 31As they talked it over they agreed, "This man hasn't done anything worthy of death or imprisonment." 32And Agrippa said to Festus, "He could be set free if he hadn't appealed to Caesar!"
FOOTNOTES:F124: Greek oppose the name of Jesus the Nazarene. F125: Or Hebrew. F126: Greek It is hard for you to kick against the oxgoads. F127: Or "A little more, and your arguments would make me a Christian."
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living Translation
~Lena’s Journalin’ ~
What a “conversion”, what a transformation! I would that all of you are as I am, except for these chains….
It seemed that the very ones Saul persecuted, Paul was sent to show the evidences of God’s glory in.
He was changed into another man. His will was brought into oneness and alignment with the will of God.
Who are we better witnesses to, than those who know us, know who we were before Christ?
One reason we don’t want to go back there, so to speak, is we have not been transformed yet or changed by growth in the spirit, where the old is uprooted and replaced with the new. Saul left the old, embraced the new.
Are we saved? Yes, by His great grace, then there’s the salvation of the soul, which is the work He does in us as we walk out our newfound covenant relationship with God. We are changed from glory to glory, for all the world to visibly see, more of Him, less of me!
The most effective witness is the power of a changed life. Lets lay that foundation and go on from there, if the foundation was cracked or faulty in any way, go back for repair and restoration, get that part secure so God can build and integrity can cause others to do a double take.
What I mean by that, is if I find myself in fellowship with the world, worldly things, worldly ways, my kingdom integrity will be faulty to the world who looks upon my life as hope of their own transformation.
If I’m as mean as ever, always railing at people who were involved in my life and they always saw me as a railer or a critic or a complainer, what can I build there? When the railing, criticizing & complaining stops in me, they will see 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.
Acts 26:1-32
1Then Agrippa said to Paul, "You may speak in your defense." So Paul, with a gesture of his hand, started his defense: 2"I am fortunate, King Agrippa, that you are the one hearing my defense against all these accusations made by the Jewish leaders, 3for I know you are an expert on Jewish customs and controversies. Now please listen to me patiently!
4"As the Jewish leaders are well aware, I was given a thorough Jewish training from my earliest childhood among my own people and in Jerusalem. 5If they would admit it, they know that I have been a member of the Pharisees, the strictest sect of our religion. 6Now I am on trial because I am looking forward to the fulfillment of God's promise made to our ancestors. 7In fact, that is why the twelve tribes of Israel worship God night and day, and they share the same hope I have. Yet, O king, they say it is wrong for me to have this hope! 8Why does it seem incredible to any of you that God can raise the dead?
9"I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the followers of Jesus of Nazareth. F124 10Authorized by the leading priests, I caused many of the believers in Jerusalem to be sent to prison. And I cast my vote against them when they were condemned to death. 11Many times I had them whipped in the synagogues to try to get them to curse Christ. I was so violently opposed to them that I even hounded them in distant cities of foreign lands.
12"One day I was on such a mission to Damascus, armed with the authority and commission of the leading priests. 13About noon, Your Majesty, a light from heaven brighter than the sun shone down on me and my companions. 14We all fell down, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, F125 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to fight against my will. F126 '
15"'Who are you, sir?' I asked. "And the Lord replied, 'I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. 16Now stand up! For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant and my witness. You are to tell the world about this experience and about other times I will appear to you. 17And I will protect you from both your own people and the Gentiles. Yes, I am going to send you to the Gentiles, 18to open their eyes so they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God's people, who are set apart by faith in me.'
19"And so, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to that vision from heaven. 20I preached first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that all must turn from their sins and turn to God—and prove they have changed by the good things they do. 21Some Jews arrested me in the Temple for preaching this, and they tried to kill me. 22But God protected me so that I am still alive today to tell these facts to everyone, from the least to the greatest. I teach nothing except what the prophets and Moses said would happen—23that the Messiah would suffer and be the first to rise from the dead as a light to Jews and Gentiles alike."
24Suddenly, Festus shouted, "Paul, you are insane. Too much study has made you crazy!"
25But Paul replied, "I am not insane, Most Excellent Festus. I am speaking the sober truth. 26And King Agrippa knows about these things. I speak frankly, for I am sure these events are all familiar to him, for they were not done in a corner! 27King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do—"
28Agrippa interrupted him. "Do you think you can make me a Christian so quickly?" F127
29Paul replied, "Whether quickly or not, I pray to God that both you and everyone here in this audience might become the same as I am, except for these chains."
30Then the king, the governor, Bernice, and all the others stood and left. 31As they talked it over they agreed, "This man hasn't done anything worthy of death or imprisonment." 32And Agrippa said to Festus, "He could be set free if he hadn't appealed to Caesar!"
FOOTNOTES:F124: Greek oppose the name of Jesus the Nazarene. F125: Or Hebrew. F126: Greek It is hard for you to kick against the oxgoads. F127: Or "A little more, and your arguments would make me a Christian."
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living Translation
~Lena’s Journalin’ ~
What a “conversion”, what a transformation! I would that all of you are as I am, except for these chains….
It seemed that the very ones Saul persecuted, Paul was sent to show the evidences of God’s glory in.
He was changed into another man. His will was brought into oneness and alignment with the will of God.
Who are we better witnesses to, than those who know us, know who we were before Christ?
One reason we don’t want to go back there, so to speak, is we have not been transformed yet or changed by growth in the spirit, where the old is uprooted and replaced with the new. Saul left the old, embraced the new.
Are we saved? Yes, by His great grace, then there’s the salvation of the soul, which is the work He does in us as we walk out our newfound covenant relationship with God. We are changed from glory to glory, for all the world to visibly see, more of Him, less of me!
The most effective witness is the power of a changed life. Lets lay that foundation and go on from there, if the foundation was cracked or faulty in any way, go back for repair and restoration, get that part secure so God can build and integrity can cause others to do a double take.
What I mean by that, is if I find myself in fellowship with the world, worldly things, worldly ways, my kingdom integrity will be faulty to the world who looks upon my life as hope of their own transformation.
If I’m as mean as ever, always railing at people who were involved in my life and they always saw me as a railer or a critic or a complainer, what can I build there? When the railing, criticizing & complaining stops in me, they will see 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.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Daniel 6 He cannot devour us!
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.
Daniel 6:1-28
Daniel in the Lions' Den
1Darius the Mede decided to divide the kingdom into 120 provinces, and he appointed a prince to rule over each province. 2The king also chose Daniel and two others as administrators to supervise the princes and to watch out for the king's interests. 3Daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other administrators and princes. Because of his great ability, the king made plans to place him over the entire empire. 4Then the other administrators and princes began searching for some fault in the way Daniel was handling his affairs, but they couldn't find anything to criticize. He was faithful and honest and always responsible. 5So they concluded, "Our only chance of finding grounds for accusing Daniel will be in connection with the requirements of his religion."
6So the administrators and princes went to the king and said, "Long live King Darius! 7We administrators, prefects, princes, advisers, and other officials have unanimously agreed that Your Majesty should make a law that will be strictly enforced. Give orders that for the next thirty days anyone who prays to anyone, divine or human—except to Your Majesty—will be thrown to the lions. 8And let Your Majesty issue and sign this law so it cannot be changed, a law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked." 9So King Darius signed the law.
10But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God. 11The officials went together to Daniel's house and found him praying and asking for God's help. 12So they went back to the king and reminded him about his law. "Did you not sign a law that for the next thirty days anyone who prays to anyone, divine or human—except to Your Majesty—will be thrown to the lions?" "Yes," the king replied, "that decision stands; it is a law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked."
13Then they told the king, "That man Daniel, one of the captives from Judah, is paying no attention to you or your law. He still prays to his God three times a day."
14Hearing this, the king was very angry with himself for signing the law, and he tried to find a way to save Daniel. He spent the rest of the day looking for a way to get Daniel out of this predicament. 15In the evening the men went together to the king and said, "Your Majesty knows that according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, no law that the king signs can be changed."
16So at last the king gave orders for Daniel to be arrested and thrown into the den of lions. The king said to him, "May your God, whom you worship continually, rescue you." 17A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den. The king sealed the stone with his own royal seal and the seals of his nobles, so that no one could rescue Daniel from the lions. 18Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night fasting. He refused his usual entertainment and couldn't sleep at all that night.
19Very early the next morning, the king hurried out to the lions' den. 20When he got there, he called out in anguish, "Daniel, servant of the living God! Was your God, whom you worship continually, able to rescue you from the lions?"
21Daniel answered, "Long live the king! 22My God sent his angel to shut the lions' mouths so that they would not hurt me, for I have been found innocent in his sight. And I have not wronged you, Your Majesty."
23The king was overjoyed and ordered that Daniel be lifted from the den. Not a scratch was found on him because he had trusted in his God. 24Then the king gave orders to arrest the men who had maliciously accused Daniel. He had them thrown into the lions' den, along with their wives and children. The lions leaped on them and tore them apart before they even hit the floor of the den.
25Then King Darius sent this message to the people of every race and nation and language throughout the world:
"Peace and prosperity to you!
26"I decree that everyone throughout my kingdom should tremble with fear before the God of Daniel.
For he is the living God, and he will endure forever. His kingdom will never be destroyed, and his rule will never end.
27 He rescues and saves his people; he performs miraculous signs and wonders in the heavens and on earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions."
28So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian. F25
FOOTNOTES:F25: Or of Darius, that is, the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living Translation
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
I am looking at this today and realizing that Daniel was 80 years old when he was in the den with the lions. He’d lives through at least 4 kingdoms & kings ruling in the world. He was not in the city of God, but in the kingdoms of men, and by discipline & worship he stayed forever “In Christ”! From the time of his youth, where he was taken from his spiritually strengthening surroundings and put in the world to “fend for himself”, he rather rose up and became a disciple and a son of God.
He became such a disciple and a son that he stayed a disciple and son all of his days, through every circumstance and situation that crossed his pathway and there were some doozies, and humdingers.
I wonder if the trails we face now even compare to being in a fire or a den of live lions?
Yet we find ourselves inside of the city of God, but we struggle to stay strong in faith. It’s time to rise up in the strength and power of the Lord and stay the distance! Daniel did not even have the multitude of options we have to stay strong in faith. He didn’t have Sunday school, church, cell groups, books galore, Bible online, on CD etc., etc., yet he stayed.
It’s time, let God arise and every enemy be scattered and flee away!
The enemy comes as a roaring lion seeking those he can devour, we’re not in the den, we just hear the roaring. Can he devour us? No he cannot! We insist on it and enforce it by the power of the spirit of God.
We have overcome everything by the power of the cross, by the power of the shed blood of Christ and by the power of His great love.
Be loosed from every hindrance in Jesus’ name to love and worship and serve the Lord!
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.
Daniel 6:1-28
Daniel in the Lions' Den
1Darius the Mede decided to divide the kingdom into 120 provinces, and he appointed a prince to rule over each province. 2The king also chose Daniel and two others as administrators to supervise the princes and to watch out for the king's interests. 3Daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other administrators and princes. Because of his great ability, the king made plans to place him over the entire empire. 4Then the other administrators and princes began searching for some fault in the way Daniel was handling his affairs, but they couldn't find anything to criticize. He was faithful and honest and always responsible. 5So they concluded, "Our only chance of finding grounds for accusing Daniel will be in connection with the requirements of his religion."
6So the administrators and princes went to the king and said, "Long live King Darius! 7We administrators, prefects, princes, advisers, and other officials have unanimously agreed that Your Majesty should make a law that will be strictly enforced. Give orders that for the next thirty days anyone who prays to anyone, divine or human—except to Your Majesty—will be thrown to the lions. 8And let Your Majesty issue and sign this law so it cannot be changed, a law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked." 9So King Darius signed the law.
10But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God. 11The officials went together to Daniel's house and found him praying and asking for God's help. 12So they went back to the king and reminded him about his law. "Did you not sign a law that for the next thirty days anyone who prays to anyone, divine or human—except to Your Majesty—will be thrown to the lions?" "Yes," the king replied, "that decision stands; it is a law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked."
13Then they told the king, "That man Daniel, one of the captives from Judah, is paying no attention to you or your law. He still prays to his God three times a day."
14Hearing this, the king was very angry with himself for signing the law, and he tried to find a way to save Daniel. He spent the rest of the day looking for a way to get Daniel out of this predicament. 15In the evening the men went together to the king and said, "Your Majesty knows that according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, no law that the king signs can be changed."
16So at last the king gave orders for Daniel to be arrested and thrown into the den of lions. The king said to him, "May your God, whom you worship continually, rescue you." 17A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den. The king sealed the stone with his own royal seal and the seals of his nobles, so that no one could rescue Daniel from the lions. 18Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night fasting. He refused his usual entertainment and couldn't sleep at all that night.
19Very early the next morning, the king hurried out to the lions' den. 20When he got there, he called out in anguish, "Daniel, servant of the living God! Was your God, whom you worship continually, able to rescue you from the lions?"
21Daniel answered, "Long live the king! 22My God sent his angel to shut the lions' mouths so that they would not hurt me, for I have been found innocent in his sight. And I have not wronged you, Your Majesty."
23The king was overjoyed and ordered that Daniel be lifted from the den. Not a scratch was found on him because he had trusted in his God. 24Then the king gave orders to arrest the men who had maliciously accused Daniel. He had them thrown into the lions' den, along with their wives and children. The lions leaped on them and tore them apart before they even hit the floor of the den.
25Then King Darius sent this message to the people of every race and nation and language throughout the world:
"Peace and prosperity to you!
26"I decree that everyone throughout my kingdom should tremble with fear before the God of Daniel.
For he is the living God, and he will endure forever. His kingdom will never be destroyed, and his rule will never end.
27 He rescues and saves his people; he performs miraculous signs and wonders in the heavens and on earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions."
28So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian. F25
FOOTNOTES:F25: Or of Darius, that is, the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living Translation
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
I am looking at this today and realizing that Daniel was 80 years old when he was in the den with the lions. He’d lives through at least 4 kingdoms & kings ruling in the world. He was not in the city of God, but in the kingdoms of men, and by discipline & worship he stayed forever “In Christ”! From the time of his youth, where he was taken from his spiritually strengthening surroundings and put in the world to “fend for himself”, he rather rose up and became a disciple and a son of God.
He became such a disciple and a son that he stayed a disciple and son all of his days, through every circumstance and situation that crossed his pathway and there were some doozies, and humdingers.
I wonder if the trails we face now even compare to being in a fire or a den of live lions?
Yet we find ourselves inside of the city of God, but we struggle to stay strong in faith. It’s time to rise up in the strength and power of the Lord and stay the distance! Daniel did not even have the multitude of options we have to stay strong in faith. He didn’t have Sunday school, church, cell groups, books galore, Bible online, on CD etc., etc., yet he stayed.
It’s time, let God arise and every enemy be scattered and flee away!
The enemy comes as a roaring lion seeking those he can devour, we’re not in the den, we just hear the roaring. Can he devour us? No he cannot! We insist on it and enforce it by the power of the spirit of God.
We have overcome everything by the power of the cross, by the power of the shed blood of Christ and by the power of His great love.
Be loosed from every hindrance in Jesus’ name to love and worship and serve the Lord!
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 11, 2006
Daniel 5 Who's in charge for this generation and it's propitiation?
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.
Daniel 5:1-31
The Writing on the Wall
1A number of years later, King Belshazzar gave a great feast for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them. 2While Belshazzar was drinking, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver cups that his predecessor, F19 Nebuchadnezzar, had taken from the Temple in Jerusalem, so that he and his nobles, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. 3So they brought these gold cups taken from the Temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. 4They drank toasts from them to honor their idols made of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.
5At that very moment they saw the fingers of a human hand writing on the plaster wall of the king's palace, near the lampstand. The king himself saw the hand as it wrote, 6and his face turned pale with fear. Such terror gripped him that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way beneath him.
7The king shouted for the enchanters, astrologers, F20 and fortune-tellers to be brought before him. He said to these wise men of Babylon, "Whoever can read this writing and tell me what it means will be dressed in purple robes of royal honor and will wear a gold chain around his neck. He will become the third highest ruler in the kingdom!" 8But when all the king's wise men came in, none of them could read the writing or tell him what it meant. 9So the king grew even more alarmed, and his face turned ashen white. His nobles, too, were shaken.
10But when the queen mother heard what was happening, she hurried to the banquet hall. She said to Belshazzar, "Long live the king! Don't be so pale and afraid about this. 11There is a man in your kingdom who has within him the spirit of the holy gods. During Nebuchadnezzar's reign, this man was found to have insight, understanding, and wisdom as though he himself were a god. Your predecessor, King Nebuchadnezzar, made him chief over all the magicians, enchanters, astrologers, and fortune-tellers of Babylon. 12This man Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar, has a sharp mind and is filled with divine knowledge and understanding. He can interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve difficult problems. Call for Daniel, and he will tell you what the writing means."
Daniel Explains the Writing
13So Daniel was brought in before the king. The king asked him, "Are you Daniel, who was exiled from Judah by my predecessor, King Nebuchadnezzar? 14I have heard that you have the spirit of the gods within you and that you are filled with insight, understanding, and wisdom. 15My wise men and enchanters have tried to read this writing on the wall, but they cannot. 16I am told that you can give interpretations and solve difficult problems. If you can read these words and tell me their meaning, you will be clothed in purple robes of royal honor, and you will wear a gold chain around your neck. You will become the third highest ruler in the kingdom."
17Daniel answered the king, "Keep your gifts or give them to someone else, but I will tell you what the writing means. 18Your Majesty, the Most High God gave sovereignty, majesty, glory, and honor to your predecessor, Nebuchadnezzar. 19He made him so great that people of all races and nations and languages trembled before him in fear. He killed those he wanted to kill and spared those he wanted to spare. He honored those he wanted to honor and disgraced those he wanted to disgrace. 20But when his heart and mind were hardened with pride, he was brought down from his royal throne and stripped of his glory. 21He was driven from human society. He was given the mind of an animal, and he lived among the wild donkeys. He ate grass like a cow, and he was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he learned that the Most High God rules the kingdoms of the world and appoints anyone he desires to rule over them.
22"You are his successor, F21 O Belshazzar, and you knew all this, yet you have not humbled yourself. 23For you have defied the Lord of heaven and have had these cups from his Temple brought before you. You and your nobles and your wives and concubines have been drinking wine from them while praising gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone—gods that neither see nor hear nor know anything at all. But you have not honored the God who gives you the breath of life and controls your destiny! 24So God has sent this hand to write a message.
25"This is the message that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN. 26This is what these words mean:
Mene means 'numbered'—God has numbered the days of your reign and has brought it to an end.
27 Tekel means 'weighed'—you have been weighed on the balances and have failed the test.
28 Parsin F22 means 'divided'—your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians."
29Then at Belshazzar's command, Daniel was dressed in purple robes, a gold chain was hung around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom.
30That very night Belshazzar, the Babylonian F23 king, was killed. F24 31And Darius the Mede took over the kingdom at the age of sixty-two.
FOOTNOTES:F19: Aramaic father; also in 5:11, 13, 18. F20: Or Chaldeans; also in 5:11. F21: Aramaic son. F22: Aramaic Peres, the singular of Parsin. F23: Or Chaldean. F24: The Persians and Medes conquered Babylon in October 539 B.C.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living Translation
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
A life of faith must be propagated, passed on. A life of faith must become someone’s legacy. Not just a life of faith though, but a life of faith In God Most High and His Son Jesus Christ.
Did you notice, as my husband brought up this morning, that and awesome and terrible God lesson had happened to this king’s father and this king did not even know who Daniel was? The scripture said Daniel was exiled from Judah, the very place where self exalted Nebuchadnezzar had been brought low by the hand of God, where Nebuchadnezzar had declared God as Most High, and decreed His power and dominion over the earth!
Things change, people change, automatically, they change, the earth is moving daily. If we do not purposely, with determination, grow in the things of Christ Jesus, purposing to live out the Divine destiny of the Lord, we will fail to “pass it on”. Ever notice how if you do not spend time on a thing and just let it sit, it either dies or rots or rusts or determinates? Only if/when we rise up and take back land, territory, and lives, will this gospel message- we so love be given to the next generation. Even the miraculous works of God’s mighty hands cannot sustain a generation if that manifestation does not also touch them personally.
Our faith is a living, breathing faith. We must live it for our “children”. We cannot just speak of it, as though it was a nice history lesson, something we reminisce about.
Obviously this king was not raised with a fear and respect for God Most High, as his father had had, because he went in to the temple of the Lord and took something there, an article of worship unto God and used it for ordinary day to day use. He was not operating from knowledge of God or he’d not have defied the worship of God.
We see this everyday in the form of mockery. If parents did not teach by example the gospel message by life force power, then the kids do not have a fear of the Lord and would easily defy God, either with their mouths or actions. What is so tragic about this is we’ve thought it was an option, almost an infringement on an independent choice. Our children were meant to be trained by us as parents, living examples of godliness and fear and great love for the things of God. If they do not see that or if we give them options at young ages, when we are responsible to mold them, we will see them die before our eyes! Nebuchadnezzar’s son died an eternal death. THAT is the tragedy. His son died, but not in faith. He died not knowing. Left to fend and find out for themselves, our children would be lost. Make them go to church? You’d better believe it. This is what we do, because this is what we believe, and this is what we live at home. Mommy loves God, loves Jesus, Daddy loves God, loves Jesus, we live like we love Jesus, and if we fail, we tell our kids of our failures and the learning processes we are growing through.
We live in humility, not under the rule of pride. We admit wrongs and show our kids how to place their sins on a cross, to crucify their flesh natured being and go worship in the throneroom, where we are face to face on a continual encounter with God, willingly accountable to our Father.
I know there are exceptions, circumstances. Like we did it all wrong, now we cry out to God for mercy! Or we live by faith but our spouse does not. We don’t live by the sway of our circumstances, we live by faith in the God of the possible, making impossible things happen. If we cry out, He hears and answers. Is anyone crying out? If you know to do it now, are you? It’s never too late. Don’t wallow in how much time is lost or how much of a wrong example you were. Start today as a righteous example. Cry out today, ask God for His miraculous work to redeem time and help us live out the rest of our days for Him.
There’s even a scripture where child training is concerned, that says, let not your soul spare for his crying….the natural soul will cry out, it doesn’t want to serve God or live by example or be responsible or to listen and obey. Your child was raised independent of God, and now mommy or daddy changes, he’s gonna cry out. The word says do not spare for his crying. That means do it anyway, he’ll get over it, and be better for it.
As I write I remember the scenario of our 3 part being, spirit, soul, body. Spirit is the daddy, soul, the mommy, body the baby or child. The child and even the mommy scream out, throw a tantrum, kick and protest, argue with the daddy about something ”we” are gonna do. The 2 says, yeah well see if “we “ do this or not, while 1 says “we” are doing this! Let not 1’s souls spare (stop the forward motion) for the crying of the other 2! Then there’s the deal where you don’t want to do what God says, but you decide to, you overrule the decision of the souls and body who are not feeling like it, you tell them, so what here we go, follow suit. What about in a family where a young child is telling mommy and daddy what the family is doing? And what if he doesn’t want to go to church or whatever? Mommy and daddy tell him, they override his fleshly immature decision and tell him “we” are going, this is who we are and what we do!
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.
Daniel 5:1-31
The Writing on the Wall
1A number of years later, King Belshazzar gave a great feast for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them. 2While Belshazzar was drinking, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver cups that his predecessor, F19 Nebuchadnezzar, had taken from the Temple in Jerusalem, so that he and his nobles, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. 3So they brought these gold cups taken from the Temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. 4They drank toasts from them to honor their idols made of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.
5At that very moment they saw the fingers of a human hand writing on the plaster wall of the king's palace, near the lampstand. The king himself saw the hand as it wrote, 6and his face turned pale with fear. Such terror gripped him that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way beneath him.
7The king shouted for the enchanters, astrologers, F20 and fortune-tellers to be brought before him. He said to these wise men of Babylon, "Whoever can read this writing and tell me what it means will be dressed in purple robes of royal honor and will wear a gold chain around his neck. He will become the third highest ruler in the kingdom!" 8But when all the king's wise men came in, none of them could read the writing or tell him what it meant. 9So the king grew even more alarmed, and his face turned ashen white. His nobles, too, were shaken.
10But when the queen mother heard what was happening, she hurried to the banquet hall. She said to Belshazzar, "Long live the king! Don't be so pale and afraid about this. 11There is a man in your kingdom who has within him the spirit of the holy gods. During Nebuchadnezzar's reign, this man was found to have insight, understanding, and wisdom as though he himself were a god. Your predecessor, King Nebuchadnezzar, made him chief over all the magicians, enchanters, astrologers, and fortune-tellers of Babylon. 12This man Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar, has a sharp mind and is filled with divine knowledge and understanding. He can interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve difficult problems. Call for Daniel, and he will tell you what the writing means."
Daniel Explains the Writing
13So Daniel was brought in before the king. The king asked him, "Are you Daniel, who was exiled from Judah by my predecessor, King Nebuchadnezzar? 14I have heard that you have the spirit of the gods within you and that you are filled with insight, understanding, and wisdom. 15My wise men and enchanters have tried to read this writing on the wall, but they cannot. 16I am told that you can give interpretations and solve difficult problems. If you can read these words and tell me their meaning, you will be clothed in purple robes of royal honor, and you will wear a gold chain around your neck. You will become the third highest ruler in the kingdom."
17Daniel answered the king, "Keep your gifts or give them to someone else, but I will tell you what the writing means. 18Your Majesty, the Most High God gave sovereignty, majesty, glory, and honor to your predecessor, Nebuchadnezzar. 19He made him so great that people of all races and nations and languages trembled before him in fear. He killed those he wanted to kill and spared those he wanted to spare. He honored those he wanted to honor and disgraced those he wanted to disgrace. 20But when his heart and mind were hardened with pride, he was brought down from his royal throne and stripped of his glory. 21He was driven from human society. He was given the mind of an animal, and he lived among the wild donkeys. He ate grass like a cow, and he was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he learned that the Most High God rules the kingdoms of the world and appoints anyone he desires to rule over them.
22"You are his successor, F21 O Belshazzar, and you knew all this, yet you have not humbled yourself. 23For you have defied the Lord of heaven and have had these cups from his Temple brought before you. You and your nobles and your wives and concubines have been drinking wine from them while praising gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone—gods that neither see nor hear nor know anything at all. But you have not honored the God who gives you the breath of life and controls your destiny! 24So God has sent this hand to write a message.
25"This is the message that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN. 26This is what these words mean:
Mene means 'numbered'—God has numbered the days of your reign and has brought it to an end.
27 Tekel means 'weighed'—you have been weighed on the balances and have failed the test.
28 Parsin F22 means 'divided'—your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians."
29Then at Belshazzar's command, Daniel was dressed in purple robes, a gold chain was hung around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom.
30That very night Belshazzar, the Babylonian F23 king, was killed. F24 31And Darius the Mede took over the kingdom at the age of sixty-two.
FOOTNOTES:F19: Aramaic father; also in 5:11, 13, 18. F20: Or Chaldeans; also in 5:11. F21: Aramaic son. F22: Aramaic Peres, the singular of Parsin. F23: Or Chaldean. F24: The Persians and Medes conquered Babylon in October 539 B.C.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living Translation
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
A life of faith must be propagated, passed on. A life of faith must become someone’s legacy. Not just a life of faith though, but a life of faith In God Most High and His Son Jesus Christ.
Did you notice, as my husband brought up this morning, that and awesome and terrible God lesson had happened to this king’s father and this king did not even know who Daniel was? The scripture said Daniel was exiled from Judah, the very place where self exalted Nebuchadnezzar had been brought low by the hand of God, where Nebuchadnezzar had declared God as Most High, and decreed His power and dominion over the earth!
Things change, people change, automatically, they change, the earth is moving daily. If we do not purposely, with determination, grow in the things of Christ Jesus, purposing to live out the Divine destiny of the Lord, we will fail to “pass it on”. Ever notice how if you do not spend time on a thing and just let it sit, it either dies or rots or rusts or determinates? Only if/when we rise up and take back land, territory, and lives, will this gospel message- we so love be given to the next generation. Even the miraculous works of God’s mighty hands cannot sustain a generation if that manifestation does not also touch them personally.
Our faith is a living, breathing faith. We must live it for our “children”. We cannot just speak of it, as though it was a nice history lesson, something we reminisce about.
Obviously this king was not raised with a fear and respect for God Most High, as his father had had, because he went in to the temple of the Lord and took something there, an article of worship unto God and used it for ordinary day to day use. He was not operating from knowledge of God or he’d not have defied the worship of God.
We see this everyday in the form of mockery. If parents did not teach by example the gospel message by life force power, then the kids do not have a fear of the Lord and would easily defy God, either with their mouths or actions. What is so tragic about this is we’ve thought it was an option, almost an infringement on an independent choice. Our children were meant to be trained by us as parents, living examples of godliness and fear and great love for the things of God. If they do not see that or if we give them options at young ages, when we are responsible to mold them, we will see them die before our eyes! Nebuchadnezzar’s son died an eternal death. THAT is the tragedy. His son died, but not in faith. He died not knowing. Left to fend and find out for themselves, our children would be lost. Make them go to church? You’d better believe it. This is what we do, because this is what we believe, and this is what we live at home. Mommy loves God, loves Jesus, Daddy loves God, loves Jesus, we live like we love Jesus, and if we fail, we tell our kids of our failures and the learning processes we are growing through.
We live in humility, not under the rule of pride. We admit wrongs and show our kids how to place their sins on a cross, to crucify their flesh natured being and go worship in the throneroom, where we are face to face on a continual encounter with God, willingly accountable to our Father.
I know there are exceptions, circumstances. Like we did it all wrong, now we cry out to God for mercy! Or we live by faith but our spouse does not. We don’t live by the sway of our circumstances, we live by faith in the God of the possible, making impossible things happen. If we cry out, He hears and answers. Is anyone crying out? If you know to do it now, are you? It’s never too late. Don’t wallow in how much time is lost or how much of a wrong example you were. Start today as a righteous example. Cry out today, ask God for His miraculous work to redeem time and help us live out the rest of our days for Him.
There’s even a scripture where child training is concerned, that says, let not your soul spare for his crying….the natural soul will cry out, it doesn’t want to serve God or live by example or be responsible or to listen and obey. Your child was raised independent of God, and now mommy or daddy changes, he’s gonna cry out. The word says do not spare for his crying. That means do it anyway, he’ll get over it, and be better for it.
As I write I remember the scenario of our 3 part being, spirit, soul, body. Spirit is the daddy, soul, the mommy, body the baby or child. The child and even the mommy scream out, throw a tantrum, kick and protest, argue with the daddy about something ”we” are gonna do. The 2 says, yeah well see if “we “ do this or not, while 1 says “we” are doing this! Let not 1’s souls spare (stop the forward motion) for the crying of the other 2! Then there’s the deal where you don’t want to do what God says, but you decide to, you overrule the decision of the souls and body who are not feeling like it, you tell them, so what here we go, follow suit. What about in a family where a young child is telling mommy and daddy what the family is doing? And what if he doesn’t want to go to church or whatever? Mommy and daddy tell him, they override his fleshly immature decision and tell him “we” are going, this is who we are and what we do!
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 10, 2006
Daniel 4 (really- mislabled 2 4 sorry) Who do I serve?
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.
Daniel 4:1-37
Nebuchadnezzar's Dream about a Tree
1King Nebuchadnezzar sent this message to the people of every race and nation and language throughout the world:
"Peace and prosperity to you!
2"I want you all to know about the miraculous signs and wonders the Most High God has performed for me.
3 How great are his signs, how powerful his wonders! His kingdom will last forever, his rule through all generations.
4"I, Nebuchadnezzar, was living in my palace in comfort and prosperity. 5But one night I had a dream that greatly frightened me; I saw visions that terrified me as I lay in my bed. 6So I issued an order calling in all the wise men of Babylon, so they could tell me what my dream meant. 7When all the magicians, enchanters, astrologers, F16 and fortune-tellers came in, I told them the dream, but they could not tell me what it meant. 8At last Daniel came in before me, and I told him the dream. (He was named Belteshazzar after my god, and the spirit of the holy gods is in him.)
9"I said to him, 'O Belteshazzar, master magician, I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you and that no mystery is too great for you to solve. Now tell me what my dream means.
10"'While I was lying in my bed, this is what I dreamed. I saw a large tree in the middle of the earth. 11The tree grew very tall and strong, reaching high into the heavens for all the world to see. 12It had fresh green leaves, and it was loaded with fruit for all to eat. Wild animals lived in its shade, and birds nested in its branches. All the world was fed from this tree.
13"'Then as I lay there dreaming, I saw a messenger, F17 a holy one, coming down from heaven. 14The messenger shouted, "Cut down the tree; lop off its branches! Shake off its leaves, and scatter its fruit! Chase the animals from its shade and the birds from its branches. 15But leave the stump and the roots in the ground, bound with a band of iron and bronze and surrounded by tender grass. Now let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and let him live like an animal among the plants of the fields. 16For seven periods of time, let him have the mind of an animal instead of a human. 17For this has been decreed by the messengers F18 ; it is commanded by the holy ones. The purpose of this decree is that the whole world may understand that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses—even to the lowliest of humans."
18"'O Belteshazzar, that was the dream that I, King Nebuchadnezzar, had. Now tell me what it means, for no one else can help me. All the wisest men of my kingdom have failed me. But you can tell me because the spirit of the holy gods is in you.'
Daniel Explains the Dream
19"Upon hearing this, Daniel (also known as Belteshazzar) was overcome for a time, aghast at the meaning of the dream. Finally, the king said to him, 'Belteshazzar, don't be alarmed by the dream and what it means.'
"Belteshazzar replied, 'Oh, how I wish the events foreshadowed in this dream would happen to your enemies, my lord, and not to you! 20You saw a tree growing very tall and strong, reaching high into the heavens for all the world to see. 21It had fresh green leaves, and it was loaded with fruit for all to eat. Wild animals lived in its shade, and birds nested in its branches. 22That tree, Your Majesty, is you. For you have grown strong and great; your greatness reaches up to heaven, and your rule to the ends of the earth.
23"'Then you saw a messenger, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, "Cut down the tree and destroy it. But leave the stump and the roots in the ground, bound with a band of iron and bronze and surrounded by tender grass. Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven. Let him eat grass with the animals of the field for seven periods of time."
24"'This is what the dream means, Your Majesty, and what the Most High has declared will happen to you. 25You will be driven from human society, and you will live in the fields with the wild animals. You will eat grass like a cow, and you will be drenched with the dew of heaven. Seven periods of time will pass while you live this way, until you learn that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses. 26But the stump and the roots were left in the ground. This means that you will receive your kingdom back again when you have learned that heaven rules.
27"'O King Nebuchadnezzar, please listen to me. Stop sinning and do what is right. Break from your wicked past by being merciful to the poor. Perhaps then you will continue to prosper.'
The Dream's Fulfillment
28"But all these things did happen to King Nebuchadnezzar. 29Twelve months later, he was taking a walk on the flat roof of the royal palace in Babylon. 30As he looked out across the city, he said, 'Just look at this great city of Babylon! I, by my own mighty power, have built this beautiful city as my royal residence and as an expression of my royal splendor.'
31"While he was still speaking these words, a voice called down from heaven, 'O King Nebuchadnezzar, this message is for you! You are no longer ruler of this kingdom. 32You will be driven from human society. You will live in the fields with the wild animals, and you will eat grass like a cow. Seven periods of time will pass while you live this way, until you learn that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses.'
33"That very same hour the prophecy was fulfilled, and Nebuchadnezzar was driven from human society. He ate grass like a cow, and he was drenched with the dew of heaven. He lived this way until his hair was as long as eagles' feathers and his nails were like birds' claws.
Nebuchadnezzar Praises God
34"After this time had passed, I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven. My sanity returned, and I praised and worshiped the Most High and honored the one who lives forever.
His rule is everlasting, and his kingdom is eternal.
35 All the people of the earth are nothing compared to him. He has the power to do as he pleases among the angels of heaven and with those who live on earth. No one can stop him or challenge him, saying, 'What do you mean by doing these things?'
36"When my sanity returned to me, so did my honor and glory and kingdom. My advisers and officers sought me out, and I was reestablished as head of my kingdom, with even greater honor than before.
37"Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and glorify and honor the King of heaven. All his acts are just and true, and he is able to humble those who are proud."
FOOTNOTES:F16: Or Chaldeans. F17: Aramaic a watcher; also in 4:23. F18: Aramaic the watchers.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living Translation
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
What did it take for Nebuchadnezzar to make this divinely inspired declaration?
He went through success, self-exaltation over his successes. Yet he was given dreams, warnings, and by God’s great grace he had influences placed in his life, he was divinely surrounded by God. Even with all of that Divine surrounding, it took more for him to really see who glory honor and power belongs to. What did it take?
It took 7 years of extreme loss, extreme lows. When I read the Bible I don’t see 7 as a number really. 7 means completed, a finishing. It took as long as it took for this mindset to be broken and a new mindset to be adapted. It took blindness to the old to see the new. It took a stripping of all he was. It took a separation of who he was to find out who God is.
What has it taken for us and what else will it take? We must acknowledge God as MOST HIGH.
When we provide well enough for ourselves, when we’re strong, successful, self seeking, etc. we need to be at watch for our souls, we may not be living in acknowledgement of God Most High. Self dependency is sin. One must be responsible to God, but not dependant on self. When we walk the road of freedom from self reliance, to God reliance, we’ll find our lives are pleasing and glorifying Him because of faith in Him. He will place impossible to us situations all around us, to test our dependencies. If we are serving self, we’ll get frustrated because we cannot do it! Where if we rather depend on Christ who gives us all of the strength we need, we’ll be dependant on Him and therefore can do all things through Him. That eliminates the frustration, because it does not depend on me, it is contingent upon His Mighty power.
Not acknowledging God sets us up for failure. Ever see a rich man taken down to nothing in a “day”? One must be very “careful” of self or other acknowledgement. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him only shall we serve. If we serve Him truly in faith, riches & poverty have no affect on the service for we serve a Mighty God. The point to come to in any situation is, Who do I love and through loving, serve? Me or 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.
Daniel 4:1-37
Nebuchadnezzar's Dream about a Tree
1King Nebuchadnezzar sent this message to the people of every race and nation and language throughout the world:
"Peace and prosperity to you!
2"I want you all to know about the miraculous signs and wonders the Most High God has performed for me.
3 How great are his signs, how powerful his wonders! His kingdom will last forever, his rule through all generations.
4"I, Nebuchadnezzar, was living in my palace in comfort and prosperity. 5But one night I had a dream that greatly frightened me; I saw visions that terrified me as I lay in my bed. 6So I issued an order calling in all the wise men of Babylon, so they could tell me what my dream meant. 7When all the magicians, enchanters, astrologers, F16 and fortune-tellers came in, I told them the dream, but they could not tell me what it meant. 8At last Daniel came in before me, and I told him the dream. (He was named Belteshazzar after my god, and the spirit of the holy gods is in him.)
9"I said to him, 'O Belteshazzar, master magician, I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you and that no mystery is too great for you to solve. Now tell me what my dream means.
10"'While I was lying in my bed, this is what I dreamed. I saw a large tree in the middle of the earth. 11The tree grew very tall and strong, reaching high into the heavens for all the world to see. 12It had fresh green leaves, and it was loaded with fruit for all to eat. Wild animals lived in its shade, and birds nested in its branches. All the world was fed from this tree.
13"'Then as I lay there dreaming, I saw a messenger, F17 a holy one, coming down from heaven. 14The messenger shouted, "Cut down the tree; lop off its branches! Shake off its leaves, and scatter its fruit! Chase the animals from its shade and the birds from its branches. 15But leave the stump and the roots in the ground, bound with a band of iron and bronze and surrounded by tender grass. Now let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and let him live like an animal among the plants of the fields. 16For seven periods of time, let him have the mind of an animal instead of a human. 17For this has been decreed by the messengers F18 ; it is commanded by the holy ones. The purpose of this decree is that the whole world may understand that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses—even to the lowliest of humans."
18"'O Belteshazzar, that was the dream that I, King Nebuchadnezzar, had. Now tell me what it means, for no one else can help me. All the wisest men of my kingdom have failed me. But you can tell me because the spirit of the holy gods is in you.'
Daniel Explains the Dream
19"Upon hearing this, Daniel (also known as Belteshazzar) was overcome for a time, aghast at the meaning of the dream. Finally, the king said to him, 'Belteshazzar, don't be alarmed by the dream and what it means.'
"Belteshazzar replied, 'Oh, how I wish the events foreshadowed in this dream would happen to your enemies, my lord, and not to you! 20You saw a tree growing very tall and strong, reaching high into the heavens for all the world to see. 21It had fresh green leaves, and it was loaded with fruit for all to eat. Wild animals lived in its shade, and birds nested in its branches. 22That tree, Your Majesty, is you. For you have grown strong and great; your greatness reaches up to heaven, and your rule to the ends of the earth.
23"'Then you saw a messenger, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, "Cut down the tree and destroy it. But leave the stump and the roots in the ground, bound with a band of iron and bronze and surrounded by tender grass. Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven. Let him eat grass with the animals of the field for seven periods of time."
24"'This is what the dream means, Your Majesty, and what the Most High has declared will happen to you. 25You will be driven from human society, and you will live in the fields with the wild animals. You will eat grass like a cow, and you will be drenched with the dew of heaven. Seven periods of time will pass while you live this way, until you learn that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses. 26But the stump and the roots were left in the ground. This means that you will receive your kingdom back again when you have learned that heaven rules.
27"'O King Nebuchadnezzar, please listen to me. Stop sinning and do what is right. Break from your wicked past by being merciful to the poor. Perhaps then you will continue to prosper.'
The Dream's Fulfillment
28"But all these things did happen to King Nebuchadnezzar. 29Twelve months later, he was taking a walk on the flat roof of the royal palace in Babylon. 30As he looked out across the city, he said, 'Just look at this great city of Babylon! I, by my own mighty power, have built this beautiful city as my royal residence and as an expression of my royal splendor.'
31"While he was still speaking these words, a voice called down from heaven, 'O King Nebuchadnezzar, this message is for you! You are no longer ruler of this kingdom. 32You will be driven from human society. You will live in the fields with the wild animals, and you will eat grass like a cow. Seven periods of time will pass while you live this way, until you learn that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses.'
33"That very same hour the prophecy was fulfilled, and Nebuchadnezzar was driven from human society. He ate grass like a cow, and he was drenched with the dew of heaven. He lived this way until his hair was as long as eagles' feathers and his nails were like birds' claws.
Nebuchadnezzar Praises God
34"After this time had passed, I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven. My sanity returned, and I praised and worshiped the Most High and honored the one who lives forever.
His rule is everlasting, and his kingdom is eternal.
35 All the people of the earth are nothing compared to him. He has the power to do as he pleases among the angels of heaven and with those who live on earth. No one can stop him or challenge him, saying, 'What do you mean by doing these things?'
36"When my sanity returned to me, so did my honor and glory and kingdom. My advisers and officers sought me out, and I was reestablished as head of my kingdom, with even greater honor than before.
37"Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and glorify and honor the King of heaven. All his acts are just and true, and he is able to humble those who are proud."
FOOTNOTES:F16: Or Chaldeans. F17: Aramaic a watcher; also in 4:23. F18: Aramaic the watchers.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living Translation
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
What did it take for Nebuchadnezzar to make this divinely inspired declaration?
He went through success, self-exaltation over his successes. Yet he was given dreams, warnings, and by God’s great grace he had influences placed in his life, he was divinely surrounded by God. Even with all of that Divine surrounding, it took more for him to really see who glory honor and power belongs to. What did it take?
It took 7 years of extreme loss, extreme lows. When I read the Bible I don’t see 7 as a number really. 7 means completed, a finishing. It took as long as it took for this mindset to be broken and a new mindset to be adapted. It took blindness to the old to see the new. It took a stripping of all he was. It took a separation of who he was to find out who God is.
What has it taken for us and what else will it take? We must acknowledge God as MOST HIGH.
When we provide well enough for ourselves, when we’re strong, successful, self seeking, etc. we need to be at watch for our souls, we may not be living in acknowledgement of God Most High. Self dependency is sin. One must be responsible to God, but not dependant on self. When we walk the road of freedom from self reliance, to God reliance, we’ll find our lives are pleasing and glorifying Him because of faith in Him. He will place impossible to us situations all around us, to test our dependencies. If we are serving self, we’ll get frustrated because we cannot do it! Where if we rather depend on Christ who gives us all of the strength we need, we’ll be dependant on Him and therefore can do all things through Him. That eliminates the frustration, because it does not depend on me, it is contingent upon His Mighty power.
Not acknowledging God sets us up for failure. Ever see a rich man taken down to nothing in a “day”? One must be very “careful” of self or other acknowledgement. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him only shall we serve. If we serve Him truly in faith, riches & poverty have no affect on the service for we serve a Mighty God. The point to come to in any situation is, Who do I love and through loving, serve? Me or 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.
Wednesday, August 09, 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.
Daniel 3:1-30
Nebuchadnezzar's Gold Statue
1King Nebuchadnezzar made a gold statue ninety feet tall and nine feet wide F9 and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. 2Then he sent messages to the princes, prefects, governors, advisers, counselors, judges, magistrates, and all the provincial officials to come to the dedication of the statue he had set up. 3When all these officials F10 had arrived and were standing before the image King Nebuchadnezzar had set up, 4a herald shouted out, "People of all races and nations and languages, listen to the king's command! 5When you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and other instruments, F11 bow to the ground to worship King Nebuchadnezzar's gold statue. 6Anyone who refuses to obey will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace."
7So at the sound of the musical instruments, F12 all the people, whatever their race or nation or language, bowed to the ground and worshiped the statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
8But some of the astrologers F13 went to the king and informed on the Jews. 9They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, "Long live the king! 10You issued a decree requiring all the people to bow down and worship the gold statue when they hear the sound of the musical instruments. F14 11That decree also states that those who refuse to obey must be thrown into a blazing furnace. 12But there are some Jews—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—whom you have put in charge of the province of Babylon. They have defied Your Majesty by refusing to serve your gods or to worship the gold statue you have set up."
13Then Nebuchadnezzar flew into a rage and ordered Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be brought before him. When they were brought in, 14Nebuchadnezzar said to them, "Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you refuse to serve my gods or to worship the gold statue I have set up? 15I will give you one more chance. If you bow down and worship the statue I have made when you hear the sound of the musical instruments, all will be well. But if you refuse, you will be thrown immediately into the blazing furnace. What god will be able to rescue you from my power then?"
16Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. 17If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. 18But even if he doesn't, Your Majesty can be sure that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up."
The Blazing Furnace
19Nebuchadnezzar was so furious with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that his face became distorted with rage. He commanded that the furnace be heated seven times hotter than usual. 20Then he ordered some of the strongest men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace. 21So they tied them up and threw them into the furnace, fully clothed. 22And because the king, in his anger, had demanded such a hot fire in the furnace, the flames leaped out and killed the soldiers as they threw the three men in! 23So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, securely tied, fell down into the roaring flames.
24But suddenly, as he was watching, Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in amazement and exclaimed to his advisers, "Didn't we tie up three men and throw them into the furnace?" "Yes," they said, "we did indeed, Your Majesty."
25"Look!" Nebuchadnezzar shouted. "I see four men, unbound, walking around in the fire. They aren't even hurt by the flames! And the fourth looks like a divine being F15 !"
26Then Nebuchadnezzar came as close as he could to the door of the flaming furnace and shouted: "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!" So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stepped out of the fire. 27Then the princes, prefects, governors, and advisers crowded around them and saw that the fire had not touched them. Not a hair on their heads was singed, and their clothing was not scorched. They didn't even smell of smoke!
28Then Nebuchadnezzar said, "Praise to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego! He sent his angel to rescue his servants who trusted in him. They defied the king's command and were willing to die rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. 29Therefore, I make this decree: If any people, whatever their race or nation or language, speak a word against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they will be torn limb from limb, and their houses will be crushed into heaps of rubble. There is no other god who can rescue like this!" 30Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to even higher positions in the province of Babylon.
FOOTNOTES:F9: Aramaic 60 cubits [27 meters] tall and 6 cubits [2.7 meters] wide. F10: Aramaic the princes, prefects, governors, advisers, counselors, judges, magistrates, and all the provincial officials. F11: The identification of some of these musical instruments is uncertain. F12: Aramaic the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, and other instruments of the musical ensemble. F13: Aramaic Chaldeans. F14: Aramaic the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and other instruments of the musical ensemble; also in 3:15. F15: Aramaic like a son of the gods.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living Translation
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
So what has been set up in your life to be in your face against your new born faith in Christ? Is it a big one? How big? How great is the opposition? Is it bigger than God Most High who saved you? Is it greater than the strength and power of the Lord that is in you? Is it as big as day? Probably. It is so visible, because it tries to take up time and space.
Do you know worship takes up time and space and gives it to God Most High rather than other things that could require our enegies?
So how hot are the opposer’s of your faith? Has their onslaught been fervently heated against you and against your Christianity? Do you bow and succumb to their threats and even requirements of you?
What about what God has required? Is not God #1? Do we mean that or do we only say that? Our words will need to stand the test of the fire.
Is God, God? Then serve Him, and do not bow at all ever, even if thrown into the fire. Let the Lord be glorified in both life and in death. The death of self life and desire is the greatest death to partake in.
Jesus laid down His life for the Father’s desire. Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego also had an encounter with death. They encountered death of self preservation, self desire and self rule. They submitted obediently to the rule, desire and protection of the MOST HIGH, The MOST High God!
Purpose preserved life, Glorified God, Saved some.
The salvation here was much greater than the 3 in the fire. It affected generations. The king said NO One from here on out shall even speak a curse against the God of these 3 men! Wow, what an outcome.
We all want that same outcome, but are we immoveable in our faith, will we not sell out for anything or anyone? How serious are we about the outcome? How much will it cost us? A lot! Is it worth it? We’ll find out when it comes time to fork over the “dough” of our lives, how worth it, it really to us?
Life will tell.
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.
Daniel 3:1-30
Nebuchadnezzar's Gold Statue
1King Nebuchadnezzar made a gold statue ninety feet tall and nine feet wide F9 and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. 2Then he sent messages to the princes, prefects, governors, advisers, counselors, judges, magistrates, and all the provincial officials to come to the dedication of the statue he had set up. 3When all these officials F10 had arrived and were standing before the image King Nebuchadnezzar had set up, 4a herald shouted out, "People of all races and nations and languages, listen to the king's command! 5When you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and other instruments, F11 bow to the ground to worship King Nebuchadnezzar's gold statue. 6Anyone who refuses to obey will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace."
7So at the sound of the musical instruments, F12 all the people, whatever their race or nation or language, bowed to the ground and worshiped the statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
8But some of the astrologers F13 went to the king and informed on the Jews. 9They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, "Long live the king! 10You issued a decree requiring all the people to bow down and worship the gold statue when they hear the sound of the musical instruments. F14 11That decree also states that those who refuse to obey must be thrown into a blazing furnace. 12But there are some Jews—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—whom you have put in charge of the province of Babylon. They have defied Your Majesty by refusing to serve your gods or to worship the gold statue you have set up."
13Then Nebuchadnezzar flew into a rage and ordered Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be brought before him. When they were brought in, 14Nebuchadnezzar said to them, "Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you refuse to serve my gods or to worship the gold statue I have set up? 15I will give you one more chance. If you bow down and worship the statue I have made when you hear the sound of the musical instruments, all will be well. But if you refuse, you will be thrown immediately into the blazing furnace. What god will be able to rescue you from my power then?"
16Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. 17If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. 18But even if he doesn't, Your Majesty can be sure that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up."
The Blazing Furnace
19Nebuchadnezzar was so furious with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that his face became distorted with rage. He commanded that the furnace be heated seven times hotter than usual. 20Then he ordered some of the strongest men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace. 21So they tied them up and threw them into the furnace, fully clothed. 22And because the king, in his anger, had demanded such a hot fire in the furnace, the flames leaped out and killed the soldiers as they threw the three men in! 23So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, securely tied, fell down into the roaring flames.
24But suddenly, as he was watching, Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in amazement and exclaimed to his advisers, "Didn't we tie up three men and throw them into the furnace?" "Yes," they said, "we did indeed, Your Majesty."
25"Look!" Nebuchadnezzar shouted. "I see four men, unbound, walking around in the fire. They aren't even hurt by the flames! And the fourth looks like a divine being F15 !"
26Then Nebuchadnezzar came as close as he could to the door of the flaming furnace and shouted: "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!" So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stepped out of the fire. 27Then the princes, prefects, governors, and advisers crowded around them and saw that the fire had not touched them. Not a hair on their heads was singed, and their clothing was not scorched. They didn't even smell of smoke!
28Then Nebuchadnezzar said, "Praise to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego! He sent his angel to rescue his servants who trusted in him. They defied the king's command and were willing to die rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. 29Therefore, I make this decree: If any people, whatever their race or nation or language, speak a word against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they will be torn limb from limb, and their houses will be crushed into heaps of rubble. There is no other god who can rescue like this!" 30Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to even higher positions in the province of Babylon.
FOOTNOTES:F9: Aramaic 60 cubits [27 meters] tall and 6 cubits [2.7 meters] wide. F10: Aramaic the princes, prefects, governors, advisers, counselors, judges, magistrates, and all the provincial officials. F11: The identification of some of these musical instruments is uncertain. F12: Aramaic the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, and other instruments of the musical ensemble. F13: Aramaic Chaldeans. F14: Aramaic the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and other instruments of the musical ensemble; also in 3:15. F15: Aramaic like a son of the gods.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living Translation
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
So what has been set up in your life to be in your face against your new born faith in Christ? Is it a big one? How big? How great is the opposition? Is it bigger than God Most High who saved you? Is it greater than the strength and power of the Lord that is in you? Is it as big as day? Probably. It is so visible, because it tries to take up time and space.
Do you know worship takes up time and space and gives it to God Most High rather than other things that could require our enegies?
So how hot are the opposer’s of your faith? Has their onslaught been fervently heated against you and against your Christianity? Do you bow and succumb to their threats and even requirements of you?
What about what God has required? Is not God #1? Do we mean that or do we only say that? Our words will need to stand the test of the fire.
Is God, God? Then serve Him, and do not bow at all ever, even if thrown into the fire. Let the Lord be glorified in both life and in death. The death of self life and desire is the greatest death to partake in.
Jesus laid down His life for the Father’s desire. Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego also had an encounter with death. They encountered death of self preservation, self desire and self rule. They submitted obediently to the rule, desire and protection of the MOST HIGH, The MOST High God!
Purpose preserved life, Glorified God, Saved some.
The salvation here was much greater than the 3 in the fire. It affected generations. The king said NO One from here on out shall even speak a curse against the God of these 3 men! Wow, what an outcome.
We all want that same outcome, but are we immoveable in our faith, will we not sell out for anything or anyone? How serious are we about the outcome? How much will it cost us? A lot! Is it worth it? We’ll find out when it comes time to fork over the “dough” of our lives, how worth it, it really to us?
Life will tell.
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 08, 2006
Daniel 4 "Will You?" "I will"
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.
Daniel 2
Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream
1One night during the second year of his reign,[a] Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that disturbed him so much that he couldn't sleep. 2He called in his magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers,[b] and he demanded that they tell him what he had dreamed. As they stood before the king, 3he said, "I have had a dream that troubles me. Tell me what I dreamed, for I must know what it means."
4Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic,[c] "Long live the king! Tell us the dream, and we will tell you what it means."
5But the king said to the astrologers, "I am serious about this. If you don't tell me what my dream was and what it means, you will be torn limb from limb, and your houses will be demolished into heaps of rubble! 6But if you tell me what I dreamed and what the dream means, I will give you many wonderful gifts and honors. Just tell me the dream and what it means!"
7They said again, "Please, Your Majesty. Tell us the dream, and we will tell you what it means."
8The king replied, "I can see through your trick! You are trying to stall for time because you know I am serious about what I said. 9If you don't tell me the dream, you will be condemned. You have conspired to tell me lies in hopes that something will change. But tell me the dream, and then I will know that you can tell me what it means."
10The astrologers replied to the king, "There isn't a man alive who can tell Your Majesty his dream! And no king, however great and powerful, has ever asked such a thing of any magician, enchanter, or astrologer! 11This is an impossible thing the king requires. No one except the gods can tell you your dream, and they do not live among people."
12The king was furious when he heard this, and he sent out orders to execute all the wise men of Babylon. 13And because of the king's decree, men were sent to find and kill Daniel and his friends. 14When Arioch, the commander of the king's guard, came to kill them, Daniel handled the situation with wisdom and discretion. 15He asked Arioch, "Why has the king issued such a harsh decree?" So Arioch told him all that had happened. 16Daniel went at once to see the king and requested more time so he could tell the king what the dream meant.
17Then Daniel went home and told his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah what had happened. 18He urged them to ask the God of heaven to show them his mercy by telling them the secret, so they would not be executed along with the other wise men of Babylon. 19That night the secret was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven, 20saying,
"Praise the name of God forever and ever, for he alone has all wisdom and power.
21 He determines the course of world events; he removes kings and sets others on the throne. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the scholars.
22 He reveals deep and mysterious things and knows what lies hidden in darkness, though he himself is surrounded by light.
23 I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors, for you have given me wisdom and strength. You have told me what we asked of you and revealed to us what the king demanded."
Daniel Interprets the Dream
24Then Daniel went in to see Arioch, who had been ordered to execute the wise men of Babylon. Daniel said to him, "Don't kill the wise men. Take me to the king, and I will tell him the meaning of his dream."
25Then Arioch quickly took Daniel to the king and said, "I have found one of the captives from Judah who will tell Your Majesty the meaning of your dream!"
26The king said to Daniel (also known as Belteshazzar), "Is this true? Can you tell me what my dream was and what it means?"
27Daniel replied, "There are no wise men, enchanters, magicians, or fortune-tellers who can tell the king such things. 28But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the future. Now I will tell you your dream and the visions you saw as you lay on your bed.
29"While Your Majesty was sleeping, you dreamed about coming events. The revealer of mysteries has shown you what is going to happen. 30And it is not because I am wiser than any living person that I know the secret of your dream, but because God wanted you to understand what you were thinking about.
31"Your Majesty, in your vision you saw in front of you a huge and powerful statue of a man, shining brilliantly, frightening and awesome. 32The head of the statue was made of fine gold, its chest and arms were of silver, its belly and thighs were of bronze, 33its legs were of iron, and its feet were a combination of iron and clay. 34But as you watched, a rock was cut from a mountain by supernatural means.[d] It struck the feet of iron and clay, smashing them to bits. 35The whole statue collapsed into a heap of iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold. The pieces were crushed as small as chaff on a threshing floor, and the wind blew them all away without a trace. But the rock that knocked the statue down became a great mountain that covered the whole earth.
36"That was the dream; now I will tell Your Majesty what it means. 37Your Majesty, you are a king over many kings. The God of heaven has given you sovereignty, power, strength, and honor. 38He has made you the ruler over all the inhabited world and has put even the animals and birds under your control. You are the head of gold.
39"But after your kingdom comes to an end, another great kingdom, inferior to yours, will rise to take your place. After that kingdom has fallen, yet a third great kingdom, represented by the bronze belly and thighs, will rise to rule the world. 40Following that kingdom, there will be a fourth great kingdom, as strong as iron. That kingdom will smash and crush all previous empires, just as iron smashes and crushes everything it strikes. 41The feet and toes you saw that were a combination of iron and clay show that this kingdom will be divided. 42Some parts of it will be as strong as iron, and others as weak as clay. 43This mixture of iron and clay also shows that these kingdoms will try to strengthen themselves by forming alliances with each other through intermarriage. But this will not succeed, just as iron and clay do not mix.
44"During the reigns of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed; no one will ever conquer it. It will shatter all these kingdoms into nothingness, but it will stand forever. 45That is the meaning of the rock cut from the mountain by supernatural means, crushing to dust the statue of iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold.
"The great God has shown Your Majesty what will happen in the future. The dream is true, and its meaning is certain."
Nebuchadnezzar Rewards Daniel
46Then King Nebuchadnezzar bowed to the ground before Daniel and worshiped him, and he commanded his people to offer sacrifices and burn sweet incense before him. 47The king said to Daniel, "Truly, your God is the God of gods, the Lord over kings, a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this secret."
48Then the king appointed Daniel to a high position and gave him many valuable gifts. He made Daniel ruler over the whole province of Babylon, as well as chief over all his wise men. 49At Daniel's request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be in charge of all the affairs of the province of Babylon, while Daniel remained in the king's court.
Footnotes:
a. Daniel 2:1 The second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign was 603 B.C.
b. Daniel 2:2 Or Chaldeans; also in 2:4, 5, 10.
c. Daniel 2:4 The original text from this point through chapter 7 is in Aramaic.
d. Daniel 2:34 Aramaic not by human hands; also in 2:45.
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
The wisdom of God is not as the “wisdom” of men. God sees so far beyond what man can see alone without God’s help. The only way man can see that same way is to come closer to God.
This is a reason to have a gap bridged in the relationship of man and God. How effective is man on his own strength and by his own wisdom? Man’s wisdom is exhausted fairly quickly, yet the Divine wisdom of God is unfathomable.
Which would we desire, wisdom that runs dry, or wisdom that is immensely eternal in nature?
We’ve got to look into the source, sink our roots into the substance of who He is. That is available to each of us, whosoever will go there and do that.
This is the choice Daniel made, when he chose God’s ways rather than the ways of the world. This is what we choose when we choose God’s ways rather than the ways of the world. To become rooted and grounded in His Divinely natured love.
There is always a price to pay for what one truly values. If one truly values anything, they both live and die for it. Dying may mean we let one thing go for the other thing, we exchange values, we re-prioritize, we swallow pride. We may have put stock in something and found later on we should not have stock in that any longer. What was important is not as important any longer. It’s ok to leave behind what does not count eternally and go on to what does. The price Daniel paid to operate in the wisdom of God to this measure, was a separated life. He bought truth with His life, he kept truth, he lived truth.
This price is paid and there are benefits. Man will experience these benefits, but they are more God–serving than man-serving. Their purpose is that He would be glorified, that His kingdom would be established, that His will would be accomplished. Do we want to live and die for that? Do we really want to pay the price with our separated lives, to see someone else’s will accomplished? What about our dreams? That’s where I’m referring to “dying”, our dreams “die”, or become hidden inside of His dreams. His dreams become #1, ours don’t even mean as much to us once we see what He sees and desire what He desires.
See, we have thought our participation in His kingdom was that His benefits would be lavished upon us. They will be, because of the overflow, but the root issue is, will we each allow His kingdom to be established on earth? Will we be participators in His will, of His plans, and participators in His purposes being fulfilled. We are the dream makers, we make God’s dreams, the things He saw, come true. That can only happen by us pressing in and seeing what He sees. We become the visionaries of GOD. We see, we say, we live out, His Divine dreams, we act and bring them into the earth realm.
The dream here interpreted is comprised of heaven and earth representations. Heaven and earth coming together for a purpose. The impossible being made possible. Man & God coming together in the same realm. Can it be? Can it? What is impossible with man is possible with God. The real question is, are we in cooperation with His mind and His will? Participators or spectators? Actively involved or inactively by-standing?
Will man serve God? Will man truly love God? Will man do God’s will? Will man allow God? Will man be used by God? Will man join in with the thoughts of God?
Will you?
Some of the biggest and most powerful words in the universe are – “I will”.
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.
Daniel 2
Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream
1One night during the second year of his reign,[a] Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that disturbed him so much that he couldn't sleep. 2He called in his magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers,[b] and he demanded that they tell him what he had dreamed. As they stood before the king, 3he said, "I have had a dream that troubles me. Tell me what I dreamed, for I must know what it means."
4Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic,[c] "Long live the king! Tell us the dream, and we will tell you what it means."
5But the king said to the astrologers, "I am serious about this. If you don't tell me what my dream was and what it means, you will be torn limb from limb, and your houses will be demolished into heaps of rubble! 6But if you tell me what I dreamed and what the dream means, I will give you many wonderful gifts and honors. Just tell me the dream and what it means!"
7They said again, "Please, Your Majesty. Tell us the dream, and we will tell you what it means."
8The king replied, "I can see through your trick! You are trying to stall for time because you know I am serious about what I said. 9If you don't tell me the dream, you will be condemned. You have conspired to tell me lies in hopes that something will change. But tell me the dream, and then I will know that you can tell me what it means."
10The astrologers replied to the king, "There isn't a man alive who can tell Your Majesty his dream! And no king, however great and powerful, has ever asked such a thing of any magician, enchanter, or astrologer! 11This is an impossible thing the king requires. No one except the gods can tell you your dream, and they do not live among people."
12The king was furious when he heard this, and he sent out orders to execute all the wise men of Babylon. 13And because of the king's decree, men were sent to find and kill Daniel and his friends. 14When Arioch, the commander of the king's guard, came to kill them, Daniel handled the situation with wisdom and discretion. 15He asked Arioch, "Why has the king issued such a harsh decree?" So Arioch told him all that had happened. 16Daniel went at once to see the king and requested more time so he could tell the king what the dream meant.
17Then Daniel went home and told his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah what had happened. 18He urged them to ask the God of heaven to show them his mercy by telling them the secret, so they would not be executed along with the other wise men of Babylon. 19That night the secret was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven, 20saying,
"Praise the name of God forever and ever, for he alone has all wisdom and power.
21 He determines the course of world events; he removes kings and sets others on the throne. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the scholars.
22 He reveals deep and mysterious things and knows what lies hidden in darkness, though he himself is surrounded by light.
23 I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors, for you have given me wisdom and strength. You have told me what we asked of you and revealed to us what the king demanded."
Daniel Interprets the Dream
24Then Daniel went in to see Arioch, who had been ordered to execute the wise men of Babylon. Daniel said to him, "Don't kill the wise men. Take me to the king, and I will tell him the meaning of his dream."
25Then Arioch quickly took Daniel to the king and said, "I have found one of the captives from Judah who will tell Your Majesty the meaning of your dream!"
26The king said to Daniel (also known as Belteshazzar), "Is this true? Can you tell me what my dream was and what it means?"
27Daniel replied, "There are no wise men, enchanters, magicians, or fortune-tellers who can tell the king such things. 28But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the future. Now I will tell you your dream and the visions you saw as you lay on your bed.
29"While Your Majesty was sleeping, you dreamed about coming events. The revealer of mysteries has shown you what is going to happen. 30And it is not because I am wiser than any living person that I know the secret of your dream, but because God wanted you to understand what you were thinking about.
31"Your Majesty, in your vision you saw in front of you a huge and powerful statue of a man, shining brilliantly, frightening and awesome. 32The head of the statue was made of fine gold, its chest and arms were of silver, its belly and thighs were of bronze, 33its legs were of iron, and its feet were a combination of iron and clay. 34But as you watched, a rock was cut from a mountain by supernatural means.[d] It struck the feet of iron and clay, smashing them to bits. 35The whole statue collapsed into a heap of iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold. The pieces were crushed as small as chaff on a threshing floor, and the wind blew them all away without a trace. But the rock that knocked the statue down became a great mountain that covered the whole earth.
36"That was the dream; now I will tell Your Majesty what it means. 37Your Majesty, you are a king over many kings. The God of heaven has given you sovereignty, power, strength, and honor. 38He has made you the ruler over all the inhabited world and has put even the animals and birds under your control. You are the head of gold.
39"But after your kingdom comes to an end, another great kingdom, inferior to yours, will rise to take your place. After that kingdom has fallen, yet a third great kingdom, represented by the bronze belly and thighs, will rise to rule the world. 40Following that kingdom, there will be a fourth great kingdom, as strong as iron. That kingdom will smash and crush all previous empires, just as iron smashes and crushes everything it strikes. 41The feet and toes you saw that were a combination of iron and clay show that this kingdom will be divided. 42Some parts of it will be as strong as iron, and others as weak as clay. 43This mixture of iron and clay also shows that these kingdoms will try to strengthen themselves by forming alliances with each other through intermarriage. But this will not succeed, just as iron and clay do not mix.
44"During the reigns of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed; no one will ever conquer it. It will shatter all these kingdoms into nothingness, but it will stand forever. 45That is the meaning of the rock cut from the mountain by supernatural means, crushing to dust the statue of iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold.
"The great God has shown Your Majesty what will happen in the future. The dream is true, and its meaning is certain."
Nebuchadnezzar Rewards Daniel
46Then King Nebuchadnezzar bowed to the ground before Daniel and worshiped him, and he commanded his people to offer sacrifices and burn sweet incense before him. 47The king said to Daniel, "Truly, your God is the God of gods, the Lord over kings, a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this secret."
48Then the king appointed Daniel to a high position and gave him many valuable gifts. He made Daniel ruler over the whole province of Babylon, as well as chief over all his wise men. 49At Daniel's request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be in charge of all the affairs of the province of Babylon, while Daniel remained in the king's court.
Footnotes:
a. Daniel 2:1 The second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign was 603 B.C.
b. Daniel 2:2 Or Chaldeans; also in 2:4, 5, 10.
c. Daniel 2:4 The original text from this point through chapter 7 is in Aramaic.
d. Daniel 2:34 Aramaic not by human hands; also in 2:45.
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
The wisdom of God is not as the “wisdom” of men. God sees so far beyond what man can see alone without God’s help. The only way man can see that same way is to come closer to God.
This is a reason to have a gap bridged in the relationship of man and God. How effective is man on his own strength and by his own wisdom? Man’s wisdom is exhausted fairly quickly, yet the Divine wisdom of God is unfathomable.
Which would we desire, wisdom that runs dry, or wisdom that is immensely eternal in nature?
We’ve got to look into the source, sink our roots into the substance of who He is. That is available to each of us, whosoever will go there and do that.
This is the choice Daniel made, when he chose God’s ways rather than the ways of the world. This is what we choose when we choose God’s ways rather than the ways of the world. To become rooted and grounded in His Divinely natured love.
There is always a price to pay for what one truly values. If one truly values anything, they both live and die for it. Dying may mean we let one thing go for the other thing, we exchange values, we re-prioritize, we swallow pride. We may have put stock in something and found later on we should not have stock in that any longer. What was important is not as important any longer. It’s ok to leave behind what does not count eternally and go on to what does. The price Daniel paid to operate in the wisdom of God to this measure, was a separated life. He bought truth with His life, he kept truth, he lived truth.
This price is paid and there are benefits. Man will experience these benefits, but they are more God–serving than man-serving. Their purpose is that He would be glorified, that His kingdom would be established, that His will would be accomplished. Do we want to live and die for that? Do we really want to pay the price with our separated lives, to see someone else’s will accomplished? What about our dreams? That’s where I’m referring to “dying”, our dreams “die”, or become hidden inside of His dreams. His dreams become #1, ours don’t even mean as much to us once we see what He sees and desire what He desires.
See, we have thought our participation in His kingdom was that His benefits would be lavished upon us. They will be, because of the overflow, but the root issue is, will we each allow His kingdom to be established on earth? Will we be participators in His will, of His plans, and participators in His purposes being fulfilled. We are the dream makers, we make God’s dreams, the things He saw, come true. That can only happen by us pressing in and seeing what He sees. We become the visionaries of GOD. We see, we say, we live out, His Divine dreams, we act and bring them into the earth realm.
The dream here interpreted is comprised of heaven and earth representations. Heaven and earth coming together for a purpose. The impossible being made possible. Man & God coming together in the same realm. Can it be? Can it? What is impossible with man is possible with God. The real question is, are we in cooperation with His mind and His will? Participators or spectators? Actively involved or inactively by-standing?
Will man serve God? Will man truly love God? Will man do God’s will? Will man allow God? Will man be used by God? Will man join in with the thoughts of God?
Will you?
Some of the biggest and most powerful words in the universe are – “I will”.
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 07, 2006
Daniel 1 Who/what will we copy-cat?
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.
Daniel 1
1 During the third year of King Jehoiakim's reign in Judah, F1 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it with his armies. 2 The Lord gave him victory over King Jehoiakim of Judah. When Nebuchadnezzar returned to Babylon, he took with him some of the sacred objects from the Temple of God and placed them in the treasure-house of his god in the land of Babylonia. F2 3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, who was in charge of the palace officials, to bring to the palace some of the young men of Judah's royal family and other noble families, who had been brought to Babylon as captives.
4 "Select only strong, healthy, and good-looking young men," he said. "Make sure they are well versed in every branch of learning, are gifted with knowledge and good sense, and have the poise needed to serve in the royal palace. Teach these young men the language and literature of the Babylonians. F3 "
5 The king assigned them a daily ration of the best food and wine from his own kitchens.
They were to be trained for a three-year period, and then some of them would be made his advisers in the royal court. 6 Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were four of the young men chosen, all from the tribe of Judah. 7 The chief official renamed them with these Babylonian names: Daniel was called Belteshazzar. Hananiah was called Shadrach. Mishael was called Meshach. Azariah was called Abednego.
8 But Daniel made up his mind not to defile himself by eating the food and wine given to them by the king. He asked the chief official for permission to eat other things instead.
9 Now God had given the chief official great respect for Daniel. 10 But he was alarmed by Daniel's suggestion. "My lord the king has ordered that you eat this food and wine," he said. "If you become pale and thin compared to the other youths your age, I am afraid the king will have me beheaded for neglecting my duties." 11 Daniel talked it over with the attendant who had been appointed by the chief official to look after Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
12 "Test us for ten days on a diet of vegetables and water," Daniel said. 13 "At the end of the ten days, see how we look compared to the other young men who are eating the king's rich food. Then you can decide whether or not to let us continue eating our diet." 14 So the attendant agreed to Daniel's suggestion and tested them for ten days. 15 At the end of the ten days, Daniel and his three friends looked healthier and better nourished than the young men who had been eating the food assigned by the king. 16 So after that, the attendant fed them only vegetables instead of the rich foods and wines.
17 God gave these four young men an unusual aptitude for learning the literature and science of the time. And God gave Daniel special ability in understanding the meanings of visions and dreams.
18 When the three-year training period ordered by the king was completed, the chief official brought all the young men to King Nebuchadnezzar. 19 The king talked with each of them, and none of them impressed him as much as Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. So they were appointed to his regular staff of advisers. 20 In all matters requiring wisdom and balanced judgment, the king found the advice of these young men to be ten times better than that of all the magicians and enchanters in his entire kingdom. 21 Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus's reign. F4
FOOTNOTES:F1: The third year of Jehoiakim's reign, according to the Hebrew system of reckoning, was 605 B.C. F2: Hebrew the land of Shinar. F3: Or of the Chaldeans. F4: The first year of Cyrus's reign was 538 B.C.
The New Living Translation
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
Daniel made up his mind not to defile himself by eating the food and wine given to them by the king. He asked the chief official for permission to eat other things instead. (we’re not talking natural food here- we’re talking about taking in the world and all of it’s ways)
He asked to be tested!
Man!
How many of us have made our minds up like that?
How many of us separate ourselves from the world like that on purpose, consecrate ourselves unto the Lord on purpose for His purpose?
How many of us take our assignments in life so seriously, have such a Divine revelation of our purpose in the earth that we are willing as Daniel and friends were, to NOT look like the world?
Do you know there is a strategy for us to look like, taste like, act like the world, merely by copying it?
Ever heard of peer pressure? It leads us to do what the world is doing at the sake of looking “cool”.
God actually made man to copy-cat. In copying we learn easily. This is why we educate our children at schools with language and literature. This is why the world has taken media to the extreme and why we are so hooked on it. It makes it so easy to copy-cat. Daniel had to say no, separate himself in order to not automatically copy-cat!
He became who he became because of these decisions. Just think of what/who each of us can become by separating from the world and focusing on God, His word, and His examples.
Amen!
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.
Daniel 1
1 During the third year of King Jehoiakim's reign in Judah, F1 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it with his armies. 2 The Lord gave him victory over King Jehoiakim of Judah. When Nebuchadnezzar returned to Babylon, he took with him some of the sacred objects from the Temple of God and placed them in the treasure-house of his god in the land of Babylonia. F2 3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, who was in charge of the palace officials, to bring to the palace some of the young men of Judah's royal family and other noble families, who had been brought to Babylon as captives.
4 "Select only strong, healthy, and good-looking young men," he said. "Make sure they are well versed in every branch of learning, are gifted with knowledge and good sense, and have the poise needed to serve in the royal palace. Teach these young men the language and literature of the Babylonians. F3 "
5 The king assigned them a daily ration of the best food and wine from his own kitchens.
They were to be trained for a three-year period, and then some of them would be made his advisers in the royal court. 6 Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were four of the young men chosen, all from the tribe of Judah. 7 The chief official renamed them with these Babylonian names: Daniel was called Belteshazzar. Hananiah was called Shadrach. Mishael was called Meshach. Azariah was called Abednego.
8 But Daniel made up his mind not to defile himself by eating the food and wine given to them by the king. He asked the chief official for permission to eat other things instead.
9 Now God had given the chief official great respect for Daniel. 10 But he was alarmed by Daniel's suggestion. "My lord the king has ordered that you eat this food and wine," he said. "If you become pale and thin compared to the other youths your age, I am afraid the king will have me beheaded for neglecting my duties." 11 Daniel talked it over with the attendant who had been appointed by the chief official to look after Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
12 "Test us for ten days on a diet of vegetables and water," Daniel said. 13 "At the end of the ten days, see how we look compared to the other young men who are eating the king's rich food. Then you can decide whether or not to let us continue eating our diet." 14 So the attendant agreed to Daniel's suggestion and tested them for ten days. 15 At the end of the ten days, Daniel and his three friends looked healthier and better nourished than the young men who had been eating the food assigned by the king. 16 So after that, the attendant fed them only vegetables instead of the rich foods and wines.
17 God gave these four young men an unusual aptitude for learning the literature and science of the time. And God gave Daniel special ability in understanding the meanings of visions and dreams.
18 When the three-year training period ordered by the king was completed, the chief official brought all the young men to King Nebuchadnezzar. 19 The king talked with each of them, and none of them impressed him as much as Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. So they were appointed to his regular staff of advisers. 20 In all matters requiring wisdom and balanced judgment, the king found the advice of these young men to be ten times better than that of all the magicians and enchanters in his entire kingdom. 21 Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus's reign. F4
FOOTNOTES:F1: The third year of Jehoiakim's reign, according to the Hebrew system of reckoning, was 605 B.C. F2: Hebrew the land of Shinar. F3: Or of the Chaldeans. F4: The first year of Cyrus's reign was 538 B.C.
The New Living Translation
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
Daniel made up his mind not to defile himself by eating the food and wine given to them by the king. He asked the chief official for permission to eat other things instead. (we’re not talking natural food here- we’re talking about taking in the world and all of it’s ways)
He asked to be tested!
Man!
How many of us have made our minds up like that?
How many of us separate ourselves from the world like that on purpose, consecrate ourselves unto the Lord on purpose for His purpose?
How many of us take our assignments in life so seriously, have such a Divine revelation of our purpose in the earth that we are willing as Daniel and friends were, to NOT look like the world?
Do you know there is a strategy for us to look like, taste like, act like the world, merely by copying it?
Ever heard of peer pressure? It leads us to do what the world is doing at the sake of looking “cool”.
God actually made man to copy-cat. In copying we learn easily. This is why we educate our children at schools with language and literature. This is why the world has taken media to the extreme and why we are so hooked on it. It makes it so easy to copy-cat. Daniel had to say no, separate himself in order to not automatically copy-cat!
He became who he became because of these decisions. Just think of what/who each of us can become by separating from the world and focusing on God, His word, and His examples.
Amen!
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 06, 2006
Eph 3 How Great is Our love for the Lord?
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 3:1-21
God's Secret Plan Revealed
1I, Paul, am a prisoner of Christ Jesus because of my preaching to you Gentiles. 2As you already know, God has given me this special ministry of announcing his favor to you Gentiles. 3As I briefly mentioned earlier in this letter, God himself revealed his secret plan to me. 4As you read what I have written, you will understand what I know about this plan regarding Christ. 5God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now he has revealed it by the Holy Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets.
6And this is the secret plan: The Gentiles have an equal share with the Jews in all the riches inherited by God's children. Both groups have believed the Good News, and both are part of the same body and enjoy together the promise of blessings through Christ Jesus. 7By God's special favor and mighty power, I have been given the wonderful privilege of serving him by spreading this Good News.
8Just think! Though I did nothing to deserve it, and though I am the least deserving Christian there is, I was chosen for this special joy of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ. 9I was chosen to explain to everyone this plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning.
10God's purpose was to show his wisdom in all its rich variety to all the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms. They will see this when Jews and Gentiles are joined together in his church. 11This was his plan from all eternity, and it has now been carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord.
12Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come fearlessly into God's presence, assured of his glad welcome. 13So please don't despair because of what they are doing to me here. It is for you that I am suffering, so you should feel honored and encouraged.
Paul's Prayer for Spiritual Empowering
14When I think of the wisdom and scope of God's plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, F4 15the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. 16I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit. 17And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love. 18And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is. 19May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
20Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope. 21May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages. Amen.
FOOTNOTES:F4: Some manuscripts read the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved. For more information about the NLT, please click here.
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.
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
God’s secrets are meant to be revealed. The Lord wants to know who can be trusted with His plans and secrets, and who truly wants to know for the express purpose of being a part of making God’s plans happen while on earth!
Paul calls himself a prisoner, why? The purposes of God so captivate and drive him, that he’s purposely, become their slave.
Is that how you feel about God, His plans, His love and His purposes?
Does the love of Christ so burn in your heart that it captivates your thoughts and actions? Then it is so overwhelming that it compels you to go out wherever you already are in the earth and beyond and share of this great love and the very plan of salvation to this world?
Do you love the plans of God so much that you desire to hear more of them unfold, not just plans to help you yourself, but plans of freedom for others? Does this love continually lead you to God’s house and to incline your ear to the prophets, purposing to do whatever is presented in the continued gospel message?
This gospel is NOT about what we deserve or what others deserve. It is about love that goes and reaches into tight sports where no one deserves this love. We receive and we give special favor to the world, the same favor we’ve received, we freely give all of Him not holding back.
How do we serve God? How do we show appreciation for this undeserving, yet freely given, gospel message? We preach, we live, we share.
All of us are chosen for this purpose, there is not one who is not called.
Whatever it takes, whatever it takes. Is that the extent and intent of this love of God in you? I become as He is so I will win men as He did. I change on purpose, to bring heaven to earth.
I pray the love of God will well up on the inside of you today, to the overflow, to overflow on a very deserving God and a whole lot of undeserving people.
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 3:1-21
God's Secret Plan Revealed
1I, Paul, am a prisoner of Christ Jesus because of my preaching to you Gentiles. 2As you already know, God has given me this special ministry of announcing his favor to you Gentiles. 3As I briefly mentioned earlier in this letter, God himself revealed his secret plan to me. 4As you read what I have written, you will understand what I know about this plan regarding Christ. 5God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now he has revealed it by the Holy Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets.
6And this is the secret plan: The Gentiles have an equal share with the Jews in all the riches inherited by God's children. Both groups have believed the Good News, and both are part of the same body and enjoy together the promise of blessings through Christ Jesus. 7By God's special favor and mighty power, I have been given the wonderful privilege of serving him by spreading this Good News.
8Just think! Though I did nothing to deserve it, and though I am the least deserving Christian there is, I was chosen for this special joy of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ. 9I was chosen to explain to everyone this plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning.
10God's purpose was to show his wisdom in all its rich variety to all the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms. They will see this when Jews and Gentiles are joined together in his church. 11This was his plan from all eternity, and it has now been carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord.
12Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come fearlessly into God's presence, assured of his glad welcome. 13So please don't despair because of what they are doing to me here. It is for you that I am suffering, so you should feel honored and encouraged.
Paul's Prayer for Spiritual Empowering
14When I think of the wisdom and scope of God's plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, F4 15the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. 16I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit. 17And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love. 18And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is. 19May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
20Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope. 21May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages. Amen.
FOOTNOTES:F4: Some manuscripts read the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved. For more information about the NLT, please click here.
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.
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
God’s secrets are meant to be revealed. The Lord wants to know who can be trusted with His plans and secrets, and who truly wants to know for the express purpose of being a part of making God’s plans happen while on earth!
Paul calls himself a prisoner, why? The purposes of God so captivate and drive him, that he’s purposely, become their slave.
Is that how you feel about God, His plans, His love and His purposes?
Does the love of Christ so burn in your heart that it captivates your thoughts and actions? Then it is so overwhelming that it compels you to go out wherever you already are in the earth and beyond and share of this great love and the very plan of salvation to this world?
Do you love the plans of God so much that you desire to hear more of them unfold, not just plans to help you yourself, but plans of freedom for others? Does this love continually lead you to God’s house and to incline your ear to the prophets, purposing to do whatever is presented in the continued gospel message?
This gospel is NOT about what we deserve or what others deserve. It is about love that goes and reaches into tight sports where no one deserves this love. We receive and we give special favor to the world, the same favor we’ve received, we freely give all of Him not holding back.
How do we serve God? How do we show appreciation for this undeserving, yet freely given, gospel message? We preach, we live, we share.
All of us are chosen for this purpose, there is not one who is not called.
Whatever it takes, whatever it takes. Is that the extent and intent of this love of God in you? I become as He is so I will win men as He did. I change on purpose, to bring heaven to earth.
I pray the love of God will well up on the inside of you today, to the overflow, to overflow on a very deserving God and a whole lot of undeserving people.
Saturday, August 05, 2006
Eph 2 To whom You belong
Ephesians 2
Made Alive with Christ
1Once you were dead, doomed forever because of your many sins. 2You used to live just like the rest of the world, full of sin, obeying Satan, the mighty prince of the power of the air. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. 3All of us used to live that way, following the passions and desires of our evil nature. We were born with an evil nature, and we were under God's anger just like everyone else.
4But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so very much, 5that even while we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God's special favor that you have been saved!) 6For he raised us from the dead along with Christ, and we are seated with him in the heavenly realms--all because we are one with Christ Jesus. 7And so God can always point to us as examples of the incredible wealth of his favor and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us through Christ Jesus.
8God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Oneness and Peace in Christ
11Don't forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders by birth. You were called "the uncircumcised ones" by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. 12In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from God's people, Israel, and you did not know the promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. 13But now you belong to Christ Jesus. Though you once were far away from God, now you have been brought near to him because of the blood of Christ.
14For Christ himself has made peace between us Jews and you Gentiles by making us all one people. He has broken down the wall of hostility that used to separate us. 15By his death he ended the whole system of Jewish law that excluded the Gentiles. His purpose was to make peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new person from the two groups. 16Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death, and our hostility toward each other was put to death. 17He has brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and to us Jews who were near. 18Now all of us, both Jews and Gentiles, may come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.
A Temple for the Lord
19So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God's holy people. You are members of God's family. 20We are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21We who believe are carefully joined together, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. 22Through him you Gentiles are also joined together as part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.
Lena's Journalin'
We are God's living moving breathing house. What are we representing, saying, living? We are living witnesses in this world. Our words mean nothing to the world unless we provide life back up. they believe what we do. So what are we doing with God, with His word, with His spirit, with His love?
Note the repeated words = "were, former, used to, refuse, were born, were under- just like everyone else"....
Do you ever remember telling your ma, "Hey ma, everyone else does it?" She usually answered somethinglike, "We aren't everyone else" or "So, WHAT!".
Today I want to say the same thing. "Don't be like everyone else, or who the world would tell you is everyone else!"
My husband used to ask me, "Who's everyone? Who's "they?""
I'd read A book and when I'd tell him about the book's contents I'd use the words, "They said"
he'd be like- "Who's "They"?"
Who's words are we putting stock in? Whose are we living by, whose words sway us into action that is of eternal benefit? I hope if no other words and if no one else's we'd listen and harken to God's.
Do you get yet how much God loves you?
Do you get that?
Come on, that beating was taken willingly because of love, for you, for us, for the world.
If you're a parent you have a sense of doing almost anything for your child, even to the point of dying. Where do you think we got that loving and protective sense from?
Did you know Jesus is Savior of the whole wide world?
But He is only Lord of those who receive Him and live in covenant relationship with him all of their days long.
It is time to lay down petty offenses, against God, against His church body, against other men and live the Christian life, going all the way, leading others to righteousness.
Time is very, very short (at least for us in the light of eternity) we only have so much time here left to engage in His loving work. Isaiah 58:12 Daily repetative verse - Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
Made Alive with Christ
1Once you were dead, doomed forever because of your many sins. 2You used to live just like the rest of the world, full of sin, obeying Satan, the mighty prince of the power of the air. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. 3All of us used to live that way, following the passions and desires of our evil nature. We were born with an evil nature, and we were under God's anger just like everyone else.
4But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so very much, 5that even while we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God's special favor that you have been saved!) 6For he raised us from the dead along with Christ, and we are seated with him in the heavenly realms--all because we are one with Christ Jesus. 7And so God can always point to us as examples of the incredible wealth of his favor and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us through Christ Jesus.
8God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Oneness and Peace in Christ
11Don't forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders by birth. You were called "the uncircumcised ones" by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. 12In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from God's people, Israel, and you did not know the promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. 13But now you belong to Christ Jesus. Though you once were far away from God, now you have been brought near to him because of the blood of Christ.
14For Christ himself has made peace between us Jews and you Gentiles by making us all one people. He has broken down the wall of hostility that used to separate us. 15By his death he ended the whole system of Jewish law that excluded the Gentiles. His purpose was to make peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new person from the two groups. 16Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death, and our hostility toward each other was put to death. 17He has brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and to us Jews who were near. 18Now all of us, both Jews and Gentiles, may come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.
A Temple for the Lord
19So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God's holy people. You are members of God's family. 20We are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21We who believe are carefully joined together, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. 22Through him you Gentiles are also joined together as part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.
Lena's Journalin'
We are God's living moving breathing house. What are we representing, saying, living? We are living witnesses in this world. Our words mean nothing to the world unless we provide life back up. they believe what we do. So what are we doing with God, with His word, with His spirit, with His love?
Note the repeated words = "were, former, used to, refuse, were born, were under- just like everyone else"....
Do you ever remember telling your ma, "Hey ma, everyone else does it?" She usually answered somethinglike, "We aren't everyone else" or "So, WHAT!".
Today I want to say the same thing. "Don't be like everyone else, or who the world would tell you is everyone else!"
My husband used to ask me, "Who's everyone? Who's "they?""
I'd read A book and when I'd tell him about the book's contents I'd use the words, "They said"
he'd be like- "Who's "They"?"
Who's words are we putting stock in? Whose are we living by, whose words sway us into action that is of eternal benefit? I hope if no other words and if no one else's we'd listen and harken to God's.
Do you get yet how much God loves you?
Do you get that?
Come on, that beating was taken willingly because of love, for you, for us, for the world.
If you're a parent you have a sense of doing almost anything for your child, even to the point of dying. Where do you think we got that loving and protective sense from?
Did you know Jesus is Savior of the whole wide world?
But He is only Lord of those who receive Him and live in covenant relationship with him all of their days long.
It is time to lay down petty offenses, against God, against His church body, against other men and live the Christian life, going all the way, leading others to righteousness.
Time is very, very short (at least for us in the light of eternity) we only have so much time here left to engage in His loving work. Isaiah 58:12 Daily repetative verse - Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Proverbs 29 + Next Few Day's DB Reading List
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.
Proverbs 29
1 Whoever stubbornly refuses to accept criticism will suddenly be broken beyond repair.
2 When the godly are in authority, the people rejoice. But when the wicked are in power, they groan.
3 The man who loves wisdom brings joy to his father, but if he hangs around with prostitutes, his wealth is wasted.
4 A just king gives stability to his nation, but one who demands bribes destroys it.
5 To flatter people is to lay a trap for their feet.
6 Evil people are trapped by sin, but the righteous escape, shouting for joy.
7 The godly know the rights of the poor; the wicked don't care to know.
8 Mockers can get a whole town agitated, but those who are wise will calm anger.
9 If a wise person takes a fool to court, there will be ranting and ridicule but no satisfaction.
10 The bloodthirsty hate the honest, but the upright seek out the honest.
11 A fool gives full vent to anger, but a wise person quietly holds it back.
12 If a ruler honors liars, all his advisers will be wicked.
13 The poor and the oppressor have this in common--the LORD gives light to the eyes of both.
14 A king who is fair to the poor will have a long reign.
15 To discipline and reprimand a child produces wisdom, but a mother is disgraced by an undisciplined child.
16 When the wicked are in authority, sin increases. But the godly will live to see the tyrant's downfall.
17 Discipline your children, and they will give you happiness and peace of mind.
18 When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law is happy.
19 For a servant, mere words are not enough--discipline is needed. For the words may be understood, but they are not heeded.
20 There is more hope for a fool than for someone who speaks without thinking.
21 A servant who is pampered from childhood will later become a rebel.
22 A hot-tempered person starts fights and gets into all kinds of sin.
23 Pride ends in humiliation, while humility brings honor.
24 If you assist a thief, you are only hurting yourself. You will be punished if you report the crime, but you will be cursed if you don't.
25 Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but to trust the LORD means safety.
26 Many seek the ruler's favor, but justice comes from the LORD.
27 The godly despise the wicked; the wicked despise the godly.
(NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers.
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
Proverbs don’t need much in the way of commentary. They are purely received as readily as they are read. If one lacks wisdom, do proverbs, live proverbs, love proverbs, because they are the words of Our Lord.
I will be away from my computer for a few days:
On 8-2 Read Habakkuk 2
On 8-3 Read Hebrews 10
On 8-4 Read Ephesians 1
On 8-5 Read Ephesians 2
When I return, I’ll post comments
You’ll see me there!
God’s blessings and love upon you!
Lena B
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.
Proverbs 29
1 Whoever stubbornly refuses to accept criticism will suddenly be broken beyond repair.
2 When the godly are in authority, the people rejoice. But when the wicked are in power, they groan.
3 The man who loves wisdom brings joy to his father, but if he hangs around with prostitutes, his wealth is wasted.
4 A just king gives stability to his nation, but one who demands bribes destroys it.
5 To flatter people is to lay a trap for their feet.
6 Evil people are trapped by sin, but the righteous escape, shouting for joy.
7 The godly know the rights of the poor; the wicked don't care to know.
8 Mockers can get a whole town agitated, but those who are wise will calm anger.
9 If a wise person takes a fool to court, there will be ranting and ridicule but no satisfaction.
10 The bloodthirsty hate the honest, but the upright seek out the honest.
11 A fool gives full vent to anger, but a wise person quietly holds it back.
12 If a ruler honors liars, all his advisers will be wicked.
13 The poor and the oppressor have this in common--the LORD gives light to the eyes of both.
14 A king who is fair to the poor will have a long reign.
15 To discipline and reprimand a child produces wisdom, but a mother is disgraced by an undisciplined child.
16 When the wicked are in authority, sin increases. But the godly will live to see the tyrant's downfall.
17 Discipline your children, and they will give you happiness and peace of mind.
18 When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law is happy.
19 For a servant, mere words are not enough--discipline is needed. For the words may be understood, but they are not heeded.
20 There is more hope for a fool than for someone who speaks without thinking.
21 A servant who is pampered from childhood will later become a rebel.
22 A hot-tempered person starts fights and gets into all kinds of sin.
23 Pride ends in humiliation, while humility brings honor.
24 If you assist a thief, you are only hurting yourself. You will be punished if you report the crime, but you will be cursed if you don't.
25 Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but to trust the LORD means safety.
26 Many seek the ruler's favor, but justice comes from the LORD.
27 The godly despise the wicked; the wicked despise the godly.
(NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers.
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
Proverbs don’t need much in the way of commentary. They are purely received as readily as they are read. If one lacks wisdom, do proverbs, live proverbs, love proverbs, because they are the words of Our Lord.
I will be away from my computer for a few days:
On 8-2 Read Habakkuk 2
On 8-3 Read Hebrews 10
On 8-4 Read Ephesians 1
On 8-5 Read Ephesians 2
When I return, I’ll post comments
You’ll see me there!
God’s blessings and love upon you!
Lena B
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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